British HRF (hard rock fishing) for wrasse with soft lures. by Bassdo. The way of the lure.

able of contents.

INTRODUCTION 4 HANDLING 6 TACKLE AND STUFF 8 A LL YEAR 12 FUN FOR ALL 14 THE STRAIGHT DEBATE 16 UNDER COVER 20 PADDLING 24 SPLIT SHOT RIGS 28 FLIPPIN 32 HOTSPOTTING 34 COLOURS 38 ZING ! 39 SKISH 44 A FLOAT 49 KAYAK 52 POURING YOUR OWN 55 WHAT NEXT ? 56 CONTRIBUTION 58 CREDITS 62 This document is copyright © of Keith White and Jerseybassguides. Copying, display, sale or reselling only by express permission. Linking is permitted and encouraged. Ask the publisher for the embedding code. 2

Wrasse love craw baits. This is a Reins Axcraw on a weedless head of 3/1 6oz. Best crawled, shook or hopped but they 'swim' too.

ntro to HRF

OK then, let's get started. HRF isn't something we just made up. No. In fact, HRF (Hard Rock Fishing) is a trade name adopted by Daiwa Japan to best describe the heavier style of 'salt-water rock-fishing' now common in that part of the world. Rock-fishing itself is a direct offshoot of Japanese freshwater bass fishing but has splintered into many forms. It's all 'rock-fishing' but the LRF and HRF monikers describe it well enough. Here in Jersey, wrasse are locally known as 'rock-fish' too so it made perfect sense to adopt a ready made and recognised name set. So, onward and upwards...

Not all wrasse are 'ballans'. 4

Remembering that HRF came from Japanese freshwater bass men first putting freshwater techniques to use in the sea, this obviously meant that things were always going to be developed with this in mind. Traditions and myths were busted there, just like they have been 'busted' here too by British LRF and HRF men.

previously resided there. The Aussies have, in the last decade or so re-written the rule book with regard to bream fishing in the 'rock-fish' style.

Of course, we are in a different hemisphere and, fishing for different fish. US bass fishing has a plethora of methods and techniques to draw from too. By In the beginning, we followed the mixing this stuff up with countless Japanese way quite closely. The other styles and experiences, amount of translation work British 'HRF' made the light year involved then, and now, is simply jump into reality. mind blowing. There was also the help we received from guys both British HRF has it's own distinct over in Australia, and guys who flavour.

et to grips...

Just a quick few words here to those reading this guide. British lure fishing has, for many, sadly been a case of countless and fruitless hours fishing, and more hours spent blanking, as opposed to catching.

'lots' of fish. It's simple really. You can't learn to handle fish until you start catching them. It's like the chicken and the egg.

We still do use boga-grips on bigger wrasse but, no longer for weighing unless the fish go in a As a guide I get to see the 'void' smooth bag first. Don't risk between anglers that have come dropping fish, use a net. You'll see from freshwater backgrounds and loads of images of wrasse on those from a pure British salt-water rocks but, pick a spot where there environment. There is a void and, is cushioning weed between fish, the biggest one is fish handling. and rocks. These wrasse deserve your full Most of this stuff is basic common respect and, I'll be honest, we've sense and I'm not lecturing you all made mistakes. You will 'have but, rather hoping to make you to' learn to handle these fish simply aware. De-barb those hooks too. because, unlike those lost hours, Trust me, you rarely lose a wrasse weeks, months and years... because of slack line. LOL Now you're going to be catching

a c kl e

The first thing to appreciate is, we are going to be fishing all those places you have previously chosen to avoid because of inevitable tackle loses. HRF isn't for cry babies.

f. f u t s an d proven track records are the Tenyru Injection, Savage Gear Bushwhacker, Daiwa HRF 7ft, both the 3-23, and 3-30g Lucky Craft ESGII at 7' 7", and the Shimano drop shot. That just names a few.

Be sure to ask advice of guys actually fishing HRF styles as otherwise, the recommendations lack that vital backbone of personal experience. This fishing is different I would suggest the newcomer to as you will learn. Now, right now, is HRF wrasse, tackle this with a 7ft to the best time to plan as we get ready for the 'spring run'. 8ft rod of 3 to 28g or, something close to that range. Rods that have You will, initially lose quite a lot of end tackle. This is 'normal' and nothing to be overly concerned about.

