A bag for life?

Just a quick post today. 

More a tip then anything useful. 

Get yourself a couple of bags for life. Or at least nick a couple out of the boot of your mrs car. 

I use the sainsburys ones pictured below as the are touch bigger then most and apparently they are strong and sturdy. 

Firstly they are good for protecting your scales instead of having them rattling around in there with a load of leads and whatever other junk festers in there. I just wrap it around my scales (I use salter electro sampsons) and it gives the scales a bit of protection from knocks and water. 

Then when (or if) you catch a fish they make a brilliant weigh sling so you don't have to jam the hook through the fishes gills. The bags weigh 3oz but I always put the bag on and then tare the scales. Much better for the fish if your going to release it. 

But if your going to keep the fish then these bags also make brilliant fish bags. They are water tight so don't leak slime/blood all over the boot of your car, they are strong enough to cope with Bass spines and they are easy to wash out when you get the fish home. Dry them out overnight and then re wrap your scales again. 

And there you have it.....get yourself a couple of bags for life. Handy as hell. 

They won't escape out of the bucket. Honest. How to keep and use peeler crab as bait.

Picture the scene. You've got just walked back through the door after a long few hours stomping through knee deep mud collecting crab. You put your bucket down on the kitchen and you hear the usuall "your not keeping them in here" 

to which I replied, 

"how the hell are they going to get out of there? They'll be fine"

Hours pass by and we are sat in the sofa watching the telly. Tappa tappa tappa tappa. Tappa tappa tappa 

"What's that?" I was asked 

"What? I can't hear anything" (which of course I could) 

"Those bloody crabs had better not of escaped"

"How the hell would they have gotten out of that bucket? It's impossible"

Another minute or so passed by when CREEEEEAAAAKKKKKK, the living room door swings open and in walks a gurt great louster of crab and plonks itself down on the new IKEA rug. 

Well, that's not how to do it, so to save any of the the potential divorce that nearly followed said incident I thought I'd do up a quick guide for beginners on how to keep and use peeler crab as bait. 

I'm no scientist but shore crab peel the throughout the year as part of their natural growth cycle, similar to how a snake sheds its skin. They are generally collected from traps or pots which are set in the mud at low tide. People are very protective over their pots so don't be tempted to go raiding. 

Like any other natural product there a shortages and gluts. As I write this now there is hardly a peeler crab in Cornwall (apart from in my personal stash!) yet a few days ago I was buying 200-300 every couple of days. 

Any good stockist will try and keep a few hundred in stock. This is because the crab will be in various states of readiness and for fishing you need them to be cracking or popping, literally shells falling off. The image below shows what a crab should look like when you buy them from a shop. 

You'll see the back shell is lifting and will easy peel away from the crab. The reason I keep hundreds in is so that I can bring the crab on to the stage where it is ready to fish. Some of the crab I get in will take well over a week before any cracks start to appear and if the cracks are not there then it just won't peel and you might as well be using hardbacks. The adverse side is that once a crab is popping you've only got around 48 hours before he will die. I am able to manipulate the crab to either hold them back from popping or bring them on based on demand. 

When crabs are in stock your best bet is buy in bulk. They are easy to store and look after and can last a while. I often have people ask me for 50 or 60 who have 30 that are ready to use and another 30 that are not quite there. They will use the ready crab for the first couple of days and by the time they are ready use the harder crab, they are ready too. You'll probably not get any discount buying in bulk (you won't in here anyway!) but it does guarantee you that you've got the bait if you want to go out fishing. And what you don't use, you can freeze down and use for the winter cod fishing. 

To keep crab all you need is a small cool box, a couple of freezer packs and a small hand spray bottle with a bit of salt water in it. 

The crabs just need to be kept cool and moist so all you need to do is keep them somewhere cool (the garage?) in a box, change the freezer pack over every day and give them a quick squirt of water a couple of times a day. It really is that simple. 

