Awesome time in Dorset this weekend. There were Corkwing Wrasse EVERYWHERE! Catching anything else was a challenge. However, hard to be annoyed by a fish as pretty as this.
Wrasse
A core fish-family amongst genuine UK ‘rockfish’ are the wrasse. In the UK we have 5 species of wrasse to target with light rock fishing (LRF) tactics; Ballan Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Goldsinny Wrasse and the Rock Cook. The Ballan being the largest species. Each wrasse species has its preferences – both habitat and prey items. The following articles will hopefully help in terms of fish identification, suitable techniques and the best lures for each species.
Ultralight Boat
With practice it’s amazing what you can get away with on the boat. This beautifully marked Ballan Wrasse was fooled at slack tide fishing a 2.3g Shirasu jighead in 9m of water.
Rockfishing With Masa
Masa and I had a great day rockfishing at Kimmeridge in Dorset. It was a beautiful day on the rocks and I finally got a proper ‘rockfish’ for Masa, before he heads back to Japan. Great memories for us both.
I’ll skip over the bit about ‘someone’ losing the immobiliser fob for the van!
Alderney 24 Hour Lure Competition
Back from another amazing time on the island of Alderney, fishing the 2013 Alderney Lure Only Species Hunt competition. It was, as expected, tremendous fun and has left me with the same empty feeling of unrequited love that I endured the last time I returned from fishing the incredible waters around Alderney. There is so much fishing to experience here. World class.
Light Rock Fishing Kimmeridge Bay
Last stop in my Dorset smackdown was Kimmeridge Bay – a mark with almost cult status – especially for Bass. But I had LRF wrasse on my mind…
Megabass or Megawrasse lures?
It seems an awful long time ago but back in August I discovered Megabass Hiraishin 475 Numa Ebi plastics while browsing through the web and after reading up a bit I ordered a couple of packets as kind of all round HRF lures mainly with the boat in mind but quickly found they are the all-round plastic I never knew I needed!
My First Ever Goldsinny!
Very happy with this one. My first ever Goldsinny Wrasse by any method and again I have light rock fishing tactics to thank for it. I swapped back to my lighter solid tip rod and fished a split shot rig, tiny hook and a small section of large Power Isome. This takes me to 22 species this year.