[unable to retrieve full-text content] If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels,...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Another wild weekend

Once again we were battered with another Atlantic gale at the weekend. How come it never seems to blow during the week, then have a lull during the times most of us can fish? It looks like today could be a brilliant day on Chesil. We did have a couple of days this week, where a few lucky anglers were able to take advantage of a break in the weather and head on to Chesil. Bradley Price managed 3 nice Codling as did several other anglers.

Despite such tough conditions the lure fishing for Bass has been on fire. Young Rory Bennett managed this lovely Bass at 4lb 9oz.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 11.5°C, 1.5m swell with waves exceeding 2.5m. this makes the beach fishable, but still dangerous.

Portland: 2m swell  The water is coloured

Portland Harbour: calm with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: with the exception of Wednesday, it looks like the beach will be fishable for the most part. Please be very wary of rogue waves. Keep well above the water line.
Conditions today are perfect for Cod. The water is still fairly rough and heavily coloured, but you should be able to cast a good distance. I would expect to see plenty of Whiting, Pout, Dogfish and Conger, with the odd large Ray making an appearance.

Portland Harbour: With building tides and water temperatures still above the 10°C mark, Bass fishing should be very good this week. There are still Garfish around, which will take small lures and float fished Mackerel. Flounders are appearing in better numbers, even if they are smaller than those we often see in Poole.

Portland: As soon as the water starts to clear, the large Wrasse that are still around will be on the feed. Go with hardback velvet swimmer crabs, fished hard on the bottom, for the chance of a specimen fish.

Weymouth Bay: Its going to take a day or so for the water to clear, but once it does, I know a lot of very keen anglers, will be heading out to the piers to try and catch some squid.

Further along the beach towards Bowleaze Cove, you can expect Whiting and decent flounder.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Shark Fishing Dorset – Talking Tackle!

So maybe you’re thinking of getting out amongst our local sharks? The question is with what? Well there are many different opinions on the best tackle for sharks. Some anglers prefer to tackle up lighter and enjoy the sport of smaller sharks where others prefer to tackle up for the monster from the depths and bide their time. I personally prefer the later because if one day I hook that monster I want to be ready for the battle of my life.

Now if you’re going out on a charter boat most will have the gear suitable for the sharks they are targeting. I personally always like to purchase my own tackle regardless of whether I’m fishing on charters or private boats. After all, if you are thinking of spending some serious time afloat targeting sharks it’s well worth the investment and peace of mind.

Let’s start with rods. A very personal choice, I have always owned the more stout stand up 50lb class rods for all my sharking. This unfortunately means anything small tends to be lost as you do have some serious leverage over the fish. Not saying they won’t run and pull hard but fights tend to be short lived. Have a look at the beautiful Shimano stand up rods you won’t be disappointed.

If you prefer something with less of a “Big Game” look about it, the Penn Regiment II 50lb Class 7ft Roller rod really fits in well at around £110 and will give you enough guts to fight most fish but also not over gunned on smaller sharks. If your happy fishing without a roller ring rod then the 50lb class Shakespeare Ugly Stik with its sensitive glass tip or the Penn Regiment II XT 20-60lb are great for dealing with smaller fish although you may lose the upper hand on a monster.

Whatever rod you choose I believe you should be able to get the fish alongside the boat without it being played half to death. Shark’s should be well looked after and respected, if it does not recover its one less out there for the future.

Having spent a lot of time looking at reels I once again went with a bigger reel, I use the same tackle for all my sharking. I target Blues, Porbeagle and Threshers so I like my tackle to be a “one fits all” variety. my Shimano Tyrnos 50LRSA gives me capacity for long running fish with over 700yrds of 50lb mono, this gives you the ability to clear decks and get ready to start the fight before running out of line!

Again, this is pretty specialist, another recommendation would be the Shimano TLD25, this reel is great value and holds a good amount of line. It has been responsible for landing some seriously large sharks in the UK and aboard. If like me you like the finesse and ease of a 2-speed reel the new Penn Squall 16VS will also fit the bill nicely!

