KAYAK FISHING BLOG | CORNISH KAYAK ANGLER
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Information Guides
    • Choosing a Fishing Kayak
    • Choosing A Paddle
    • What to Wear
    • Essential Safety Equipment
    • Paddle or Pedal Kayak?
    • Installing A Fish Finder
    • How to Anchor A Kayak
  • Kayak Modifications
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • Places to Fish
    • North Cornwall
    • West Cornwall
    • South Cornwall
  • UK Fish Identification
  • Photos
    • 2013 Photos
    • 2014 Photos
    • 2015 Photos
    • 2016 Photos
    • 2017 Photos
  • Marine Life Photography
    • Fish
    • Cnidaria
    • Echinodermata
    • Mollusca
    • Crustacea
  • Links

Kayak Fishing Blog

The Big Pollack and The Big Cuckoo

29/9/2014

 
Picture
It was an early start. The alarm went at 5:45 and a strong coffee made very soon after. Im back living in Plymouth now so if i want to fish my usual haunts it involves an early start and a long drive. I left Plymouth at 6:30 and drove home to get the gear ready and load the car. Kieren and myself were heading out for a reef fishing session. He had caught an 18lb Ling the weekend before. What would turn up today?
We had left home by 9 and met up with Sam, and were on the water for 10. The ground swell was pumping in and the reef we would be fishing around was getting hammered by some impressive slabs of water. Those watching us launch probably thought we were mental to be paddling out but I like a drop of swell, it gets the bottom fish moving and feeding. We sat back and waited to see which was the best route to paddle out to the back of the reef. We had a clear channel of water about 30m wide to paddle through with complete annihilation either side of us on the rocky reef tops.... we paddled hard and made it through fine. Although the swell was big, out the back of the reef in deeper water it was just rolling past without any problems. 

We chose a spot of rough ground in about 30m of water and dropped baited luminous Hookais to the bottom. Within a few seconds of my weight hitting bottom the rod arched over and a decent fish was pulling hard! It fought admirably to the surface where a colourful Ballan Wrasse of around 3lb appeared..... not bad for the first drop!
Picture
Next drop and another fish hammered the bait within seconds! This time a Ling around 4lb
Picture
Next drop... BANG! Another hard fighting fish was on.... a nice Pollack around 3lb
Picture
3 fish on the first 3 drops.... this was going to be a fun day! By now we had drifted off the reefy ground. Kieren and Sam hadn't had a bite! The tide was ebbing and was creating quite a rip off the end of the reef which made for strenuous work paddling back up the drift. 

Sam had brought some squid jigs along and was soon pulling a few in, much to our amusement when they squirted water all over him! We continued to drift over the reef again and again at different places. Kieren started catching a few pollack and i found a female Cuckoo Wrasse. A few Red Gurnards and more Pollack followed.  
Picture
Picture
Soon enough a better Pollack had found the Hookais and a decent fight led to a 6lb fish being lifted into the footwell.
Picture
The tide was really ripping past by now and we were having to put more and more effort into paddling. We had a few close passes to the shallow ground which brought more Cuckoo Wrasse, a few Mackerel and some more Squid for Sam. We must have been going through dense patches of Squid because at times they were stripping the baits from the hooks within seconds but we couldn't hook them. One did eventually get caught up in my hooks.... amazing coloration! I managed to get a close up photo of the chromatophores in Squids skin.
Picture
Picture
More beautiful Cuckoo Wrasse followed and they were getting bigger...
Picture
Picture
I seemed to be getting them every drop. I hooked a better one and it was fighting well. A big male Cuckoo appeared from the depths!
Picture
He had come from deep water and had succumb to the change in pressure. It couldn't regain enough strength to swim back so i kept it for bait. I later weighed it on my fishing clubs scales which gave a weight of 1lb 8oz 14dr! A new PB for me and a club specimen. 

I decided to try something a bit different so set up a rig to work a single sliver of mackerel belly over the reef. A 3oz weight and a 6ft trace would give the bait plenty of movement in the tide. A Scad soon found the bait and the squid cleaned the hook off a few times too. I continued to lower the bait to the seabed and slowly wind it back up. BANG! A fish nailed the bait at speed, the rod doubled over and was running hard towards the bottom. I struggled to slow it down and knew it was about to make refuge amongst the reef. I felt it hit bottom at which point i gripped the spool solidly and pulled up hard. The rod was in half with the fish thumping away on the end. For a few seconds it just sat their before finally turning and allowing me to steer it away from the reef and gain some line. Several powerful dives followed.... this was a bigger one!! A big Pollack appeared from the depths before having one last dive for freedom, i soon had it back alongside the kayak, gilled it and heaved it onboard. YES!! It was definitely a double......
Picture
Picture
It measured 80cm long and weighed 10lb 11oz... I was ecstatic! I paddled over to Kieren who looked very jealous! He had an 18lb Ling the week before so he can't complain! 

We were getting tired so agreed to a few more drifts before heading in. Sam managed to catch more Squid, a Greater Weever and a small John Dory. Kieren found a nice Pollack around 7lb, a Ling around 5lb, a fat Mackerel of 1lb 10oz and some small Cod. I managed a few more Cuckoo Wrasse, a small Cod and a Poor Cod. 

By now it was 16:30 and we headed back in  tired but very happy. Sam had plenty of Squid with the biggest two weighing 3lb each! I finished the day with Pollack to 10lb 11oz, Cuckoo Wrasse to 1lb 8oz, a 3lb Ballan Wrasse, a 4lb Ling, Mackerel, Scad, Cod, Poor Cod and Red Gurnard, 9 species in all as well as the Squid! Kieren and Sam had plenty of species too.

