Mr Fish
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- Oct 4, 2020
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This is one of those ‘hardly worth the bother’ reports but might be of interest to someone!
Another of my 48 hour comps this weekend and I actually didn’t mind fishing but tides and conditions were against it a bit.
Yet again mentioning health, I know, but I have to balance going to a mark that might produce something with my ability/stamina to hike out to it and fish it.
Low tide Saturday night was about 7.30pm , but it was also a neap.
First thought was white mark at minehead to try for a ray, but a longer drive and did I want to slide around on those boulders in the rain? Not really.
Second thought was stay local and try for a rockling, always a good comp fish.
But small tides meant many low tide spots would be inaccessible, others were just more walking/climbing than I thought I could manage and finally, the strong winds, albeit mostly offshore, would build the swell and make some spots potentially dodgy.
In the end I chose some rocks I hadn’t fished before at Woody Bay. A bit of a walk but not terrible and at least it was fairly close to home.
Parked up and there was vehicles there. Hmmm. Couldn’t see anyone fishing.
Walked down and three blokes had lugged a load of wood down there and set up an awning under the lime kiln.
In fact as I walked down they were heading up the beach and I worried they were going to fish my spot, but turned out they were just exploring.
Anyway, chatted to one and asked if they were working on the house down there.
‘Oh no, we just thought we’d come down the beach’
In mid January?
oh well, takes all sorts…
They went off to have their bonfire and to do, whatever it was they were doing… and I started clambering up rocks.
First impression, my stamina was NOT good! In summer I’d think nothing of swarming up relatively low rocks, at the moment, just doing that wipes me out.
I also discovered they really weren’t the flatish platform I thought, but were in fact bastard awkward and sloping.
Taking my time and with great care, I set up and somehow found somewhere to perch the tripod.
This was pitch black btw, night mode…
The white water gives you some idea, but there was a fair swell. I didn’t think I’d get much more than two hours after low.
It wasn’t long before I had a bite on mackerel, but missed it.
Shortly after I had another bite on double squid and bought in a dog about 2lb. Didn’t look quite big enough to bother weighing.
Then it was a bit quiet. Bait was coming back chewed by crabs but surprisingly, I wasn’t getting snagged on rock or kelp.
Which was good in one sense but also not prime ground for rockling.
I’m guessing it was kind of flatish slate type rocks I was fishing over.
To give you a sense of the awkward shaped rock, looking back from the tripod, this was about the only spot I could leave my gear.
Getting between the two involved weaving up and down the steep sloping rock.
Thank feck for boots with spikes!
That’s their fire in the distance.
The flood started and I picked up a smaller dog, then a skinny dildo fish, then another couple of dogs, a couple more dildos, no size to them, then a pout.
The rain had really started in earnest now and despite being quite high up, one or two waves had flipped over to say hello and it was only a matter of time before one washed over.
The odd one is an occupational hazard and if you hear a tasty one coming you brace, turn away, get soaked and then you know it’s time to go home!
But the gear was closer to the sea than I was and the only place it could go was down the steep slope and into more sea, that I didn’t want!
Plus whatever stamina I had was mostly gone, the aches and pains were really kicking in and the monsoon rain was miserable and in my face, so after three hours fishing I decided enough was enough.
Pretty sure I could have reasonably safely done another hour but best not to push your luck.
Without that swell, it would have been fine.
On the last retrieve I brought in a dogfish sized huss, so a few species were there anyway.
So packed up, found an easier way back up the rock than the route I took down, and headed back up the beach.
The three blokes were now all laying under their awning behind their fire (fully clothed !) but they didn’t seem too chatty and I didn’t want to stand there, I wanted to go and get dry, so I left them to it.
Sometimes it’s about making the best of awkward tides and conditions. Would I fish there again? Probably not.
Very awkward and the reason there’s no fish pics is it’s not the easiest when perched up on awkward sloping rocks and all were lip hooked, so were reeled in and dropped back fairly quickly.
Anyway, seems it wasn’t just me who struggled. The comp was won by a 2lb 2 dog, just over the minimum to weigh, and there were no second or third places.
