5th november chesil.

geejayy · #1 11-06-2011, 03:13 PM

i was planning on a cod hunt at ferry bridge but when my m8 said he would be out with his dad at chesil a meet up was in order.
for ease of access we went to abbotsbury , the tide was neap & the surf had dropped after the recent storm it was a dry evening with the wind in the n/w it seemed.
after a few hihowsyadoing i set u next to rob rigged one rod with a 3ook flapper and the other with an up n over big fish rig with 60lb snood & 4/0-6/0 hooks, baits were black lug ,squid.
cast them both out approx 3.30pm which looked to be about high tide. went for a natter to rob and his dad and a little while latter noted a knock on the flapper rod ever anxious to avoid a blank back to the rods i went to set hooks into the first fish of the day.
rob had followed me over and i asked him to tighten down the second rod as it had slackened as i wound in the flapper rig resulting in a blank busting skinny yting.

which was quickly photoed & released , the other rod had slackened again by the time i got back, ' fish on there ' rob commented , which turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
i pulled to break out the lead but it seemed stuck fast, wound down for another bite and the rod nodded , oooooooooh cod already i hoped , this got it moveing but away from me takeing a little line against the sloshes smooth drag, ( which i'm more than a little impressed with), after a lot of give and take i got the fish into the surf, at first sight robs dad called 'ray', rob kept quiet, all i was was disapointed coz there was no big white coddie belly, what i thought i saw was a 6foot length of kelp & a doggy.
but with the next wave we all saw that it was an eel, bringing it in on a wave after about the 3rd go the 3 of us managed to get it up to the top of the bank with out mishap where it was photo'd & weighed with robs scales before a safe release.
rob gave it 31lb on his scale a specie pb and all time heaviest fish from shore or boat for me.

well with the exitement over things soon settled back to normal with just the odd knock from random whiteing and this double shot of poor cod & whiteing, could have had a few more whiting but persisted with the big hooks hopeing for cod things went quiet as the tide dropped.

robby & dad left just after dark as did most of the anglers along the beach , a swift beachcombe returned a couple of mackerel, a whole flank on a 6/0 accounted for the obligatory chesil doggy, this one a baby though.

as the tide rose through the early hours a steady stream of whiteing bites were showing but the big hooks meant that i hooked only a few. and i thought that that was going to be it for the rest of the morning, till i saw a firmer pull down and drop back.
i struck into a dead weight and thought yes !! this is the gold spotty when it nodded back, but the fight was strong with what felt like head shakes sounded good for a large bass but before i got it in sight i had concluded it was another eel,& this time i'm alone in the dark. this one was a little more docile and i got it up the bank and unhooked with no problems.
with no big fish bag i had to weigh it in my tackle box where it just about curled into, with only my set of duff dial scales plus some fagpacket reconing approxamate weight was est 28 lb give or take .

then the 3am alarm sounded and it was time to release the fish & pack up .

what a session , not the rare doule figure beach fish, but a high 20 , and a thirty to boot. .

Chopper · #2 11-06-2011, 03:20 PM

Well done on the snotty mate. Unlucky with the Cod.

Dadwood · #3 11-06-2011, 03:45 PM

What a fantastic session! Very well done that man. Not often that you'll catch such a sizeable eel from the beach. Me? Green with envy. Lol. Kind regards.