mike farrants

Happy birthday pete!

after Storm Nelson on Thursday/Friday there was a very slight break in the weather forecast for Saturday which had us up at the crack of sparrows - for a 6.45am meet at the boat. I had the inlaws staying for Easter and my Birthday so Phil joined me and Tim on Tim's boat. we tried for mackerel first but failed miserably - so soon headed out to the 'Hot spot' as i'm now calling it - 5miles off, 80ft water, mixed ground - throws up all sorts. We fished small baits for bream and were not disappointed - 28 to the boat before we lost count - big ones, small ones, must be feeding up for spawning as they were fat with roe. we also had pout, whiting, and scad in the mix. as the tide slackened off we went with big baits for the scavengers - Phil had his 1st ever Bull huss - Tim had some too - going to 12Lb - also found one pregnant mum - so put her back swiftly. Tim also had a Smoothie, and i had congers and thorny instead of a huss. we of course had dogs - but not too many to spoil the day. there was a lot of left over swell making it rather lumpy and making me queasy for most of the day - as the afternoon got on the wind veered to the SE to ruin it for everyone - so we were back in the marina before 4pm. pub for 5pm. Not sure when we will get out next!

no - would of got rolled over I think!

Forecast wasn't great - but it was the 1st Boat comp of the league with Weymouth Angling society. all week it was discussed do we go ahead or not, as the forecast kept changing - we decided to give it a go as Portland can offer shelter from the wind if SW as forecast. Its a points based competition by species - you get 30 points for the 1st of a species and then 15, 15 and 40 to a total of 100 points for 4 fish of the same species. its then done on most fish, most points, most species and there's also a nominated species on the day (thornback ray) - largest wins. boats leave the harbour at 8am and fishing commenced at 8.30, fishing to stop at 3pm and back tot he club for 4pm. it was a very lumpy day - with 18-20mph winds form the south in the morning moving to SW - but we persevered - on our 5 mile mark we had a huge amount of Bream - couldn't get past them - even taking the big fish baits on the size 10 hooks- we also had dogs, pout, rays, whiting, eels, Scad, wrasse we struggled to get 4 pout, eels, even dogs - at one point i was hoping for a doggie and getting frustrated by all the bream. we moved closer inshore onto the mud in the hope of bigger thornies and more pout - and did manage a few more fish. I ended on 240 and something - Tim ended on 491 and came 2nd in the points, but won the most species with 9. My 18" Ray and Tims 19" ray were dwarfed by the winner! so Tim won £40 something quid - and we all had a good day afloat. im feeling to today though! i didnt get any points for my Scallop - but it was tasty! not many pics as too busy holding on and trying to stay upright!

cracking fish that! well done!

Nice break in the weather so we hit it! Left the marina at 7.45 heading for fresh bait first - not easy but found 3 mackerel to add to the frozen bait - although it took best part of an hour to find them! Soon headed out to our 5mile mark over mixed ground. Dropped the hook in a light tide. we both fished 2 rods each - One rod with big mackerel baits for the rays, one with small hooks and squid strips for bream & Whiting. We had Bream from the off and constant all day - they were ravenous - hitting the baits hard and fast - even shredding the big fish baits - we must have had 50 to the boat between the 2 of us - taking 6 home for dinner and neighbours! great sport on light tackle! even double shots of bream! We also had pout on the smaller baits - but no whiting. the big baits also did the trick when the bream allowed - we both had Huss, and Thornies - mine matched my PB at 14lb. I had also had congers and Tim had the only Dog of the day. felt like spring out there! Lovely stuff!

wasn't too bad!