Another of my 48 hour comps this weekend and I actually didn’t mind fishing but tides and conditions were against it a bit.
Yet again mentioning health, I know, but I have to balance going to a mark that might produce something with my ability/stamina to hike out to it and fish it.
Low tide Saturday night was about 7.30pm , but it was also a neap.
First thought was white mark at minehead to try for a ray, but a longer drive and did I want to slide around on those boulders in the rain? Not really.
Second thought was stay local and try for a rockling, always a good comp fish.
But small tides meant many low tide spots would be inaccessible, others were just more walking/climbing than I thought I could manage and finally, the strong winds, albeit mostly offshore, would build the swell and make some spots potentially dodgy.
In the end I chose some rocks I hadn’t fished before at Woody Bay. A bit of a walk but not terrible and at least it was fairly close to home.
Parked up and there was vehicles there. Hmmm. Couldn’t see anyone fishing.
Walked down and three blokes had lugged a load of wood down there and set up an awning under the lime kiln.
In fact as I walked down they were heading up the beach and I worried they were going to fish my spot, but turned out they were just exploring.
Anyway, chatted to one and asked if they were working on the house down there.
‘Oh no, we just thought we’d come down the beach’
In mid January?
oh well, takes all sorts…They went off to have their bonfire and to do, whatever it was they were doing… and I started clambering up rocks.
First impression, my stamina was NOT good! In summer I’d think nothing of swarming up relatively low rocks, at the moment, just doing that wipes me out.
I also discovered they really weren’t the flatish platform I thought, but were in fact bastard awkward and sloping.
Taking my time and with great care, I set up and somehow found somewhere to perch the tripod.
This was pitch black btw, night mode…
The white water gives you some idea, but there was a fair swell. I didn’t think I’d get much more than two hours after low.
It wasn’t long before I had a bite on mackerel, but missed it.
Shortly after I had another bite on double squid and bought in a dog about 2lb. Didn’t look quite big enough to bother weighing.
Then it was a bit quiet. Bait was coming back chewed by crabs but surprisingly, I wasn’t getting snagged on rock or kelp.
Which was good in one sense but also not prime ground for rockling.
I’m guessing it was kind of flatish slate type rocks I was fishing over.
To give you a sense of the awkward shaped rock, looking back from the tripod, this was about the only spot I could leave my gear.
Getting between the two involved weaving up and down the steep sloping rock.
Thank feck for boots with spikes!
That’s their fire in the distance.
The flood started and I picked up a smaller dog, then a skinny dildo fish, then another couple of dogs, a couple more dildos, no size to them, then a pout.
The rain had really started in earnest now and despite being quite high up, one or two waves had flipped over to say hello and it was only a matter of time before one washed over.
The odd one is an occupational hazard and if you hear a tasty one coming you brace, turn away, get soaked and then you know it’s time to go home!
But the gear was closer to the sea than I was and the only place it could go was down the steep slope and into more sea, that I didn’t want!
Plus whatever stamina I had was mostly gone, the aches and pains were really kicking in and the monsoon rain was miserable and in my face, so after three hours fishing I decided enough was enough.
Pretty sure I could have reasonably safely done another hour but best not to push your luck.
Without that swell, it would have been fine.
On the last retrieve I brought in a dogfish sized huss, so a few species were there anyway.
So packed up, found an easier way back up the rock than the route I took down, and headed back up the beach.
The three blokes were now all laying under their awning behind their fire (fully clothed !) but they didn’t seem too chatty and I didn’t want to stand there, I wanted to go and get dry, so I left them to it.
Sometimes it’s about making the best of awkward tides and conditions. Would I fish there again? Probably not.
Very awkward and the reason there’s no fish pics is it’s not the easiest when perched up on awkward sloping rocks and all were lip hooked, so were reeled in and dropped back fairly quickly.
Anyway, seems it wasn’t just me who struggled. The comp was won by a 2lb 2 dog, just over the minimum to weigh, and there were no second or third places.
