Popular Post mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2022 a strange weather window appeared for us on Sunday after a blow up on Saturday and another one due Sunday night - with sub 5mph winds forecast veering from NE to SW through the day we thought it well worth a try. Out on Tim's boat again as the adamant with the plan! Early start - 6.30am at the marina So after my catch of squid on the pier midweek we decided to start by targeting Squid in Portlands N entrance where we've had them before - getting there just before sunrise and the lures charged up with UV we were expectant, i also dropped a set of tinsels weighted with a pirk - hoping for some fresh bait or another pollock - alas we watched the sun rise and the sea glass off - but no squid or fish came to the boat. after an hour we headed off to the adamant - picking a spot we dropped anchor, only to find as we settled into fishing that we were catching up with our weights - a quick check on navionics and yep - we were moving 0.5knots. we upped anchor and tried again, same thing, we let out another 50m rope - still moving - so we pulled anchor and tried again - with all the 150m rope - still moving - couldnt understand it as last 2 weekends we have anchored the adamant on less rope.... maybe not enough chain? maybe the tide was stronger? ground softer? we were in 70-80ft water, with a 7kg anchor and a boats length of 6mm chain, & best part of 150m rope....? By the 4th failed attempt we gave up and moved inshore - to a mark near the spoiled ground. A slow day - but cracking weather - sunny, warm, glassy, I managed an angry 9.5lb thornie - who had heaps of attitude, and put up a scrap to make me think it was a conger. this one was soon followed by a smaller one of around 5lb. Tim had dogs, a strap, and a spider crab, his son had nothing (all day) - on either of his small whiting rigs or a big rig on the bottom. i had no interest in my other rod with sandeels. as the mackerel and enthusiasm waned i chucked a mackerel head and guts on knowing conger can come from here - and it wasn't long before i had an enquiry - a very gentle bite turned into a very heavy weight - not much of a scrap = i wasn't sure if it was a conger or ray - a couple of dives when it saw the boat and it was in the net - a big conger. was difficult to grab as they all are, the boga grips calmed it down, but it soon spun them into pieces - holding what was left of the grips we weighed it - 22lb - although its head was huge, its body not as fat. returning it wasn't easy as the grips were in bits and locked on - a pair of pliers on either side and it opened and the eel dropped back to the depths - another PB and its still only January! the tide turned, wind picked up and we called it a day - cracking day out, stunning weather, decent fish if a bit slow. I think Tim is going to up his chain length and thickness. JonC, thejollysinker, Geoff and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Great write up! You're racking up the catches Mike. Well done 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Well done again Mike. As for the anchor dragging- it may not have been so, your gps plotter will seldom or never read 0 if there’s any kind of boat movement in the tide, with 150m of warp out your boat will be moving all over the place confusing your gps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 How comes you go full gloves for the harmless little rays and bare knuckles for that snot snake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, JonC said: Well done again Mike. As for the anchor dragging- it may not have been so, your gps plotter will seldom or never read 0 if there’s any kind of boat movement in the tide, with 150m of warp out your boat will be moving all over the place confusing your gps. Agree - don't think my plotters have ever read 0 knots at sea, and even when I've had a plotter running on a battery at home the speed usually reads 0.1-0.2 knots when stationary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 appreciate you do move at anchor, stretch of warp swing left and right etc, but we were drifting - at 0.5 knots, we watched us on navionics drift right off the bank! i didnt save the track but a bit like this: Navionics re-creation (expect some artistic licence.....) we moved east to west some distance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 14 minutes ago, JonC said: How comes you go full gloves for the harmless little rays and bare knuckles for that snot snake? snot snake doesnt have thorns.... and i had a grip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 41 minutes ago, Andy135 said: Great write up! You're racking up the catches Mike. Well done 👍 yes im off to a flyer 4 trips over 3 weekends 11 species 2 firsts 5 PBs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 @mike farrantsdid say they were catching up with their leads. Id go double boat length with the chain!! Great conger and lovely report. 👍🏻 mike farrants 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 yeah we noticed the slack lines first - then checked the plotter/navionics to confirm our suspicions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 12 minutes ago, mike farrants said: yeah we noticed the slack lines first - then checked the plotter/navionics to confirm our suspicions! When I anchor I always make a transit, I find that is the most successful way to decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 not sure how i do that 4-6 miles off when its just anchored boats around - but great practice inshore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 3 minutes ago, mike farrants said: not sure how i do that 4-6 miles off when its just anchored boats around - but great practice inshore! I saw some structures in the 2nd picture, I thought maybe that was where you were fishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 no that's the entrance to Portland harbour - where we drift on purpose 🤣 i tend to anchor in pugwash within sight of land so im sure i can adopt this technique! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 8 minutes ago, mike farrants said: no that's the entrance to Portland harbour - where we drift on purpose 🤣 i tend to anchor in pugwash within sight of land so im sure i can adopt this technique! When you anchor you can make a "mark" on your plotter and then assign an alarm to it. If you drift away from your mark the alarm will go off. Drifting an anchor can happen also if you drop the anchor down too fast, especially when there is not too much tide. The anchor gets buried under chain and does not set itself. What you can get into is dropping the anchor until you feel/see slack on the rope, then reverse the boat a bit to set the anchor. Then pay out more rope. A nice 45deg rope angle I find is best ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 we thought maybe it had piled up and not set, but to be honest it was about 4-5 knots of tide out there - it didn't tangle - although that did happen to me on pugwash when i had the very heavy anchor and chain. we felt it set and turn the boat sharply, but obviously didn't hold he's bought a new chain now - longer and 8mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 4 minutes ago, mike farrants said: we thought maybe it had piled up and not set, but to be honest it was about 4-5 knots of tide out there - it didn't tangle - although that did happen to me on pugwash when i had the very heavy anchor and chain. we felt it set and turn the boat sharply, but obviously didn't hold he's bought a new chain now - longer and 8mm. 8mm is probably over kill. I only use 6mm on my 4 tonne boat. But I use 20m of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 @mike farrants what way round is his anchor attached? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 anchor is rigged to trip but it didn't trip on retrieve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 3 minutes ago, mike farrants said: anchor is rigged to trip but it didn't trip on retrieve Ok, so the pointy bit was the right way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 10 minutes ago, JonC said: Ok, so the pointy bit was the right way? yes 100% - it wasn;'t a man hole cover, it was an actual anchor shaped anchor 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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