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Dec 29, 2006
The end of the blog.
That's it as far as the blog is concerned. My original intention behind the blog section was to simply give a flavour of the types of fishing available throughout the year, and I hope this has been achieved. So, if this is the first blog entry you have read then carry on below to see a snapshot review of a years shore fishing in the Isle of Man.
I've recorded most of my fishing trips in one way or another. By no means have my catches been exceptional, but I did manage to cover most things. There have been some good trips, some good fish, some lucky fish and some strange incidents, all of which go some way to making up a part of what it is to go fishing. I had plenty of variety in terms of species caught, marks fished and methods used. I am sure that focusing on a particular method/species/location would produce improved catches, but I prefer the variety of it all. The only disappointments for the year were that I didn't really get around to targeting bass, and I didn't even try once for mullet, but there is always next year...
Dec 17, 2006
The weather has finally decided to calm down. After over a month of constant strong to gale force southwesterly winds the weather this weekend has been much calmer, and the outlook is for a period of calm settled weather.
Since the last blog entry I have had four trips. The first trip ended up being a bit of an unexpected species hunt in the south of the Island when I landed dog, callig, poor cod and another small conger. I have had plenty of congers this year, but unfortunately most of them have been on the small side.
The next trip was to a very sunny Marine Drive where I caught a few doggies despite the bright conditions. I followed this up with an evening trip to Laxey, which quickly turned into a whiting fest, with about a dozen sizeable fish being caught along with a couple of doggies and a poor cod. The final trip was to Douglas Head and it was quieter than expected, with only 5 dogs being caught. Things could have been worse, I suppose I could have blanked...
Dec 4, 2006
Fishing opportunities have been few and far between in recent weeks. There seems to be no end to the strong south westerly winds.
I did manage one more small conger before finally resigning myself to switching into winter mode. For the next couple of months I shall mostly be setting out with the simple aim of catching fish. When conditions are right I will specifically target certain species such as codling, but for now I am happy to be catching dogs and coalies.
A trip to the Battery Pier resulted in a few dogs, pouting and poor cod. One of the pouting was fished as a live bait in the hope of tempting a conger, but without success.
I fished my first competition for many years when I attended the Whittaker Open on Peel promenade. The weather was appauling throughout with strong winds and rain greeting the 60 anglers who turned out. The fishing was better than expected, with plenty of coalies being caught, albeit mostly just short of the 35cm minimum size limit. I headed off for some pleasure fishing the next day, which was no mean achievement in force 9 winds. A couple of small coalies and a dogfish were my reward and at least it stayed dry.
Nov 19, 2006
I've only managed three trips in the last two weeks, which is very poor by my standards. This has been entirely due to the weather which seems to have been constantly wet and windy. The rain makes for very slippery rocks, and the wind of course generate large swells - neither of which are ideal conditions for the kind of fishing I wanted to do.
The three sessions that I did manage to get in during brief spells of half decent weather were all aimed at congers. I landed two eels in that time, nothing huge, the best weighed in at 8lb 4oz, but enjoyable trips non the less, all the more so because they will likely be amongst my last congering sessions of the year.
Fishing for congers is one of those things that anglers either love or hate. For me, it's defintely one of my favourite types of fishing. There is the anticipation of waiting for a bite, the excitement of hearing the line being taken against the ratchet, and the strong fight that follows. Add to that the real potential for a double figure fish and I'm more than happy to spend a few hours sitting on a dark rock mark waiting for the action - even losing lots of tackle is all worth it when an eel is finally landed.
Nov 5, 2006
The weather has certainly been kind this week, and winter seems to finally be arriving. Despite this I still managed to get a trip in fishing for summer species, and had some fun with ballan and mackerel. I then had a couple of trips to Douglas Head / Marine Drive area in search of an early codling, which unfortunately didn't show despite some promising reports. I was at least kept busy with lots of dogfish and a couple of small bull huss.
The fine weather continued through the week, and combined with a full moon it was surprisingly 'light' even at night on remote rock marks.
A conger session later in the week produced only one strap for me, and an interesting seal moment for Colonel Crackoff. Undeterred, I tried again the next day. This time I fished the last couple of hours of daylight and the first couple of hours of darkness. As well as the conger gear I also fished another rod further out which resulted in doggies and callig. I caught two small congers (best of 7lb), which was certainly an improvement on the previous night, but without doubt the highlight of the trip was a superb 7lb 8oz callig !!! After weighing the fish I took a couple of quick photographs before releasing it back into the sea. I gained as much pleasure from watching it swim safely away as I did from catching it in the first place.
I am currently one very satisfied angler, and am now trying to devise a tactic to catch a double figure callig...
Oct 25, 2006
On a weekend when Manx shore fishing records were being broken left, right and centre, it was all I could do to avoid blanking. First up was a trip westwards, where a solitary mackerel was the only fish to be tempted to my baits.
The next day I headed east, being led astray by 'Colonel Crackoff' to an interesting location, which didn't fish as well as expected. 3 lost sets of tackle in the first 3 casts had me formulating a plan B, and I managed to recover and pull out a reasonable catch of coalies, dogs and rockling - not exactly what I was hoping for but an interesting trip all the same.
The last of the years holidays have been put to good use so far this week, with three trips in the first three days. The first two trips were nice leisurely affairs resulting in plenty of dogs, mackerel, grey and tub gurnard as well as some decent ballan and callig to 3lb. When the weather is nice at this time of year I genuinely think the fishing is as good as it gets.
