LRF Weymouth Harbor (Monday 19th May - Sunday 25th May 2014)

Well yet another productive week LRF at Weymouth Harbor! I have been fishing a stretch of water from Brewers Queue to the Weymouth rowing club all week. Mostly nights after school. I can safely say that if you went down there tomorrow you would defiantly hook into a Goby. That’s the majority of what I have been catching this week. Goby after Goby. So I decided to target a different type of fish. Something new. Something I had never caught before. Flounder! I set about finding one of these flat shy creatures. Half way through last week I worked my way from brewers Queue to Weymouth Rowing club backwards and forwards, cast after cast, rain or shine. The first 3 attempts I still only hooked my Goby’s and the occasional Tompot . But after all the hard work searching and learning how to catch one of these fish, it finally paid off. As I caught my first ever and PB LRF Flounder. To catch this fish and the Goby’s and Tompot I used a basic split shot to hook rig with Pink ISOME.

Once I had dropped my hook into the water I jiggled it about a few times and then waited. I had a bite. And another one, another one, another one. At this point I lifted into the fish not realising what it was. I just thought I had hooked into some more seaweed as the rod was bending over with no pull as if there was a fish on the end.  I reeled in and to my amazement there was a flounder on the end. I quickly reached for my landing net. Which I bought before I set about searching for this Flounder. I netted the fish, landed it and took some quick pictures before releasing it back. There was people watching me as I release the fish. They said “why did you not keep the fish for eating" I replied “it pleases me more to put a fish back and watch it swim off than having it for my dinner or selling it and having £5 in my pocket. When releasing a fish I now that it will go on to spawn making more fish improving my sport. If you keep all the fish then there will be no more left to catch. I just fish for the sport of it”. 

Release of the flounder !

On my way home I bumped into a chap painting the sailing boats in the harbour where I had been fishing. I walked over to him and saw how fantastic his pantings were. They were so good I would buy one! The next Leonardo Da Vinci !!

Last Monday I ventured out onto the Stone Pire to see what was kicking around while my brother fished the Weymouth Angling Society’s weekly Monday Junior comp. While I was there I gave the LRF a go. I caught only one Sea Scorpion. I still think it is too early to catch the Wrasse of there on LRF yet. But maybe in a few weeks time.

 While I was down there I spotted a rather large jellyfish. As the photograph will show. Now I am not sure if having these bad boys around will affect the fishing there. There is a link at the bottom of this paragraph which will take you to a page on how to identify jellyfish, weather they sting or not and there general background.

Jellyfish guide - http://www.mcsuk.org/downloads/wildlife/Jellyfishguide.pdf

Now just to finish of incase anybody didn’t see it. I went down to film the baby fish which turned out to be baby Goby’s at the fleet last Saturday. I stuck my Gopro into the water and hoped for the best. When placing my SD card into my computer I was stunned to find this footage!!

And don't forget pepole that on the 7th of june Henry Gilby is coming to Chesil Bait 'n' Tackle for the day to give advice and chat everything lure. Well worth popping into see him. There will also be a raffle with a top prize of a Sky road. All funds razed will go to Cancer research ! Also talking about Chesil bait. I posted on my face book page a few days ago saying how lucky we are to live in weymouth, and how far people travel to fish hear. Well in the shop today I met some people who traveled all the way from Hiywycombe. nearly 140 miles to fish down hear. Mainly Chesil Beach. That must turn on some light bulbs?? Get out fishing !!!!

LRF Weymouth Harbor Saturday 17th May 2014.

I started the weekend of going to a friends birthday BBQ at the Nothe Fort in Weymouth. The sun was shining so I thought I should take my LRF gear as I was right next to the harbor. Hopefully later in the afternoon I could squeeze in a hour or two. On arrival at the Nothe I looked out to Newton’s Cove to see that the tide was out. As a result I decided to wait until the tide comes in before I set about fishing. After having a burger and something to drink I was ready to fish. Instead of fishing alone I asked my friend Baily Hall if he would like to join me as he had never tried LRF before. He accepted my offer and we both headed for Brewers Quay.

