Davemc

Well done Bones , Great to hear an update , Been a strange one this year for me , Lots of decent fish plus some head scratching too...
I had a similar fish last week that took a sp down the throat ,  I was in two minds whether it would make it after a lengthy unhooking , it went back after a while  but I still think I maybe should have taken it as it may not have recovered .... 

Great report Bones! It's often the way that a fish takes at the very end of the session. Maybe it's the speedier retrieve when we're keen to pack up? Who knows, but well done on your new PB. 
Yes, it's a bittersweet moment if you have to dispatch a good specimen, but you did right by the fish instead of letting it bleed out and suffer, plus your mate got a decent feed out of it too.
Top dangling 👍

So...I hope everyone has been out enjoying themselves and catching loads of fish!?
The plan for me this year was to fish the life out of three different marks in the hope of sussing out some kind of rhythm. A couple of short sessions a week and a bi monthly all dayer. I've kept a diary and everything. It's going ok, I've very rarely blanked but just as rarely caught anything worth of a mention. lots of bits around the 2lb mark and lots and LOTS of proper tiny ones. 
Last Saturday I spent a good few hours at a mark where I've had all my best fish and where I felt I was really getting to grips with. 2 fish in a handful of casts straight of the bat. Nothing massive, just short of a couple of pound. "Yes mate, here we go", I thought, and then nothing....for five hours, even though at times every couple of seconds I would see a spikey dorsal darting about or a big swirl or bow wave. I tried everything I had and could I catch one? Could I fuck. I must've covered every square foot of water and just as I was reeling in to walk off the beach and blame it on something other than my shit angling, WHACK! I'm in. Brilliant scrap, it had a few tries and fair play but it was well hooked and eventually I slid it up the beach onto the wrack. 
Real thick 62cm. New PB for me. Unfortunately there was lots of blood and although I rushed the photo and tried my best it was not swimming away or even looking to get any better. Ive never killed a bass and was massively unprepared. I don't even carry a knife. I looked around the shore for something to speed up the job and inspired by my old parachute regiment days, picked up a brick and used my initiative. To make myself feel better I gave her to a mate who would do something special with her.
So a bit high and low on this one but worthy of a report I thought.
Thanks for reading.

Well done Dave! Lovely bit of kit 👍

Well what a day that was ... The first time I've been to sea and it's been drama less !  Apart from a raft of weed that wrapped around my peddle drive prop .
Thought it would be a good day to test my skills on a flat sea 🤣
The mark was a fair way from the slip but it was worth the effort peddling against a small flooding tide which took a good 45 minutes to reach .
the bass were very obliging & I found a lovely little rip that was holding a school of 2/3lbrs , After an hour or two I had managed 30+ fish and now my finder is covered in little markers ! 

Well what a day that was ... The first time I've been to sea and it's been drama less !  Apart from a raft of weed that wrapped around my peddle drive prop .
Thought it would be a good day to test my skills on a flat sea 🤣
The mark was a fair way from the slip but it was worth the effort peddling against a small flooding tide which took a good 45 minutes to reach .
the bass were very obliging & I found a lovely little rip that was holding a school of 2/3lbrs , After an hour or two I had managed 30+ fish and now my finder is covered in little markers ! 

They probably do take stinky bait but as bycatch intended for sea species. I've not heard of anyone deliberately targeting sea trout with bait.
Bear in mind that if you intend to catch sea trout (vs catching one as bycatch when targeting other species) you will need a salmon & sea trout licence.
https://linesonthewater.anglingtrust.net/2018/12/04/what-sort-of-fishing-licence-do-i-need/comment-page-1/
https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/types-of-licences-and-rod-limits

No no, pure bycatch gov.. my c lures are for bass fishing. The trout question was just a passing thought. 

Flying C lures or flies tend to be the go-to methods. Neither are technically stinky bait.

Plenty seem to be about. What’s the best technique to catch them??

Ouch! Sometimes it just goes like that. Bad luck.

Stinky baits ....really ....? you should know better 😁

What a beauty!

With the weather on the south coast too breezy for comfort on the boat, @Saintly Fish and I hatched a plan to chase rays and hounds from the shore in the Solent. So last night we hit the shingle, complete with Leo and Holly the Wonder Dog.

As the sun set we were full of anticipation for a busy night's dangling.

Before long darkness fell and this became our view for the rest of the session...

Static rods untroubled by fish... 😭. The early weed gave way to a few tentative rattles that failed to materialize into fish on the shingle. With the chill creeping up on us we called it quits just after 11pm and headed for home with our tails between our legs. What a pair of blankers... 😥

We're having a family getaway this weekend and I managed to find a half hour to myself so I wandered down the lane to a secluded brook with fly rod in hand. 
After a few flicks I had a missed bite, closely followed by a take but the fish shook the hook. Next cast into the same spot and this little chap graced the bank. Absolutely beautiful little wild brown trout. Definitely not the biggest, but totally wild and with lovely vivid markings. A quick photo then back he went, then back home I went.

