Summer is here at last, those cold, dark depressing days are now a distant memory in the anglers mind, we are now packing our sunglasses and shorts rather than woolly hats and thermals and the beaches are alive with people trying to soak up those warm rays of sunshine. This is all well and good but as those hot, sunny, settled days last longer the sea will change. Losing all its colour from the suspended sediment as it settles, the fish that we target will become a lot more wary, being able to see through the crystal-clear water means that any old rig using heavier lines may spook them, making fishing a lot harder. A lot of anglers will turn to just fishing night tides, with the general consensus that night time will improve their catch rate, the cover of darkness meaning their fishy quarry is not able to see what is in front of them thus making them easier to catch. Now this is correct and to be honest I always did this in the summer time if the conditions meant I had too, and it does work but just how do they catch fish in warmer climates. Those continental countries where conditions are clear the majority of the time, they can’t all just fish at night….. Do they?
As the continental fishing craze sweeps the UK more and more is being realised on the fish catching capabilities of this style of fishing, super light, super long rigs are becoming more and more common on the beaches and these are perfect for daylight raids in the blazing summer sun. One such rig that is becoming a firm favourite of mine is the Portuguese rig, this rig involves using a fluorocarbon rig body and light fluorocarbon snoods, not much different in that to other rigs is there? Well the main difference in this rig is that there are no crimps at all, the snoods are attached via sliding stop knots meaning the only metal work on the rig is the clip at the top of the rig and the hooks, making this rig virtually invisible underwater, a ghost rig, perfect for targeting fish in broad daylight in a clear sea and meaning you can adjust the snoods up and down the rig body as you want. Another advantage of this rig is just how easy it is to make, the step by step guide in this article will show you how to do it, once you have made a couple you will soon be able to knock them together in a good time…Easy Peasy!!!
The good thing with this rig is that you can make it as long or as short as you want, you can pop it up for species that prefer to be higher in the water column like Garfish and Mackerel or you can have it flowing in the tide near the bottom for flatfish and other species. The next unusual thing about this rig is that the whole rig is presented behind the lead, either by using an urfe or by using a bull nose type lead, you would expect this rig to tangle with that type of arrangement but used correctly it doesn’t, its perfect for calm days but big tides, big seas or big onshore/sidewinds may see it becoming a harder job to keep tidy, calm days are the key to the effectiveness of this rig, the reason for this is it will pick out fish when all else is a struggle, being behind the lead means the rig will straighten out in the tide once it hits the water, then it will tantalisingly flutter and flick around in the tide attracting any fish in the areas attention and hopefully getting you some sport on what may have been a very quiet day otherwise.
I had been wanting to get out and show the greatness of these rigs for a while now but conditions recently hadn’t been right for what I wanted, I needed non-existent winds, bright sunshine and clearing water and it just wasn’t happening for me. Whilst sitting at work I could see a weather window opening up over a period of 3 days, with small tides as well this was looking like the perfect opportunity for me to get on it. With audits at work (yes I do have to work as well, it’s not all fishing) on the Tuesday and Wednesday that left me Thursday as my day of choice before the winds and weather kicked up a grump again. Booking half a day off work meant I could catch the flood tide at Dunwich Beach in Suffolk and fish up to high and then a little bit of the ebb and hopefully pick up a few fish for the camera. Thursday soon turned up and I must say it was looking spot on where I work inland, the sun was beaming down and the trees were not moving an inch, I was hoping that it would be the same on the beach when I arrived. Within 30 minutes of leaving work and travelling up the coast I was soon turning into Dunwich Beach car park, and set eyes on the sea, the sun was shining brightly the sea looked fairly clear and there was not a breath of wind to be felt… it could not have been more perfect.
