Selsey three-day boat session

[Lookfar]

Hi folks,
Just back from my annual club competition bash out of sunny Langstone, so this'll be a long-winded (and high-winded) report.

Despite bunking out of work mid-afternoon, I was last to arrive on Friday and got the duff pitch that's a bitch to back the boat into. The guys had already gone out crabbing successfully so once my tent was up it was off down to Langstone with SeaMouse and Lady Christine for the traditional Friday mackie-bash. My crewman Dave set his usual blistering pace out there, so we were onto the Dean Tail wreck and putting fish aboard before the others had even arrived. It was a lovely evening, with the sun dropping low (we didn't expect to see sunshine again all weekend) and the mackerel running close under the boat. Dave and I soon had enough for next day's bait and stopped feathering, just enjoying the evening afloat while I played with my crazy light telescopic rod, which picked up a garfish. A quick look at the German Tug wreck added a pout then we belted back home again and got our heads down. It was a windy night, so sleep was patchy.

Saturday
Next morning, the promised high winds were there and after much discussion and a look at the sea state, we all decided that even with a force 7 promised for the evening the steady E-NE meant we'd be safe to hug the shore as far as Selsey. The curve of Bracklesham and Selsey Bill gave us shelter and the wind was direction was stable for 8 hrs+ beyond end of day. That's what we did, after a careful detour around the Winner where the depth under the keel got down to 3ft! It was a wet ride into a head sea and strong wind on the quarter, even with the spray dodger up, and the bilge pump was needed. We passed Lady C en route, dropping by to say hello, then spotted Tamar Lady a few hundred yards from our intended mark which put all five boats in the one spot. At the Hounds, I ran up tight to the reef plateau in 20ft while the other two Warriors went for the deeper water. They had the right call and Dave and I struggled to find much quality, although he was doing OK on the quantity. I faffed around wasting time with bait blocks, radio's, multiple rods and so forth while he steadily banged out his limit in bream up to 2lb (for which read, he whupped my ass). We had a few mini-pout, ballans, three gars each (they are everywhere this year), I got a handful of pin bream too and then added a corkwing wrasse to up my species score as well. It was hard fishing, the strong wind had us parallel to the meagre tide and beam-on to a hefty chop, but at least it didn't rain.
Eventually the bites dried up completely and we headed out to see if Brake Ledge was fishable. We parked up downwind of Selsey Bill - any further out would have been too exposed but we only had a biggish swell at that point. Set out our stall for smoothhounds but they just were not there. I added a few more bream, a ballan and a dog but the wind had gone up from a whistle to a mild scream and we suddenly realised from the radio chatter that the other Warriors had gone in and were actually at Langstone, recovering. I decided discretion ruled and we packed up. The run home was a hoot. Even inshore the seas were getting large but being on the stern quarter they gave us little problem and we surfed back in style.
Recovery was a nightmare. The wind was really pushing hard now, almost gale force at right angles to the slip. Dave made numerous attempts to get SeaMouse lined up with the cradle of the trailer but each time she was pushed off line before I could secure her and start winching. All the while, the Harbourmaster and crew sat on their rib at the top of the slip and just watched. I was less than impressed. Seems my harbour fees cover expensive fast ribs and radar guns but not helping out the clientele when they're struggling right under your nose. In the end, a friendly passing guy manned the winch end of things for me and then I could snag SeaMouse and get her bows locked into the cradle. After that, it was plain sailing but I'd taken a serious battering to the coloured GRP along the way. Time to buy some touch-up paint
Another excellent club meal at the Caribou and a wild, wet and stormy night in the tent. Even aircraft grade earplugs couldn't drown out the racket. Mine didn't cope that well, so I woke up with half my bedding in a puddle.

Sunday
The forecast now was promising us a fishable afternoon, but at 7am it was blowing damn hard out of the south-east. Not a good direction at all. We agreed again that we'd launch from Langstone but this time, we planned to head for the Dean Tail hole. It doesn't produce a lot but there's remarkable variety and it would keep us well inshore while we waited to see what the day would do. I slightly delayed everyone as I'd agreed to shepherd a new Pro Angler owner for the day and he was a little late arriving, so eventually the other boats got away five minutes before us. The boat (Waimairu) was only delivered recently and this was his first ever launch, so all things considered he did very well throughout the day.
We bashed out to Dean Tail hole over a big sea, going slowly both for the conditions and for the sake of our companion's new engine. Looking back at Waimairu following us I could see her entire underside each time she topped a big wave. Flagged Martin down and got him to trim the Honda in properly, which got her behaving like a boat again instead of a space shuttle. With the anchors down the sea state was bearable and there was enough tide to fish comfortably. We'd gone into the middle of the hole rather than up on an edge and were definitely over mud. I had dogs and Dave a baby starry hound followed by, to his considerable pleasure, a 2lb plaice. That set the tone - for the rest of the day I played second fiddle while he thrashed me at every mark.
Conditions just got better and better, as forecast, so we soon made the decision to push east. Dean Tail wreck gave us a couple of mackerel each on a very difficult drift (damned if I could hit the wreck) then we slogged along well behind the others to Bullocks Patch, with Waimairu tucked in behind us. The place was alive with pin bream. Dave had around 14, with 9 for me. I had a ballan, we picked up mackerel on the retrieve and a handful of dogfish. The spawny swine also connecting first to a conger that eventually straightened his size 4 hook then to another solid fish that turned out to be a large flattie. Which flattie and how large we'll never know, as it spat the hook just under the surface.
With both of us maxed out on bream for the competition, it made sense to try for hounds. We went for a mark north of Utopia. Lady Christine had gone for the southern bank but I opted for the middle and this time it was us that called it right. There was no stopping Dave. He was into an 8lb starry before I'd even got my immense battery of rods deployed. He followed up with 10.5lb, just short of 13lb and 5lb, with common hounds of 6,7 and 8lb. It seemed every time I looked round, his rod had gone over again. I got two starry's and two commons from 6lb-11lb as well, the fish mainly coming to hardbacks as the hermit baits were quickly ripped apart by small bream. Netting and tagging the bigger ones was a nightmare with rods going off right in the middle of it, an inspired catch from me stopping Dave's light rod with the butt a good four foot off the deck and heading seawards. Chaos! We added dogs, a mackerel and even a pin bream on Dave's 4/0 pennel rig but the hounds made the day. Conditions had gone right down to almost flat, the sun came out and the hounds fought hard. The last two of mine came on the uptider as the tide picked right up and we had a real struggle to net them, I was knackered.
When the others called 'hometime' and left, we got the anchor up and collected Waimairu then set away after them. They'd disappeared and we came back at a smooth 20 knots, running-in Martin's Honda. There was no-one about at Langstone- Moby was unbeknown to us to out at sea salvaging a sail board but I couldn't work out where Lady Christine had gone. She was there when I brought the trailer down though, and Moby arrived soon after. Recovery this time was a lot smoother but the Pro Angler gave us a few problems. The winch was ungreased and in high gear whilst the creaking and groaning from the rollers suggested they were also not free running. I gave Martin a hand on the winch for the last few turns and it took a hell of a lot of effort - no wonder he'd gone purple.
Back to the site for a clean-up and the barbeque/presentation evening. Rather to my embarrassment, my crewman's inspired performance and the fact the big club boat was stuck in port all day meant we'd largely cleaned up on the prizes.
Yet another wild and stormy sleepless night and we downed the tents wearing chest waders. My tent was by now on the edge of a small lake. A nice breakfast at the café (still in chest waders!) and I was homebound up a very soggy A3 by 10am.

A great weekend despite the conditions, we got out there and caught some cracking hounds but I'm glad its only once a year. I'm shattered and the house is knee-deep in soaking wet camping gear!

Steve

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Cracking read - thanks

[Lewis 77]

Good report Nice to see you've had a few hounds

[monkey nuts]

great effort m8 , well done.
hope to give solent smuts ago next weekend

[audiracer]

Great read, thanks. Let's hope this weekend will not be as wet and windy.

[SeanP]

Great reading Steve, sounds like it was a helluva weekend

[Lookfar]

Hi Sean,
Welcome to the site! Not a bad weekend for fish in the end, but I'm not in a hurry to go out in winds reaching force 7 again. Even coming straight off the land and hard inshore we got pretty wet.

Steve