A wrasse bash

[snatcher]

Some visiting anglers to our caravan park had kindly donated some nice lugworm to me when they left so it seemed only right to put them to good use. What I had in mind was a wrasse bash on one of the Mull of Galloway marks.

I had not actually fished for wrasse this year myself but I had on three occasions taken youngsters out fishing for them. I was just coach on these trips so I needed balance things up. I drove over to as near to the mark as I could get and that left me a yomp of about a mile. On reaching the sea and much to my dismay I seen that the farmer had erected a new electric fence.

Now it is rumoured that a lot of the farmers simply just wire their fences into the mains electricity supply. Having had a few belts off them over the years I quite believe it. Once whilst walking to another mark I got chased by a bull in the field,I vaulted the fence as best I could and got a belt off it and landed face first into a cow pat. Looking back at it I can laugh now !!!!

Anyway I managed to "limbo" two of the fences without incident and eventually reach my fishing mark. On fishing trips I normally take a compact digital camera with me but because the caravan had appeared to have "eaten it" I took an SLR with me. Because of this I did not want to take the camera anywhere near the waters edge so set up a few yards from the sea.

I had arrived two hours before high water and intended to make it a 3 hour session. I rigged up a sliding float and set the stop knot (elastic band) to about 12 feet and tied on a 2/0 baitholder hook. I could have went for a smaller hook and caught more wrasse but I did not want to catch tiddlers on this occasion. If I had been coaching youngsters I would have opted for a smaller hook initially though.

I started off by fishing just a couple of feet out any adjusting the stop till the bait was just off the bottom. It took about 20 minutes before I got a bite which I duly missed. I also missed the next two bites before finally hooking into a decent wrasse. As usual on a light spinning rod it gave me a good scrap before I let a wave lift it onto the rock ledge beside me. I then took it back up to where I had left the camera,took a quick photo and then carefully unhooked and released it.

It then took me about another 20 minutes before I hooked into my second wrasse which was slightly bigger than the first. I also then carried this one up to be photographed. They are bonny fish and the colour variations never ceases to amaze me.

After this I managed to get two more wrasse which were bigger again but these I simply released at the waters edge and did not bother with the camera. Well I had caught my target fish so now I changed tactics and tied on a lure,hoping to catch a pollack or two. After a couple casts I had a take and reeled in a mackerel. Now there is nothing better than fresh mackerel strip float fished for pollack so I rigged up the sliding float again. I had no sooner cast out when the float shot under and I hooked into - another mackerel !!!!!!!!!! This I also kept for bait.

Eventually on high water the pollack came onto the feed and I managed to catch 4 to about 3lb. The first,and smallest,I photographed,the rest I unhooked at the waters edge.

Well it had been a decent 3 hour session - 4 wrasse,4 pollack and two mackerel. Nothing really big but most enjoyable. I called it a day at this point and headed back to the car a happy chappie. I even managed to negociate the electric fences again without getting a shock.

John

[bessell1955]

Are your Wrasse similar to the ones we catch in Australia and what are they like to eat?

[snatcher]

Are your Wrasse similar to the ones we catch in Australia and what are they like to eat?

I have just caught the one wrasse in Australia and one of your fishos identified it as a scarlet banded wrasse. I took a picture of it then put it back. I caught it at Little Manly Point Park.

In shape it was very similar to the wrasse in the UK. Some folk here do eat them but personally I think they are too pretty to kill and put them back

John

[bessell1955]

Yes, I agree they are so colourful.

[snatcher]

Yes, I agree they are so colourful.

Here are a few different coloured ones I have caught - all the same species though

John

[Floating_Medic]

Whenever I go scuba diving the fish I see the most is Wrasse! Heaps of them usually and they are usually pretty inquisitive and dont mind coming up for a closer look!

[dfmdab]

John

Another cracking report but I think your misleading our Aussie friends into believing it's all sunshine and fish at the moment in the UK by posting a report from our summer. I live just up the road from you in Ashington and you'll know the it's been really cold with biting winds for nearly all of January. Mind you the fishing been good, I had 9 cod (3 keepers, biggest 1.5kg) from Pottery Bank yesterday. I was also one of the 515 anglers who fished the Amble open last week, caught 4 sized flounders and won a spinning rod from the prize table, however a 12 year old girl showed us all how to do it by catching 14 and winning the event outright.

We both have an Aussie connection because like you my daughter lives there, she's in Cronulla so the wife and I try to get over every 2 years. I've got a 12 beachcaster there and I bring my Penn 525 to use with it. We had 9 weeks there for Xmas 2013 and managed to fit in 20 sessions, caught 109 fish with 17 different species. Wanda beach for tailor, rocks in front of Shark Island for anything (double hookup of sting ray springs to mind), Finders point in Port Hacking for night time float fishing for tailor and flathead (upto 70cm)during the day I also used to get the ferry over to Bundeena to fish the rocks and beaches there. Met quite a few of the fisho's during my stay and they were very friendly with plenty of advice and happy to share their beer (just like us Geordie's John).

So if any of you can remember a 60 year old wearing a sun hat, toon top, shorts and who drank your beer, it was me.

All the best

Dave Mckenzie

P'S next trip is 7 weeks for Xmas 2016

[snatcher]

Nice one Dave,would be great if could meet out in oz some day. I do not fish in our UK winter now as the thought of fishing in the freezing cold off Whitley Beach has lost its appeal now I tend to concentrate on my photography.

I think that all the ozzie fishos on here understand I am just posting up some of my random UK reports from yesteryear. We have a static caravan in Drummore on the Mull of Galloway,Scotland and spend virtually all of the summer there. That is where I concentrate all of my fishing energy. I tend to fish fairly light when off the shore for pollack and wrasse but I do spend a lot of time lure fishing for bass. That is what pulls my string Dave

John