Popular Post mike farrants Posted February 6, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 6, 2023 same as last 2 weekends - joined Tim on Seadog - with his son this time too. Left the marina at 7.30am - armed with a new 6-12 Leeda Icon MX rod and old Abu 6000 multi for the lighter stuff. Aimed for Portlands north entrance for mackerel (where we had loads 2 weeks ago) - but really struggled - only bagging the one - after a couple of drifts and no more luck between 3 of us we thought we'd try the East entrance (Chequers) as its on the way to our fishing mark. First drift produced nothing - but we spotted another boat further inside the harbour pulling in full strings - so we relocated and BANG - my god what a difference - we must have hauled over 40 mackerel in about 3 drifts! strings of 3s and 4s - they were hitting the feathers on the way down - it was the kind of madness you would expect in the summer! mixture of joeys and monsters! bait sorted and plenty to take home - im going to need a bigger freezer. We soon anchored up - one big bait and one 3 hook flapper for the whiting. it was a steady run of whiting - mostly small but Tim found some bigger fish - they were taken on mackerel or squid. The little rod and reel was good till the tide picked up - and a bream gave me some good sport My big bait saw me catch a couple of thornies - a distinct lack of Dogs with only a few coming aboard - no conger, no pout no poor cod - stark difference to last weekend. we ended up with over 30 Whiting to add to the 40+ mackerel between 3 of us. I took the bream for tea (cajun baked with cherry toms and wedges) and the big whiting got filleted and vac packed for the freezer - plus 20 of the mackerel went in the freezer too (just i had to chuck out some sausages to make space). Half way through the day a Seal popped its head up to have a look at us - he must have been there for the whiting too - or passing through - an odd sight 4 miles off shore! A selection of the bigger mackerel Geoff, jonnyswamp, Andy135 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Great report 🙂 Nice to see numbers of mackerel, can you send some to Wales? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Lot of strange things happening this year. we get Mack all year but only on certain marks and not in the quantity that you found. Also I would class a bream as unusual in Feb. The squid are still hanging around, and they should have disappeared over a month ago. Also we have got Cod on the wrecks and we don't usually see them until early May. The Bass will return from the spawning grounds in late feb / early March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted February 6, 2023 Author Share Posted February 6, 2023 yes bream are still here in the bay - don't think they left last winter either. mackerel become scarce here in early summer - they tend to disappear April-June (hence bagging up when i could!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyswamp Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Nice Mike, how did the Leeda icon get on ? I nearly bought one for the Bream down Weymouth, but went for a Maxximus with the interchangeable tip instead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 yeah i like the leeda icon MXs - excellent value for money - seem well built I already have 12-20lb and 20-30lb paired with Slosh20 & Slosh30 Done 2x seasons now - great rods for the money - obviously not top of the range - but for what they are they're great! the 6-12lb finished the set for me - and is nice paired with the Abu 6500 for the bream/mackerel/Gar fish - i now have a set up for all the fishing i do...... ......till another rod catches my eye! jonnyswamp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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