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Posted 05:51, 15 March 2010
- I sneaked off from work for a few hours late Friday afternoon, and although my feeling was that the water was going to be far too clear and settled (a week of NE winds, fairly obvious), I guess there is always a chance. OK, mid-March, low water temperature (but a warmer air temp), crystal clear, smallish tide, hardly ideal, but it's better to be out than be banging your head against the wall thinking about it. To be perfectly honest though, I had a feeling that the light was going to get really, really good as the sun went down, and I needed some specific photos for some features I am in the middle of writing........
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- I did fish for a while, but in reality I had photography on the brain as the light began to get good - much as a shot of a spinning reel is often just what it is, I love it when the light gets low and soft and you can use the angles of the rocks to cut the shadows and the actual light across something as inanimate as a reel (ok, so it's my beloved Stella 4000FD, but it's still just a reel) and make something far more creative out of it. I don't know if anybody saw me crouched down on the rocks concentrating intently on bits of gear, but if they had I am sure they would have wondered what on earth I was up to. It's easy to get lost in what you are doing when the quality of the light just gets better and better. Although I am a fishing junkie, I guess that photography gives me as much of a kick - a different kind of kick, but it gets me going in a big way.
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- OK, so the photo above is not much more than "lure sitting on rod handle", but it's the quality and the softness of the light that makes the already classic MegaBass Zonk 120 Gataride look as awesome as it does. Notice that there are no blown highlights off the flank of the lure, a problem that often arises when there is any kind of direct sunlight on a subject matter like this. I tend to travel quite "camera and lens light" when I am out fishing/photographing, much lighter than I would when out photographing only, and I don't have space for diffusers and things like that. Underexpose a bit to help retain the dark background and let the subject matter (the Gataride) stand out, get your own shadow out of the way, use that stunning light, compose, and snap away - and you thought it was just a photo of a killer lure !! OK, so it is.....
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- Tom asked what braid it was on my reel in the comments section of my last post (lure colours) - I picked this stuff up in a really good tackle shop in St. Malo before we got the ferry back to Jersey after the Nantes bass show. Some of the guys switched me on to it at the actual show itself, but I was managing to resist. Until I got in that shop !! If you have used true 8-strand braid for your lure fishing then you will know all about how good this kind of modern mainline is. Very different to your more "regular" 4-strand braid, but it tends to cost. For a long time now I have been using (and seriously loving) the grey 20lb Varivas Avani Sea Bass Max Power PE (see here) and I simply can't fault it.
- But this multi-coloured braid on my Stella at the moment is the brand new Daiwa Tournament 8 Braid in 20lb breaking strain, and my initial impressions are that it is simply awesome (almost freaky thin, seriously, you can't believe this can be 20lb). I do like coloured lines, indeed I always have for various reasons, but it also comes in a straight green if that kind of thing freaks you out. I bought a 150 metre spool of this new 8-strand braid at that St. Malo shop for around 25 Euros I think it was, and that is seriously good value for money for a product like this. In the Daiwa France catalogue there are a big number of breaking strains and spool sizes available. I am not sure if anywhere in the UK is doing this braid yet, but I would hope that in due course that a modern 8-strand braid like this becomes available in shops and online in the UK. We shall see......
- Thanks for such a good response via the comments to my last blog post about lure colours - I am not even remotely close to knowing that much about the success of different colours in different places and situations, but I am of the feeling (and in agreement with many of the comments) that the lure type and actual action are perhaps the most important things to consider (but note the word "perhaps"). Colour has to be of real importance, but I can't help but feel slightly that colour means more to us than it does to the fish. Or is that completely wrong ? Fishing is what it is, and we will simply never know all the answers - and I find that hugely reassuring in this day and age.
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Posted 06:00, 12 March 2010
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- I know there are some "hard and fast rules" to various lure colours for different light and water clarity, but often I wonder how much logic there actually is to using different colour lures. Take a lure like the Maria Angel Kiss 115mm that you can see above - the colour is what I might term a kind of "ultra-realistic" effect (any guesses as to what the lure might be trying to imitate ??!!) that in my mind is just hugely logical. If this prey species is around, then I would kind of expect bass to nail a lure that looks like them. The Angel Kiss is not an expensive bit of kit, but over the last few years I have developed a real respect for some of the Maria lures, and I like the fact that anglers can get hold of known killers for very sensible money (check here). But how often does the logical thing actually happen in fishing ?