Let's say your crab are a bit hard, what you need to do is warm them up slightly so I would leave the cool pack out to let them come to room temperature and wet them down a bit more. This can turn a hard crab to a popping crab in less then 24 hours. If you want to hold them back then you need to keep them as cool as possible. 

So now your able to keep crab all you need to do is peel them. It's pretty self explanatory really. I always take the claws off first. I grab the bottom segment, nearest the body, and twist as I pull. The twist saves ripping the crab to bits. 

Once you've done that then I peel his top shell off. From the back

Then I take his thorax, tail cover and side shell off

Leaving me with a plum, juicy, soft crab. 

I then put my hook through it a couple of times and give it a good wrap with bait elastic. A wise man once told me there was no such thing as too much bait elastic-a philosophy I stand by. 

I always make to sure to have plenty of my hook showing so as not to risk obscuring the point. 

There are many variations of this. Some people leave the legs on, some people don't, some people only peel the top shell off. There are no right or wrong ways to do it. It's the quality of the bait that counts. 

A bit of a disclaimer here too-you can usually expect your crab to be a fair bit bigger then the ones pictured here. The reason they are so small is because I keep the small ones for myself to save any of you lot moaning about the size of them. If I do have small ones in I sell them BYGOF so no one loses out. 

As always, feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to answer them. 

Fishing for Gilthead Bream:the basics

I'm getting more and more questions about fishing for gilts so here's a quick blog about how to go about fishing for them. As with all of my posts all I can do is tell you how I do it-it will be different to how many others do it but what follows works for me. 

Gilts arnt hard to catch. You don't need to cast too far, you can use relatively light kit, the rigs are simple and you don't as get as hammered by the elements as you  do on the open coast. 

WHERE TO FISH:

The estuaries are the best place to start. We are lucky enough to have 3 in Cornwall-the Fal, the Helford, and the Camel. All of these hold bream. The trick in deciding where to fish is knowing where to be and when to be there. Unfortunately the only way your going to find that is by hauling your arse out of bed and fishing. I've put far too many hours in tell the whole world what I've learned, and even then I'm often proved wrong. The fish move up through the estuaries to feed on crabs and shellfish. They will pass through different marks at different times of the tide. 

The best place to start would be google maps. Below is a screen shot of the Helford but basically all you need to do is zoom in and out of the river, find where a road passes fairly close to the river and have a scan around. You can see places to park and places to fish, then all you have to do is try. 

WHEN TO FISH:

You can catch bream at any time of day but there is no substitute for first light. I'm frequently up at 3am, fishing for first light and at work before 9am. Then you need to fish your spot hard. Cast to different areas, closer in, further out, towards any features or in the channel. The first morning is easy, the 2nd gets a bit harder but it's the 3rd and 4th morning of getting up at 3am that kills me. 

WHAT KIT?

You can start with pretty much any sea fishing kit. You don't have the swell and wind to content with so you can get away with much lighter kit. I started out with a 4000 sized fixed spool and a cheap 3lb test curve carp rod. This was fine but as time has gone on and I have spent more time fishing for them I have upgraded to what I think is the best kit on the market. My current set up is a pair of Anyfish Anywhere 11'estuary rods matched up with a pair of Daiwa Cast'izm 25's. It's not a cheap set up but it's quality. Light enough for a 2lb'er to bend the rod but heavy enough to stop a proper fish if needs be. 

But you don't need to spend silly money. A pair of 1-5oz Bass rods and a pair of 4-6000 sized fixed spools would be perfect. Load them with 12-15lb mono and a 30lb leader and your away. You can even get away with fishing heavier spinning gear if you have to but you'll struggle to land a big fish on that sort of set up. Plus if there's any weed moving up the river then you would struggle to haul in the 20 or 30lb of weed that accumulates on your line very quickly. 

RIGS AND END GEAR:

Keep it simple is the key here. I fish a running ledger using a Gemini zip slider and swivel, 18" of 30lb amnesia trace and a mustad 2/0 hoodlum. Your not casting a million miles so no need for fancy clip down rigs. I also take a variety of 3oz leads with me and decide which ones to use based on the conditions on the day but I do like the flat sided aquapedo's and Gemini watch leads. 

