Andy135

He's had it in for me ever since the Camberwell trip. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't suggest 50kgs and a concrete wetsuit.

Nice write up Jon. Some lovely photos too. 👍

Yes, it's a rubber weight belt. Yes, they had slipped round to the front as I like them positioned at the back. I reckon I could do with one more weight as I feel a bit too buoyant - it's hard to hold bottom at present.

We were further north up the estuary than Rock. Hawker's Cove is roughly opposite Daymer Bay, which itself is north of Rock. However we were at Rock on Tuesday for a beach day with the dog and buckets & spades. Didn't see Gordon though.

Do you mean Rick Stein, as in Padstein/Padstow?

Yes, I had planned the dive with tides in mind and didn't want to be caught out over the bar. As it was we stayed to the west side of the bar and avoided the navigation channel... but I must admit I drifted perilously close without even realizing how far out I was - and it was a bugger of a swim back! Won't make that mistake again. Who TF is Gordon though??

🤣🤣 better than drugs for me - a catch, not a blank!

Ha! It's a drop of water on the GoPro lens.

Our family went to Hawker's Cove beach yesterday and today. I also brought my spearfishing gear along. The Camel estuary used to be known for plaice in years gone by, and I had a plan to see if I could spear one for the barbecue. Yesterday was more of a warm up. I went for a swim but decided to leave the spear gun on the beach and focus on the lie of the land. Of course as sod's law would have it I spotted a plaice within the first 10 minutes. I dived down to wrestle with it but it escaped my grasp. I later returned with the spear gun but of course no plaice were to be seen. Today I went back in with my speargun from the off. The plan was that I would swim out to the estuary mouth over slack and drift back over the Doom Bar and along the side of the channel where the sand meets the rock. My son and brother-in-law would paddle out on his inflatable kayak and drift back as my support boat. It was a relatively quick swim out, with no tide to hinder me. On the way I came across an old lobster pot snagged on a huge abandoned anchor, a brown crab moulting site where the sand was littered with empty shells, and a line of active crab pots. As I started the drift back the ground was quiet, just the occasional spider crab to break the monotony of endless sand. As I drifted closer to the rock wall at the side of the channel something caught my eye. A plaice, lying still on the bottom. As I circled round and duck dived he swam off, clearly sensing a predator. Maybe my body language gave me away as my heart rate increased and my focus sharpened. As I followed him on the surface I tried to relax and control my breathing, ready for the next dive. I saw him pause on the sand so I dived again but, clearly wise to the threat, he moved off again towards the rocky submerged scree slope. Up on the surface I gathered my breath and went back down to find him back over the sand and burying himself. I could still see his eyes above the surface of the sand so I went for broke and nailed him before he could make another break for it. My son and brother-in-law were on hand to capture the moment! Not the biggest of fish - he looked huge underwater yet somehow shrunk on the surface - but as my first ever speared fish, and my first plaice of the year, he was a trophy I shall treasure.

Quality session! Very well dangled by all. Well done. Curious about the gurnard - wonder what brought them to the bank in such numbers?

They're all decent sized fish. Well done 👍

Well done @mike farrants! You've got it. Come on the rest of you.

I might go fishing tomorrow too. My last weekday session was rather productive.

I prefer this one.

Nice try, but only a fool wouldn't check first before starting a post like this... 😉

That's the point of the thread 🤣 #spotthemistake

Spot the spelling mistake. Whoever proof-read this should be sacked... 🤦‍♂️ #spellingrant

Headed back to the same spot as before, with the Majorcraft Jigpara 30g slow jig. Plan of attack was to see if I could better last nights result. Upon arrival I met two anglers from Cheltenham who were staying in Fowey for the week. They were fishing sandeel on the bottom but hadn't had a bite after two hours of trying. I shared what I'd learned from last night and they switched to tinsels and began casting in roughly the right area. There was room on the rock for all of us, so I flicked out the jig and began fishing. A few casts later I found a small pollack. And a few casts later another one. A better scrap from a mackerel next, which hit the jig almost as soon as it hit the water. On the next cast I found another one but dropped it at the surface. One of the lads from Cheltenham managed a pollack on tinsels, breaking his blank, which was good to see. Another pollack came to the slow jig next. Then another mackerel, this one taking the jig in the top 6 inches of water like the last one. As the light started to fade the Cheltenham pair bade me farewell and retreated to the pub. I hung on for a few more last casts and picked up another small pollack. Time to head home after a busy session, where the slow jig comfortably out-fished the tinsels and bait with many more fish in a shorter time.

I was counting down 6 seconds per sweep, and on a couple of occasions I was hooking the tips of kelp fronds, so I didn't risk going much deeper.

Polruan castle.

To be clear, you don't get to put any fish in the puddle first. 😉

Excellent results Mike! Nicely done 👍 Turbot is a rare fish round here. Very envious. And well done on the launce too.

Plenty of bass and wrasse just off the Bill so I reckon you'll do well.

Yep, very worthwhile. 👍 It was a lovely evening to be out. Several people stopped for a chat, including a guy who had recently spent two days salmon fishing on the River Wye, only to catch a chub. 😖 I felt bad for him, especially as he was watching me reel in the wrasse as he was telling me about his expensive blank. Mind you, I was grateful not to be blanking myself 🤣