The Gambia Experience

My Experience of Fishing and Holidays in the Gambia goes back to the late eighties in those days it seemed a place that was so far away i had seen John Wilson on the TV and that's what i wanted to do i contacted Mark Longster some Reports Here on the white warrior for some boat fishing he did the business way back then a really experienced guy that could put you on the Fish. 

Below a 31lb Cassava which is a pretty large fish for the species,but really i don't want to go back to then i am a angler that looks forward and on the 16th of April i will be revisiting The Gambia with My wife Carol, a special treat for me ,and the rods will be coming too,,but here is a couple of pictures from those days,,not always been a Bass Man ,,



31LB Cassava on Bait fishing with Mark Longster in 1989

  I Did take to the beaches in those days and the Red Snappers were common and were great sport on the beachcasters on the night trips ,i also had a snapper off mark longsters boat of 28lbs that took a  Rapala J11 stationary off the top ,,

a fine snapper off the shore Gambia 1988

 Some times the African trophy shot can get out of hand ,,,,,,Here the Barracuda were going mental on the boat with snapper and cassava ,but for me just happy memories of times gone by ,,,

Over 200LBS of fish for the locals in the area,,,Trophy shots not my style in todays Bass world

 The Barracuda came thick and Fast but just buggered your lures but great sport ,,

 And below the main reason i am going back to the Gambia on the 16th of April,, Carol my Wife ,,thanks love what a brilliant i love you Present ,,so lets hope the fish will still be there and play a little ball for old times sake,,and we can get a few,

if not i will just have to take you to the Bar,,,

I will get a report up as soon as we get back and fingers crossed ,,,

Asturias Report No1 2012

All was well the flight was a smooth a really good service from Easy Jet Flying with fishing gear is a art in itself we took a Bazooka Rod carrier 7 plugging rods are the maximum for this bit of kit and a extra bag for sporting gear and extra £20 but worked OK on the flights,,the anticipation on the Plane was electric between Joe ,Mark Myself and the newbie Gary ,big respect to Gary as we had all been to Asturias before and really we knew this trip was never going to be easy,i asked Gary along as he had won the RNLI raffle for a Guide on World SeaFishing Forum but i did stress this was not the one as we would be fishing hard for 5 days we will go for a easy one in summer ,,

 

The scenery vista in Asturias is simply stunning for the plugger this land in northern Spain is a very hard area to get around ,personal fitness levels have to be high as the access down the cliffs can be off the scale one of our marks we christened the stair way to heaven  just up the road from our house at Cavedaro is a 1000 feet decent to the beach and when you get there well a 2 to 4 mile rock hop is not out of the oordinary to get to Fishing Marks,

You can spot the path down at the end of the Road
Thanks Google Earth for the picture

This area of Spain not only has the roughest ground of any Bass Marks i know anywhere but also suffers the double wammy of really large and unprecdictable swell patterns you must be so carefull and alert when fishing,Below is Mark and Dario planning the next fishing trip both these guys cannot speak the others language at all but i must say the universal  international world of  lure fishing this simply was not a barrier
for any of us on the Trip,,

Manel ,Below, explaining the in and out of the evening session these guys know the area so well and let me say this without the help from Manel and Dario this trip would not have been possible they fished and helped at every corner simply a great effort of friendship and angling have a look at Manels Blog Here Thanks guys from all of us,,

I would advise anyone who fancies Asturias for some extreem Bass Fishing get hold of Manel and Dario
local knowledge in this area is a must,,
below Joe and Dario discussing Tactics on a early morning trip ,things were hard and we were getting a little twitchy that the Bass were not giong to show but with Persiverence and hard work,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Mark with a nice Asturian Bass and well earned too did not have many fish 6 in total for the trip but when one came out it just seemed to work for all of us ,,,

Another thanks Manel and Dario for making this a trip to remember and thats from Joe ,Mark, Gary and Me

Cheers guys,,

Aturias Report No 2 will be the lures we used on the trip what worked and what dident,,so till next time,,

VIVA ESPANIA!!!!

Well guys here it is ,I and we have been waiting for some time to get back to Asturias and at 2pm on Tuesday we will be on the plane and boy I can't wait so exited I am like a child,,

There are some great people out there in Spain that are just so friendly and we may not speak fluent Spanish but lure fishing is the universal language,,,trust me,,unless mark forgets where he is and starts banging in French !,!!

Mark , Adrian ,Gary and yours truly will be sending back some reports on WSF and I will keep the blog ,

So for now thanks for watching my blog ,, this is going to be a blast,,,

And just been checking out the weather whooooooooo it looks good and water temp is 14 deg,,,

Just keeping everything in order helps the cause to catch a few bass ,,

Fingers crossed,,

Gee

Megabass Xslayer the ruin

After a bit of deliberation I recently purchased a pack of AYU Super Xlayer from Japan ,This purchase was never intended as a which hunt a point the finger at all i wanted as hundreds of other Bass lure anglers want was the AYU X Slayer ,that just seem so rare in the UK and Ireland at the moment keeping anglers on the edge of their pants waiting for stocks to arrive,,i couldn't wait ,,,,and what a surprise i got!