BAIT:

Crab. Fresh crab. There is no subsitute. Sure, people catch them on all sorts-razors, worm, mussels and limpits but personally I wouldn't bother going if i didn't have fresh crab. It's not the cheapest bait in the world but it's easy to look after, lasts for days (if not weeks) and can be frozen down for winter of its on its last legs. All you need is a small coolbox and a few freezer blocks. I take 40 or 50 if I know I'm fishing a few days and just rotate the freezer blocks to keep them cool and save my mrs moaning about there being bait in the fridge. I'll do a more detailed blog on using and keeping peeler crab in the next couple of days. 

And that's about it. If you put the time in you will catch the fish. You can make it as complicated as you want but if you follow these simple guidelines and put a bit of time and effort into it then you'll catch yourself a few fish. 

As always, feel free to pop into the shop if you have any further questions.   

Tight lines. 

Ps. Excuse any spelling/grammatical mistakes as I'm going to try use/keep things updated using my phone. 

Pulley rigs

A pulley rig accounts for probably 90% of my fishing. It's a simple rig to tie, doesn't many components, it's good to clip down and I rarely get any tangles. The pulley effect also lifts the lead off of the deck and away from any snags whilst your retrieving (assuming that the fish you catch is heavier then the weight!) Here is how I tie mine.

Components used:

Amnesia 40lb black rig body-20"
Amnesia 30lb clear snood-16"
Tronix pro pulley bead
Sakuma size 2 swivel
Breakaway imp
Sakuma 545 manta extra 3/0

I start this rig by cutting the rig body to length. As I'm sure I've mentioned before I like to keep my rigs pretty short-the less there is out there, the less tangles you have. As a rule i use 40lb black amnesia for this job if I know I'm going to be using my Century TTSM LD's as they are a 5oz rod but If I'm stepping up to heavier gear then I would use 60lb.

Then I tie on an Imp. I've used many bait clips over the years but this is the one that I find most reliable. Yes, they can be a pain in the knackers to put together but they just work.

Next I put a free running pulley bead on the rig body. I will say tat the Tronix pro pulley bead is the only one i have used and I've never had one let me down so I've never bothered trying any other. The plastic isn't too hard and the swivel isn't too big. Again, they just work.

Hook selection is pretty important and I decide which hook to use based on a couple of things. Points to consider are target species, mark and baits. For the rig I'm tying today I have opted for a single manta extra 3/0. I've chose this as I know that I will be fishing single crab baits for cod. The hook is plenty big enough for the job without being  massive, man enough to lift a fish at low water and has a nice wide gape so as to not obscure the point/barb if the crab slips down the shank. If i were using bigger baits like whole or double squid i would up the size and possibly add a pennel hook. Another example would be when ray fishing i use a pair of 4/0 540 mantas as the pennel hook holds the eel up nice and straight so stops it slipping down around the curve and sitting bent on the sea bed.

And that is pretty much as simple as it is. 4 knots, a few components and you have a very versatile rig. Here is a crab bait sitting in behind my favoured Gemini 5oz flat backed lead. It's nice an aero dynamic and there is plenty of hook showing.

Scratching rig's

It's that time of year again where is decent scratching rig is invaluable so this is how I make mine....

Here's the components I use and why I use them:

Rig body-Black amnesia 40lb. I'm not sure why but i prefer the black in 40lb. It's a toch softer and less wirey then the clear.

Traces- 30lb amnesia. It might be overkill breaking strain wise but it's that much stiffer then the lower breaking strains which gives you a boom type effect-simply it just doesn't tangle as much.

Hooks- Sakuma 540 manta 1/0's. Strong enough to land a decent fish, a decent gape for a small hook and very sharp. I've never had one let me down yet.

Crimps- gemini micro crimps.

Snood swivels- breakaway swivel T's. Again, these give you a boom effect and help stop tangles

Beads- Sakuma 5mm rig breads and Gemini lumi rig beads for the snoods

Main swivel- Sakuma round eye rolling swivels size 1

Lead clip- Breakaway fastlinks.

