Dedication and perseverance paid off

With Woody catching that that ray last week we've been eagerly awaiting the wind and swell to ease back so we could get back out on them.

Last night was pretty much the first night the conditions were sensible enough to go and after checking the webcams at various intervals throughout the day a last minute call was made to go for it.

The only issue was the late tide. It was low water at 23:00 and with the fact that most of the North coast surf beaches are flatter then a ballet dancers tit's it would have been futile to try and fish the dropping tide. So we arranged for me to pick Woody up at 20:45 and after a 15 minute drive and a slow set up we'd be into the slacker part of the tide and it wouldn't be too bad chasing it down the beach.

I'm not usually to keen on arranging trips to go out later because after a hard day at the shop drinking coffee and smoking fag's I'm usually worm out and the moment i sit down that's the end any aspirations of going fishing. That coupled with a massive roast dinner the Mrs had waiting for me when i got home meant i was firmly glued to the sofa with little chance of moving.

But with a couple packs of Eel in the cool box and the chance of ray i somehow managed to haul my arse off of the sofa and get my gear sorted. It wasn't too much of a mission as my TSR's we still on my rod's from the last session and my beach bumbag was still loaded with all of the gear i needed. With the big tides and reasonable swell though i decided it would be fool hardy to try and fish two rod's. As much as i like to fish two rod's sometimes it's just better to concede that fishing one rod can, not only be easier but also be more productive. With any year's experience of fishing the beach we were going to i knew full well that on a big tide, with reasonable swell there would be a big surge which would mean wading the best part of 100 yards casting, and walking back and leaving an unattended rod for the best part of 5 minutes. Forgetting to loosen the drag and getting a good run could well result in seaward bound rod.

So, by 21:00 we were in the car park, waders on, jacket on, bumbag on, hat on and headlight on. A quick look down over the beach showed the tide was miles away, a bit more swell then there had been earlier and a fair amount of weed on the high tide line with other bits spread down the beach. I wasn't massively happy but I popped my rod together and set off for the beach to be called back. Guess which numb skull had brought the butt section of a zippy HSM and the tip section of a Century TTSM? I'll give you a clue.....It wasn't me! So back to car, all the gear off back out of the car park and back to Woody's house to get a matching rod section. Not a great start but these thing's are sent to test us. It was very tempting to say bugger it and go home as losing half an hour of what was always due to be short, hard session wasn't ideal.


By around 21:30 we were actually ready to go and quickly walked to our preferred spot. As we had thought there was a massive surge running and there was bound to be a hefty left to right pull. A southerly wind would also put a bit a left wind bow in the line. Common sense, something woody obviously lack's, then dictated a walk left from the sand spikes, wade left and a long cast left. This seemed to work perfectly as, the time we were back at the sand spikes it seemed to be nice and straight.

That first 5 or 10 minutes after your first cast is probably my favourite time of time any session. You've missioned to the mark, got hurriedly set up and baited up and cast out but you can then chill out, spark one up and crack a tin of Strongbow. But unfortunately that time didn't last too long. My tip bent right over to be follwed by a couple of short bounces. It certainly didn't look like a bite so picked the rod up of a few second's which only compounded my first though-weed. It's not what you want after the mission we had just had, you've waded out miles, cast even further, just started to relax and then you've got to bring the bugger in and go through it all again.

"not to worry" i though to myself. I always like to check my first cast fairly quickly to see how my rigs are doing in the condition's and if i need to make any adjustments, so i would have checked it soon after anyway. It's always far more annoying getting weed though when your raying as it's always difficult to tell for certain if it's weed or if it's a ray as a big lump of weed can catch in the rip and feel very much like a fish. Anyway, it was weed and my rig was perfect so i strapped another eel on and cast back out again.

Next was woody with more weed, then me, then him, I'm sure you get the picture. It was worth persevering though as we were fast approaching slack water at the bottom of the tide which would mean less rip, less wading and hopefully less weed.

Then around 20 minutes from the bottom of the tide Woody had the same tapping we had been getting for the last hour or so but then it went right. And not just a touch right put well right. It had to be a ray. A good little scrap later resulted in another fine double for Woody.

The Small eyed population has really suffered in recent years. For whatever reason they have been very few and far between for the last few years. Whether it's commercial activity or just a natural cycle i don't know but either way, you don't see to many big small eye's anymore so this one was again released after a quick weigh and a couple of pictures.





As a good fishing buddy does i spent 10 minutes or so helping Woody land it, weigh it and takes some pictures whilst trying to keep an eye on my rod. Bite detection was difficult when we were stood under the rod's which made it pretty much impossible from 20 yards away. On returning to my rod's my line was slacker then a prostitutes knicker elastic and well right-a ray...but a quick strike gave no resistance and no fish. It must have been a ray as there was no sign of weed on my line but sometimes you've got to accept your going to miss a few. Given the choice of my mate losing a good ray in the surge whilst i stood by my rod or helping him and risk missing a fish I'd be helping him out every time, but he would do, and has done the same for me.

Within a couple of minutes of my next cast a small but obvious bite resulted in my first Turbot of the year.He was in size so could have come home with me but this is another fish you don't see to many of so it was nice to see him swimming away after I'd managed to safely get the 5/0 Sakuma manta out of his greedy little gob. He's next to a 7oz long tail Gemini lead to give the picture a bit of perspective.

The next cast highlighted why you need to be careful on a beach. I was very close to grabbing this little weaver fish before i noticed it. A sting from this fellow would have meant the end of the night. Funnily enough he was hooked fair and square in the mouth but he was smaller then my hooks so it was an obvious fluke and I'd probably picked him up on the retrieve.

Next up was a dog fish. I've said before that i never mind catching doggies but this one was particularly upsetting as it had a bit of weed on it and i was certain it was a ray. Especially when i picked it up with my headlight in the surge and saw the orange eyes staring back at me. With the weight and the eye's i was certain it was my first small eye of the season. I couldn't have been more gutted. But that was species number four for the night and fish number 3 (or 2 really) for me.

Last but not least I had a small Bass. Just over minimum but yet another species for the night. 5 species on a beach at the end of October!!! Then around midnight it started to rain. It was a shame as we were looking forward to the pushing tide but with the wind, the weed, the rain, the rip, the time and the tide it would have been too much to carry on.





It just goes to show that if you put the effort in and persevre when the going get's tough you can often get the rewards. Yet again i didn't catch a ray which is a bit gutting but we fish in a partnership so really it doesn't matter who catches the fish as long as we catch fish. Our next session is going to be up at Chesil, when we go away this weekend. Expect a good report from that too!