Trampster
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 18,983
- Reaction score
- 47,910
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Plymouth.
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
After 4 weeks of 24/7 Wifey in France, and another 10 days Covid lockdown here, I was starting to climb the walls of Hell, and so when Chief Officer Mitchell suggested a few hours fishing, it had to be done. Not sure I'm Covid negative yet, but I had to get out and get some socially distanced fresh air.
Quite a few "schoolboy errors" (as John called them!) became apparent. As I arrived at the Pier, I was cursing myself for going out in shorts, as there was a hell of a wind blowing, so should have put me Jeans on and should have taken a jacket. No sign of John when I arrived, but he was soon catching me up on the long walk to the end of the Pier. John was on a mission to catch some Bream for his species hunt (he had heard they were about) so was fully gunned with bait rods, lure rod & tripod, whereas I was out for some fresh air and the chance of some Mackerel so just took a lure rod & a Bass rod.
John was soon sorted with both bait rods out, but having not seen him for a couple of months, I was taking my time & chatting. "Bloody wind, it's not too warm" I said to John. "It's going to drop in a while", and he was right. Turned into a lovely evening. Sorted my rods out - SG Surf Seeker on the Lure rod & a string of 4 'pipe' lures with a 70gm Dexter wedge went on the Bass rod. Another little error - forgot my 'bits & bobs' box with my lure clips, so scrounged a couple off John, and promptly lost one!
It wasn't long before John spotted some Mackerel jumping on the inner side of the Pier, so we were in! 3 for me and 5 for John in a short space of time. Just before the above photo, I realised another error - no phone in pocket, so a long trek back up the Pier to check if it was in Jeepy, which it was. John had a couple more whilst I was gone. Unfortunately there was no sign of any Bream but as it got dark, a few Pout were liking John's worm baits!
As it got dark, things went quiet on the Mackerel front, though I did have another big one from the seaward side. In fact, all of the Mackerel we had were a decent size.
Whilst we were there, there was a fuel tanker came out from the depot up the estuary, and I was shocked to see it get within about 10 metres of the end of the pier as it headed out to sea. Again, this was before I'd fetched my phone, so didn't get a photo, but I did catch the next one coming in! More unleaded for Jeepy!
By now there was nothing happening with the lures, so I was thinking about packing up, and the following conversation took place!
Me: How long are you staying John?
John: Probably until 11pm.
Me: Well it's 10.18 now so I'm going to pack my rods up.
John: I thought you were going to fillet your fish?
Me: Clean them, not fillet them, and I want to put the gear away first so that I don't get Mackerel scales all over it.
I saw this one coming, it's happened before!!
John: Well get your finger out, I know you don't mind gutting fish, so you can do mine too! Cheeky Monkey!
I got my knife out and started feeding the Gulls, John was peering over the wall to see if he could spot any Conger!
John scratched his head, decided he only wanted 5 to take home for a feed and Coco the dog, so kindly donated 2 to me. Turned out to be a great evening, thanks to John for helping me escape! The beauty of fishing until midnight was a swift traffic free journey home across the city.
Got home, gave the Fish a final clean and got them in the fridge. Might have some for tea tonight. Would have loved to have a couple straight in the pan last night but it was far too late.
Great to get out, and great to be able to put a report up! Sorry if it is a bit long, but I've got to make the best of the opportunity! ????
Quite a few "schoolboy errors" (as John called them!) became apparent. As I arrived at the Pier, I was cursing myself for going out in shorts, as there was a hell of a wind blowing, so should have put me Jeans on and should have taken a jacket. No sign of John when I arrived, but he was soon catching me up on the long walk to the end of the Pier. John was on a mission to catch some Bream for his species hunt (he had heard they were about) so was fully gunned with bait rods, lure rod & tripod, whereas I was out for some fresh air and the chance of some Mackerel so just took a lure rod & a Bass rod.
John was soon sorted with both bait rods out, but having not seen him for a couple of months, I was taking my time & chatting. "Bloody wind, it's not too warm" I said to John. "It's going to drop in a while", and he was right. Turned into a lovely evening. Sorted my rods out - SG Surf Seeker on the Lure rod & a string of 4 'pipe' lures with a 70gm Dexter wedge went on the Bass rod. Another little error - forgot my 'bits & bobs' box with my lure clips, so scrounged a couple off John, and promptly lost one!
It wasn't long before John spotted some Mackerel jumping on the inner side of the Pier, so we were in! 3 for me and 5 for John in a short space of time. Just before the above photo, I realised another error - no phone in pocket, so a long trek back up the Pier to check if it was in Jeepy, which it was. John had a couple more whilst I was gone. Unfortunately there was no sign of any Bream but as it got dark, a few Pout were liking John's worm baits!
As it got dark, things went quiet on the Mackerel front, though I did have another big one from the seaward side. In fact, all of the Mackerel we had were a decent size.
Whilst we were there, there was a fuel tanker came out from the depot up the estuary, and I was shocked to see it get within about 10 metres of the end of the pier as it headed out to sea. Again, this was before I'd fetched my phone, so didn't get a photo, but I did catch the next one coming in! More unleaded for Jeepy!
By now there was nothing happening with the lures, so I was thinking about packing up, and the following conversation took place!
Me: How long are you staying John?
John: Probably until 11pm.
Me: Well it's 10.18 now so I'm going to pack my rods up.
John: I thought you were going to fillet your fish?
Me: Clean them, not fillet them, and I want to put the gear away first so that I don't get Mackerel scales all over it.
I saw this one coming, it's happened before!!
John: Well get your finger out, I know you don't mind gutting fish, so you can do mine too! Cheeky Monkey!
I got my knife out and started feeding the Gulls, John was peering over the wall to see if he could spot any Conger!
John scratched his head, decided he only wanted 5 to take home for a feed and Coco the dog, so kindly donated 2 to me. Turned out to be a great evening, thanks to John for helping me escape! The beauty of fishing until midnight was a swift traffic free journey home across the city.
Got home, gave the Fish a final clean and got them in the fridge. Might have some for tea tonight. Would have loved to have a couple straight in the pan last night but it was far too late.
Great to get out, and great to be able to put a report up! Sorry if it is a bit long, but I've got to make the best of the opportunity! ????
