Catch Report - Brixham - 24th July 2021 (15)

Date From: 24/07/2021 11:37:58

Date To: 24/07/2021 20:51:50

Time of day: Morning - afternoon

Location: Brixham

Mark: The Breakwater

Tide Times:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Cloudy with sunshine but a cery cold wind to begin with, but dying down later in the day

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: On the outside: Very murky and choppy with a large swell and big waves, with large patches of weed floating around but getting calmer and clearer later. Inside: Calm with a variable amount of colour. Weed being pushed close in to the shore.

Method: Float | Ledger (Shop Bought 2 Hook Flapper with rotten bottom)

Bait: Live King Ragworm | Live King Ragworm

Caught:

The Session:

I was back at Brixham Breakwater after Wrasse on the float and ledger. I knew the conditions weren't going to be ideal but felt that the BBC forecast was going to be wrong and it would be better than they thought. The forecast on my own website was giving conditions that were less severe and I believed that one going by how many times the BBC forecast thunder but we don't have any. The forecast on my website just had some strong wind on the day an maybe a little rain.

When I arrived I took a walk to the end of the Breakwater to see what conditions were like and if anyone else was fishing. I felt that the outside would be difficult to fish with the possibility that I would get wet if a rogue wave hit the wall and got me as well as my tripod being blown over. I was sure it would be getting calmer later though so I picked a spot on the inside and planned to fish there for a couple of hours before moving to the outisde and fishing the last few hours up to high tide and a bit down.

I began with just the float rod. I had several rods with me and would set up more if I felt it would be worthwhile. In front of me were a few buoys for crab or wrasse pots and they were just out of casting range so I was able to fish the float by covering all the area available to me via my casting ability. I kept changing the depth too because the kelp closer in kept causing false bites so I went shallower when trying within 10 yards out and a bit deeper when nearer the buoys. The float would drift quite a bit too and I often found the line became trapped under the floating moving rafts of weed and I must have brought a good amount in when it would get caught round the float as I was reeling in.

Every now and again I checked the conditions on the outside of the breakwater and it did feel weird as I was in a sheltered spot where it felt very warm and I was fishing in just a T-shirt but oncce I climbed up onto the higher part of the wall it felt very cold, almost like an autumn day.

As I was not doing well I tried a couple of spots back down the breakwater but had nothing there either. A Seal and a Heron seemed to be doing no better and after a few hours I decided to try a ledger rod but knew I'd have to do some accurate casts to keep from snagging on the buoy ropes. Not long after making the first cast and setting the rod down, the rod tip showed a bite. I assumed it was a Pouting and not really what I was after but at least it would be a fish. I missed the bite and kept getting them on each cast but each time I reeled in the ragworm was mostly gone. The fish must have been small. Once thing noticed here aswell was the depth of water where I was casting, it was much deeper than I expected it to be, possibly as deep as the other side where I would cast twice as far out.

Bob turned up while walking his dog and I chatted to him for a bit before he left and said he might return for a bit later to fish.

Then I hit one bite at the right time but when I saw there was a tiny Whiting on the hook I realised I was just wasting my ragworm on them and so I told I myself I'd give it a few more casts before giving up on the ledger until I moved. As I put that fish back the float dipped and then shot under. I thought it was the kelp doing it again and lifted the rod gently to ensure I didn't hook the kelp but I felt a fish on the end and had the first Wrasse of the day. It was the only one I was able to get here though and a while afterwards I hooked another tiny Whiting on the Ledger rod and so decided it was time to move and brave worse conditions on the outer side.

Once in the new spot I put the float out first and left it to drift around. I had the depth at around 10 feet and cast it around 20 yards out. It was still murky so I didn't expect lots of bites but hoped something would find the bait soon. I then put out the ledger rod and cast it around 30 yards out and tightened up the line just enough to take the bow out of the line. I fish plain lead weights here as they get snagged less easily so I rely on the weight along to keep some tension in the line and that means getting it just right without reeling into a snag means very gradual turns of the reel handle.

I was mainly sat watching the float and occasionally glanced at the tip of the ledger rod. I had my tripod positioned so the rod was pointing along the breakwater as this allowed room for people to walk past if they wanted. I was able to extend one leg of my tripod so it was touching the lower part of the breakwater while the other leg was on the higher part. I then lay my float rod on the ground so anyone could step over it if they came past.

I noticed the tip of the ledger rod shake and bend and I immediately jumped up, determined not to miss a bite and grabbed the rod, wound up the slack line and held it out from my side ready for when it went again. It did and I struck sideways and then held the rod high while reeling in as fast as I could to try to ensure I avoided snags as I reeled the fish in. I was delighted when I saw the fish appear on the surface below me and thought how quickly the bite came which I hoped meant more fish were around.

I missed another bite on the ledger rod which this time was a slack-liner but then saw the float was dipping down before going under just as I grabbed that rod and I hooked and landed a Wrasse on the float. Maybe I should have just set up here first and braved the cold wind! I had only just returned that fish when I noticed the ledger rod had slack-lined again. I reeled in the slack line and struck but was immediately snagged and I couldn't feel any fish on the end so pulled the line until something gave which was unfortunately the mainline so I had to set up again. I didn't have to wait long after getting the new rig out there before I had the next bite, another slack liner and I reeled down to feel a fish still swimming in with the bait so I struck and winched up as hard as I could, another Wrasse and after rebaiting and recasting I had a similar bite and another fish. This was suddenly promising to be a good session. Even the next cast did the same thing within roughly the same time of casting out and this time I had a Wrasse and a Pouting. I had a couple more bites after but these ones were quick bites and seemed like the fish spooked themselves and then left it.

Bob turned up around this time and did some close in ledgering. I told him I'd started catching and he was getting bites on his rod too. I had another fish on the float, which took after I didn't watch the float for too long and allowed it to drift very close in and then I had another bite on the ledger rod which

was from yet another Ballan Wrasse. It looked the biggest and so I weighed this one and found it to be exactly a pound. While chatting to Bob inbetween us getting bites I said to him how it was odd that we'd never had a bass on Ragworm all the times I've fished here and strangely enough when the float began behaving oddly, not going under but becoming steady and not reacting to the swell, I struck and felt a fish fight back. When it surfaced I first thought it was bream but then saw it was actually a Bass! Bob guessed it at half a pound. Then to make things even stranger the float did the same about 15 minutes later and I Lifted the rod again to feel a better fish on and this time it was a bigger Bass! It wasn't huge but I weighed it anyway and some passers by were keen to let their kids see it. Bob guessed this one at 1lb and It was just under 1lb. It had just about made this day now change from being ok to being very good.

I noticed after putting that Bass back that the water had gotten a lot clearer and maybe caused the bites to slow down now. I had one more fish on the float rod, while missing another bite on that rod and a having a couple of bites on the ledger rod while only landing a small Pouting over the next hour and then although I had originally planned to change tactics again after dark, I hadn't bothered mackerel feathering and so I had no other bait and had used all but the smallest of the ragworm I had, so I packed up. Bob had already gone and had said he was going to try here again the next day and I had said I was thinking of doing the same but would need to get some more Ragworm, which was not likely on a Sunday morning.

This turned out to be a very good session after all and just made me like this place even more than I already do. Unfortunately while writing out this session I've discovered I didn't photograph one of the Bass which is a shame as I like to have a photo of as many fish as I can.

Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]: