First wrasse session of 2025 and it was a great one, with signs of early breeding behaviour.
Jumped in the boat and headed East to a mark that once or twice before we have found early fish. It was a bright, sunny day with blue skies and I was quietly confident for a few fish. I really feel a bright day can aid wrasse fishing early and late in the season. After a good week of fine weather the water temp at the surface was already reading over 12C. It almost felt like I was late.
First lure on was a 5-inch soft plastic worm by a Japanese brand called Bumblebee. I don’t always like fishing fish baits early in the season. Much prefer something more simple. A worm, shrimp, or smaller creaturebait.
Despite the glorious sunshine, I reminded myself that it was still early in the year, and I made a real effort to slow down the action of my free rig. A slow, purposeful lift, then allowing the 21g weight to fall back down and the lure slowly follow weightless, behind it. Nothing too erratic. No drama.
Then that moment I have waited for all winter. The tonk of Ballan Wrasse!
I struck the weedless hook home and there was no doubt in my mind that I had found my first Ballan Wrasse of the year. A beautiful, 38cm fish with the iridescent blue and green colours of a fish with breeding on its mind. Stunning as ever. The barbless hook slipped out in the net and the fish went straight back from where it came.
That was the start of a great little session. I wasn’t so much interested in swapping baits around as I usually am. I used four different soft plastics over the course of the day. The Bumblebee Flapp Tail worm I already mentioned took the biggest fish of the day at a very welcome 46cm. An Issei Danny 2.8 creaturebait that I brought back from Japan, which looked and is entirely perfect for the free rig with a wide spread of legs and appendages to act as a parachute on the fall and increase its hang time. That was getting murdered, taking fish to 45cm. A Keitech Crazy Flapper 2.8. And finally a bright colour JDM creature that I will feature properly at some point, because I really like it.
Most of my remaining brain cells were spent trying to understand how the fish were set up. Especially as some fish were clearly at pre-spawn stage. Despite fishing this mark for thirty years I could list the number of successful April wrasse trips on one hand. So it very much feels like I’m learning something when these events present themselves. The fish were definitely set up differently compared to the majority of the year. More widely spread. Territorial perhaps? And I found a few good fish in an area where I rarely get any interest, which feels a way away from the rocky reef. The only clue I have is that I have caught a few various goby species there. I wonder if gobies are an early forage.
Anyway, it was a great session, especially for an early one. The fish were feeding hard. The hook-up rate of my weedless presentation was really good, which is normally a good sign that the fish are hungry. Never going to complain about a session with fish up to 46cm. While I didn’t get closer to a prized 50, it was one of those days where every cast felt like it could lead to a PB.
Much more to come!