It's been a busy week with work and weather getting in the way of fishing - Funny how time seems to just slip away from you sometimes. I have managed to get out locally for a couple hours of Night Light Game. Was an interesting evening as usual, finicky fish meant I had to chop and change lures and technique to induce a bite. It was the EcoGear Straw Tail Grub that was doing the damage this time.

Whiting - EcoGear Straw Tail Grub 2'' (clear glow)

The Plymouth LRF meet looks set in stone as a fortnightly event now, with more turning up and having a go. Plenty of marks still to explore in the area and a couple marks already standing out as holding the better stamp of fish. Too early to call so far, but if numbers of participants grow as expected, Plymouth could well be the LRF epicentre of mainland UK.

Sea Scorpion - Plymouth LRF meet

EcoGear - Pocket IN Mebaru

I've been using EcoGear Light Game bit's for a couple months now. If I'm totally honest, I've only got great things to say about it. The kit I want to focus on is the Pocket-In Mebaru set, a modern day bargain at £12.95 - Literally containing everything you need to go out and catch yourself a Rockfish.

Containing 2 types of softbait, jig head's to match and even a couple of scent capsules for good measure. My favourite bait being the Grass Minnow SS, which comes in at a whopping 1 1/8''(28mm). This lure has definitely taken the most species so far. Perfect for ultra slow retrieve styles, covering plenty of ground. The small profile gets confident bites from fish of all sizes.

The other bait contained in the set is the 2'' Power Shirasu. This is essentially a straight tailed bait with a small ball on the end, which helps get the tail moving in such a way which entices fish to bite. The lure is provided in 2 colours - My pack contains pearl glow and pink. Both are effective colours for UK Light Rock Fishing(LRF). You can work the Power Shirasu on a straight retrieve with small shakes of the rod tip, on the drop(OTD), or use it for vertical jigging under your feet. Very effective fish catchers.

Check out this Bass caught by Paul Gunning in the local Estuary. He was using a 0.4-6g LRF rod, 5lb Braid and a 6lb fluoro leader. This gear is totally capable of handling better fish when they come along. I'm definitely going to be having a crack at the Bass and other Summer species on my Light Game gear this year. Once you go light, there's no going back.....



The Great Fish Fight - Just who is winning?

I'm guessing some, but hopefully most of you will have seen Hugh's Fish Fight on Channel4 last night.

Some of the footage was pretty moving. It showed Commercial Fisherman having to dump up to 75% of their catch back overboard - Because it was not in quota! Prime Cod and Coalie, discarded as if it were nothing. Insane.

The EU quota's in place are just plain cr*p. They don't take the pressure off these fish by putting them on a limited 'landing' quota. These fish are still being caught, in numbers as high as if they had been the main target. It can't be helped, as they are present with the fish that the Fisherman 'are' able to land.

There is a petition in place at http://www.fishfight.net/, please visit this site sign up, then go and tell your friends to do the same. I've no idea just how many people it will take to stand up, be counted and put an end to this. But the message is clear - Things MUST change.

Light is on, anyone home?

You may well have noticed, my focus is fully on the Light Game(LRF) techniques for the winter. The amount of pure fun involved is surely the key to so many people now converting to the 'light side'. There are many, many species available to us on this light tackle. Yes, a lot of them are pretty small, but most definitely not all.

The recent 5lb+ Wrasse capture by Kev White of JerseyBassGuides on a 0.5-5g rockfish rod confirms that IF you have the necessary skill when it comes to playing out a fish, monsters like this are a realistic catch on this ultralight gear. There are details of his catch on their blog. While you're there, join up to the new Forum that they've created, some interesting stuff on there for sure.

I've been doing a little trawling around Japanese sites, courtesy of GoogleTranslate. There are some really interesting articles out there, written by anglers that really know their stuff. By far the most concise set of information I've found for Rockfishing is this Japanese site . Read it, store it, use it. A lot applies to our own Light Rock Fish, so it's well worth absorbing.

I'll leave you with a video from the AnglingSalt(Japanese publication) channel on Youtube.

The Light Game Continues

Wednesday night saw Plymouth's first LRF meet to date. Myself, Paul Gunning and Ben Field met at the sizeable, Sutton Harbour for an evening session. I arrived to dry, still conditions and met up with Paul. This soon turned to drizzle though - Which stayed throughout the rest of the evening.

It didn't take long to get into a fish, the Spro Trout Shad doing the business and proving too much for the fingerling Pollack to resist. I think Paul was into a similar fish soon after. We carried on fishing the same, short stretch of the long, back wall of the Harbour for an hour or so, with a couple knocks but no fish connecting. I took to slow swimming the bait along the bottom of the wall, keeping it tight to the bottom as well. Had a small bite, which went solid and then proceeded to give me my best fight on the light gear yet. A seriously valiant fight, plenty of dives and runs - Ripping the Varivas LightGame # 0.4line off the reel in short, brutish bursts. Once subdued enough, Paul hand lined the Pollack up the wall, ready for the photo shoot. Came in at a respectable 35cm.

Ben turned up after a while, with a nice little bag of goodies from the shop. People living near by must have thought there was something sinister going on as money was exchanged for goods from the boot of his car. Our focus stayed on the back wall for a short while and although some fish were spotted under the lights, they weren't doing their thing. A move onto a public access pontoon saw first blood for Ben, hitting into a fingerling Pollack.

Things were slow at this spot, with no more bites to speak of. A plan was hatched and a move to the opposite side of the Harbour was initiated. A couple of likely looking areas were given a chance, but again, we remained 'biteless'. Options discussed, we decided to check the outside of the Harbour. We settled at a very well lit water taxi pontoon, or at least the wall it was attached to. The gates to the gangway were locked. There was now a little tide to play with. Casting into the current seam of a gangway pillar, Ben was first to get into a new species - Much to my surprise, it was a Sand-Smelt(Atherina presbyter ). This proved not to be a fluke, as I landed two of them shortly afterwards.

Things slowed down for me at this point, although both Ben and Paul were still getting stuck into the Pollack. The average size of these fish was actually proving pretty good. Unfortunately work restrictions meant that I had to leave at this point, I will say though, this stuff is seriously addictive. I found it very had to pull myself away, knowing that fish were in front of us and biting.

I'm seriously looking forward to this Light Game approach growing locally, as at present, I'm flying solo whenever fishing this technique. I'm enjoying it whenever I can, but it's definitely more fun in a group.

Smile for the camera!