Ice ice baby....winter is arrived

Christmas blues is over so decided to go and do some super early morning trip for perch.

Super early i mean we arrived in dark wait for the sunrise in -4,5 degrees. Everything was frosted white and crispy.

It was absolutely freezing to stand out there and try to cast. And if all this wasnt enaugh the ice on the rod tip and in the eyes made every second cast difficult. Reels are become frozen and the braid is just one pure ice block, we was keen to get the sunshine out .

The fish was lurking just right at the bottom of the canal we felt the tap tap taps but they seems not in the proper feeding mode at all. The winner lure was the 3" Molix Caleo Craw Watermelon Red Black Flake, rigged texas style and slow like super slow retrieve on the bottom. 

Molix Caleo Craw 3"

Brilliant lure together with a great method to use on texas rig as people use it for fresh water bass. The little craws go bananas every twich,  if I was a fish I would eat it too. Cant wait to try it out on the salt water screen tomorrow for wrasse in the Atlantic Ocean Coastline as well.

At the end the frozen fingers ,ears, rods and reels all worth it. And now off to pack to Donegal for a 4 day wrasse and pollack fishing, hope weather will play balls on the rocks. This is better than therapy :) Tight lines guys for the new year :)

Molix Sligozzo 2" adventures for perch

Between wrapping up 2 christmas present manage to head out a wee quick perch trip. Out of the buzzing city of crazy shoppers, this few hours just simply helped me to switch off my mind of the stress. And also give me a chance to try out my Glowing Pink 2" Molix Sligozzo. This lure has a special story from earlier this year. We went to the Tackle and Gun Show in Birmingham and met with 2 lovely people at the Molix stand Franchesca and Marco Tortora. The stand was so eye cathing and the lures are just magnificent. Have a long chat about how is fishing in Italy and over here, change great storys and at the end he give us this little things to try out, since I tried them I been hooked up for Molix products, such a great job guys :)

Molix 2" Sligozzo

Superb wee lure for perch or any kinda spices hunting on LRF kit. Rigged up with a 3g jighead moves so tidy in the water. The little tail going mad even with a smallest twitch, create pretty freaky effect in the water. Small fish just couldnt resist. Really looking forward to try the big brother 4" Sligozzo on saltwater for wrasse over the new year, I small success with that lure again with.

Later on the day when I decided to have enaugh fun of the little buddys , I change my lure to the RA Shad  and yes its strikes again for the bigger boys, I also have them in green pumpkin colour for wrasse for my Donegal trip over the new year will be savage for  fish I feel it in my bones.

So all together its wasnt a bad year at all , most a time my line was tight so glad and thankful for it. Interesting that such as a fresh water angler, looking forward very much with itchy hands to go back to Donegal and  and try my lures in salt water such as wrasse and pollack.

I hope you guys will have a peaceful holidays, merry christmas and happy new year with tight lines :)

See you next year....

Festive Perching with Molix RA Shad

Lure: Molix RA Shad 3"

Successfully break my blanked sessions here in Northern Ireland. Serious weather issues, over flooded rivers,lakes and insane amount of rain crossed our trips constantly at the last months. Only one option left to try our luck this weekend, little canals of from the main river connections, I was desperate to catch some pike even in any size but they still dont show up, many frozen hours on the blank, frozen fingers and still nothing. But some decent perch break the ice.

After try a few spots we stop in one of the canals which was an absolutely deadly looking stretch for pike but still no action. At the end of the stretch was some deep spot front of the water gates to keep it separate the canal from the main river. Yes bang on  tap tap and I hooked my first perch on the Molix RA Shad rigged up weedless jikka style, reel it in slow steady retrieve just above the bottom.

The hook is set in the lure just at the perfect place where the small paddle tail start begin which increase your hook ups as the perch like nip the tails first on the lures. The ribbed body in two tone colours give an extra vibration in the water. I choose a little bit lighter colour , because the high water levels still coloured the water like a milky tea. The silver belly gives an incredible flash on steady retrieve plus the little sparkly bits in the body tempted the fish extremely well to take a bite.

We managed a few double hook ups as well. The other fish was caught on the 2" Reins Rock Vibe Shad. The interesting thing is that this two lure so similar but even one inch and the difference of the tail and the hook sets in the lure, I did caught way more and bigger fish with the RA Shad. They both  deadly perch lures but looks like the little details makes a huge difference.

So at the end I was so delighted with this little buddys, really made my weekend big time and they was awesome sport on light gear. The frosted hours well paid off on the blank this times. And of course the love for the fish put me in the mood of  proper festive season along with a thiny Robin who was very friendly as well. 

Rod: Abu Garcia Veritas 5-25g

Reel: Daiwa Legalis 2500

Lure: Molix RA Shad 3"

Braid: Sunline Superbraid 5

Lures supplied by: fishonlures.co.uk

Tight lines ;)

Winter is coming..........Spindle worms striking

End of October, grey skies , rain at least 5 days constantly, 46 mph wind but people who love this sport just simply cant sit at home so packed the car and head to Co. Donegal for a bit of fresh air.

Super rough weather but get on the slippy rocks and stand the wind which at some points feels like will blow me away.

  

Quickly think what set up I could use between two huge swells - I decided to rig up a Megabass Spindle worm. It has a 15 g body weight plus my added 7 g bomb led with split rig  (jika rig). First cast boom babe this beautiful wrasse on the hook. The lure seems to fall super fast on the way to the bottom, the Vios Hyper Mineral Salt Gel around the lure and in the material really does the business.