Megabass Super Xslayer AYU from Japan

Below is the model of Xslayer that is sold now all over the UK and Ireland  i find it quite astonishing that most or nearly all tackle dealers have all the old pictures of the XSlayer up (The original) on their online shops,,

here  Art of fishing

mr fish

        Bassmasters

             absolute fishing 

So you ask yourself what is the old fool banging on about today i would say its all about Quality and that The Great British and Irish Anglers as far as the X Slayer is concerned we are getting ripped off yet again the batch below came from Ireland and are a second batch of Slayers That Cian got in at Absolute Fishing after sending the first batch back to the suppliers for bad quality they are definitely better than the first lot but compared to what the choice the Japanese anglers have make your own mind up,

Megabass X Slayer Golden Shad sold in all outlets in the UK and Ireland



UK Slayer,,size difference



Glass Rattle totally in the wrong position over the horse shoe indent this affects the total tail action of the slayer

The sleek fine crisp cut of the ayu Japanese (Bottom) with the rattle in the correct position you can see the cold joints of the hand pour

This picture defines the way the rattle is inserted the Japanese Slayer is obviously mould injected giving a more accurate position,, with the rattle positioned after the slayer is stuck from the mould

The difference in quality just stands out a mile

 So make your own mind up but i know where i am getting my X Slayers in the future i do not really understand why we as anglers get this sort of deal or even put up with it from Megabass,wholesalers and tackle dealers and when we are supposedly so finesse with the best Rods ,Reels ,Braids ,LRF,HRF going for discussions long into the night on Forums and the like its so sad that we go to such high quality on all our tackle ,but this truly Iconic lure has been done a disservice by the build quality and supplied to the UK! and of course the Cost.

Easy Jet to Asturias

Last Year we had a real hard christening to the harsh terrain and waters of the province of Asturias in Northern Spain this area of coast is wild and exiting and needs experienced of the anglers fishing this really cool part of the world below Mark Padfield Last February getting a soaking from the unpredictable wave patterns you get in this area, 

Below you can see the diversity of the shore this picture is just a snap of the area at the anglers disposal you do need help with access and egress of the cliffs and marks Last year we met up with Manel and Dario two fantastic Spanish Bass Pluggers check out Manel's site on the link above things are really hotting up over there ,but i must stress that you need guys like Manel my advice is don't try it alone its just not worth it the place is off the scale but so Dangerious to the unwary local knowledge is King here.

Duo casting jigs the press bait fusion slim will be one lure that will be coming for the ride on the plane,, we will be looking at punching these certainly the 100yds mark with the long rods the bass are there  but at times hold well off shore,,,,,,Fusion Slim below take a look at the spec,

Here's my two partners on the trip Adrian and Mark Two very accomplished Bass Anglers will have my work cut out keeping up with these guys for 5 days Bassing that's for sure the fishing wasn't that good last year but now we have done some homework and met locals that are on the ball so lets hope for a bit of luck,,

If ever you fancy a trip to Asturias try  Easy Jet for brilliant cheap flights from Stanstead Essex to OVD Asturias Northern Spain , and the accommodation over there is as cheap as chips  here and what a  way to  bridge the silly season gap till our Bass season kicks in,,
We are flying out on the 13th march for 5 days and just cannot wait for this one will update with reports,,

Seaspin Lures worth a try in 2012

 I kindly got sent a few really tasty lures a couple of months back from the chaps at seaspin in Italy,, have a look here at their really nice site seaspin i don't know the exact price apart from they are undercutting the mainstream from Europe with their competitive prices,these lures are by no means copies they are stand alone on their own merit with fantastic detail and colourful paint jobs,
Below in Mullet the Coixedda 100 16g is a long casting sinking minnow that on a straight retrieve will rise to 40cm to 10cm depth a really nice lure that rolls and gently sinks horizontal on the pause,,


Coixedda 100 Minnow

 Next on the list the fantastically named Mommotti ,sounds like some sort of Italian racing car and this thing nearly is!! on the cast this 26g ,180mm long ,casting minnow, really flies through the air dives to a depth of 70cm a normal action for a long minnow but what strikes me about this lure is the slow floating nearly suspending in the table ,a proper lure that is such a tease,,, and to top this off the 180mm has a bigger brother the190mm Mommotti and 30g,,a sure fire winner for the long casters amongst us,


Mommotti 180 Mid Range Diver

 The Mommotti 140 Below in a striking Orange belly long casting 140mm ,16g  is a superb looking lure like its bigger brother in looks, but unlike a slow floating, it is a silent slow sinking jerk minnow ,,,



Mommotti 140 Mid Range Diver

 Pro-Q 120 Surface lure a Large topping lure below in mullet colour by my standards but has a awesome cast sits vertical in the water when still, but is the typical walk the dog lure has a sit up/ down side to side movement and some great colours including one that caught my eye in glow white ,,


Pro-Q 120 Surface Lure

 The Buginu 140 is some lump of a lure with a bib that puts the gataride to shame a lure that has a fantastic erratic action and suspends perfectly still in the salt water a beautiful shape 28g 140mm long casting this lure is built with precision and great detail and one that i will be having in my lure box in 2012,,


Buginu 140 Suspending Minnow



Duo Lures Thinking Japanese or are we????

The 175 flier advanced line in sand eel a well known slow sinking Bass Catcher but What is your favourite target Fish

Tremendous detail that the Flier comes with

Distance casting is the way to fish the 175 flier successfully,, casts like a bullet and is a killer for the European sea bass at range,, try one of these custom rods for this method of angling Dorset rods

the American St Criox is a crazy distance Bass Rod a string to your fishing and you will not look back,,,

Below is the very versatile 145 SLD-S Sinker again a personal favourite  of mine (H02 Cotton Candy) and this lure does catch Bass and other species as well again a very detailed distance lure,

Check out the Sea Trout below caught off the shore in the open ocean superb detail within the Duo lure will fool these top predators in the clearest of waters

Try and win a few of the Duo lures from Japan  in their online and facebook competition,, i wouldn't know the answer with quality like the Sea Trout about ,,,but,,

So the contest question is:



What species do you fish for? What is your favorite fish target?
Curious to read the answers – with fans all over the world, I`m pretty sure that the results will be much more varied this time.

Have a look,,

From Duo contest no5