A Day Of Two Halves!

Saturday 4th of June was the date for our annual family outing with Dave Pitman on Atlanta.  The crew for the day would be my wife Karan, our two daughters (Polly (11) and Maddy (9)) and myself.  On this date last year we had a storming day catching 40 odd bream and a host of other species to go with it.  The only detraction had been that it was cold and Karan had suffered with sea-sickness (first time in her life).

One year on and I was convinced that we would have another great day and with a forecast of high temperatures and a 3 to 4 north easterly the conditions sounded terrific.  Dave had set out a plan that would hopefully take us to some inshore wrecks where we would use live sand eels to catch hard fighting Pollack and Bass, but the call the night before suggested conditions may not be good enough for this and we should come armed for any eventuality including maybe a spot of float fishing.

Coming prepared for anything turned out to be a very good call indeed as although the sun was shining on Saturday morning the wind was howling across the bay, kicking up small white caps on all the wavelets.  This meant no wrecking for us today as the kids would definitely not cope with the conditions and even Karan's investment in sea sickness tablets might not pay dividends!

We headed out of the harbour to take a leisurely jog across Weymouth Bay to the lee of the north shore with the aim of staying dry and not throwing kids and wife around too much.  We would head off to Warbarrow Bay to try for some Bream, as we had the year before, as here it would be calm and hopefully Karan could realise her prime objective - top up her tan.

As we headed North in glorious sunshine I stupidly tried to rig the rods for Mackerel and took a broadside raking from windblown sea spray, soaking me from head to foot before we started.  Karan complained that she had lost the feeling in her fingers, Polly buried herself in a pile of clothing and I started to regret the decision to wear my shorts.

"Rock Star" Shades All Round

As we entered the shelter of the North shore I finished rigging the rods and we stopped to try for a few mackerel.  Well by now the wind was a good 5 touching 6 with frequent gusts a good deal stronger than this.  Whilst the sea was only slight or less I couldn't help wondering whether I would lose the interest of the other three altogether after this very cold, uncomfortable start.  The fishing also seemed to match the weather.  I had one small joey mackerel in half a dozen drops and the girls had nothing.  With a good supply of fresh rag worm and squid Dave decide to push on to our first anchor mark where we hopefully get a little more protection from the wind.

We were soon at anchor and I swapped the feathers for Bream rigs on everyone's rods.  Dave's crew, Dee, helped me bait the rigs and we were quickly fishing.  That is to say three of us were.  The early start, cold weather and onset of early adolescence seemed to have got the better of Polly's sense of humour and she sat huddled in all her own clothes as well as my fleece looking for all the world she would rather be anywhere else - still, only another 9 years and she will be out of her teenage years!  Even the promise of a competition with prizes couldn't extract her from her bad humour.

Karan was first in with a fish, the result being a beautifully marked female Cuckoo Wrasse.

Cuckoo for Karan

Maddy, as yet unaffected by the angst of impending maturity, had set her mind to win all four of the competition categories I had set (Biggest fish, best fish, most fish, most species).  She quickly followed Mum with a Cuckoo of her own.

Maddy is off and running

Then we found the dogfish.  There were plenty of these to be had and if we had more mackerel we could have increased the hit rate further.  Now normally I would be toeing the party line and dismissing these as "rubbish" fish but the kids aren't so discerning - what's not to like, they are an obliging miniature shark that keeps the rod tip nodding all day?  I was using a spinning rod for my fishing and I have to confess I quite enjoyed catching the 'dogs' too on this gear.

Dee did manage to catch a small Pollack, but was too camera shy to pose with her prize.  Maddy is never one to miss a photo opportunity though and modelled the fish on Dee's behalf.

It was clear that most of the fleet had put there trust in Warbarrow Bay due to the conditions as it looked a bit like a charter boat park on this part of the Dorset coast.  It was equally clear that no-one was catching any Bream here as no nets were being brandished and after an hour or so the boats started to move off.  The wind had also started to abate and Dave made the call that we would head to a mark where he had take a dozen bream in a couple of hours the day before.  After a short steam we were back on anchor and trying again.

We immediatley started to get bites.  I called for the net, only to get pilloried for bringing in a dogfish - I'm sure they can imitate other fish! Karan had gone very quiet, the picture of concentration.  She turned the reel handle quickly and wound in to a fish.  She also called for the net - "bound to be a dogfish" I thought, "but I'll be kind and not say anything".  The result - a very nice Bream of course which we thought would be the sign of things to come.

Karan Bags a Bream (in another pair of Rock Star glasses!)

Dave, Dee and I then went on to miss bites in quick succession, each resulting in the loss of squid baits.  Then we found the dogfish again.  That was all we could catch at this mark with no more Bream making an appearance.  So far this year has been really tough compared to last year - maybe I'm paying for too many good days in 2010?

With Polly still shivering against the cold and no more Bream coming to the boat Dave suggested we move to another mark and break out the small hooks for a 'Wrasse Bash'.  I love this sort of fishing and the kids should be kept busy so we were on our way in a few minutes.

The new mark was very close in to the cliffs and well out of the wind.  The difference was astonishing and it felt 15 degrees warmer.  Karan could now start to work on her primary objective and top up her tan.

Even Polly shed some layers of clothing although from the look of the picture her enthusiasm was not improving.

"I love this fishing game....."

Dave supplied some ready tied rigs to get the girls and Karan fishing quickly.  These were one up and two down rigs with size 6 carp hooks which we baited with small sections of worm.  I decided to try a live sand eel on a Portland rig, although I quickly switched to Wrasse tactics once Karan and Maddy started to catch fish.

A couple of small Ballans and Blenny's came to the boat with all of us getting a sight of the action.  Maddy then registered a double shot of a fantastically marked male Cuckoo Wrasse plus another variant which I'm afraid to say I don't know what it is.  She couldn't manage to hold both fish still so Dave is holding them for this photo.

It's those glasses again!

All this success from her younger sister was obviously too much for Polly to bear and she shook off her slumber and entered the fray.  Her efforts were quickly repaid with this Ballan Wrasse.

"I can do shades and fish too!"

With that the slightly larger Ballans seemed to come on to the feed.  First Maddy then I managed to eke one out.  Although not huge, mine was excellent sport on spinning gear.

Maddy's best of the day

I finally get my picture taken!

Polly took the last fish, a Blenny, but it was all too little too late.  Maddy had swept the board with the biggest fish (her Ballan we estimated), the best fish (we gave this to the male cuckoo), and the most fish.  She had to share the spoils on five species which she, Karan and (remarkably) Polly had tied on.  I however didn't trouble the scorer.

Polly's Blenny

Whilst we didn't go home with a rear axle groaning under the weight of Bream in the car boot I think we genuinely made the best of tough conditions today.  The Bream haven't been reliable all year and so it was vital that there was a plan B, C and D up Dave's sleeve - especially with kids who so easily get bored.  The second half of the day was like a Mediterranean holiday it was so warm and the run back to port was fabulous with hot sunshine and a following wind.  We had plenty of fish and for the record the species we caught between us were Mackerel, Pollack, Bream, Dogfish, Pout, Poor Cod, Ballan Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse (male and female), Corkwing Wrasse and Blenny - 10 species in all. Maddy managed a Wrasse "Grand Slam" with all the major species on one day. Not a bad day by any stretch of the imagination and excellent competition fare.  The other good news is that Karan was not troubled by sea-sickness this year.  Was it a one off or did the "Joyriders" motion sickness tablets do the job?

A shot at the summer cod next then it's back on Atlanta in July, when hopefully the Summer Bream maybe more cooperative!

Contact - steve@madpolka.co.uk