Catch Report - Brixham - 1st September 2020 (37)

Date From: 01/09/2020 10:45:00

Date To: 01/09/2020 19:05:00

Time of day: Morning - evening

Location: Brixham

Mark: The breakwater

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Mostly sunny with some cloud. Very little wind to begin with increasing to a steady, gentle cooling breeze swinging round from being in front, to behind us.

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Very clear and almost flat with just a small swell.

Method: Ledger (shop bought 2 hook flapper with rotten bottom) | Float | Lure (Feathers)

Bait: Live ragworm | live ragworm | 6 hook purple hokkai heads

Caught:

The Session:

This session was another meet up with Bob. We were both hoping for a good session not just because our last two were not as good as we'd hoped but because Bob had already done well here in the past few weeks.

We arrived with plenty of space still available in the car park and after it took me a while longer than Bob to get my act together we walked along a bit to our secret spot and both commented on how clear the water was. we could see some of the rocks that were on the bottom, several yards past the edge of the kelp.

I set up a single ledger rod first and although my head said to not use two hooks because one would snag while bringing a fish up on the other I did anyway, promising myself I would set up again with a single hook rig should I lose this first one.

Out went the bait on a two hook flapper with a plain 4oz pear shaped weight. It went around 50 yards and I pulled it back a bit, using my experience from previous sessions to where I felt it would be away from the close in snags but not too far to be on open sand, too far for Wrasse to risk swimming to or even too far to see.

I tightened the line until the tip of the rod began to bend and when I stopped reeling the tip very slowly sank back to almost straight. The line bent down on its way to the water and as it entered the water I figured it was far enough out to just miss the kelp. I would need to really pull a fish up fast to avoid having to pull it through the kelp but the risk here is necessary if fish are to be caught. Then I just stood watching the tip for that immediate first bite that I have had so many times here but after a few minutes I accepted it wasn't going to happen and I set about getting a float out there and trying feathering once the tide was in a bit.

Bob had already caught a few before I had my float set up so I was sure I'd get something quite quickly. I used one of my 3D printed tubby floats and cast it beyond the kelp at a depth of around 6 feet. It wasn't long before I had a small Pollock but after that I struggled to hook one. Bob was getting them steadily but it was quite a few casts over 20 minutes before I finally hooked one. I was determined not to let any get in the kelp so I made sure I brought it to the surface quickly and a nice Corkwing Wrasse became my first wrasse of the day.

Bob was still getting more bites and fish than I was and we weren't fishing very far apart so I decided to change my depth to around 10 feet. Up until low tide we caught pollock and wrasse steadily, Bob still catching more than me and he had some Goldsinny Wrasse too, then it went a bit quiet. Bob went for a walk to another spot and tried some LRFing, giving up when some kids began jumping in the water near him. By the time he got back to me I had begun catching again but still didn't get any Goldsinny Wrasse.

I got so into the float fishing that I hadn't noticed the line on my ledger rod had gone slack and was hanging almost straight down. I put the float rod down and picked up my ledger rod, wound in the slack line until the rod tip bent slightly. I didn;t nhave to wait long before I felt the fish still dragging the weight inwards and I reeled in more slack line and decided to strike immediately. I could feel the fish on. It felt big and I was sure it was going to be my biggest yet however once it got near the kelp I realised my line was caught underneath some of it and that is what made the fish feel big. the dissapointment didn't last though as I lifted up the first fish of the day on ledger, a nice Ballan Wrasse, not huge but it went over 1lb on the scales. I knew they were around now and that's what mattered more than the size. Upon rebaiting I noticed my rotton bottom link had snapped and so I had to grab another weight.

Once I put the ledger back out, which seemed to go nicely in the same spot as before, I returned to the float, not expecting much on the bottom again for a while. Myself and Bob actually swapped places for a bit as I tried to pluck a Goldsinny Wrasse from a gap in the kelp where Bob was getting them from but I just couldn't get one. I only had one fish in this half hour until I noticed my ledgering line was slack again so I went to it, did the same as before and felt the fish moving the weight around on the bottom. I struck again and never let up until the next fish was at the surface and I was lucky again for the other hook to not catch in the kelp and I lifted another nice fish up to be photographed, losing the weight again in the process.

