Portland Harbour Friday 13th !!!

[Greenheart]

After talking with Portland Pirate & discussing alternative venues to Chesil Beach, I took his advice & fished a mark in Portland Harbour. Bought some bait at Weymouth Angling Centre & arrived at the Beach at about 10am. Went out to a small headland & set up two rods with 3 hook flapper rigs baited with rag & sandeel. 11am had a stonking bite & struck into something that pulled back hard. Pulled whatever it was halfway back to the beach, but then everything went slack . whatever it was had let go. Probably a Bass. I then sat for another four & a half hours without a bite. However I did get to meet Portland Pirate who came down to see how I was getting on. We had a good talk & it was nice to put a face to a name from the Forum (Nice meeting you Sean). By about 4pm I thought I was in danger of being cut off by the tide so I decided to move back into the bay near the steps up the cliff & safety. No sooner had I set up again, when another guy turned up with some fishing gear & asked how I was getting on. It turned out to be a guy called Pete Hegg the British record Ballan Wrasse Holder, former member of the English Shore fishing team & professional angling guide. (Really interesting person, check out his website at: www.chesilanglingtours.com ) He told me I should have stayed on the point as the bay was not much good for anything except the odd flounder. That left me totally demoralised . By now it was getting dark, so I decided to give it another half hour or so, turned on my new headlamp (£5 Ebay) & reeled in one rod to rebait. While I was doing this I glanced at my other rod & noticed I had a massive slack line bite. Threw the first rod down, grabbed the other rod & reeled like crazy until I felt a heavy weight pulling on the other end. After carefully playing (I was using size 2 fine wire flounder hooks) the fish in, There in the light of my new lamp was a big shiney
Bass. 4lb 10oz Brilliant & only 10 minutes after being told I was wasting my time fishing in the bay!!! I ended up fishing for another two hours & had one good Flounder & two small ones on one cast that did not even register a bite & had both completely swallowed the hooks. Sadly no more Bass. Pete hegg came past just as I was packing up & informed me he had hooked two Bass as well but had lost one. So after a slow start it ended up a fantastic day. "Friday 13th as well & lucky for some" Definately owe Portland Pirate a Beer or three....

[Ben]

well done, very nice bass

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Cracking Bass mate and great read

Its funny how we can site there for days and get one good fish and thats it your hooked again

[geejayy]

Originally Posted by Fishing Forum Admin

Cracking Bass mate and great read

Its funny how we can site there for days and get one good fish and thats it your hooked again

still sat waiting.

geejayy.

[pingu]

well done
great read and great fish

[Norfolkboy]

Well done mate, great fish

[Portland Pirate]

Well done.

I will be giving it a try for flounder tomorow evening.

[gullyworm]

Lovely fish.

"The bay is only good for the odd flounder" lol cracking fishing guide

[Greenheart]

Originally Posted by gullyworm

Lovely fish.

"The bay is only good for the odd flounder" lol cracking fishing guide

Yes it did have it's funny side mate, but I think the Bass was more luck than judgement. Pete Hegg was very helpful & an interesting guy to talk to. Check out his website. I think he knows what he's talking about. He would be a useful source of info on the forum. Have to get Portland Pirate to talk him into joining, as I believe they are friends.

[cod fisherman]

a good days fishing and a great read