Friday 4th July off Selsey - loooong report

[Lookfar]

Hi folks,
Friday was a funny old day. What was turning into a bit of a drag suddenly went ballistic on us and I ended up with what was probably the most frantic and exciting ten minutes of my fishing career to date.

Grabbing a hole in the weather, we arranged to launch with Moby and Waimairu from Eastney on Friday morning. We were last to arrive, as usual, so we lobbed the boat in at double-quick speed, grabbed some bait from the others and got ourselves away to Dean Tail for some mackerel. The water was pretty turbid and all we found was four scattered joeys out on the German Tug. The others had fared even worse. It was agreed that this was a waste of time, so we all headed east over a smallish sea. The plan was to head east as far as we could, as the forecast was for the wind eventually to swing SE and start to blow hard, which would then give us a nice easy stern sea for surfing home.
A quick stop north of utopia showed we still had 2 knots of drift, anchoring wasn't an option there so we pushed on to the Swashway to try for a plaice. Drift speeds here were down to 1.4 knots, the sea state was very placid and the sun was out. It was very pleasant drifting along a few yards apart but where were the plaice? Three small pout in nearly a mile was poor pickings and we headed back up tide for another drift but this time the tide had eased and the wind picked up. Result - no drift. I stuck that for fifteeen minutes then queried Waimairu about changing tack. The answer was an enthusiastic "yes!" and we headed for Pullar and a crack at the hounds across the slack.
The wind was still rising from the SE, as forecast, and Pullar was showing the start of a good swell developing. After mooching around looking at the sounder, we went for the top of the spit in 90ft with Waimairu, while Moby opted for the deeps. Out went the peeler baits, followed by mackerel flappers on the heavy rods, and we settled back to wait. The lines were running back towards the bows as wind fought the last of the flood and we were being chucked around everywhere. Then we started to wander around when the tide died so when the bite finally came to John's rod it was inevitable there'd be tangles. Up came a well knotted up 11lb starry hound, which was carefully unwrapped and tagged before release, but not before I'd been slapped across the face by its tail. The ebb then got going and life got easier. I got the next bite, a slow run on a mackerel flapper. Pick up the rod, count 6 with the stomach starting to knot up, engage reel and hit it. Fish on, but right from the start clearly not huge. That was a 7lb tope, and even as we were unhooking it the other boats announced their anchor holds had failed and they were moving in to find shelter. I wasn't unhappy about that, we were getting thrown around all over the place.
Moby went for Medmery, but we opted to go in for Brake as the tide was a big one and I wanted some shelter. Skirted round the edge of Boulder Bank rather than take the direct route, which would probably have been like a giant washing machine with the ebb gathering speed. Went down the channel and turned east up the slope slightly south of my usual marks on Brake Ledge, quite near a yellow Offshore 105 (Trio?). The anchor went down uptide of a big shoal of 'something' and we banged out hound baits on the heavier rods then settled down with the light rods to play with the small fish. I'd no groundbait with me and the bream simply never showed. Not so much as a sharp rattle all day. We did get a slow stream of mini pout though plus a goldsinny and a tompot blenny to boost my species tally.
One good bite on the bream rod towards the end of the day saw me connected briefly to a heavy fish that by the fight and by previous experience here had to be a conger. The 12lb line never stood a chance but it did prompt me to change my uptider over to a mackerel strip, just in the vague hope that the fish hadn't been put off. The rod registered a solid bite and I hit a very heavy weight that thumped hard three times then locked up. The lead was snagged. Eventually it freed off and the 50lb trace had been bitten clean through!
We had already agreed before this with Waimairu that we'd head back west and try for a bream on Bullocks, but I offered John the chance to stay put and try for his first conger and he jumped at the chance. Mark and Martin over on Waimairu agreed to hang on as well so out went some mackerel fillets on 'proper' traces, more in hope than expectation. Five minutes later, the uptider showed a gentle twitch and this time the fish was not getting away. Definitely a conger and not immense, while I was playing it John was struggling to unhook a small ballan he'd got on his bream rod when his own conger rod keeled over. I stood on the butt for him while playing my own fish, the ballan went back double quick but the bait was dropped and he'd missed his chance.
My fish was strap conger of 14lb which put slime all over the decks. Once we'd dealt with it and it was safely in a sack, we opted for one last go as the wind was well and truly whistling now and even on Brake the seas were getting up. The last of the mackerel went back out on the conger rods and, probably foolishly, we also put the bream rods back out. Next thing I knew, John was hanging grimly onto his 12/20 'conger' rod which was bent over like a hoop. It took me a few seconds to get across and ease the drag for him, which gave my knots a severe testing. His fish then got its head down and ran steadily uptide. When it stopped, I gave him a bit of advice on pumping it (his first seriously big fish) then I started to clear the decks and get the net out. From the corner of my eye, I saw movement on my side of the boat. My uptider was heading for the stern at speed. Grabbed it and something out there took off like a rocket. It went uptide then in towards us with me reeling like a mad thing to stay in touch. As it went under and uptide of the boat I gave it as much stick as I dared but it just shrugged me off. I'd got the rod as far up towards the bows as I could and buried in the water to keep the line off the hull. The uptider was completely locked up and the reel just kept right on emptying. The fish stopped twice and each time as soon as I tried for some line, it took off again. There must have been well over 40 yards out when the mono finally went ping. When we came to look later, the 50lb mono leader had been abraded through above the boom, probably by the fish's tail.
I didn't have time to sit and cry. Wound my line in and dived across to help John. He'd worked his fish up to the boat and it had kited around the stern, collecting the light rods as it went. John had followed it and was stood on my side of SeaMouse in a tangle of tackle. I leant over with the net expecting a snake and up ghosted a tope! Not big, I thought at first, but the water was clearer than I thought and the fish deeper. It was far and away my biggest tope to date. I grabbed the leader to get the fish's head up and we use leader and net to lift the beast out and straight into the weigh sling. It was too rough to get a decent weight with the scales bouncing between 29and 32 lb, but 29lb 8oz seemed to come up most often, so that's what we settled for. Tagged it, got a picture with the 35mm camera (the digital chose that moment to die on me) and slipped it back and it roared off.
That was our first chance to draw breath and we were both suddenly grinning like idiots. About the most exciting ten minutes I've had in 8years of boat fishing. John's fish almost touched 30lb but it was a limp lettuce compared with the beast I'd been connected to, so I'm pretty sure I've finally met one of the big females that Selsey is so famous for
All the rods were now totalled, the mackerel had run out and it was getting lumpy. Time to go home. We dropped in by Moby south of Chichester on the way back and drifted briefly, picking up a couple of mackerel for supper, then headed in. It was blowing hard now and in the entrance of Langstone the ebb through the run had put up some HUGE seas. Proper surfing stuff and we took two seas right up the windows and over the cuddy, without the canopy up we'd have got a soaking. Recovery went smoothly - no need to beg favours from the more capable 4x4's - and we were homebound by 6pm for a coffee and a mammoth cutlet-cutting session with the conger.
From the edge of being a pretty dull day, it turned into a cracker. It's odd though, prior to this year I've not heard of either conger OR tope from that mark, and in just 40ft on a sunny day the conger was especially surprising.