2 hook or 3 hook? For me it depends on a few different factors. How big the sea is, the wind, the swell, the tide,how busy a mark is and how lazy I'm feeling. Where possible I always fish 2 rods as you can have a scratching rig out and a big bait but there are plenty times when it's just not practical so I do like to have a 3 hook rig in the armoury.

So here is how I set up for each of my snoods. Crimp, bead, swivel T, bead, crimp. I don't use a crimping tool but just a small pair of pliers. I keep the distance down in between each of my snoods as I'm not a fan of gurt great long rigs. With a 15" spacing between your snoods and 8" between your snoods and a 8" space between the traces and the top/bottom (the swivel and the lead clip) you end up with a rig a little over 4', which for 3 hook rig isn't too bad.

I like to keep the traces nice and short. Somewhere between 3" and 6". It ensures your baits are hard on the bottom and the less line you have, the less likely to tangle you are. With the spacing that I use there is also no chance of the snoods tangling with each other. I also tend to put a single luminous bead on. Does it make a difference? I don't know to be honest but I do know that it definitely doesn't do any harm.

My rig's are then finished off with a decent quality swivel on the top and a good lead clip on the bottom. I wrap the whole rig around my fingers and pop them in a little 3"x4" bag and I'm ready to go. And that's about it, It's as simple as that. Tight lines.....










EDIT: I nearly forgot bout this. How can I post about scratching rigs without showing you the gayest rig that I've ever seen. And he was honestly going to cast this monstrosity out.

A new year, some new targets.

The new year is a bit of a funny one for sea anglers. It's not really a new year as such. Certainly i never see it that way. My fishing year starts sometime in March when the mackerel turn up in decent numbers and ends sometime in February when I've had enough of blanking in the cold.

Naturally, it's a good time for many clubs to start there new years and for everyone to renew there subscriptions but I've always wondered why none follow the seasons rather then the calender? I suppose the tail end of the winter gives the competitive anglers a month or so's good fishing to get a good start in for their club and county championships?

On that note, I'm sure that most of you are aware that the CFSA and it's member clubs are taking a step into the unknown and introducing  catch a release championship. Details are available but it's pretty straight forward. I just hope that we get enough anglers sign up to make it worthwhile. I'm 99% we will be starting it on 1st of February but I'll confirm that in the next week or so.

My own fishing has suffered in recent years. I've just struggled to get the motivation. Most of you look forward to your night fishing whilst your stuck at work but obviously i'm surrounded by it 24/7. Not that I'm complaining. I love fishing. I'm just hoping i can keep the enthusiasm up this year.

This year I'm going to spend a lot more time on the estuaries so I'm going to base my targets around them. I've really gotten into my floundering this year so on the front, my first target for the year is a specimen flounder. Not too many 3lb flounders get caught but you might as well set your targets high. I guess i'd be happy with one over 2 1/2 though. I've go a good month to go now so it'd be nice to get that one ticked off the list this winter.

Next one my list is bream. I've spend a reasonable amount of time breaming over the last few years but only ever in fits and starts. This year I'm going to try a bit harder. Only part of my goal is fish size-obviously another specimen would be nice but I'm going to set my target at 5lb. The other part is to spend a bit more time on new marks rather then fishing the same old marks on the Fal. Marks that don't get fished as often. I've also never had a single session on the Camel targeting bream so there's a good place to start.

Those are my 2 main targets but I'm sure things will change throughout the year. If I'm going to be spending more time on the rivers then there will be plenty of other fish to target. Both of my PB Huss and Eel's came from the rivers (Fal and Fowey respectively) and it'd be nice to have a few more rays this year.

So there you have it. That's my targets for the year set. A decent flounder and a decent bream. Hopefully I'll have them both ticked off by the end of April. 

Tight lines

P.S I'll try a bit harder to keep up with my blog this year. Expect a few more reviews and tutorials over then next few months.