Summer time and the fishing is easy!

I must have done something very wrong to the weather gods at some point in my life!  It doesn't matter what time of year we go to Devon, we can guarantee strong winds and rain.  So here we are again, the last week of August and the great British summer is living up to its usual standards and severely limiting our fishing options.

Despite this the weather forecast suggested that Sunday the 22nd August may at least present us the opportunity to try for a Wrasse or maybe a Pollack from a mark in side of the Plymouth breakwater.  The Met Office promised force 3 to 4 WNW winds with at least moderate seas, but if we stayed on the inside we should at least be able to wet a line.

We set off from Pop's house at about 8.30am to the marina where he keeps his boat.  His crew for the day was myself and my 10 year old daughter, Polly.  First stop was Clive's Bait and Tackle to pick up some bait and some advice.  I love going in to this shop as it is the home of some of angling's "aristocracy" and can feel a bit like watching the discovery channel but in real life.  Today was no different with Martin Larkin (a regular on Henry Gilbey's fishing shows) minding the shop.  A large taxidermists replica of a huge shore caught Conger is suspended on the wall - a British record captured by Martin himself.

The previous week Pop's had been advised that there were good numbers of Bass showing in the marina where he keeps his boat and we asked whether they would still be there and how we might go about catching them.  Martin advised trying a light weight paternoster rig with live sand eels or a float rig fished shallow, likewise baited with live sand eel.  He emphasised the need to remain quiet however, with very shallow water and the fish being easily spooked.

When we arrived at the boat we first noticed that there was far less than a force 3 to 4 breeze blowing, in fact it was probably 2 or less at most.  We set up to try and catch a bass from the mooring but we were struggling to remain quiet and with no tide running we didn't get a bite.  Our patience didn't last and as the weather seemed benign we decided to head out in to the sound to see what else we could find.

Having reached Penlee point where we thought we would try for a Wrasse we could see that the sea conditions were no where near moderate as forecast and in fact they were never worse than smooth all day - I don't know where the forecasts come from some days.  As a result we headed out to the west side of Rame Head where we would try our live sand eels and some fresh rag to see if we could find Bass, Pollack or Ballan Wrasse.

Our first drift saw instant success, even if the fish were small.  My eel was engulfed by a small Pollack whilst Polly bagged a beautiful looking Sea Scorpion on worm.  Now I must apologise for not photgraphing this little fish but it was hammering down with rain - the forecast had been dry with sunny spells all day?

The next drift produced another very small Pollack on an eel but nothing on the worm.  Pops pushed us in further to the cliff and we started another very slow drift on a very slack tide.  Polly showed us the way with a respectable Ballan Wrasse.  the fish as you can see below had a very deep red colour which was the same shade as the Sea Scorpion she had captured - a clear indicator of the weedy environment below us.

Polly bags a Ballan

Encouraged by the Ballan and discouraged by the small Pollack I switched to a worm - the result was nearly instant.  A series of small bites and a couple of baits stolen followed by a decent bite.  I wound down into a hard fighting Ballan, not a great size but excellent fun on an 8lb rod.  Polly was keen to point out that it was not as big hers!

"Up close with a Wrasse"

With only small bait robbing bites coming from the mark we were fishing we decided to push out a little to the end of Rame Head to fish a series of dramatic rock pinnacles that we had seen on the sounder on the way out.

Polly persevered with a worm bait to no avail whilst Pops and I switched back to sand eels.  I had a couple of baits pinched, presumably by pesky small Pollack.

Pops however found something much larger.  His rod bent double and danced with a series of dramatic head shakes. He had forgotten however that he had tightened his drag to prevent the Wrasse he had been targeting from getting in to the kelp.  The fish tried to make a hard run and the line parted with a "twang".  Was it a large Pollack or that illusive Bass we had hoped for - I'm sure we will enjoy hyopthesising about this in the next few months!

We tried a couple more drifts hoping we would find more fish of this calibre but with no luck.  As the sea was so calm and there was no hint of a breeze we decided we would venture out a little further to a small wreck mark where Pops had seen some good Mackerel a couple of weeks earlier.  Within 20 minutes we were on station and starting our first drift.

Polly and Pops were on feathers whilst I set up a Portland rig with a live sand eel to see if there might be a Pollack on the wreck.  The results were instant and pandemonium ensued.

Pops was first to the boat with a Pollack / Mackerel double shot.

I landed a Whiting on the live eel, whilst Polly doubled up on the Whiting with a brace on her feathers.  As we brought the fish in and prepared to get some photos, Polly tried to steady her line and received a hook to the finger for her trouble.  Fortunately the barb didn't go in and with a plaster applied she was soon back in to the action.

The next drift saw us all find Whiting.  Polly switched to the single hook rod and showed she had mastered both tactics.

We fished this wreck for about an hour over which time we were joined by three or four other boats including a Mackerel trip boat with about 18 anglers on board!  The sport was relentless with Whiting coming to the boat with up to four at a time on a string of feathers.

Mackerel were also hitting the feathers on the way down and the odd Pollack also made a showing. 

Pops and I switched to sidewinders to see if there were any better Pollack on the wreck and I attached a small red and white muppet to Polly's rig to see if that would produce a better fish.  Polly was first in with a better Pollack of about 3lbs (Pops dropped it out of the net, so no photo!).

I managed one of a similar size on a "Rhubarb and Custard" sidewinder, but it was Pops who had the best of the day on a blue sidewinder.  Not a monster and judging by other reports on the internet probably fairly typical of the average Pollack being taken in the Plymouth area this Summer.

After an hour we had to stop as we had more than enough fish and to carry on would have been wasteful, albeit great fun!

The fish today would have taken anything we offered they were feeding so hard.  We presented eels, feathers, baited feathers, rag worm, sidewinders and muppets - they all produced both a quantity and variety of fish.

I can't think of a much better day out than fishing with the family and watching your kids get amongst the fish.  Still have a problem though that my daughters have never had a bad day out yet - it will come as quite a shock!