Walking right of the car park I could see a couple of anglers a few hundred yards up the beach but that was it for the moment, I decided to walk a little way up the beach under the cliffs before I settled down for the day. Weapon of choice for this session was my super light Vertix Eclipse beach ledgering rod, teamed up with a fixed spool reel loaded with 8lb Maxima chameleon line to a light tapered leader. It didn’t take long to get rigged up and I was soon arming the size 4 Owner Pint hooks with some prime juicy freshly dug rag-worm, lead choice to start was a 90g Turkana bull nosed lead to give a little bit more movement through the tide. With a light flick I dropped the rig no more than 30 yards out and started to put my shelter up to keep the sun off me and my bait, before I could even stand my shelter up though I glanced round to see my rod tip bent double, now bearing in mind how light my rod is it was never going to be a monster but it always makes me grin seeing how well even a little flatty wraps the tip around. Lifting the rod into the weight I could feel every movement this small fish was making, it felt like an angry little school bass and my suspicions were quickly confirmed as a pristine little bass was soon slid up the beach, unhooked and released.
Next cast was exactly the same story with another slamming bite and another cracking little bass landed, the rig was definitely doing the business in the clear conditions and within the first hour I had landed 7 bass, a whiting and a pout already. Sitting in my shelter I could see the tip indicating a bite that looked a bit different to what I had seen previously, holding the rod tight to the lead I could feel something plucking away, the culprit was soon at my feet along with a completely ruined, snotty rig…. Word of warning that eels will destroy a Portuguese rig given the slightest opportunity. Next cast I had noticed the lead had started to travel a bit faster on its arc than before and with no bites coming I felt that maybe the tide had picked up and was now running a bit too fast to be fishing effectively so after winding in I completely changed the way I was presenting the rig. Instead of coming off the rolling bull nosed lead set up I opted to use an urfe connected to a fixed grip lead which would hold in the tide but still make the rig fish correctly. The rod tip sat perfectly next cast, no tripping of the lead at all, then it walloped round again followed by another even bigger smack round, I could feel the thumps of the fish down the blank of the rod and this time it was a nice double shot of bass that graced my presence, the sea was alive with fish but the anglers to my right had caught a single school bass and the ones to my left hadn’t even seen a bite yet, upon inspection they were using standard heavy beach gear, the Portuguese rig was showing its worth today and working exactly as it should in what would normally be hard conditions.
Still fishing in close was proving the key, I had made a couple of casts around 60-70 yards just to see what was out there but they had proved bite less, dropping it in no more than 30 yards provided near instant sport again with bass after bass now throwing themselves on the hooks!! Flicking the rod back out I sat back and started to unscrew my drinks bottle when the rod absolutely nailed round and kept going, grabbing the rod I lifted into the weight to see the rod arc over but a couple of big thumps later the fish was gone and all I was left with was a snapped snood, my guess is that one of the local thornbacks had taken a liking to my rag bait but I will never know unfortunately. With a new snood tied on I cast out and it was soon business as usual with the local baby bass population but with high tide approaching I knew the sport would most probably start to slow down which it did and with high tide now upon us the strangest thing happened. An onshore wind started to get up and looking out to sea what looked like a wall of grey was fast approaching, within minutes a heavy cold dense sea mist had rolled in, completely changing conditions from what had been a lovely spring day to what felt like a cold autumnal day, I could not even see the anglers to my left or right anymore, it was all very eerie! With high tide now here and this dense mist all around me the sport more or less stopped, it was as if somebody had flicked a switch, fishing on I manged a couple more bass and another eel when I decided to call it a day.
Before leaving I once more walked over to the anglers either side of me to see what they had caught as well, with one pair having had 1 bass, a whiting and a couple of smooth hound pups and the other pair not catching a thing it just shows what using this rig can do at the right time with over 30 bass, 2 eels, 1 pout and 4 whiting being caught it had proved a devastating tactic on what would have been a struggle using normal heavy beach gear. Next up for me is a trip down south to fish this rig at a long length with pop ups so the bait sits up in the water targeting mackerel, garfish and scad which is going to be great fun and a whole new adventure to be told.
MATT CROWE ANGLING 