ouchthathurt
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 15, 2021
- Messages
- 2,904
- Reaction score
- 12,416
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Hastings East Sussex
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Evening all, so wifey has given me a (sort of) ultimatum… I can’t go carp fishing until I catch something worth eating from the beach. I have been inundated with eels recently! So with that in mind, I nipped into the tackle shop for a few packs of “fresh” wrapped lug with a mind to hit the beach first thing this morning. Up bright and early this morning, with high tide expected just before 8am, I picked my way to the end of the harbour arm where I was met by several happy chaps from the orient who were throwing mackerel feathers into the calm clear waters. I set up my two Leeda icon elite match rods coupled with my trusty Diawa 7HT multis coupled with 2 hook clipped down rigs baited with lug. The lug was way past fresh, I’ve seen thicker more virile shoelaces, but it’s all I had so I had to make the most of it. I wasn’t best pleased, but the calm sunny morning soon cheered me up no end 
by 0540 both baits were in the water and I settled back to wait, watching the mackie bashers thrash the water to a foam, more and more were turning up all the time, soon it was like a commercial carp puddle with an angler every 2ft all launching tinsel. Within minutes, a hefty rattle signified the first bite of the session and a whiting quickly hit the shore. 
They were thin little things, but they kept the rod tips rattling. Every cast resulted a double shot of whiting every few mins, so it kept things interesting. 
The morning was absolutely beautiful, one of those days that makes you glad to be an angler 
a friendly seal even popped in to say hello. 
A few more whiting and my bait was all used up. 
Note the sea louse attached to one fishes flank. The mackerel chasers were all drawing a blank, not a mackie to be seen, we have only had a day or two where they have shown, it’s been fairly quiet on that front. With the bait gone and all the whiting that I threw back all disappearing down the gullet of a seagull sat below me, I packed the bait rods away and pulled my sonik sks black beachcaster out and rigged up a set of mackerel feathers to a 4oz lead and started to mackie bash too. As I’d been the only one to catch anything that morning I thought I’d show them all how a proper angler does it, and I did - I blanked too! Perfect conditions, albeit a neap tide, and not a knock. After an hour or two fruitlessly casting and retrieving, I thought “one more cast” and with that, the mackie trace snapped between the 3rd and 4th hook. As I watched the lead sail out into open water, I took that as my sign to call it quits and thread my way back over the rocky breakwater and off home.
by 0540 both baits were in the water and I settled back to wait, watching the mackie bashers thrash the water to a foam, more and more were turning up all the time, soon it was like a commercial carp puddle with an angler every 2ft all launching tinsel. Within minutes, a hefty rattle signified the first bite of the session and a whiting quickly hit the shore. They were thin little things, but they kept the rod tips rattling. Every cast resulted a double shot of whiting every few mins, so it kept things interesting. The morning was absolutely beautiful, one of those days that makes you glad to be an angler a friendly seal even popped in to say hello. A few more whiting and my bait was all used up. Note the sea louse attached to one fishes flank. The mackerel chasers were all drawing a blank, not a mackie to be seen, we have only had a day or two where they have shown, it’s been fairly quiet on that front. With the bait gone and all the whiting that I threw back all disappearing down the gullet of a seagull sat below me, I packed the bait rods away and pulled my sonik sks black beachcaster out and rigged up a set of mackerel feathers to a 4oz lead and started to mackie bash too. As I’d been the only one to catch anything that morning I thought I’d show them all how a proper angler does it, and I did - I blanked too! Perfect conditions, albeit a neap tide, and not a knock. After an hour or two fruitlessly casting and retrieving, I thought “one more cast” and with that, the mackie trace snapped between the 3rd and 4th hook. As I watched the lead sail out into open water, I took that as my sign to call it quits and thread my way back over the rocky breakwater and off home.
