Lure Colour...

With these non-stop northerly winds, at a time when we should all be out catching fish instead of lighting fires to keep warm or putting more oil in our tanks , when we thought there was no way we would need more this year! My mind starts to think about all the aspects of my fishing, and one thing that keeps coming up in conversations and running around in my head is lure colour.

Just how important is lure colour ?

This for me anyway is a never ending question, with no definitive answer. So many times while out fishing with friends I have seen fish taken on all different colours and go away thinking it’s all about action, profile, retrieve etc. and there are sessions when one colour just does the business when nothing else…..

For me I try to use what I think works best in with conditions or the area I am fishing. For example trying to give them something they can see in coloured water, whites or something with a good flash of silver. Then in clean water I try and use the more neutral colours and again silver. Match the hatch, try and put something out there that's looks like the bait fish that are in the water…so be observant don’t just chuck your lure out and aimlessly crank it back in.  

When all is said and done what does a bass really see, sometimes fish hit the craziest coloured lures. Another thing that happens a lot to me is, I will get a new lure go out catch a fish on it and then that's my favourite colour in that lure but I have not tried any other colour in that lure nor am I that bothered about trying another colour because (and this to me is key ) I have CONFIDENCE in what I have used before. Confidence in what you are using is a massive part of it. It can make all the difference.

We stock colours and lures in the shop that I do not use but I have customers who swear by certain colours and certain lures and also catch well on them, so there is no right or wrong it's all down what you have confidence in.

So my conclusion is that yes colour can make all the difference and I have seen it proven over and over again. The hard part is making the choice of what colour to use in what situation. Yes there will be certain colours out there that are always going to be great fish catchers and these are a few that have done well for us.

"Cruising Blue"

                                                                          

"Hama Shirasu"

"Cotton Candy"

Others well we will keep experimenting with, but I think lure colour will still be something I will be talking about when I am an old man….

Cian 

Costa Del Mar....

We are delighted to announce that we are now stocking Costa Del Mar sunglasses and accessories. Available through the online shop here you will be able to see the most popular frames and lens, however if you wish to mix and match just let us know as we will be able to get you whatever you want. 

The visibility you get with these super lens is unrivaled. When it comes to polarized glasses these are the best you can get. I can still remember putting on my first pair of Costas and arriving at one of my favourite rock marks and noticing features such as gullies and drops off that I had never noticed before. They simply opened up a whole new world and now I cant be without them . There comfort is also outstanding with an excellent fit for heads of all shapes and sizes. 

If you get a chance drop in to the shop and try some out for yourself....you wont be disappointed. 

You can read Henry Gilbey's thoughts on Costas here

"See what's out there...."

For more info on lens choice check out this link here

And for more information on individual frames see the descriptions here 

Tight lines...

How do you approach a rock mark?

These are just a few thoughts that will hopefully help a few people.

This is all stuff that is learnt over time, and believe me lots of blanks contributed to the learning. As time goes on I am starting to figure out marks a little quicker through learning from my previous experiences.

With rock marks the first thing I try and do is get a look at the mark at low water and take a picture. This is hard to explain but I try and pick out the places where I think bass would move through or the spots where bass would lie up waiting to ambush. These places are the gullies , points , places with kelp and cover, boulders and basically all the spots where I think a bass might be moving through or where they can ambush their prey.

The next step for me would be to fish the spot on a rising tide ( right up to high water ). Now of course conditions need to be right , for us here that would be south or south westerly moderate wind. Also I would first try and approach a new mark on a decent tide 3.8 upwards. The next is water clarity , a few years ago I would have said water would have had to be extremely clean but these days I don't mind fishing murky water at all ( but filthy water makes things difficult ).

Yes this is a lot to ask to get all of these conditions at the same time. I also fish in all conditions and catch but when checking out a new mark I try to maximise my chances.

Now I fish the mark on the rise, remembering all those features I spotted at low water and targeting these areas with a few lures which I have confidence in and are proven fish catchers. Hopefully things go well and it produces , if not I will go back and repeat the whole process on a dropping tide. Sometimes this works sometimes it does not and if I still have a good feeling and I think this is a spot that has to hold fish I will keep trying and hopefully figure it out.

In my experience most rock marks have a certain hour when it kicks off ( the hour of power ) and finding this hour can be gold because it means in the future you are maximising your fishing time and arriving at marks for the prime time. We have noticed it so much that bass are creatures of habit and quite often you will catch fish next to the same rock or in the same gully at the same state of tide over and over again.

Another few things to look for are

1. Access

2. Where can I land a fish safely

3. Am I going to get cut off by the tide

4. Do I have phone reception. If not let someone know where you are going. ( of course someone who will keep your mark top secret )

Hopefully this helps someone... or does it just show how obsessed I am with fishing.

Cian.

Its like a switch has been turned on....

Over the last two weeks it is like a switch has been turned on, and the bass are here and hitting lures. It has been an exceptional winter as regards the mild weather we got and all through the winter bass were getting caught on bait. But it seems now with that quick jump in water temperature that they are a lot more active and willing to chase our lures in the shallows. The shallow water marks are where the fish are at the moment and its just a guess but it is most likely because of the week of sunshine we had, the shallow waters just that little bit warmer. Aim for these areas as they warm up a lot quicker than the deeper water marks and this is where the fish will be.

The usual lures are doing the business Komomo SF-125, Komomo 2 , weedless plastics and various other shallow runners. It has to be said after going through the winter and itching to get out lure fishing it is hard to be sitting here in the shop when your friends keep sending you through pictures of the fish they are catching.It amazes me that on the weakest tide of the month with the wind in the North East, bass are being caught on lures. Those conditions are normally the time when I would not even consider going fishing , but yet still at the moment fish are being caught . It just shows that we will never completely figure out the movements of these wonderful fish, and I suppose that's the great thing about it. This type of fishing will keep challenging you and making you think about your fishing .You have to love it!!

Lets hope the fishing keeps picking up and we get the weather we are looking for.....