With over 300 wrasse caught on lures last year – 32 of them over 4lb – Damion Fryer knows a thing or two about how to target specimen wrasse on lures. Here he shares his experience for your own summer of success
Imade a cast towards an outcrop of rock, around 20 yards out. It was low tide and I was fishing in around 6ft of water, the kelp gently swaying just below the water’s surface. The sea was calm with very good visibility; 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.
Without warning, just as the lure was paused, I felt a sudden thud at the end of the braid. An unmistakable hit from a wrasse. Even when your braid is slack as the lure is paused, you can clearly feel the hit from a fish. I swept the rod back and felt the solid weight of a ballan. The second I’d set the hook I knew this was a good fish. Instantly, the wrasse knew something was wrong and his immediate reaction was to head down and into the safety of the rough stuff. You can ill afford to give a wrasse much line; if they get their head down amongst the kelp or dive into a rocky crevice it could well be game over.
I held the rod high, which would make the angle of the tip to the fish more vertical, meaning that I had a better chance of keeping his head up. He tried his best to get down, but I managed to turn him, before he decided to head out towards the rocky outcrop. My rod was bent to the maximum, the reel letting a little line out, but not enough to give the fish any real advantage. I was aware that at any time, this fish could drop down, turn left or right, or even do a U-turn and head towards me. When it comes to battling big wrasse, concentration is critical as a fish can drop into a snag in a split second. After a couple of minutes and a few failed attempts to evade capture, the fish was beaten.
As he hit the surface, I saw a deep bodied fish of dark green and black, with patches of yellow and orange around his pectoral fins and head. My net is 50cm in diameter and this fish was slightly longer than that, so as I slid him over I knew I had a good chance that this was a 5lbplus fish. The scales registered 5lb 9oz, a good solid wrasse and personal best. That was one of seven ballans that session, three going over 4lb with the other three registering between 2.5lb and 3.5lb.
I’m often asked via social media how to go about catching spec
