Gosport Pier LRF Report

Millennium Pier in Gosport was our chosen venue for a spot of LRF or, as my husband Rich has known it for years, “Fishing for small stuff!”. LRF, or Light Rock Fishing, is a fun fishing technique, utilising light tackle to fish for a variety of species. We have only tried this style of fishing a couple of times so, armed with some budget 4ft telescopic rods that we had purchased from a leading German discount supermarket chain (whoever said fishing had to be an expensive hobby was wrong!) we headed down to the pier after work. Conditions were mild and calm, with low water only an hour away at approximately 6.45pm.

 

We set up at the end of the pier, fishing small size 10 carp and size 8 Sakuma Chinu hooks. Straight away the pout were onto our ragworm baits, with us both landing a couple of feisty pout each. Most drops it seemed the fish were homing onto our baits and the next species to come up was a little wrasse to Rich and then a black goby to me. Then I had a good take and landed a decent sized wrasse, not bad for a size 10 carp hook!

The sun was setting and the wrasse fishing died right off, but the pout were still there as well as a couple of whiting. I decided to try live baiting in the hope of a bass, using one of the pout. I had never tried this before so it was a bit of a guess as to the necessary set up. Firstly I tried the pout on a running ledger type rig with a 1oz lead and a fluorocarbon trace but this still seemed a little ‘clunky’ and the pout wasn’t too lively this way. So I changed the set up and just had the trace attached via a swivel clip to my main line. This seemed to work better and allowed the pout to swim more freely by the side of the pier. Its vibrations in the water definitely attracted some attention as I saw the rod tip quiver and the pout flip right out of the water a couple of times. Unfortunately, the unseen assailant did not take the pout, but I was really pleased with my first effort fishing this style. It is something I will definitely try again. For anyone going to fish the Gosport waterfront, there is on-street parking (limited to 2 hours) and a short-stay car park nearby. The nearest tackle shop, Dave’s Tackle, is a 10 minute walk away, in the South Street Precinct.

 

As it got darker and the lights of the Spinnaker Tower across the harbour in Portsmouth started to come on, the bites lessened so we called it a night. In two hours of fishing we had four species and sixteen fish between us. Rich was quietly ecstatic as he had retaken the lead by three fish, putting our scores for this year at Rich 131 and me 128.

 

  Until our next trip, tight lines and stay lucky, Loraine ‘Lolly’ Perry