Goateeblank
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 1,591
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- 115
- Location
- South Coast
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
This is a long one with few fish.
Message from Haddock.
"Tuesday is looking good for Swanage Pier, I've got a club match in the evening there too. Light wind from the north, the tide isn't the best for float fishing, but there are plenty of fish on the bottom to target."
Now I like Swanage and fishing on the pier. If I go fishing, it is just that, if I go down the night before and have a night in the van and fish the next day, it then becomes a mini adventure! And so, a plan was hatched. I love my van, proper home on wheels, but it can still get anywhere a car can go, as far as height restrictions.
The weather in terms of it staying dry was as forecast, the wind was manageable and more moderate than light, and we could fish in the lee of the seating structure on the pier, so that was ok. The big difference was the temperature. It was minus 5 where I live and major roads were closed due the amount of standing water that has been very noticeable for the past 3 weeks on trips to Weymouth and West Bay, had turned to black ice. The main road to Salisbury and another to Romsey were shut and they are only a couple of miles away from home. The temps looked to be a bit warmer at Swanage so I though it would get better the further I went. I was wrong, I was very wrong. The M27 turns into the A31. I was 6 miles from home and the road was blocked going up the hill out of Cadnam. I have never seen so many blue lights with, police, ambulances and fire trucks. I was sat not moving for an hour. When we moved through, there were 2 mullered cars in the outside lane and that lane had a thick coating of slushy ice on it. I don't know if other cars had already been recovered. Off we go and much slower than I would normally drive. Made it to Ringwood and stopped again. This time it was much worse, when we eventually got moving after 3/4 hour there were several smashed up cars and a van similar size to mine on its side, again in the outside lane. Very sobering. The police were talking to each vehicle to tell them that there was loads of black ice and to add to the misery a water main had burst so 5 to 10 mph only. There is lots of glass in the road so think that there must be more cars involved. Then l see 5 or 6 of them pushed off the road on the nearside. Most were front and rear ended and a right mess.
I am now a good couple of hours into my journey and still only 17 miles from home. I was thinking, turn round and go home or get my head down at the first opportunity, whilst all the time knowing that I would not let it beat me and knowing I would push on, albeit quite slowly, until I got there, and so it was. The main road into Swanage itself from Corfe was shut, so I had to divert down even smaller roads, which at times was very heart in the mouth stuff especially on the steeper twisty hill bits. On reflection it was all pretty stupid and my wife told me so, and obviously she is never wrong!
Parked up in my special spot at 1.00am having left at around 9.30pm to do 52 miles. The temperature at Swanage was minus five or six, the same as at home. Cracked the windows open a bit, put on my van sleeping hat and got in bed. You can hear the waves gently breaking as it is only 10 or 12 ft away. I remember turning over a couple of times, but slept through and was woken by my watch alarm at 8.00am. I sneaked an arm out and pushed the button for my hot air diesel heater and waited snug in bed for a few minutes for the van to warm up. Dressed and warmed my shoes up in the hot air blast from the heater, before putting them on. Bliss.
The van has to be moved before 9 to the Broad Road car park, where parking is a massive £1.00 for 24 hours! Got my favourite spot again and cooked myself beans and sausages on toast, which despite the minus temps, made the van so warm, I had to have the side door open a bit.
I can see that the pier gates are open, as the contractors are working on the replacement of rotten planking. I messaged Haddock to say how bad the roads are and don't bother coming just because I am here. That's me being hypocritical l know. I layered up with plenty of clothes, loaded my trolley and off to the pier. The pier master was not in yet, so I made my way down the pier which surprisingly, was not slippy. Had a chat with the contractor guys and was a bit miffed that I could not fish the lower level, as there were lots of holes where they were replacing the planking. Mind you there is no protection from the wind down there. Set up, up top with bungeed on 9 ft spinning rods with species rigs, tiny hooks with bits of old rag just covering the hooks, on the rail. I sat in the sun and out of the moderate, but minus 5 wind, on the benches in the structure there. Well I am here and I am fishing and I have lots of species to catch for the new hunt. Most of all I wanted a baillons wrasse before Haddock arrives. I have had one or two of these fairly rare fish to taunt him with, before he has arrived, a few times before. Its a good way to kick off the banter!
First in was a ballan wrasse, which set the tone for the rest of the session. Not the most colourful one, but it tells me that at least there are fish there.
I had a few more Ballon before a corkwing wrasse came in. These little fish can sure make a 9ft spinning rod twitch, especially as you are fishing high above them.
The fishing was slow, numbers and species wise, but the conditions were poor and crabby and it is January after all. I had a much bigger bite and this next fish was trying to get under the pier. Luckily it did not manage to get into a hole or snag and I was able to get it out again and landed. That is more like it, a nicer size ballon with lovely markings. As you can see its a reddy brown with light coloured areas and the fins have a blueish tinge to them. Happy with that, but still no new species.
Haddock arrived and we swapped stories about our respective journeys. Told him about my catches so far and then tried different ranges and directions and baits and casting with a bigger rod to to a sand bank, caused by the ferries when thy moor them still running in gear. It was all to no avail. Just more ballan and a couple of corkwings for me. As for Haddock I am much too polite to say!
This time of year you get kicked off at 4 and that was fine for me. The pier master came down to us and asked how we had got on. Haddock said don't ask him that, which speaks volumes. Sometimes its his turn, sometimes its mine!
Being a gnarley old angler. Haddock was staying on to fish a match in the evening! That is tough going for anyone, especially after a long cold unrewarding session, let alone for someone of his, lets say, advancing years and medical history. My last task was to boil a kettle and make him a flask of hot chocolate to help see him through. I left as his trundled his way down to fish the quay, which means wind in the face, to see how it was fishing before the match. That is really tough going. He may comment on how he got on.
@geejayy commented on my last post. West Bay. Conger and a meteor. That he is impressed with the effort I put in. I thanked him for that and I very much appreciate what he said, as I do for all the comments I receive from you guys. However, I would not put myself through a journey in conditions like that again, nor would my wife let me! Got to learn from your bad decisions, but as a mini adventure with plenty of risk and incident, (if few fish!) it rates well up there. I often say a bit of adversity and hardship does you good, but hopefully it can be offset by a bit of luxury or in my case van luxury! It was still pretty stupid though.
I have done a fair bit of travelling of late, so may concentrate on fishing locally to see whats about.
Message from Haddock.
"Tuesday is looking good for Swanage Pier, I've got a club match in the evening there too. Light wind from the north, the tide isn't the best for float fishing, but there are plenty of fish on the bottom to target."
Now I like Swanage and fishing on the pier. If I go fishing, it is just that, if I go down the night before and have a night in the van and fish the next day, it then becomes a mini adventure! And so, a plan was hatched. I love my van, proper home on wheels, but it can still get anywhere a car can go, as far as height restrictions.
The weather in terms of it staying dry was as forecast, the wind was manageable and more moderate than light, and we could fish in the lee of the seating structure on the pier, so that was ok. The big difference was the temperature. It was minus 5 where I live and major roads were closed due the amount of standing water that has been very noticeable for the past 3 weeks on trips to Weymouth and West Bay, had turned to black ice. The main road to Salisbury and another to Romsey were shut and they are only a couple of miles away from home. The temps looked to be a bit warmer at Swanage so I though it would get better the further I went. I was wrong, I was very wrong. The M27 turns into the A31. I was 6 miles from home and the road was blocked going up the hill out of Cadnam. I have never seen so many blue lights with, police, ambulances and fire trucks. I was sat not moving for an hour. When we moved through, there were 2 mullered cars in the outside lane and that lane had a thick coating of slushy ice on it. I don't know if other cars had already been recovered. Off we go and much slower than I would normally drive. Made it to Ringwood and stopped again. This time it was much worse, when we eventually got moving after 3/4 hour there were several smashed up cars and a van similar size to mine on its side, again in the outside lane. Very sobering. The police were talking to each vehicle to tell them that there was loads of black ice and to add to the misery a water main had burst so 5 to 10 mph only. There is lots of glass in the road so think that there must be more cars involved. Then l see 5 or 6 of them pushed off the road on the nearside. Most were front and rear ended and a right mess.
I am now a good couple of hours into my journey and still only 17 miles from home. I was thinking, turn round and go home or get my head down at the first opportunity, whilst all the time knowing that I would not let it beat me and knowing I would push on, albeit quite slowly, until I got there, and so it was. The main road into Swanage itself from Corfe was shut, so I had to divert down even smaller roads, which at times was very heart in the mouth stuff especially on the steeper twisty hill bits. On reflection it was all pretty stupid and my wife told me so, and obviously she is never wrong!
Parked up in my special spot at 1.00am having left at around 9.30pm to do 52 miles. The temperature at Swanage was minus five or six, the same as at home. Cracked the windows open a bit, put on my van sleeping hat and got in bed. You can hear the waves gently breaking as it is only 10 or 12 ft away. I remember turning over a couple of times, but slept through and was woken by my watch alarm at 8.00am. I sneaked an arm out and pushed the button for my hot air diesel heater and waited snug in bed for a few minutes for the van to warm up. Dressed and warmed my shoes up in the hot air blast from the heater, before putting them on. Bliss.
The van has to be moved before 9 to the Broad Road car park, where parking is a massive £1.00 for 24 hours! Got my favourite spot again and cooked myself beans and sausages on toast, which despite the minus temps, made the van so warm, I had to have the side door open a bit.
I can see that the pier gates are open, as the contractors are working on the replacement of rotten planking. I messaged Haddock to say how bad the roads are and don't bother coming just because I am here. That's me being hypocritical l know. I layered up with plenty of clothes, loaded my trolley and off to the pier. The pier master was not in yet, so I made my way down the pier which surprisingly, was not slippy. Had a chat with the contractor guys and was a bit miffed that I could not fish the lower level, as there were lots of holes where they were replacing the planking. Mind you there is no protection from the wind down there. Set up, up top with bungeed on 9 ft spinning rods with species rigs, tiny hooks with bits of old rag just covering the hooks, on the rail. I sat in the sun and out of the moderate, but minus 5 wind, on the benches in the structure there. Well I am here and I am fishing and I have lots of species to catch for the new hunt. Most of all I wanted a baillons wrasse before Haddock arrives. I have had one or two of these fairly rare fish to taunt him with, before he has arrived, a few times before. Its a good way to kick off the banter!
First in was a ballan wrasse, which set the tone for the rest of the session. Not the most colourful one, but it tells me that at least there are fish there.
I had a few more Ballon before a corkwing wrasse came in. These little fish can sure make a 9ft spinning rod twitch, especially as you are fishing high above them.
The fishing was slow, numbers and species wise, but the conditions were poor and crabby and it is January after all. I had a much bigger bite and this next fish was trying to get under the pier. Luckily it did not manage to get into a hole or snag and I was able to get it out again and landed. That is more like it, a nicer size ballon with lovely markings. As you can see its a reddy brown with light coloured areas and the fins have a blueish tinge to them. Happy with that, but still no new species.
Haddock arrived and we swapped stories about our respective journeys. Told him about my catches so far and then tried different ranges and directions and baits and casting with a bigger rod to to a sand bank, caused by the ferries when thy moor them still running in gear. It was all to no avail. Just more ballan and a couple of corkwings for me. As for Haddock I am much too polite to say!
This time of year you get kicked off at 4 and that was fine for me. The pier master came down to us and asked how we had got on. Haddock said don't ask him that, which speaks volumes. Sometimes its his turn, sometimes its mine!
Being a gnarley old angler. Haddock was staying on to fish a match in the evening! That is tough going for anyone, especially after a long cold unrewarding session, let alone for someone of his, lets say, advancing years and medical history. My last task was to boil a kettle and make him a flask of hot chocolate to help see him through. I left as his trundled his way down to fish the quay, which means wind in the face, to see how it was fishing before the match. That is really tough going. He may comment on how he got on.
@geejayy commented on my last post. West Bay. Conger and a meteor. That he is impressed with the effort I put in. I thanked him for that and I very much appreciate what he said, as I do for all the comments I receive from you guys. However, I would not put myself through a journey in conditions like that again, nor would my wife let me! Got to learn from your bad decisions, but as a mini adventure with plenty of risk and incident, (if few fish!) it rates well up there. I often say a bit of adversity and hardship does you good, but hopefully it can be offset by a bit of luxury or in my case van luxury! It was still pretty stupid though.
I have done a fair bit of travelling of late, so may concentrate on fishing locally to see whats about.
