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Weather Window for Weymouth Whiting

Autumn 2009 has been horrible with constant gales, rain and snow.  I have lost trip after trip to the weather and so it was with great delight, and not a little relief, that I came off the phone from Dave Pitman (skipper of Atlanta) on Sunday night having been told "it looks ok for tomorrow so we'll give it a go"!

Leaving a house full of slumbering Christmas guests I started out for Weymouth at about 5.15 am and turned up typically early.  With no one else around it was like a ghost town, and in fact I only saw one other charter boat leave its mooring on the day.

Having sorted out car parking, bought a new box of hooks and gathered together all of my fishing oriented Christmas presents (more on that later) I headed off to the boat.  Dave and crew (Dee) were aboard and I would share the days angling with 6 other guys including Dave's son John.

Dave told us that we would head for the Adamant sand bank for a crack at the Whiting as this mark had produced a much better average size of fish before Christmas, although the grounds west of Portland Bill probably had greater quantities of fish.  This meant a steady run out in to a fairly stiff ESE breeze but would provide a comfortable run home, especially important as the wind was forecast to increase throughout the day.

It was not long before we were at anchor and we started to fish.  It was clear that everyone had different views as to the best rig for whiting, and each of us selected a rig that would cope with a cod if one came along.  Some fished running legers, others paternoster rigs with 2 hooks up and one down.  Josh on the peg next to me fished 3 baited hokkais whilst I adopted a running leger with black and orange attractor beads and an orange muppet on the hook length.

Dee prepared the baits, chunks of mackerel and squid with some nice rag worm for variety.

The fishing started steadily with everyone registering whiting, although mostly in the 1lb range.  I had five fish on board using a single chunk of mackerel as hook bait before I contacted my first dog fish.  Thankfully the dog fish were few and far between although I boated 3 and lost 3 on the surface.

As we fished towards the middle of the tide the sport got more and more intense.  Josh was showing the way with his hokkais producing 2 or 3 fish a drop.  As we filled the box and it became apparent we would not be short of fish we all adopted a policy of returning anything other than the larger specimens.

A full box of Whiting

Amidst the steady stream of Whiting coming aboard, Josh suddenly fell very quiet.  I noticed that he was steadily pulling against what appeared to be a much better fish, hopefully a whiting over 3lbs.  As the fish broke the surface it was a Cod!  I tried to grab the net and got it tangled with the spare rods, then managed to miss the fish, only to snag the trace - eventually getting the fish much to my relief and, I suspect, Josh's.  Think I'll leave it to the professionals next time!  Josh was especially pleased as it was his first ever Cod - a nice pan sized fish in the 4 - 5lb range.

Josh's Cod

Not to be outdone, Dave the skipper caught another Cod shortly after - slightly bigger he claimed! This fish fell to a rag / squid cocktail.

As we touched mid tide we had a brief lull in the sport for around 20 minutes followed by even more frantic action with a steadily improving average size of fish.  I gave up counting after boating 20 fish, but suspect I caught over 30 on the day with at least half returned - the other anglers achieved similar results.  So aggressive were the fish in the afternoon I changed to a 2/0 pennel rig with a whole squid for bait in the hope of finding a larger fish.  However this did not deter the greedy Whiting and I even managed two fish on one bait as one took the head hook and another the tail.

The best Whiting of the day fell to John Pitman, the skippers' son.

John's Whiting

As we got to 2pm and the tide went slack the fishing slowed dramatically.  Dave warned that as the tide turned, and with a very strong easterly now blowing, the already choppy sea would become very lumpy.  As we had had a bag full of fish we all voted for an early finish and headed back to the harbour well pleased with the day's sport.  On the way in I snapped this dramatic silhouette of the Isle of Portland in the Winter sunshine.

Winter Sun

I mentioned earlier that I had a number of fishy Christmas presents I was keen to try out on this trip.  Here is my verdict on them!

Fladden Maxximus Solid Carbon Boat Rod (20/40 Black & Orange)

I have now used Fladden's excellent solid carbon rods for a number of years.  Despite having a superb blank, a number of criticisms have been levelled at them over the years - mostly about the quality of the fittings.  This latest top of the range model has however I think finally put those to bed.  It comes equipped with Fuji SIC line guides and a Fuji reel seat.  At 7ft long it is an ideal length and weighing only a few ounces is comfortable to hold all day.  I love this rod and hope it will stand the test of time now!

Team Daiwa Fleece Snood

I think of all my Christmas presents this is possibly the most impressive!  I found that the snood made a dramatic difference to my resistance to the cold wind and is so much more practical than a scarf which I always find un-loops, gets caught in my coat zip etc.  The fleece material also dries incredibly fast, making it much more comfortable in wet weather than a woollen scarf.

Abu Garcia Fleece Backed Neoprene Fingerless Gloves

Really wasn't sure how effective these would be, but they are excellent.  The real pain with normal gloves (I have used Thinsulate fingerless gloves with a mitten cover in the past) is having to remove them all the time to tie rigs, un hook fish etc.  With the neoprene waterproof palm you can pick up fish, bait etc without getting the gloves wet and then becoming cold.  Being fingerless, tying knots and baiting hooks is no problem.

Salt Insulated Shore Boots

Warm, comfortable, waterproof - what more do I need to say.  I can see why these would be so attractive to shore anglers who walk long distances over tough terrain as they provide very strong support for the foot and ankle as well as keeping out the wet.  Very good for keeping dry on a wet deck and much warmer than wellies!

A big thank-you to Mark Harding at Alderney Angling for helping my wife pick the stuff - she really appreciates it!

Madpolka Publishing

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