Plenty more fish in the sea…….. and rivers, canals, lakes etc. 2018’s targets.

As 2017 was fricken awesome in fishing terms. 2018 has to be target fillled and full of hope.

Catch and release rules for sport fishemen in the EU seabass fishery means that I won’t be allowed to keep any bass this year. Which makes no difference to me as I have released all bass I have caught (not many) for several years.

There was serious consideration given by the EU to ban the targetting of Bass altogether. If this were to be the case…

I would head out to the most likely marks I could find for catching bass, with my lure rod, reel, line, clips and favoured bass lures and simply fish in a way that would entice a predatory take of any fish in the proximity of the lure. All the while my target fishes would of course be Wrasse and Pollock 😎.

Thankfully the fisheries commision saw some sense and have let us target these stunning fish on a catch amd release basis.

Which leads me to my targets for 2018.

1. 10 sea-bass on lures in 2018. I feel completely tackled up and ready with a new rod, reel, line, clips and bag full of lures. Just need to give the time this year. As in 2017 I only targetted seabass once.
2. As Owen (my 10 year old) fiahed with me most of the time I am seafishing I also want to target helping him to his first lure caught seabass.
3. My second target is a fresh water double target with wanting to catch Chub on lure and fly. Having mobe to Ash Vale I now have the river blackwater and the basingstoke canal on my doorstep. Some summer hours will be spent targetting the chub on topwaters followed by dryfly when I can find them.
4. This leads into another freshwater intention. A double figure Pike. I had one on the line a few weeks ago and it was an awesome fight on my lrf gear but eventually the 4lb line ga e under the strength of the big croc. I was very gutted to leave a hook in a fish.
5. Mullet and gar. Technically this is 2 targets but both fish have evaded me for years. If I can catch either this year on lure or fly I will be a very happy man.
6. A wild brown trout. Having caught trout on the fly thia year in a stocked lake I now want to find some wild fish and catch them on lures or fly.
7. 20 different species on lure in all waters. By spreading tactics and varying approach I want to catch them all.

I have mentioned a few others at times but if I can knock off a few of the above I will be content. The real targets of course are to find the time to fish, to have fun especially when fishing with Owen.

If you want to find out more about catching UK fish on lures, I strongly recommend you try this great book here which provides info on everything you might want to know about lure fishing in the UK and how to catch a huge variety of species