Steve

[BaggieRich]

Great read Steve. One of those days that you'll take with you forever eh mate? A fantastic result. Shame about the one that pinged the leader, but at least John got his fish to the boat, and I'm fairly sure you'll connect with what ever it was again... Just step the mono up a bit next time eh?

A fine read mate. Well done.

[pingu]

sounds like an awsome day there


just hpope didgital works next time


dave

[Lewis 77]

Good report and nice tope ..... how far out from Selsey do you reckon these tope were ? (dont worry we're not interested in knicking your spot but just wondering when they will hit the beaches again).

[Lookfar]

Originally Posted by BaggieRich

Just step the mono up a bit next time eh?

Hi BaggieRich,
Not so sure I can do much about that. I'm already running my rods with 50lb mono rubbing leaders (the actual trace was 150lb). If I step them up to say 80lb leaders they'll catch a lot more tide and 99% of my time I'm not chasing sharky things anyway. The mono abraded through above the boom and it was really roughed up along the last foot or so. Trace length would be at least 4ft, so that tope must have been not less than 5ft from corner of its mouth to tip of its tail. It'll be a few more years before I meet another beast like that

Steve

[Lookfar]

Originally Posted by Lewis 77

Good report and nice tope ..... how far out from Selsey do you reckon these tope were ? (dont worry we're not interested in knicking your spot but just wondering when they will hit the beaches again).

No worries, I named the mark and it is on the charts. Less than two miles off Selsey Bill, probably nearer 1.5 from a quick eyeball of the chart.

Steve