Fishless Frustration!

Well it's been 2 months since I've posted on this site, and it's not through lack of trying! The worst thing about doing this as a hobby is that if planned trips are lost to the weather or don't produce news worthy events then there is no opportunity to make up for it due to work commitments and family etc.

Since returning from Jamaica I have had one severely weather limited trip in Plymouth, one blown out Cod trip due to a skipper breaking his boat and a 3rd trip in Weymouth where the fish were just not intersted in playing.

So just to show this site is still alive, here is a short summary of my summer failures so far!

4th July

Despite there being a lot more wind than Pop's and I would have wanted, the sun was shining and we decided to see what we could do staying close in to Plymouth Sound and the protection of the land.

We stocked up with bait; rag worm, live sand eels (from Clives Bait and Tackle in Plymouth), squid and some raw king prawn (tip from a forum). Having set off from Queen Anne's Battery we hit a heavy swell as soon as we approached the end of the breakwater. It was clear that we would not be able to venture far and decided to try a few drifts over the "drop off" as Pops had caught a couple of nice Bass there the week before. It seemed that the charter fleet had the same idea!

Charter Boats strung out along the "drop off"

We had several drifts at various points along the drop off trying different baits. The sand eels produced bights but I suspect most of these were Mackerel and with a 4/0 hook on the flying collar we failed to hook any of these. A couple of reasonable sized Pout fell to the sand eels but no Bass or Pollack. Pops tried baited feathers to see if there were any whiting around but couldn't get through the Mackerel.

Worms produced the obligatory cuckoo wrasse which now seem to be so ubiquitous the novelty of catching this beautiful fish is wearing off!

Pops with a nice string of Mackerel

With lunch time approaching and the fishing not improving we headed back in towards Picklecombe Fort to eat our sandwiches and try for a Ballan Wrasse. We have had fish to 4.25 lbs from this mark before so were hopeful for a better fish and a photo opportunity. After a handful of small pollack and several Ballans (all under 1lb) we decided to try something else. The weather had improved a little so we headed to a wreck around 3 miles off the break water. A number of drifts across the wreck with shads, sidewinders and live eels failed to produce a solitary bite. Even baited feathers couldn't entice a Pouting to the boat!

It was now time for plan D, having failed with A, B and C! We tried a couple of drifts with eels around Rame Head, then worms and then trolling artificials. Nothing. Time for plan E.

Plan E involved those now rather warm king prawns. We had been told that it may be possible to catch Gilthead Bream from the mouth of Mill Brook Creek along the edge of the Western Muds and with the tide just passing its highest point we headed off to try this for the last half an hour of the day. On the way in we passed HMS Sutherland moored in Devon Port. Wikipedia says this is a type 23 Frigate and after a recent refit is the most powerful in the fleet.

HMS Sutherland

Having cruised around the area for a little while surveying the bottom with the echo sounder we decided the best bet was to drift across the edge of the muds back in to the navigation channel where the water gets deep quite quickly. Now this tactic would be better on the flood I think when you can drift up the bank as it was difficult to stay in touch with the bottom drifting down. I baited a paternoster rig with size 6 hooks and small sections of prawn. The first drift and a bite! I reeled in and feeling no resistance thought I would need to change my bait. But no, a fish - and probably the smallest fish I have ever caught on rod and line. It was a poor cod and it measured in the region of 2.25 inches long. A few more drifts and some very small bites later we decided the best bet was to call it a day and go and find a beer instead!

One compensation is that the area around MillBrook Creek is very attractive and not a bad place to sit and relax when there are no fish to be caught.

Western Muds at High Tide

25th July

Having been blown out of a summer Cod trip in June due to the skipper having a broken gear box we set off to Weymouth to try for some more of my favourite species, the Black Bream. In the party were my wife Karan, my two daugthers Polly (9) and Maddy (7), Pops and myself. Now this is a challenge for any charter skipper to find fishing that can entertain 3 generations of anglers with levels of experience ranging from a few trips to 32 years of fishing.

With big tides and stronger than forecast winds we were further limted by where we could go to enable the kids to fish out of the worst of the tide and to protect the constitution of my uncharacteristically sea sick wife!

We started by drifting the harbour wall for some mackerel. We all registered at least one fish so with 8 - 10 mackerel in the box we headed off to an in shore reef mark for the rest of the morning. As we moved around towards the reef in the tide we all started to get lots of very small bites and lose lots of baits. Fishing with beaded paternoster rigs and size 4 hooks we were hoping for Bream. However whilst we caught a steady stream of mackerel and a few dog fish the Bream remained elusive. Maddy was first to score a Bream with a small, but legal size fish. We caught just another 3 Bream in the next few hours despite having a bite on every drop (must have been very small). All landed fish were under a pound.

At lunch time with the wind dropping and the tide changing we moved out to fish a wreck about 2 miles further out. We tried dropping shads back in to the wreck on the tide but this didn't produce any fish. We then resumed our chase for the Bream. A few pouting and poor cod were caught quite quickly but then the bites from these fish dried up as well. Eventually Polly had a decent bite. She was in to what was undoubtedly a decent Bream which pulled and dived and head shook giving her a real tussle. Then, with about 20 feet to go one big head shake and the Bream was gone - the look of dissapointment was as only a small child can produce.

With no more bites (except the steady stream of mackerel) the skipper suggested we go and fish some rough ground close to the harbour before we went back in, hoping to get a Gurnard. Well here we were kept busy, but sadly just with Dog Fish. Karan, having recovered from here queasy stomach, couldn't miss with one after the other coming to the boat.

Now despite most anglers disparaging the virtues of the dog fish and mackerel as a sporting contest, the advantage is children are not so picky and keeping active all day with these fish meant they had a good time! I feel sorry of for the skipper and crew in these circumstances though. With options limited by the party on board and the shoals having been dispersed by two weeks of rough weather what can they do?

Madpolka Publishing

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Sea-Fishing Diary