« on: June 19, 2007, 12:48:18 AM »
Hi all,
Been working, fishing and visiting mates darn sarf for last week, this is briefly how it panned out.
Fri 8th – Sun 9th June: First stop for a couple of nights Tench injection and chill out session at Cotswolds gravel pit. 17 Tench, best 6lb 12oz; caught 16 in the first 24hrs and then they decided it was time for the annual gang bang and lost interest in food.
Sun 9th – Tues 11th June: Bristol Channel nr Weston-super-Mud.
Sun evening 2.5hrs fishing up from low at hush hush low water reef mark produced, in order, thornies ~6lb, 14lb 1oz (pb), lost fish (hook pull), thornie ~3lb, bass ~3lb. Nearly a full house as five casts was all I got in.
Mon morning 3.5hrs over low on ‘Knuckles’ at Sand Point, two thornies 6lb 12oz and ~3lb.
Mon evening 3.5hrs over low back at hush hush mark, one thornie 8lb 12oz, this would have been 9lb+ but for the fact half it’s tail was missing.
Tues morn’ 3.5hrs over low at snag pit at hush hush mark, blanked. This was the hotspot in the past according to the source that put me on the venue initially. I’ve fished this spot twice now and it’s done me no favours so I’ll probably give it a miss as I rarely lose any gear at the spot where I had the big skate, although it is a fair old hike away.
Tues 11th – Thurs 12th June - Solent
Moved onto the Solent Tuesday evening as I had business out Oxford way, things went downhill from here on.
Tues evening 2hrs on the ebb at Hurst Shingle spit –blanked. This is a gorgeous spot that marks the western boundary of the Solent and has a Fort/Castle at the end of the spit over-looking the Needles. It turns up all sorts, including very big bass and cod but is a mile and a quarter trudge over the shingle to the hotspots at the end (there is a ferry too) but had to give this a miss owing to time restrictions.
Wed morn’ 2hrs on the ebb at Hurst Shingle spit – 2 Black Bream. These tend to be small, perhaps 1 in 3 being sizeable but I enjoy the novelty, as there aren’t many places you can catch them from the shore.
Wed evening 3hrs up to top at Park Shore – blanked. A bit of a disappointment here, this is a private beach on the Western Solent with a very good track record for big hounds and some stingers. I’d missed the hounds according to my local snout but his mate had a small stinger the night before I fished. One day I’ll hit it right here if I persevere, 10+ hounds averaging into double figures in a few hours are on the cards here if you drop lucky.
Thurs morn’ 2hrs on Hurst Shingle – 1 Black Bream, I also saw some very big mullet on the salt marsh side of the spit and also in a creek near where I dig my rag. I’d love to have a proper go for these one day but the local knowledge suggests that extensive pre-baiting is the real route to success with these creek critters.
Moved over to Pagham nr Bognor on Thurs evening, as I was en route for a social weekend in Essex. Fished a couple of hours on Thursday evening and again on Friday and had a bass ~2lb on each occasion. Pagham was the place to be for hounds in 2003 and to a lesser extent in 2004 when I first fished there. A number of fish over the record (both common and starry) were caught and released here in 2003. Local anglers had as many as 200 smuts in total for the summer, mostly good 8lb+ fish. It hasn’t really fished well for them since 2004. Interestingly, when I fished there in 2004 it was absolutely loppy with spider crabs and it was certainly unusual for smuts to feed in one spot consistently for months on end as they did in 2003. I had no crab problems this time; bringing full baits back even after half an hour, so that may be why the fish aren’t there anymore? Having had a peek at the mega record shaking Holderness beastie taken by Shammy, perhaps they’ve moved up here to hammer our crabs instead? I hope so!!!!
Fri 15th – Sat 16th June, I fished twice for a couple of hours in Essex south of Clacton. First on the famous ‘naturists’ section of Hutley’s beach at St Osyth, this once held the stinger record at 51lb 8oz and must have produced more 40lb+ shore caught stingers than any other UK beach. John Rawle returned one of 68lb+ from his boat just offshore but I can’t remember if he ever made a record claim, as weighed on board claims were a wee bit contentious at the time (are they still, I’m not into boats?). Conditions were pretty hopeless for a ray with half a gale in my face so no surprises in a blank session this time, again I’ll stick with it and one of these days!? I also fished a beach at Jaywick where I had plenty of codling when I lived in Essex, but also did a few bass there too, to 6lb+, alongside a granite groyne (similar to those at Mappleton). This was yet another blank, although I didn’t stay long as we did a runner to the pub when we got caught in one of those monsoon showers I’d been hearing about on the radio. I was fortunate to be on the south coast last week, as apart from that one deluge I saw very little rain. I believe you all got a proper hammering from the rain back up here in Yorks?
T
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Topic: Tench on Tour - Results (Read 354 times)