When we arrived I set up my rod with some pink Isome. Then I lowered the plastic lure into the water and with in a few seconds I had a Goby on the line. After releasing my fish I handed the rod over to Baily. With in a few seconds like me he hooked into his first ever LRF caught fish. (Black Goby). Between us we caught another 10 Goby’s with in 5m of Brewers quay After this I decided to move on.
We headed for the stone pier. When we got there again we shared the rod and between us caught another 10 goby’s 2 Scorpion. To top the hole day off I hooked into my PB LRF caught fish. (Tompot)! This fish was also another fish to add to my species list as I had never caught one before.   All round it was a fantastic day ! I Thoroughly enjoyed Bailys company and look forward to another fishing session with him!

Also just to add I have a new lure bag – (SAVAGE GEAR ROAD RUNNERLURE & GEAR BAG). Over the next two months I will be reviewing this product to see what is good and bad about it. If you have one of these bags or have had one then please feel free to tell me what you think about it and what you found useful or not so useful about it.

Something different. (Saturday the 3rd - Sunday 4th of May 2014)

Prior to my last experience coarse fishing with Paul Burridge that I really enjoyed made me organise a 24 our session. As I have said before I have never fished like this before and I am no expert. The reason that I am trying out this style of fishing is so don’t project myself as a one trick pony but instead as an all round angler!

   We left Weymouth at 11am and set course for Coking Farm Fishery. On arrival to the lake we off loaded all the gear to fish for the 24 hour period and set the rods up with a running ledger and hair rigged Ccmoores Boilies. After setting up I looked over the lake. I was stunned as there was not a cloud in sight. The sun was out and the landscape surrounding the lake was pictures. Fishing started off slow with no fish until 3 hours in. so I had to find something to do while I was waiting. I set about fishing with a pole for some roach at the borderline of the swim. This was like lrf but for a lake. While I was playing around with the roach the bite alarm sounded indicating that a fish was on Paul’s rod. He striked and hooked his first fish. As he fought the fish to try and stop it from running of I ran for the landing net. Once the fish had been placed into a fish cradle it was identified as a Common Carp. After releasing the fish it became my turn to catch a fish.

I sat in my chair passionately waiting for a bite. One hour past and finally a bite but not on my rod instead on Russel’s rod. He quickly sprigged into action playing the fish until it was landed. Then while I was taking a picture of Russel’s fish my bite alarm sounded. Before I got to my rod the fish was hooked and started to tear the line off the spool. I picked my rod up and striked and reeled in the fish. I soon Realised that I too caught a common Carp.  After this it all went quiet until the next morning. I woke up at 4pm to find Paul and Russel into another fish each. All the fish that were caught were Mirror and Common Carp from high singles to low doubles. In total 12 fish were caught. Five to Paul three to Russsell and four to me. I know that people say that coarse fishing is boring but I really enjoyed my first overnight session and I cannot wait until the next time!!

Summer has landed !! (21/4/2014).

Went down to Weymouth Harbour today for a quick Lrf session with Will Harding. A quick Lrf session soon turned into a five our session. Will and I set off for the harbour expecting to hit Goby after Goby, but we thought wrong. There were loads of different species of fish kicking around. Different types of Wrasse, Pollock, Scorpion fish and Goby. We patrolled the whole harbour from the town bridge all the way up to the Stone Pier. Once fishing on the pier we started to catch a fish a cast, but after 10 mins of fishing a section of the pier the fish seemed to disappear. To catch my fish I was fishing with a Major Craft Zaltz, Power Isome in the medium size, AAA split shot and a size 20 hook. This hook was so small I had a lot of trouble tying it to my line! Will and I also tried out the BerkleyGulp Maxi Blood worm. This red worm was as affective as the Isome! The fish are slowly turning up. Like I have said before I cannot wait until the summer because the fishing is going to kick off big time!!!!

