Southsea/South parade pier 25-7-10

[scottish_and_mental]

what an experience this trip turned out to be !
For reasons only known to me i decided to head back to a venue i last fished at the end of last year - a trip that didnt produce that much i might add..
After digging about a lb of rag and 100 lug ( plus half a dozen squid from Tescos) i decided to head into Portsmouth and venture up onto the pier at Southsea..
On arrival i noticed the office was shut so 'free fishing' i thought...Got down to the lower tier to be greeted with what can only be described as a mini Sangatte ( the french refugee camp )..There were families of hillbillies..people on mountain bikes..more turkish than my local kebab shop plus one other 'normal angler' ..oh..and weed/newspaper/crap strewn all over the deck

Ah well, they will all be gone soon i thought ..i'll just have a cuppa and wait a bit , see what comes in..
Well the family from hell to my right ( Jeremy Kyle eat your heart out ) were fishing,jumping about,swearing at each other and generally getting on my tits when security turned up just to rub it in and charge me £3.00 to fish for the night session ( this is the normal fee plus £1.00 for each additional rod ) ..
Well father hillbilly manage to wangle a Bass of about 18oz from between the metal grids ( shame it wasnt bigger 'cos he'd never have squeezed it through ..and the 'normal' angler hooked into a small bream with around 4lb of weed .
I kept loooking to the shore and thinking..bugger this i'm not staying here all night but by 10pm there were only 2 of us left on the lower deck..



Early action saw tiny bream batter every worm that hit the sea but neither one of us managed to see a single fish the whole night ( apart from Bass chasing through the smelt and the occassional shadowy Mullet ) ..
My main purpose of this trip was to winkle out a Wrasse or two and add to the species point so by 4a.m i'd caught nothing,tried plugging,float fishing in the dark,tiny baits between the piles and decided it was now light enough to target my quarry



By deconstructing a shrimp rig trace i had a 3 hook rig with small hooks and armed these with small rag or lug pieces....
Tap,tap,tap almost instantly and for 25 minutes i managed atleast 20 pout the size of my thumb but no new species ..WTF i thought.. i've been here all night and now even the fish are playing up..
Well a move to another inner section saw me hook this leviathon..i'm still not convinced what it is but my money is on scorpion fish



Half an hour later and Mr Ballan was rudely yanked form his watery home and another 1.5 points were in the bag



I tried for a cuckoo/goldsinney and any blennies but by 8 my eyes were like pissholes in the snow .

My main rod with 3 hook rag and squid cocktail decided to put in an appearance and in came species number 3..( not a new one mind )



A bit of early morning rain came over and i packed up and decided to trudge to the garage if i could find one and head for home ..

Weed was a total nightmare the whole night bar a one hour window on the tide run and the fishing was dire ( even the chinese mafia ensembled on the top deck were blanking apart from one mackerel i saw hooked ) - I bet none of those buggers paid £3.00 each plus another 20 for the vast array of rods assembled all over the structure ).,
Anyone thinking of taking the young kids for a first trip will love the venue for its ability to guarantee a mini fish on command but like most of the Solent waters at the minute night fishing isn't a lot of fun.
3 points in the bag, my hands are in bits , still stinging from the rag juices and tainted with the perfume of squid and it's now time for my 'dinner' ..a meal i think i thoroughly deserve after all that

Steve

[baker boy]

well done steve, good report. should av pussed all the hillbillies in would av been fun watching them swim to shore,lol

tightlines m8

graham

[scottish_and_mental]

Originally Posted by baker boy

well done steve, good report. should av pussed all the hillbillies in would av been fun watching them swim to shore,lol

tightlines m8

graham

Cheers Graham ..think there have been enough anglers in the drink this week tho mate

[NICK R]

A very enjoyable read mate

[blackwater]

Well done on the points Steve, nearly had a few more myself today! Was at a field looking at barley for work and noticed a nice wee river running along the side. Had small brownies, gudgeon and believe it or not a few lamprey!!

I managed to catch a lamprey with my hands and almost a small gudgeon! Dont think lamprey count though. Next time i am bringing a net from my fish tank

[baker boy]

Originally Posted by scottish_and_mental

Cheers Graham ..think there have been enough anglers in the drink this week tho mate

wonder if lee as dried out yet LOL

graham

[scottish_and_mental]

Originally Posted by baker boy

wonder if lee as dried out yet LOL

graham

I hope he shrank a bit in the wash lol
Coulda quite happily threw a few over last night but they would only have tangled my line

[scottish_and_mental]

Originally Posted by blackwater

Next time i am bringing a net from my fish tank

ahem..cough cough..you mean a rod

[blackwater]

Originally Posted by scottish_and_mental

ahem..cough cough..you mean a rod

Sorry that was a typo

[cuckoo]

so have all my 20 pound notes i was gutted i had to wash my smock though

and what was worse the laundered money or smock

well done S7M great report

dave