Let’s face it you can have the most expensive or cheapest rod and reel but the two things that connect you to the fish is the hook and the line. Having lost a good fish to cheap line I don’t by cheap anymore. Hi-Seas (AFW), Shimano or Suffix produce some fantastic lines, I like the IGFA types so you know it does what it says on the spool.

There is a debate on the use of Braid or Mono, if you’re going on a group trip or a charter boat mono is the friendliest by far. No one will thank you for wrapping up and cutting through their mono when playing a fish. I also feel mono is much more forgiving on Shark and Angler, that stretch will absorb head shakes and sudden runs. Again, I use 50lb mono for all my sharking, most reels mentioned have a max drag a lot less than this so you’re never going to snap the line through drag. Also, at 50lb it has great abrasion resistance if required.

Hopefully this has helped with your choice of equipment and even added some items to your Xmas lists. There are of course hundreds of brands out there, I only mention the ones I have used or have knowledge of and trust in. On the next article I will go through the terminal tackle, rubbing leaders, hook choices and how to construct your own!

Tight Lines

Paul

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Fishin Impossible

Fishing conditions this week have been brutal to say the least and unfortunately there seems no let up for this weekend, or at least not on Chesil, so if you are in any doubt as to whether the beach is fishable I think you can see from this impressive picture taken this morning by my friend Finn McGuirk, that it isn’t.

For those that are interested, I created a short video a couple of days ago, that is still relevant now.

I was lucky that I did find some Bass in the harbour. Actually I found a lot of Bass in the harbour. They moved around a lot during the tide, but we did seem to be able testy with them, or at least find them again, during the afternoon. Conditions were tough and sometimes it almost felt like we were fishing at night, the clouds and rain made it feel very gloomy, but I loved every minute of it.

It was a great opportunity for me to really put my new Majorcraft Triplecross TCX-902ML/EU, which has been made specifically for the type of lure fishing that seems most prevalent in the UK. It is without a doubt one of the best lure rods I have ever used, and I have used and owned a lot. A full review is on its way.

All the fish were taken on either the Savage Gear Panic Prey popper or the Savage Gear Sandeel in white

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 11.3°C, 2.5m swell with waves exceeding 4m. this makes the beach dangerous

Portland: 2.5m swell on the West side, that will build over the next two days. The water is coloured

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: Forget it, don’t even think that just because there is a small break in the wind tomorrow, that it will be fishable. This week has seen the highest recorded waves on the beach, all year. With one topping out at 7.5m. I was over the other side of Chesil and I could see waves breaking near the top of the bank. The swell will take a good 24 hours to settle, to a safer height.

Portland Harbour: The tide has died off a bit and that normally means that the Bass fishing will as well. Its still worth giving it a go. Sandsfoot Castle area over low and Hamm Beach over high, would be my top choices.

Portland: The West side will be unfishable, but marks such as Church Ope Cove, can be fished with care. Pollock, Wrasse, Garfish and Bass are all possible. Night tides can produce Conger and Whiting.

Weymouth Bay: Always a safe and reliable mark, when we have SW gales. You can almost guarantee fish from the piers, although they may only be Dogfish and Pout. This time of year normally produces some Whiting and even the odd Cod.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Classic Chesil fishing with double figure Cod

It was one of those weekends that could have been good, or a total blank on Chesil. The tides were dying away, the water was clearing and we still had an easterly wind for the most part. As it turned out, Chesil produced the way it was typically remembered for, by producing a number of nice Cod, from marks all along the beach, as well as well as good Whiting and the usual Pout and Dogfish.

Bradley Price was just about to pack up, when he landed this lovely fish, so naturally he had to have one more last cast.

Lee was one of several anglers that managed to find some double figure Cod, when he managed this 11 1/2lb fish. He also had a strap Conger and was bitten off my something that he couldn’t stop!

Don’t you just love Chesil. I did suggest that it may have been a Tope. I remember a couple of years back, that someone caught a large Tope around this time, but the British Record Stingray also fell around the same time.

Away from Chesil, some of the other marks fished well, especially Portland Harbour, for Bass on Lures. Once again Kevin Webb found a number of Bass, although none of them were particularly large, it was good to see them hit the lures hard.

I can’t go without mentioning another amazing Blonde Ray that was caught the previous weekend. Ben Stockley had this 22lb 5oz Ray, which was part of a five fish haul.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 11.5°C, 2m swell that is going to build and I am sure Wednesday and Thursday will be unfishable. Friday will be rough, but it should be fishable, as long as the wind drops as forecast.

Portland: 1.5m swell on the West side, that will build over the next two days. The water will be fairly coloured from Wednesday.

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: We are going to have a changeable few days, with winds building quickly and switching to a full SW storm that will make the beach unfishable for Wednesday and Thursday. However the build up will give you a great opportunity to fish Chesil for Bass on lures. It is my favourite set of conditions and when I normally catch most of my large numbers of Bass in a short period. I will be hitting the beach this morning.

Friday is another ball game all together, as the wind should drop to allow anglers that are capable of a decent cast, to target Cod and Whiting. If your casting is a bit on the short side, you will end up losing all your terminal tackle, as it gets buried in the shingle inside the surf zone.

The Cod have been coming on Lugworm, Squid and live Peeler Crab baits. Whiting will happily tag Ragworm or Mackerel strips.

Portland Harbour: A good mark that should continue to fish for Bass, until the water temperature hits 10ºc, then it will die off. The temperature is falling quite quickly now, so we probably only have a few weeks of sport left. The harbour will fish for Flounder still, but not much else.

Portland: The Bill is worth a try until it becomes too rough on Wednesday. Bass, Mackerel, Pollock and Garfish can all still be caught, as can Wrasse. The Wrasse don’t feed well, when there is a big swell, or coloured water.

Weymouth Bay: The piers will produce fish to float fished worm, or Mackerel. The whole of Weymouth Bay provides good shelter, when there is a SW blow. Whiting can be prolific from Preston and Bowleaze. There is always the chance of a Bass or a Ray there, especially at night.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Big Blondes and Record Breaking Brill

Once again Chesil Beach has produced a cracking weekend of fishing for some. But it wasn’t the Cod that everyone has been seeking, it has been the flat fish that have hit the headlines, with a potential British record breaking Brill and some amazing Rays.

Bernard Johnson weighed in a huge Brill of 8lb 3oz, which if verified, will break the record by over 1/2lb.

I have to admit, never having caught a Ray of any kind from Chesil. I have made it my goal to try and get one before the year is out. I know a couple of anglers that seem to be very good at catching them. One of those anglers is Matty Mizen. This weekend, he made it look very easy to catch just about any species of Ray. He started off with a session that included nine rays, three Spotted 4.0lb,3.6lb, 3.5lb. 5.1lb, a Thorneback ray, five Small eyed rays, the largest going 7lb and the rest a bit smaller. He also managed some nice Whiting, Pout and Conger

I would call that a red letter day, but it would seem that Matty wanted more. The next day he decided to target Blonde Rays, in an attempt to catch a double figure one from the shore. He was pretty happy to achieve that with a fish of 16lb. Not bad, I say, but that was nothing! He managed to hook and land a massive Blonde Ray of 23lb 8oz, which was the highlight of the seven that he ended up with.

It wasn’t just the beach that fished well. It was a good weekend for lure fishing, especially for Bass. I wouldn’t normally associate a small tide with good catches of Bass, but I know of several Bass over 6lb that were caught within Portland harbour on lures. Unfortunately as the mark was so recognisable, the angler didn’t want me to publish any of the pictures.

However Virgis Ruksnaitis, had a great session on Portland on lures. He was using a lure that I have recently bought and am doing a review on. Its the Majorcraft Jigpara, which is a metal jigging lure. In the smaller sizes, it makes an excellent shore jig, as he proved by catching Bass, Pollock, Mackerel and Garfish on. Watch this space for a full review

Its so good, it can take two fish at once and if anyone is wondering if there are any Mackerel still around, I think this answers that question.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 12.1°C, 1m swell  Water is lightly coloured.

Portland: 1m swell with lightly coloured water on the West side. The waves are larger on the East side

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Surf up to 2m, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: The week will once again be dominated by easterly winds. The sea state is quite calm for most of the time, but there has been some huge rouge waves, that have created havoc over the weekend. Looking at news reports from the Atlantic, there appears to be some massive waves heading our way. They may never get here, but take extra care on the beach over the next few days. Set up, further up the beach than you would normally do.
So what can we expect this week? The tides are building and the water will clear even more. I would expect even more rays and who knows, there is always the chance that we could see that 32lb Blonde Ray shore record tumble.

