Ballan wrasse are the biggest of our resident wrasse family growing to over 10lbs and probably exceeding 15lbs according to past accounts of fish taken by set and hand lines. The body shape deepens quickly behind the head with the wrist of the tail thick set to provide instant surges of swimming power. The tail fin itself is large and fan shaped. The mouth is small with thick, rubbery protruding lips, but armed with conical type teeth in each jaw capable of prizing limpets etc, from rock faces.

Size is the giveaway. Only the cuckoo wrasse which has a much more slender body and more pointed nose than the ballan can weigh in excess of 1lb. All other wrasse species rarely exceed a few inches in length.

COLOURATION
Ballan's take on the hue of the rocks and kelp they live in. The back is usually mid to dark brown, almost black occasionally, but often flushed with green's, red's, bronzes and yellow. The belly is dull mottled white. The fin edges can also carry white or pale blue around the edges.

BREEDING SEASON
Spawns between late April and late July in shallow inshore waters. Surprisingly, ballan wrasse build nests of seaweed sited in small rock crevices into which they lay their eggs. Once hatched, the larvae are pelagic eventually drifting into shallow inshore waters to make their home.

DISTRIBUTION
Found throughout the English Channel and also the northeast coast of England and Scotland, but most common on the west coast, especially Devon and Cornwall, Wales, the Isle of Man, west Scotland and throughout Ireland. From roughly Herne Bay north to Bridlington wrasse are few and far between, but odd small fish may inhabit any rough ground feature close to the mean low water line of spring tides.

HABITAT
Favours a rocky seabed under high cliffs with rising rock pinnacles, broken boulders, heavy kelp beds and takes up residence inside the narrow rock faults that search backwards into submerged cliff faces. Is happy right on the seas edge in depths of 10ft, or so, but will also be caught in depths exceeding 100ft.

Is a common catch from some rough ground beaches where the water depth averages no less than 6ft. Can also be caught fishing close in off man made breakwaters, harbour walls, some stone jetties, and can even be found living on rocks at the mouths of estuaries.

DIET%3J-r /> Consists mainly of mussels, limpets and other rock adhering shellfish which it prizes off with it's sharp teeth. Also fond of small shore based crabs. Will also take free swimming sandeels and even small fish occasionally.

SHORE FISHING

SEASON
Shore Ballan Wrasse Ballan wrasse are easily affected by the cold, so the start to the wrasse season is governed by the mildness of the early spring weather. In normal years, wrasse start to show by late April, but it's mostly mid May before the real fishing begins. In colder springs it may retard the season by a couple of weeks or more.

June sees good fishing with the larger wrasse closer inshore dropping their eggs. Peak numbers occur in July, August, September and October, but good wrasse will linger inshore during mild autumns until Christmas.

MARKS AND FEATURE
The best wrassing is found by locating rock ledges along the cliffs and fishing into any cracks that work backwards into the cliffs and rocks right at your feet. Wrasse hide in these and stamp out a territory over which they travel and feed.

Longer casts with ledger gear into rocky ground and kelp beds also picks out wrasse, but these can often be a better overall size of fish than those living close to shore, but this is not a hard and fast rule.

Man made breakwaters such as those made be placing large ill fitting boulders one on top of the other make ideal wrasse conditions and can also give large fish.

Harbour walls, jetties and the like are more likely to yield the smaller juvenile fish.

Water depth can be anything from just a few feet to over 100ft. Wrasse are a versatile fish and crave only rough ground with hidey holes to bolt into when danger threatens.

TIDES
Wrasse are less affected by tides than other fish. They'll feed on both small neaps and large springs, but the feeding times are longer on neap tides than those during spring tides.

Wrasse usually feed best from low water for two hours and the two hours before high water, then again right down the ebb tide. This can vary though, from area to area. In deep water and at longer range, they'll feed throughout a full tide duration.

WEATHER
Wrasse are daylight only feeders. Bright sunshine does not put them off, but certainly overcast days can give excellent sport and even rainy days still sees them feeding happily. Dusk and dawn are also good times to be fishing.

