I consider myself very lucky to have a small group of close friends, we’ve known each other since the eighties and have grown up together. Fishing has been a constant thread that has helped bind us for over forty years, one of the greatest things about this sport of ours. Me and Mr T met through a shared love of music, beer and good times and we’d known each other years before we ever fished together. Nowadays it’s probably the thing we do most. I suppose most of my fishing is somehow ‘serious’ in as much as I am hoping to catch a specific species or a fish of a certain size, you could say my motivation is some kind of target fish but that definitely wouldn’t be the case tonight.
This evening we hauled our gear to a spot that would give us
a little respite from the fresh north easterly.
We quickly set up in the sunshine, the rods were cast and crucially on
this occasion, the shelter erected. We
settled into our chairs, opened a couple of beers and there we pretty much
stayed because the fish were showing zero interest. We’d occasionally get up to freshen the baits
which were coming back quite undamaged but honestly this was irrelevant. If the fishing had been too busy we wouldn’t
have had half as much time to chat and the night wouldn’t have been anywhere
near as enjoyable.
High tide came and went, the sun dipped and it was the
fading daylight that finally seemed to trigger a fish or two. We had a few rattles and between us managed
to drag a tiny Dogfish and a decent Whiting up the beach. Had we stayed I’m sure we’d have caught a few
more fish but the cold wind made emerging from shelter a chore so we decided to
get away before things got too uncomfortable.
A week later this time fishing alone, my mindset was totally
different, this time with no company other than the noises in my mind I was
focussing on the fishing. The day was
pleasant, mild and bright with a light south easterly but of course its always
a few degrees cooler on the east coast.
I travelled from a different direction on unfamiliar roads, the journey
seemed quick and I was soon pulling up at a coastal car park.
Emerging through the scrub I was surprised to find an empty
beach, the tide was at its lowest with a lot of the ground I’d be fishing over
revealed to the eye, a small gully of water ran along the beach about twenty
five yards from the high tide mark. I
took a couple of minutes to make a couple of practice casts, ensuring I’d be
able to drop the rig into this gully when the tide climbed further up the
slope. The usual Pennelled squid was
hurled eastward on the heavy rod and I put a two hook flapper on the light rod,
small baits hoping for a flatty early on in the tide. By 1830 I was sat comfortably in front of the
shelter looking up at two rod tips that were almost still. The salty liquid mass was pretty flat today
which always makes life easier.
Two hours passed, the sun sank and obviously the sky grew dark while the sea crept relentlessly closer. Everything seemed right for a fish but the tips were motionless, I’d have no trouble seeing any bites but there was nothing to see, the baits had been coming back a bit chewed but they’d been getting a long soak. I changed the lighter rod swapping to a running leger rig and wondered why I ever use anything else? I’ve been mucking about with multi hook rigs for a couple of years and I’m not convinced they catch me any more fish. I’m not match fishing and do I really want to be winding in two or three small fish at a time? But to be fair at that moment I would have been happy to see any kind of fish, any size.
Whenever sea fishing is like this it feels like you’ll never
get another bite, ever. To catch feels
impossible. Then at 2045 a sharp pull on
the heavy rod changed the vibe completely!
A minute or so later the tip pulled round solidly and I was on my feel
pulling a decent fish towards the shore.
Heavy tackle, a running tide and a bit of weight on the end makes
hauling it all back towards me a laborious task but when a nice Ray was
revealed by a retreating wave it proved well worth it. This one didn’t go smoothly as I managed to
tangle with the other line but this was soon sorted and a fish of about three
pounds was returned. I would have taken a quick picture but the phone was in the car and I'd killed the camera batteries trying to take photos of the moon. Yes really.
Half an hour passed before the same rod was banging again
and I winched a second, smaller Ray onto the beach. This was quickly unhooked and returned, as
usual the next hooklength was baited and ready, another squid was thrown out
and disappeared into the darkness. This
rod was hardly back on the tripod before the lighter rod banged over for the
first time this evening and I wound in a decent sized Whiting. I’d just chucked this back when I had another
good bite on the heavy rod, the tip was dragged down low and it looked like I’d
be into another Ray but the tip straightened again, whatever it was had made
its getaway.
After that mad hour things settled into a more normal
rhythm, fishy attention on most casts but fewer proper bites. A good whack on the heavy rod around 2215
resulted in me battling with something spirited which the waves revealed to be
my first Bass on the year and it was a good one that was not quite legal
size. Shortly after this another similar
bite seemed like it would give me the same result, something decent battled in
the shallows but my last pull up the beach only saw the hook pull and whatever
it was, probably another Bass (?) made its getaway so I’ll never know. Most of the bites were coming to baits given
the big chuck and I considered putting a pulley rig on the lighter rod
too. But by this time the tide was way
up the beach and I’d started dropping the lighter rod into the gully, this
brought me a couple of fast bites but I was too slow to hit them. Something to try on another day though…
By 2300 I was knackered and even though high tide was still
about ninety minutes away I decided to get away. I’d caught a few fish and was confident of more
but I’d actually run out of steam. As
usual I tidied everything up and packed away the shelter before starting on the
rods. While I packed up the light rod I
was sure the other, now resting on my chair, was banging a bit and so it
proved, a Dogfish had hung itself for my fifth and final fish of the night. This was soon back in the briny and within a
few minutes I was loaded up and trudging back across the shingle, happy with how
my evening had gone. Then again, maybe I should have fished both rods with
pulley rigs whacked out? Whatever, I set
out hoping to catch Rays and succeeded, I also had a nice sized Bass so a successful
fishing trip but was it more enjoyable than the previous one? I’m happy I have time to do both.
