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Fishing with bait, soft plastics, spinners and hard lures, we have tried and tested them all. Well, at least that is what we thought. However, when it comes to fishing, shore fishing that is, you can never be too sure, as we were soon to find out.

A few years back I was out ‘experimenting’ with a few soft plastics trying to think up a new article at the time for the “Irish Angler Magazine” when an idea was thought up that we would try and catch some fish using some of those real jelly sweets, the fish in mind was Ballan Wrasse.

So soft-jelly snakes were the pick. I knew they would not go to waste; my kids would be more than delighted to get their hands on them if the wrasses are not interested!

The plan was to hit a mark that had fished very well in the past. As you can imagine the trip to the fishing mark was one of amusement and anticipation. On arrival there was a slight swell with a light south-west breeze – the perfect conditions to stir things up! I decided to set up using soft-plastics, mainly to see if any Wrasse were lurking underwater using a Texas rig style set-up.

This is probably the most common method of rigging soft plastic baits and the most familiar to anglers. It is a quick, simple and tidy method to fish with soft plastics for Bass, Pollock and Wrasse. Fish shop in Ireland. We had 5g ball leads, a bait stop to keep the lead in place and weedless hooks, with a hitchhiker to keep the worm in place. Wrasse hit soft plastics with such force that the first hit should kill, and believe it or not a size 2/0 will get gobbled down, no questions asked. Every angler you have a natter with will have some variation of the basic Texas Rig, and the explanation given here is undoubtedly not the final word.

Fishing on the day i started the session of using the jelly sweets and was into fish within minutes the rod started to bend over bang, bang, and bang! The hook came back, but without a fish. Well at least it was a sign that something was happening down there, and so in it went again. As I realised this would be the first fish caught on actual sweets, the camera was fetched. As it was, I was on-again, and just like they were gone again.

We then realised that the majority of Wrasse were latching onto the tails and breaking off, thus not getting hooked. So with a little modification and sniping of the tails, we knew they would begin to hook a lot easier. ‘Now we just have to be patient’ I said, ‘all good things come to those who wait’. Fish shop in Ireland. No sooner were the words out of my mouth when low and behold a beautiful Ballan Wrasse comes to the surface, much to our delight. Well, there you have it… fish really do have a sweet tooth!

Our fun did not stop there and after a few snaps, I decided to try a tasty orange one. It was shaping up to be a “sweet” day! We fished for a further two hours until the jelly-sweets were all devoured. Between us and the fish nibbling on them, they are definitely one lure that will never go to waste! 

We converted back to our lure boxes to pick out some original soft-plastic lures to continue fishing. The sun shining down and this was not an opportunity to be missed. LRF (Light Rock Fishing) can be one of the most rewarding and advantageous types of fishing as the choices are endless for the angler. However, bear in mind that it is one of the most dangerous types of fishing, so keep alert and vigilant at all times.

LRF can throw up all kinds of surprises on a particular day, such as the Wrasse that was landed with a big gash in its tail. This causes the human mind to ponder on what goes on beneath the surface. Fish shop in Ireland. Maybe the Wrasse ambushed by a Conger eel as it travelled along its merry way, or perhaps a seal had a snap at it. Well, whatever the cause it was still left with a ruthless nasty wound. Nonetheless, the show must go on and even after that traumatic event the Wrasse still had the appetite to gulp down a soft plastic.

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