9/7/22 inshore reefs

[Malc]

Set out at low tide aiming to be back at high, no real plans except to see what was about.  The first reef is more of a very large rocky area and can be difficult to pinpoint fish and after a single but sizeable mackerel we headed to a proper reef where we could cast over and not spook the fish. The wind was dropping and the tide picking up but both in the same direction which made it easier, but the inevitable pots had to be avoided. 

I was using a texas rig and my mate a heavier curltail jig head and I was first in with a lively pollock around 6 lb. Next drift I had another of a similar size my mate was getting caught up or having to work the lure faster so he changed to a lighter texas rig and two drifts later had his rod hoop over so I went to assist with the net. This was a lovely conditioned fish near 10 lb.

There were a couple of boats nearby hauling in mackerel so we went further up tide and got a dozen or so before drifting alongside the mark again. 

After a couple of tentative takes we decided to try a deeper water mark which is the opposite of the first, flat and mixed but mainly sand, and we managed a couple of codling which we returned. We had seen lots of sandeel over the shallow reef so decided to try inshore rough ground with jig heads and l used two sandeel slugs on droppers above. Bites were fast and furious with mackerel and codling coming in and only damaged mackerel being kept. I tried a SPJ but fouled mackerel  so that went away. 

Excellent day with a good friend, good weather and fish. What's not to like 😁

[JDP]

Looks like it was a great day out there. Why is it hard to pinpoint fish, what sounder and transducer are you using ? Even most entry level sounders should pick up fish pretty well as well and show soft plastics falling to the bottom. 

[mike farrants]

nice day out and plenty of fish!! 

[Malc]

11 hours ago, JDP said:

 Why is it hard to pinpoint fish, what sounder and transducer are you using ? Even most entry level sounders should pick up fish pretty well as well and show soft plastics falling to the bottom. 

Because cod hug the bottom so you rarely see them, plus that area is large unlike the other reefs which are around half a footie pitch in size so they are easy to find without using the sounder. The tide was fairly slack too so we weren't covering the ground. 

If I'm on my kayak the only thing I'm interested in is changing depth so my lures are working correctly although on occasions I have seen a fish following the lure and have tried to induce a take but that's a rarity. 

[Andy135]

Lovely report and great results! Very envious of those pollack - spot on fishing 👍

[JDP]

21 hours ago, Malc said:

Because cod hug the bottom so you rarely see them, plus that area is large unlike the other reefs which are around half a footie pitch in size so they are easy to find without using the sounder. The tide was fairly slack too so we weren't covering the ground. 

If I'm on my kayak the only thing I'm interested in is changing depth so my lures are working correctly although on occasions I have seen a fish following the lure and have tried to induce a take but that's a rarity. 

But you weren't in a kayak, cod will show on sounders if you have them setup right. We were able to pick up sole and plaice trawling the  the English channel well over 30yrs ago on old tech koden sounders.

Anyone wanting to improve their sounds skills I can highly recommend the Ryan moody courses https://www.fishsmarter.com.au/products/sounder-skills-2/

[Malc]

Thanks for the link I'll have a look later. 

I know you can see them but the rough ground we were on was 30-45ft deep so the cone of the sounder is going to be small and its not going to be economic to try and chase codling over 3/4 square mile of rough ground and then set up a drift to go over them when they are likely to have moved on from the first sighting, this bit of ground is not like that. We normally have to set a drift across it and hopefully there will be fish intercepted along that drift. The place where we caught all the pollock was a drift of 150m for that wind and tide direction and 250 if the wind was pushing us inshore and we knew that the fish would be patrolling the drop off and hiding in the kelp fronds so we only need to use the sounder to see when we are off the reef, but you can feel that as the rig wasn't pulling through the kelp and the drop was longer. 

[GPSguru]

12 minutes ago, Malc said:

Thanks for the link I'll have a look later. 

I know you can see them but the rough ground we were on was 30-45ft deep so the cone of the sounder is going to be small and its not going to be economic to try and chase codling over 3/4 square mile of rough ground and then set up a drift to go over them when they are likely to have moved on from the first sighting, this bit of ground is not like that. We normally have to set a drift across it and hopefully there will be fish intercepted along that drift. The place where we caught all the pollock was a drift of 150m for that wind and tide direction and 250 if the wind was pushing us inshore and we knew that the fish would be patrolling the drop off and hiding in the kelp fronds so we only need to use the sounder to see when we are off the reef, but you can feel that as the rig wasn't pulling through the kelp and the drop was longer. 

