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South Coast Boscombe Pier: 13th

cap'nhaddock

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After days of foul weather there seemed to be a window of opportunity for some fishing.
The wind going to the west would flatten the sea in Poole Bay and Boscombe Pier has shelter from the wind in that direction; although the tide wasn't right, fishing down to low and back up, it looked to be the best of a bad lot.

Parking is free nearby in winter on the road above the car park and cheap even if you are forced to use the car park.

There was a fair sea running, the water is shallow here so the waves breaking stir things up. Nothing much happened until dark.

boscombe pier.jpg


Then the small whiting moved in, they are better than nothing and what with occasional bites and people to chat to, time passed pleasantly enough. This venue is the spot to be to catch flatfish, or fish that are flat, six flatties and five rays are quite possible here, but, disappointingly not one turned up for me although I did see someone catch a tiny plaice.

I was fishing my usual Wessex Rigs with small hooks, #8 or #6 baited with squid or gar, tangled traces were a problem, there was not enough tide running to stream them out and the churning of the water in the waves and swells played havoc. If I weren't so idle I would have shortened the hook lengths.
I had a really strong bite, quite different to the whiting niggles, which turned out to be a small Tub Gurnard pretending to be a big fish. That added number twelve to my species list which was good, if you can catch a new one each time out you do well.

The wind moved round to the south which meant that it blew down the pier; rod movement due to the waves and the wind under the pier was bad enough but now the rods were being blown sideways down the railing by big gusts. I was thinking of packing up when a rod tip pulled down, a school Bass.

Thirteenth on the thirteenth, happy with that, time to go home.

I'd driven half a mile when the rain started. I'd judged that right too.

Fish pics in Species Hunt forum
 
Can’t win ‘em all, glad the bass saved the blank! Weather has been crap so good job getting out.
 
After days of foul weather there seemed to be a window of opportunity for some fishing.
The wind going to the west would flatten the sea in Poole Bay and Boscombe Pier has shelter from the wind in that direction; although the tide wasn't right, fishing down to low and back up, it looked to be the best of a bad lot.

Parking is free nearby in winter on the road above the car park and cheap even if you are forced to use the car park.

There was a fair sea running, the water is shallow here so the waves breaking stir things up. Nothing much happened until dark.

View attachment 38444


Then the small whiting moved in, they are better than nothing and what with occasional bites and people to chat to, time passed pleasantly enough. This venue is the spot to be to catch flatfish, or fish that are flat, six flatties and five rays are quite possible here, but, disappointingly not one turned up for me although I did see someone catch a tiny plaice.

I was fishing my usual Wessex Rigs with small hooks, #8 or #6 baited with squid or gar, tangled traces were a problem, there was not enough tide running to stream them out and the churning of the water in the waves and swells played havoc. If I weren't so idle I would have shortened the hook lengths.
I had a really strong bite, quite different to the whiting niggles, which turned out to be a small Tub Gurnard pretending to be a big fish. That added number twelve to my species list which was good, if you can catch a new one each time out you do well.

The wind moved round to the south which meant that it blew down the pier; rod movement due to the waves and the wind under the pier was bad enough but now the rods were being blown sideways down the railing by big gusts. I was thinking of packing up when a rod tip pulled down, a school Bass.

Thirteenth on the thirteenth, happy with that, time to go home.

I'd driven half a mile when the rain started. I'd judged that right too.

Fish pics in Species Hunt forum
 
After days of foul weather there seemed to be a window of opportunity for some fishing.
The wind going to the west would flatten the sea in Poole Bay and Boscombe Pier has shelter from the wind in that direction; although the tide wasn't right, fishing down to low and back up, it looked to be the best of a bad lot.

Parking is free nearby in winter on the road above the car park and cheap even if you are forced to use the car park.

There was a fair sea running, the water is shallow here so the waves breaking stir things up. Nothing much happened until dark.

View attachment 38444


Then the small whiting moved in, they are better than nothing and what with occasional bites and people to chat to, time passed pleasantly enough. This venue is the spot to be to catch flatfish, or fish that are flat, six flatties and five rays are quite possible here, but, disappointingly not one turned up for me although I did see someone catch a tiny plaice.

I was fishing my usual Wessex Rigs with small hooks, #8 or #6 baited with squid or gar, tangled traces were a problem, there was not enough tide running to stream them out and the churning of the water in the waves and swells played havoc. If I weren't so idle I would have shortened the hook lengths.
I had a really strong bite, quite different to the whiting niggles, which turned out to be a small Tub Gurnard pretending to be a big fish. That added number twelve to my species list which was good, if you can catch a new one each time out you do well.

The wind moved round to the south which meant that it blew down the pier; rod movement due to the waves and the wind under the pier was bad enough but now the rods were being blown sideways down the railing by big gusts. I was thinking of packing up when a rod tip pulled down, a school Bass.

Thirteenth on the thirteenth, happy with that, time to go home.

I'd driven half a mile when the rain started. I'd judged that right too.

Fish pics in Species Hunt forum
I have many happy memories of fishing Boscombe Pier when I was a teenager and young adult. My brother and I had some cracking bags of flounder, big dabs and many other species, but my best catch was a 17lb cod in autumn 1969 on my ABU 484 and Penn Squidder 146. It was landed by hand from the lower landing stage and made 77 fish cakes for the local old folks' home!
 
Nice gurnard. A bit out of season isn't it?
 
Nice gurnard. A bit out of season isn't it?

I've seen them caught in January before, I had a gar and mackerel just before Christmas.

The water temperature is still about 10 degrees which is the temperature you'd expect summer species to turn up in April.
 
can anybody fish the pier and what time does it shut
The pier opens at 9am and closes at about 11 pm when the security chap comes to lock it up, sometimes later. Public can fish during those time, after it is club members only.
There's a sign saying you have to purchase a ticket from the parking kiosk but I've never seen anyone buy one, after 5pm you'd probably never see anyone checking.
 
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