3 in 1

[jonnyswamp]

No not the oil, though my knees and back could benefit from a few squirts

Fished out of Cardiff last Sat 5th and headed west in search of some hounds 

Got to a mark between Summerhouse and Stout and dropped the pin

Quite a small tide, but plenty of action all morning with hounds to 14lb, huss to 12, Blonde and Thornbacks to low doubles, a solitary strap conger and 17,000 dogs

Though Mike did drop a hound right at the swim platform which had to be 18+, biggest I've seen

After about an hour or so of the flood the rods went quiet, so moved back up the Channel to Castle rock where we picked up more dogs, just a few hounds and blondes of the same sort of stamp that we had earlier

Not wanting to be out all day, we headed in on the 2.45 (IIRC) lock as I had a bit of a bash to go to (my own birthday, in my own house)

Dale Tuesday 8th

Out on Atlantic Blue, with a plan to fish Bishops and Clarks

Apparently the above only yielded 2 small Pollock and 1 mackerel for a charter trip a few days before, so we would now be fishing the reefs off St Annes and around the islands

8 of us on the boat and at a rough estimate, I would say we boated 200+ small Pollock, with 3 small Codling and 2 Ballan Wrasse

With my Ballan going over 3lb (pb for me, I think)

None of the fish were huge with just a handfull going 5/6lb and the majority being in the 1.5/2lb bracket

I brought 2 home for the pan and the rest went back (as did most of the other anglers)

Fantastic sport on light gear and hopefully they'll put on a couple of pounds over the next couple of months

Skerries Sat 11th

Met Shaun on Our Joe-L about 7.30am in Brixham and were steaming down towards the Skerries by 8

A few drifts somewhere between Brixham and Dartmouth gave us a stack of huge Launce, which we would use to try and tempt a stray Turbot (if there were any about) 

Don't know where we started our first drift, but I'm guessing somewhere in the middle of the bank and no sooner had my bait settled into the tide, I felt that tap/rattle that isn't the ripples of the sand and up came the first small Plaice

Delighted isn't the word, then Paul ( next to me)  pulled up an identical one

This pretty much continued as it started for the next couple hrs, with all 6 of us catching, but they ranged from saucer sized to just in size (but still great sport on light gear)

Skipper called a move toward the Western edge of the bank, where we found a better stamp of fish, with approx 50% being in size as opposed to 10% earlier

One small dab made an appearance, as did a pair of Tub Gurnards which took my strip of Mackerel intended for Turbot and also a small Plaice that had near identical markings on the underside as it did on the top

We finished up with somewhere between 55 and 60 between the 6 of us, taking just 1 or 2 home each

Will be back out of Brixham on 26th this month, either on the Skerries or Wrecking, depending on which is fishing better

I fancy the Cod may be in bigger numbers by then 🤞

No pics sorry, I took none in Dale as it was frantic

Skerries Plaice were a bit on the small side and I only took 1 or 2 pics of the hounds out of Cardiff

 

[Andy135]

You had me at

10 minutes ago, jonnyswamp said:

17,000 dogs 

🐶👍

[Andy135]

Sounds like a food few days afloat. Well dangled 👍

[GPSguru]

25 minutes ago, jonnyswamp said:

One small dab made an appearance, as did a pair of Tub Gurnards which took my strip of Mackerel intended for Turbot and also a small Plaice that had near identical markings on the underside as it did on the top

 

Sounds like a good trip, the sea can be a little unkind on the western side, but doable in the right boat.

We find the better fish on the eastern outer edge (by the Skerries East Red Buoy), there is a gully there that holds Plaice to 4lb, but you catch a lot less fish.

There are always plenty of Gurnards with Tubs going to 5lb, but also a good number of Red's and Greys.