Let's talk quickly about reels and lines. You'll notice that earlier, I suggested you'll be fishing in some pretty rough terrain when you establish yourself. I would suggest, that for wrasse HRF styles you choose a good 3000 sized reel with 2 spools and a fairly high retrieve ratio and, 'strong internals'. Of course, should you prefer a different size, use that.

of these qualities in 1 line is nigh on impossible. What to do? Well, it's best to make the compromises in your favour taking into consideration where you fish and the level, the 'true' level of your ability. We've all gotta start somewhere eh ?

I use all types of lines for HRF wrasse from 8 strand, 4 strand and straight through fluorocarbon lines. The fact is, you will be hooking big I would suggest that you start with fish really close in and, the reel, a decent 4 strand line like power whilst it needs to be lightweight and pro at 20lb in moss green or, like smooth, needs to be able to stop a some prefer, a coloured finish like big pig on a dime. The drag yellow. settings for close up work are higher than I would ever If going the straight through recommend for say, bass, or even fluorocarbon route which, to start, i wrasse in more open territory, but, cannot recommend due to it's there is a reason. special handling qualities, at least choose a good one. Choose one Big wrasse will hit, actually 'hit you' that isn't too heavy and too stiff but, and run through a maze of don't choose a hybrid one or one boulders in seconds unless 'you' that is too soft. Both braid and stop them. This is why it is so fluorocarbon are going to be shown important to have both a good reel some very rough ground in your and line but, a rod that both fishing so, be aware that lines will absorbs sudden shocks 'and', has abrade, they will fail, you will break real low down power to stop these off with high frequency. things quickly. Short and sweet lets say. A few forward thinking dealers are supplying HRF tackle in Great When it comes to lines there are no Britain and a good majority have special requirements other than advertised within these pages. 'common sense'. This means we They are sourcing the real deal have to have a line that is strong, from the far east and from personal transmits bites really well, lays on experience, the stuff making it over the spool well and, is 'abrasion is pretty good. Proper PE fixed resistant'. Oops, did I say this was spool reels are, at last, starting to going to be easy? In fact, finding all make an appearance.

Fluorocarbon does transmit bites well, even when slack. It 'is' heavy, so it's best reserved for really close range boulder or ledge work. I use it on a small baitcaster.

Only use, what you can truly afford leader of 'high quality' fluorocarbon. to use. As we have suggested, HRF If you get it snagged, rub it over rocks, or finish for the day... can be end tackle heavy from a consumable perspective. Look at change it. Don't skimp, you'll be making your own jigheads and soft sorry. I prefer a much longer leader of around 6 - 9ft for boulder lures as many have done before you. There is a starter article on soft protection but, we'll discuss plastics further along in this mag. specifics later because, not all fluorocarbons are equal and we Use a good leader but, if using a require different properties in a leader as opposed to a mainline. 20lb braid, use a 1 6, or an 1 8lb

ll year.

Before we move on, please You can't catch anything if you understand that wrasse have been don't go fishing. caught on lures prior to HRF. But, going fishing isn't the only However, not usually on purpose thing. Why didn't you, we, all, catch and in fact, a much, much rarer wrasse in their hoards before? event than HRF will present to you. Surely, they were there? Of course they were but, we were not The simple facts are, that, the more targeting them. time your lure is in the right place, the more chance you'll have of This is the difference. When hard hooking one. In fact, I'll go so far as lure fishing I might catch 6, maybe to say, if you don't hook up, you are 7 a season. Now, it's likely in the either...fishing the depths of winter thousands. Serious ! Most are as a beginner, fishing in the wrong smaller but, some exceed 5lb and place or, you are still contemplating bigger. Much, much bigger. Be going and reading this, instead of under no illusions. A big wrasse, at actually going fishing. close quarters is a serious match for HRF gear.

A cracking 'spring' wrasse caught in heavy boulder ground. Fish like this aren't one a chuck but are now, a real soft lure target.