The weather today however was far from nice. Strengthening east winds and thickening clouds promised rain, which duly arrived. I managed to get a trip in at the Vollan before conditions became to bad, and had fun catching plenty of coalies to mussel and lug baits - yet again I failed with the bass...
Oct 18, 2006
Fresh easterly winds have dominated the weather for the past week, and this usually means that the beaches around the Ramsey area fish well at close range for coalies, flounders, dogs and the occassional bass. With this in mind I travelled to Ballure to collect some fresh lug and then headed a bit further up the coast to fish. Unfortunately, the fishing was quite dissappointing, with only a couple of coalies turning up for me.
I headed to the rocks the next day and had a much more productive trip resulting in a mixed bag of ballan, mackerel, dogs, callig, pouting and a small bull huss. The fresh winds and rough sea meant that I had to fish from a safe platform well above the water. This meant that fishing for congers was not going to be practical, which was quite frustrating given the amount of fresh bait available in the form of mackerel and pouting. The pouting were so numerous that they were even beating the doggies to the bait.
On a mission simply to use up the remaining lug, I then fished Douglas Head which was particularly wild in the easterly winds that were up around force 5 by then. I caught lots of dogs (as expected) and I also picked up a bonus callig of just over 2lb.
Oct 12, 2006
The week started with a much anticipated trip for congers over high water. The weather didn't quite follow the script, and I ended up spending the last hour and a half stood on a rock in the pouring rain, but by then I didn't really care. The first hour (which I was expecting to be the quietest) saw three congers being caught, ranging between 5lb and 15lb. Great fun, but hard work.
After the high of the successful conger trip it was back down to earth with a bump, quite literally when I slipped (yet again) while walking back to the car. Another comedy moment, which fortunately didn't result in any injury this time.
The rest of the week was dominated by dogfish, well over 40 of them over a couple of trip to various places. It's that time of year when they seem to reach plauge proportions, which is great news for match anglers, but it can be frustrating when trying to target other species. On the species front, I did manage to sneak in the odd pouting and coalfish in between the many dogs but that was all.
Oct 4, 2006
I've had a frustrating week on the fishing front - none of my plans really produced as I was hoping they would. It can never be counted as a bad week though if I manage to get out for a cast five times...
First up was a daylight trip to Douglas Head where I was hoping to replicate the red gurnard capture from this time last year. It was always going to be a long shot, so it wasn't surprising that I only managed to catch ballan, dogs and callig.
Next on the agenda was a trip to simply use up some remaining lug - my first attempt at a flounder from Laxey beach was short lived, before I moved to Garwick for a couple of hours, where I caught a few ballan. This was followed by a trip to the Ramsey area, which produced a few coalies and a flounder, but again no bass despite the strong onshore winds.
A night session at Douglas Head produced the most fish of the week. 16 dogfish in a fast and furious 3 hours, including a monster 3lb 4oz specimen, but no 'exotic' species.
The final trip was up to the north west beaches, which didn't exactly go as planned and only resulted in a single coalfish and a mountain of weed.
I should really be in need of a fishing break after all that effort, but the tides and weather are just too good to turn down a congering opportunity this evening. Watch this space...
Sep 25, 2006
I've covered some miles since the last blog entry. First up was a trip to a very windswept Ramsey area, where I managed to tempt doggies, coalies and flounder out of the rough surf (no luck with a bass though).
Having spent a day fishing into the elements, I decided to head for shelter on the next trip and ended up at the Sound, where I caught lots of colourful cuckoo wrasse along with ballan, callig, coalie and mackerel - all achieved without the anticipated tackle losses. I must be getting old because I was struggling to get down to and then back up from the actual mark ...
Finally, to round it all off, I took a trip to one of my favourite rock marks on a flat clam sunny day and caught dogfish, callig, grey gurnard, mackerel and several ballan wrasse, including the highlight of the week: a fine ballan of 3lb 12oz ... not quite breaking the magical 4lb barrier, but great sport on a light spinning rod.
All in all a good week. Plenty of variety in terms of species, marks fished and methods used, along with a couple of decent fish to show for it. This is the start of my favourite time of the year for fishing, with plenty of fish to be caught, lots of species to go for and usually one or two specimens turning up as well. Fingers crossed for some good catches over the coming weeks.
Sep 20, 2006
Back amongst the fish this week. No monsters, but plenty of rod bending action from rock and beach (and no more accidents).
For some fun I decided to spend an hour fishing for mini-species on one trip. A size 10 hook on a paternoster trace, baited with tiny pieces of lugworm was lowered down the side of a shallow rock mark. Small ballan were instantly hooked, but try as I might, I just couldn't pull out a corkwing wrasse. I did however manage to catch a few blennies, which on another occassion might have been saved as live bait for congers, but today they all went back alive.
I was distracted from my mini-species fishing by seeing something slightly larger in the form of a minke whale about 300 yards from the shore - I sure was glad that I had packed the binoculars.
Sep 10, 2006
15 hours worth of fishing effort this week, and only one coalie and a small conger eel to show for it. To top it all, I somehow managed to fall over on one of the flatest rocks marks on the Island and sprained my ankle. Oh well, it could have been worse, and next week can only get better...
In truth, I could quite simply have chosen easier targets and more productive marks, but I decided to try a few new things in a few new places - when such tactics do pay off (which is rarely) then they are well worth the effort, but when they fail it can be frustrating to say the least. One thing is for sure, I shall be heading for a confidence boosting banker mark/method next time !!!
