Trampster
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 18,937
- Reaction score
- 47,770
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Plymouth.
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
I should have written this up yesterday, but Wifey had other ideas (gardening) than me sitting in front of the Laptop!
Had a shout from @John Mitchell mid week to say he was planning a visit to a shingle mark with @bananas on Friday, and did I want to come along.
Weather ✔ Beach access ✔ Time to sort bait ✔ so the answer was Yes please!
John said be there for about 7pm and I'd originally planned to get there 5pm as it's a 34 mile drive & a lot of it is through narrow lanes, so I was thinking it would take about 1 hour 15. Things earlier in the day slowed my plans but having collected some Ragworm, we were off! I grew up out that way so know the area fairly well and it was a slow but steady journey until, just afer an hour, the bus I was following met a car & caravan with 2 motorhomes behind it in the narrows. After watching a Caravan reversing comedy for 10mins, I got down to the beach at 18.20
The beach must be nearly a mile long, and I suddenly thought that there wasn't any point in me setting my gear up, as I didn't know where John and Bob usually fish, so sat in Jeepy until they arrived. John was there within 20mins accompanied by his Nephew, and Bob was just behind them. There was another car turned up a little while after me with rods in the back - that turned out to be Matt B, another forum member I hadn't met before so that was good! After a bit of Banter, we headed off on a 400meter walk along a level track, got down to the beach, and got set up.
It sure was a lovely evening - plenty of sunshine and just a little surf coming in. Not much was happening on the 'catching' front, and it soon became obvious that the expected Spider Crab population were feasting well on our bait. I'd taken my Conti rod and a 10ft Bass rod, but left another beach caster in Jeepy as I didn't want to load myself up with too much gear. Got all set up on the beach and wished I had taken it. I also realised I had grabbed the wrong reel for the Bass rod, but just managed to shoehorn my Mitchell LC onto it!
I'm not sure if it was Bob or John's Nephew that kicked of the score card amongst us 'gang of 5' but a bend in the rod turned out to be a Spider Crab that refused to give up his worm feast. We were all saying that despite having 8 or 9 rods with different baits out between us, it was very quiet. Matt had only come out to go Lure fishing, and after a while he had made it right down to the end of the beach and was a tiny speck in the distance! I was next to contribute to the tally with another slightly larger Spider Crab.
Still very quiet. John's nephew then thought he had got snagged on something, as he just couldn't reel in, and didn't want to break the line off. After a bit of tugging, and help from Bob, plus lots of wandering up & down the beach to get a different angle, he began to gain ground and thought he had collected a Kelp mountain, but it turned out to be another massive Spider Crab which I would guess was around 5lb!
John did have a Dogfish I believe, which I didn't see, being the opposite end of our 'gang of 5'.
John's Nephew was a great lad, and came around just after darkness with a bar of Cadbury's dairy milk for each of us - "Got to keep the sugar levels up" he said!
Nothing else was tempted by our bait cocktails, and by about 10pm it was starting to get a bit chilly, and I think we were all getting a bit tired of acting as Chefs for the Spiders! I gave it another hour, used up a few more Ragworm, and decided to pack up. I gave the rest of my worms to Bob as I wasn't likely to use them.
Everything has to go in it's place - Reels back in cases, Rods back in bags, Tripod dusted off, back in it's bag and attached to my Rod Quiver etc., so by the time I had packed up, John & Co were probably back to the car park!
It was a great night, nice to meet Bob, Matt, and John's Nephew (can't for the life of me remember his name), and the drive home at 23.40 was a lot easier & quicker with the holidaymakers all in their beds. Thanks Guys for a good session! ????
Had a shout from @John Mitchell mid week to say he was planning a visit to a shingle mark with @bananas on Friday, and did I want to come along.
Weather ✔ Beach access ✔ Time to sort bait ✔ so the answer was Yes please!
John said be there for about 7pm and I'd originally planned to get there 5pm as it's a 34 mile drive & a lot of it is through narrow lanes, so I was thinking it would take about 1 hour 15. Things earlier in the day slowed my plans but having collected some Ragworm, we were off! I grew up out that way so know the area fairly well and it was a slow but steady journey until, just afer an hour, the bus I was following met a car & caravan with 2 motorhomes behind it in the narrows. After watching a Caravan reversing comedy for 10mins, I got down to the beach at 18.20
The beach must be nearly a mile long, and I suddenly thought that there wasn't any point in me setting my gear up, as I didn't know where John and Bob usually fish, so sat in Jeepy until they arrived. John was there within 20mins accompanied by his Nephew, and Bob was just behind them. There was another car turned up a little while after me with rods in the back - that turned out to be Matt B, another forum member I hadn't met before so that was good! After a bit of Banter, we headed off on a 400meter walk along a level track, got down to the beach, and got set up.
It sure was a lovely evening - plenty of sunshine and just a little surf coming in. Not much was happening on the 'catching' front, and it soon became obvious that the expected Spider Crab population were feasting well on our bait. I'd taken my Conti rod and a 10ft Bass rod, but left another beach caster in Jeepy as I didn't want to load myself up with too much gear. Got all set up on the beach and wished I had taken it. I also realised I had grabbed the wrong reel for the Bass rod, but just managed to shoehorn my Mitchell LC onto it!
I'm not sure if it was Bob or John's Nephew that kicked of the score card amongst us 'gang of 5' but a bend in the rod turned out to be a Spider Crab that refused to give up his worm feast. We were all saying that despite having 8 or 9 rods with different baits out between us, it was very quiet. Matt had only come out to go Lure fishing, and after a while he had made it right down to the end of the beach and was a tiny speck in the distance! I was next to contribute to the tally with another slightly larger Spider Crab.
Still very quiet. John's nephew then thought he had got snagged on something, as he just couldn't reel in, and didn't want to break the line off. After a bit of tugging, and help from Bob, plus lots of wandering up & down the beach to get a different angle, he began to gain ground and thought he had collected a Kelp mountain, but it turned out to be another massive Spider Crab which I would guess was around 5lb!
John did have a Dogfish I believe, which I didn't see, being the opposite end of our 'gang of 5'.
John's Nephew was a great lad, and came around just after darkness with a bar of Cadbury's dairy milk for each of us - "Got to keep the sugar levels up" he said!
Nothing else was tempted by our bait cocktails, and by about 10pm it was starting to get a bit chilly, and I think we were all getting a bit tired of acting as Chefs for the Spiders! I gave it another hour, used up a few more Ragworm, and decided to pack up. I gave the rest of my worms to Bob as I wasn't likely to use them.
Everything has to go in it's place - Reels back in cases, Rods back in bags, Tripod dusted off, back in it's bag and attached to my Rod Quiver etc., so by the time I had packed up, John & Co were probably back to the car park!
It was a great night, nice to meet Bob, Matt, and John's Nephew (can't for the life of me remember his name), and the drive home at 23.40 was a lot easier & quicker with the holidaymakers all in their beds. Thanks Guys for a good session! ????
