Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 401
- Reaction score
- 3,644
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After over a week of pretty awful weather, things were finally settling down on Wednesday but despite an improvement in conditions, with Wales still in lockdown my usual November marks remained agonisingly out of reach ?. Despite this I was desperate to get out and to wet a line, so I decided on a dirty bait session at my local beach. Not only that, but I have also decided to switch from mono to braid on my beach gear and I wanted to get out and give it a go.
With low water at about 19:15 I arrived at the beach a bit early and first I set up my mono gear, just to get a bait in the water, I then concentrated on setting up my braid gear. Though I have used braid for many years on my lure gear, I’ve never used it on a beachcaster so to begin with I concentrated on keeping my casts smooth, the power would come later I thought. For a first cast everything went smoothly and despite the fact I didn’t give it much welly, I was still pleased with how far my baited rig seemed to go. Obviously though it was pitch black, so I had no real idea how far it actually went!
Baits were frozen black lug, squid, sandeel & mackerel and with a half decent surf running there was the distinct possibility of a bass or two in among the usual dogs and whiting. I didn’t have to wait long for a bite and after no more than 10 minutes the mono rod gave the first indication of interest, it was a decent rattle so I guessed at whiting but with it being a 3 hook rig I gave it a little longer in the hope of a multiple hook-up. While I was waiting the braid rod also showed signs that something had found my baits. Without the cushion of line-stretch I was impressed by how well the rod showed the bite, but with it being so much more intense than I am used to I had no idea what the culprit might be . Deciding to give it another 5 minutes, I reeled in the mono gear first and I was amazed to find that 2 of the 3 baits were completely untouched and the third hook was completely stripped.
Once this rig was re-baited and cast out again, I turned my attention back to the braid rod and having seen the tip bouncing around like a demented stick insect for the last 10 minutes, I fully expected to open my account for the night. Incredibly though, despite all the indications to the contrary I reeled in to find nothing on the line apart from 2 small shore crabs. In spite of the lack of fish on the first cast, the evening had only just begun and I had no doubt whatsoever that I would catch something before too long.
The second rod was soon cast out again and as the tide began to push, I moved my gear back up the beach in front of the flooding tide for the first time of the evening. This time I didn’t have to wait nearly as long for a bite as I did on the first cast, and the braid rod was soon bouncing away again as something devoured my bait. Fully aware of how magnified the bites would be on the braid compared to mono, I gave the bite a little longer to develop, to make sure the fish was securely hooked. Eventually though I judged that the fish had been given enough time to get the bait down so I lifted into it and began reeling in. With zero stretch I could literally feel every ripple in the sand as the lead trundled over it, but I could also feel every dive made by the fish which was this time securely attached to my line. After what seemed like an eternity my headlamp finally picked out a luminous eye glowing out in the surf and the blank was beaten with the first dog of the night ?.
Now that I was off the mark, the bites came steadily and my dog haul began to climb, they were of a decent stamp too. After an hour or so of catching dogs, the first whiting of the night showed up, only small to begin with but the average size soon picked up and before long I was catching them steadily up to 34cm in length ?. As the evening wore on I became more confident of fishing with braid too, gradually applying more power to each successive cast, and though I couldn’t see how far my lead travelled before splashing down, the time it took me to reel in got longer so I could only assume that I was getting the hang of it.
The whiting carried on feeding for the next few hours, while the dogs went off the feed completely but strangely, an hour before high water the whiting bites dried up too. I hoped that now the baits were being left alone for a little longer, any bass in the vicinity might have the chance to find them, but it was wishful thinking and apart from the odd rattle every now and then, I didn’t catch anything else before I packed in at 00:30.
So my first session with braid had passed without incident, and I was satisfied with my final tally of 4 dogs and a dozen whiting. Not my best bag of fish ever, but I currently have one eye on the first post lockdown club match which is to be fished at Llanfairfechan next Friday night, and if I can catch a similar bag on that night, I’ll be more than happy ?.
With low water at about 19:15 I arrived at the beach a bit early and first I set up my mono gear, just to get a bait in the water, I then concentrated on setting up my braid gear. Though I have used braid for many years on my lure gear, I’ve never used it on a beachcaster so to begin with I concentrated on keeping my casts smooth, the power would come later I thought. For a first cast everything went smoothly and despite the fact I didn’t give it much welly, I was still pleased with how far my baited rig seemed to go. Obviously though it was pitch black, so I had no real idea how far it actually went!
Baits were frozen black lug, squid, sandeel & mackerel and with a half decent surf running there was the distinct possibility of a bass or two in among the usual dogs and whiting. I didn’t have to wait long for a bite and after no more than 10 minutes the mono rod gave the first indication of interest, it was a decent rattle so I guessed at whiting but with it being a 3 hook rig I gave it a little longer in the hope of a multiple hook-up. While I was waiting the braid rod also showed signs that something had found my baits. Without the cushion of line-stretch I was impressed by how well the rod showed the bite, but with it being so much more intense than I am used to I had no idea what the culprit might be . Deciding to give it another 5 minutes, I reeled in the mono gear first and I was amazed to find that 2 of the 3 baits were completely untouched and the third hook was completely stripped.
Once this rig was re-baited and cast out again, I turned my attention back to the braid rod and having seen the tip bouncing around like a demented stick insect for the last 10 minutes, I fully expected to open my account for the night. Incredibly though, despite all the indications to the contrary I reeled in to find nothing on the line apart from 2 small shore crabs. In spite of the lack of fish on the first cast, the evening had only just begun and I had no doubt whatsoever that I would catch something before too long.
The second rod was soon cast out again and as the tide began to push, I moved my gear back up the beach in front of the flooding tide for the first time of the evening. This time I didn’t have to wait nearly as long for a bite as I did on the first cast, and the braid rod was soon bouncing away again as something devoured my bait. Fully aware of how magnified the bites would be on the braid compared to mono, I gave the bite a little longer to develop, to make sure the fish was securely hooked. Eventually though I judged that the fish had been given enough time to get the bait down so I lifted into it and began reeling in. With zero stretch I could literally feel every ripple in the sand as the lead trundled over it, but I could also feel every dive made by the fish which was this time securely attached to my line. After what seemed like an eternity my headlamp finally picked out a luminous eye glowing out in the surf and the blank was beaten with the first dog of the night ?.
Now that I was off the mark, the bites came steadily and my dog haul began to climb, they were of a decent stamp too. After an hour or so of catching dogs, the first whiting of the night showed up, only small to begin with but the average size soon picked up and before long I was catching them steadily up to 34cm in length ?. As the evening wore on I became more confident of fishing with braid too, gradually applying more power to each successive cast, and though I couldn’t see how far my lead travelled before splashing down, the time it took me to reel in got longer so I could only assume that I was getting the hang of it.
The whiting carried on feeding for the next few hours, while the dogs went off the feed completely but strangely, an hour before high water the whiting bites dried up too. I hoped that now the baits were being left alone for a little longer, any bass in the vicinity might have the chance to find them, but it was wishful thinking and apart from the odd rattle every now and then, I didn’t catch anything else before I packed in at 00:30.
So my first session with braid had passed without incident, and I was satisfied with my final tally of 4 dogs and a dozen whiting. Not my best bag of fish ever, but I currently have one eye on the first post lockdown club match which is to be fished at Llanfairfechan next Friday night, and if I can catch a similar bag on that night, I’ll be more than happy ?.
