Weymouth Variety Pack

After a stunning days Bream fishing on Atlanta a fortnight ago I returned with Pops to see if we could get a few fish for his Barbecue this summer. Despite a bit of a breeze forecast, all the wind would be in the north all day and conditions would be smooth or slight for the whole trip - happy days!

Weymouth harbour looked typically fabulous at 7.30am with no traffic and glorious summer sunshine.

Commercial boats by the quay

Even though I typically book my trips as an individual I often fish with the same people time and again as Atlanta has a core of regulars. Today was no different with two of the guys on board having been on our May trip. The rest of the crew included four guests staying at the skipper's guest house. This was a family group from Northampton made up of Dad and his grown up son and daughter as well as Daughter's husband. I will apologise for the lazy journalism but I didn't get any of the names! Although they were all relative novices they had an infectious enthusiasm (which many experienced anglers seem to lose!) and being involved with the surfing industry they were at ease on the boat from the start.

It wasn't just the fishing fleet that was up an around early, the Gig crews were out training - this takes real dedication I reckon.

Gig crew in training

The plan for the day was to head off to the west side of the Bill to search for some Bream on a rough ground mark in Lyme Bay. Dave (the Skipper) had advised that the Bream in Weymouth Bay had been very fickle since our last outing and by fishing the west side we had lots of alternative options should they prove to be difficult to find. This turned out to be a very wise strategy.

One of the Northampton crew remarked how calm the sea was and this was a good thing as he had the tendency to feel sick in choppy seas. At this point we hadn't passed out of the protection of the Bill! As we came around the first corner we hit the race and the sea became choppy, but no more than touching moderate, and fortunately the stugeron appeared to work.

We were quickly in to calm waters again and the Portland coast line looked at its best.

Our fist stop was the Mackerel grounds close in to the west side of Portland Bill. I have struggled to find Mackerel so far this year but Dee, Dave's deck hand, told us they had seen plenty in the previous week. With all of us armed with feathers we started to lower away. Dee suggested we should try a "12 count" drop for depth - it was spot on. Pops was first to contact the fish but soon everyone was adding to the count (species number 1). One of the Northampton team jokingly enquired if we could do this all day and I have to confess I wouldn't have minded!

Another bait for the box

With plenty of fresh Mackerel in the box to go with the "Anaconda" sized rag worms and frozen squid provided by Dave, we headed off to the first mark.

We were well within sight of Chesil Beach and although it started out sunny, the northerly breeze remained cool all day. Pops and I both tackled up with Wessex rigs adorned with mini yellow muppets, a recipe that had been so successful in previous trips. We selected rag and squid cocktails whilst the rest of the crew had a mix of worm, squid and some Mackerel baits.

Dave had anchored in anticipation of the tide pushing us on to a rock ledge, but initially we were covering sand. It was "Dad" from Northampton who had the first proper bite. He wound in to a fish that had some weight but was not particularly dynamic its fight. The result was a Thornback Ray, an excellent result for the first proper fish of the day and species number 2.

Thornback Ray

My first fish was a small Red Gurnard (species number 3), and several others quickly contacted Lesser Spotted Dogfish (species number 4). We continued in this vein for around 45 minutes and when it became clear we would not move around on to the ledge as fast as Dave had hoped, he pulled the anchor and repositioned the boat.

At the new position we immediately started to get a lot of small bites. I managed another Red Gurnard, a keeper this time, and several Pouts and Poor Cod (species 5 and 6) accompanied further catches of doggies. With no Bream showing Dave called for the lines to come up and we headed off to a wreck where Bream had shown in good numbers last year but where we would also have a shot at Pollack.

It was not long before we were anchored over a navy frigate. I persevered with Bream tactics whilst Pops and some of the other crew tackled up for Pollack. It took Pops less than 45 seconds and five turns of the reel to notch up his first Pollack (species number 7).

Pop's Pollack

Now I need to apologise again for lazy journalism but this was easily the smallest Pollack of the day, with the average fish running around 5lbs I guess, and I didn't get any other photos! Pops managed another three, all much bigger than this, and the Northampton team also contributed several larger fish.

With no Bream showing I switched to a Jelly Worm which I tried to use on a "new fangled" invisible rig. Well I managed to get bites with this (two terrific takes) but couldn't hook up once. The rig was soon in tatters and I had to change tactics. By this time the Pollack bites appeared to have dried up and I had missed the boat!

The brothers-in-law from the Northampton team were clearly impressed with the size of the Pollack so Dave and Dee were determined to show them what a really big fish might look like. They rigged them both up with Conger traces baited with fresh Mackerel flapper baits. It took barely five minutes for the first to show up.

With much whooping and supposition as to how big this leviathan would be the fish was soon to the boat - a strap of around 10 lbs! A quick photo and then the eel was released to fight another day.

"First Conger"

The brothers-in-law contacted two more eels, one of around 20lbs lost on the surface and another better fish lost deep.

I changed to a Conger trace, but again I was too late. We had drifted away from the wreck and we had no further bites. Dave gave us the option of repositioning on the wreck or going to another piece of rough ground for a final attempt to find a bream. We opted for a move.

At this mark we caught more of the lesser species but no more photograph opportunities. Dave did however manage to produce a couple of very nice sized Red Gurnards for Pops to take home for tea so he was pleased!

The plan for the day had been expertly executed. The skipper new that we may struggle to find our preferred target species but ensured we had a contingency, especially important with new comers on the boat who would want to see fish coming to the boat regardless of the species. The result was sport all day long with a good number of quality fish and a total of 8 species. Everyone had enough for a fish supper and a story to tell in the pub!

contact - steve@madpolka.co.uk

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