Another week on the Isles of Scilly is a dead cert for landing a few wrasse and pollack to my mind, and always guaranteed to get me super excited in the lead up. This year was no exception – I really was looking forward to the holiday for months beforehand and did manage to catch the obligatory wrasse and pollack during my visit. That said – as is usual with anything that you look forward to so much, it very rarely lives up to expectations.
We only had a week this year, and fully intended to try out all the usual family favourite pastimes such as pier jumping, beach days and visits to the other islands, so the fishing really had as ever, to fit in around everything else. On top of this the weather wasn’t too kind to us. We had sunshine, but we had wind, so most days the fishing was dictated to where I could find somewhere a little sheltered. This also steered me very much towards lure fishing rather than fly fishing, as not only my skill but also enjoyment of fly fishing is seriously reduced when I’ve got to struggle to contend with wind.
My first trip out of the holiday started well enough with a nice sized pollack hooked and played in – I couldn’t land him however as I’d not planned ahead and thought about the landing process, and sadly found my fish out of reach of the landing net. Whilst I stood there wracking my brains as to how I could find a way safely down to the water from my high vantage point on the rocks, the pollack shook the hook and slipped away. I cursed my stupidity and lack of forethought. When picking a spot to fish from I almost always think about how I’m going to net a fish if I do hook one so it was especially frustrating to find my first fish escaping because I’d neglected to plan ahead. What with the loss of a nice fish, my first trip didn’t improve and I had no more luck. So ended an inglorious start for this year with a blank.
My preferred tackle is a light lure rod, braided line, 8 foot of mono leader and a cone lead with weedless hook. Team this with a jelly worm or one of the megabass x-layer type lures and I’d normally expect to catch fish.
After the shame of the blank first session, things got better, and I had a few other trips around the rock marks of St Mary’s catching various wrasse and pollack – nothing massive but enough action to keep me entertained.
On my final trip, I took my eldest daughter with me, and stopped to chat on the way with another fisherman. He was kitted out very much like myself with a light lure rod, set up with weedless hook, cone lead and jelly worm. He’d had a 6lb wrasse the day before apparently so was feeling confident. We crossed paths with him a couple of times that day as we wandered from rock to rock and despite him fishing the same methods and kind of locations as ourselves, we didn’t see him have any luck. I had one nice wrasse but managed to lose several. Rhianna had 2 small wrasse and lost a very big fish.
It was while concentrating on landing one of Rhianna’s fish that I made another rock fishing faux pax – I didn’t keep an eye on the incoming waves. Rock fishing can be dangerous and you do need to keep an eye on the weather and waves. It would be so easy to get washed off the rocks by a rogue wave if you’re not careful, and it’s something I’m usually very aware of. This occasion I was so focused on landing my daughters fish I didn’t pay enough attention and got a good soaking for my carelessness. Thankfully conditions weren’t that rough and the worst I got was wet ( and laughed at by my daughter) – still – it’s a salutary lesson for the future. Goes to show – no matter how experienced you think you are, it’s easy to forget the basic precautions and have a momentary lapse. Hopefully lesson learned.
A Fledgling Fly Fisher 