Easter holidays !

What a week! Fishing this week has been non stop, ranging from Lrf to Feeder fishing to boat fishing.

Wrass bashing Portland Saturday 12th April 2014. 

I started the week at Portland Bill Wrasse Bashing with Will Harding! I left home at 9am and headed to Portland Bill. The weather was fantastic and on arrival we both found out that there was no wind. We clambered down the rocks to our fishing spot and quickly set up. We were using size 4 hooks, cone weights and Rag worm. On the first cast into the water I hooked into my first fish. This was my first time fishing for Wrasse of Portland Bill. I found out how easy it is too set up and not having to cast far out for the fish. You can even find them under your feet! I was amazed that I would catch a fish on near every cast. As a result I lost count of how many fish that I caught. Also like everybody I snagged a fair few times, loosing my leader and tackle. This gave me a ideal chance to practise my leader knot which is not my strongest point in fishing. All round a good day fishing. I can not wait till the summer sets in and the big fish come out to play !

Also i got a chance to video the day ! Link hear -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3vTtXITZG8 

Fishing on JFM Portland Monday 14th April 2014.

I got a call from Fraser at 9am. "meet at the Tackle shop in 20 Minuets". On arrival to the tackle shop we purchased dirty Squid, Hole Mackerel and sand eel. After our purchases we set course for Portland Mariana. Once at the Mariana we Boarded JFM and got ready to go to sea. We left the Mariana at 9.45am and stemmed out to the Hood ship wreck. I set my rod up with Day Light feathers to try and catch some fresh Mackerel bait. We remained at the Hood for 10 mints. No fish landed but I hooked into something big. What ever it was it dragged my feathers under the starboard side of the boat and snapped them off. After reeling up my line the decision was made to head for the main fishing location. On root I set my rod up with a running ledure at 7LB braking strain leader. We arrived at the fishing location and I set about creating a squid and mackerel cocktail to tempt some fish to my hook. To start with Fraser James and I landed loads of Dog fish. So many I lost count. For the next hour all we caught was Dog fish, so we decided to lift up the anchor and move to a different location. Once arriving I cocktailed Mackerel Squid and Sand Eel. I dropped my line into the water and sat waiting for a bite. With in 20 Minuets I got a bite. I picked up my rod and striked agents the fish. It was on! I fought agents the fish for 5 mints and then the line snapped at 70LB. What ever it was it was big. I then reeled in my line and set up again. While I set up Richard mullins turned up to fish with us on his boat.


I dropped my line again and waited four that all important bite. After 2 more bait changes, one more snag and another fish lost I hooked into another fish. This time I fought the fish for 10 mints trying to pull it from the depths. Finally I landed a fish. We got the fish onto the boat and identified it as a Undulate Ray weighing in at 13LB. Fantastic fish and a really good days fishing Thanks Fraser and James !!! :D

Feeder fishing at Revels Fishery Friday 18th April 2014. 

A few weeks ago I was talking to Paul Burridge about feeder fishing. He invited me out for a taster session and a chance to take photographs and video. I did not fish as my rod licence had run out so instead I watched. We left Weymouth at 5am Friday morning. On root to the lake we picked up Russel and headed for the lake. we arrived at the lake at 6am and set up for a days fishing. I have never tried or even thought about feeder fishing, but I was interested to see what it was all about because I manly lure fish and I fancied a change! Paul set up his rig and cast out. With in 2 mints he was in to his first fish. once the fish was landed we identified it as a Carp. Plenty of carp was caught between Paul and Russell with tench, Roach and Bream showing as well. Again another grate day fishing. Though I did not fish  I did learn the basics of feeder fishing with Paul and I look forward to actually fishing this way in the future!

Video link hear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbKBiGpEdP8