mike farrants

in all seriousness, what is the best method for trolling feathers for mackerel - 2ish knots? 4oz cannon ball? what length of line do you let out? I guess you have to vary the depths - benefit of having 2 rods .... but any pointers much appreciated anyone use a paravane or anything similar?

I'll be flat out....... chug chug chug!!

might give trolling a go, sounds like a good plan for a nice sunny evening!

nice fish - and very brave to be barefoot........ 🤪

plus we had a june bloom - not in May - again indicating 4-5weeks delay. we'll be up to the gunwhales in mackerel soon!

mackerel very few and far between they were in in good numbers in June last year - piers, shore and even in the harbour - nothing close in at all in Weymouth. other fishing has been ok though - Smoothounds, Tope , spurdogs, rays, conger, bream, plenty of doggies, etc I think its just late, I work in landscaping and the season is around 4-5 weeks behind - due to the cold spring we had. hopefully the mackerel will come, and the other fish will follow!!

looked like a great day out!

no never fished the beach - would imagine all that coast holds plenty of mixed species!

yes - all my rods are 2nd hand and older technology - but these icons are like new, and very responsive!

don't know what came over me but it went back - it was such an unexpected catch I didn't think it would do it justice to kill it!

13th July I had the day off so I dusted down the kayak for the first time this year and had a mooch about portland harbour - nothing doing, so in the evening i went to stone pier with the float rod for mackies or Gar - nothing there either I had a small spinning rod for a bit of fun close in - target was wrasse or pout to save the blank - what I pulled in was a total shock - felt like dead weight - I assumed spider crab...... it was an in size lobster, caught on a manky mackerel strip on a ledgered size 6 hook........ 10 yards out from the pier over clean ground.......

Lulworth Cove L

Durdle door

Loveley day out on a friends boat on lulworth ledges - I got gifted 2 new rods that someone was having a clear out - both Leeda Icons, one 12-20lb one 20-30lb. we started off markerel feathering in portland entrances - christened the 12-20lb with a few mackerel on tinsels - my mates sabikis were proving better though. then we headed off to Lulworth Ledges in search of bream - i manged a couple of babies and a starfish..... my mate had 4 sizeable ones, 2 are in my freezer, one i ate before the football on sunday (we wont mention that again) and one was gifted to a neighbour. The fishing wasn't the best for me - but happy to be out on what was a glorious day - we did a bit of sightseeing too on the way home!

Welcome, i'm based in weymouth so visit "The beach of broken dreams" often - portland end mostly though! otherwise i'm out of weymouth on the boat fishing the adamant, lulworth ledges, occasionally the shambles or further!

sweet! nice fishing!

my mate is out of weymouth tomorrow - sadly i cant pull a sickie....... got a few days off next week though!

yeah did that on the bream and turbot i ate recently - the fish was delicious - cant say it wasn't just my expert cooking though?

yes - i have yellow hooks, and yellow pop ups on my bream rigs!

good work so far! I generally use a running ledger (sliding weight on a boom) - and a 2,3 or 4 ft trace of varying thickness - 100lb and large hooks if i'm in conger or tope territory, 50lb and mid sized hooks elsewhere - might seem overkill but a few doggies roughing up your hook lengths could lead to a lost fish. i'll then use a one up one down type rig for bream/gurnard, etc. Not very experienced at catching plaice - but beads & sequins do improve catch rates!

happy to assist with marks around the Weymouth and Portland area! but yes very busy at times. even though I live here id still be the last to arrive in pugwash - chug chug........