Shellfish Baits

[Portland Jon]

I am going Wrassing at Pulpit Rock on Wednesday around lunchtime. I reckon it's worth a bash after reading about it in Sea Angler this month even though it's the wrong time of year. I will be using hardback crab and am going down the Fleet tomorrow to collect some. I'm also making use of the exceptionally low tides this week to collect shellfish from the sandbanks at Ferry Bridge. Any free bait is worth a try, after all it's the shellfish that the Bass come in for during rough weather.

Has anyone any experience of collecting, storing and fishing with small clam type shellfish? I think there are razorfish there so I will take some salt with me to draw them out.

Thanks

Jon

[Greenheart]

Hi Jon, there's another good article on the Pulpit in the march edition of Total sea fishing. Not too sure about climbing up there! I don,t have a head for heights As for storing clams, I can only suggest you try freezing them or put them in the fridge with a bit of seaweed. Not sure how long they would last, but my local supermarket keeps live mussels in the fridge.

[Portland Pirate]

Hi John.

I talked to Pete Hegg last week about whether or not it is worth fishing for Wrasse now and he told me that it seems the cold weather has moved them off now. You will need to wait for the water to warm up a bit for them to move back again. If you are after a big one then November - Mid January (cold depending) is the time to go.

[Portland Jon]

Thanks for the advice Sean, I will leave the fishing then and just collect a load of Razorfish and Queens for the freezer and the mother in law. I'll leave the sea fishing for a while and go coarse fishing instead.

What's Church Ope like at this time of year?

Jon

[Portland Pirate]

Basically John, I would stick to course fishing until the end of March.