Catch Report - Seaton - 12th July 2019 (3)

Date From: 12/07/2019 17:20:00

Date To: 13/07/2019 03:30:00

Time of day: Afternoon - night

Location: Seaton

Mark: Main Beach

Low Tide: 08:59 (1.43m) 21:28 (1.54m) 09:55 (1.34m) 22:23 (1.40m)

High Tide: 02:56 (3.46m) 15:35 (3.31m) 04:07 (3.39m) 16:47 (3.39m)

Weather: Sunny with some wind.

Sea: murky close in, clear about 30 yards out. Waves up to around 3 feet rolling for 20 yards.

Method: Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | lure

Bait: Whole frozen extra large sandeel | frozen whole loligo squid, whole frozen peeler crab | 5 hook purple hokkai heads

Caught:

The Session:

This session was another meet up with 3 other anglers, John, Paul and Bob. We fished Seaton beach and I arrived there first. I set up in the most convenient available spot on the beach and began by setting up my two ledger rods followed by my mackerel feathering rod which I was hoping to catch some bait with.

I cast the ledger rods straight out and managed to get them about 70 yards and then I tried feathering for mackerel straight away. It was very slow though and by the time all of us were present and fishing I had not had a single mackerel and neither had the others who tried. I wasn't getting any bites on the ledger rods either, the baits were coming back untocued mostly but some had been had by something. After having a last attempt at catching some mackerel I hooked something on a very slow retrieve. It was a very small Tub Gurnard and would be my only fish of the session for a while.

Bob caught a Grey Gurnard and a Scad which were ones he needed for a species hunt he was taking part in, Paul had a Garfish and then myself and John had a dogfish before John then had one of the fish we all hoped to catch, a Small-eyed Ray. Bob also had a Whiting and Pouting and John and Paul both had some small Conger Eels, by this time I was failing to hook anything and I was getting less bites than the others. Any bites I did see were quick shakes of the rod tip and were all on Squid. During some of the conversation we had I mentioned to Paul about the number of fish I had been losing this year and later he came over to me with an 'up and over' rig he had made up for me to try and I liked the performance of it so I have decided to use them in place of pulley rigs where I can. Much later on, once John and Bob had gone and after Paul had several more small Conger Eels, I hooked one and was tangled with Pauls line too. Then after Paul had gone I reeled in one rod to find another Conger Eel on the end.

Overall it was a session that produced a few species but I think we all wanted to catch a Ray and the Conger Eels just seemed to be the main species around and if there were more Ray around the Conger Eels beat them to finding the bait.

I'll be back to Seaton for another session but I feel like I should explore a few other marks around that coast now as I've given a few of them enough goes but haven't had any monsters except the Bull Huss I had here in 2018.

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: Rovex Surf clear 60lb (£7.99) 150m Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m

Set up 2:

Rod: Daiwa Seahunter Z 12ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£37.99) [ > 0 years 4 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 Circle 440 3/0 (£19.20) 50 Shockleader: Rovex Surf clear 60lb (£7.99) 150m Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m

Set up 3:

Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£17.95) [ > 5 years 0 months ] Reel: Leeda Icon 5000 Fixed spool (£35.18) [ > 5 years 6 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m Lure: 5 hook Purple Hokkai Heads Shockleader: Drennan Greased Weasel 40lb (£7.43) 50m

Set up 4: