Fished Middle Head from the rocks between 07:30 and 10:00
TIde rising to high of 1.7m at 08:45
Sea clean on a 1-1.5m swell
No wind and overcast day.
Targeted bream/drummer with bread at the start in reefy country. Landed two nice bream at around 35cm each and pulled the hooks on what felt like a decent pig. Was using an Alvey on a 6 wrap snyder and 9kg Surecatch Krypton.
Switched to blackfish gear, using a TF Gear Classic centrepin for the first time and 6lb schneider, matched to my favourite, the GP3145G pacific composites blank. THe fish were biting relatively freely in 1-2 metres of water. I kept dropping fish though and changed to a number 6 mustad 540. After that I landed a few nice solid luderick in the late 30s. I took a couple of blackfish and the bream home for a feed. All blackfish were caught on cabbage weed baits.
Couple of points to note. The TF Gear Classic centrepin purchased from the UK performed very well. This is a cheap mass produced centrpein from China sold into the UK. Nowhere close to being in the same league as the Okuma Aventa, but a quite good cheaper option. Looks quite nice, but would be interested to see how it fares over the longer haul. I think it would make an excellent estuary reel where life for a pin isn't so demanding.
The second point was that I have been using the Surecatch Krypton for a while now and it's excellent on the rocks. It is quite strong for its diameter and is very abrasion resistant. I did a very dodgy bit of landing yesterday on one bream and the line was up against the rocks for an extended period and survived really well.
Macman