Lucky Craft GunFish Top Water Lure

I’ve decided to post a video of one of my favourite top water lures.

Top to bottom: Aurora Black / Aurora Black Zebra / Ghost Minnow Zebra / Sunfish Zebra

I use this lure mainly in estuaries or in very calm seas with great success. Walking the dog with this lure is a piece of cake.

Top water lures are very effective, especially in summer, and very exciting as the hit is clearly visible and you can often see the fish approaching before the attack. You sometimes find that a Sea Bass will actually whack it with the tail and the best thing to do is nothing. Stop retrieving and wait a few seconds, if the bass hasn’t realised the lure is plastic it will spin round and bite. Imagine a bait fish and how it would be stunned by a tail whack, and this is what you should try to mimic. If the fish doesn’t return start retrieving very slowly as if the “bait fish” is slowly recovering and this can provoke the strike.

Try different speeds of retrieval and sometimes stop the lure a couple of seconds before continuing the retrieval.

I highly recommend this lure.

The video was filmed last summer on my mobile phone so the quality isn’t the best. I hope to film a hit this coming summer with the Go Pro Hero.

If you’re going to use this lure in salt water then try to buy the salt water version. Apart fon the packaging it’s easy to indentify because the salt water versions don’t have feathers on the back treble.

Happy Fishing

Mackerel

This morning bright and early I set off to catch my first sea bass with my Bait Casting reel and rod. I tried with several lures and when I lost a soft lure (Savage Gear sandeel with a Berkley 10 gr Jig head) because of backlash, I also lost hope and was freezing anyway. The sandeel snagged while I was desperately trying to sort out the birds nest.

I then decided to film three of my favourite lures underwater and thought I had, but when I got home and watched the footage I realised I hadn’t pressed record on the camera. Not a good morning.

However all was not lost. I ran into a couple of friends who were practising float fishing for a championship coming up in a couple of weeks and though the mullet weren’t up to being caught mackerel were hitting. I waited until they finished and then took advantage that the water had been baited to cast one of my Duo Tide Minnow 75 CD. I opted for the sardine colour and started to get some hits. In the area there are about 50 ferrell cats and thought I would feed them some of the catches. I also ran into my cat’s vet who was there to try and give the cats some medicine. So in the end I gave the cats 5 mackerel and released another 5. Both the vet and myself took a chance as it’s prohibited to feed the cats and this area is always under survailance.

In the video you can see the technique which is to allow the lure to sink about 50 – 60 cm and then retrieve fast with lots of tugs.

Don’t be fooled by the sunshine. I assure you it was very, very cold.

Warning: In the video I kill one of the mackerel. The best method is to put you forefinger in the mouth and your thumb just behind the head then pull the head back and snap the neck. You may think it’s cruel but it puts the fish out of its misery very quickly. If you catch mackerel for the plate it’s also the best method so that the mackerel doesn’t bruise from thrashing about before it finally dies.

I’ll be going back to film the lures under the surface and this time I’ll make sure to remember to press the record button!

Until then, Happy Fishing

Learning to use a Bait Casting reel Part 2

In this second post on Bait Casing I leave you 3 videos. 

The first is how I'm getting used to casting with far more strength. I'm using a Shimano Calcutta 201B Bait Casting reel with 4 of the centrifugal brakes activated. A 25 lb (0.40 mm) monofilament and a Shimano Antares 7'.00" MH one piece Black Bass rod.

In this sequence of pictures you can see how the rod loads at the cast

This second and third video is an explanation on how the casting brakes work and my advice based on my own personal experience on how to set them up as a beginner

I hope this is of some help to anyone trying to get the hang of these reels


Happy Fishing

Learning to use a Bait Casting reel. Part 1

I decided to learn how to use a bait casting reel. I’ve watched some videos and read quite a bit and now comes the time to practice.

I’ll be showing you how I’m getting along and what the differences are with spinning reels.

In this first video I show you my first experience. Feel free to laugh, I can’t hear you.

If any visitor wants to help by giving me advice or if you see something I’m doing wrong please leave a comment or contact me directly – dr.frankinspain@gmail.com

My first impression has been far better than I was expecting. I had some backlash but relatively little. Bearing in mind I’m spooled with a 0.40 mm monofilament and casting light lures I must say that when I get the hang of it I should be able to cast the same distance as with a spinning reel but using far heavier lines, which, after all, is the point of the exercise.

Happy Fishing

Sepia Officinalis (Cuttlefish)

Today I went out to try some things with the Go Pro and filmed this:

Click on "Read more" for more information

Pollachius pollachius

Commonly known as Pollock (or Pollack) it’s of the Gadidae family of fish which include Cod, Haddock and Whiting. Family features are three dorsal fins on the back a two anal fins on the underside. Most also have Barbels (whiskers) on the chin.

Very similar to the Coalfish (Pollacius virens) it’s a whitefish and, unfortunately for the Pollock, of great commercial value to the fisheries.

It can reach over 50 inches (130 cm) and weigh in at a little over 40 lb (18 kilos). However, the examples caught near the coast are more between 10 to 20 inch and between 1 and 4 lbs (25 to 50 cm / 500 grammes to 2 kilos) or smaller with very few surprises.

They can usually be found around rocky seabed with lots of vegetation, also in or near ports and harbours were they find a lot of baitfish to feed on.

The Tongue-Eating Louse

As most anglers would have noticed it is unlikely to catch a Pollock without this little creature attached. The norm is to find it attached to the tongue but it can sometimes be found on the top of the head. The creature in question is Cymothea exigua or Tongue-eating Louse. Although it isn’t a parasite in its true sense, but a Crustacean like a common crab, (try explaining this to its host fish) it behaves just like a parasite and is known as a parasitic crustacean.

The First Catch of the Year

Welcome to my Monster!

It seems apt that the first post should also be the first catch of this 2012 which if you believe in prophesies is also the last year of life as we know it.

I was a fairly good boy last year and was rewarded with some Soft-Lures and I was also lucky enough to get a Go-Pro Hero submergible camera. The sea was rough, very rough with waves reaching 4 metres and hitting the coast like a high speed train, but I couldn’t wait to try both the lures and the camera.

I’d never fished with soft-lures and, as I said, the sea was rough so I headed to a harbour not five minutes away from home to get a feel of this fishing.

I took my Shimano Twin Power 5000 FB spinning reel and a spool loaded with Fireline XDS 0.16 mm braid line with about 2 metres of Seaguar Soft 0.33 mm leader attached by an Albright knot and finishing with a Rapala clip. A Linea Effe pure carbon 8’.6’’ (2.7 mt) Sea Bass 10 lb Italian Rod with SIC low rider guides.

The Soft-Lure: SavageAR (Savage-Gear) LB 10 cm with a 28 gr jig head (just over an ounce).

The technique can only be described as coast jigging. I Cast and allowed the lure to sink and then begun my jerky retrieval.

I wasn’t expecting a Sea Bass but thought a Pollack might be tempted, I was right. On the third cast I got my hit, but why so much explaining! Just watch the video!

Ok! I didn’t quite get the angle of the Go Pro Hero right but I've improved since then.

It’s a shame you can’t hear the sea raging on the other side of the barrier behind me!