Spring, summer, autumn and winter. No matter, the wrasse are still a viable boat and shore target on lures HRF style.

hasn't, regardless of how it affects... 'you'. Fishing seems easier focused around the low water marks in the winter whilst spring and summer Sure, the methods change, habits sees fish become incredibly active change. So does their environment at times as they follow up the tide and the way they live and feed too. like soldier ants eating everything in From where I'm writing here in so their path. called 'sunny Jersey' we can see winter conditions of 6 deg C water Locally, autumn is tough. Cuttlefish temperature, and 1 5 meters of clear invade our local waters and make visibility. Then, just as fast as anything even remotely food-like a writing this, a storm rolls in with 9ft target for our sepia friends. swells, heavy winds, rainwater runoff and suddenly, we are faced with Changing seasons, conditions, precompletely different conditions bar spawn, actual spawning, post the actual water temperature. So, spawn are all indicators to do armed with that, fish according to something different, not give up. what 'has' changed, not what

Another 'great' thing about HRF and associated LRF sport is that unlike other lure sports, it is great in 'close proximity' to others. We've had numbers exceeding 25 guys where 'all' have caught fish. More often seen are three or four HRF men combing the rocky coastline, pitching to cover, flipping lures between stones into likely holes and clambering out onto points to find ledges that have big wrasse lurking below. All it takes is one cast. Well, normally, three casts is usually enough to indicate whether of not the fish are home. Bites come in various forms. Tail nips, tap tap tap, or 'whack!'

u n for al l .

Either way, if you have that rod in the pitch cast position and you control the line tension correctly, you'll know when you get a bite. Don't forget, HRF can be family fishing too so get the kids involved.

It didn't help that most of the big wrasse in the 201 0 HRF competition were also caught on xlayers. everyone was using em. That was, until we discovered a lure that equalled it. The 'Gary Yamamoto Senko' was a revelation. Sure, I'd used them for bass for a while but never considered them as wrasse HRF ammo. Wrasse love em. The 4" model is just about right to start you off.

This year, 201 0 as I write this, has also seen many more people he straight debate. starting to self pour soft plastics. I've learned much from the many posts and experiments that people Earlier in 201 0 we noticed that wrasse love lures that are sat on have shared on the JBG forums the bottom and worked in very slow and it is something we will ourselves be adopting for 2011 . animated motions. The Megabass xlayer was the first 'real' lure that started the, straight lure for HRF wrasse movement but, even at Japanese prices, it was soon discovered that price was prohibitive when it came to wrasse. Not for tackle losses, no. This was pure and simple, the wrasse destroying any lure in seconds that came close. This 'spring' period was very costly with lures due to 'the confidence factor'. Xlayers caught wrasse. End of story. Everyone and his aunt needed them.

Straight, or dead-stick (see later pages) and slow, careful animations of the lure aren't the only way. When combing water fast, or the water is clear, or there is a swell running and you can't hold the bottom with a straight and a reasonable amount of weight, we use search pattern lures. These paddle tails or 'shads' are the same basic design. The shad fishing lure is designed to mimic the swimming motion and profile of the freshwater shad. 16

Green wrasse are a locally sought after favourite. Here, Kevin sports a fine 'green' specimen.

This small boulder field has produced BIG fish. 17

Cold, clear, hard... This clarity of water often means searching for active fish or getting extremely close to cover. With wrasse in mind, that means boulders, hard reef, ledges, whitewater, weed and swell to name just a few.

U nder Cover.

If they wont come to you...go to them.

Fishing for wrasse with soft lures, jig heads or other methods will require 'thinking outside of the norm'. You know, the old 'casting to the horizon' syndrome really has little place in HRF wrasse unless using 'search pattern' techniques.

Working to rocks a few rod lengths out is 'pitch cast' territory. However, working along a ledge, or a heavy boulder set with holes right, left, and centre is 'flip cast' ground. In the first case, the pitch, you have the bail arm 'off' and make controlled, accurate casts to very tight spots. Flipping is super Most often, you'll be underhand close range with the bail 'on' and casting using a 'pitch cast', or a drag 'set'. This is for dropping 'flip cast'. Both have their own lures real tight and getting best scenarios. Overhead casting smashed on the drop as the lure is best left for throwing small finds it's way through the cover. paddle tailed lures in heavier You've gotta be ready, or pay the ground swells or very clear, bright ultimate price. water and on those days when they just aren't close in. The latter isn't all that often.

Senkos or senko copies are standard HRF wrasse fodder.

S e n ko

Dave Watson with a beautiful wrasse. Taken at a time late in the year when many have simply.... given up. 22

Left click me to view BIG.

U p the creek but... I've got a paddle.

