Catch Report - Unnamed - 12th May 2019 (4)

Date: 12-05-2019

Time of day: Evening

Location: Unnamed

Mark: Rock Mark

Low Tide: 06:05 (2.50m) 18:42 (2.69m)

High Tide: 12:34 (7.36m)

Time fished from: 17:15

Time fished to: 22:00

Weather: Sunny with some wind from left to right

Sea: Clear with a swell of a foot increasing to around 3 feet later on.

Method: Ledger (Homemade pulley rig with rotten bottom)

Bait: Frozen peeler crab

Caught (weight): 1 Smoothhound (5lb 6oz, Weighed), 1 Smoothhound (8lb 5oz, Weighed), 1 Smoothhound (6lb 4oz, Weighed), 1 Dogfish (1lb 8oz, Guessed)

The Session: I returned to this mark hoping to fish the spot I had fished a few times previously and to repeat the success that I had last year. When I arrived I could see that someone was already there so I needed to look for another spot. It took around half an hour to feel there was somewhere I could fish from and stand a chance of landing anything up to 10lb. The mark I chose would be difficult to land a fish until the sea level rose again a bit but was suitable to cast from and fairly open, though with rocks to either side of me which could cause a problem with a fish that was unstoppable.

I had asked the other angler how he had done and he said he only had dogfish so I prepared myself for a difficult session, at least until dusk. Once set-up I cast my bait around 60 yards and with an old bath towel for comfort I sat on a bit of rock with the butt of my rock tucked between my legs.

Only around 10 minutes had passed when I saw my line, which had been bowed due to using a 4oz plain lead weight, begin to tighten and slacken again in a way that was not in sync with the swell and I knew it was a bite but expected it to be a dogfish. Because of this I didn''t wait long before I struck and Iwas unprepared to feel the fish try to power off directly away from me, and having to lower my rod to allow the fish to take line, my rod tip was pointing towards the water in the time it took my other hand to flick the anti-reverse switch - just as the hook pinged free. I brushed off the dissapointment and quickly rebaited and recast, the bait landing around 20 yards to the right of the last cast.

I decided to take out another of the 10 rigs I had made up and bait it ready for the next cast and not long after laying the rig down ready the line began moving around again with some pulls on the rod tip, and after waiting a minute or two I struck and again felt the fish power off. Again the hook pulled free and this time into a snag where I had to go for the ''break'' and ended up losing the lower half of the hooklength. I quickly clipped on the other rig and recast to the same area. The next several bites all happened very quikcly after casting out. I lost 8 fish in 8 casts. Some of the bites took the bait while I was still baiting up the next rig and the fish were pulling the rod out of the grip of my knees, so I had no choice but to lift into the fish. I lost a hook and weight on one when it snagged after pulling free from the fish. I was beginning to think I could end up landing none after hooking a number into double figures.

Then I managed to hook one and it stayed on long enough during its first run that I knew I could land. I had to manouvre it around rocks and into a small gulley. When I saw the fish was hooked on the outside of its mouth but was hooked well I felt I was safe to lift if a foot out of the water and onto a rock where I could pick it up. Once I did so I was much happier and keen to get more. It swam off strongly as soon as I put it back in the water and I recast again to the same area. I landed two more fish and lost two more. The next one felt so heavy that I breifly thought it could be over 10lb but it was also a dead weight and I discovered it had been hooked in its belly when I got it close. I was able to move to another rock where the water came right in to a convenient hole and after 3 attempts at bringing the fish there on a swell I was able to pick it up. It was obviously larger that the previous one and so I weighed it and was delighted it was over 8lb. The next fish was also hooked outside of its mouth nad when I saw this I was beginning to think that this, coupled with the short time inbetween bites might be an indication that there were a lot of fish down there that were competing for the bait, with one grabbing it and dropping it before another one did, rather than single fish taking it and then swimming off. I think they may have been hooking themselves without taking the bait into their mouths, but lightly enough that when I appplied pressure the hook pulled out from most of them.

I noticed that another angler arrived earlier and I saw him land a couple of fish but I didn''t see the first angler catch anything, but I did see that he wasn''t casting very far out. He packed up and when I next became snagged and lost my entire rig and leader I decided to move to the mark he vacated as I also felt more comfortable with the sea level being easier to watch there. This move may have been a mistake as I never had a bite over the next 3 casts in 45 minutes except just as I was about to reel in I had a bite from a dogfish. Maybe I should have stayed and risked losing more tackle, but in any case I was a bit confused because I had caught plenty of fish on two occasions last year from this mark I moved to.

Overall I was dissapointed at losing so many fish, but felt there wasn''t much I could do during the session, as I had minimal tackle with me. I''ll just have to make some changes to my pulley rigs for next time.

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

Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa seahunter Z 13ft 2 piece MFS (£42.99) [ > 1 years 5 months ]

Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 5 years 0 months ]

Line: Maxima Crystal Ivory 20lb (£14.08) 651 yards

Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100

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

Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m