Date: 15-06-2018
Time of day: Afternoon - night
Location: Minehead
Mark: Gasworks Beach
Low Tide: 01:43(0.95m) 14:00(0.85m)
High Tide: 08:16(10.90m) 20:37(11.04m)
Time fished from: 17:00
Time fished to: 22:15
Weather: Cloudy with a fairly strong and persistent wind from left to right but dying down completely by 9pm
Sea: Murky and rough with 3 foot high waves to begin with but becoming a little clearer and almost flat by high tide.
Method: Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (homemade pulley rig)
Bait: Frozen double medium sandeel | frozen peeler crab
Caught (weight): 1 Conger Eel (3lbs 8oz, Guessed), 1 Thornback Ray (4lbs 5oz, Weighed), 2 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed)
The Session: The sea had still quite a way to come in yet and I took the opportunity to stock up on bits and bobs from the tackle shop on the harbour. It was a bit rougher than I thought it would be and I did wonder if I might have made a mistake coming here. It was going tobe hard to cast out because of the wind and the sea was murky and quite rough.
Still, I set up one rod and baited it with sandeel. Then I waded out around 40-50 yards until I was almost waist deep in water and waited for a moment between waves where I could cast without risking losing my balance. I was happy with this first cast as it went about 60 yards and the tide was coming in quickly so in no time at all it was 80 yards out and it several feet of water. I then set up another rod and baited it with peeler crab and I cast this off to the right to ensure I kept my lines far apart so the bows caused by the wind didn''t get me tangled. I adjusted my tripod so the rod tips were pointing almost in the direction of the wind.
My first couple of casts with sandeel showed evidence that small creatures were about because the sandeel was partially eaten. I was still managing fairly good casts and the tide was ensuring I was in deeper water within minutes of casting. Over an hour passed before I saw the first bite.
This bite was not like a ray or dogfish bite and so I just decided to strike when the rod tip was pulled a fair amount round. I missed the fish and quickly added another sandeel to the two, now chewed up ones left on the hook and recast. It didn''t go in the same spot but still went out far enough. Maybe only 10 minutes passed before I had a similar bite. Again I struck when it seemed right to do so and this time I felt something on the end and then my mainline snapped. I must have had a damaged bit of line.
This session could yet turn out to be a continuation of the disappointing tackle losses I experienced at Brixham the previous day. Before I set up another rig I decided to recast my other rod and move back from the incoming tide. Something didn''t feel quite right when I was reeling in and it was because I had snagged my lost rig. There was no fish on the hook and I was able to get the rod set up again quickly enough after I stripped about 80 yards of line from the reel. Soon after I recast I had another bite, very similar to the other two. This time I managed to hook it and it wasn''t at all clear what it was until it appeared from the brown coloured water by my feet. A conger eel, small, and not what I expected at all. It was fairly deep hooked aswell which showed that it quickly swallowed the bait, given I struck quite soon.
The fish was not still while I was unhooking it and so it took me a few minutes. When I put it back it kept trying to swim back in, or dive down into the stones near the edge, which it was unable to do. I ended up having to drop it further out into the surf before it swam in the right direction.
My hopes were up now and I rebaited and recast. A few more conger eel would be a fine catch I would be pleased with and would help me learn more about the areas and times they inhabit and explore certain terrain.
It was time to move back as far as I would need to and fish here now, over the top of the tide and luckily the wind had dropped which meant I was more likely to cast the 80-100 yards needed to clear the stones and hit sand.
When I reeled in to recast again I had a prawn that was stuck on one of the spikes of my weight. I used it for bait for one cast and it came back partiually eaten but I saw no indication it was a fish. I then went back to sandeel. Lots more time passed before I saw a very small pull down on the sandeel rod and it went down two more times by the time my hand was on the butt of the rod. There was a little pasue before the tip shook a little and pulled round even more. I struck at this and felt a fish on the end. Within moments it began to pull back in the way that revealed it was a ray. I kept the rod tip high and pulled it in as quick as I could to avoid the weight snagging in the stones. When I saw it was a thornback ray it was again a fish I didn''t expect. I know you can catch them here but I more expected a Small-eyed Ray or a Spotted Ray.
This was only the second Thornback Ray I have caught so I decided to weigh it to see how it compared with my first. It was obviously smaller but still I was happy to see it weighed over 4lb. I photographed and returned it and recast and then heard a voice from behind me.
It was a gentlenman who had been watching me from his campervan. He wanted to enquire as to what the fish were that I had caught. We had a short conversation and he also enquired as to why the fish kept swimming back to shore and I had to keep putting them back in the sea again. I said I thought it was because they got confused from being caught and when put back they just smaw whihcever direction the sea puched them in before they finally got their bearings. Hopefully with a little bit of valued knowledge about fish, Sea fishermen and sea fishing, he returned to his van and wished me luck.
An hour passed before I had any more bites and pretty much on time with the fading light I began having dogfish bites and hooked and landed two of them, and bumped off another two. I was now running out of bait. My peeler crab had all been used and with my last sandeel I cast it out while I began packing up. I also needed fuel to ensure I got back home so I wanted to be gone before midnight, hopefully the time when the local fuel stations stayed open until.
Gasworks beach has been a mark I have overlooked really and passed over for White Mark, yet in two sessions here I have caught the species I have expected to catch at White Mark, and with a lot less effort and risk of injury. It''s certainly going to be a mark I fish again this year.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£60.00) [ 2 weeks ]
Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool (£48.99) [ > 3 years 3 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) [ > 0 years 6 months ]
Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 4 years 1 months ]
Line: Daiwa Hyper Sensor 20lb (£12.95) 635m
Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£5.78) 30
Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M
Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 40lb (£4.50) 100m
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