Andy135

GOAL!!!!!!!!

Looks like we're about to find out...

"It's definitely a tope!!" 🤣

Fixed that for you mate.

Yep, I know Dartmouth well, and Blackpool Sands. Worth trying Lannacombe for decent bass too if you're down that way.

Generally I tend not to skimp on hooks. Kamasan are a well known brand and I've used them without issue. Mustad and Cox & Rawle are other good brands. For now I'd say you could start off with the smaller packs until you find a brand you like then look at bulk packs when you're ready.

Good report Tony. As Jon says, probably all of us have trod the shingle at one point or another. I quite enjoy the occasional shore dangle as it's a different experience to a boat session. Neither better or worse, just different. A shore sesh can be good when it's too windy to take the boat out and I often take my beach gear when we visit relatives in Devon - some spectacular shore marks down there.

So what do we reckon the score will be then? Do we really think England can go all the way? And who will the Welshies be cheering for tomorrow, @Odyssey, @jonnyswamp, @headlight?? 🤔😂

🤣 maybe try Barbie's Rigs??

🤣👍👨‍🦰

Good to hear but I was hoping to hear it from the horse's mouth, seeing as he was just online 😉

Yep, me and Pete had to spend the night bobbing about on my airbed whilst we waited for help 🤣🤣

Agreed - pending the results of a wet vs dry test, I'd be inclined to ditch this brand in future.

This is interesting. I've never heard of the need for braid to be wet before it delivers the stated breaking strain. Let us know the results if you test it out - I'm genuinely curious. 👍

Really? Can't think why! 🤣🤣

How does this even happen? And with no damage?? Guessing they were at anchor and settled onto the reef very gently. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-57768179 Either way, a good outcome apart from someone's ego taking a bruising 🤣

Are you certain that you're only lifting 30lb of weight, not more? If so, then I suspect that the quoted breaking strain has been over-stated. To break at just over half of the quoted b.s. and mid-length suggests that it's not truly 50lb b.s. braid. We had some Spiderwire braid at the boat meet recently, and the spool markings were a little intriguing, in that it was labelled as 20lb b.s. braid, but also carried a max b.s. figure of 36lb. I wonder if your PowerPro is quoting the absolute max b.s. (i.e. the factory managed to obtain a single recorded b.s. test result of 50lb, but the average b.s. was actually much lower) and should really be downgraded to quote 30lb.

@headlight, let's hear your report of the session then 😉👍

Good work Jon. 👍

FFS... 🤣

Ah, yes. That's a good one. Poor old Bill...

I've heard of people cutting the gills to let the fish bleed out as a method of improving the quality of the flesh. However I would have thought that the brain would need to be alive to tell the heart to keep pumping in order to purge all the blood, so I'm not convinced of the Ikijime method but having never tried it I'll keep an open mind. Let us know if you notice a difference in the quality and taste 👍

Agree with Mike. 100lb mono leaders for conger, paired with 6/0 Aberdeens. For other fishing I tend to use 40lb mono leaders, with hooks sized appropriately for whatever the target species is. For plaice specifically, I use 15lb fluoro leaders, usually around 1.5-2ft long, behind a watch lead - watch leads have been proven to puff up silt and sand on the sea floor more effectively than other lead shapes, and this puff of material draws in the plaice as they think that it's a prey fish feeding. The relatively short leader then presents your hookbait in the vicinity of the puff of sand, leading to a better hook-up rate (although I still seem to blank more than I catch when plaice fishing). I also use black and green beads on the leader. Others use different coloured beads depending on what fishes best on their local marks. For bream there are some good threads on here regarding bream rigs. @Scotch_Egg2012 has done some side by side comparisons if I remember correctly and found that hook lengths with pop-up/floating beads were more effective at catching bream than those without. Usually a 2 or 3 hook flapper rig with small (size 4-6) hooks are used, along with pop-up beads, and thin, finger-length strips of squid. I doubt that hook size or bait size will prevent marginally under-sized fish from being caught, so you may decide to go with smaller hooks and return those that are not in size, given that young anglers usually find catching something small is better than catching nothing.

Very nice fish PH! Well done. Good write up too. 👍