Hillshead 8/3/08

[Twiddler]

On the hunt for some early ray or anything that would be willing to my bait, I decided to meet up with PeterPan the usual crowd to try my luck again to get some sea species.

7pm meet, didn't give me a lot of time after work to sort my gear out, as I had to go to humble first to pick my bait up and fuel up. Arriving at the petrol station I remembered that I have forgotten my flask and reels.

Another dash back home picking the stuff up and on my way I was. 4.30pm traffic on a Friday is a nightmare and to top that up there are maintenance road work going on at the M27.

Finally arrived at the venue around 7pm and soon we were on our way to the chosen part of the beach.

11.30pm high tide gave us plenty of time to scan the sandbanks with the gullies to judge where to fish.

I still have the same problem with my casting, never seem to be able to cast very far, so Peter gave me some lessons and in no time I improved my cast by around 10-15 yards, with both multi and F/S. Awesome!!!

Set up: rod 1: one up one down rig, 1/0 and 2/0 hook, rod 2: 2 hook flapper, 1/0 hook at top, 3/0 at bottom.

Bait: limpits, kindly collected and donated my Eddie, lug, rag, sandeel, squid and sprat.

The tide came in pretty fast so we soon were able to do the first cast.

Lee was the first to catch, a nice 2lb flatty on first cast....this looks promising, my last famous thoughts. Next in line was Dan with a slug, Eddie also managed a flatty around the 1.5lb mark.

Peter was also saved from a blank and got a whiting and I think another couple of small stuff but lost track of all fish caught, as I was working hard on trying to get a fish myself.

The evening went on and Allandec and son arrived to join us.

High tide came, stayed for an hour and slowly went again, still no fish for me, I had a couple of knocks but didn't connect. It was one of those evening when I thought, why do I bother, I'm not cut for shore fishing.

Then came my break through....a knock and another, I picked my rod up tighten the line and waited....there another knock, I struck in to the fish and Bingo!!! By then I didn't care if it was only at pout, whiting or snotty, at least not a blank.....but to my surprise it was a schoolie

Nothing to get over excited about but at least another 1.5points and saved from a blank.

Soon the others were starting to leave one by one until only the hardcore (Lee, Dan and me) were left fishing to the bitter end.

I managed another 2 schoolies, biggest around the 1/2lb...Dan also had one as he reeled in to pack up...not sure how many fish Lee managed though, I'll let him tell his story.

2:45am arrived and it was time to pack up, as the tide was so far too far out now.

Oh well, I hope one day I will manage a sizeable bass lol

[eddiec]

Glad you caught in the end claudia, you always give ityour best shot so well done.
You will soon get one this big.

I ended up with Flounder, Pout, Rockling, School Bass and 4 Whiting
so a very enjoyable night in the end nothing to big but fun all the same
Was nice to meet up With you, lee, allan and dan. Roll on the next one

[pingu]

well done twiddles sounds like you worked hard for that and points as well

dave

[Portland Pirate]

Hi Guys.

I take it you are talking about Hilhead next to Lee-on -Solent??
If you are then you fished the wrong end of the tide. Hillhead fishes best over the bottom of the tide. Day or night. I have had Thornbacks to 14lb in April, during the day. Best time is between 50 minutes and 10 minutes before low water. Exactly the same for the Smuts from June to end of July.

I was lucky enough to live within 1/2 mile of the spit at Hillhead. When I come back to the UK I will organise a meet there if you guys like and show you how to fish it. No need for casts over 60m. However Peeler is essential.

[Norfolkboy]

Well done Claudia

[fishypaul]

at least you didn't blank claudia,well done on the schoolies

[cuckoo]

Great night sis , bags of fish for all ..... heres mine and eddies efforts , me with a flounder at 2lb on the nose and eddies at 1 lb 8ozs ......





look forward to fishing for the rays and smutts with richard and pete , 2 great knowledgeable anglers , who fished the cliffs since boys lol

lee.

[fishypaul]

nice flounders there boys

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

Originally Posted by Twiddler

Set up: rod 1: one up one down rig, 1/0 and 2/0 hook, rod 2: 2 hook flapper, 1/0 hook at top, 3/0 at bottom.

What's this strange language?? Don't understand a word of it!!

Well done on the Bass partner, excellent work and more points to the total. Sounds a bit hard going but as usual your perseverance pays off

I've got another 1.5 points to add, report to follow!

[BaggieRich]

Well done Twidds. That's more Bass than I've had this year. I'm starting to think maybe that dark side stuff isn't such a bad idea after all!!!

Good effort Claudia. And a nice report.