Blackhead - 16.6.10

People: Me

Date : As Above

Venue: As Above

Duration: 1.40pm - 5.20pm

Tide: High Water 3pm

Weather: Beautiful, slight northenly breeze

Bait: rag, spinners, feathers

Rigs:Sliding Float Rig

Results: 1 Ballan Wrasse , 3 Pollack & 1 Coalie


Report: Decided to head out to blackhead again to try my luck at some wrasse and whatever else was on offer. Headed down on the train at 1.10pm and made the long walk which is only 15 mins by the way. Set up my float gear and threw in a bit of rag, instantly the float was being tugged down and i waited a split second before i striked, the wrasse wer biting like you know what. Every bite though the wrasse dived for the kelp and rocks. I couldnt keep them up, this was my first time fishing for wrasse. I managed the smallest ballan ive ever seen in my life and at that caught my first ever wrasse and a new species on the float. Brilliant i thought but id run out of rag, so on went the spinners and feathers and throughout the next two and a half hours i only managed 3 pollack, 1 decent sized and 1 small coalie. Not bad for my efforts and better than blanking, ive determinded to get some decent wrasse off here, and i wish the mark would pick up a bit there was two others there and again they only caught 2 fish between them and really small they wer.

Anyway i had a good day with a new species added to the list which wont hurt anyone.
1 pic of the wrasse below.

nice one aaron. lovely wee female corkwing you got there, so yet another one to add to your ever growing species list

Great results there Aaron, well done

there used to be monsters 5-6lb just down in the inlets you walk over on the path btw mate. caught and seen quite a few over the years

nice one aaron. lovely wee female corkwing you got there, so yet another one to add to your ever growing species list

Thanks mate, got that cleared up on the other forum aswell. lol, how do you tell its a corkwing?

Great results there Aaron, well done

Thanks Kerry Appreciated.

there used to be monsters 5-6lb just down in the inlets you walk over on the path btw mate. caught and seen quite a few over the years

I heard about that mate, hopefully one day i can get a monster

[dave316]

seen a few that were prob slightly bigger again, they looked like carp!

btw. if you're looking specimen wrasse these days, and local mate you could try the gobbins path rock mark (hard walk back up the path), and also half-way between browns bay and portmuck (walk from bb direction) both marks fish on bottom and expect tackle loss. also both not ideal for safety conscious. they can throw up results and surprises to add to species list also. good depth and relatively unfished but involve walking, climbing and a bit on the dodgy side (i will never take my kids to either incase anyone decides to try)

ps. strike fast and watch out for lobster boats

Last edited by dave316 on Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

lol, monster fish, hard to handle them is it not?

easier to handle them on a beachcaster, although unforgettable on light gear. a lot of people, up until more recently, used to turn their noses up at wrasse prob because its not considered edible even though we're not really fishing for food. i'd say ballans are probably my fav fish to target, esp the ones in big kelp beds like torr head (they can be really like a luminous orange/red)

theres no doubt about it they are a classic fish and people who choose not to fish for them are without question missing out on some fun.
Brilliant fish.

easiest way to tell a female corkwing is the black dot at the start of the anal fin . the males don't have them, but they have bright neon blue streaks across their face. hard to mistake