Solent, 7th Sept

[Andy135]

@Saintly Fish and I hit the Solent yesterday I the search for an early season cod. A very early 4.30am wake up for me saw us depart the marina not long after 6am and out into a flat calm river and a lovely sunrise.

We'd heard a tip from Neil's pet rumour-monger that a mile-long flock of seabirds had been seen working the Solent for baitfish recently, so our plan was to feather for fresh bait if we spotted any birds.

The Solent was pretty flat as we left the river, but scanning the water for birds was disappointing - nothing doing. We headed towards our mark and made good time. Nearing out mark we saw some fish on the sounder and dangled some feathers, more in hope than expectation, but Neil comes up trumpa with the first Solent mackerel we've seen in ages!

Marv the Mackerel was kept in a bucket as livebait, just in case.

On to the mark and down goes the anchor. Strap conger and smoothounds, but no cod.

The tide was ripping as we fished, requiring 1.5lb of lead to hold bottom. After a while it became clear that no cod were at home, so we headed to a new spot to see if that made a difference to the tide and made fishing any easier.

In short, no. One more strap conger, lots of beam-on rolly wash and an anchor tangle later we headed off to a flock of seabirds that Neil had spotted in the distance.

As we neared the birds the sounder cam alive with fish arches.

Feathers down and they were hit by large scad, mackerel and school bass. Many strings later we had a bucket of baitfish for the winter. A mix of mackerel and scad. A productive way to end the session.

[jonnyswamp]

That's a productive day ! well done both

No Cod, but they're getting like blue moons these days        

 

[daio web]

great report  again boys i am hopeing on a better winter this year  fingers crossed 👍

[Saintly Fish]

Another gratuitous scenery shots from the day. Oh and one of Ginge and a hound!! 
 

 

 

 

And @Andy135 trying Tarlach Too out for size!! 

[Andy135]

32 minutes ago, daio web said:

great report  again boys i am hopeing on a better winter this year  fingers crossed 👍

Yep, us too. We had a crap (and therefore boring) winter last year. Hoping for a few more of those lovely still winter days with hardly a breath of wind and no fog... 

[mike farrants]

was lovely and calm this weekend - great that you did sunrise to sunset - that's a long day indeed!

well done on the smoothies - i love a good scrap with a feisty smoothie!

and good to get some bait for future trips too!

[Odyssey]

Great photos guys, great to see you on the fish 🙂