Tommy Devorty
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2021
- Messages
- 66
- Reaction score
- 322
- Points
- 54
- Location
- Brighton
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
After hearing of some rays coming up along the road at Eastbourne I thought it's about time I tried my luck locally after sitting around for a few weeks umming and ahing, started fishing Shoreham Beach around 3.30pm, with high at 5pm ... had squid, bluey and fresh blacks from Lagoon Bait, first chuck tipped blacks on a size 1 loop on one rod and 2 hook flapper on the other resulted in 2 double shots of small whiting, decided to switch the flapper for a 1/0 up and over pulley and squid and bluey wrap, this resulted in my first doggy of the year which, although can be pests at times, was a nice sight after the whiting on the previous chuck ... I'd had another double whiting again on the loop so ditched the blacks and stuck with squid and bluey wraps for the rest of the evening ...
pretty much bang on high I had a few taps and fish on ... I could tell it wasn't big but doubted it was a doggy, as I saw it's eyes reflecting in my headlight I was really happy to see a very welcome 3lb4oz Thornback on the beach, 2021 we had lift off!
the next couple of casts resulted in another doggy and the odd whiting when around and hour and a half down the tide I hooked in to my second ray of the night, this one a respectable 5lb14oz which was all the encouragement I needed to keep going ... I kept fishing down for a couple of hours with another couple of doggys and the odd whiting taking the wraps
My casting was pretty rusty to say the least, I've never been the biggest hitter on the beach, infact I've acquired some bad habits over the years I need to get out of but as the night went on I was finding my rhythm and was hitting it as long as I could ... about 9.20pm I hit a 2/0 up and over pulley baited with a fillet of bluey and squid head long, 10 minutes later I lifted in to a strong bite that preceeded to kite off to the left ... this felt decent, it kept going left and for a moment I thought it could be a bass ... a few seconds later it was on the beach, despite all my trips down to Dorset over the years this is one species that I've not had many of ... a nice shore caught PB Conger of 11lb9oz, what a result!
I fished on for a couple of casts then decided to call it a night, finishing with about 5 doggys, whiting, 2 rays and the eel ...a good session for February on Shoreham Beach and a great sign things are improving locally for everyone looking on in envy at others fishing to the East
thanks for reading
Tommy
pretty much bang on high I had a few taps and fish on ... I could tell it wasn't big but doubted it was a doggy, as I saw it's eyes reflecting in my headlight I was really happy to see a very welcome 3lb4oz Thornback on the beach, 2021 we had lift off!
the next couple of casts resulted in another doggy and the odd whiting when around and hour and a half down the tide I hooked in to my second ray of the night, this one a respectable 5lb14oz which was all the encouragement I needed to keep going ... I kept fishing down for a couple of hours with another couple of doggys and the odd whiting taking the wraps
My casting was pretty rusty to say the least, I've never been the biggest hitter on the beach, infact I've acquired some bad habits over the years I need to get out of but as the night went on I was finding my rhythm and was hitting it as long as I could ... about 9.20pm I hit a 2/0 up and over pulley baited with a fillet of bluey and squid head long, 10 minutes later I lifted in to a strong bite that preceeded to kite off to the left ... this felt decent, it kept going left and for a moment I thought it could be a bass ... a few seconds later it was on the beach, despite all my trips down to Dorset over the years this is one species that I've not had many of ... a nice shore caught PB Conger of 11lb9oz, what a result!
I fished on for a couple of casts then decided to call it a night, finishing with about 5 doggys, whiting, 2 rays and the eel ...a good session for February on Shoreham Beach and a great sign things are improving locally for everyone looking on in envy at others fishing to the East
thanks for reading
Tommy
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