A little light tackle leer fishing

Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:08 pm

A little light tackle leer fishing

Hi All

In may we took the chance to have a couple of drifts on the rock banks above the Chimenees targetting the big leerfish that hang around there . I had rather unwisely chosen a Quantum Kaybusa 100gram jigging rod and a caldia 4000 full of 20lb Accudepth , to " see what it would handle " . The mark only fishes at certain points of the tide and has yielded some absolute monsters in the past , namely to one Mr R.Greene .

Anyway I teamed up the little outfit with a Red head Halco roosta , and we positioned ourselves for the first drift . The Kaybusa in all fairness was a bit soft in the tip and didnt really give the punch I wanted to put the rooster out miles , but with the ultra thin 20lb accudepth it still went a respectable distance , mind you this wasnt a huge issue and we drifted the whole mark anyway .Now Leers are quite keen and normally if they are there they let you know pretty quick , just as I was finishing my second drift a good leer came in head over tail and lunche the Roosta . At which point everything went mad , I was casting from the stern which meant I had to make a quick dash to the bow as the boat twisted in the current .
10342765_10204252351732121_4269760517375307464_n.jpg

10374924_10204252351772122_1850716027557137337_n.jpg


Whilst I was doing this 50-80-120-150 yards of braid disappeared in fairly short order as the Leer headed for the wreck . For the next fifteen minutes the fish took line at will , now I like the noise of a screaming reel just a s much as the next man , but when it doesnt stop , that always gets a bit worrying .Just as I thought we were going to get stuffed in the wreck , the Caldia began to wear the fish down , and after 5 mins it was along side , we tailed it got some shots and back it went , the fish was surprisingly calm along side the boat , this is probably because itw as exhausted by the longer fight against teh soft rod , but it went back ok , so hopefully it will be fine
10415708_10204252351812123_5141368260941269314_n.jpg


Dean my partner on the boat gracefully took some lovely photos whilst repeatedly reminding me that it was actually his Roosta popper , I had used and it was most unfair . Any all was soon forgotten as we set up the following drift , three even bigger Leers made joint a spectacular attack on his Tsunami . He had rather more sensibly tackled up with a Daiwa Global and a Stella 8000SW loaded with Tournament 50lb , good job really because if I had hooked his fish on my gear , I think it would have been Goodnight Irene in no short order . One fish hooked up and then produce a frenetic display of thrashing about on the surface , before charging off deep towards the chimenees . The Stella took its toll and the brakes on them are awesome , both smooth and powerful and the big Leer was quickly along side , might also be down to the fact that Dean used to be an Olympic Decathlete and he can pull hard !!! .

https://www.flickr.com/photos/deanto...n/photostream/

The second fish had inhaled Deans popper meaning it couldnt go back , but I did make spectacularly good sashimi in the restaurant that night ,so nothing went to waste .

https://www.flickr.com/photos/deanto...n/photostream/

I do love it when you get a quick hit off a targetted mark , and I love those days when we fish lots of little Marks , its not about catching masses of fish , but its about working your day out , some great takes and a few great fights . A few photos attached

Richard@worldsportfishing.com
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.