Andy135

No, it's true. We exhausted our bait supply... caught way more fish than we expected 😁.

wow what a day, I met Tim and his son at Tims boat at 7.30 - with the plan to be a morning on the Shambles drifting the last of the flood for Turbot until the tide got too much and the afternoon under the bill drifting for bass and wrasse. 
We picked up 10 decent mackerel first thing and headed out to the shambles West bouy (as the tide as flooding W-E).
Rigged up with booms, watch leads, and mackerel fillets on long traces - size 4 hooks so the small flatties have a chance too!
Fist drift was a tad fast, but Tim hooked into a very nice 4lb Bass. great fish!

2nd drift it was my turn to get a bite - a good scrap, plenty of head shakes and taking line and I Bag a worldie of a fish - a monster Bass - it was huge - biggest i've ever seen let alone caught - it went to 10lb on the scales - put my previous 2lber in the shade! 

not long after dropping down again i got another hit - and this was another big fish - a decent fight, stripping line, and heading up tide, soon at the boat we could see it was a big tope - it didn't like the boat or the net so went for a 3rd run - soon enough we had it in the boat for a quick pic and then away. 

just as we had motored back to the west bouy the tide turned so we had to reposition - this drift produced a lovely Brill and a weaver for Tim. 
  
the ebbing tide picked up real quickly producing some nasty overfalls so we decided to drift off the back of the bank into deeper water and switch to soft plastics for the bass - we all managed a couple of smaller bass on lures - all around the 2lb mark. 
as we drifted away we realised we were heading into the race, and the sea picked up real ugly so we quickly aborted plans and motored slowly back through the horrible sea off the bill - swell coming from the SW, tide racing west - It was not pleasant for about 30 mins motoring. expert skippering from Tim on the wheel and throttle saw us back in the bay to anchor on the mud. 
here we caught doggies, smoothies and bream for the afternoon. 
I took my bass to the angling club to have it weighed as i believe it to be specimen size, meaning I might win monthly or even annual biggest Bass award. Sadly it lost weight over the day in the coolbox (I had bled it) and it came in at 4.072kg which is a fraction under 9lb - still a monster fish!
Tim gave me his Brill to take home and then i had the dilemma - was i going to have bass or brill for tea? 
since i've never had Brill before i went for that and the bass got filleted up, Vacuum packed and put in the freezer. 10 decent sized fillets off it! there were 2 more brill fillets for the freezer too
Brill fillets baked in butter and seasoned - delicious.

 
it dwarfed my chopping board and sink!

 
An epic day and a new PB - going to take me some time to beat that now!

No, it's true. We exhausted our bait supply... caught way more fish than we expected 😁.

Mullet are easy once you've got them cracked.
Feeding habits change from location to location. When you can see the fish up in the water like this on top, throw in half a slice of bread and sit on your hands and watch. Rip into finger tip sized flakes but don't squash the bread and knock the air out..as it will obviously sink.
Key is to gradually build up the offerings and only when they confidently numing the bread should you sling in a line... and then beyond the feeding fish and bring your line in slowly to the area where the fish are feeding.
Hooks? Mustard B983's, size 8 or 6. I use a carp self cocking float .. hook length is tricky as fluoro will sink so just a good quality line, about 5 ft should do it.. bread flake should be pinched around the eye of the hook.
Mullet will also feed differently upon location, creeks can be tough if they are sifting silt for micro organisms.. no different from chucking surface lures for Bass if the bass are noses down looking for crabs.. match the hatch to a degree..
Harbours, sea walls at depth is easier again but less fun.. shop bought ground bait, mix in some bread.. shitty mackerel if you have it and ball it in to start then gradually feed.. as for set up? Waggler style with a reasonable drop or as some of the less finesse guys approach is to drop down a two hook patt small hooks and mould bread to hook, obviously exposing the hook point. Another tip, mould bread or ground bait around the sinker.. also worth fishing mackerel strip!
Time of the day plays a part, off the top.. early mornings late afternoons into evenings..
Fishing deeper, you'll catch any time of day or at night.. 
When we used to get round to Hurst Bassin on bait gear, we used to regularly catch Bream and Mullet on 8/0's, mackerel head and gut baits. Goes to show that Mullet are not all that difficult.  

Blue cheese mate! 

