Blessed is he who Expects Nothing…….

For he shall not be disappointed…..

First trip of the New Year was a spur of the moment thing. I had originally planned to go out Tuesday night to one of the local Bass marks, which I will still do, but as the wind had died down I did not want to waste the opportunity and headed out to a local mark armed with some frozen mackerel and a few fresh lug I picked up on the way.

The near hurricane force wind had left the small beach littered with debris of all manner and the water was filthy and weed strewn. I managed to fish for around three hours over the low water period, undisturbed by human, bird or fish. The once teaming water was a barren sea of sludge picked at by the occasional gull drifting inland.  I was happy just to be out after the Christmas confinement.

One of the reasons for this mornings  trip was to try a rig which had recently been shown to me by ‘Doctorfishgood’ from Freedom fishing forum. I don’t think that exclusive or elite quite describes us but we have a limited membership loosely bound together by sea angling and having a giggle. Sheep and potatoes are often mentioned in equal quantities to the spouting of the resident tackle tart.

I have on numerous occasions spoken of the virtues of the simple running lead and its many variations. For some people one of the drawbacks is that it is not as such a self-hooking rig in that if you are fishing some kind of freespool system or with loosened drag the fish can pick up the bait and run without lifting the lead and hooking itself(in theory). This has now been addressed by the lads on the Bristol Channel by using what can best be described as a ‘Semi-captive’ lead.  A slider is allowed to run between two swivels on the shockleader so the fish can run with the bait but then is stopped by the second swivel and stop bead.

I think I have mentioned it before but for fishing I always use clear rig body, leader and hooklength and black beads, I personally believe it does make a difference but for the illustrations coloured lines and beads make things easier.

So I  tied the rig and tried it this morning but either it is absolutely useless or as I suspect there were no takers of my mackerel bait. Immediately I set about ways of altering the rig to suit my needs and requirements. The first thing I though of was that the second swivel was simply there to stop the lead running but presented another possible weak point at the knots and something else to snag.  So I replaced the upper swivel with a powergum stop knot

The next problem was two-fold, firstly as it was the rig wasnt a distance casting rig.  To get round this I replaced the slider with a swivel and put a length of rigbody down to the lead making it a running paternoster.  By making this a similar or shorter length to the hooklength it is now possible to clip the baited hooklength to the lead making it more aerodynamic during the cast.  When fishing over rough ground this tail can become a weaklink with the aid of a casting clip.

I think this rig could come into its own when fishing for conger or ray.  The images are only a guide and could be tied with pennel hooks , wire traces or heavy mono depending on you preference.  I will give it a go over the summer months and it never hurts to have an alternative to the pulley rig or the long and low in you rig wallet.

Galway Buccaneers will be hosting their charity fund-raiser for the RNLI on the weekend of 14th January. Please come and show your support both for the new club and for the RNLI. You never know when you may need them!!

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