Catch Report - Porlock-Bay - 26th September 2020 (11)

Date From: 26/09/2020 18:20:00

Date To: 26/09/2020 23:35:00

Time of day: Evening

Location: Porlock-Bay

Mark: Left hand side of weir

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Cloudy with a fairly strong wind from the sea to begin with but dying down later on

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Fairly murky close in but clearer further out. Waves up to 2 feet high.

Method: Ledger (shop bought 2 hook flapper with rotten bottom) | Ledger (shop bought pulley rig with rotten bottom)

Bait: Live king ragworm | frozen whole launce, frozen launce segment

Caught:

The Session:

I hoped to at least repeat my previous success at Porlock a few weeks ago but although the tides were similar in height the wind was worse so I may not have been able to cast out onto sand.

I setup up after walking along the top of the stones for a while and put the 2 hook flapper rod out first. The wind did hamper my casting and it only went around 50 yards. I next set up the pulley rig and that too didn;t go as far as I hoped but a bit further than the flapper rig. I was using plain weights on them today, on a diamond shaped 'Finn' weight and a plain pear weight on the other, 5oz and 4oz respectively.

I expected and hoped for bites on the ragworm straight away because of the lack of time before the sun set but it was a while before I saw any indication worth striking at. Therod tip shook a tiny bit as if a Pouting had taken the bait. It did it again and so I struck but missed the fish. I quickly rebaited and recast and it went around the same distance. Probably 15 minutes passed and another bite happend. This time I hooked the fish and never let up on the reeling in until I could see the fish surface. It was a small Conger Eel and I followed it shortly afterwards with another but slightly larger. Then I had a Pouting afterwards.

I checked my other rod after releasing the Pouting and found it was snagged. After walking left and right as far as I thought would help if it could I decided I had to go for the break and after walking back a good number of yards the line snapped. I was surprised to find that the line had snapped halfway down the leader which I knew was in good condition so I concluded the line got stuck between two rocks at that point.

When I had got that rod set up again I checked the flapper rig rod and found there was a fish on the end and it didn't feel small. I reeled in as fast as I could, with my arms hurting by the time the fish got to the shore. It began to kick a bit and that's when it felt like a Ray and when I confirmed it was by seeing it I saw there was also a Pouting on the other hook. I think this was my second ever Ray on Ragworm, it wasn't huge but it gave me hope that there were more around.

The wind was dying down a bit now and had swung around to come from the left a bit more so I was able to cast a bit further from now on. The patches of floating weed were increasing in quantity though and after striking at rod tip movement I found weed coming back on the line first before I managed two more Conger Eel. Then it went quiet for a bit over low tide as I ignored the movement of the rod tips that I considered to be from the weed. that was until one looked a bit more like a strong pull from a fish and I picked up the pulley rod and held it to my side until the line was just tight. I could feel the definite movement of a fish pulling the weight towards me and then away from me again. I gave it plenty of time and struck at a moment when the fish pulled the line around 2 metres and looked like it was going to keep pulling. I could feel a decent sized fish on and again I reeled in without letting up, though I had to pump the rod, each time expecting the weight to snag but luckily it didn't. It was a lot bigger than the first one so I weighed it before putting it back.

There was a bit of time before I had the next bite and it was like the Ray bite but this was a Dogfish this time. After not seeing so many this year I was pleased some were around. I know a lot of anglers dont like them but the lack of numbers so suddenly could indicate a problem which could have a knock on effect for other species so it was good to see one. Then I had two more with the last one taking my second from last launce so I put out the last one and packed up the flapper rig as that hadn't showed any bites for a while, and then just as I went to pack the pulley rig away I had a bite which I missed after leaving it for a few minutes. The launce was chewed so I decided it wasn't worth casting out again and I packed that rod away too.

Overall it was a good session considering the wind and weed and the small Conger Eel were around in numbers which looks like it will continue for the second full year running, which I hope is a good sign that a lot of sea life is doing well despite them being a bit of a pain for anglers needing to unhook them.

I'll probably be back soon when the tide looks right and I can get a bit of daytime fishing in before low tide again.

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