Catch Report - Undisclosed - 15th May 2020 (1)

Date From: 15/05/2020 19:50:00

Date To: 15/05/2020 21:50:00

Time of day: Evening

Location: Undisclosed

Mark: Rocks

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Some wind from the right, sunny, but fairly cold.

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Murky with a swell of a few feet and variable waves sometimes rolling for 40 yards or more.

Method: Ledger (Homemade pulley rig with rotten bottom)

Bait: Frozen Peeler Crab

Caught:

The Session:

This was my second session since the Coronavirus pandemic and I chose ledgering this time. Around the same time last year I fished the same mark and had a very good session with a high number of bites but only managing to land a few fish. I had high hopes today because of this and despite there being a few people fishing already the spot I wanted was free and so I went straight to it.

All I took was a minimal amount of tackle and one rod. I intended to hold the rod again and I would bait up another rig as soon as I had cast out. as I was setting up I saw another angler catch a small fish which I assumed to be a dogfish. Something was around but I was hoping for Smoothound only. I cast my bait around 50 yards and reeled in just enough slack line to have a slight bow after I sat down and held toe rod tip high with the butt between my knees.

As the time passed I became less hopeful of catching anything. Someone else turned up and did some lure fishing. I spotted a seal out around 200 yards which dived and surfaced a few times going from right to left at a seemingly constant distance and I wondered if it was moving along any kind of feature.

Eventually a bite came and I felt the fish pull the line several times and occasionally looked like it was going to make off with the bait. I picked a moment when it began to steadily pull the rod downwards and seemed like it wasn't going to stop and I lifted the rod hard thenimmediately began to stand up, stumbling a bit as I reeled in as fast as I could so as to not get the lead weight snagged. It came in easy and my expectations that it would soon make off on a run were diminished when I saw it was a dogfish. I photographed it and put it back quickly hoping there might be other species around but that was it. A few more casts and then the sea showed signs of coming in behind me so I packed up just as last light was fading. The walk back hadn't got any easier so I was glad I took even less tackle than I previously had.

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