Catch Report - Minehead - 6th July 2019 (1)

Date From: 06/07/2019 18:05:00

Date To: 07/07/2019 01:00:00

Time of day: Evening - night

Location: Minehead

Mark: Gasworks Beach

Low Tide: 03:28 (1.16m) 15:47 (1.22m) 04:20 (1.29m) 16:37 (1.44m)

High Tide: 09:58 (10.50m) 22:16 (10.58m) 10:46 (10.27m) 23:04 (10.27m)

Weather: Sunny with wind to begin with but dying down during the session

Sea: Murky with small waves up to 2 feet high

Method: Ledger (Homemade pulley rig with rotten bottom) | Ledger (Homemade pulley rig with rotten bottom)

Bait: Frozen whole small sandeel | frozen whole loligo squid, frozen whole peeler crab

Caught:

The Session:

I tried Minehead again after not doing so well on my last trip hoping to do better. I arrived early so I set up slowly and began fishing when the sea had reached the pebble ridge. Both baits were cast around 70 yards out throughout the session so that they were always landing on sand.

For the first couple of hours I barely noticed a bite and what movement of the rod tips I saw was possibly crabs, but I know now from my previous session

that small Tope are around here and it could have been them taking the bait.

Then I had a bite on sandeel. There was a small movement of the rod tip before it bent down and looked like it wasn't going to stop so I lifted the rod immediately and felt the fish pulling back. I don't know if it is the shallow water that is the reason but I didn't know the fish was a Ray until it appeared at the edge. When it fought back it didn't feel like a Ray fighing from areas where the water is deep and where they can dive down and transfer their power through to the rod, it just felt like a Dogfish, or small Bass.

But I was very pleased to catch a Ray this time. It wasn't huge but I hoped it meant more were around. When I put it back it took a while before it swam off, just sitting on the pebbles for a minute or two. I quickly rebaited and cast out again then checked the bait on the other rod and recast that too.

However that was all the action for this session. Some other anglers came and left, looking like they caught nothing, except one who caught a couple of Conger Eels. I fished on until well after dark and then packed up when I was out of sandeel and crab.

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

Set up 1:

Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£60.00) [ > 1 years 2 months ] Reel: Wychwood Riot Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 1 years 0 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100 Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 40lb (£4.50) 100m

Set up 2:

Rod: Daiwa seahunter Z 13ft 2 piece MFS (£42.99) [ > 1 years 7 months ] Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 5 years 2 months ] Line: Maxima Crystal Ivory 20lb (£14.08) 651 yards Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100 Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m