G
Guest
·Quest II owners, Malcolm, Paul, Mark and myself met at the pontoon at 07:00 this morning for a day on the Shambles.
By all accounts, fishing had been hard with the charter boats recording small numbers of fish and sometimes even blanking on what should now be prime Plaice time out on the famous Weymouth banks.
Into the tackle shop for our rag (which I have to say was atrocious and more like maddies than King Rag - maybe the neap tides prevented better worms being dug) and then off under the bridge.
We followed Peace and Plenty who was off to the islands, Revolution had left a short while earlier and Flamer was close behind us as we steamed the half hour or so to the mark.
Malcolm set us up on the first drift which was fine, but we skimmed the bottom section of features and so we headed up a little further North for the next drift.
It was brass monkeys out there today and I was pleased I was wearing my long johns. The stiff Northerly wind was kicking up a nasty short chop and sending teh boat at a slightly awkward angle in the tide, but we are fairly experienced anglers and avoided tangles like pros..... NOT!!! Malcolm and Paul seemed to become very close throughout the drift. Infact they were attached and spent most of the time (and the next few drifts) trying to untangle themselves.
It was only 08:50, but I was already feeling a little dispondent.
Naff worms, freezing, North Easterly 5 to 6 and reports of little or no fish were making me wonder if I should have settled for a lie in... Bang the rod lurched violently and shook me from my day dreaming. Bang! Bang! Instinctively I spooled off about 10m of line and then allowed it to tighten in the tide seconds later there was a good bend in the rod and the familiar (or not so, it's been about 5 years since I had a spotty) jerk jerk jerk of a Plaice.
At about 2.5lb she was no monster and was still fairly thin, but she was very welcome and spirits on the boat were lifted.
By half past nine, Paul had had a fish that must have been the twin of mine and Mark had also caught, with his being better at a bout 3lb.
The the tide eased and so did the fish.
To catch the ebb we steamed to the North East of the bank and started our drift there... nothing.
As it was a neap we tried a spell on the anchor.... nothing.
A quick conflab and we hauled the anchor and headed for the mussel beds nearby where we new the Plaice sometimes laid up, but so did a few other chappies.
Pretty soon the rods were rattling to bites of various types and we ended up here with a whole stack of Doggies, loads of small to medium Ballan Wrasse and a couple of small Bull Huss in the 5lb sort of bracket.... but no more Plaice.
It was now about 14:15 and the tide was just easing so back to the bank for another try at drifting. This one was long, maybe a mile and a half. I was about to call lines up when my rod was all but wrenched out of my arms by a very violent take. Again I spooled off and again the now more familiar jerk jerk jerk of a Plaice could be felt. This time though it was pulling a lot harder and taking a few dives as it neared the surface and when it did I decided not to risk swinging it in and slipped the net under it. On the scales she went 4lb 4oz.
Not the biggest Plaice ever to come off the Shambles, but my best for quite some time so I was more than happy.
Unfortunately that was our lot. By 15:15 the wind whipped up to a good 6 creating a very uncomfortable short chop over the bank and with the wind came rain.
I hinted I was ready to head back and luickily everyone else took the hint so we had Quest II back on her moorings and looking ship shape by 16:30.
Not the best day ever and very hard work, but we got our target species and by all accounts did as well as the charter boats have been recently.
Tom
By all accounts, fishing had been hard with the charter boats recording small numbers of fish and sometimes even blanking on what should now be prime Plaice time out on the famous Weymouth banks.
Into the tackle shop for our rag (which I have to say was atrocious and more like maddies than King Rag - maybe the neap tides prevented better worms being dug) and then off under the bridge.
We followed Peace and Plenty who was off to the islands, Revolution had left a short while earlier and Flamer was close behind us as we steamed the half hour or so to the mark.
Malcolm set us up on the first drift which was fine, but we skimmed the bottom section of features and so we headed up a little further North for the next drift.
It was brass monkeys out there today and I was pleased I was wearing my long johns. The stiff Northerly wind was kicking up a nasty short chop and sending teh boat at a slightly awkward angle in the tide, but we are fairly experienced anglers and avoided tangles like pros..... NOT!!! Malcolm and Paul seemed to become very close throughout the drift. Infact they were attached and spent most of the time (and the next few drifts) trying to untangle themselves.
It was only 08:50, but I was already feeling a little dispondent.
Naff worms, freezing, North Easterly 5 to 6 and reports of little or no fish were making me wonder if I should have settled for a lie in... Bang the rod lurched violently and shook me from my day dreaming. Bang! Bang! Instinctively I spooled off about 10m of line and then allowed it to tighten in the tide seconds later there was a good bend in the rod and the familiar (or not so, it's been about 5 years since I had a spotty) jerk jerk jerk of a Plaice.
At about 2.5lb she was no monster and was still fairly thin, but she was very welcome and spirits on the boat were lifted.
By half past nine, Paul had had a fish that must have been the twin of mine and Mark had also caught, with his being better at a bout 3lb.
The the tide eased and so did the fish.
To catch the ebb we steamed to the North East of the bank and started our drift there... nothing.
As it was a neap we tried a spell on the anchor.... nothing.
A quick conflab and we hauled the anchor and headed for the mussel beds nearby where we new the Plaice sometimes laid up, but so did a few other chappies.
Pretty soon the rods were rattling to bites of various types and we ended up here with a whole stack of Doggies, loads of small to medium Ballan Wrasse and a couple of small Bull Huss in the 5lb sort of bracket.... but no more Plaice.
It was now about 14:15 and the tide was just easing so back to the bank for another try at drifting. This one was long, maybe a mile and a half. I was about to call lines up when my rod was all but wrenched out of my arms by a very violent take. Again I spooled off and again the now more familiar jerk jerk jerk of a Plaice could be felt. This time though it was pulling a lot harder and taking a few dives as it neared the surface and when it did I decided not to risk swinging it in and slipped the net under it. On the scales she went 4lb 4oz.
Not the biggest Plaice ever to come off the Shambles, but my best for quite some time so I was more than happy.
Unfortunately that was our lot. By 15:15 the wind whipped up to a good 6 creating a very uncomfortable short chop over the bank and with the wind came rain.
I hinted I was ready to head back and luickily everyone else took the hint so we had Quest II back on her moorings and looking ship shape by 16:30.
Not the best day ever and very hard work, but we got our target species and by all accounts did as well as the charter boats have been recently.
Tom
well done for persevering with them.
