Environment

Report: Rec fishing in marine parks does work

I KNOW a lot of Aussies have a poor view of the fishing to be found over in the Old Dart and in my time in Sydney I got used to the ribbing about about fishing for “stinking carp” with their own bloody names.

But I’m going to surprise you with a tale of some rather good English fishing that can be experienced slap bang in the middle of a Marine Park. Let me repeat that…in the middle of a Marine Park. In fact if it wasn’t in a protected area I seriously doubt if the sport would have been anything like as good.

I’ve just returned from the Scillies, the UK’s largest collection of offshore islands, some 28 miles off the tip of Cornwall and home to the best wrasse fishing to be found in Britain.

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A scenic view of the Scillies, home to some of Britain’s best wrasse fishing.   

I’ve been lucky enough to have fished all over the world and one of the things I love most about fishing is discovering something new. Like why the hell I didn’t go to the beautiful Isles of Scilly 30 years ago and why has it taken me this long to experience the fun of catching chunky wrasse on soft plastics? These gorgeous fish come in a stunning array of colours, can grow up to nine pounds, fight hard and dirty and live in places that you’d want to visit even if you weren’t fishing. I was so impressed with the place and the fishing that I’ve booked to go back next year and I will be researching other wrasse spots along the English coast in the meantime!

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Check out the amazing colours on this softie eating wrasse!

For many years the whole Scillies archipelago has been a marine reserve where recreational fishing is encouraged but commercial boats larger than 10 metres are prohibited from operating from the shore right out to the 50 metre contour line. True, there are some small islands preserved as wildlife sanctuaries where no human landings are permitted but the the vast majority of the area is available for angling.

As well as quality wrasse fishing there are big pollack, ling, mullet, plaice and even blue sharks to be caught. As we have just seen with the recent designation by President Obama of the world’s largest marine park in the Pacific Remote Islands it is perfectly possible to combine valuable conservation of important habitat with recreational fishing.
More details here: http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/obama-proclaims-world-s-largest-marine-park-doesn-t-ban-fishos

For what it’s worth my advice to Aussie fishos, who are understandably worried about talk of a new Sydney Marine Park, is to turn round to your politicians and tell them that only once the whole area is made a recreational fishing haven can any discussion begin about further designations. Sydney Harbour is already a de facto rec only haven by virtue of the concerns over industrial pollution impacting on the health of fish stocks west of the Harbour Bridge. The area has benefitted immeasurably from the removal of pros and this needs to be enshrined in future regulation before some bright spark proposes turning the clock back.

Anyway … enough of politics, back to the fishing.

Being brought up as a coarse angler bait fishing in the rivers, lakes and gravel pits of the Thames Valley outside London, I’m relatively new to chasing fish in the sea and to the weird, wonderful and totally addictive world of lure fishing. I guess it really kicked off for me in my time out in Australia where I had to learn a host of new techniques to catch your hard fighting marine predators. Using braid, jig heads, cone weights, soft plastics, Texas and Carolina rigs, vibrating blades, poppers and stick baits took some getting used to but it was a fascinating learning curve which totally changed my attitude to fishing back in the UK.

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The colouration might be different but this English wrasse looks very similar to Australian eastern blue groper.

Lure fishing is very much the new rock and roll in the world of UK angling and we are still miles behind the Aussies and Americans in this branch of the sport. However, it is growing in popularity over here when other arms of our sport are in decline. And it’s not just youngsters that like the cool gear that’s on offer, the highly mobile approach and the fact it is possible to grab a quick session on the bank without the hassle of getting hold of smelly bait and carting a barrow load of gear around.

The UK tackle trade has been keen to meet the new demand and I’ve been impressed by the range gear that is now available through specialist lure fishing suppliers. I took out a new Sonik SK4XTR 9′ 15-40gram travel lure rod to team up with a new Shimano Aernos 4000FA spinning reel that UK bass guru and angling TV presenter, Henry Gilbey, told me I just had to have. Just to be on the safe side I also took over to the Scillies a lighter MajorCraft Skyroad 10-30gram outfit – another Gilbey “must have” item!

The Skyroad was a positive joy to use as it is light and responsive, casts like a dream and allows the angler to impact real action into the lures. Whilst it is a great bass rod and was fine on the smaller wrasse up to a couple of pounds there was just too much give in it to keep some of the larger specimens out of the rocks and kelp during those crucial first three seconds of the fight. After a couple of days I upgraded to the heavier Sonik and a 20lb leader and the losses were dramatically reduced.

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Martin had a ball discovering the joys of wrasse fishing off the UK coast.

Wrasse are certainly not tackle shy but they can be picky about which lures and which retrieving techniques will persuade them to hang on. Worm patterns are by far the most effective and I certainly had a better hook up ratio by using as light a cone weight on the line as possible. I suspect that this is because most of the hookable takes, as opposed to the inconclusive plucks, tend to come as the lure is falling back into the rocks following a lift and twitch retrieve. The lighter the weight on the nose of the rig gives the wrasse just a little longer to home in on the target.

My most successful patterns were the four inch Hawg Wild Lure worms in pumpkinseed and watermelon colours, the Spro Komodo worms and an American largemouth bass lure from Poor Boy’s Baits called an Erie Darter. However, there are countless other patterns that will catch wrasse and plenty of room for experimentation. I would also add that having a colour change available will keep the wrasse coming longer after a few have been caught and released from the same spot.

I learnt to avoid turbulent water and big swells as wrasse, understandably, are not keen on feeding whilst being smashed against the boulders. Happily I could forget about dawn and dusk as this is a family friendly species that bites well in the middle of the day and concentrate on the couple of hours either side of high tide. The most productive areas were over rocks with plenty of weed, limpets and other tempting morsels rather than smooth and lifeless ground which might be kinder on your tackle but which was be less attractive to the fish.

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Groper? Nope, it’s a pommie wrasse taken using proven soft plastics fishing techniques.

The fishing came together after a while once I had cottonned on to picking the right spots with the right habitat that were sufficiently sheltered from excessive waves or swell. I enjoyed some truly great sport the highlight of which was a 12 fish catch in a couple of hours before breakfast. I had plenty of smaller wrasse up to around two pounds and a handful of larger fish to just shy of four pounds. However, there are much bigger brutes out there as these pictures from local expert Del Thompson clearly demonstrate.

Check out Del’s blog, Scilly Lure Addicts, for a flavour of some of the reel screaming action that the Scillies can deliver: http://scillylureaddicts.blogspot.co.uk/

By and large the marine fishing in Europe is not a patch on what you guys have got in Australia and NZ but there are exceptions – thanks, in part, to having a properly managed Marine Park free from over exploitation by the pros and where anglers are welcomed with open arms. Now there’s an idea for you!

Martin Salter is Fishing World’s UK correspondent and the author of Keep Australia Fishing.

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