We’re back! Don’t worry, we still love wrassing. Probably more than ever. But there have been some serious distractions this year. Including the best bass season I’ve ever had. But as the light has gone, around mid-November, it has forced my hand to return to a shallower bite. Which has been perfect timing for some excellent Autumn wrasse fishing.
A week or so ago, Dan and I headed East on a hunch, to a shallow rock mark. The wrasse fishing was on fire from the very first drift. It was hard to imagine a more active session. Worm, creatures and fish style lures all worked. During the day our lure choices got larger and larger to try and increase the average size of wrasse but it didn’t seem to put the smaller fish off – they were ferocious!
Then, when a calm day opened up last week, I immediately knew that I wanted to go wrassing again, but this time I headed to the island. The wind was super calm but I had two challenges to contend with. A monster spring tide and yet again, absolutely zero sunshine. The South Coast seems to have been blanketed by grey cloud for weeks. This can be challenging with wrasse as I believe they don’t have the best eyesight for low light conditions. However, this served to narrow down the area I would target them, thinking that they would prefer shallow areas where what light there was could penetrate.
I’m pleased to say this strategy worked. And while I didn’t achieve the numbers of fish from the week before, I did find a good average with a few over 40cm. With some beautiful, red specimens mixed in.
Hoping to continue this focus, although my catch data seems to suggest that wrassing gets really hard from here on the central South.
Successful lures included; Molix Sligozzo, Reins Fat Rockvibe Shad & Ecogear BTS Shad 4.5″. Predominately Free Rig.