Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 21,355
- Reaction score
- 73,956
- Points
- 116
- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Agreed to meet up with my mate Cory at Chesil last night, the thinking being we’d have a crack for rays before the schools break up and the level of people and permanent camps on the beach goes from crazy to insane.
The journey down. My god. Made it to Honiton in about an hour and was congratulating myself on making good time, when a few miles outside the town I hit a stationary and apparently endless column of traffic.
No accidents or anything but there was just that much holiday traffic that every junction or roundabout created a bottleneck and it was stop start from there all the way to the Bridport roundabout.
I finally reached the West Bay shop about 2hrs 40 after leaving home. All I wanted was some mackie feathers and a couple of floats ?
The destination was Abbotsbury. I know it’s much like a refugee camp at this time of year but my ongoing health issues mean a long hike over shingle is probably beyond me. At least here I could walk along the road until I found a gap.
I was pleasantly surprised that the car park was not rammed at all and I set off on the hike.
I was even more surprised to find the area in front of the first cottages we’d tentatively agreed to fish was actually pretty clear.
I set about spreading out my gear to stake out two pitches so Cory would have somewhere to fish when he arrived about 8pm.
Oh, I also removed as much clothing as possible and still remain legal, as the sweat was just rolling off me.
Tried a bit of feathering, tried a float. It looked like spiders were still about as when the float bait dragged the bottom occasionally it was coming back ragged.
The effort wasn’t too great, I must admit. It was just nice to be out in the sun although the sweat didn’t stop rolling.
About 7pm I began to notice small fish of some kind bubbling close in.
I had one small mackerel, the first of the day, but despite dragging the feathers through the disturbance patches I didn’t hook anything else.
I think the small fish were feeding on whatever they eat but nothing was feeding on them.
Cory turned up and shortly after I had four more mackerel, then we settled down to the main plan which was to fish fresh mackerel for undulates.
It was practically dark when he came over and said there was a patch of water boiling just right of my tripod, I hadn’t seen it.
A couple of quick casts with the feather rod each resulted in four more mackerel and a scad, then it went quiet again.
That was bait definitely sorted anyway.
After dark we had a few small bites that looked strappy or doggy, but it was pretty slow.
Cory eventually landed a strap, then a dog. I was still getting the odd strap bite but not connecting (which was fine by me).
It was still warm, in shorts and t shirt at 11.30 at night. Eventually put a hoodie on as the breeze picked up, then it felt too warm again ?
We agreed to give it until 1am and eventually I added two straps to my tally. Deep joy.
I did miss what looked very much like a better eel bite on the last cast with a whole scad fillet, but that’s okay, I’m happy that eels of any size stay in the sea, hate the things.
I was also by then feeling absolutely shattered and lightheaded too. My condition seems to take away whatever stamina I used to have, as a couple of years ago this would have been a relatively easy trip. I ache a bit at the end but I wouldn’t ache all over and feel ready to drop.
Let’s hope it improves!
Back at the car park, I spoke to two guys just after Cory left who appeared from the direction of the teeth and said they’d had smoothies, straps, some mackerel and an undulate about 10-11lb.
It does seem as though the mackerel are beginning to appear at Chesil although I have to say apart from those I caught, I didn’t notice any others come in. I wasn’t really looking that hard but some characters were down feathering on the shoreline for hours and hours.
Anyway, if you’ve made it this far, sorry it’s not the most thrilling report, but I did catch plenty of rays yesterday, albeit not the flat sort!
The journey down. My god. Made it to Honiton in about an hour and was congratulating myself on making good time, when a few miles outside the town I hit a stationary and apparently endless column of traffic.
No accidents or anything but there was just that much holiday traffic that every junction or roundabout created a bottleneck and it was stop start from there all the way to the Bridport roundabout.
I finally reached the West Bay shop about 2hrs 40 after leaving home. All I wanted was some mackie feathers and a couple of floats ?
The destination was Abbotsbury. I know it’s much like a refugee camp at this time of year but my ongoing health issues mean a long hike over shingle is probably beyond me. At least here I could walk along the road until I found a gap.
I was pleasantly surprised that the car park was not rammed at all and I set off on the hike.
I was even more surprised to find the area in front of the first cottages we’d tentatively agreed to fish was actually pretty clear.
I set about spreading out my gear to stake out two pitches so Cory would have somewhere to fish when he arrived about 8pm.
Oh, I also removed as much clothing as possible and still remain legal, as the sweat was just rolling off me.
Tried a bit of feathering, tried a float. It looked like spiders were still about as when the float bait dragged the bottom occasionally it was coming back ragged.
The effort wasn’t too great, I must admit. It was just nice to be out in the sun although the sweat didn’t stop rolling.
About 7pm I began to notice small fish of some kind bubbling close in.
I had one small mackerel, the first of the day, but despite dragging the feathers through the disturbance patches I didn’t hook anything else.
I think the small fish were feeding on whatever they eat but nothing was feeding on them.
Cory turned up and shortly after I had four more mackerel, then we settled down to the main plan which was to fish fresh mackerel for undulates.
It was practically dark when he came over and said there was a patch of water boiling just right of my tripod, I hadn’t seen it.
A couple of quick casts with the feather rod each resulted in four more mackerel and a scad, then it went quiet again.
That was bait definitely sorted anyway.
After dark we had a few small bites that looked strappy or doggy, but it was pretty slow.
Cory eventually landed a strap, then a dog. I was still getting the odd strap bite but not connecting (which was fine by me).
It was still warm, in shorts and t shirt at 11.30 at night. Eventually put a hoodie on as the breeze picked up, then it felt too warm again ?
We agreed to give it until 1am and eventually I added two straps to my tally. Deep joy.
I did miss what looked very much like a better eel bite on the last cast with a whole scad fillet, but that’s okay, I’m happy that eels of any size stay in the sea, hate the things.
I was also by then feeling absolutely shattered and lightheaded too. My condition seems to take away whatever stamina I used to have, as a couple of years ago this would have been a relatively easy trip. I ache a bit at the end but I wouldn’t ache all over and feel ready to drop.
Let’s hope it improves!
Back at the car park, I spoke to two guys just after Cory left who appeared from the direction of the teeth and said they’d had smoothies, straps, some mackerel and an undulate about 10-11lb.
It does seem as though the mackerel are beginning to appear at Chesil although I have to say apart from those I caught, I didn’t notice any others come in. I wasn’t really looking that hard but some characters were down feathering on the shoreline for hours and hours.
Anyway, if you’ve made it this far, sorry it’s not the most thrilling report, but I did catch plenty of rays yesterday, albeit not the flat sort!
