Catch Report - West Bexington - 9th June 2020 (3)

Date From: 09/06/2020 18:30:00

Date To: 09/06/2020 23:30:00

Time of day: Evening

Location: West Bexington

Mark: Right hand side of car park

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Sunny with some wind in my face.

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Clear with waves up to 3 feet high and rolling for about 20 yards

Method: Ledger (shop bought 3 hook flapper) | Ledger (shop bought up and over rig) | Ledger (Shop bought pulley rig) | Lure (Feathers)

Bait: Live ragworm | frozen large sandeel | frozen peeler crab | 6 hook multi-coloured feathers.

Caught:

The Session:

I had booked a week holiday in Dorset this week but due to the Coronavirus pandemic the holiday couldn't go ahead. I had thought to try 2 days fishing Chesil Beach anyway. With one at the West end and One at the East End. So I headed to West Bexington for a late evening session with the possibility of fishing past midnight if the fishing was good.

I set up a 3 hook flapper first. It was the fist time I had tried a 3 hook one and as I had plenty or Ragworm left I could afford to use it on all 3 hooks but I put live blow lug on one. I cast this rod out and with the wind in my face it went about 50 yards. I set about putting the other two rods together while watching this one and it wasn't long before the tip was bending in a way that didn't match the fluctuation of the wave and swell heights. I took a few strikes at whatever it was in between setting up the other rods but I only found that the bait had been eaten a bit by something. I had a suspicion it was spider crabs.

With the other two ledger rods set up I put them both out as far as I could in this wind and they both went about 60 yards Both of these rods also showed signs of something picking at the bait and each time I reeled in there was confirmation it was crabs. I also had weed on my leader knot every time I reeled in which was frustrating. One cast I did bring a spider crab confirming for sure what it was. I even checked the bait on the flapper rig rod within a couple of minutes of casting out and sometimes the worms were almost completely gone.

After a couple of hours I decided to set up a feathring rod to get some fresh mackerel for bait. I saw no-one else catching them though so I thought it would be tough going. Over the next two hours I managed 3 Mackerel and nothing but stripped hooks and twice the hook snipped off on the other rods. I was already feeling like it was going to be hopeless tonight and so I gave two of the mackerel to a neeabry man who had been feathering since before I got there but had nothing. I tried fresh mackerel on the rod I was fishing pleeler crab on but that only got taken by the crabs too. Once darkness fell I thought things would improve and the crabs would go somewhere else but they didn't and I checked the weather forecast for the next day before throwing my remaining worm in the sea and calling it a day. Another dissapointing session on Chesil Beach.

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