Plymouth Sound - Mini Species Fishing

Im not used to fishing for small stuff from the kayak so when Mark and Martin planned a mini-meet at Plymouth on Sunday i thought it would be a good opportunity to fish for mini-species.....

We met at Mountbatten at 8 and were joined by Dan who was hoping to catch his first kayak fish. We launched in calm but foggy conditions and ventured out into Plymouth Sound to see what we could find. I headed off along the rocks and soon found a small gully that looked like it may hold some wrasse. Ragworm was loaded onto a sabiki rig and lowered into the water. The wrasse were tentative to bite but eventually a small male Corkwing Wrasse took the bait

I tried a few other spots but they were unproductive however fish shoals were showing on the fish finder over clean ground. Frustratingly they would not take the Sabiki rig despite looking like thick shoals on the finder. Persisting to try and catch the mystery shoaling fish i did eventually get a big Launce however I'm positive this wasn't what was showing on the finder!

Bites were difficult to come by so i soon got bored and ventured out to see if i could find the Red Band Fish that had been present a few days before. I searched the area for shoals of fish but all seemed fairly dead. I was just about to give up and head back to find more wrasse when a shoal of fish showed on the fish finder. Soon enough two Red Band Fish were on board.... i love em!

I anchored closer to shore in the hope of finding some more wrasse. A kayak angler from Saltash (sorry forgot your name!) paddled over to say hello as i hooked something on the ragworm tipped sabiki rig - a Tompot Blenny, my first from a kayak. Charismatic little fish and surprisingly photogenic....

The wrasse weren't really having it, slow bites and hard to come by. I persisted through not wanting to move and was finally rewarded with my first kayak caught Goldsinney Wrasse

Mark paddled over and we anchored over some clean ground to see if anything was about....nothing....not a nibble! After half an hour or so boredom beat us and along with Dan we headed over to the other side of Plymouth Sound. Dan had already found himself his first kayak fish, a pollack i think, so that was good. On the way across we paddled over some reefy looking ground covered in fish shoals! Mark had already powered ahead so me and dan dropped the rigs down to see what the fish were on the reef...... pollack! Little ones but still fun with about 10 caught in 5 minutes, 4 on one drop!

Dan found a few too before we headed off to find some rough ground to anchor over to try and get amongst some Ballan Wrasse which seemed to have been avoiding me. Mark was having a few small wrasse and Dan soon had himself his first Scorpionfish, a plump one too, soon followed by a Corkwing. One small, but beautifully marked Pollack came my way.

The fish just weren't having my bait so it wasn't long before i was ready to call it a day. We up anchored and headed back for Mountbatten, well not before a quick drop down on the pollack shoals again....tap, tap, bang! Pollack....nope.... a Ballan Wrasse....typical! Wouldn't take ragworm but would take a sabiki amongst a shoal of pollack...only a small one but that put me on 7 species for the day. 

We were soon back at Mountbatten after a difficult but still fun morning on the water. Well done Dan on your first kayak caught fish, the first of many.  It will be interesting to see how the Sound fishes on the Ocean Kayak Classic competition in a few weeks, I'm looking forward to it!