ouchthathurt
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 15, 2021
- Messages
- 2,910
- Reaction score
- 12,462
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Hastings East Sussex
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Having had 2 previously blank sessions, when the wifey ordered me out of the house, rods in tow, I wasn’t feeling exactly confident. I had been out on Wednesday, taking a group of ex-offenders fishing - lots of rods and baits in the water and not a sniff! Still, I still had 50 frozen blacks and a box of squid to use, so I grabbed the gear and trotted off down the beach. As I needed to get some more 4.5oz grippers, I stopped off at the tackle shop to stock up, he had some good news and some bad news, good news was that he had a tray of live lug, freshly dug that morning, swimming around in his fridge, so a score of them came with me, bad news? My chosen mark was one of the pegged zones for another match! When I got to the beach, he wasn’t wrong! 
Still, I was able to jump on the harbour arm, which fished over deep water with broken ground close in and sand further out. So my 2 Leeda Icon elite match rods were paired with the trusty Diawa 7ht multis with 2 hook clipped down rigs baited with lug and launched into the blue, going long into the sand. 
I settled back and watched the match lads having a go, didn’t see any fish landed though which seemed ominous, but based on my previous 2 sessions where I couldn’t buy a bite, I wasn’t expecting much. Several hours passed of reeling in, re baiting and casting out again as the tide rose, nothing doing! In the end, I decided to bring one rod in and replace the 1/0 clipped down rig with a 2 hook flapper with size 1 fine wire aberdeens baited with the smallest lug in the tub. This was under arm flicked (not easy with a 13’8” beachcaster) into the swirling tide at my feet, straight off the harbour arm into several metres of water. I’d been chucking my used bait here, so thought it might produce something. Sitting back watching the tips, the close in rod (the shockleader knot was visible above the waves!) gave a feisty rattle as I just stared at it, was that a bite? It started rattling again so I reeled in and there it was, a blank saving rockling! Looking as fat as you like. 
I quickly unhooked it and walked to the waters edge to let it go. The rest of the session passed uneventfully, so having decided that I was cold enough to go home, I released the last of my live lug back into the sea and headed off home.
Not the most exciting catch of my lifetime, but I felt I’d made the change and earned that one.
Still, I was able to jump on the harbour arm, which fished over deep water with broken ground close in and sand further out. So my 2 Leeda Icon elite match rods were paired with the trusty Diawa 7ht multis with 2 hook clipped down rigs baited with lug and launched into the blue, going long into the sand. I settled back and watched the match lads having a go, didn’t see any fish landed though which seemed ominous, but based on my previous 2 sessions where I couldn’t buy a bite, I wasn’t expecting much. Several hours passed of reeling in, re baiting and casting out again as the tide rose, nothing doing! In the end, I decided to bring one rod in and replace the 1/0 clipped down rig with a 2 hook flapper with size 1 fine wire aberdeens baited with the smallest lug in the tub. This was under arm flicked (not easy with a 13’8” beachcaster) into the swirling tide at my feet, straight off the harbour arm into several metres of water. I’d been chucking my used bait here, so thought it might produce something. Sitting back watching the tips, the close in rod (the shockleader knot was visible above the waves!) gave a feisty rattle as I just stared at it, was that a bite? It started rattling again so I reeled in and there it was, a blank saving rockling! Looking as fat as you like. I quickly unhooked it and walked to the waters edge to let it go. The rest of the session passed uneventfully, so having decided that I was cold enough to go home, I released the last of my live lug back into the sea and headed off home.Not the most exciting catch of my lifetime, but I felt I’d made the change and earned that one.
