Jan Juc Wanderings

[JS270]

Well Graham and I made our way down for a relaxing session and were greeted by a deep beach formation with only a little bit of weed, our hopes were that we would get a few salmon that would then be used for Gummies as the night wore on and the tide started to rise.

Once again I had a pair of my Century rods , one being the FMJ that I had put together and this time matched with my Exceller 4500 and 15 pound Ultima braid running a 40 pound Ultima Powerflex shock leader. The other rod for the early session was my Tip Tornado LD Super Match ( 13' ) which was matched to one of my Penn 525 Mags and this was running with 15 pound Ultima PowerSteel line Also running a Shock leader of 60 pounds .




( FMJ and TTLD Super Match set up in the hope of some Salmon )

I was running a single clip down number 4 circle on the FMJ and with the SM I was running a Pulley rig with 2/0 Circle. Bait on this occasion was salted Salmon strips on the 2/0 small pilchards on the number 4. These little pichards are the bay ones and are actually around the size of the regular whitebait.
Graham was running his Century Tip Tornado Super Match and his TTLD . Interestingly he was using a burley cage with his special mix on it with a chicken strip bait on his hooks.



( Graham Setting Up , you can see his Burley cage on his other rod)

It was interesting to see that he got the Salmon :D that we used for bait later on the burley and chicken combination whilst I didn't turn a scale :roll: . I will have to look into making up some of these cages for the next round.



( One of the Small Salmon that we used for Gummy bait )

As the night progressed and the tide started to come in I was rewarded in kind by a solid hit and a quick run from a good fish. I was using my Standard Tip Tornado Super Match with my Penn Torque 100 loaded with 20 pound Ultima Red Ice and a pulley rig with a single 5/0 circle and a fresh strip of Salmon. As luck would have it I wasn't running any wire and was very quickly bitten off.
I quickly re-rigged and set out the head of the Salmon loaded with twin circles a 5/0 and 9/0 with a 90 pound bite trace of approximately 18" as I have found that this gives me a good hook up ratio on the bities.

As expected we didn't get another hit for the evening and then the weed monsters moved in and started t make life very unpleasant as we battled large clumps of weed and bull kelp in the building swell. Thankfully I had put the lighter outfits away and was using the heavier Torque 100 combo otherwise I would have lost a lot of gear on the weed.

After both Graham and I had lost one too many rigs we decided that it wasn't worth the effort and headed back to the car.



( Graham fully loaded and walking up the hill to the car )

Its good to go fully prepared when fishing the beach for a reasonable session but you need to make sure that you are prepared for carrying all the stuff back to the vehicle . Its supprising how light things feel when heading down to the water and how heavy it seems when its time to head back.



(Graham Happy to be unloading at the car )

Whilst we didn't get our intended target fish it was still a brilliant evening and the shooting stars that were occuring made for a very relaxed session and one I will be happy to repeat over and over . Hopefully with a few better fish though

[Wolly Bugger]

Got a few burley cages from my time of using coarse fishing technique.

[JS270]

I make up surf ones from Hair Curlers - the old style plastic ones :D

[Wolly Bugger]

I make up surf ones from Hair Curlers - the old style plastic ones :D

I would use the plastic 35 mm film canisters.

[JS270]

there getting harder to get and you have to melt holes in them which doesn't go down well with the wife as I normally do that in the Kitchen :surrender:

[Wolly Bugger]

there getting harder to get and you have to melt holes in them which doesn't go down well with the wife as I normally do that in the Kitchen :surrender:

Aint it amazing the things that set them off. Innocently going about your business, and before you know it is costing you dinner, roses, chocolates, a night out, and you still don't know what for?

[shazdoggg]

...

[cantevencatchacold]

Great effort and thanks for the info about the gear and the rigs. That is more than I can cope with but then I am just plain wussy. Just a thought, would all the gear seem to weigh less if you had landed the fish that bit you off? Good luck for next time.

[JS270]

Shazdoggg ,

A numberof the guys have the Nitro Messiah but generally use them for spinning , they are a top little rod and very nice when matched with a lightweight Threadline and braid.
When I have used them I normally am casting the 50 gram lures with them but wouldn't like to do any serious distance work with them as the are very thin walled in their construction and under extreme compression it isn't advisable.

With the amount of weed that was running in the evening session all of the lighter outfits were put aside as they would have been totally under powered for the conditions.

Regards :D