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- I would guess that a big number of UK and perhaps even Irish bass anglers have at one time or another over the last few years either used the seriously killer Maria Chase BW in the holographic silver colour you can see above, or at least have a mate or two who have caught consistently on them. Personally this is the main lure that really begin to switch me on to lure fishing for bass in a really serious and addictive way, and for me the Chase BW has just killed in all different kinds of conditions - from flat seas and bright sunshine through to murky water, almost too rough to lure fish days when you are not that far away from getting washed in. But what on earth does the colour resemble in the natural world ? Beats me........
- As with the Angel Kiss, this Maria Chase BW once again is a killer bass lure for not very much money, but for the life of me I can't see any logic as to why this particular holographic silver kind of rainbow colour works. I have never seen a bait fish resemble this lure in the UK or Ireland, but it just kills. Why ? I don't have a clue, but I do know that I always have a huge amount of confidence with bass lures that are similar to this colour, because I know from personal experience that I have caught bass in all kinds of light and conditions on this colour Maria Chase BW. I am into all kinds of modern lures in a big way (not that I have a problem or anything like that), but it would be foolish for me to forget the stuff that has worked so well for me in the past. Like guys with lures such as the Rapala J13 and the original Storm Jointed Thunderstick. Bass don't suddenly like hugely expensive new lures and nothing else.........
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- So once again we are onto the subject of "confidence" - does past history with certain colours predispose us to choosing one colour over another, more than taking heed of these "hard and fast rules", and does this mean we end up catching more on specific colours because we are very simply fishing better and for longer periods with certain colours ? Which then breeds confidence in that or those colours. I always like to have something in my lure box that really does resemble a natural prey species of the bass (like the Angel Kiss above - guessed what it imitates yet ??!!), but I do also like to have some lures that are based around silver, pink, holographic, and reflective. I personally think that the reflective thing is very important for bass fishing, but again that is purely because I have done well with reflective, "shiny" lures. I am confident when I am using them. But then I reckon I have met different bass anglers who all swear by very different colours. Who is right and who is wrong ? Who really cares if you are catching fish. Think out of the box.
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- Who really knows ? Although there are these "hard and fast rules" to lure fishing, personally I am a firm believer in throwing all rule books out of the window and going on instinct a lot of the time. In fishing as much as life. Trust yourself, speak to bass anglers either in person or on really good forums like the one here (you need to register, but it is worth it, great bunch of guys) about the colours they like, and then experiment as much as you can. I am sure we all base a lot of our lure buying (or lust ?) on whether the thing just looks right to our eyes. If anybody could ever give me a scientific explanation as to why bass like the colour you see above then please let me know, because it has always struck me as completely illogical. But it just plain works. The subject of lure colour is a monster......
- And on the subject of monsters - I have been waiting for the new Rotting Christ album for ages now, for this Greek metal band gets to me in a huge way. Their last album "Theogonia" was my album of the year for 2007 (see here, where on earth does time go ?), so their new one has one hell of a reputation to follow for me personally - this always worries me with new releases when I so liked the previous one and then wonder how on earth the next one can live up to it. But Rotting Christ's new monster that is "Aealo" is just insane. How this band from Greece keeps on doing it I will never know, and I am not even sure how to describe their music - a kind of melodic black metal is along the right lines, but it does not come close to describing the unique, almost tribal vibe and feel that you get with these guys. Their music gets in my skull and pounds around in the best way possible. I would hazard a guess that a band name like Rotting Christ seemed awesome as a spotty teenager (hell, one of my bands at school was called Ritualistic Abuse, and yes, in case you were wondering, we did manage to offend the right people), but the band name now does no justice to the immensity of their creative output. Unquestionably one of the finest metal bands on this earth, and like with the recent new Fear Factory album, one that I just can't stop listening to over and over again. "Aealo" just keeps on growing. Check out a few tracks right here.
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Posted 06:00, 10 March 2010
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- You go to a fishing show like the one at Nantes that a bunch of us have just come back from and you naturally come back all buzzed up about lure fishing in general. All that (lovely, shiny) gear, all that knowledge, and all that atmosphere under one roof really gets to me, just like it did last year. But however you look at it, we are playing catch up here in the UK. I am not for one second damning the UK tackle trade or even where we sit with regards to modern lure fishing. More so I am saying that the French lure fishing scene is where it is now for what must be a bunch of different reasons, and it strikes me a very exciting time to be into lure fishing over there. As it is over here. We are where we are at here in the UK and Ireland, but the big problem seems to be that more and more anglers are hearing about, looking for, and asking about items of tackle that are for the most part a struggle to get hold of here, and more often than not we are forced to buy abroad. Frustrating to say the least......