As we discussed earlier, wrasse aren't always on the bottom and, even if they are, things like surging ground swells can make presenting a HRF lure, very difficult.

to 3/4oz. If you use a heavier weight, the fall rate changes and, If you do let it run into the bottom, it makes itself known to the 'rock pigs'.

Enter the 'paddle tail'.

Many people cast and retrieve only. I feel this is a mistake. In shallow water, one depth, big swell, sure. In multi tiered water columns with drop offâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, ledges, boulders, etc. I like to 'buzz' the tail with a sharp action and then, let it fall and bang bottom. At the very least, let it swing, or 'curve-fall' right under your feet. Many big wrasse are caught this way.

You can fish these in sizes from 2" through 5" but, the bigger the lure and, the bigger the tail, the more chance you have of getting a short, Manx cat style lure back. Wrasse 'hate' paddle-tails. I like to fish these lures on either weed-less jig heads or, football open hook designed jig heads in ranges 1 /8oz

ZOOM fluke tailed gobies mounted on 'round', and 'football' type jigheads.

ppl ilti tSShhoot tRRi gi gss. .

We've been using certain lures in very close proximity this past few months with stunning results. Often, we throw lures into the smallest holes between boulders with flip casts and wait, as the lure sinks slowly, into the hole.

Wrasse are 'biters'. They will physically bite, with teeth, at the lure and this can be the cause of many missed bites if the angler rushes or, is unlucky. Wrasse can quite simply, chop a lure in two in one 'munch'.

Pitching into area's just that bit further away, often requires a bit of added weight and weed-less presentation. The lighter the weight, the slower the fall and the 'less' it affects' the 'way' it falls. Yes, even for wrasse..., the way it falls can matter.

If you getting rapid bites, get the weight (the split shot), on the nose of the lure and let it fall quickly. IF the bites are tentative or fish seem neutral, try moving the shot away a few inches or maybe even a foot. The shot then hits bottom first and the lure, well that, free-falls after it. You can use this in many situations So, we quite simply use 'split shot' where the shot taps bottom but, the pinched lightly on the line at various hook and lure, still falling, never ranges away from the hook which is actually make bottom contact. this invariably, an offset design or, a is useful in very snaggy rock types 'pegged' straight shank. in both and in area's covered with weed of cases, the hook should be within dissimilar height. the 'one quarter' to 'one third' distance away from the front of the lure.

The concentration of the HRF angler. Keep that rod / line angle close to 90째. You should find similar area's of heavy boulder or broken man made structure. With a balanced outfit, holding the rod for long periods like this is made far easier. Not only do you get the 'best' take detection for a variety of methods, you get the best fighting angle and cushion against bolting pigs. However... If fishing really close amongst the heavy boulders, I'd lower the angle to between 35째 and 45째. The moment that big fish hits, all hell breaks loose. If you don't stop em, it's over. That 90째 angle between rod tip and lure might give the best bite detection but, it places the 'maximum' amount of torque on the angler. This is why, big pig fishing is so initially violent. Have that drag set !

F lippin' n pitchin'

Two simple 'underhand' casts for fishing real close proximity, down and dirty, structure and cover. Pitching and flipping' can be done with fixed spools or small baitcasters and can place lures 'far more' accurately and quietly than conventional overhead casting.

Great cast for getting lures up against rocks, walls etc.

Flipping is different. It can be 'ultra quiet' and, with the standard 7-8ft HRF rod it's useful range is about 2.5 rod lengths in shallow water and less, the deeper it gets. However, it is a special cast than that drop lures There are 'other' useful casts but right on top of fish without spooking these two are worth learning. them, and, your bail is over already in case you get hit on the fall. The Pitching sees you hold the lure at cast is similar to the pitch but for the about rods length in your 'non rod' fact that line control passes to the hand. You put a little tension on the left hand. tip, hold the rod horizontally and 'lift' smoothly. You simultaneously let We'll cover these casts and more in go of the lure and away it flies. future issues.

H otspotting

Hot spotting lures is another US thing. We suffered loads of short strikes earlier in the year and, we also noticed a definite difference with the use of 'colour' for Wrasse. Enter the 'spike it pen'.

You can buy these in various colours and various 'scents' too. I do 'not' recommend 'garlic'. You may enjoy different mileage, but me, in my experience, wrasse are similar to vampires in that they...hate the stuff. Hot spotting is the use of colour and scent. It can be either or both. I would recommend the use of the hook area for application as in our extensive trials, it does draw the initial strike or 'bite' closer to the hook. Green 'craw-fish' seems to be quite well received in our waters locally.