Seas need to be reasonably calm, more from the safety aspect than from the wrasse's point of view. Having said that, in rough seas with a pounding swell, if the cracks and marks you are fishing are shallow, then the wrasse move out. But in deeper water unaffected by the surging seas at seabed levels, then the wrasse will feed heavily on the food washed from the rocks.

Clear water always fishes better than coloured water and wrasse take time to settle back into their inshore haunts after a prolonged period of very unsettled weather.

TECHNIQUES

FLOAT FISHING
Choosing to fish a bait below a float allows you to use the natural currents washing across the rock face or breakwater to push the bait into the nooks and crannies that wrasse usually expect to find food in.

You need to experiment with the depth at which to set the float. Try starting with the bait suspended 6ft below the surface and extend this until the bait stats to snag the bottom, or gets taken by a fish.

Start fishing by dropping the float in at the end of any small rock projections sticking out from the rock face and let the passing tide work the float for you. Do this by using a fixed spool reel with the bale arm left open with the finger controlling the line as it spills from the spool. If the float dives to signal a fish, strike by jamming the finger down onto the rim of the spool to tighten the line and strike.

Be conscious when float fishing, and close in ledgering for that matter, not to cast a shadow over the water you are about to fish. Wrasse are easily scared and will bolt for their hole should your shadow pass over them.

The floats design needs some consideration, too! Go for the medium or smaller sized cigar shaped patterns with the hole through the centre core of the body. In clear seas and rippled surface water, try turning them upside down so that the black base is at surface level. This is much easier to see against the bland background than fluorescent orange and yellow.

Wrasse take the bait instantly pulling the float completely under and often out of sight. You must control the first aggressive dives for cover that the wrasse make. Do not give line unless you absolutely must. Give wrasse an inch and they'll be in a hole and either go to ground and become immovable, or snap the line on a snag.

TACKLE
For normal wrasse running upto a couple of pounds or so, use a standard 9ft spinning rod, fixed spool reel and 12-15lb line. Odd fish will break you, but this outfit gives superb sport off the rocks.

In areas where you've a hunch the wrasse run much bigger, then even a bass rod, a 6500 sized multiplier and lines of 20lb plus are not out of place. A big wrasse of 4lbs plus will really punish such tackle and you'll need every factor in your favour to land them. Specimen wrasse anglers go even further fishing cut down 5oz beachcasters, 7000 sized reels and 30lb line when after 6lbers.

SETTING UP THE FLOAT RIG
Fishing for wrassse Slide a small bead then the float on to the main line, then another bead followed by a small drilled bullet big enough to not quite submerge the float when the bait is added. Now tie in a small size 6 swivel. Use 20lb line for the hook length which should be about 18ins long.

To set the float at the right depth use a few twists of telephone wire, though a mono knot or elastic band section is okay.

The hook needs to match the bait size, but has to be strong. The best is the Mustad Viking 79515 size 1/0 to 2/0 if you're aiming for decent sized wrasse. Bigger fish will require going up to a 3/0 or 4/0 in the same pattern.

LEDGERING
This is similar to the float technique, but requires that you select the individual cracks and holes in the rocks and drop the tackle down into them. Let the lead tap the bottom and just keep the line tight to lead without moving it too much. Put a bait into the same hole no more than four times. If a wrasse is down there it will have hit the bait during this time span.

Wrasse bite with a quick short series of rattles or taps, then pull the tip over. Often, you just get the taps and miss the fish if you're not paying attention.

Fish the reel with a fairly tight drag to maximize the efficiency of your strike. As before, give the wrasse no quarter but make them work hard against the bend of the rod.

LANDING THE FISH
Carrying a landing net is wise if you're expecting decent wrasse. There is no other really secure way of dealing with a lively wrasse from a rock mark.

TACKLE
The shorter spinning rod or bass rod is again ideal, but for longer range fishing you'll need the true beachcaster, biggish reel and line of 25lbs with a 50lb casting leader to combat the abrasion and likelihood of potentially bigger fish.

