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After a week of preparing rigs for some bream fishing on the Purbecks, I decided last minute yesterday that I didn't fancy the idea of standing on my own in a quarry which is renowned for crumbling during periods of heavy rain. I left my house still undecided where to fish, but after hitting some traffic on my way to the tackle shop, adding 1 hour on to my journey, I decided I would keep it local (ish).
I ended up at Southbourne, a section of beach that I haven't fished before. 3 rods were deployed from the off, 2 x up and over plaice rigs with big rag/lug worm baits and 1 x long pulley with floating beads and squid strips to try and tempt a garfish.
I sat listening to the footie trying to decide whether I could see a small bite on one of my rods, in between the strong gusts of wind. Eventually I picked up the rod and struck, and was pleased to feel a weight on the end.
An hour or 2 passed and I was starting to feel the cold, until a small tap on my gar fish rig had me on my feet in a shot. After retrieving what felt like 200 yards of braid, I eventually caught a glimpse of the gar fish. I took a quick picture and returned it, but after the fish beached itself for the 10th time, to the excitement of every sea gull within a 5 mile radius, I decided to keep it for my rocky excursion next weekend.
Thick cloud was forecast all afternoon so I had decided to leave my DSLR at home, and what a mistake that was!!!! I don't think I have ever witnessed such an epic sunset. I took a picture on my phone but it really doesn't do it justice.
As I was reeling in my last plaice rig to replace it with a ray/turbot rig, I felt a much better weight on the end. I wasn't 100% it was a fish, as there was a bit of weed in the water, but was happy to find a slightly bigger plaice on the end at 1lb 6oz.
I stuck around for a short while trying to tempt a ray or a sole, without success.
Surprisingly, even the pout weren't biting...
I ended up at Southbourne, a section of beach that I haven't fished before. 3 rods were deployed from the off, 2 x up and over plaice rigs with big rag/lug worm baits and 1 x long pulley with floating beads and squid strips to try and tempt a garfish.
I sat listening to the footie trying to decide whether I could see a small bite on one of my rods, in between the strong gusts of wind. Eventually I picked up the rod and struck, and was pleased to feel a weight on the end.
An hour or 2 passed and I was starting to feel the cold, until a small tap on my gar fish rig had me on my feet in a shot. After retrieving what felt like 200 yards of braid, I eventually caught a glimpse of the gar fish. I took a quick picture and returned it, but after the fish beached itself for the 10th time, to the excitement of every sea gull within a 5 mile radius, I decided to keep it for my rocky excursion next weekend.
Thick cloud was forecast all afternoon so I had decided to leave my DSLR at home, and what a mistake that was!!!! I don't think I have ever witnessed such an epic sunset. I took a picture on my phone but it really doesn't do it justice.
As I was reeling in my last plaice rig to replace it with a ray/turbot rig, I felt a much better weight on the end. I wasn't 100% it was a fish, as there was a bit of weed in the water, but was happy to find a slightly bigger plaice on the end at 1lb 6oz.
I stuck around for a short while trying to tempt a ray or a sole, without success.
Surprisingly, even the pout weren't biting...