Stewart 1971
Well-known member
Escaping from the folks and watching re-runs of tw@t factor I grabbed a few hours down Horden this afternoon. Expectations were low, it was a good tide but HT in daylight and the sea was like a sheet of glass with the water pretty much clear again after the recent setteld spell. Got down to the beach just after 3pm to find a few lads already there but after finding a way down the spoil shelf I got myself set up pretty much in front of the blocks at Dene Holme.
Given the conditions I decided on two rods, one belted out alternating a 2 hook clipdown size 2 hooks and a 4/0 pennel clipdown, the other at medium range and twho hook flappers size 4 hooks. Bait was rag, lug, Bluey and a leftover crab from last weeks session.
Things were pretty quiet to start with, first few casts were coming back with stripped baits as the only things active were the crabs. Then after about an hour I got my first Weaver of the year, not what I wanted but at least it saved the blank:
Shortly after Codcatcher3000 came down for some casting practice (good to see you again mate) and he must have brought a bit of luck with him as I was soon in to fish on both rods; a Dab closer in and a Flounder at long range:
A couple of casts later I got my first 5 Bearded Rockling of the year:
This was followed by another Dab and a better Flounder:
As the sun went down I hoped for a slight improvement but for the first hour or so after dark I was biteless. Then on my last cast I got a canny nibble on the medium range rod and landed a double shot of Whiting, one a tiddler the other going 34cm for my best fish of the day:
Would doubtless have had a few more if I'd stayed on but with graft in the morning and the FPO and bairn marooned at the folks house I called it a day at 8:30pm. All in all a canny day with 8 fish and 5 different species. Almost all the fish took Rag apart from the better Whiting that took half a crab.
Given the conditions I decided on two rods, one belted out alternating a 2 hook clipdown size 2 hooks and a 4/0 pennel clipdown, the other at medium range and twho hook flappers size 4 hooks. Bait was rag, lug, Bluey and a leftover crab from last weeks session.
Things were pretty quiet to start with, first few casts were coming back with stripped baits as the only things active were the crabs. Then after about an hour I got my first Weaver of the year, not what I wanted but at least it saved the blank:
Shortly after Codcatcher3000 came down for some casting practice (good to see you again mate) and he must have brought a bit of luck with him as I was soon in to fish on both rods; a Dab closer in and a Flounder at long range:
A couple of casts later I got my first 5 Bearded Rockling of the year:
This was followed by another Dab and a better Flounder:
As the sun went down I hoped for a slight improvement but for the first hour or so after dark I was biteless. Then on my last cast I got a canny nibble on the medium range rod and landed a double shot of Whiting, one a tiddler the other going 34cm for my best fish of the day:
Would doubtless have had a few more if I'd stayed on but with graft in the morning and the FPO and bairn marooned at the folks house I called it a day at 8:30pm. All in all a canny day with 8 fish and 5 different species. Almost all the fish took Rag apart from the better Whiting that took half a crab.