THE LEDGER RIG
Use 25lb mono to make the main rig tying in a blood loop about 26ins above another loop formed with two granny knots at the base. Attach the rig to the main line by either a small swivel, or an expendable self made two eyed link from wire.

Use a short length of weak line tied to the bottom loop to tie the weight to. This will snap off if it gets snagged and save both the rig and a fish.

The hook length needs to be from 15lb line and be between 12ins and 18ins long. Stick with the Mustad Viking pattern for this fishing.

The same rig is good for longer range fishing in to deep water, but you will need to use 50lb line for the rig body and 30lb line for the hook length using either a loop and pin release or system or the superior hook on long tail lead method.

BAITS
Fishing for wrasse Crab is the No 1 bait for either float or ledger work. These can either be small chunks of peeler crab between the size of a new 10p piece or upto a 50p piece, or whole small hardbacks about the same size which the wrasse eat readily. But make sure that the hook point is exposed outside the bait for ease of hooking. It's strange, but almost as good are lug and rag baits fished with just the hint of a free end left below the hook to move in the current. Alternative baits are mackerel, mussel and further down the pecking order, limpets.

BOAT FISHING

TIDES
Boat Ballan Wrasse These are much more critical for boat fishing, mainly because of the speed of any drifts and also because it will be beneficial to work the craft as close to the rocks and rock face as is sensible. Often, this limits you to the neap tide cycle, though if the boat is safe and the drift not too fast, then the spring tides will still produce fish.

Wrasse will feed right through the tide, but in fits and starts. Several fish being taken at once, then nothing. This can also be down to you passing over small clusters of fish, then moving past then onto more barren ground.

WEATHER
Much the same as shore when working close in off the rocks. You'll take more fish on dull days than in sunny ones. Rain doesn't affect catches either. When fishing deeper water it makes little if any difference, though really bright days and totally clear water during prolonged calm spells may reduce the catch.

MARKS AND FEATURES
Rocky reefs leading off from the shoreline are prime wrasse spots. Look for shelves, small pinnacles, and areas of boulders that are larger than the average ones and create breaks in the tide and holes for the wrasse to hide in.

Any rough ground seabed with lifting rocks and boulders in deeper water will hold some wrasse. They collect in groups of two and three fish around the bases of such prominent feature.

Close in the rocks under the cliffs is again a game of noting and then drifting across any uplifting feature that the wrasse can patrol. This will mean bringing a boat or dinghy within a few feet of the rocks at times. But always have one man at the wheel and motor running all the time.

An overlooked type of mark is any shallow water wreck, a broken concrete staging structure, even the end of a seaward sewage outfall. Such places often hold a surprise sizeable wrasse that few dinghy anglers ever try for.

TECHNIQUE
This is similar to the ledger fishing off the rocks on shore. It's simply letting the tackle down until it touches the seabed and then lifting it off a couple of feet and letting it drift over the seabed at the whim of the boat.

Occasionally, if you can safely anchor, just sitting it out in a likely area and waiting for the wrasse to start patrolling can pay off, but mostly drifting is far more successful.

TACKLE
Consider only a 20lb class rod, multiplier reel and 20lb line for serious boat wrassing. Given th depth of water, numerous snags, a faster tide and drifting boat, you'll need this strength of tackle to subdue even a 3lber.

Again, serious wrasse anglers go heavier still and it's not unusual to see them pick a 30lb outfit when after the 6lbers in snag ridden terrain.

RIGS
Two hooks for this type of fishing can often be better and enables a different level above the seabed to be fished.

Rig up the same rig as we described for ledgering, but make it longer at 36ins and from 50lb line tieing in an extra blood loop to take another hook. This is just a simple two hook rig. The hook lengths should be about 15ins long and from 40lb line.

Use that weak link to the lead weight to avoid excessive tackle loss through snagging on the drift. Hooks remain the same pattern, but don't go less than a 2/0 on the boat.

BAITS
Crab, either peeler or hardback remains the top bait, with rag and lug baits less effective. Big wrasse off the boat will also be taken on mackerel, sandeel, mussel, and even hit redgills and feathers worked for pollack occasionally.

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