couple of days out end of May

mike farrants · June 3, 2021

had the in laws down for a week 23-30th May so a great opportunity to get Pugwash out with my father in law for a few days fishing (having negotiated [££] with the other halves)

would be good practice and confidence building for me on the boat - but He totally out-fished me all week and had a great time!

weather was looking poor for the start of the week, but Tuesday 25th looked like a chance as the wind was fresh but off the shore so we wouldn't have any swell - with a scratching session in mind and an early finish if the weather turned we aimed to stay inshore.

spring tides so we headed off on a falling tide and only just got off the pontoon which shallows out at a pinch point - headed out of weymouth towards portland harbour entrances armed with mackerel feathers - the entrances were quite choppy so we drifted along the harbour wall on the outside and managed a few mackerel. decided to go and anchor up close in on Weymouth Roads - spent a few hours at anchor and had Doggies and Phil had a lovely smoothound - a first for him! - the weather (mostly rain) came in so we called it a day early - due to the super low springs and the fact weymouth has a false high and 2 lows within 4hrs we couldn't get back on the pontoon for a while so we did the only decent thing and berthed up elsewhere and went for a pint waiting for the tide.

Thursday 27th was forcast to be amazing sun and no wind - so an early start saw us gather a bucket full of mackerel of decent sizes in portland north entrance and head out to a mark near the adamant shoal. The tide was ripping through and it was tough to hold bottom but we thought we'd give it until after low water and then see how it was. Glorious day, Phil had a thornback on his first drop another first for him - we had a run of Dogs after that. We pulled anchor and had a near miss with some pot markers as we were both looking down sorting the anchor and not looking where we were drifting - they come at you fast! (disaster avoided and lesson learned). We moved a bit further inshore to avoid the tide and again on the first drop Phil hooks into another first for him - a spotted ray - i continue to get nothing but Dogs! - amazing 8hrs fishing! - Home to cook 4 of the mackerel we caught!

Saturday 29th - a quick morning session as not only would we been pushing our luck with the early afternoon low tide, but we were also pushing our luck with the other halves! More mackerel off the entrances - then anchored close in - off the East entrance to portland harbour on what appeared to be a conger ground. after the initial hit of dogs, we both found ourselves tangled but with a fish - to our surprise a greedy conger had taken both our hooks and we both reeled it in - in the pic you can see both traces coming out of its mouth! Phil got the monster of the day on his last drop and I ended the session on what was the only (just) photo worthy fish for me!

So phil had an amazing time, had 3 new species for him and I had great fun, built some confidence and had some valuable anchor practice!