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Blown Out In Plymouth!!
23rd February 2008
Well, the time has come to deliver the first content on this new site, and we are off to a less than auspicious start!!
The scene was set for a late Winter wrecking trip out of Plymouth. The site would be awash with magnificent images of double figure Pollack and muscular Ling, but the weather conspired against us. The trip was to have taken place on a 25ft private Beneteau Antares fishing boat, however with a strong south westerly breeze, enormous tides and a forecast 12 - 13 foot swell, caution was definitely the better part of valour and we had to find something a little safer to satisfy our fishing needs.
So the selected venue was the same boat, but on its mooring in the Mayflower Marina (Plymouth). Now as daft as this may seem, the marina can be a great spot for some light tackle sport in the summer with Pollack, Wrasse, Whiting, the mandatory LSD and even the odd Gilthead Bream all turning up. There are also some sizeable mullet though I have never targeted these. I had last fished the marina two days before Christmas with my daughters (8 and 6) and we had some 20 fish between 3/4lb and 3lbs in a four hour session. The key advantage here is that the water is some 75 to 85 feet deep, normally only accessible off shore, without any casting required. The bottom is a mix of sand, silt, rock and weed depending on which part of the marina you are in.
Historically the Marina used to allow anglers without berths to fish the outward pontoon but their web site doesn't offer this information to confirm whether this is still allowed. They can however be contacted through the website www.mayflowermarina.co.uk
If you do have the opportunity to fish this venue, please be aware that the Tamar Estuary is a designated Bass Nursery and you should not target this species and any fish caught should be returned alive.
Choose Your Weapons!!
A variety of approaches can work well in the marina. However due to the depth, the sometimes fierce tides, and no requirement  to cast I have found that a light weight boat rod (c. 10lbs rated) with a small multiplier is the best. I had three outfits with me (see photo inset) however two of these are really too heavy for the job.
Outfit number 1 is a Fladen Maxximus Solid Carbon 10-20lb boat rod matched with a Fladen Maxximus 555 multiplier loaded with 14lb Berkley Crystal Fireline. This rod and reel is excellent for targeting smaller species and is a particularly good rod for Breaming in the Summer.
Outfit number 2 is a Fladen Maxximus Solid Carbon 20-40lb boat rod paired with a Shimano Charter Special 1000 loaded with 20lb Berkley Crystal Fireline. This is a very good general purpose rod and I use it primarily for Bass and Pollack.
The thrid outfit, unused on this trip, is a heavier version of outfit 2 with a 20-50lb solid carbon rod and a similar reel with 30lb braid. I find this rod stiffer than I'd like for Bass fishing, but it does a good job when fishing deeper wrecks for heavier fish and is better for handling heavier leads. Last year my father landed 4 conger to around 40lbs off of Weymouth on this very rod and it provided great entertainment!
We took a selection of baits including Rag Worm, Frozen Mackerel and Frozen Calamari Squid. In the summer, worm is best for the Ballan Wrasse and Pollack, whilst fish baits are best for the other species. At this time of year, frankly it was guess work for whatever might be around and February can be very fickle.
At this point I should also refer to history. Approaching 30 years ago I fished the Marina over a Whitsun Bank Holiday with a school firend. On this occasion we started on the Friday evening abd used two Norwegian style rubber jigging eels on a 2/0 hook tied directly to our main lines. Having drawn ridicule from the "grey hairs" determinedly drowning worms hard to the bottom we commenced our first descent. At 40ft we both hit fish and produced 3 Pollack averaging 2lbs a piece between us. We went on to catch over 70 fish in 2 days, the largest being some 4 1/2 lbs (all but 5 were returned, and the 5 were Fridays tea for the whole family). On the Saturday of this week-end there was a tremendous volume of fry in the upper layer of the water for about 3 hours in the morning. This was then accompanied by a boil of mackerel and school bass hammering the immature fish around the boats. We saw two anglers take some 30 to 40 School Bass on bare silver hooks in about 2 hours that morning. I don't think we should judge the anglers too harshly for this as there was not the same focus on sustainability in those days, however a capture of this type would be unthinkable in todays' climate. The upshot of all of this however is that artificials should continue to work for Pollack at this venue in the Summer, so worth a try. It would be interesting to hear from any regular Plymouth Anglers whether this spring "hatch" is a common occurrence?
I used two variations of a running leger rig to fish the venue this time. On the light outfit was a simple size 1 hook on a 4ft 30lb hook length tied to a swivel, above which is an 8mm bead and a snap swivel to which I attached a 6oz lead (see diagram).
On the second outfit I used a 2/0 pennel rig to terminate the flowing trace.
On the single hook rig I fished worm, worm / squid cocktail and mackerel strip. On the pennel rig I fished half a small mackerel fillet with a squid head also mounted on the bottom hook.
How did it fish?
Well honestly it was tough. When we first arrived the tide was at the peak of the ebb and for the first 40 minutes or so there was no action at all. After this time though we started to get lots of very small "knocks" and we were losing baits steadily.
 First blood fell to my father who hooked into a small and noticeably dead weight. The culprit soon emerged, this rather fine hermit crab. At this stage we were more than a little concerned that all the bites would be hermit crabs!
The "knocks" continued to come. Several weighty objects were contacted initially and then lost before they became visible. This all suggested more crab activity. The next creature aboard was another crustacean, but this time a fairly sizeable "edible" brown crab. We had several more of these throughout the day and this was nice to see - surely a sign of a healthy system?
An Edible Crab Comes Aboard
As the tide continued to slacken we at last contacted fish. OK, not any fish to write home about (although I'm writing about them on this site!) but fish none the less. For the next couple of hours we managed to catch some half a dozen small Pouting (or are they Poor Cod? - maybe someone can identify from the picture below? All of these fell to worm baits with no interest other than crab on the fish.
As the tide went completely slack the bites (crabs as well) stopped altogether. Half an hour into the flood however the bites started again with more crabs found and dropped. Finally the fish loaded pennel rig produced results. OK, it was only a lesser spotted dog fish (modelled here by my father) but it was a very welcome addition to the days sport at this stage.
Days like this aren't about record fish and high quality photo opportunities though. They are about getting to pursue your favourite interests despite the weather gods conspiring against you. It is about enjoying being by the sea and competing with the environment available to you. Whilst no-one is going to accept that conquering small pouts and a dog fish can qualify as enviable sporting action, there is still a measure of satisfaction to be had in catching a reasonable number of fish on light gear on a day when you should have been forced to stay at home.
There are however upsides to fishing from a boat on its Marina mooring - a heated cabin, steady supply of hot drinks and the option to get a hot pasty from the Marina stores! Most Cornish fishermen will tell you that taking a pasty to sea is unnatural and bad luck, perhaps that explains the poor fishing!
The Marina did however keep one final surprise in store for us. This starfish was the last creature aboard, and had the decency to have a colour that matched this sites theme very nicely!
Check back at www.madpolka.co.uk for future installments, or why not drop me a line at steve@madpolka.co.uk to let me know how you find the site.
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