A cracking day reef fishing with fish all day long. The chances of getting out to fish it again over the coming weeks are low unless the swell dies down for a while, we wouldn't have got out if the ground sea was any bigger. The swell looks to be building over the week but hopefully there will be a calmer period soon so we can see what else is lurking in the depths. I managed to get back to Plymouth for 9pm completely shattered. Was it worth the 4 hour round trip.... absolutely!

Comments are closed.

    Author

    Liam Faisey

    Liam Faisey Cornish Kayak Angler

    SPONSORS

    palm-equipment-logo
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Navionics Logo

    Proudly associated with
    Cornwall Canoes
    Cornwall's only specialist kayak fishing shop

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    February 2022
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Anchor
    Anchor Chain
    Anchoring
    Anchor Reel
    Anchor Trolley
    Atom Bib
    Baillons Wrasse
    Ballan Wrasse
    Basking Shark
    Bass
    Battery
    Bixpy Motor
    Black Bream
    Blonde Ray
    Blue Shark
    Boat Fishing
    Bull Huss
    Buyers Guide
    Camera
    Clothing
    Cod
    Common Skate
    Competition
    Conger Eel
    Corkwing Wrasse
    Cornwall
    Couch's Bream
    Crate
    Cuckoo Wrasse
    Dab
    Diy
    Dolphins
    Drift Fishing
    Drysuit
    Equipment
    Extendable Pole
    Fishfinder
    Fish Finder
    Fishing Kayaks
    Flounder
    Footwear
    Gilthead Bream
    Goby
    Goldsinney-wrasse
    Go Pro
    Gps
    Greater Weever
    Grey-gurnard
    Grey-gurnard
    Haddock
    Herring
    Hobie
    Hobie Eclipse
    Hobie Outback
    Hobie Outtfitter
    Jellyfish
    Kayak Fishing Guide
    Kayak Review
    Kayak Surfing
    Kayak-wars
    Launce
    Launch Venues
    Leashes
    Lesser Spotted Dogfish
    Ling
    Lithium Battery
    Live Bait
    Lowrance Elite 4x Dsi
    Lure Fishing
    Lures
    Mackerel
    Marine Biological Association
    Measuring-fish
    Megrim Sole
    Mirage Drive
    Modifications
    Mother Shipping
    Mounting-board
    Oceanic Pufferfish
    Ocean-sunfish
    Octopus
    Paddle
    Paddling
    Palm
    Palm-kaikoura
    Pedal Drive Kayaks
    Penzance Kayak Fishing Meet
    Pfd
    Pilchards
    Pilot Whales
    Places-to-fish
    Plaice
    PLB
    Pollack
    Porbeagle Shark
    Pouting
    Railblaza
    Ram Mounts
    Ram Tubes
    Ray
    Raymarine Dragonfly
    Red Band Fish
    Red Gurnard
    Red Mullet
    Reef Fishing
    Review
    Revolution 16
    Rigging
    Rock Cook Wrasse
    Rod Holders
    Rod Rest
    ROKK Mounts
    RPF Master
    RTM
    RTM Abaco 420
    RTM Abaco 420
    RTM Luxe Seat
    RTM Ocean Duo
    RTM Rytmo Angler
    RTM Tempo
    Safety
    Scad
    Scorpionfish
    Scotty Mount
    Selfrescue
    Shark
    Shore Fishing
    Skate
    Slide Track
    Small Eyed Ray
    Smoothound
    Spotted Ray
    Starting Out
    Storage
    Storm
    Streaked Gurnard
    Tandem Kayak
    Team RTM UK
    Teksport Xplore 330
    Thermals
    Thornback Ray
    Tompot Blenny
    Tope
    Triggerfish
    Tub Gurnard
    Turbot
    Ugly Stik Elite Spin Rod
    Ugly Stik Kayak Rod
    Undulate Ray
    VHF Radio
    Vibe Sea Ghost
    Video
    Viking Kayaks
    West Cornwall Kayakers
    Yak Attack

    Add my blog to your feed reader by clicking the button below 

    RSS Feed


    Cornish Kayak Angler - Kayak Fishing Blog

    Get blog updates via email

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    blog web counter
    Web Counter

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Kayak Fishing Videos

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Kayak Bass Fishing Video
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed Widget
    Custom feed reader powered by FeedWind

    Useful Links

    Anglers Afloat
    Cornish Shore & Kayak Fisherman
    Cornwall Canoes
    ​Palm Equipment
    ​Penzance Kayak Fishing Meet Info
    Saltwater Kayak Fisherman
    Magic Seaweed
    XC Weather

    Picture

    Choosing a Paddle for Kayaking

    Kayak Fishing Clothing

    Pedal and Paddle Fishing Kayak Pros and Cons

Cornish Kayak Angler - Kayak Fishing Blog

Popular Pages

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • Kayak Modifications
  • UK Fish Identification
  • Places To Kayak Fish

Sponsors

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Navionics UK

YouTube

Facebook

Website powered by pasties and the hope of good weather!
© 2023 Liam Faisey
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Information Guides
    • Choosing a Fishing Kayak
    • Choosing A Paddle
    • What to Wear
    • Essential Safety Equipment
    • Paddle or Pedal Kayak?
    • Installing A Fish Finder
    • How to Anchor A Kayak
  • Kayak Modifications
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • Places to Fish
    • North Cornwall
    • West Cornwall
    • South Cornwall
  • UK Fish Identification
  • Photos
    • 2013 Photos
    • 2014 Photos
    • 2015 Photos
    • 2016 Photos
    • 2017 Photos
  • Marine Life Photography
    • Fish
    • Cnidaria
    • Echinodermata
    • Mollusca
    • Crustacea
  • Links