Does colour matter ? Well, for many years, colour has been 'low' on the priority list when it has come down to our bass fishing. Sure, general colour patterns have been followed but with wrasse, it's different. Very different. Much depends on the water clarity but, there are certain colours that seem to trigger wrasse unlike my experiences with bass. Main colours in clear water have been purple, watermelon and pumpkin. However, do some experimentation because, often you can get a strike or two on a wrasse in a particular hole and then...it goes quiet. With bass, you rarely get the chance to show the

look at colour.

'same' fish, a new colour. If you are 'buddied' up with a group or a mate, get them to pitch to the pig. You'll be surprised at just how effective a colour change can be. Unless you are already on 'the preferred colour pattern', start on a rotation of dark to light and work the colour wheel. Make adjustments to suit coloured waters. I find pink or jet black/ blue good in coloured water and we'll make use of a rattle. We will cover this further in coming issues.

inging (touch and scoot).

Sometimes fish are more active. In the spring and early summer, fish can be in droves, lined up ready to run the incoming tides over fairly bare hard reef and boulders. Of course, the prize is the weed laden traps at the top of the tide and the high tide hideaways in holes under larger near shoreline structure. Wrasse seem to move in colonies and, there seems to be a hierarchy to it. Better fish get better holes.

So, these fish are active and whilst the usual 'dead and shake' or paddle searches can of course work, faster 'zinging' can produce VIOLENT ! strikes and well hooked fish that take some holding on to. This can happen at extremely close range too so be ready.

Touch the rocks and scoot the lure and jig head 'away'. You don't want long hops across bottom. Short but Zinging means bouncing something, off of something else. sweet is best. You'll soon figure the We like football heads for this style type of ground and circumstances and in particular, the 'Owner football best suited to this approach. style jig heads' that have good weight, but small, yet strong open ** hooks. This is opportunity fishing so open style hooks have a better Curve-fall: The act of casting, taking chance of connecting solidly with up the slack and letting the jig or fast biting and snatching wrasse. lure swing around the fixed point So, what is zinging?

Cast, let it sink curve fall ( ** see footnote) so you feel it hit the bottom and then, flick the rod tip and make up the slack really quickly to feel the jig remake contact with the bottom. Move the jig immediately, do not let up regardless of whether or not you feel initial taps.

that is your rod tip.

Free-fall: Basically, the lure hits the water and you 'feed it line' in a controlled fashion. This ensures a near straight down trajectory but, you can 'feel' interceptions.

Paul B with a super reef 'rockfish'.

This photo is deceptive. You could easily lose a small car in there.

D rop Shot

The future of direct drive salt-water HRF 43

I n the water HRF (Skish) Yes, actually 'in the water' with rod, reel and fish. This is 'skishing'. Created by Paul Melnyk in 2005 over in the USA for 'striped bass' simply to evade the crowds. We took it considerably further to use fast currents to take us on round trips covering many miles. All without a boat of course. We owe a huge debt to our dive consultant Chris Isaacs for many of the more 'extreme' runs. We fish like this for bass too, in the dark but, for wrasse, we use the silent running approach to creep close up on the reef and other structures and covers boats and kayaks dare not even consider.

We use Van Staal VS 1 00 bail-less reels, Tenyru rods (have withstood 2 full seasons usage underwater), PE 1 .2 through PE1 .5 braids, 7mm 2 pc wetsuits, long free divers fins, wrist compass, specially designed lure bags and carriers, boga-grips, salt proof pliers, etc.

structures that have fast water pushing through them. We fish the fast water for the bass but travel the veins to reach the arteries and ultimately, the heart of the HRF fishing 'out there'.

Big wrasse fight dirty, not so bad when on land. Take that fight out to Everything gets wet, end of story. the middle of the sea, nothing to You don't want anything other than brace against, fish pulling like a the car keys and your phone in a train, you are kicking like a mule in dry bag because, your position in riposte to the wrasses every the water is reliant upon positioning move.... everything around your body in such a way that, a natural balance That is HRF daytime skishing. The is attained at rest. ultimate HRF wrassing experience. We often travel many hundreds of meters without a fin stroke. We use the tidal currents, timed to perfection to get us, to the 'rim'. On our SE, SW and NW coastlines, Jersey has incredible shallow reef

Strange yet true..

oat.