- And especially when you know that so much of this gear is for sale and in use just over the Channel - hardly very far away as regards geography, but in fishing tackle terms it might as well be another world away. I accept that what I tend to call "modern lure fishing" is in its infancy here in the UK, but I am guessing as well that it must have once been like this in France. I am sure that a few years ago there were anglers getting frustrated because they could not buy the gear they wanted to in their local tackle shops. But their market has changed so much, or at least my research leads me to believe so. Nothing is ever perfect and the grass is always greener and all that kind of thing, but I sense such a reluctance within parts of the UK tackle trade to embrace what is so obviously going on in lure fishing (for bass especially) and either develop or at least import more gear for us to buy and use. That is why I have such a huge amount of respect for the people and companies who have taken this all forward so much already in the UK.
- Is it a monstrously huge market at the moment that is going to make everybody very rich ? No, obviously not. But it could get really big. Think about where carp fishing once was, and look where it is now. Who would have predicted that explosion in growth in what is essentially a static kind of fishing ? Where could lure fishing go in this country ? Questions that I accept are impossible to answer, but surely the UK tackle trade has to sit up and take proper notice sometime soon.........
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- Take something relatively simple like this stunning looking Jackson Athlete Slim 12SS (sinking) minnow - this kind of thing floats my boat in a major way, and up until recently I think I am right in saying that the best way to get hold of something like this was to buy direct from Japan. But not any more. Shops and internet sites like the ones here and here (check out the new website) are now stocking these Jackson lures. These guys here are stocking an increasingly large number of Japanese and US lures that nail our bass. But what about having more choice with modern lure rods, reels, braids, clothing, etc. ? More switched-on shops and internet sites are doing what they can, but even then I know that a bunch of them are often having to beat their heads against brick walls in frustration. One problem we seem to have right now is that the modern-thinking lure angler is far more aware of what is out there than the bulk of the UK tackle trade. Whether this be because of forums, internet searching, shows such as the one at Nantes, or simply word of mouth and personal experience, I am sensing more and more that more anglers are getting really frustrated at the tackle trade not keeping up with them. So we need to support the ones that are keeping up. And we need to hassle the ones that are not into getting us the stuff we want.
- But although it all looks very logical to anybody outside of the tackle trade, it is never that easy - we might want more and more gear at all kinds of prices, but what companies are going to take the bull by the horns, take a bit of a punt, and go for it ? All financial risks aside, it strikes me that this "modern lure fishing" is very "modern" in the way that it is snowballing. Information is travelling faster and faster, and more and more anglers are trying different stuff and using ever more efficient ways to tell people about their exploits. And unless you are in the middle of it and working at the coal face, it can actually be quite difficult for a company to keep up unless they are either actively interested in the fishing, or are working with well informed people who are in on the ground and keeping a close eye on what is happening. - and even then the company needs to trust these "well informed" people and roll with their information.
- The Nantes show opened my eyes up a whole lot more once again, but in a very different way to the first time I went there last year. I have come back with so many different ideas that my brain is fit to leave my head. Quite where I fit into all this "modern lure fishing" is something I am not completely sure about, because I come at it from different angles - first and foremost I am a fishing junkie who has fallen for this fishing in a huge way (fish, methods, gear, locations, people etc.), but also I am a fishing writer, photographer and sometime TV presenter who has to make his living within fishing. All I can do is do what I think is best and hope that it is doing some good for fishing in general, while at the same time making me and my family a living. It is not always an easy balancing act.
- The guys at IrishBass.org are still working around the clock to do all they can - I did a brief phone interview with the Irish Sunday Times just before I left for France, and I also uploaded them some photos to use for the article on the understanding that sport fishermen would be fairly represented within the piece. I reckon a very good job was done overall, and you can check out the article here. Different photos of mine were used in the paper copy of the article, and I hope that they have gone some way towards helping the IrishBass.org people out in their fight to protect sportfishing for bass over in Ireland. We can all do our bit in different ways.