I might not have caught many fish, but I did get to watch the sunrise and sunset. I also got to see the full moon, which looks huge at this time of year (all an optical illusion apparently) as well as watching seals bask on rocks and gannets diving into shoals of fish.
Thankfully, fishing isn't just about catching fish.
Sep 3, 2006
After catching a couple of cuckoo wrasse last weekend, there was only one species remaining on my list of targets for the year ... bass.
With this in mind I decided to make a rare journey to the NW beaches outside of tope season. Conditions were not ideal, strong westerly winds had created a sizeable surf which in turn would churn up lots of floating weed. It was no surprise that after only 5 minutes the first cast had swung round almost back to the beach, the line covered in weed. At this point I feared the worst, and even contemplated moving somewhere else, but I decided it was too soon to abandon and carried on. I didn't have to wait long to realise I had made the right decision as 10 minutes later my first bass of the year was pulled from the surf. Not a monster by any means, but a bass none the less, and enough to put a smile on my face. I carried on fishing and landed a flounder and a couple of mini turbot in between hauling in rafts of weed (which thankfully eased off as the tide flooded).
Now I can head back to my favoured rock marks, content to have caught my bass for the year (although I am sure I will be tempted back to the beaches to try and catch a bigger one).
Aug 28, 2006
Plenty of variey this week, with half a dozen different species, however it didn't start well when an attempt for congers at one of my usual hot spots resulted in a blank. Thankfully things improved as the weekend arrived.
Saturday saw me returning to the south of the Island where I caught my first cuckoo wrasse of the year. Cuckoo are one of those species I make an effort to catch each year simply because they are so colourful. The same trip also saw me land callig, dogfish and a small conger, although I lost at least two other eels along with a vast quantity of tackle - a regular theme when conger fishing.
A trip on bank holiday Monday resulted in three nice tub gurnards (each one displaying the fantastic blue edged pectoral fins) along with several ballan, mackerel and callig. All fish, including the ballan, were tempted by mackerel baits, but the real surprise was not catching a dogfish.
I really must get around to having a go for bass, but I find it hard to drag myself away from the quality and variety of fish from the rock marks at this time of year...
Aug 21, 2006
For the first time in ages I managed to get two trips in this weekend, visiting the same rock mark on both occasions.
The weather on Saturday was far from ideal with showers and a fresh SW wind creating enough swell to prevent me from reaching my preferred fishing platform. Despite this I had an enjoyable trip, and although I didn't do so well as Jonny (who landed half a dozen callig between 2lb 8oz and 4lb 8oz) I did manage to land one callig in the 3lb bracket, along with two 2lb+ ballan (both of which were caught on mackerel).
I returned to the same spot again on Sunday, and this time the weather could not have been better. Light winds and warm sunshine greeted me upon my arrival and I was able to get to the exact rock that I wanted to fish from. The result was a good session spinning for callig, with several landed, including three fish weighing in at over 3lb, the biggest reaching 3lb 7oz. I have been meaning to specifically target callig for some time now, and after such an enjoyable session I am kicking myself that I didn't get around to it sooner. It offers a real chance to catch big fish on light tackle. What more could you ask for. Weather permitting I shall be trying again next weekend, and fingers crossed that this time there will be a bigger one waiting...
All fish on Sunday were caught on a tempest sandeel, which when hooked in the right way looks extremely lifelike in the water - it certainly outfished my normal favourite artificial (a black jeltex sandeel). I still don't think that any artificial lure is as good as a real sandeel, but they do help to specifically target callig on a day when mackerel would otherwise be destroying sandeel baits every cast.
Aug 14, 2006
I had a trip to Marine Drive the other day. It is somewhere that I don't usually go in the summer, but it just happened to be sheltered from the wind so I thought it would be worth taking a look to see if anything unexpected turned up from the deep water. I caught a fine red gurnard there around about this time last year, but nothing much turned up this time apart from the usual run of the mill dogfish and callig.
My first job on arriving was not sorting out my tackle, but rather collecting the litter left by previous so called 'anglers' into a bag to take home. I struggle to understand how people who go fishing can leave litter. I would have thought that everyone who fishes would have an appreciation and enjoyment of the natural world, but it seems that they don't. I suppose it's not that surprising. There are idiot minorities in all walks of life, so there's no reason why angling should be any different, but then again, there is no reason why people can't pack all their litter into a bag and take it home...
Finally, I thought this site might be of interest to some: Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch
Aug 5, 2006
I headed to Point West for my last attempt at tope for the year. As always, the first priority was to catch some fresh mackerel for bait. Mackerel numbers have been great this year, so it was not surprising that the trusty floaty beads picked up half a dozen in the first 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended. The tope did not show (again). Mackerel turned out to be a problem throughout, even taking large baits fished hard on the bottom at times. Given the lack of tope (it has been a bad year for them) I decided that I would fish a second rod to try and find a couple of extra species. I managed to add dogs, tub gurnard and a whiting to the many mackerel.
I fished up to 9:30, and for the first time this year really noticed that the nights are drawing in. For most people that is probably a bad sign, the beginning of the end of summer, but for me it means that my attention will soon be drawn to fishing for congers, something that I really enjoy. I hope fresh mackerel are still as easy to come by then...
Jul 23, 2006
Well it's been another long break between fishing trips (holidays being the reason this time) so it was nice to finally get out again after the excitement of the last tope trip which seems a long time ago now.