Using panoptix we can see the lures and the fish taking the lures. It gets really addictive !

[JDP]

12 hours ago, GPSguru said:

Using panoptix we can see the lures and the fish taking the lures. It gets really addictive !

Likewise, I have a pc30 and love watching the interaction of fish chasing lures. Ive been offered an lsv32 for next to nothing from a friend who recently got the lsv34, having seen the 34 Im considering swapping out my pc30 for one. Which do you have and what depths is it capable of, all the info Im seeing is on shallow water.

In saying that even an old hds5 I had years ago would clearly show rigs and fish at depths of around 60m. I never saw that much improvement with lowrance and simrad even when I went to 12in screens, hence why changing to high res Garmin 1900 x 1200 res certainly helps.

[JDP]

12 hours ago, Malc said:

Thanks for the link I'll have a look later. 

I know you can see them but the rough ground we were on was 30-45ft deep so the cone of the sounder is going to be small and its not going to be economic to try and chase codling over 3/4 square mile of rough ground and then set up a drift to go over them when they are likely to have moved on from the first sighting, this bit of ground is not like that. We normally have to set a drift across it and hopefully there will be fish intercepted along that drift. The place where we caught all the pollock was a drift of 150m for that wind and tide direction and 250 if the wind was pushing us inshore and we knew that the fish would be patrolling the drop off and hiding in the kelp fronds so we only need to use the sounder to see when we are off the reef, but you can feel that as the rig wasn't pulling through the kelp and the drop was longer. 

The video training isn't free but I figured the amount Ive spent on electronics and the amount of time and fuel wasted not finding fish that the value of the training course worth while. There are regular special offers on them and once purchased you can watch them as many times as you like. Tweaking head units for the target species and understanding approach angles in relation to sea conditions, speed and depth etc are all made simple to understand. In saying that there are numerous tutorial seminars on most brands on YouTube which are free but Ive not found any that explain in depth as well as these.

[GPSguru]

3 hours ago, JDP said:

Likewise, I have a pc30 and love watching the interaction of fish chasing lures. Ive been offered an lsv32 for next to nothing from a friend who recently got the lsv34, having seen the 34 Im considering swapping out my pc30 for one. Which do you have and what depths is it capable of, all the info Im seeing is on shallow water.

I have an LVS32 and GLS10.

For a long time we ran the transducer in forward scan mode, which was great for finding and drifting wrecks, but now I have it set in down scan mode and that is generally a much better option. We have used it in 300ft, but the spec for this transducer is 200ft. Here, 200ft is fine as that is about the max depth that we get in Lyme bay. Mostly we are fishing in 100 - 150ft.

[JDP]

2 hours ago, GPSguru said:

I have an LVS32 and GLS10.

For a long time we ran the transducer in forward scan mode, which was great for finding and drifting wrecks, but now I have it set in down scan mode and that is generally a much better option. We have used it in 300ft, but the spec for this transducer is 200ft. Here, 200ft is fine as that is about the max depth that we get in Lyme bay. Mostly we are fishing in 100 - 150ft.

Just noticed there's a LVS 62 model but gee the price is way up there. Its meant to be catered more at saltwater longer range.

[Malc]

9 hours ago, JDP said:

In saying that even an old hds5 I had years ago would clearly show rigs and fish at depths of around 60m.

My lowrance 5 was showing my rig descending to the bottom of Loch Etive @ 100m but I couldn't see the small spurdog we were catching. In fact it does all I require of it, is easy to see as it's at my right knee and doesn't get in the way of me peddling and by having the battery port fwd the kayak is nicely balanced. 

[JDP]

11 hours ago, Malc said:

My lowrance 5 was showing my rig descending to the bottom of Loch Etive @ 100m but I couldn't see the small spurdog we were catching. In fact it does all I require of it, is easy to see as it's at my right knee and doesn't get in the way of me peddling and by having the battery port fwd the kayak is nicely balanced. 

If you go into the menu and set the upper limit at 85-90m and the bottom limit at 105m you will then use the full screen res for just a 20-30ft section of water, this will show fish easily at those depths, it worked for me in depths over 300m with a standard lowrance transducer. Setting those limits isn't the same as using the zoom function, zoom simply magnifies the bottom and what already couldn't be seen, it makes the pixels bigger where the other way uses more of the screen pixels for a small column of water. I could see my deer drop sinkers and fish at those depths.

Edited July 14, 2022 by JDP