Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 19,168
- Reaction score
- 66,175
- Points
- 116
- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Joined @Christurner last night at Golf Links beach Minehead in an attempt at the cod.
They’ve been getting a few out off the shore along there generally up to 13lbs or so.
The Watchet shop advised that Watchet harbour wall was already rammed at 3.30pm and Minehead harbour is another spot that throws them up but likewise, gets very busy.
Since neither of us wanted to fish in a crowd and it seems Somerset anglers can’t walk very far, we opted for Golf Links.
Surprisingly, no one on the beach when we got there, although the clumps of weed on the surf line looked a bit ominous.
I tend to fish the bottom end there, but it can be very weedy. Chris has previously fished further up and I didn’t mind trying a different spot so we hiked down the beach a bit.
The spot we picked was a little tricksy with pebbles/boulders either side and in patches but certainly fishable.
As Chris said, broken ground tends to be encouraging for cod/codling.
It started out very slow. Bait was squid n black lug of dubious parentage on one rod and fresh king rag from the Watchet shop on the other.
I opted for a two hook clipped flapper with rag on one to start, more because I’d had no time to tie traces but have had plenty of codling while sole fishing with that set up - doesn’t always need to be heavy gear on a clean beach.
I had a small whiting on the flapper and debated whether to use it for bait but it was lip hooked so went back.
That was the only fish we saw on the sand, then the tide pushed us back onto the shingle bank.
We weren’t getting bites, it really was slow. Then Chris pointed out one of my ratchets was going.
I really did think it was just tide pulling on a light drag but then I noticed a few knocks and nods, so lifted into it - and definitely fish on!
It wasn’t HUGE but it was giving a decent account of itself and pulling back. Quite powerful with some good nods. Could it be a cod?
I asked Chris to go down to the shoreline for me and as the leader appeared, it let go
or came off.
There was a small whiting with a mashed head on and I remembered this was the flapper rig still.
Small live whiting are of course great bait but the chances of a bigger fish being hooked well on a whiting that’s already taken a size 1 hook aren’t exactly high, you’d have to be pretty lucky.
So honestly no idea what it was. Might have been an eel, it felt similar, or might have been a cod.
From the feel of the weight of it, it wasn’t massive, 6lbish maybe at a guess but of course that’s subjective.
Well. Couldn’t be helped. The whiting was still twitching a bit and was certainly fresh so I lashed it to a 3/0 pennell and cast it out again.
It wasn’t too long at all before I had another good bite and once again it was fish on!
Feeling more confident with heavier ironmongery on the end, I heaved it in and Chris went down to the water for me again, only to take receipt of… a ray?!
She felt heavier than the scales made her, which was 7lb 1, but nice to see a ‘real’ fish at least, although still not a cod
It wasn’t too long after that when Chris was in at last. This time I went down for him and also received a ray!
Okay, so… his ray I would have said was a pound or two bigger, but it certainly wasn’t THAT much bigger than it appears in this photo lol. We should have weighed it, but hey ho.
Then as the tide turned, the weed picked up in earnest. We’d been catching clumps of it all night but it was fishable, then it went into overdrive.
I built this small garden in just two retrieves
There was enough water to fish for another hour but the weed really was starting to make it miserable, so an hour after high we opted to pack up.
On reeling in to pack up I had a tiny dogfish to add to the tally.
So not the best session, but at least the rays made it acceptable rather than the near blank we thought we were heading for.
There were two or three anglers up from us but they headed back just as we were packing up.
Also three fished the town beach. Unfortunately no idea how any of those guys got on.
They’ve been getting a few out off the shore along there generally up to 13lbs or so.
The Watchet shop advised that Watchet harbour wall was already rammed at 3.30pm and Minehead harbour is another spot that throws them up but likewise, gets very busy.
Since neither of us wanted to fish in a crowd and it seems Somerset anglers can’t walk very far, we opted for Golf Links.
Surprisingly, no one on the beach when we got there, although the clumps of weed on the surf line looked a bit ominous.
I tend to fish the bottom end there, but it can be very weedy. Chris has previously fished further up and I didn’t mind trying a different spot so we hiked down the beach a bit.
The spot we picked was a little tricksy with pebbles/boulders either side and in patches but certainly fishable.
As Chris said, broken ground tends to be encouraging for cod/codling.
It started out very slow. Bait was squid n black lug of dubious parentage on one rod and fresh king rag from the Watchet shop on the other.
I opted for a two hook clipped flapper with rag on one to start, more because I’d had no time to tie traces but have had plenty of codling while sole fishing with that set up - doesn’t always need to be heavy gear on a clean beach.
I had a small whiting on the flapper and debated whether to use it for bait but it was lip hooked so went back.
That was the only fish we saw on the sand, then the tide pushed us back onto the shingle bank.
We weren’t getting bites, it really was slow. Then Chris pointed out one of my ratchets was going.
I really did think it was just tide pulling on a light drag but then I noticed a few knocks and nods, so lifted into it - and definitely fish on!
It wasn’t HUGE but it was giving a decent account of itself and pulling back. Quite powerful with some good nods. Could it be a cod?
I asked Chris to go down to the shoreline for me and as the leader appeared, it let go
or came off.There was a small whiting with a mashed head on and I remembered this was the flapper rig still.
Small live whiting are of course great bait but the chances of a bigger fish being hooked well on a whiting that’s already taken a size 1 hook aren’t exactly high, you’d have to be pretty lucky.
So honestly no idea what it was. Might have been an eel, it felt similar, or might have been a cod.
From the feel of the weight of it, it wasn’t massive, 6lbish maybe at a guess but of course that’s subjective.
Well. Couldn’t be helped. The whiting was still twitching a bit and was certainly fresh so I lashed it to a 3/0 pennell and cast it out again.
It wasn’t too long at all before I had another good bite and once again it was fish on!
Feeling more confident with heavier ironmongery on the end, I heaved it in and Chris went down to the water for me again, only to take receipt of… a ray?!
She felt heavier than the scales made her, which was 7lb 1, but nice to see a ‘real’ fish at least, although still not a cod
It wasn’t too long after that when Chris was in at last. This time I went down for him and also received a ray!
Okay, so… his ray I would have said was a pound or two bigger, but it certainly wasn’t THAT much bigger than it appears in this photo lol. We should have weighed it, but hey ho.
Then as the tide turned, the weed picked up in earnest. We’d been catching clumps of it all night but it was fishable, then it went into overdrive.
I built this small garden in just two retrieves
There was enough water to fish for another hour but the weed really was starting to make it miserable, so an hour after high we opted to pack up.
On reeling in to pack up I had a tiny dogfish to add to the tally.
So not the best session, but at least the rays made it acceptable rather than the near blank we thought we were heading for.
There were two or three anglers up from us but they headed back just as we were packing up.
Also three fished the town beach. Unfortunately no idea how any of those guys got on.
