Catch report - Minehead - 24th February 2017 (2)

Date: 24-02-2017

Time of day: Night

Location: Minehead

Mark: Gasworks Beach

Low Tide: 10:40(1.99m) 23:04(1.85m)

High Tide: 17:11(9.52m) 05:32(9.92m)

Time fished from: 22:50

Time fished to: 03:10

Weather: Cloudy and mostly dry with no wind but a small shower and a period of steady wind around midnight.

Sea: Fairly murky with a small swell and waves of about 2 foot rolling for about 50 yards.

Method: Ledger (running ledger) | Ledger (Homemade pulley rig)

Bait: Frozen mackerel segments | Frozen sandeel, frozen black lugworm

Caught (weight): 1 Whiting (0lbs 3oz, Guessed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed)

The Session: I arrived, intendingto fish the tide in from low tide but arrived a little early so took an opportunity to walk around and check for potential snags and the best spot to fish from. I set up to the left of the harbour and pub, just in front of the nearest beacon. I set up both rods and cast them around 70 yards. Once the tide was clearly coming in at a pace I recast both rods and soon after I began chopping up old bait and throwing it in the surf around the area. On the next cat the rod baited with a small mackerel segment registered a quick bite but nothing more and I left it for about 10 more minutes and when I reeled in the whiting was on the end. It was around 01:10am at this time. It was the only bite for a long time and I kept using mackerel on this rod, but switched between sandeel and lugworm on the other. At around 02:15 I had a better bite but it was quick and when I reeled in the mackerel was gone. I rebaited and recast quickly but had to wait half an hour for another bite. I hooked this one and it was a welcome dogfish with very bold markings. I recast this rod again and then began packing up the other one as it was near to packing up time. Typically, as I was opening my tackle tub ready to pack the last rod up it showed another nice bite, which I immediately struck at but never hooked. It was around 03:10 and time to pack up. I was glad to get out after a quite a while and was thankful the weather stayed ok.

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

Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed spool £64.07 [ > 2 years 9 months ] Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool £48.99 [ > 1 years 11 months ] Line: Maxima Hi-viz 20lb £13.95 Hook: Sakuma Manta 1/0 10 £1.99 Tackle: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m £4.00

Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Beachcaster 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool £26.95 [ > 0 years 7 months ] Reel: Mitchell 667FG Fixed spool £23.90 [ > 3 years 6 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m £17.99 Hook: Sakuma Manta 1/0 10 £1.99 Tackle: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m £4.00