Goateeblank
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 1,667
- Reaction score
- 5,747
- Points
- 115
- Location
- South Coast
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Sticking with the "getting back into it" theme, a day out on Swanage Pier was planned. Weather was ok, tides were ok, and the drive down was ok.
Parked my van on the pier, which is a little more expensive than the car park, but the money goes straight to the pier restoration, so a worthy cause. Pier staff as ever, were very welcoming and cheerful. I was advised that the Dark Lord (Haddock) was already there.
As usual, a float rod was set up and the float sent out for a lovely day bobbing around with the tide, and catching zero fish!
Small hook species rigs with bits of rag dropped straight down. First drop gave a nice corkwing wrasse. Had around 8 or so over the day.
Second drop gave a small black bream. The bream when first lifted had a sort of pink glow about them and they were in super condition. Had lots of these bait robbers with double shots as well.
Third drop was a pout. The picture however, shows a pout in an odd place. Haddock had caught a very good size gar and when cut up for bait, it had this in its stomach. It seems far too big to have got down that long beak that they have, but there it was inside!
Next up for me was a tompot. One of my favourites and the first of 4 all good sizes and full of character.
I was baiting up and heard heard some strange noises, l looked over the pier and saw a big fin, just a grey fin sticking out of the water you can guess my initial thought! It was then joined by another, and up they came, two big dolphins and a small one. The noise was them blowing clear through their blow holes. They were very playful, jumping clear of the water in amongst a sail boat, a charter boat and a jet ski. They hung around for quite a long time. Hard to get decent pictures on my phone, but here are a couple.
I tried closer to the pier entrance for a shanny, but could only find wrasse including a ballan.
Back to the end of the pier and Haddock had one of those big, young seagulls on his float line. It was making so much noise and instantly drew a crowd! He wound it in and I hand balled it up onto the pier. It was not happy and was letting us know it. Another guy put a rag over its head and it shut up and stayed pretty still while l tried to untangle it. It was not going too well so Haddock said cut the line. I bit the line through in a few places, without thinking about its beak near my face and the lines then pulled clear as it was tangled, not hooked. A lady wanted a picture, so the guy with the rag picked it up and I took the rag off its head. It went berserk, flapping and screaming at us. He chucked it over the side and as it fell, it spread its wings and glided away whilst still giving us loads of abuse. Well that was fun!
Back to the fishing and pleased to land a baillons wrasse. Swanage is the place to get these harder to find wrasse.
A good day out with a six species session and a new one for my hunts. As it neared low tide, the fishing just died. That was my cue to pack up and come home. Haddock was fishing a match on the pier in the evening. That is some going for a man of his years.
Need to start picking off some of the bigger stuff now. A decent hound would be good.
Good luck if you are out.
Parked my van on the pier, which is a little more expensive than the car park, but the money goes straight to the pier restoration, so a worthy cause. Pier staff as ever, were very welcoming and cheerful. I was advised that the Dark Lord (Haddock) was already there.
As usual, a float rod was set up and the float sent out for a lovely day bobbing around with the tide, and catching zero fish!
Small hook species rigs with bits of rag dropped straight down. First drop gave a nice corkwing wrasse. Had around 8 or so over the day.
Second drop gave a small black bream. The bream when first lifted had a sort of pink glow about them and they were in super condition. Had lots of these bait robbers with double shots as well.
Third drop was a pout. The picture however, shows a pout in an odd place. Haddock had caught a very good size gar and when cut up for bait, it had this in its stomach. It seems far too big to have got down that long beak that they have, but there it was inside!
Next up for me was a tompot. One of my favourites and the first of 4 all good sizes and full of character.
I was baiting up and heard heard some strange noises, l looked over the pier and saw a big fin, just a grey fin sticking out of the water you can guess my initial thought! It was then joined by another, and up they came, two big dolphins and a small one. The noise was them blowing clear through their blow holes. They were very playful, jumping clear of the water in amongst a sail boat, a charter boat and a jet ski. They hung around for quite a long time. Hard to get decent pictures on my phone, but here are a couple.
I tried closer to the pier entrance for a shanny, but could only find wrasse including a ballan.
Back to the end of the pier and Haddock had one of those big, young seagulls on his float line. It was making so much noise and instantly drew a crowd! He wound it in and I hand balled it up onto the pier. It was not happy and was letting us know it. Another guy put a rag over its head and it shut up and stayed pretty still while l tried to untangle it. It was not going too well so Haddock said cut the line. I bit the line through in a few places, without thinking about its beak near my face and the lines then pulled clear as it was tangled, not hooked. A lady wanted a picture, so the guy with the rag picked it up and I took the rag off its head. It went berserk, flapping and screaming at us. He chucked it over the side and as it fell, it spread its wings and glided away whilst still giving us loads of abuse. Well that was fun!
Back to the fishing and pleased to land a baillons wrasse. Swanage is the place to get these harder to find wrasse.
A good day out with a six species session and a new one for my hunts. As it neared low tide, the fishing just died. That was my cue to pack up and come home. Haddock was fishing a match on the pier in the evening. That is some going for a man of his years.
Need to start picking off some of the bigger stuff now. A decent hound would be good.
Good luck if you are out.
That Baillons a nice pic.Infact they are all nice pics.