i got the same tea towel wont cast very far - not very streamlined 😆

well after about 5 weeks of wind we had a very small weather window - of only a few hours. Wind was set to die down Saturday morning to single figures and turn horrible again on Sunday morning so we made a plan. 6.45am at the boat and straight out squeaking under the bridge on the top of a 2.2m tide. Went in search of mackerel first and was met with more than forecast wind and very cold rain - hoping things would improve - we tried the first entrance, for a few drifts and got nothing, so headed up to the 2nd - where my sabikis found a few fresh mackerel to add to the frozen. soon steaming out to the 5 mile mark and got more than halfway when we took the decision to head back inshore= as we got out of the shelter of portland the latent swell from the prior week was big - about 1.5m - but with a cross chop it wouldn't have been comfortable. Swell from the SW, Tide from the NE, and wind chop from the NW - not a good combo. we got to our inshore mark and while the swell was still there it wasn't anywhere near as bad - so anchored up - proceeded to catch Pout, Whiting, Thornies, Eels and i managed a nice smoothie. By lunchtime the swell had calmed down, the wind dropped and the sun was out so we pulled anchor and headed back to our intended 5mile mark. for about an hour it was glorious and almost warm. We boated more pout, whiting, eels and dogs, plus Bream and a lovely undulate. steady fish all day. I took a bream home for tea and a whiting for freezer fillets. delicious - baked on a bed of Mediterranean veg - seasoned with mixed herbs, lemon and chilli So glad to be out!

I could buy 7 times and still have change lol 🤣

thanks All - Shimano seems to be the brand of choice so far!

let me check my lotto numbers......

I'm bored as I haven't been fishing in weeks so turning my attentions to retail therapy, and I know you lot love spending other peoples money I won a boat load of soft plastics form Lureshed and so want to get after a few things - one being trolling and lure fishing off the boat over rough ground - the other is doing more form the shore, piers, rocks etc - I have lovely 30-70g Nomura Kanji rod and Kanji FW40 reel - but the reel is not holding up as well as the rod - the fake shadow chrome on the handle is peeling off and its making some questionable noises. I suspect the rod is high quality = the reel isn't. so what do i replace it with? - something that can cast from the shore and be used on the boat, with a normal spool and spare spool for braid. Sub £100. I also have a lovely Abu vendetta 15-40 lighter spinning rod and an abu cardinal 54. thanks Mike

Welcome Bazzer!

i'm a pikey so I got cheap amazon ones in case they went overboard - and use a floating neoprene lanyard - not lost a pair yet!

We march on!

and did you enjoy the game on saturday 💪?

looks like it was lovely out there- well done for getting out!

i occasionally go down to chesil cove to see waht washes up after a storm - mostly dead birds fenders and old crab pots - heaps of driftwood too. i can usually find the odd rig or two!

Nice one - I do love whiting in panko crumb - delicious!

yeah we could of Andy, but we wanted to inconvenience him at 7.30am on a Sunday - as we had been inconvenienced!! plus it was a contractors dingy and we didn't want to upset them as they're working by the boat for a good few weeks!

Light winds and big tides meant another trip out - met at the marina at 7am and immediately found a problem - the marina are doing work on the wall near my mates boat and they left a dingy in our way and a floating pontoon half blocking our exit - quick rant at the harbour master (who assured we would have unrestricted access throughout the works) and they come and move it - but that took nearly an hour and with the big tide flooding rapidly to high at 9am that left us very little room under the bridge - which wasn't lifting until 10am. we chanced it and squeaked under with 6 inches to spare at the highest point! the day didn't get much better for me despite big tides - only managing pout and a dog. Luckily I caught more than a weekends worth last weekend - and still had fresh fish in the freezer! Tim did better with pout, poor cod, Thornie, spotted ray, a strap and a decent +30lb eel. freezing cold all day - but stunning skies. (tip if you didn't know - if you suffer from cold hands wear a pair of surgical gloves under your neoprene fishing gloves - works wonders for warmth.)

at least you were out eh?

Don’t think you can go far wrong with ugly stick gx2s and Diawa slosh reels. I have leeda icon m rods and slosh reels. I do use a spinning set up from the boat with a fs, for the small stuff and a bit of fun but prefer multis for most stuff!

The bream stay here all year now!