Bits and bobs - Monster catch up.

[BaggieRich]

Bear with me, I’ve got some catching up to do *and* I’ve finally got round to getting a few photo’s off my phone, so this might be a bit long!!!

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With Dave away this weekend I ventured out alone on Friday night and hit Seaton again armed with a speckled hen, some peeler crab and tails of some recently caught bigger Smuts ringing in my ears.

Got to the beach at around 9pm and setup towards the river mouth. Conditions looked good, perhaps a touch breezy and I’d have preferred it more on shore, but on whole not too bad. In the first hour as the light went, I dropped both rods in close hoping for a Bass but the crabs were out in force stripping baits in minutes and pinching hooks , so I decided to launch ‘em out a bit further and see if there were any smuts around.

Not a lot happened in the next hour if I’m honest, apart from me tripping over myself and standing on the telescopic leg of my tripod, rendering it not so telescopic anymore. Grrr,

Then all of a sudden the fish came on, or so it seemed. I had my first bite of the night, a nice little 2 ½lb Bass, closely followed by a Smut just over 2lb. Game on I thought, but it was not to be. By the time I packed up I’d only had another couple of tiny little schoolies and the bigger hounds seemed to have eluded me. Ah well, I’m always pleased to catch Bass, but that wasn’t why I was there. Next time I guess.

Oh BTW, one warning for those coming to the Smut meet. If the crabs are there like they are at the moment, please bring plenty of bait…..





The Sunday saw me go out to the river Otter in Budleigh with some guys from the club on a Mullet teach-in. I’ve never had a Mullet before so was really up for learning how it’s done. Tackle was my light spinning rod (I love this rod, it does everything!) with 4lb mono, a small meps style spinner with the treble removed, a 5” length of 10lb mono and a size 4 Aberdeen baited with small rag.

True to form I was of course running late, so I parked the car and walked up stream to where the other guys were fishing. I stood and watched for a while and slowly realised why these are “head doing” fish. There were *loads* of fish in the swim and almost every cast they were getting a follow, only for the Mullet to veer away at the crucial moment. Very frustrating. After a fair bit of swearing, the other guys decided to move up stream, so I jumped into the swim purely to get myself used to the light line and new method.

Now, sods law and me are quite good friends, so I should really have known what was going to happen next. You see, I don’t actually posses a landing net, but had been assured by the guys that there would be plenty of people around with a one, should I need it. The thing is, that because I was late all the other guys were already well up stream of me and the two I’d just met were already too far away when on my 3rd cast I had a good follow and the fish threw caution to the wind and took the worm. Wow. Much fun. The fish took off like a scolded cat and I had a brilliant fight for a couple of minutes, before I even thought about how I was going to bring it in. I was a good 4/5 foot above the water with no way of getting down closer, so after bit of um’ing and ah’ing I threw caution to the wind and attempted to hand line the fish up. Fortunately, the fish didn’t even give so much as a twitch while I was hauling and I soon had my very first Mullet in my hand. Not massive by any means at 1lb 14oz, but enough to make me a happy bunny.

I spent the next hour joining the others in their swearing chorus, getting follow after follow but with no joy, before something changed and the fish just disappeared. Another couple of fishless hours followed that before I called it a day, please with my first Mullet.

Big thanks have to go to Andy who organised the meet. Cheers mate, I learnt a lot.



And now we come to the (very late) piccies for our favourite Penguin. Sorry mate, I’ve been a bit lazy with these.

Dave’s smut from Seaton a while back. Should have posted it on the correct thread but totally forgot! Sorry mate.



Now a couple of prime caption comp candidates! Firstly, Dave fishing as hard as I’ve ever seen. Notice the nice use of the winding hand. Top angling skills there.



And the aquatic bird type in waterproofs… Whatever next, a duck in sow'westers???!?! THE WATER IS SUPPOSED TO JUST RUN OFF YOU MATE!!!



And finally Dave in full day job mode at the clubs recent, “cook what you catch” teach in. Well done mate, excellent night, although I was a little disappointed not to see the full Chef's whites make an appearance. It made our “err-dee ger-dee, put de chicken in de pot” jokes somewhat dull. You can't knock the dishes he put in front of us though, some even producing proclamations of love from the Welsh contingent. Stick to the day job mate, you're actually quite good at it.

Lessons learnt
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1. Mullet are fun. Bait stripping crabs are *not* fun.
2. Thou shalt not stand on thine tripod leg. Idiot.
3. If your going to need a landing net, buy a landing. It’s a lot better for your heart rate.

[pingu]

top report mate
well done on the mullet, i must have a go at that soon
and cheers for the beers after sunday night

knew that pic would haunt me


reminded me somewhat of this (oops)


although i am obviously far better looking( unless you ask mrs p )


dave

[Twiddler]

Top Report Baggie and well done to your first Mullet.....oh yeah they can really test you patience, those blighters.

Oh and Baggie......I forgot to mention...DO NOT stand on your tripod pmsl

Maybe I'll bring my gas cooker to the smutt meet and Pingu can cook up some dishes for us...that is if anyone catches a decent fish

[pompy.bass.man]

cracking report baggie, lovely mullet and dave, that pick is almost identicle, lol ;)