Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
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- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Not done a report for a while so thought I better write up today’s efforts as it was slightly more exciting than the recent trips scratching for rockling to try and win comps.
Though last week a 1lb 2 slug did get me £82 for second in our end of season comp!
Anyway… I always seem to be talking about health lately but a recent wrinkle is getting out of breath quite easily. Yep I’m an unfit fucker but not THAT unfit! ECG says heart is allegedly okay so tests continue, but in the meantime I want to try and get fishing in when I can.
The big low today was perfect for a hyper local mark five minutes (literally) away from me, but it does require a bit of rock clambering and climbing to fish off the back of the rocks at our local beach.
The walk itself isn’t too far really.
It produces huss, eels and rockling after dark but daytime is a bit hit and miss, though the smaller straps eels seem to feed any time.
A decent wrasse mark in season but too early for our coast.
Well I thought, try it and at least I’ll have a benchmark of sorts for what I feel capable of doing at the moment.
Parked up and winced a bit at the £4 (winter charges mind you!) price for five hours, got my floatie and boots on, with much huffing and puffing (yep, struggling with boots makes me out of breath, hence why I feel something is a bit off).
Then set off. The walk was okay but as soon as I started scrambling up the rocks I was pretty wheezy - it seems to be short bursts of activity rather than sustained walking that sets it off…
ANYWAY… I arrived at the mark wheezing and soaked in sweat (maybe a floatie was overkill!) and after recovering and gulping some water, my first thought was ‘geez, that swell is big!’
There was big lazy groundswell rolling in from an otherwise flat sea and making quite an impression on the rocks.
The shape of the rocks means it, mostly, doesn’t come over, but you are pretty close to the water too and I kept a careful eye on the sea throughout the session.
Enough waffle! I’d arrived exactly two hours before low water and allowing for any swell shenanigans, I planned to leave no later than 1.5 hours after the low, so time was short!
Out went a whole squid in one direction and off went a strong flapper with mackerel strip straight into the heart of a kelp bed for rockling.
Rotten bottoms used, obviously, but I was aware a two hook rig in rough ground wasn’t the most sensible… however I do seem to do quite well with those rigs.
It wasn’t long before the mackerel flapper rod doubled over and I had a spirited fish on.
I was pretty sure… and, yes… first strap of the day
About 4lb and jet black like some muscular black mamba sex toy from house wives’ worst nightmares, or fantasies!
No pic, sorry. I did want to capture its sleek blackness but it T barred off nicely and I wanted to grab the bloody thing and get it back before it slid down into a crevice somewhere!
A little later I sought to retrieve the squid rod but it was snagged. I felt something was on there and lo and behold, a short wait saw the fish move off and strap number two was landed, again very black and similar to the first.
I know (only too well!) this mark produces eels in daylight but they tend to be smaller, although I suppose a half mackerel might throw up a bigger one, but wrestling with them isn’t my favourite entertainment, let alone landing them on your own.
It was looking like one of those days though. Where were the rockling, or even a huss or pollack?
Back out went the squid rod, double squid this time and at a more extreme angle, to try and get past the worst of the rough stuff.
I was faffing with bait or something and the squid rod absolutely screamed off, doubled over.
‘Another eel,’ I thought, but I started bullying in a more ponderous, powerful fish, no typical thrashing like a strap.
Could it be? It was! A huss, five or six pounds I’m thinking, typical for the mark.
As she got closer I realised noooo, this fish was considerably heavier and wasn’t just going to be swung up, even with my heavy rod.
Keeping a wary eye on the swell I made my way down a ledge and had to awkwardly set the rod down, tangling it with the other rod () but eventually able to grab the leader and handline it up.
It certainly had a bit of heft to it!
It was well hooked but not deeply and a twist of the T bar released it. A quick faff with the weighing sling, zero the scales etc and it settled on 8lb 1.
Yep, a pic at last! Hope you’re still awake…
It was a very pregnant female and pic done, I quickly retraced my steps down the ledge and got her back. She didn’t hang about.
7lb is the minimum qualifying weight for a huss, so I had something to send in, at least.
Back out went the double squid in the same spot, but bites had slowed as low water approached.
I do tend to find the ebb period better here, but more worryingly, the swell was getting particularly lively in the relatively shallow water.
Some big buggers we’re rolling in and I had to dart back up the rock a few times to avoid a soaking, although the rods and reels enjoyed a nice wash
I checked the squid rod and surprisingly, there was a fish on. Another bath toy huss about 1lb and he looked deep hooked, but it turned out the bait was just wedged in his gob, so he was soon released.
I’d lost both flapper rigs (they have their drawbacks in rough ground) so swapped to a pulley on the mackerel rod, which was soon bouncing strongly and I had another half decent huss, very squat but very fat.
A rough weighing, sling and all without zeroing, put it at about 6lb 8 (the sling is approximately a pound and the scales went to 7lb 9) so it wasn’t going to qualify. Nicely preggers again too.
As the flood came on and the water depth increased, the swell eased but I definitely wasn’t going to cut it fine - there ARE ways to climb off the mark if the access gully is blocked but it was bad enough 30 years ago, I wouldn’t even consider it now.
I had one more huss on squid about 4lb,again looking pregnant, or at least pretty chonky, but then it really was time to go.
The climb back seemed a bit easier, although still knackering lol, and as it turned out I might have managed another half hour, but better half hour too early than too late!
