Date: 30-03-2019
Time of day: Evening
Location: Unnamed
Mark: Rock Mark
Low Tide: 07:19(3.38m) 20:07(3.39m)
High Tide: 01:02(6.57m) 13:49(6.46m)
Time fished from: 17:30
Time fished to: 21:00
Weather: Sunny with a cold wind from the right to begin with but dying down after dark.
Sea: Fairly clear and calm with small waves and occasional surges or water.
Method: Ledger (Homemade pulley rig with rotten bottom)
Bait: Frozen peeler crab
Caught (weight): 1 Smoothound (5lbs 12oz, Weighed)
The Session: I had bought a supply of peeler crabs for the year and the person I bought from had given me some extra som I went to try them out to see if I could catch some Smoothound. I chose a rock mark that I fished twice the previous year but this time I fished it from id way down to just past low tide, whereas previously I''d fished from low tide up for a few hours.
This mark is not one I recommend to anyone unless you are good on your feet and able to walk up a very steep slope. This time I struggled a bit and was out of breath once I got down and back up the cliffside.
Once I arrived I found a spot that was fishable at the current state of the tide and it looked like I could bring a fish in close enough to scop out with my hand. I set up my rough ground rod with a pulley rig and a single peeler crab for bait. I removed most of the legs and then removed the top shell by squeezing the egdes together until it rose and then cracked and then I pushed the hook point through the underside of the fish, after lifing the flap, until the point showed through and then I pulled the hook through and just pressed the shank into the top of the crab and whipped it down with some fine elastic. I don''t bother removing every bit of shell, or leg.
I cast out about 40 yards and set the rod down in my tripod with the drag set very loose. I wanted to see how deep it was in the area so I set up a float rod and cast it around with the depth set quite shallow. It appeared that around 20-30 yards out there was just 4-5 foot of water. I tried some bait on the float rod aswell but it was clear that crabs were around and were dragging the float down as it drifted in the direction of the beach.
It was around an hour before I was sure that movement on the ledger rod tip was not from the drag of the tide. it began moving a couple of times, quite deliberately but only around an inch and after a few times I struck but either felt nothing or I snagged and had to pull the hook or weight free. There were a few more bites like this and I wondered if they were all crabs and as I brought in one bait to find the hook was snipped though on the bend I considered packing up so I recast with one more crab while I packed up the float rod.
Quite quickly after casting the rod tip moved around just the same as it had done before bening a bit more quite steadily and I struck to immediately feel the fish swim hard to my right. I gave it line by backwinding when it pulled very hard and as I know that despite the barnacle covered rocks here it isn''t too snaggy once a fish is hooked I let it go where it wanted. As it was the first fish of the session and possibly the first Smoothound of the year I wanted to go easy. It was up to 5 minutes before I got the fish close enough to see it was a Smoothound and I began edging down the rocks to a point where I could wait for a surge and guide it to a small pool to lift it out once the surge receeded. As I mentioned, I struggled here where last year I felt more confident and sure footed. Though the rocks are pretty easy to navigate over when arriving and leaving, once you are at the egde where you fish from, getting down to lift a fish out can mean shifting down a face of a few feet, trusting just the barnacles for grip and hoping the previous surges of water are an accurate representation of the size that will assist me in lifing the fish without getting wet feet legs and bum.
Once I scooped the fish out it was pretty calm and I was able to step back up the rocks with it resting along my arm without it causng any bother. I quickly photographed it before placing it into a large pool nearby while I searched for my scales to weigh it. Once I found them I went to lift the fish from the pool and ended up having to slam my hand into the barnacles to steady myself and ended up with the palm of my hand bleeding. Of course, with the prospect of more fish I wiped it with a rag and put the fish back before recasting.
I noted that darkness was falling as I caught the fish and as with my previous sessions here the next bite came quite quickly. Maybe the Smoothound had moved in and any crabs were now hiding so I could be sure of more fish. What happened though was an hour and a half of bites but no fish and me being puzzled as to what was taking the bait. I had a bite on every cast until I packed up, all soon after casting but I bumped off two fish, which was so quick I couldn''t tell if they were Smoothound or not, becames snagged and lost one entire rig and shockleader and also had one more hook bent out and snapped as well as hooklength line frayed. I didn''t manage to land a single other fish and although I was pleased to see the one I caught especially as it is earlier than the considered season for them, catching more, or finding out what they were if not Smoothound would have been useful information.
It was very dark when I walked back over the rocks so it took me a while but I did find another couple of peeler crabs in one of the rock pools. The climb back up the cliff had me exhausted and in need of a rest before continuing the remaining walk back to the car.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa seahunter Z 13ft 2 piece MFS (£42.99) [ > 1 years 3 months ]
Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool (£48.99) [ > 4 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 25lb (£6.25) 100m
.JPG)