It's been very hectic here at TronixFishing HQ this past month which has meant we hadn't manage to catch up with the fish magnet himself, Mario Asprou until the beginning of September…but, better late than never, here's what Mario has been up to during the month of July!
Angler Fish Surprise!
Early in the month I decided to go for a few hours in my local dock, I'd heard on the grapevine that a few fish were coming out so I decided to give it a go. I'd fished here earlier in the month and had caught some good wrasse to 3lbs on my HTO Rock Rover, an awesome fish on a light rod! I ventured down this time to see if I could get a bass or two. II went armed with my HTO Lure Game and a 4000 size reel loaded with 20b braid, I tried a few different types of soft plastics and hard lures but couldn’t get a take. I decided to try a surface lure to try to imitate a smelt which the bass had been feeding on. After a few casts I had a bass follow my lure in close but it didn't take a fancy to the lure and turned away, it looked a good 5lbs. I eventually gave up and tried for a wrasse by bumping a prawn lure along the bottom. I was twitching it along the bottom and and suddenly it felt as though it was stuck, then it gave a little and and then started to come in as I reeled, it felt like a fish but it wasn't fighting back or kicking like a fish usually would do. When I eventually got the fish to the surface I was amazed to see that the fish was a small angler fish! I landed the fish and took a few photographs, weighed it and then released it back into the dock. It weighed 2lbs 2oz and was an incredible, awesome looking fish with a huge cavernous mouth and a serious set of teeth!
Small Eyed Ray and ‘Hounds
I decided to hit a local rock mark to me for a day session around the middle of the month. My plan was to give the ray fishing a go in the morning and then head to fish the rougher ground over low water for smoothhound. The mark was showing a few small eyed ray and within five minutes of setting up both of my rods went, I have a small eyed on each rod weighing 4lbs and 5lbs 10oz. Later on in the morning session I landed two more rays weighing 6lbs 12oz and another at 7lbs 12oz. I setup using Tronixpro Big Dog Hooks in size 2/0, they worked really well and each fish caught was hooked perfectly each time. I stuck with the Big Dogs as I shifted my attention to the smoothhound. Big Dogs are the ideal hook for targeting smoothhound, their shape lends itself perfectly for using crab baits and the circle hook nature means the hound is hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth, every time! As soon as I switched to the hound fishing they were onto the baits. First cast I landed one of 7lbs and then dropped another which felt better. In the end I ended up with 11 hounds up to 10lbs and missed another four.
Shark ‘Haven
Towards the end of the month I had a trip booked on White Water after porbeagles. I went loaded with my Hart Bloody Energy rod and coupled this with a Shimano Saragosa 8000 filled will 80lb braid. It took us 3 hours to get to the shark grounds in rough weather. When we arrived I set my bait at 20ft below the surface in anticipation of a porbeagle but also knowing that there was a good chance of hooking a blue shark too, and, it didn't take too long before I got my first run, a blue of around 60lbs. A few more blues were caught before it the fishing calmed and went quiet. I changed tactics for a bit and fished the bottom in search of a decent whiting, it wasn't long before I'd caught a few decent whiting. Eventually the blues switched on again and I had another three up to 75lbs and lost another one that felt better. In total 11 blues were caught. The Hart Bloody Energy accounted for all of my sharks, it has bags of power so if you hook into a real monster you've got enough power to handle the fish.
