[Louis Burton]

Hello,
This Saturday I am intending to go fishing to Mayflower Park with a few friends to fish. However I have never fished at this location before. I have fished once before at town quay, a few minutes down the road, but had disappointing results catching just one small mackerel and a crab. I would very much appreciate it if some of you guys could give me advice as to where abouts at Mayflower park to cast, what bait to use at this time of year, what rigs I'll need, lures/spinners, and what species of fish are around this mark at this time. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks:BigGrin:

P.S Should I try out Mayflower Park, or stick to town quay?

 

[*monkfish*]

It used to be a very good flounder mark, haven't fished it for years but they still should show from there. In daylight there at this time of year you'll probably get a few school bass too. There are rocks for the first 30-40 yards, you'll see them at low water. Cast onto the mudflats beyond these for the flounders, use ragworm.

To be honest Mayflower and TQ aren't the greatest of daylight marks but there's still the chance of a flounder. You'll probably be asked if you've caught anything every 5 minutes on a Saturday too!

 

[Louis Burton]

It used to be a very good flounder mark, haven't fished it for years but they still should show from there. In daylight there at this time of year you'll probably get a few school bass too. There are rocks for the first 30-40 yards, you'll see them at low water. Cast onto the mudflats beyond these for the flounders, use ragworm.

To be honest Mayflower and TQ aren't the greatest of daylight marks but there's still the chance of a flounder. You'll probably be asked if you've caught anything every 5 minutes on a Saturday too!

Thanks for the great tips and advice, so do I only have a chance of catching small bass and flounder? Do you think that town quay would provide a wider variety of species or the same?
Thanks

 

[thejollysinker]

Hi Louis, with the greates of respect, sometimes you just have to use good old fashioned 'experience' to find your marks and your fish.

If you think tides, time and venue all come together at the right time, go and try it... it's good fun doing the groundwork, very hard and disappointing a lot of the time, but you're learning far more than you can by asking for advice on here....

I don't want to dampen the spirit of anyone who goes fishing, but the best way to learn is do your homework, sharpen your skills and get out there and give it a go.... you will enjoy it regardless of your results because you are learning all the time, we've all been there.

I hope I don't sound mean because that is not my intention

tight lines, Gary.

 

[CastawayDave]

Ask locals or your local tackle shop always great for Advice .... would think in a harbour ragworm, lugworm ,squid strips or mackerel would catch most fish around but experimenting would be your best bet on finding out what works.

 

[Louis Burton]

Hi Louis, with the greates of respect, sometimes you just have to use good old fashioned 'experience' to find your marks and your fish.

If you think tides, time and venue all come together at the right time, go and try it... it's good fun doing the groundwork, very hard and disappointing a lot of the time, but you're learning far more than you can by asking for advice on here....

I don't want to dampen the spirit of anyone who goes fishing, but the best way to learn is do your homework, sharpen your skills and get out there and give it a go.... you will enjoy it regardless of your results because you are learning all the time, we've all been there.

I hope I don't sound mean because that is not my intention

tight lines, Gary.

Don't worry I totally get what you mean, I appreciate your good intentions

 

[Louis Burton]

Ask locals or your local tackle shop always great for Advice .... would think in a harbour ragworm, lugworm ,squid strips or mackerel would catch most fish around but experimenting would be your best bet on finding out what works.

Thanks so much for the advice

 

[bald dodge]

You will only need one bait this time of year at Mayflower park and that's ragworm.

 

[Geordie Ghillie]

Hi Louis, Mayflower park can throw up many a surprise. I've seen a 6lb bass caught on bread flake fished for mullet. I've had a 3lb plaice at night and numerous fish during the day. I moved from Southampton about 4 years ago and they were doing development on the old ruin of a pier. So I don't know if it's changed much. I used to try and cast as far and as close to structure as I safely could. So I fished 15yds from the fence and threw one rod parallel with the pier and there used to be two solitary pillars about thirty yards off the pier I'd try and place my second cast close to there. The theory being fish congregate around structure. Ragworm and mackerel was all I really used. You can expect flounder, pouting, bass, whiting and the odd rockling now and then a strap conger turns up. I always found night better than day.
At the north end of the park there used to be A concrete protrusion/strut sticking out about 2m in the summer on a dropping tide if you tie a bag of bread/oil and then float fish some breadflake in the slick (a simple bubble float rig) it can produce some great mullet I've had them to 4lb but there's much bigger ones cruising round!
A good source of info are the lads in poigndestres. They will point you in the right direction.
Tight lines

Robin

 

[Louis Burton]

Hi Louis, Mayflower park can throw up many a surprise. I've seen a 6lb bass caught on bread flake fished for mullet. I've had a 3lb plaice at night and numerous fish during the day. I moved from Southampton about 4 years ago and they were doing development on the old ruin of a pier. So I don't know if it's changed much. I used to try and cast as far and as close to structure as I safely could. So I fished 15yds from the fence and threw one rod parallel with the pier and there used to be two solitary pillars about thirty yards off the pier I'd try and place my second cast close to there. The theory being fish congregate around structure. Ragworm and mackerel was all I really used. You can expect flounder, pouting, bass, whiting and the odd rockling now and then a strap conger turns up. I always found night better than day.
At the north end of the park there used to be A concrete protrusion/strut sticking out about 2m in the summer on a dropping tide if you tie a bag of bread/oil and then float fish some breadflake in the slick (a simple bubble float rig) it can produce some great mullet I've had them to 4lb but there's much bigger ones cruising round!
A good source of info are the lads in poigndestres. They will point you in the right direction.
Tight lines

Robin

Thanks so much for sharing this with me Robin it's very much appreciated.