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Weymouth Has The "White" Stuff

This diary entry will be a short one. Not because we didn't catch, there were plenty of fish, but because we targeted a single species and there are only so many photos of Whiting that you can make interesting!

This day was not about chasing trophies or species hunting, it was about getting out of the house after Christmas for some fresh air and catching up on a little fishing having been blown out for most of the Autumn. Pops and I were quite surprised that we actually got out at all as the weather was pretty dreadful in the run up to the day and all four of the forecasts I looked at suggested conditions would be too poor. A call to Dave Pitman (Skipper of Atlanta) the night before confirmed however that conditions looked much better locally and we would be away from the harbour at 8 am in search of the large Channel Whiting that frequent the various banks off Weymouth at this time of year.

Having been blighted with snow and ice for weeks it was almost a pleasant change to have the thick fog that greeted us this morning - at least it was a balmy 8 degrees centigrade!

Foggy Weymouth Harbour

As we left the harbour I snapped this pic of the lifeboat in the gloom. I wish I had got this picture in the snow as it would have made great charity Christmas card!

Christmas Lifeboat

The crew were two light today so with just six of us on the boat plus Dave and his son (John) we headed out to the Adamant bank - a short steam of about 40 minutes. As we approached the mark, John prepared the baits. We would use chunks of frozen Mackerel and strips of squid. On the day the mackerel easily out fished the squid for Whiting although other species were not so fussy and squid accounted for Pouting, Poor Cod and the obligatory Doggies.

The action was almost instant with all the species mentioned above coming to the boat in waves. I used a flowing trace with various garish adornments as well as a simple one up / one down rig. Both these accounted for fish as did baited feathers and various other adaptations.

The Whiting were of a pretty good average size, mostly in the 1.5 to 2.5 pound range. David, and angler from Taunton, managed a couple of very good fish. These were both identically sized at 3lbs 11oz each.

We easily filled a box with good sized keepers, returned as many smaller fish, filled a tray with Pouting for the crab boats and gave the black back gulls a good feed of Poor Cod! Sport was consistent all day long with only a lull towards the end of the day as the tide turned. The highlight for me was a small (2lbs ish) Codling - my first of the year.

After being fishless since the 16th of October and in desperate need of an airing, today was just what the doctor ordered. The weather remained reasonably calm and warm all day, Dave kept the tea and coffee flowing and the craic was pretty good too!

Davids' Christmas Cracker!

Contact - steve@madpolka.co.uk

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