Anyway, I got second in the comp, a 1lb 4 pout was first, lol.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Though last week a 1lb 2 slug did get me £82 for second in our end of season comp!
Anyway… I always seem to be talking about health lately but a recent wrinkle is getting out of breath quite easily. Yep I’m an unfit fucker but not THAT unfit! ECG says heart is allegedly okay so tests continue, but in the meantime I want to try and get fishing in when I can.
The big low today was perfect for a hyper local mark five minutes (literally) away from me, but it does require a bit of rock clambering and climbing to fish off the back of the rocks at our local beach.
The walk itself isn’t too far really.
It produces huss, eels and rockling after dark but daytime is a bit hit and miss, though the smaller straps eels seem to feed any time.
A decent wrasse mark in season but too early for our coast.
Well I thought, try it and at least I’ll have a benchmark of sorts for what I feel capable of doing at the moment.
Parked up and winced a bit at the £4 (winter charges mind you!) price for five hours, got my floatie and boots on, with much huffing and puffing (yep, struggling with boots makes me out of breath, hence why I feel something is a bit off).
Then set off. The walk was okay but as soon as I started scrambling up the rocks I was pretty wheezy - it seems to be short bursts of activity rather than sustained walking that sets it off…
ANYWAY… I arrived at the mark wheezing and soaked in sweat (maybe a floatie was overkill!) and after recovering and gulping some water, my first thought was ‘geez, that swell is big!’
There was big lazy groundswell rolling in from an otherwise flat sea and making quite an impression on the rocks.
The shape of the rocks means it, mostly, doesn’t come over, but you are pretty close to the water too and I kept a careful eye on the sea throughout the session.
Enough waffle! I’d arrived exactly two hours before low water and allowing for any swell shenanigans, I planned to leave no later than 1.5 hours after the low, so time was short!
Out went a whole squid in one direction and off went a strong flapper with mackerel strip straight into the heart of a kelp bed for rockling.
Rotten bottoms used, obviously, but I was aware a two hook rig in rough ground wasn’t the most sensible… however I do seem to do quite well with those rigs.
It wasn’t long before the mackerel flapper rod doubled over and I had a spirited fish on.
I was pretty sure… and, yes… first strap of the day
About 4lb and jet black like some muscular black mamba sex toy from house wives’ worst nightmares, or fantasies!
No pic, sorry. I did want to capture its sleek blackness but it T barred off nicely and I wanted to grab the bloody thing and get it back before it slid down into a crevice somewhere!
A little later I sought to retrieve the squid rod but it was snagged. I felt something was on there and lo and behold, a short wait saw the fish move off and strap number two was landed, again very black and similar to the first.
I know (only too well!) this mark produces eels in daylight but they tend to be smaller, although I suppose a half mackerel might throw up a bigger one, but wrestling with them isn’t my favourite entertainment, let alone landing them on your own.
It was looking like one of those days though. Where were the rockling, or even a huss or pollack?
Back out went the squid rod, double squid this time and at a more extreme angle, to try and get past the worst of the rough stuff.
I was faffing with bait or something and the squid rod absolutely screamed off, doubled over.
‘Another eel,’ I thought, but I started bullying in a more ponderous, powerful fish, no typical thrashing like a strap.
Could it be? It was! A huss, five or six pounds I’m thinking, typical for the mark.
As she got closer I realised noooo, this fish was considerably heavier and wasn’t just going to be swung up, even with my heavy rod.
Keeping a wary eye on the swell I made my way down a ledge and had to awkwardly set the rod down, tangling it with the other rod (
) but eventually able to grab the leader and handline it up.It certainly had a bit of heft to it!
It was well hooked but not deeply and a twist of the T bar released it. A quick faff with the weighing sling, zero the scales etc and it settled on 8lb 1.
Yep, a pic at last! Hope you’re still awake…
It was a very pregnant female and pic done, I quickly retraced my steps down the ledge and got her back. She didn’t hang about.
7lb is the minimum qualifying weight for a huss, so I had something to send in, at least.
Back out went the double squid in the same spot, but bites had slowed as low water approached.
I do tend to find the ebb period better here, but more worryingly, the swell was getting particularly lively in the relatively shallow water.
Some big buggers we’re rolling in and I had to dart back up the rock a few times to avoid a soaking, although the rods and reels enjoyed a nice wash
I checked the squid rod and surprisingly, there was a fish on. Another bath toy huss about 1lb and he looked deep hooked, but it turned out the bait was just wedged in his gob, so he was soon released.
I’d lost both flapper rigs (they have their drawbacks in rough ground) so swapped to a pulley on the mackerel rod, which was soon bouncing strongly and I had another half decent huss, very squat but very fat.
A rough weighing, sling and all without zeroing, put it at about 6lb 8 (the sling is approximately a pound and the scales went to 7lb 9) so it wasn’t going to qualify. Nicely preggers again too.
As the flood came on and the water depth increased, the swell eased but I definitely wasn’t going to cut it fine - there ARE ways to climb off the mark if the access gully is blocked but it was bad enough 30 years ago, I wouldn’t even consider it now.
I had one more huss on squid about 4lb,again looking pregnant, or at least pretty chonky, but then it really was time to go.
The climb back seemed a bit easier, although still knackering lol, and as it turned out I might have managed another half hour, but better half hour too early than too late!
Anyway, I got second in the comp, a 1lb 4 pout was first, lol.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
, but then the lovely Huss landed, great report mate.
