Popular Post mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted June 7, 2021 went out on my friends boat on Saturday, great chance to try my new 30lb Ugly stick and Slosh 30. Tims boat can get us out to other marks quicker than pugwash and its nice to share the trips! We started feathering for mackerel in portland harbour entrance and soon had a good 15 or so! as it was neap tides we thought we'd try some banks around portland bill having heard of double figure blondes from there. the day pretty much started out the same as last week - with me not having a bite for hours - while the others pulled in decent fish. Jason lost a double figure blonde at the boat as his leader snapped, Tim also lost a rig. but then the fish came...... Tim with an 18lb Spurdog, followed by a bigger one (guess 20+lb), then a nice 8lb Turbot Jason with a smoothound it then went quiet over slack water except for the odd dog - i was still getting nothing. as the flood started we swung round and found ourselves in deeper water off the edge of the bank. finally my rod banged over and I pulled up a 16lb Spurdog - the biggest fish i've ever caught and a first for me - i was absolutely buzzing... but that was just the warm up....... I then hooked into something big - at first I thought it was a ray hanging in the tide, but then came the headshakes, and it started running - taking line back every time i reeled in, it made a dart for France...... after about 10min fight we saw colour - a huge Tope! - my first Tope and far bigger than the landing net! we had it alongside the boat for ages trying to figure out how to get it aboard - eventually we got a rope around its tail and hauled it in! too big to weigh without harming it, as we had nothing big enough to put it in - I could barely lift it on my own for the photo, we have to estimate its weight based on the other fish caught that day - this Tope was clearly 40+lbs, maybe even pushing 50lb - a fish of lifetime for me, and I am still buzzing! fish went back safely, and we went home after that knackering ordeal! Tim gave me the turbot too as he was staying the night on his boat and it would spoil - win win! Cuda4, Geoff, GPSguru and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 My spurdog GPSguru 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Tims Turbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Tims spur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 jasons smoothie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 WOW indeed! Congratulations on a cracking PB Mike! Super fish! What bait did it take? A very good session and a good write-up too! I could really sense your excitement! Lovely turbot as well. Bet that tasted good? Don't forget to post up your tope in the PB gallery too. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 cheers Andy! absolutely buzzing! all fish were on fresh mackerel! Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 8 hours ago, mike farrants said: we had it alongside the boat for ages trying to figure out how to get it aboard - eventually we got a rope around its tail and hauled it in! too big to weigh without harming it, as we had nothing big enough to put it in - I could barely lift it on my own for the photo, we have to estimate its weight based on the other fish caught that day - this Tope was clearly 40+lbs, maybe even pushing 50lb - a fish of lifetime for me, and I am still buzzing! fish went back safely, and we went home after that knackering ordeal! Very well done Mike, you are certainly firing on all cylinders at the moment 👍 The last time I had a fish too big to weigh (we usually use the landing net) we rigged up a sling using a 10m 4T ratchet strap, it actually works quite well, made into 4 loops to hold the fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 Just now, GPSguru said: Very well done Mike, you are certainly firing on all cylinders at the moment 👍 The last time I had a fish too big to weigh (we usually use the landing net) we rigged up a sling using a 10m 4T ratchet strap, it actually works quite well, made into 4 loops to hold the fish. That sounds like my safety harness I have to wear at work GPSguru 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 Great fishies there Mike. There have been a few tope showing locally, but it’s almost impossible to find the mackerel for bait to be worth trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 12 hours ago, JonC said: Great fishies there Mike. There have been a few tope showing locally, but it’s almost impossible to find the mackerel for bait to be worth trying. we spent an hour feathering, the entrances with nothing - then suddenly hit a drop off and found them hiding formthe Ebb tide - in 10 mins we had about 15 or so - all mackies taken on sabikis - thats whats working at the moment. the daylights got nothing! JonC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuda4 Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Great days fishing Mike,getting good fish and a PB also going home with a lovely Turbot,great fish to eat. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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