Jika rigged Megabass Spindle Worm 5", 09 Sparkling Wine colour

When the lure start sinks down, it creates quiet a bit of movement in the water especially the first part of the body which ribbed against the water, the second joint where is the tail starts, only connected with a tiny material which brings up the max action of the paddle tail.

Texas Rigged Spindle Worm

Rigged up Texas style with 7 g cone lead and red glass bead for an extra sound effect seems perfect for Wild Atlantic Pollack fishing. Also this colour works very effectively in low light conditions. The lures scented with Shrimp Powder witch attracts predators.

Or when is the tide is dropping and need cut back the weight a little bit, just need to use a weedless hook with a 3.5g of belly weight - its perfect to fish top of the kelp, in the gullies with steady retrieve or sink and draw technique to find Pollack.

Weedless set up with 3.5g belly weight

This lure perfectly works on the salt water scene but its not enough for me I will plate it for fresh water predators as well hopefully next weekend when the weather will let me to stick my nose out and do the "match the hatch".

Fight with the elements

Finally manage to stick my nose out from the house for a few hours.

Between a mini hurricane and storms hitting our coast in the UK. The weather conditions wasnt great at all but i need to sort my cabin fever somehow, so head out to Co. Armagh for a bit of fresh air with a hope that my braid dont gonna fly away.

Have a few jack pike on the pretty funky set ups, its because the 46mp/hr wind doesnt really let play my game the way i roll usually. For example 120mm Black Minnows on 12g  shore head instead the shallow head. But at least i can cast and feels whats going on at the end of my line. Once about every 20 cast i could cast the spot what i need and nailed by a pike, so it is worked :)

Another "funky " set up of the day was the 14g jika rigged 13.5cm Daiwa Duckfin Shad. They seems like cant resist for it in Gudgeon colour, i had to say its a very effective lure to use. I personally never been a fan of the bright coloured lures for pike, but this lure has the fins remind like roach, the belly is flashing up white when reel it slowly and inside the tail is white again witch does the same flashy effect. On the back  of the lure is natural brownish/greenish colour with black spots witch looks so natural between the half a live lilly pads at this time of the year. The material of the body is tough enaugh to handle the teeth marks very well, i cought 3 jack on this lure and still works perfectly, but also soft enaugh to prove awesome hook ups on weedless set up. I just needed to add a bit extra  14g weight clipped on the wire trace.

So at the end my cabin fever was sorted for a wee while, no monsters this session but great to see the new generation of green beautys are in top condition and after a quick snaps all returned safely to be real mosters one day. Still a great sport as always. 

Megabass Zonk 120 Gataride

As I mentioned in my last post I became a Megabass product tester for Zone Japan ( zonejapan.co.jp ), witch is a pretty awesome opportunity to fish with super highly engineered lures.

One of my first item is a Megabass Zonk 120 Gataride Hi-Pitch in GG Valencia Gold colour.

Its a shallow diver lure, swims approx 35cm under the surface.On the freshwater screen, at this time of the year, when the weed is still alive at the bottom of the lakes/rivers this lure is one of my top choice. 

The little lip on the front gives this lure an incredible wobbling action just under the surface witch provide attention to any lurking predator between the weeds.

 The GG Valencia Gold colour became super flashy on medium/fast retrive, beautiful piece of art created on the body of this lure.

 Another hudge benefit of this beauty is the tungsten weight transfer system. Have to say in pretty windy conditions i can still cast like a rocket with, also the weight 18g is perfectly balance the lure if fishing the currents on the river or on the sea.

Altogether i just could recommend this lure, one of the must have for a fresh water pike angler or even for salt water for sea bass in low light conditions.

 Awesome piece of kit to carry wherever you will go, predators cant resist.

The new reviews will come up next :

-Super XLayer 07 Ghost Shad/ Solid 4.1/2 inch

-Vision ONETEN FX 110mm 1/2 oz.

-X-Pod 108mm 3/4oz Wagin Higai

-Spindleworm 09 Sparkling Wine 5 inch

Joys of hard rock fishing

Co. Donegal

Another few fantastic days out fishing. Nothing can beat when just everything click together, the fresh air, perfect conditions, breath taking view, and all what you have to do is fish hard to catch a dream fish. Its better than any therapy on the world and by the time you hunt for the " life time fish" do you still so happy with any size witch decide to take bend on the rod and let you to take your trophy shot. And see them happily swim away after release .

Fishing for wrasse is slowly make me wonder more and more about sea fishing. As a fresh water angler is quiet a big word. No matter what size they are , always top sport on soft plastic lures.

Its seem they cant resist for some sorted colours such as pumpkin seed, water melon red,chartreuse sparkle, motor oil, gudgeon, pumpkin seed blue sparkle specially from Z-man rabel, we use them successfully on the trips. In variations of shapes like, curling tail grub shads, senkos, paddle tail shads, slender tail worms, beaver style baits, soft plastic crabs, scented shrimps, yabby craws. The sky is the limit. But once you got the right colour in the right shape its not always enaugh, because this fish designed to live in the gullies and rocks and feed mostly on crabs etc they still not predators and really facy abaut the lure presentation. Quiet a challenge to work all this points out well, plus read the weather conditions and tide times, such a short time to think, once they switch on feed you have to be ready to rock and roll.

My personal best wrasse 4.5lb on this trip

Cant wait to go back to this stunning country side and stunning coast line of the Atlantic Ocean. So much more to discover. But maybe back a little bit for the fresh water fishing, the northernn pike season gonna kick  soon and really dont wanna miss that meeting with the green beautys, plus have one more extra adrenalin bomb about, i have a chance to try and test some Megabass lures from the Japanese guys. New big adventures coming up so stay tuned guys and tight lines .