Shambles........

[alun j.]

Cool and misty......set out on my friend's boat from Weymouth yesterday morning into the murk , whipped up by light Southeasterly ......... visibility 20 yrds. and about 7 C.

 

Slow and steady , using GPS , got us out to the banks inabout 40 mins. ......... but where were all the other boats ???

 

Took a while to adjust the drift speed [ difficult with no frames of reference ] using a 10 kg. gym weight and length of chain. Managed two plaice before the tide stopped......but not the big ones I hoped for [ one to one&half lbs,]

 

Used feathers / Hokais and found Launce ....... hundreds of them......and a few herring.

 

Question : what do you do with these giant sandeels ??

 

We tried them as bait; whole and slices........... but not a tickle !!

 

Surprised at how long the water stayed slack ...... must be the double low water; when it did get going again, we picked up another plaice [ bit bigger].

 

Stopped on the Hood on the way back in........... and found some fair size pollack.

 

An interesting day saved by technology ........ use of the compass would have been hopeless without gps, because the tide pushes you so far sideways!

 

So, we beat the fog and found a few plaice and herring for dinner........and no boat traffic jams.

 

Cheers,

 

Alun.

[Paul D]

Alun,

 

What did you use to catch the pollack. I tried ragworm on a long flowing trace bounced along the top of the wreck, but had no success. ( Was on the ebbing tide ).

 

Glad you found the launce and some herring ( I caught some of them last year ).

Must say I have never caught anything using them as bait either ( apparently a fillet will take turbot, I think - and wish ).

 

 

[Sam]

nice to see some fish being caught and nice report.

 

how many launce did you catch? there ment to make great bait, never tried.

 

wish i could have been out there roll on tomorrow off to burnham

 

sam

[alun j.]

Paul,

 

Pollack on big Hokais and giant white feathers [ 7/0 ??]

 

The herring we had for supper; didn't even think of them for bait.

 

Sam,

 

Hundreds of launce ...... the big white feathers outfished the Hokais 2 or 3 to one!

 

but they didn't do any good as bait; only big , Poole rag caught fish.

 

Swash Channel ?? ............ thinking of trying here later next week as tides build.

 

I've only had a little success here in the past [ for plaice ] and often find the weed troublesome. Would the Shambles tactics of dragged weight to slow drift work here ?? Anyone tried ??

 

Alun.

[Coddy]

Hi Alan

 

Well done on getting out.

 

Fished the Swash last week, first time for me.

 

Found that the tide was not too fast but others boat wash is a problem

 

We tried the chain ferry end but nothing not even a nibble but the last two poles we had one placie and a number of knocks

 

Drift speed according to the GPS was about 1/2knt seemed best. At one time we did not seem to move, however there is something close to the last pole (tide marker I think) which grabed and kept 2 lots of complete tackle! so take care.

 

Was not too sure of depth going over the rocks? so got close but did not cross.

 

Hope this helps

 

Coddy

[Sam]

dave,

 

at hide tide you can easily drift between the end two posts we did it in the summer and are boat has alot deeper hull than yours so it would be ok at high water.

 

alun,

if you need crew next week you know were i am

 

sam

[Paul D]

Must say I have never caught anything using them as bait either ( apparently a fillet will take turbot, I think - and wish ).

Alun,

 

I was actually referring to using the Launce as bait. I have just re-read my post and can see my english was bad