Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 22,639
- Reaction score
- 78,540
- Points
- 116
- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Better do a report from last night! Sorry, only one pic, was quite busy and didn’t really think of pics much.
Had a comp on so headed down to way west chesil as this time last year I had some good sized channel whiting down there up to 1lb 10.
I knew most of the others would be flounder fishing in the estuary up this way, but more chance of a 1lb 8 specimen whiting at chesil than a 2lb flounder out of the river, plus I just haven’t felt the urge for the estuary this year.
Didn’t fancy the long drive but it’s a relatively easy spot and I don’t mind catching whiting if they’re a reasonable size.
There was a bit of a weather window - 15mph SE until the early hours then building into the gales down there today. I was planning to pack up around midnight anyway.
Pulled up at the car park and only two others on the beach. They reported they’d had nothing all day but had started to get bites after dark.
I walked about 300 yards past them and set up. Nothing fancy, two hook clipped down flapper on one rod with size 1 hooks and a light pulley with size 1 on the other (only allowed a max of two rods, three hooks in a comp).
Bait was straightforward - mackerel and squid strips mostly with a bit of frozen black here and there for variety as sometimes the ting can be a bit partial to that.
Wasn’t fussed about codling in the slightest - would need to be 8lb or more to do anything and the target was strictly a big whiting or pout.
The flapper had barely hit the water and it was rattling away.
Brought in a half pound whiting within minutes, so they were about.
Rebaited a spare trace, biting again within minutes, this time a chunky pout of maybe 14oz, looking promising!
After all that I realised the other rod had been out half hour or so - brought that in to discover a much bigger whiting!
Sadly it was one of the skinnier sort and went 1lb 1 but looked 1lb 8. Not quite enough to meet the 70% of specimen minimum to qualify (I thought) but I wasn’t sure so planned to check.
Then I dropped it in the sand and it gained two ounces. Bollocks to it I thought, ain’t big enough and looks like I’ll get a bigger one tonight…
There followed a hectic two hours, let the rods soak for 10 minutes, reel in a fish or two, then repeat.
Most were quite chunky pout but nothing over a pound.
Chunky pout…
I also had the tiniest cute huss you’d ever seen, looked like a bath toy!
Wish I’d got a picture but was down by the water and turned out he wasn’t even hooked, had just got the bait wedged in his mouth, so I flicked it out and got him back quickly.
Things then explicably slowed right up about two hours into the flood. I was still getting the odd pout and some double shots too, but the ting had vanished.
I took the time to do the percentage sum for that 1lb 1 whiting… argh! 70.8%… feck it!
By now the fish would have lost weight and it was still covered in sand anyway.
I just wasn’t sure why the fishing had slowed. I was getting the odd whiting of about 12-14oz on the rod running to my right downtide, so as the others had left I decided to move everything 60 yards or so to the right.
Things did start to improve a little, a few more whiting came in, most taking a liking to lug n squid.
I was still getting the odd pout but they were smaller now.
As high tide approached, so did the end of my stamina, with my ongoing aches and pains getting worse and made worse by trudging up and down all night to cast and bring in fish.
At midnight I decided that although things seemed to have improved a bit, my body had really had enough and I still had a one hour 45 or so drive to get back.
So I dallied a bit but at 12.30 packed up. Weighed the whiting after risking a soaking to wash it off, and it had lost an ounce so was under by then anyway.
Turns out the comp was won by a 1lb 7 flounder and second and third were within an ounce or two of that.
I can’t be arsed to do the maths but it would have been pretty close!
Never mind, I don’t enter them to win anyway
Had a comp on so headed down to way west chesil as this time last year I had some good sized channel whiting down there up to 1lb 10.
I knew most of the others would be flounder fishing in the estuary up this way, but more chance of a 1lb 8 specimen whiting at chesil than a 2lb flounder out of the river, plus I just haven’t felt the urge for the estuary this year.
Didn’t fancy the long drive but it’s a relatively easy spot and I don’t mind catching whiting if they’re a reasonable size.
There was a bit of a weather window - 15mph SE until the early hours then building into the gales down there today. I was planning to pack up around midnight anyway.
Pulled up at the car park and only two others on the beach. They reported they’d had nothing all day but had started to get bites after dark.
I walked about 300 yards past them and set up. Nothing fancy, two hook clipped down flapper on one rod with size 1 hooks and a light pulley with size 1 on the other (only allowed a max of two rods, three hooks in a comp).
Bait was straightforward - mackerel and squid strips mostly with a bit of frozen black here and there for variety as sometimes the ting can be a bit partial to that.
Wasn’t fussed about codling in the slightest - would need to be 8lb or more to do anything and the target was strictly a big whiting or pout.
The flapper had barely hit the water and it was rattling away.
Brought in a half pound whiting within minutes, so they were about.
Rebaited a spare trace, biting again within minutes, this time a chunky pout of maybe 14oz, looking promising!
After all that I realised the other rod had been out half hour or so - brought that in to discover a much bigger whiting!
Sadly it was one of the skinnier sort and went 1lb 1 but looked 1lb 8. Not quite enough to meet the 70% of specimen minimum to qualify (I thought) but I wasn’t sure so planned to check.
Then I dropped it in the sand and it gained two ounces. Bollocks to it I thought, ain’t big enough and looks like I’ll get a bigger one tonight…
There followed a hectic two hours, let the rods soak for 10 minutes, reel in a fish or two, then repeat.
Most were quite chunky pout but nothing over a pound.
Chunky pout…
I also had the tiniest cute huss you’d ever seen, looked like a bath toy!
Wish I’d got a picture but was down by the water and turned out he wasn’t even hooked, had just got the bait wedged in his mouth, so I flicked it out and got him back quickly.
Things then explicably slowed right up about two hours into the flood. I was still getting the odd pout and some double shots too, but the ting had vanished.
I took the time to do the percentage sum for that 1lb 1 whiting… argh! 70.8%… feck it!
By now the fish would have lost weight and it was still covered in sand anyway.
I just wasn’t sure why the fishing had slowed. I was getting the odd whiting of about 12-14oz on the rod running to my right downtide, so as the others had left I decided to move everything 60 yards or so to the right.
Things did start to improve a little, a few more whiting came in, most taking a liking to lug n squid.
I was still getting the odd pout but they were smaller now.
As high tide approached, so did the end of my stamina, with my ongoing aches and pains getting worse and made worse by trudging up and down all night to cast and bring in fish.
At midnight I decided that although things seemed to have improved a bit, my body had really had enough and I still had a one hour 45 or so drive to get back.
So I dallied a bit but at 12.30 packed up. Weighed the whiting after risking a soaking to wash it off, and it had lost an ounce so was under by then anyway.
Turns out the comp was won by a 1lb 7 flounder and second and third were within an ounce or two of that.
I can’t be arsed to do the maths but it would have been pretty close!
Never mind, I don’t enter them to win anyway