Alan Aubert with a lovely big pig of over 5lb.

oft Plastics from Boats

From being a hard lure angler a few caught, tides,lures used etc. We years ago I have given up keeping can move from reef to reef on some them in my tackle box. I have no occasions know that fish will be need for them, I know it is a matter there for only a specific time. There of personal choice but having taken are some off shore reefs I intend to hundreds of Bass from my boat this try , that will only fish one hour after year including double figure fish I high tide. It is that specific, also try can see little point in reverting back areas which you would not give a second look at, as sometimes these to hard lures. Currently my favourite method is places can hold fish. using a home-made paddle-tail soft I found that I do not know as much as one thinks. Having been taken plastic on an 8gm jig head, 1 5lb braid and 1 5lb fluorocarbon leader out on a LRF trip with the White brothers has given me a lot to think fished over or near to reefs and rocks. Fished as slow as possible about during the next Bass season. with the occasional wrist movement How to adopt the methods learnt on imparts enough action into the lure the shore to the rigours of boat fishing. We are already moving to encourage the fish to bite. We normally have two rods set up away from paddle-tails to other soft each with a different coloured lure plastics such as senko worms and of type of lure to see what catches if I persist with LRF during the that day, some days it can be the winter it should be an exciting time. pearl coloured ones that work the best whilst the following day could Article by be the bright green ones. Keep experimenting as you will always Alan Aubert. learn, look at new methods do not dismiss them, look at old methods that have gone out of favour as sometimes they can be adapted with modern techniques. My biggest tip is get to know the area you fish build up a picture of when fish are

ayak Fishing HRF

It’s no secret, HRF kayak fishing for wrasse is extremely effective. Catch rates and numbers confirm this and to be honest exceed all expectations for 201 0. Remember this is the first year we're actually targeting these fish on lures and to be more specific, soft plastics.

wrasse by kayaks, marks that have probably never been fished before!!

What makes kayak fishing so effective then? There are a number of reasons which spring to mind but most important of all is location. Wrasse love structure, rocky rough ground and kelp covered areas. Sometimes these marks are not accessible to the shore angler and at times not even by boat. Think of cliff marks, deep rocky groynes or off shore marks, pure habitat for wrasse but not accessible by shore. These are the areas to target

colonies and also specific areas and the more ground covered results in more fish. Find these pods of fish. Most pods consist of small fish but there’s always a specimen lurking with intent. I always follow my rule “if you catch one you can catch two” and in fact caught 3 dozen fish in late November on two marks no further than 30 metres apart but the surrounding area almost devoid of fish.

No precise casting is required but mostly straight up and down fishing. Well, not always due to wind and tide but its not a bad thing and actually allows to cover more ground. Wrasse seem to live in

As far as tackle goes it's standard HRF tackle really. A 7 foot quick taper rod, light in the tip with a bit of back bone down the bottom with a 2000 or 3000 fixed spool reel. If casting is required I tend to use 20 lbs braid but for straight up and down in the super rough I tend to favour 20 lbs fire line. Now 20 lbs might seem OTT but trust me pound for pound wrasse in shallow rocky structure have few equals and need to be bullied quickly to get them off the bottom and out of

the rough or suffer the consequences.1 0 gram jig heads round or football work best on the drift to hold bottom with a short trace line of 20 lbs joined by a small swivel to the main line. Soft plastics lures. Well now, to be honest wrasse just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t favour any one soft plastic lure but I will leave you with this, my PB was caught on a purple jelly worm cut down to 4â&#x20AC;? long.

Article by Stephen Olsen.

Hand Pouring

f it ain't raining...

metal tray, or sandwich box, and the RTV solution well mixed with Why hand pour when you can buy the hardener. This should be ready made soft plastics by the poured slowly around the lures until bucketful? Well, there are a number well covered and the mould of reasons. The excitement of allowed to set. catching fish on lures you have made yourself, and the ability to Once set, remove the mould and alter the colour design to fish your tidy the mould up if required. Pour particular area. The final plus would some plastic into the pyrex jug, add be the ability to recycle old lures, some colourant and glitter to suit especially if you are fishing for your needs. I heat the plastic for wrasse that will often leave you with two minutes on high then give it a half a soft plastic on the hook. stir and continue to heat on 1 5 I am fairly new to hand pouring but second bursts until the plastic is was determined to have a go. ready to pour. Make sure you have Hence, I started off with the basics your hands and arms covered as a couple of pyrex measuring jugs to the plastic can be extremely hot. melt the plastic in a microwave. Then, it is a quick pour into the RTV plastic to make a mould, some moulds and allow the plastic to cool colouring and glitter to colour the for a few minutes before removing. lures and, I nearly forgot the plastic and placing in some cold water to itself. harden off. I do not use scents but Having designed your lure out of a lot of people do. modelling clay or plasticine, they should be glued to the base of a Alan Aubert.