It is great to have Kyle back as crew, now that he has finished his A levels, so we launched at 07:30 into a flat sea, with an intention of getting back to the slip at 15:30.
The forecast for the skerries area was fog / mist until 09:00 and then a cloudy but warm day, but the weather guessers got that very wrong.  Once we rounded Berry Head, the mist was thick and getting worse, so I dropped the speed to 24knts, however the visibility was 1/2 mile so no real issues. On went the Nav lights and I also double checked that the AIS was fully functional.
We arrived at the Skerries at about 08:15 and the visibility was just a few hundred yards, but the sea was mirror calm, and no wind.
A few drifts across the banks produced numerous small Plaice and only one keeper (we don't keep anything under 35cm), 4 plump Mackerel, one monster Launce (snake), and numerous Red and Grey Gurnard, so plenty to keep us busy.
At the end of slack water (12:15 ish), we motored over to the outer edge of the banks and I dropped the pick. Bite were slow, with kyle getting a doggie and 2 decent  blonds (8lb & 10 1/2lb). I was trying out some other ideas and only managed a 3lb spider !
At 14:30 we pulled the pick, the visibility was getting worse at maybe 200 yards, so a gentle trip off the banks at 20kts, but we picked up speed once we reached the Mudstone Ledge.
Back on the slip at 15:30, a total trip of 48nm, and a very pleasant day.
Just one pic that says it all

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

@Saintly Fish and I went mulleting with @Scotch_Egg2012 from shore a couple of seasons ago. Bloody frustrating they were.
Would love to properly target them but I'm not sure I have the patience.

Ah, bad luck Josh. Sounds like a frustrating session, but top marks for making the effort to get out there. You must be knackered!

I'm going to take a travel rod and get totally frustrated. 

Does anyone target mullet from boat or shore at all?

So I arrived home from Turkey last night
with an incredible forecast Sunday questioning do I ? don’t I ?… I should stay at home prepare for the week ahead ect…
so anyway
1am came and I was on the road by 25past
heading for itchneor slip

lauched by 3.55 and heading through the harbour I was gunning for the slack at the Outer Owers to try for some bass and I was up against it time wise with a 15mile run from the harbour. So I stopped once and was lucky enough to pick up a small scad and one mackerel great some live baits. Then was disciplined enough not to stop again untill arriving at the mark.
I actually got there before the slack had started so time wise I got more than I needed.
fish wise not so good .. live bait down and feeding the float back on one rod and Dexter wedge off the bottom with another.
no takes first drift
second drift the floats gone down great! Wer on !
nope Wer off !
so I dropped the float back without checking the bait and bang I just picked the other rod up and the float was down again! Okay yes fish is ON….
well all went light float came up the bass even had the audacity to follow the the mackerel to the boat.assuming it was the same fish..
i forgot to say when I arrived and set up I put the tiny scad on which would of been perfect and as I threw it over it came off so that’s why the mackerel went on… heinsight I recon I should of sized my hook up a bit..
anyway back round and seeing a few more individual surface splashes now casting at them
rubbers and dexters but no joy.
by this point the mackerel was stiff so I flapped it set it out then & float went down again and I was properly on … however it wasn’t a bass it was a conger of about 8lb . So I was heart pounding for the net untill I saw it. 
after than I started following the birds and there were fish with them but no joy for me. A lot of baitfish under boat in areas. Not sure what it was I couldn’t pick them up maybe very mini sandeels.


with a short day planned I shot into a tope mark  that Iv had some incredible action in the past that’s pretty reliable and that was very quiet too. A small black bream  and a few dogs .
Amazing forecast saw some monster mullet in the harbour biggest Iv ever seen. So just sunsets & sounders today 
not even a poorly cooked sausage 

Great job guys 🎣 

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

Great job stingers are hard to find, getting 2 is a top effort 🙂 

Club comp tomorrow from Burnham On Sea

Well done boys  nice fish congrats on the pbs i never had a stingray  maybe one day 🐳

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

what a grate day you had , you could not arsk for moore.andy must have lost his blankty blank check book.🤣

Epic! Great report and lovely fish! Well done 👍👍

Excellent session, well dangled 👍
I have never caught a stinger in the uk, caught plenty in other destinations, but none here.

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

Great session guys 

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

Well done the pair of ya
👍👍

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.