Fishing time is wasted
Two freezing hours later, just when we spotted predator signs and I cast my lucky jig - my braid line turned to nasty bird nest. The metallic lure that was ‘rest in piece’ far in the water was not the issue- it’s the action time that I’m missing… I was furies.

I had a reserve spool with monofilament line for the spinning reel (Shimano Stradic) but when I placed it on the shaft I saw the reason for my braid lines catastrophe over the last two month- the spool gasket was partially ground.

The hunch
I replaced the ‘braided’ to the mono extra spool and connect another metallic lure but then I decide to leave the speedy predators for today; something- maybe a fishing hunch, instruct me to go for the Seabass.

The kamikaze
I set my other fishing rod and reel and walked a mile or more- I was looking for the right place and finally I found it; a 30 yards wide and 6 ft depth trench parallel to the shore line that contains murky deep-colored water with srtong current –perfect conditions for targeting seabass with the Jackson dead float.

After ten minutes of angling a swift head appear behind the lure and immediately strike and suddenly, it released- but then it was back on it for another 3 yards with very close tailing, but this time the 3 Lb Seabass didn’t strike and vanished without a sign.

Hungry Seabass
Encourageded by the action and the lure I’ve choose to work with I moved on to another spot, casting about 30 yards at the time. After five minutes a small shadow appeared behind the Dead float - and yep, another strike.

Very short fight and a beautiful spotted 0.5 Lb Seabass lands on the sand and released immediately. I didn’t want to waste time on taking pictures because by the strike style and the absence of mullet or bream suggest that the Seabass must be really hungry and the odds are relatively high.

Jackson dead-float lure
I moved away to another point in the trench because I didn’t want to catch another young member (-seabass sometimes hunt in small shoals).

The specific lure and soft action rod combination enabled a fantastic control on every swimming aspect. I worked it to jump sideways first when it hits the water,the vibrating at the top and slow cranking side to side near the assumed strike zone. It’s a simple and powerful principle: get the attention first and then, - lure them to strike. On the second cast a fade fish head shadow appears and immediately strikes!

I was sure it’s another youngster, but when the reel drug starts to ’sing’ I knew it’s a nice one. 1 minute fight with the soft action rod and the Seabass landed on the shore.

Usually I don’t wieght my catch but on the way home I decided to checke my weight assessment skills - I gave it 1.44 Kg ( 3.17 pound) and the electronic scale showed 1.501 Kg ( 3.3 pound) well, less then 10 % gap is Ok for me.

This lure is relatively new for me and its seems like a good seabass magnet.

and the dry report details…
Fish- 3.3 pound Seabass- one item
Reel - Okuma Avenger AV30
Line - Mustad Ayaka 0.25 mm monofilament
Lure -Jackson dead float - perl
Lure activation- Jerks and medium speed retrieve combination
Rod - Shakspear Trour legend 10-40 gram
Waves - 1 ft
Water visibility - low
Time of the catch - 10:30
Light condition - partial clouds
Water depth estimation of the catch spot- 5 feet
Hookset - One by the fish + two by me J (more…)

To the isolated hotspot
The weather forecast predict a very cold morning with showers of rain, but because fishing will be impossible for the next days we decide to give it a chance.

We arrived to the beach in the early morning to find a clear blue sky with reasonable temperatures. We both wear fishing vests above rain coats above fishing overall and after 1 mile of fast walking it feels like sauna. After passing several hotspots with no fish signs we continued another mile to my isolated hotspot- the point where I catch most of my bluefish last summer.

The Groupers
One hour later, just when I was shelling of my clothing layers I saw medium seabass enter to the small bay carried by a wave, so I switched to Yo-zuri minnow and ran to cast to the current assumed location and bingo- immediate strike.

I knew it wasn’t the seabass according to the steady resistance style and after 10 seconds I land a small 1/2 pound grouper. Quick picture and Veale ! the grouper is released back to the water. 30 minutes later my fishing body lands another grouper with soft plastic lure with bombette based rig.

We both where very pleased with the action so I didn’t care too much about a huge dark cloud arriving from south west; the south wind on the beach has made me to believe it will pass few miles in front of us above the sea - but I was totally wrong.

As I turned my eyes back to my fishing body to signal about the near cloud- a 4 pound grouper jump few feet in the air and successfully grab the lure, my partner had a short fight that ends with a loud frustration shout– the grouper succeed to rush back to a nearby rock with the lure and by doing so, breaks the base ring of the rod.

Murphy’s lows
My partner was really pissed of so I took control over the rod and opened a generous slack to allow the grouper to move away; and then- the rain starts. With the slight movement of the grouper to better is locked position I pulled; the lure jump out of the water, the grouper stays.

The rain became a storm so I had to cover the Olympus sp-550’s large body inside my raining coat all the way back in the soaking rain.

Finally, after long two miles walk, just when we finally arrived to a shelter - the rain stopped

and the dry report details…
Fish- 1 pound Grouper- one item
Reel - Shimano stradic 4000FH
Line - Berkley Fireline 0.15 ~ 15 pound test
Lure -Yo-zuri minnow
Lure activation- Medium speed retrieve
Rod - Shakspear Trour legend 10-40 gram
Waves - 1 ft
Water visibility - low
Time of the catch - 10:00
Light condition - partial clouds
Water depth estimation of the catch spot- 5 feet
Hookset - by the fish

Nice jetty tiger :

I decided to move on to the beach and check a small golden strike pro lure by targeting Bream. I saw only few of them on shallow rocks 10 ft in front of me, but because of the strong wind and light weight lure it was impossible to control it. Bombette lure fishing is aimed exactly for these scenarios.
Bombette tricks
The bombette enabled to cast the small floating lure up to 40-50 yards distance. The target was a promising dark shadow of rocks in 4-6 ft depth as a base or sort of Bream colony. This strike pro floating lure can dive up to 4 ft, the only problem is the lack of control over the lure while working with bombette.

I lengthen the rig between the bombette and the lure to 5 ft to enable sharp diving angle, so the lure will ’scratch’ the rocks surface -which best work for Bream.

Although saltwater Bream isn’t a classic predator it will strike small up to medium size lures as a territorial act. This item released back and I didn’t have more time to search for the big ones, but I’ll be back.

and the dry report details…
Fish- 1/4 pound Bream - one item
Reel - Shimano stradic 4000FH
Line - Berkley Fireline 0.15 ~ 15 pound test
Lure -Strike pro floater minnow
Lure activation- Medium speed retrieve
Rod - Shakspear Trour legend 10-40 gram
Waves - 1 ft
Water visibility - high
Time of the catch - 10:00
Light condition - partial clouds
Water depth estimation of the catch spot- about 2 feet
Hookset - by the fish

After the stormy Saturday the meteorologist predicts another raining and wavy day-but I had a feeling that they going to missed it again.

Small seabass
Well-it was windy,but the wave was small enough to work from inshore with overall so I thought it will be worth to try the new strike pro top water lure upon the sea bass; another reason to work with top water (strike pro walking stick) was the low water visibility - remains from the stormy Saturday.

1 mile ‘casting walk’ along the shore produced a ‘curiosity following’ of small sea bass shoal (about 10 items) and five minutes later, a strike of 5/8 pound small sea bass.

All the action occurred in one 5 ft depth-50 yards long sandy spot, between two shallow wave breaks.

The small seabass released gently and I was hoping he will send Mom and Dad to check the unsespected mullet that suddenly pull him out of water- but unfortunately the parents didn’t appear today.

and the dry report details…
Fish- 3/8 pound Seabass - one item
Reel - Shimano stradic 4000FH
Line - Berkley Fireline 0.15 ~ 15 pound test
Lure -Strike pro Walking stick 130
Lure activation- short cast, slow WTD retrieves
Rod - Shakspear Trour legend 10-40 gram
Waves - 2 feet
Water visibility - low
Time of the catch - 11:00
Light condition - cloudy
Water depth estimation of the catch spot- about 2 feet
Hookset - by the fish

The strikes stretched over a 500 yards above a deep reef in repetitively every 5-15 minutes in fade manner; when it starts- each new boiling and prey fish jumping last more then two minutes while around 10:30 it last only for 20-30 seconds.

The most close to shore strikes where above 120 yards from my standing point and although working with my heavier fishing rod (CW: 20-60 gm) with 40 gm metal jigs I couldn’t reach more then 90 yards.

Because of the distance I couldn’t notice the exact prey fish species, but I didn’t have much time , I had to react…-meaning running around the sandy shore after the circles signs hoping to get a closer chance but at 11:00 it stopped. (and I could breath again)

Then in the far, I saw a few small Dorado’s (4-5 pounds) jumping around and it made me so glad that I had to phone my fishing body and announce “the fishing season is on” -so maybe tomorrow I’ll have a good reason for a new post.

I also agree that maintaining written fishing diary or looking for row statistics in one is not so easy as well; That’s the reason why I keep my fishing reports in excel file.

The solution
If you ask yourself “but why do I need to report it?” well, you don’t have to -but for me, it sure helped a lot; you can sort out the data of all your catches of single species, compare water condition, dates ,lure working methods in a specific spot and more- just by one click.

You can download the attached Excel file (MS office 2003) it contains all the necessary predefine data for any lure angler :

• Fishing reports - Excel

I hope you will find the report file helpful and if you think I forgot to add something to the report -please give me a note.

At about 10:00 I arrived to the beach to find it’s actually impossible to fish- the sea was more then 10 feet high with strong south winds at 30 mph and that wouldn’t enable any lure casting.

Do you want to get interviewed?
I drove over to a small harbor for pleasure yachts, hoping to find a protection from the strong south wind in an inner harbor corner by the tall surrounding wall.

The small spot was quiet enough for lure casting but a news channel T.V crew just arrived and immediately they tried to convince me to interview about a lightning accident that killed an angler a day before.

The Grouper that became a T.V star over night
I refuse politely but agreed that the camera man will have the permission to shoot my fishing gear in action (from behind) -only if I will have a catch later

Two minutes after -the ‘later’ came… retrieving the lure two feet from the inner jetty rocks I had a strong attack with short ‘reel drug music’.

The catch scene
The camera man at that time took a “stormy backgrounds” shoots of waves blasting the marina jetty just 10 feet behind me- so he manage to shoot the event almost from the catch point until the fish land. Then, he showed me the catch scene and promised to send me the video by e-mail and gave me his mobile phone number. I don’t believe they would include it as part of the news item- but I’ll watch them tonight, just in case- and of course if I will receive the video I’ll upload it to here.

and the dry report details…
Reel - Shimano stradic 4000FH
Line - Power-Pro braid 0.15 mm ~ 15 pound test
Lure - ‘The producers” 12 cm swimmer with two VMC hooks
Lure activation - 20 yards casting and immediate and slow parallel retrieve to the rock line at two feet depth.
Rod - Trabuco T-MAX 300, casting weight - 20-60 gram, length -300 cm
Water visibility -Medium.
Time - 21:30
Light condition - darkness
Water depth estimation of the catch spot- 3-4 feet.
Fish weight - about 1 pounds
Hookset - back hook

The saltwater shells distance from the leance on the following photos -about 2 inches. 

and the beach at low speed

Dawn
Another dawn over the beach… when the sea special colours early in the morning are best view with hot strong coffee.

Money time
We scanned several spots waiting for attacks or prey fish signs in the waves until 09:00, - only then the seabass showed up- in schools; we never saw so many items at once. most of them where babies, weighting 1 pound each- and then we noticed few seabass couples that where above 3 pounds.

Get their interest first
The seabass wondered around the wave’s breakpoint in several spots along the beach, sometimes cruising in the wave and turning back only 10 feet from our standpoint.

Few attacks upon small mullet and bream ended with jumps in the air when most of the time they’ve simply ignored our lures, and we tried them all. from 09:00 until 12:00 we worked the lures and had a numerous ‘curiosity chases’ and few almosts - but in the end of the day we left without any extra weight on our bags.

The lures that made it
The following lures had the most significant chases and received most of the fish interest:

• Jackson Dead float

• Strike pro popper

• Heddon super spook

• The deep engrave signs on the ’super spook’ made by bluefish teeth:)