Catch Report - Seaton - 20th July 2019 (3)

Date From: 20/07/2019 18:30:00

Date To: 21/07/2019 01:00:00

Time of day: Evening - Night

Location: Seaton

Mark: Main Beach

Low Tide: 02:48 (0.87m) 14:59 (1.03m) 03:24 (0.97m) 15:30 (1.17m)

High Tide: 09:34 (3.74m) 21:49 (3.90m) 10:08 (3.68m) 22:21 (3.78m)

Weather: Sunny with some wind from behind.

Sea: Murky close in, clear after about 30 yards out.

Method: Ledger (homemade up and over rig) | Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Lure

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

Caught:

The Session:

This session was a meet-up with Paul and Bob, who I fished with here the week before. I was first to arrive and I set up where there was a suitable gap between another angler and other people sat on the beach. Once I had set up my ledger rods and cast them around 70 yards straight out I set up my mackerel feathering rod. As I was doing so, Bob arrived and set up to my right.

The feathers didn't produce anything in the first hour so I only had sporadic goes with them until darkness fell. The ledger rods were quiet too and I switched between peeler crab and squid on one to see if it paid off. Still there was not much activity. Paul arrived last and set up between me and Bob and began trying different bait and rigs. It was tough going for all of us.

As the light faded we began to notice some activity but it wasn't until it was quite dark when I noticed an odd movement of my rod baited with sandeel. I watched it for a while and then the line went slack so I tightened it up. For a couple of minutes afterwards it looked quite still as if whatever was there had gone and then I thought I had a bite on my other rod. As I was concentrating on that the sandeel rod began moving again so I struck and hooked into what felt like a Dogfish. It was actually a Ray but it didn't feel like one at all. When it appeared out of the water I was quite surprised and immediately thought it was finally my time to catch one of the target species on our meets. It wasn't huge but I wasn't bothered, not least because I now expected to get more of them.

It wasn't to be though. Bob only managed one fish and Paul had one or two small Conger Eel I think. Around an hour after I had the Ray, I had a Small Conger Eel and an hour after that, after Bob had gone and Paul was packing up I had another Conger Eel. It was nearly 1am so I decided to pack up and go fishing again the next day.

This wasn't a great session overall and I think next time I visit this area I will consider other marks that I have only tried once or not at all yet.

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 (£2.50) Shockleader: Drennan Greased Weasel 40lb (£7.43) 50m

Set up 4: