Weymouth & Shambles

[Greenheart]

I'd arranged with Sean (Portland Pirate) & JP to take the Lady Rita for her second outing from Weymouth last Saturday. Sadly Sean hurt his back & was unable to make it. So 5am Saturday moning saw jp, Matt (Fullcreel) & Myself loading the boat. It's a busy time of year on the Chilli farm for Matt, so he was unable to come either. So 6am saw just JP & myself setting off for weymouth.

I'd decided to try a launch from the Sailing acadamy at Portland this time as the parking in Weymouth is somewhat epensive. We popped into Dennings tackle for some bait (Squid & Rag) The ragworm were huge & top quality, then on to the Acadamy to pay our launch fee & harbour dues. In no time at all, we had launched & were heading out accross the harbour. The format was pretty much the same as the last trip.A few drifts over the wreck of the Hood at the harbour entrance. Then try a few marks along the side of Portland Bill, then head out to the Shambles to try for some Plaice. We managed a couple of drifts over the Hood, which resulted in a couple of nice pollock forJP & myself. Then a couple of boats decided to anchor up right over the wreck which mde drifting over her very difficult. We finally gave up there when a commercial boat laid a line of lobster pots right across the wreck & harbour entrance
Next stop was along the east side of the Bill where a few drifts using ragworm for bait soon saw us both catching some good Wrasse & some small Pouting.

Then we headed out a couple of miles to the Shambles bank to try for a plaice & some makerel. I was amazed at the difference in performance of the Lady Rita with only two passengers. She came up on the plane beautifully (20 Knots according to the GPS) & was using much less fuel. Soon we joined a flotilla of other private & charter boats drifting the Shambles. I'd like to report that we had a few plaice, mackerel or even a turbot. Buy we could'nt get a bite. We saw a very occasional mackerel being caught by a couple of the other boats, but they just wern't there in any numbers. Time still flew & in no time at all, it was 5pm & time to head for home. Getting the boat back onto the trailer at the slipway was a bit of a nightmare as some of the trailer rollers are seized up. (New ones ordered) But we eventually managed with the help of another boat owner from a boat called Moonshine. If you read this, many thanks .
The day was nicely rounded off with a pint and a good meal at a little country pub near Quee Camel.

[Banana Steve]

well done guys, Boy you made me worry when you said you had 9 species all ready when i rang, Glad you had a good day

[MRG2000]

Cracking dayout here chaps ,some nice fish and beer to round the day off,what more can you ask for ....

[scottish_and_mental]

If you get out on the Shambles anytime in June then use baited feathers the Plaice are a dying entity on the bank thanks to divers and commercial pressure , but there are loads of codling caught in the early summer on feathers and hokkais..
well done on the species too mate !

[pingu]

nice one ian , getting the hang of this boating lark now

dave

[bushie]

well done chaps some nice wrasse.you wer'nt to far from one of my favorite bream marks looking at the photo's i'll pass the mark onto you next time i see you at the croc.there is also a plaice mark on the west side that you could try that i will tell you about.

[Jolly Piscator]

I was supposed to write up this trip but still having interweb problems.
Cheers for the trip out Ian , I had a great day & the weather couldn't have been better .
Ian also lent me one of his 'lucky beads' which seemed to do the trick with the pollock & wrasse. I was using Matt's Shakespeare quiver tip uptiding rod which performed well above it's modest price .
the boat was well up to the job & felt very stable even through the choppy water approaching the shambles.
The time sped by and after a short work out getting her back on the trailer we were driving back tanned, hungry & ready for ale .

[vorny]

Nice report there sounds like you had a good day, I am going to have to give this boat fishing lark ago soon!
Tight lines!