The conditions are definitely going to be more suited to Whiting than Cod, but they can’t be ruled out. Dogfish and Pout, could well be a nuisance, but will keep the rod tips nodding. Daytime fishing will be good for Garfish and there are still Mackerel around.

Portland Harbour: I will be hitting the harbour in search of a Bass or two on lures this week. If you are more interested in using bait, then you could pick up a few Bass, Flounder and Wrasse. My top mark in the harbour would be Sandsfoot Castle area over low water.

Portland: The island fished very well over the weekend for Garfish, Pollock, Mackerel and a few Bass. Expect the same and add Wrasse into the mix, as the wind drops. Personally, I would avoid the east side, as the wind will make it a bit uncomfortable.

Weymouth Bay: Preston beach just screams Bass at the moment. If you are daring and careful, getting in the surf with a lure rod would be amazing fan and could produce some brilliant sport. For those that don’t fancy getting wet, then bait fishing will be productive as well. work and fish baits should work, but as the wind drops and the surf dies, the target will move from Bass to Flounder.

I am hoping to find the time to target Squid towards that later part of the week. As the wind drops and the water clears, the squid fishing will improve.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Big Bass in November

I did say on Monday that November is one of the best months of the year for big Bass and Ben Male proved exactly that, with a 12lb Bass caught at Seaton on Garfish. I have to admit to never having used Garfish as a bait, other than to catch Garfish, but I had heard that it is a good bait, especially for Conger. Ben has just proved that it is also good for catching Bass. It was a good call to use Garfish, as there are lots of them around at the moment, so Bass would expect to come across them.

The easterly wind will be the biggest factor for anglers thinking of fishing this weekend. It will make venues such as Chesil, fairly easy to fish, as you will be able to get long casts in with the wind behind you. However if you are after a Bass, then Preston Beach and Bowleaze Cove will have a good surf pounding in and that is sure to attract them.

I have been lucky enough to have received some very up to date catch reports from Kevin Duddridge, who is fishing on Chesil as I type this. He managed a Codling fairly early on in his session.

However welcome the Codling was, it was made to look rather insignificant, compared to this whopping 2lb 6oz whiting.

We can certainly expect plenty more Whiting over the next few weeks, but this weekend should be perfect for them from Chesil

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 12.6°C, 1m swell which will flatten out over the weekend. Water is lightly coloured

Portland: 1m swell with lightly coloured water on the West side. The waves are larger on the East side and will become large on Saturday and Sunday

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Surf up to 2m, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: With clearing water and a strong easterly wind, Chesil will be a very good venue for a whole host of species. Cod and Whiting are the obvious targets, but don’t forget that there are still some big Plaice inshore and feeding up, prior to their winter breading.

I have heard from a number of commercial boats that there are quite a few John Dory being caught. Chesil Cove is a good mark for those, as well as Squid and late Mullet, which will often take large Mackerel baits. Don’t forget that the Garfish hang around, well in to December and are great sport on light tackle, whilst you wait for a bite from something a bit more edible.

Portland Harbour: This could be another potential mark for those that are not afraid to cast a lure into a strong wind, for a Bass or two. I love using surface lures in choppy conditions and Bass are more likely to be tricked when they can’t see the lure properly. I like to use 25g poppers or a Patchinko. Make sure you work it hard and create plenty of surface noise with them.

Portland: The East side will be pretty difficult to fish and with a fairly dangerous swell coming into Church Ope Cove, it is probably best avoided. However fishing on the West side of the Bill could well produce Wrasse and the odd Bass.

Weymouth Bay: As I mentioned earlier, Weymouth seafront will be pounded by a good surf, which Bass love. It isn’t going to be the most comfortable fishing, but the rewards could be fantastic. Fish with large baits that are going to give off lots of scent. I prefer Peeler Crab or whole squid.

Talking of Squid, there have been a few caught on the piers this week, but the rough conditions and strong easterly wind, will probably put them off.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com