I missed out on the recent set of tope tides, but gave it a go for them on Saturday even though I didn't have high expectations. The first aim was to secure some fresh mackerel for bait which was easily accomplished within 15-20 minutes using the trusty floaty bead. I hedged my bets and fished one large mackerel bait at range (hoping for tope) and another close in (hoping for bass). I didn't have any luck on either rod, and as darkness fell I was soon plagued by dogfish. Never mind, first trip for over two weeks and half a dozen mackerel and doggies were better than nothing.
I settled for another evening trip on Sunday, but this time I returned to the rocks for the first time in ages. Using the fresh mackerel from the previous evening I happily caught doggies, callig, grey and tub gurnard and more mackerel. I was about to head for home when I decided to give the fly rod a go for quarter of an hour.
I should point out that when it comes to fly fishing I am a complete novice. I bought what can only be described as a 'toy' rod last year for the princely sum of £15. A £20 reel was added along with some cheap sinking line (WF 8 I think). Some homemade flies tied by a friend completed my saltwater flyfishing outfit, which never really got used at all last year, despite my best intentions. Not surprisingly, I did not have any real hope of actually catching anything, but I thought that it would give me some desperately needed casting practice.
A couple of attempted casts finally saw me chucking the fly about 10 yards away from the rocks where I was perched. I wasn't quite sure what to do next, so simply started stripping the fly back toward me in short sharp motions. If any real fly fisherman had seen me then I am sure the comedy casting and retrieving would have had them shaking their head in disbelief. Anyway, secure in the knowledge that no one could see me making a complete hash of it I carried on. After a couple of successful 'casts' I realised that I wasn't letting the line sink deep enough, so I began to wait longer before retrieving. To my complete surprise this actually worked !!! A fish hit me right under the rod tip. I was amazed at how well the rod handled what felt like a sizeable fish, and was beginning to think to myself that this was going to be easy. Then the fish seemed to wake up and went off like a missile. Unsure as to how much pressure I could apply with the rod I had to let the fish run, and gradually I brought it to a halt. I started stripping line back toward me, praying all the time that the fish would stay on, and that the rod would cope. A couple of minutes later I lifted a mackerel out of the water.
To say I was pleased was an understatement. I have always wanted to catch a mackerel on the fly, and it was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be. The mackerel was returned to the water and I had a couple more casts, catching a small coalie and callig, both of which were about 12 inches each. I was stunned at how well the fly fished in my inexperienced hands, but by now the fly was looking slightly the worse for wear. It was also getting quite dark so I packed up and headed for home. I still have a lot to learn about fly fishing, but at least now I have a starting point. I am now convinced that not only is this a fun way to catch fish, but that it can also be a productive method - perhaps more so than spinning ...
All in all a great trip. 6 species, including 3 on the fly. Fingers crossed that it isn't another 2 weeks until the next trip.
Jul 7, 2006
Second trip of the week, and another tope !!!
Having successfully caught my 'one for the year' my next target was to catch a better one. All of my biggest tope have come from marks further south than Point West, this might simply be coincidence, but it gives me enough confidence to fish other marks where my own past experiences indicate that tope are normally fewer in numbers, but greater in size.
The theory was bourne out again this evening (or it could just have been another coincidence...) The brisk SW winds had me in two minds about whether to head further south, or to stick to the shelter of Point West. In the end I decided to head south, hoping for a better fish and keen also to escape the crowds.
I arrived at my chosen venue, and as expected there were no other anglers to be seen. The wind had kicked up a lazy surf, which I knew in turn would bring problems with weed. The first couple of casts confirmed my concerns about weed, but I carried on, knowing that there would be a brief spell of slack water when the tide changed direction. The slack water would also mean less weed. This slack water period only lasts about half an hour, but I believe it is the one of the most likely times to catch a tope - perhaps this is simply another coincidence, but again my previous experiences lead me to believe that there is some truth in it.
Sure enough, the slack water arrived, the weed was less of a problem and a tope picked up my bait and headed toward Scotland at a fair rate of knots.
After an exciting fight, the tope finally broke surface about 20 yards out. Landing it on my own proved to be quite a challenge, especially with weed preventing the leader knot from passing through the tip ring. After a brief struggle I finally managed to grab the tail of the tope and brought it to shore. The scales confirmed a weight of about 28lb, and following a couple of quick photographs the tope was safely returned to the water, and a happy angler set about baiting up for another cast.
The weed gradually became worse after that as the tide picked up, and it quickly became unfishable, but by then I really didn't mind.
Jul 5, 2006
After very nearly a fortnight without any fishing I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms, so when the chance to go for a cast eventually came around I was off like a shot.
July 5th, Tynwald Day, the Manx national day, which means there is a fair, some ancient ritual about declaring all the laws passed in the previous year from Tynwald Hill, and best of all, a public holiday.
The weather has been fantastic for the last week, hot by our standards and very little wind. Perfect conditions on the run up to this set of tope tides. So far this year the tope have been non-existent,despite many hours of effort. I find fishing for tope to be frustrating at times, long hours spent waiting for the excitement, which more often than not does not come. Fortunately, today was one of the times when the frustration gave way to excitement.
I was in two minds about trying for a tope, but a few stale lugworm in the fridge helped me decide on taking a trip up to Point West. The plan was to fish for dabs on one rod, and tope on a second rod. Given the previous lack of tope this year I thought it would be a good idea to hedge my bets. First cast resulted in a double shot of a mackerel and a dab, the first part of the plan accomplished. A couple of other mackerel soon followed before the real excitement began.