PART 1

here next ?

Well, this brings you to the end of this concise, but obviously, not complete journey. There is so much more to discover. If I'd have attempted to put every technique, every lure type, and all the tackle, types of water and conditions that we have fished to date, here, in this guide...

I'm certain, something like five species are available to us all.

There are boundless techniques, carolina rigs, stoopid rigging, wacky rigging, weightless rigging, texas styles, offset hook types and much, much more that is impossible to cover in a 'teaser' guide like this. The goal here was to throw some Well then, you'd still have a few light on the subject in a way that hundred pages left to read. HRF isn't too technical or bloated. Yet, wrasse is a growing, emerging you see, to cover even the very force. We are fishing for a fish that select methods and just giving an has a very good geographical range 'overview' has taken a sixty plus right around the British Islands and page online-mag. 56

abundant, not a commercially Only two years ago, this booklet pressured 'food fish' and they fight wouldn't have even been a concept. Now, it's a reality. Quite like crazy. simply, HRF wrasse fishing is a sport in it's own right. Take away Give HRF wrassing a chance and the bass for many people and the I'll bet you'll never look back. fact is, their whole lure fishing world collapses. The bass are a much pressured fish, chased by us and of course, anyone and everyone who is looking to make a quick buck. It is 'unsustainable' and sooner, rather than later, I'm afraid we'll all pay a terrible price but, sadly, not as expensive as the species themselves. Wrasse are a much more sustainable prospect. They are not a limitless resource but, they are

Go one to one with your fish.

CCaassttththaatt' J' Ji gi g' ,' , fefeeel lththee' P' Pi gi g' .' . Enjoy the Jerseybassguides experience. Further reading available on http://www.jerseybassguides.com and it's associated registered only forums on http://www.jerseybassguides.com/rockfishing/index.php

ontribution.

Future issues will include soft lure HRF for 'bass', LRF (winter game) and more. These will follow the first release some time after. I say 'some time' because, the work in this is 'vast'.

words. If you fill a full A4, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fine, but, no more unless it's relevant.

however...

IF you are interested in becoming a 'one time' or 'full time' contributor, PM me or email me asap. The standard needs to be 'high' but we are all learning.

This will soon become, a bimonthly series to include catch report articles, lure and gear reviews, how-to's, hi-res images, a crossword, a competition, a cartoon strip, the works... and, I'm looking for contributions from certain fields... I will need, 'clear', full size digital images of lures, fish, people, scenery(not specific marks, be careful) emailed to me. Three per article at least. I will 'require' either plain text, word doc or even better, open-office odt formatted text of a few hundred

I want stuff from 'all levels' and 'all angles'.

If you have good material that might appear in a future planned issue, email me a nice article and provide images. Both as described above. Prospective advertisers need to contact me for details. Thanks. The Rock-fish files (publishing team). What are the pictures of the 'Pigs' all about ? A 'commonly' used fishing slang. People often refer to big or hard fighting fish as 'pigs'. This isn't a nasty reference to these fine fish, more a 'pet name'. if you don't like it, don't use it. Simples. 58

"The sun may rise in the East, but it sets in the West." Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) Shanghai Noon.

redits.

Open source software: Scribus, Inkscape and Gimp.

Article contributors: Alan Aubert and Stephen Olsen

Photo's by Keith White, Kevin White, Paul B and Patrick Casey

SVG graphics courtesy of www.openclipart.org otherwise by Keith White

Proof readers: Dave Fitzpatrick, graham_hk, Tom Laws and Mike Sullivan. Friendly, constructive critique by Henry Gilbey

Format inspired by 'The Surfcasters Journal' and Zeno Hromin. Thanks to everyone involved. A big job, but worth it I think.

Coming soon The Rockfish Files (LRF) Light Rock Fish. 62