theartist
Well-known member
This could be my last catch report for a while so thought i'd put a diary entry from last week on here for anyone who's thinking of sea fishing following Whitty's Dorset post
Once again we’d picked the wrong week down the south coast for a holiday with a relentless wind gusting to 40mph every day, I’m not sure what that is in Knots but it was knot very pleasant, in fact the only time it wasn’t windy was when it went gale force. I still had to try my luck though. I was keen to try the pleasure pier at Weymouth for a change in the hope it would be out of the wind so I was pleased to see the beautiful clear blue water unlike the coloured water everywhere else. I know colour is good sometimes for sea fishing but I don’t like it that much for float fishing. The wind was was on our backs and the water wasn’t too choppy at least compared to everywhere else, the water was slightly sheltered by the pier but it was one of those days when the hood was up just to keep my hat from blowing off.
The other pier was empty and everyone was trying to get out of the wind on this one but I was keen to avoid the masses at the end, not sure what they would make of my coarse rod and float set up, wingin' it with supermarket baits as per usual, so I found a quiet spot and fished off the wall instead. Nothing fancy just 6lb line through to an avon float and size 12 hook.
There were fish visible here but they looked like Sand Smelt, although I thought I saw a mullet but it quickly disappeared however this gave me hope. There were no Wrasse or small Pollack to be seen so I ended up dong the usual of putting on a tiny hook just to get any fish and a Sand Smelt duly obliged, even they seemed finicky though and didn’t really attack my baits like usual. At one stage a couple of Gar ghosted through forcing the Smelt into a ball, they were quickly gone however leaving the Smelt to resume their stationary pose in a sheltered corner, which was quite impressive to see. My missus however wasn’t impressed with my “How do you know the Sand Smelt? – Cos the sea weed” joke so left to get a coffee.
The drinks break made me feed mashed bread more consistently in the hope of drawing in a mullet or bass even if my coffee did get blown away and only a reaction catch saved it from going in, my missus once again wasn’t impressed and I wasn’t happy that my bag of wet bread could have a kick of caffeine to it now. By now I just wanted one fish so we could go to the pub out of the wind before the rains came back
Over coffee I had a visit from a local angler just passing by who said he’d never seen a mullet caught there, I learned a lot from my chat with him and started to doubt my mullet sighting as by now my eyes were seeing things in the choppy water. It was almost fate that as soon as he had gone a lone Mullet appeared and started taking some bread off the top and by the time I could say “Look at the size of that” it had spun on the surface and headed deep. I was just about to reel in and shallow up when I realised the fish wasn’t spooked but was heading for the bread on the bottom, I watched a big grey shape hoover up a big bit before heading for my smaller hookbait, It seemed to disappear and the float dipped and I was in! Playing a fish that high up usually ends in tears but it stayed on, and out the corner of my eye I saw the chap I was talking to running back and he was very helpful in landing the fish, seeing my net handle extended the full 20 feet in the wind was a sight and we managed to land it first time somehow. The fish wasn’t as big as I first thought but was an absolute stunner and a fine end to a mullet season which has been a really good one, more down to luck than anything else although often the more you do something the luckier you get.
This type of fishing is so much fun I can't wait for the next bit of holiday danglin'
Once again we’d picked the wrong week down the south coast for a holiday with a relentless wind gusting to 40mph every day, I’m not sure what that is in Knots but it was knot very pleasant, in fact the only time it wasn’t windy was when it went gale force. I still had to try my luck though. I was keen to try the pleasure pier at Weymouth for a change in the hope it would be out of the wind so I was pleased to see the beautiful clear blue water unlike the coloured water everywhere else. I know colour is good sometimes for sea fishing but I don’t like it that much for float fishing. The wind was was on our backs and the water wasn’t too choppy at least compared to everywhere else, the water was slightly sheltered by the pier but it was one of those days when the hood was up just to keep my hat from blowing off.
The other pier was empty and everyone was trying to get out of the wind on this one but I was keen to avoid the masses at the end, not sure what they would make of my coarse rod and float set up, wingin' it with supermarket baits as per usual, so I found a quiet spot and fished off the wall instead. Nothing fancy just 6lb line through to an avon float and size 12 hook.
There were fish visible here but they looked like Sand Smelt, although I thought I saw a mullet but it quickly disappeared however this gave me hope. There were no Wrasse or small Pollack to be seen so I ended up dong the usual of putting on a tiny hook just to get any fish and a Sand Smelt duly obliged, even they seemed finicky though and didn’t really attack my baits like usual. At one stage a couple of Gar ghosted through forcing the Smelt into a ball, they were quickly gone however leaving the Smelt to resume their stationary pose in a sheltered corner, which was quite impressive to see. My missus however wasn’t impressed with my “How do you know the Sand Smelt? – Cos the sea weed” joke so left to get a coffee.
The drinks break made me feed mashed bread more consistently in the hope of drawing in a mullet or bass even if my coffee did get blown away and only a reaction catch saved it from going in, my missus once again wasn’t impressed and I wasn’t happy that my bag of wet bread could have a kick of caffeine to it now. By now I just wanted one fish so we could go to the pub out of the wind before the rains came back
Over coffee I had a visit from a local angler just passing by who said he’d never seen a mullet caught there, I learned a lot from my chat with him and started to doubt my mullet sighting as by now my eyes were seeing things in the choppy water. It was almost fate that as soon as he had gone a lone Mullet appeared and started taking some bread off the top and by the time I could say “Look at the size of that” it had spun on the surface and headed deep. I was just about to reel in and shallow up when I realised the fish wasn’t spooked but was heading for the bread on the bottom, I watched a big grey shape hoover up a big bit before heading for my smaller hookbait, It seemed to disappear and the float dipped and I was in! Playing a fish that high up usually ends in tears but it stayed on, and out the corner of my eye I saw the chap I was talking to running back and he was very helpful in landing the fish, seeing my net handle extended the full 20 feet in the wind was a sight and we managed to land it first time somehow. The fish wasn’t as big as I first thought but was an absolute stunner and a fine end to a mullet season which has been a really good one, more down to luck than anything else although often the more you do something the luckier you get.
This type of fishing is so much fun I can't wait for the next bit of holiday danglin'
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