This is how I retrieve the Coastal Senko for ballan wrasse.

One mistake that newcomers make when wrasse fishing is striking the second they feel a fish hit.

I made a cast towards an outcrop of rock, around 20 yards out. It was low tide and I was fishing in around 6’ of water, the kelp gently swaying just below the water’s surface. The sea was calm with very good visibility and I could not only see the beds of kelp, but could also identify patches of sand and areas of rock. I let my lure sink before engaging the bale arm and tightening up, giving the lure a few small flicks before letting it sink on a slack line. After a second or two, I tightened up and repeated the process. I could clearly feel the lure working over rock and through kelp, the braid transmitting up to me everything that was happening below.

The majority of my larger wrasse captures, (I consider 4lb plus larger wrasse), have come from gullies. Some of these gullies are only 1m wide and can be even shallower than that, but that doesn’t deter wrasse from visiting them to feed.

AFTER CASTING OUT

Creature baits resemble small crustaceans, a staple food source of ballan wrasse.

COMPONENTS:

This isn’t a ‘what you must buy’ post, but a post explaining simply what I use and what works for me.

This is how I retrieve the Coastal Paddletail whilst targeting ballan wrasse.

As far as rods go for lure fishing for wrasse, you need to strike a balance. There is no point in using something rated 3-10g for example, a decent ballan will dive and you’ll never stop it. On the other side of the coin, rods rated 20-50g are way too heavy, you’ll not only struggle to cast out light lures but there’ll be no fun either in playing fish. I’m currently using an 7’ Savage Gear Roadrunner 10-30g. It’s very sensitive, I can feel everything that’s going on under water, plus it not only casts light lures effortlessly but it has plenty of power to handle hard fighting fish. Aim for something with a casting rate of in-between the 7g-35g mark and you won’t go far wrong.

I’m often asked which state of tide is best for targeting wrasse.

I’m often asked (generally by holidaymakers), where to go and try to catch a few ballan wrasse whilst they’re on holiday. I’ll never direct people onto the rocks. It’s not that I want to keep marks secret, but more so for the safety aspect of things such as swells and filling gullies that people may not be aware of.