Half Term "Atlanta Bonanza"

Playing The Generation Game

Flushed with the success of our August trip with the kids aboard Dave Pitmans "Atlanta" out of Weymouth we took the opportunity of the Autumn half term break to return for another go.

The last time we ventured out we had been beset by a steady force 6 southerly wind with rain thrown in for good measure which restricted our fishing to the lea of the bill. This time the weather forecast was for lighter breezes out of the north and we had high hopes for a good trip. With that in mind we set out in the very crisp Autumn sun shine for a days fishing along the Jurassic coast.

This time out our party was larger as we were joined by "Grandma & Pops" and Dave was assisted by Dee who was hugely helpful and full of useful tips. With an age range of 7 to nearly 70 years old, Dave and Dee had their work cut out to keep this lot happy!

Karan & Maddy keep warm in the sun shine

Grandma & Polly huddle for heat

Pops is alright in his North Sea survival suit

Fishing A Secret Gully

With the wind in the north and a big tide, Dave chose a number of marks to the east of Weymouth for the days sport where we would be fishing in calm waters and would be out of the fiercest of the tide, needing no more than 8oz of weight all day.

Dave took us to a patch of sand between two reefs where we had a good chance of Rays and Smooth Hounds as well as the regular Weymouth species such as Bream. Whilst the anchor was set we rigged the girls up with running legers and 1/0 hooks with Mackerel and Squid baits. Dave had also organised some live Hermit Crabs to maximise our chances of hooking a Smooth Hound, so Pops and I rigged up with 4/0 hooks and crab baits in search of a larger fish.

One of the advantages of fishing inshore marks is that there is so much more to see and appreciate. The chalk cliffs looked at their best in the morning sunshine

It was about now that I found out just how hard a Hermit Crab can pinch and learned the value of Dee's advice to remove the large claw before hooking it!

Grandma showed the way by boating the first fish, a Dog Fish.

Before long Maddy had joined in with a nice Red Gurnard proudly displayed below. Strictly speaking it was Dave that hooked the Gurnard but Maddy landed it (ably assisted by Dave).

The Gurnard was quickly followed with a number of the obligatory dog fish, and Pops demonstrated on the day that he was King of the Weymouth Bay Sand Shark, catching them in great numbers!

As we set about the dogs, Dave gave a shout as an unattended rod bent in to a better fish. With all the other crew holding rods I nobly pushed the family out of the way and grabbed the rod. A few minutes later I had landed my first ever Undulate Ray. Not a monster but a first for me none the less.

You can see in the back ground how good the conditions were in the morning, but the coats and scarfs should indicate just how cold it was for late October.

The Hermit Crab was failing to entice the Smooth Hounds but Dee boated a nice Black Bream and we started to target these fish with small hooks and rag / squid cocktails. I caught a nice fish on half a squid head and several more came in along with a steady supply of dog fish.

As the tide started to get very strong Dave suggested we move to another mark which also held the promise of Rays.

On The Move

At the next mark we continued to find Dog Fish and some more nice Bream.

Polly shows a nice Bream

Honours here however went to Polly and Karan. Polly was the first to yelp as she lent in to a heavier fish which produced a nice Spotted Ray.

Polly and her Spotted Ray

Karan quickly followed suit and Dave helped keep the fish straight for the photo!

Spotted Ray modelled by Karan & Dave

Light Weight Wrecking

You can see from the Photos the weather was now deteriorating and with squally winds, hail and rain (and with Maddy wanting to drive the boat again!) Dave suggested we move to a small wreck where the kids could do a spot of Pouting bashing to keep them active and their minds off the cold. Dave had also had a couple of Cod from this mark in the previous week.

At the first attempt the wind pushed us off the wreck and we failed to register any bites. A few minutes later however and Dave had repositioned the boat and we were in to the Pouts. Fish after fish came aboard much to the delight of the children, and Daves supplier of Hermit Crabs who uses them for pot baits.

The wind then pushed us off the wreck again but this time the bites did not dry up. Now, I have spent many hours convincing my family how difficult it is to catch the finicky and fickle Bream and the fish we had caught earlier in the day had lived up to this reputation. But now we were positioned on a shoal of this ususally crafty, bait robbing brawler in what can only be described as a suicidal feeding frenzy. The illusion of my claimed skill is now completely broken!

These Bream would take anything from a size 4 to 3/0 hook with no finesse, feeding on worm, Mackerel and Squid or any combination thereof. Polly was even catching them on baited feathers. With an already ample box of fish for the table the majority of them were returned.

Maddy with a "Crazy" Bream

With the weather getting ever colder we decided to head back to the harbour for a 20 minute try for Autumn Squid. But five minutes of trying with no success and Maddy asleep on her feet after a 5am start we decided to call it a day and return to harbour very happy (and very tired!).

We gave up counting how many fish we caught and even without the dog fish we had a very large number of fish. In all we caught 9 species including Bream, Spotted Ray, Undulate Ray, Dog Fish, Pouting, Mackerel, Scad, Red Gurnard and Tub Gurnard.

A huge thank-you to Dave and Dee who laid on an excellent trip and we look forward to the next one!

Contact steve@madpolka.co.uk

Madpolka Publishing

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