Just as I was about to cast my dab rod out again, the unexpected finally happened, a screaming tope run on the other rod. 5 minutes later I landed my first tope of the year, which tipped the scales at about 23lb. Not what I would class as a monster, but when it comes to catching tope from the shore, size really is not that important - any tope is great fun and a fantastic achievement. After a couple of pictures the tope was returned to fight another day, and hopefully to provided another angler with fun and excitement. I missed a second tope run soon afterwards when it dropped the bait, but the dissappopintment of that didn't particularly bother me.
By now, one or two other anglers were also catching the odd tope, including a 19lber for
Dan Arneil (his first ever - well done Dan), but for me the excitement was over.
Withdrawal symptoms were well and truly cured.
Jun 22, 2006
When I booked this week off work as holidays, I was anticipating summer weather and tope tides. Well, the weather has been more like the middle of winter than the middle of summer, so unfortunately, tope fishing was not really an option.
Gales in June are most unusual, and they may have put pay to my planned tope trips, but they haven't stopped me completely from getting out fishing.
Monday was reasonable day weather wise, and I spent it on one of my favourite marks and bagged up on doggies, mackerel and gurnards. Nothing special, but certainly better than being sat behind a desk.
On Tuesday I tried plugging early in the morning for a bass, but didn't have a single touch. Still, it was nice to be out and about at dawn, and to even catch a rare sight of the sun !!!
Wednesday was a very windy day. Strong to gale force SW winds made it a challenge to even get out fishing anywhere. Luckily it was dry apart from the occassional scattered shower, so I decided to brave the elements and settled for a trip to Stone Boat, where I was content to catch a few doggies. I had hoped that I might get lucky and catch a bull huss, as this is a spot where they turn up, but it wasn't to be.
Thursday saw the strong SW winds swinging to the west, which opened up many more potential marks. I headed off to a rock mark down south that I haven't fished for quite some time. The rain held off (just) and I managed to catch my first congers of the year, landing 2 eels, both around the 7/8lb mark and losing a 3rd in a remarkable daylight session. Besides the congers, I also caught a few doggies and callig, so all in all, a good trip.
One day of the holiday left to go, and finally the weather is looking more like summer than winter. No doubt the sun will be splitting the rocks again on Monday.
Jun 15, 2006
It has been a frustrating 10 days since the previous blog entry. The weather has been perfect, but I've not had much joy on the fishing front.
A couple of trips for an early tope were unsuccessful - not that surprising as it was still quite early in the year, but disappointing as the weather was perfect. Fingers crossed for similar conditions on the next set of tides. Following on from the early attempts at tope I then had a couple of trips for a bass, which again resulted in disappointment. Despite recent reports of a few bass being caught I failed to find even one.
As therapy for the many hours of fishing effort, with nothing more than a few dogfish to show for it, I decided to have a nice easy session catching mackerel on a light spinning outfit from the rocks on a flat calm evening. The fish didn't show until about 9:30, but from then on it was alive with them, and the sport they provided on a light spinning outfit was a great tonic to the fishless hours of previous trips. I would soon get bored of catching bucket loads of mackerel every trip, but this evening it was just what I needed. Darkness arrived all to soon, and I was forced to call it a day and scrambled back up the rocks even though the mackerel were still throwing themselves on the spinner on most casts.
I was intending on releasing all bar a couple of the mackerel so I replaced the standard treble on the spinner with a single hook. This does not adversely affect hook ups, so you catch just as many fish, but what it does do is make it a whole lot easier to unhook them with a t-bar style disgorger, which enables you to return the fish to the water without handling. This is very important when it comes to mackerel as any fish that have been handled will usually not survive for long after you return them.
Jun 5, 2006
Callig were my intended target on what turned out to be a completely flat calm evening (ideal for kayaking perhaps...)
The first problem I encountered (after negotiating the TT traffic) were the thousands of midgies intent on trying to eat me alive - memo to self for future trips on calm evenings: bring insect repellant.
The second problem was trying to find a way through the shoal of mackerel that were breaking the surface all around me. After catching a couple of mackerel on different rubber eels I eventually settled on an extraordinarily large yellow fishtek eel. This certainly had the desired effect of avoiding mackerel, and it wasn't long until I started to catch callig. Best fish of the night was just over three and a half pound, which was great fun on a light spinning rod. This particular callig was very pale in colour. I was later smashed up by something bigger, which is always a risk when fishing light.
It never ceases to amaze me when spinning in very clear water the number of fish that follow the lure only to turn away at the last second. Its amazing also to regularly watch ballan wrasse following rubber eels in - seemingly out of curiosity.
All this calm weather is ideal for tope...
May 30, 2006
After the success of my previous trip I fully expected the next outing to be a bit of an anti-climax, but I was in for a pleasant surprise.
Only five species this time, but I did manage to find my first mackerel shoal of the summer. Great fun was had catching well over 30 of them in a mad hour on a light spinning outfit. I wish I had brought my fly rod for some crazy sport. At times the water seemed literally to be alive with them as the surface boiled with fish. I kept the first dozen to go some way to re-filling my bait freezer and returned the rest without handling.
It's official - summer is definitely here.
