A chunky wrasse - 7th September 2013

Saturday afternoon I headed to a deep water rock mark to target pollock. I got there just after low tide and had a few small pollock of about 1-1.5 lbs. Shortly after arriving the wind changed direction and was blowing directly towards me so I decided to move to the western margin of the next bay.

I found a relatively flat wave-cut platform and had a few casts retrieving through a narrow kelp lined gap in between some shallow submerged rocks. On about the fourth cast as I retrieved the lure close to shore there was a sudden flash of gold up from the depth and a large pollock snatched the lure and dived. It was a strong fish and the rod doubled over as it stripped line. I managed to prevent it burying itself into the kelp and got it to the surface. It made several more dives before I could ease it on to the rocks. It was a nice pollock of just over 4 lbs.

A little later I moved to the edge of a narrow deep gully and slowly retrieved a soft plastic, keeping it deep. I could see faint outline of a fish checking out the lure several times, then on about the fifth or sixth cast something grabbed the lure and dived beneath the rock ledge. I couldn't budge it, so moved to my left to the very edge of the rocks to get a bit more leverage and managed to pull the fish out. It wasn't happy and made a few more dives before I got it to the surface and eased it on to the edge of the rocks. It was a nice Ballen Wrasse of about 2 lbs.

It had destroyed the lure so I put on another and had a few more casts through the same gully. Then the lure was hit hard and the rod buckled over. I stopped the fish going to ground but it was a struggle to get it to the surface. It made several dives stripping line with ease until I tighten the drag and slowly worked it to the surface and carefully eased it onto the rocks below me. It was a fine chunky ballen wrasse, weighing just over 4.5 lbs.

It was one of the biggest I have caught, possibly the biggest - a few years ago I had a large wrasse on ragworm from the Beara Peninsula but didn't have a scales with me at the time. Not sure if this one was bigger but there wouldn't have been much between them. But this fish was definitely the best I have had on a lure.

I fished on a little longer, moved further along the shore, tried a few more gulleys but just caught one more pollock of about 2 lbs.