Catch Report - Porlock-Bay - 9th June 2018 (4)

Date: 09-06-2018

Time of day: Evening

Location: Porlock-Bay

Mark: Left hand side of weir

Low Tide: 09:04(3.00m) 21:33(3.12m) 10:04(2.55m) 22:32(2.51m)

High Tide: 02:46(8.04m) 15:21(8.17m) 03:54(8.51m) 16:27(8.73m)

Time fished from: 18:30

Time fished to: 23:20

Weather: Sunny with only an occasional breeze.

Sea: Flat and clear with just a tiny wave breaking on the shore line

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

Bait: Frozen sandeel | frozen squid, frozen sandeel

Caught (weight): 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed) | 3 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed)

The Session: I found a patch of ground that was mostly shingle and set up there. Both of my ledger rods had pulley rigs on and I began casting them out around 80 yards, one baited with squid and the other with sandeel.

After 15 minutes I reeled in each rod and found the sandeel was almost gone but the squid was untouched. As this meant crabs were probably around I rebaited and recast more regularly than I usual, every 20 minutes maximum.

I had the unfortunatel moment upon recasting with the Daiwa Seahunter Z rod where the join on the butt cracked and the tip of the rod went flying into the water. My lead and rig landed among the rocks several yards out and I was unable to retrieve them but I got the rod tip back. I temporarily fixed this by pushing the tip back in as far as it would now go and I wrapped plenty of sellotape around the two parts. The rod coped ok for the rest of the session but I'm sure the butt is really unusable realiably in that condition. As it happens I have another of these rods with a damaged tip section from when my rod rest tipped over in high wind so I still have a full rod to use of this model.

Because I wasn't getting any bites I had a scout around for other lost tackle to replace the rig I lost and found a length of line that was attached to a rig and, once I managed to lift a heavy boulder, a grip lead, slightly rusty but usable.

Over 3 hours after beginning I saw my first bite and it was almost exactly at low tide. It was typical of a dogfish but I missed it and shortly after the other rod did the same and I missed that too. Both rods were missing the bait when I reeled in - the sandeel and the squid.

The next bite was a bit more bold and continuous and I managed to hook this fish. It was the first of the dogfish and surprisingly in its mouth it had more sandeels and squid. I assumed this fish had been responsible for all 3 bites.

The next few hours were pretty much identical patterns of casting, waiting 20 minutes, a dogfish bite, and teh fish falling off the hook, or me managing to bring a few in. I packed up at the end of my parking time, but I would have stayed a bit longer had I have paid for the extra time. Although only dogfish had shown I felt staying for another few hours might have produced another species.

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

Set up 1: 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

Set up 2: 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 [ > 4 years 5 months ]

Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100

Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M

Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 40lb (£4.50) 100m