May 28, 2006
After my exploration on the previous outing I decided to go back to one of my 'banker' marks for today's trip, and what a trip it turned out to be when no fewer than seven species seized upon my lug and sandeel offerings !!!
First species of the day was a tub gurnard, the first one I have seen this year. Next cast produced a dogfish, and I feared that perhaps I would be plagued by them, but it didn't turn out that way at all.
Species number 3 was a dab, another first for the year, quickly followed by a ballan. A grey gurnard was the next species to make an appearance and species number 6 was a mackerel. I added a couple more dogs, grey gurnard and ballan to the tally before the final surprise of the day, a last cast plaice.
An excellent days fishing despite not having a single peeler crab to my name...
May 26, 2006
Another week of miserable weather and very little fishing effort on my part.
The only fish to turn up for me this week were dogs, callig and ballan (my first of the year), but without doubt the highlight of the week was a blank trip...
At first glance, that statement seems somewhat bizzare, but there is a reason for it. Most times that I go fishing, I have a good idea of what I am likely to catch. This is good because it makes it easy to go fishing safe in the knowledge that I am likely to catch the intended species, but it can and does become predictable. The blank trip this week was one of those trips where I went somewhere that I wouldn't normally visit, or use tactics that I wouldn't normally use.
Fishing somewhere that I haven't been for many years added a certain excitement that you can't get from going to the same old favourite spots. The location and method were always going to be a long shot, but when they come off then it is worth the risk. On this occassion I blanked, but the 3 hours of fishing were great fun. There was an element of anticipation throughout, not quite knowing what to expect and trying to unlock the secrets of a new mark. A mini adventure in new surroundings. No fish, but plenty of wildlife to watch including a hare that quite happily hopped along the beach - now that's something you don't see everyday.
Roll on my next adventure into the unknown.
May 17, 2006
Well I haven't been able to get as much fishing in as I would have liked during the last week which is a shame as it is clear that catches have picked up considerably.
The only trip I did manage to fit in was another journey up to the NW beaches. I was rewarded with my first flounder of the year and so was happy to tick another species of the list.
Fingers crossed that I get more opportunities this week !!!
May 6, 2006
I don't fish the NW beaches very often for the simple fact that I prefer fishing from rocks. However, I do make an effort to have a few trips each year up to the long stretches of uninterrupted beaches for the simple fact that I can catch species there that I can't elsewhere. Variety, after all, is the spice of life.
My infrequent trips 'up north' bring with them elements of excitement and dread in equal measure. I always feel uncomfortable waiting for the rod tip to signal a bite from flounder, bass or tope, and every passing minute that doesn't bring a fish has me wishing I had gone to a rock mark somewhere instead, but when the rod tip does move then the excitement begins ...
Today was one of my rare ventures to the beach. Lugworm and sandeel baits were destined to be fished close in on a simple one up one down trace. My main aim was to catch a first flounder of the year, with an outside chance of a bass also being a possibility.
On only the second cast the rod tip registered a bite. A quick rattle that soon stopped. I was fairly sure it was a flounder that had taken the bait and was now settled on the seabed enjoying it's meal. I left the rod for a couple of minutes before retrieving. Straight away I could feel that there was a fish on, and a sense of relief eased through me - at least I wasn't going to blank. Happy with that thought I quickly brought the fish in, where a first glance confirmed my thoughts as a flat fish broke through the surf. It was then that I noticed something was different ... It turned out that I hadn't caught a flounder, but a turbot, a fine fish that measured 31cm, which is by far the biggest turbot I have caught.
Unfortunately, that was the only action for the entire trip, but I still went home happy with a bonus species for the year.
Apr 29, 2006
A glorious sunny Saturday + fishing 2 hours either side of high water on a peacefully quiet rock mark = the perfect antidote to a long week at work.
5 dogs in the first 5 casts had me reaching for the spinning rod in search of some variety. It was nice to see that the dogs are back in numbers, another sign that summer is almost here, but I didn't want to simply catch doggies all day.
After a brief, and unsuccessfull, attempt at driftlining for ballan, I switched to an hour of spinning which produced 4 callig, the best of which was a 2lb 8oz fish that gave great sport on my light outfit. It must be the first fish I have caught all year that actually took line from me. The callig still aren't about in any great numbers, but things are steadily improving. I did lose another good fish to the weed, so I even have a tale of the one that got away...
Once high water had passed I returned to the big rod, landing another 7 dogs and a fine grey gurnard of 33cm.
I have a soft spot for gurnards, possibly because I didn't catch one until I moved to the east of the Island and started fishing that side regularly. Greys are the smallest of the gurnards, and a 33cm fish is a fine specimen. The greys turn up earlier and are more prolific than the tubs (which grow much much bigger). In recent years I have noticed a dramatic increase in grey gurnard numbers, and I have struggled to get passed the greys to catch a tub or two. I was lucky enough last year to catch a red gurnard (my first ever) so fingers crossed I can repeat that later in the year.
Apr 23, 2006
Only managed to get the one trip in this week - a quick 3 hour session fishing up to high water at 9pm on what was an absolutely flat clam evening. An evening like that would be ideal for a tope in a couple of months time, but for now the tope will wait.
I caught a couple of doggies on baits anchored to the bottom, along with three callig and single coalie caught in a frantic final half hour spinning. All fish were easily sizeable, but nothing special. It was just fun to have some sport on the light spinning rod, and nice to see that things improved slightly on last week. Callig certainly aren't about in great numbers yet, but they are at least there to be caught.
I was again fortunate enough to spot a porpoise amazingly close, albeit only briefly. It's highlights the point the going fishing isn't necessarily all about catching fish - something that is impossible to explain to anyone who does not fish...
Apr 15, 2006
After two successive blanks I was slightly apprehensive as I set off for a daylight trip, but on the walk out to one of my favourite spots I could just sense that spring was in the air. By the time I arrived at the fishing spot and had set up the rod I was quietly optomistic.
It was nice just to be sitting in warm sunshine again, floatation suit left at home and even thoughts of wearing shorts wandering through my head...
Anyway, on with the fishing. A first cast doggie put an instant smile on my face, and a second cast grey gurnard (my first of the year) had me grinning like a lunatic. For the first time this year I had brought my spinning outfit along for the trip, so seeing as I was on a roll I decided to set it up and give a try as high water approached. I caught one sizeable callig (another first for the year) but action was slow (as expected). Give it a couple more weeks and there should be some good sport to be had with callig, but for now, another important milestone for the year had been reached.
Back to the big rod, and I managed a couple more dogs and was contemplating packing up for the day, happy with how things had gone. A good trip got even better, when on the last cast I caught a plaice of about 13 inches, which again had me grinning like a madman.
All in all a great trip, and 3 hours well spent. Sunshine, fish, 3 new species for the year and to top it all, the pleasure of watching a porpoise sporadically appearing in front of me throughout the trip.
Apr 6, 2006
A tough week this week, and hardly worth writing about. Two trips totalling 6 hours of fishing effort and not a single bite for my troubles. That's the way of it at this time of year so I am not that surprised or dissappointed. Judging by recent competition results, I am not alone in struggling at the minute - makes me appreciate just how good last weeks trip was.
There will be another couple of tough weeks ahead yet, but it won't be long now until the summer species arrive and the spinning rod can be brought out for some fun fishing.
March 28, 2006
Bizarrely I have somehow made it almost 3 months into the new year without catching a whiting. That's just like fishing all summer and not catching a mackerel !!!
I decided that I should finally make a concerted effort to catch a winter whiting before they disappear and are thankfully replaced by more sporting summer species. After a long winter of wishing for the light nights to return, there was a certain irony to sitting there in the early evening daylight eagerly waiting for it to get dark.
I was set up and fishing by 6:15, but wasn't expecting much action until daylight gave way to darkness. As it turned out I didn't have to wait that long to catch my first whiting of the year. Within half an hour I had landed a double shot of sizeable whiting. Mission accomplished, another species ticked off for the year. As darkness slowly fell I began to steadily catch more fish. I ended up with half a dozen sizeable whiting along with a dogfish, a small callig and several undersized whiting and codling.
March 14, 2006
A wet evening behind Douglas Head. If I had bothered to look at the weather forecast more closely then chances are that I wouldn't have gone fishing at all, let alone fishing on the rocks at the bottom of a steep cliff in the rain.
I usually fish here with large baits, but this evening I decided to fish small baits/hooks because I thought it would be hard going to catch anything. This proved to be true in the first hour, when the only fish I caught was a nice coalie on the very first cast. After that the rain set in, but at least it wasn't cold or windy. There was a spurt of activity at the end, which saw a couple of dogs swiftly followed by a small codling and a rockling.
All in all, not a bad trip given the time of year. I certainly had plenty of variety with 4 species, but yet again the whiting escaped me...
March 11, 2006
The weather forecast for later in the day was evil (gale force winds and sleet/snow were on the menu) but the forecast for early in the day was much better. After weighing up the options I decided on a trip to Peel Castle to target some mackerel.
High water was a couple of hours earlier that I would have preferred, so I had no choice other than to get there early. This meant a 6am alarm call (and I would still be fishing later in the tide than I would have ideally liked). Resisting the strong desire to remain in bed I somehow managed to get up and load the car. It was bitterly cold. The windscreen needed de-icing, and I literally skated across the rocks to my chosen fishing platform, by which time my hands were numb with cold and I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of my decision to target mackerel. Luckily I didn't have time to ponder about how stupid the idea had been because first cast resulted in a very tentative bite, which eventually transformed in a bemused looking mackerel being landed despite the close attention of a seal.
I missed a couple of other bites in the next hour before hooking and landing my second mackerel of the day (no sign of the seal this time). Neither fish was the 2lb+ lunker that I was secretly hoping for, but any mackerel is welcome at this time of year. As expected, it went quiet as high water approached, and after another blank hour I decided to pack up and head for home. At least it had warmed up a lot by then!!!
The key to catching mackerel from here early in the year is to fish a standard 2 hook trace, but with a large floaty bead trapped on the top hooklength. I usually bait the bottom hook with lug, as that will tempt any early dabs that may be about. The mackerel take small sandeel baits on the floaty bead at any distance from 50 yards and beyond. Mackerel bites can be very tentative at this time of year, with some fish hardly registering on the rod tip.
I enjoy fishing the castle rocks. I could probably have caught twice as many mackerel from the breakwater, but I wouldn't have had half as much fun.
March 5, 2006
Plan 'A' had been to head to Peel for an attempt at mackerel, but fresh NW winds scuppered that, so it was swiftly changed to plan 'B'; scratching at a sheltered Douglas Head.
In truth, it was good to simply be out fishing again after a break of over 2 weeks. There was plenty of shelter behind the head, and the sun was bright and surprisingly warm. Prospects for actual fishing were not going to be great under the circumstances, so I was happy not to blank when I landed what turned out to be the only dogfish of the day. It's on days like today that I am thankfull for a doggie. So many anglers seem to loathe them, and while they can be a nuisance at times they do at least provide a target when other fish simply aren't there to be caught. Of course, a couple of months from now when the dogs are around in huge packs then I might still grumble slightly at hauling in 'yet another doggie', but today I was glad to see one.
True to from, PC somehow managed to catch his now obligatory whiting to narrowly avoid blanking.
February 28, 2006
A typical February.
As usual, I struggled this month. Despite a few trips to Douglas Head in darkness, all I could manage was one decent coalie, a solitary dogfish and a couple of pouting. To compound my misery even further, I had to stand by and watch PC catch half a dozen decent whiting over the course of the few trips. A close inspection of his trace at the end of the last session gave me some pause for thought, although I bet that he is secretly envious of my pouting catching ability ...
A trip to Point West produced a first ever flounder for DA, and some dabs further along the beach. Yet again, I struggled - managing only undersized codling.
Anyway, seeing as the fishing is so poor at this time of year, I decided on the spur of the moment to buy a book about HTML and CSS for learners. To be honest, I was struggling to even make it into the learners category!!! Much to my surprise, the book was not only educational, but strangely enjoyable as well. The result is this website you see before you. Not bad for a weeks worth of learning followed by a weeks worth of writing by a person who previously had no idea about how websites were created. Everything you see has been put together simply by using Notepad, the most basic of applications installed on every PC as standard. The best part is, that it's now March already and I hadn't even noticed.
It would be rude not to give a plug to the book that helped me so much, so here it is Head First HTML
January 29, 2006
Another trip to Marine Drive, fishing a couple of hours either side of a midday high water.
I fished a similar set up to my previous trip here, but only caught dogs this time, lots of them !!! I counted a dozen before finally deciding that enough was enough and headed home several grip leads lighter...
January 15, 2006
At last, the weather conditions I had been waiting for - a spell of strong south-easterly winds. At this
time of year that signals Ramsey
. I decided to fish the second half of the tide up to high water,
which was shortly before midnight.
I was armed with plenty of fresh lug and a few mussels and razorfish. My plan was to fish close in, where I expected to catch coalies and if I was lucky, a bass ... As luck would have it, the bass didn't turn up but the coalies certainly kept me busy. There were a couple of better fish amongst them, the best easily stretching to about 45cm. Apart from the coalies I also caught a three bearded rockling (species number 5 for the year).
Reading a report on the Ramsey Angling Club website the next day I discovered that a couple of other anglers had the same idea as me, except that they fished the midday high water, during which a couple of bass did turn up.
January 8, 2006
An afternoon trip to Marine Drive on a very calm day.
I like fishing Marine Drive. It can be a tackle graveyard at times, but it fishes well in daylight in winter, so was an ideal place to spend a few hours on a calm day. To minimise the tackle losses I fished a single hook rig with a rotten bottom. I was hedging my bets by alternating between mackerel baits which would pick up dogfish, and large lug/mussel cocktails that I hoped would entice a codling.
Not surprisingly, the dogfish attacked the mackerel baits regularly, and I ended up catching 5 and losing a couple to the snags. The alternate casts when I had lug/mussel on were not getting touched until just before I was about to pack up. A classic knock-knock-knock on the rod tip, followed by slack line signalled something that definitely was not a dogfish. Moments later, a nice codling of 2 3/4lb was sitting on the rock beside me. The moment of joy was soured slightly when I realised I didn't have my camera with me, but not to worry. I slipped the codling back into the sea then fished on for another hour without incident before heading for home.
January 2, 2006
If there isn't a law that states you must go fishing on every public holiday
then there damn
well should be. Not wanting to fall foul of any potential law, I dragged myself off for an afternoon's
fishing. The wind from the previous couple of days had died away completely resulting in a pleasant
day for the time of year.
I had a very enjoyable trip, which resulted in my first mackerel of the year, shortly followed by a couple of dogs and a nice coalie of about a pound and a half. It was definitely much better than being at work!!!
Not bad, 2 days into the new year and 4 species on the list.
January 1, 2006
Well, not the best of starts to the fishing year. Strong NW winds tempted me to the west of the Island - my theory being that the onshore winds would have created good feeding conditions for coalies, flounder and the odd bass. The theory was certainly solid, but in practice it just didn't happen. There was way too much weed in the water to make it possible to fish at all. I struggled on for an hour before deciding to cut my losses and head for home.
During the drive home I decided that seeing as I had made the effort to get fresh lug that I may as well at least try to catch my first fish of 2006 before retreating to the warmth and comfort of the indoors. With this in mind I settled on fishing at the Battery Pier for an hour, just to catch that first fish. One of the reasons I had headed west in the first place was to satisfy an irrational urge that my first fish of the year should not be a dogfish. With this in mind, I had only brought lug and mussell baits with me, but there was no guarantee that a doggie still wouldn't be my first fish of the year as I cast two small baits into the deep water between the Battery and Victoria piers.
Surprisingly, there were no other anglers on the pier (why is that never the case when I decide to try there for congers?) I fished for the hour, and in that time caught pouting and poor cod steadily throughout, constantly regretting that I had only brought one rod with me - it would have been interesting to drop one of the pouting down the side as a conger bait.
Not the best of starts to the fishing year, but I didn't blank and I had a couple of species for the 2006 species list.
