Saturdays

Another weekend, another Saturday on the beach.  This time the weather was a lot more pleasant, I could expect a mixture of sunshine and cloud with a moderate westerly blowing over my shoulder.  High tide would be around 1730 but I arrived in plenty of time as I expected the steep beach would be busy.  With a nicely timed tide on a weekend I expected plenty of anglers would arrive to fish the traditional ‘three up – three down’ so I made sure I was in position by around 1330.

I took my time setting up, firstly getting the oval erected but this proved to be a waste of time as I just couldn’t get the bloody thing to stay upright and in position so it wasn’t long before I scrapped it.  Meanwhile I got the rods out; as usual I used a big bait on the pulley rig which I hurled as far as I could and a smaller bait on a running rig dropped in close.  Then it was just a case of sitting back to wait.  By this time the beach was indeed filling up but sea anglers leave you alone, nobody feels the need to discuss the latest Youtube video (advert) or tell you who caught what last week.  For a couple of hours the fish left me alone too, I was definitely getting slight tremors and pulls on the light rod but no proper bites.  I noticed the anglers around me were getting a few Whiting though.

Around 1600 I had a proper bite at last, the close range rod whacked over as something tried to make off with my squid fillet.  I bent into something with a bit of weight and dragged a Dogfish up the pebbles.  I like doggies, they are tough little fuckers with nice markings and they act like they think they’re a Great White.  I hoped this would the start of things but it wasn’t yet still I noticed people either side of me were catching Whiting.  I continued to get half hearted rattles and pulls so decided I had to change things.  I baited up a two hook flapper rig with short hooklengths which I thought might encourage something to hook itself.  When I wound in the running rig a Whiting had hung itself!  Should I stick or twist?  I decided to go with the flapper rig and I think it made a difference as I started getting positive bites and began catching Whiting regularly.  While this was going on the big bait which I alternated between Squid and Bluey wasn’t doing much, well it was doing fuck all to be honest.

High tide was upon me, this is when I’ve caught the bigger Rays in the past so I sat sipping a brew hoping the tip on the big bait would whack round and would you believe it did!  But it sprang straight back again and nothing developed.  When I wound in a few minutes later half my squid was gone.  As the tide ebbed so the bites slowed but I did get a couple on the big rod, these were better sized Whiting and had I kept a couple they would have made a decent meal for two.  But not the one below...

The tide gradually receded and the sky darkened, sometimes darkness brings a flurry of bites but this didn’t materialise tonight.  I fished until around 2100 then packed up tired and content finishing with nine Whiting of mixed sizes and the one Dogfish.  After two trips on the beach this year I feel like I’m in the groove again and I’m looking forward to getting back.

A bright sunny spring day, mild as opposed to hot as the easterly breeze is keeping the temperature modest but its undeniably spring, announced by the first beech leaves on the hedge this morning.  The roads east were surprisingly quiet and I pulled into a different car park a little before 1800.  This is ‘Long hike beach’, will the effort be worth it?  I fished here once last spring and it wasn’t, the sea was wild and angry, I blanked.  After fifteen minutes on a solid path and another five trudging across pebbles I arrived at what looked like a suitable spot.  The low tide revealed lots of rocks, humps and lumps which I didn’t feel experienced enough to try and fish over, so I walked beyond all the snags.  By 1830 my first cast touched down, as usual a chunk of squid on a pulley rig given the big un.  On the other rod I reverted to my usual long trace/running leger rig which I mostly fished close in although I did vary the distance at times.  I had it in mind to maybe change to the flapper rig again if things didn’t go to plan.

But the first cast on the light rod brought a definite bite but by the time I reacted it was long gone.  The first couple of casts on the heavy set up saw the baits go AWOL but any crabs about soon buggered off. At 1920 I sat with a brew watching a Kestrel hovering behind me as the sun settled lower in the sky.  Darkness would arrive and with it a full moon and a rising tide which should reach its high point after midnight.  In theory a good evening to be fishing?  I certainly felt confident.

The first hour of darkness, thw wind died but the fishing was nuts.  I was getting bites on both rods and it was non stop; unhooking fish, baiting up, casting, winding in…  At the end of the mad spell I’d caught five decent sized Dogfish and one Whiting.  For the rest of the evening bites were more sporadic but one fish would bring another so there were spells of activity between calmer periods.  By midnight I’d beached three more dogs and an Eel but with high tide approaching I was hoping a Ray might put in an appearance.

My biggest two Thornbacks previously have come right at the top of the tide and bang on cue the tip of the big bait rod rapped over.  I panicked and struck like a twat waving the rod through thin air, bugger!  Had I blown it?  I fished on for an hour longer by which time I was knackered.  Winding in the heavier rod it felt like I was attached to something heavy that didn’t want to come in, was it a Ray?  Whatever it was got stuck and wasn’t shifting, eventually the leader knot gave up.  It may have been a fish or it could have been a load of weed and debris.  Either way, when I wound in the other rod the Whiting that had hung itself was no consolation.

By now it was 0130 and I still had the long hike back to contend with followed by a forty minute drive home.   Needless to say I collapsed into bed at an ungodly hour and apparently snored like a hog?