 

Saturday 19th June looked like a bit of a short trip out as 10-12mph East/SE winds were forecast from lunchtime which usually makes Weymouth bay a little uncomfortable, but as the wind was non existent first thing we thought we would at least head out and try for some fresh mackerel for the BBQ. 
We left the marina at 7.45 to near perfect conditions, and headed to Portlands north entrance, i had a mackie on the first drop, but it was slow going, the charter boats werent exactly hauling them in either, - Phil got a full sting of keepers and also got a lovely grey gurnard - all on sabikis - i had a few more on my daylights - in an hour we had enough for the BBQ, and some for bait, the weather was looking fine so we decided to anchor up close in so we could head back if needed. 
 
we settled for a mark off Portlands east entrance, where we had had conger before. 
Phil immediately started pulling in dogs, so at least we were catching!
I had no luck on mackerel strip so thought i would bung a fresh mackerel head down and set the ratchet, while I set up a bream rig on another rod with small hooks and squid strip.
wasn't long before the ratchet started clicking,  and bang - my PB Conger - put up a great fight and was a right grumpy sod in the boat - couldn't weigh it so lets call it 20lb+ - was knackered so went back down with half a squid instead - hoping for a smoothie.

before long the bream rod rattled and up came my first ever red gurnard - a nice surprise!
then the other rod went and bang - target achieved - a nice smoothie!

the bream rod then went nuts, and snap - off came the bottom hook - i assumed conger as the snood was roughed up - re-hooked and back down. 
then my main rod went and up came another lovely (greedy) grunty 1lb Red Gurnard new PB!

then the bream rod again, and snapped off the bottom hook again. 
(still no Dogs for me) - Phil was laughing at the chaos - as no sooner had i put a fish back the other rod went!
Next up for me was another conger, not so big - this one spat out my distinctive yellow hook from the bream rig - confirmed my assumptions. 
things then calmed down, midday came with no wind so we checked in with our "Heads of Fun & Finance" to see if we could stay out longer - permission granted  - so we decided to stick out to high water at 2pm (which is when the wind picked up) 
I then had 2 dogs and another decent conger, - phil had a quiet time - payback for when he out fished me the other week!
on returning to Weymouth we heard a mayday in newtons cove - less than 1/2 mile form our position - lad with his ankle stuck in prop - seeing a string of ribs & fast boats make their way and knowing it would take us longer to get there than the lifeboat we continued our journey in. Casualty was recovered and transferred to ambulance by a training rib on scene.
cracking day with mixed results - and the mackerel was delicious!

@Andy135 we had them up to 8lb
two hours solid silver bashing until a seal turned up and killed it stone dead

Can I ask where at St Caths you fish I also have a mark there that you might be better off trying
Will pm you the Sandown numbers

Up at the absolute crack of dawn this morning before it was even properly light, 4am to be precise. At the boat by just before 6am.
Stopped to have a quick chat with @Rocket Ron in the marina. Everyone and their dog appeared to be planning an early session judging by how densely moored all the dry stack boats were on the holding pontoon. Ron's anchor was pretty much in the the next boat's splashwell, so I did my good deed for the day by helping to shove him off... the boat off the pontoon I should say, not him into the water.
After seeing him off I gently nudged Jersey Girl out of her berth and into the harbour. Lovely flat calm conditions. As I turned on my VHF I caught the tail end of the coastguard asking all vessels to keep a sharp lookout for a MOB in a red lifejacket...! Fingers crossed he/she was ok.
The conditions remained flat out past St Helen's on the IoW.

The plan was to try off St Cats Point for a bass or pollack with the slow jigs, then head into Sandown Bay to drift for bream.
The first half of my plan sucked. St Cats was empty of fish, or maybe just the marks I was trying, because after 2 hours of prospecting it was one-nil to the blank.
Coming back east on the flood to Sandown Bay I rigged up my bream rod (aka a 9ft spinning rod and fixed spool reel). I was using 2 hook flappers with yellow pop-ups and I had rigged the snoods as pennells. Hopefully this would maximise my chances of hooking up instead of having my bait nipped off. Squid strips were the main course and they went down well! Plenty of rattles from the off, followed by a small bream. One-all and the blank beaten!

On the next drift a better specimen presented himself.

The next few drifts offered up another couple of bream and plenty of missed bites. I was starting to turn lobster pink in the sun by this time. Too hot! Time to head for home.
On the run back into the harbour I saw the biggest flock of sea birds I've ever come across. Didn't seem to be feeding though, which was just as well seeing as it was crazy busy with boaters in the harbour.

By now there was a 7kt breeze from the SE, which had risen just in time to make a mockery of my solo mooring attempts. They say a picture paints a thousand words, so I'll just leave you with this rough outline of my attempt to get onto the holding pontoon. It's ok... you can point and laugh... 🤣

Yep, like a rat up a drain pipe 😉👍🤣

but you werent catching doggies? 🤪
 
 

I can't tell you that ! Andy would be there in a flash ! 

nice fish - great kayak set up!
where were you fishing>?

Well what a day that was ... The first time I've been to sea and it's been drama less !  Apart from a raft of weed that wrapped around my peddle drive prop .
Thought it would be a good day to test my skills on a flat sea 🤣
The mark was a fair way from the slip but it was worth the effort peddling against a small flooding tide which took a good 45 minutes to reach .
the bass were very obliging & I found a lovely little rip that was holding a school of 2/3lbrs , After an hour or two I had managed 30+ fish and now my finder is covered in little markers ! 

Well what a day that was ... The first time I've been to sea and it's been drama less !  Apart from a raft of weed that wrapped around my peddle drive prop .
Thought it would be a good day to test my skills on a flat sea 🤣
The mark was a fair way from the slip but it was worth the effort peddling against a small flooding tide which took a good 45 minutes to reach .
the bass were very obliging & I found a lovely little rip that was holding a school of 2/3lbrs , After an hour or two I had managed 30+ fish and now my finder is covered in little markers !