Things had slowed on the float so after catching another few fish I decided to go for some mackerel for immediate use as bait and hopefully some to freeze. I had many casts but only managed a couple of small ones and that was just as I saw the tip of my ledger rod going back straight after being bent round by something so I turned my attention to that rod, didn't have to wait long for it to go again and struck into another modest sized fish. The weight I was using now was a diamond shaped one designed to help it lift quickly in the water. I'd had them a long time but didn't feel any benefit when I used them from beaches and my local pier so I thought I'd bring them as I wouldn't be too bothered about losing them. This may have been a good idea as this time the fish surfaced yards before the kelp. The kelp was now becoming entirely submerged so it was a little easier to avoid it anyway but the weight could have been helping.

Bites on the float had really slowed after that last fish and I had just a couple of small pollock and Bob was not getting much either. It looked like the Wrasse had all gone. We had seen a Seal around earlier and it swam past us very close in without stopping near us but we still continued to get bites immediately after it passed. I fished a bit deeper for a bit but still nothing and then I noticed the line on my ledger rod was slack again. It was the same as before, I felt the fish dragging the weight in each time I tightended up and after I struck I never let up on reeling in until it was over the kelp. Still not as big as the first one but it was very similarly marked.

By the time I had returned the fish and recast Bob began catching again and it seemed as if the fish had come closer in so I went shallower again and began dropping the float just a few yards out. It took me half an hour or so to get decent bites on the float but I finally got another Corkwing Wrasse. Around this time Bob had a Rockcook Wrasse which was the first time I'd seen one caught. I could see how they could be misidentified if you didn't pay much attention to one when you caught it. I had another Ballan wrasse on the ledger next and this was the first bite where the fish hadn't pulled the bait inwards, it gave a series of quick pulls instead. An unexpected Tompot was next on the float but that was just 3 fish in an hour. I felt that the session was going to get slower from now on.

Then, after 15 minutes of quiet, but a window for a drink and bit of food my ledger rod showed a good bite. The tip had bent around quite far and I just caught it out of the corner of my eye going back straight and the rod and rest moving a bit. I got ready thinking this could be a very good fish and it soon went again and again, the tip bending firmly both time. I struck and again never let up reeling in. This was hard to do now as my arms were getting quite tired. The fish felt bigger than all the previous ones and it was revealed why when 2 Ballan Wrasse came to the surface. I had a double hook up, and considering I thought I was risking losing fish by fishing two hooks like I had done on previous sessions. Now came the moment I was certain one would come off the hook as I brought them up the side of the stone. But they stayed on and I was able to phtograph them together and chalk up another two nice fish to the tally.

Another quiet period for me followed, Bob was still getting some activity but not hooking many and then I had another bite on the ledger rod and this was another fish that tried to swim inwards, so once I took up the slack line I struck and pulled in yet another Ballan Wrasse with the same colouring as the previous ones. While chatting to some people enquiring what we had caught I had a quick count of the fish from my photographs and as it was close to 40 I wanted to make sure I had 40 before we left. We began to settle on around a 7pm finish and it was noticabley colder now with the wind now being a bit of discomfort for me rather than the nice cooling breeze it was when the sun was high. I had a few more fish on the float, the seal made a pass by and stopped to look at us as if expecting us to feed it, and once it had gone after missing a few small bites on the ledger rod I pulled in a couple of Pouting and that really signalled the end of a chance to catch more Wrasse as the Pouting do come around in abundance here when they appear.

Overall this was my favorite session for a long time. Not only because fishing with Bob was just fun in itself as if did feel like we were two schoolkids trying to catch as many tiddlers as possible at times, but also because the sheer number of fish and bites was impressive. We fished for 9 hours which was not a high ratio of fish caught per hour but had we both had hooked every bite we could have had a hundred fish each. I was more than ready to go back home after this busy day but a small part of me would have loved to had finished off the day with an hour or two conger fishing into darkness to see if we could finish with a big fish.

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