Crab Alley 8th June 2011

scottish_and_mental · #1 06-09-2011, 12:31 PM

After lots of text messages to my informant it was finally decided that the tides were pants for almost everywhere but a last minute phone call with some very interesting news saw me heading to one of our low water venues in search of a smut or two ( after Mondays blank at Monk hill , i would have done )

By 8 pm i had collected a good 50 hardbacks and softies from the traps along with the odd straggler peeler and headed to the beach with the 6 frozen peeler , a bit of black and a small pack of squid incase a bass or bream was about

9.00 saw my first cast and straight into ten ton of weed as the tide was still hammering out , so both rods were duly rested and i was on the phone again to Lee

..
For the first time i can ever recall i actually watched a gannet diving infront of me in the middle of the channel -not a common site inshore ,and that coupled with the terns diving meant i had a good feeling about tonite

worm bait out on one rod as a feeler to see if the tide had dropped saw me reeling in my first fish of the night and a new species for the year -

I swear thats a black bream trying to look like a red one

second cast and the rig went some 250 yards without the mainline so i quickly tied on another shockleader and whacked a two hook flapper in the same direction .. 20 minutes later i had BOTH rigs back on the shore

but no more bream ..

10.30 and the tide was bottoming out so out went the hardback and peeeler cocktails on 3/0 big mouth pennels - then the fun began and the hounds from hell came out

first pull over and the rod butt went skyward and i was into my first smut of the night - my personal best common of 9lb 8 oz .. I would like at this point to thank the local bass angler who stopped to take this pic for me ( advise me on more marks ,and leave me more crab

)

common 9lb 8 oz -

composed , i set about messaging Lee and was half way into the text when the rod doubled over .. i managed to grab the butt, throw the phone , and hang on to the toppling tripod to pull in fish number two !
This bugger was in the 8 - 10 bracket (another common ) but the fish snapped the 3/0 hook right at my feet - inches before grabbing its tail

..
Ah well , the night was young so in an attempt to get that message to Lee the phone came back out and BANG - another take .. wtf was going on , was i not meant to have a phone lol !
fish 3 and a 7lb 7 oz starry was on the beach

- i believe another pb for me - the 3rd in 4 weeks !

by now the tide was on the turn and on its way back up - i wasn't sure how the flood woulg go but kept fresh bait out every 15 minutes or so ..

another hit and after a good scrap smut number 4 was in the bag and it looked like i would never get to make that coffee !

This time an 8lb starry - pb beaten again !

i love that pic i have to admit

30 minutes or less later and the rod was over again , this time the smallest fish of the session at a mere 5lb 4 ounce and another starry

by now i was knackered from running around like a headless chicken,the tide was racing in and it was time to pack up .. 3 and a half hours of madness and it will be repeated ( hopefully )when i head back again tonite

pingu · #2 06-09-2011, 01:44 PM

superb session well done steve

dave

MRG2000 · #3 06-09-2011, 01:54 PM

Nice fishing Steve , some cracking hounds there ...

dovorian · #4 06-09-2011, 02:03 PM

Nice going S&M.
Those are some cracking hounds. Hows your arm now? Must still be in plaster and your still pulling out double figure fish, thats good going. Well done.
Jason.

scottish_and_mental · #5 06-09-2011, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dovorian

Nice going S&M.
Those are some cracking hounds. Hows your arm now? Must still be in plaster and your still pulling out double figure fish, thats good going. Well done.
Jason.

Hand still swollen and tender but i cut the cast off and should have been back at the hospital last week

ah well