Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 367
- Reaction score
- 3,376
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After a successful lure season, it is time this week for me to get back on the dirty bait and this just happened to coincide with the latest club match. The venue chosen was Pensarn beach, where we hoped to bag up on the whiting, but after a disappointing result there on Saturday night in the CBVSAC Open, we weren’t particularly hopeful.
My results so far in this year’s league have been very disappointing, and with just 2 matches to go I was way down the field in all the different categories. Even worse, for the first time since 2011, it was looking like I wasn’t going to win a single trophy
. I could only hope that my luck would improve, albeit a bit too late for this season.
The match got underway 90 minutes after low water, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a bite on the very first cast
. After giving it 20 minutes to develop I reeled in a brace of whiting, but sadly at 25cm each they were below our club minimum size limit of 27cm 
. I was still happy to have beaten the blank though, and feeling a little more confident for the rest of the match.
The next hour was quiet but then I spotted another small rattle on my rod tip, thinking it was probably another whiting I waited for a few minutes in the hope of another double hook up, but soon after the first indication of a bite, the rod tip was pulled hard over. Thinking it might be a schoolie, I immediately grabbed the rod and started reeling in, but the fight didn’t quite feel like a bass. I reeled in steadily and eventually I was chuffed to see a nice flounder emerge from the murky water, not only that but on the lower hook was a bonus 5-bearded rockling!
At 0.775kg the flattie was a great way to get off the mark
, and after a quick snap it was released to go about its business.
Now that I was off the mark I hoped for more of the same, but as the tide pushed quickly up the beach, things went quiet once more. Eventually the tide reached the shingle and after retreating quickly up the beach for the last couple of hours, we were at last able to relax a little.
As it happened, I wasn’t able to rest for long before my rod tip showed a proper rattling bite, so after quickly baiting up another rig, I started to reel in. Though not very heavy, I could definitely feel a weight on my line and as the fish finally approached the shore, it belatedly tried to escape. As I thought, it wasn’t particularly big, but at 23cm the dab was just big enough to weigh in
.
On the very next cast I had another bite exactly the same as the previous one, but this time I decided to give it a little longer before reeling in. This proved to be a wise move and 10 minutes after the first one, I reeled in 2 more dabs, one of which was a very plump fish of 30cm in length, and weighing 0.30kg
.
My confidence was on the up now and for the last 80 minutes or so of the match I fished it hard, in an effort to add to my bag, but despite several more bites, I couldn’t add to my tally. With rumours from along the beach that Kenny was getting into the whiting, it was a nervous walk back to the cars to add up the weights.
Fortunately for me, although Kenny had caught 7 fish to my 5, they were of a smaller average size and my nice flounder was enough to give me the win, with 1.51kg to Kenny’s 1.39kg
.
So the dirty bait fishing has got off to a decent start, hopefully now I can push on and achieve some of my long standing targets over the next few months
.
My results so far in this year’s league have been very disappointing, and with just 2 matches to go I was way down the field in all the different categories. Even worse, for the first time since 2011, it was looking like I wasn’t going to win a single trophy
. I could only hope that my luck would improve, albeit a bit too late for this season.The match got underway 90 minutes after low water, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a bite on the very first cast
. After giving it 20 minutes to develop I reeled in a brace of whiting, but sadly at 25cm each they were below our club minimum size limit of 27cm . I was still happy to have beaten the blank though, and feeling a little more confident for the rest of the match.The next hour was quiet but then I spotted another small rattle on my rod tip, thinking it was probably another whiting I waited for a few minutes in the hope of another double hook up, but soon after the first indication of a bite, the rod tip was pulled hard over. Thinking it might be a schoolie, I immediately grabbed the rod and started reeling in, but the fight didn’t quite feel like a bass. I reeled in steadily and eventually I was chuffed to see a nice flounder emerge from the murky water, not only that but on the lower hook was a bonus 5-bearded rockling!
At 0.775kg the flattie was a great way to get off the mark
, and after a quick snap it was released to go about its business.Now that I was off the mark I hoped for more of the same, but as the tide pushed quickly up the beach, things went quiet once more. Eventually the tide reached the shingle and after retreating quickly up the beach for the last couple of hours, we were at last able to relax a little.
As it happened, I wasn’t able to rest for long before my rod tip showed a proper rattling bite, so after quickly baiting up another rig, I started to reel in. Though not very heavy, I could definitely feel a weight on my line and as the fish finally approached the shore, it belatedly tried to escape. As I thought, it wasn’t particularly big, but at 23cm the dab was just big enough to weigh in
.On the very next cast I had another bite exactly the same as the previous one, but this time I decided to give it a little longer before reeling in. This proved to be a wise move and 10 minutes after the first one, I reeled in 2 more dabs, one of which was a very plump fish of 30cm in length, and weighing 0.30kg
.My confidence was on the up now and for the last 80 minutes or so of the match I fished it hard, in an effort to add to my bag, but despite several more bites, I couldn’t add to my tally. With rumours from along the beach that Kenny was getting into the whiting, it was a nervous walk back to the cars to add up the weights.
Fortunately for me, although Kenny had caught 7 fish to my 5, they were of a smaller average size and my nice flounder was enough to give me the win, with 1.51kg to Kenny’s 1.39kg
.So the dirty bait fishing has got off to a decent start, hopefully now I can push on and achieve some of my long standing targets over the next few months
.