great expectations..little reward BC 2/4/10

[pingu]

Yesterday Rich and myself had a blinding pass, from 2pm till whenever
decided on a thornie or proper cod hunt up the BC
knew the tide was still a bit big but have heard of a few thornies now higher up sort of portishead area over low

got to riches at 2 left at 2,25 and drove like a maniac to get to portishead by 4,45 with an hour still before low

now this isnt an area we have fished before so seeing in daylight was a bonus
1st stop the yaucht club slipway



quick investigation as to clean ground then along to another place we wanted to see redcliff



where we decided with low tide time against us we would fish
so we wandered down this pipe to the clean ground



although ended up with me on the high ground pipe and rich on the lowerground sand
( love this pic the colours are natural due to the weather we were faceing throughout)



couple of casts in and i have a rattle and its codling time, by now you can see baggies on the pipe as well as that ground got very soft underfoot very quickly



then the tide continued is relentless flood.. no waves just rageing in as the BC always does so after a while it was abandon this area and after a quick look at bettery point and realiseing the wet ricks were trecherous it was back to the yaucht club slipway where we thought was ok over high

but the tide was still merciless
did manage a far better codling on a whole squid and 4/0 ment for a thornie



which wasnt happy about going back unfortunately

rich also had a couple of codling as well

by 9pm the tide and the rain had beaten us,,as had trying to retrieve gear over this terrain..wind like b*ggery was the technique but that made horreendous line lay and therefore i blew up 2 reels next casts, thankfully always have spares

so total result 5 tiny codling between us, a drowning in the rain and hail, several sets lost gear, 2 blown reels and all 4 needing relineing

a tough afternoon eve , both of us quiet in car on way back as this really wasnt the session we had hoped for as we did alot of work for little reward

we had left at 9.20ish made a kebab but failed on the pint due to an accident on the local roads near home and big diversion

next time as ever next time

dave

[NICK R]

tidy report

[gullyworm]

Good report Dave and a great effort, nothing ventured and all that.

[mithrandir]

Looks like a cracking scene, but the channel there is always loads of water.

At least you got out and had a go, you won't catch anything but a cold sat on the sofa.

[scottish_and_mental]

Originally Posted by mithrandir

At least you got out and had a go, you won't catch anything but a cold sat on the sofa.

Remind me never to come round your house Mike

Good effort Dave n Rich, love the pics

[fishypaul]

looks a lovely place dave,the BC does seem like a challenging place to go,
you deserved something for the effort

[BaggieRich]

Well another Speckled Hen away day but a big disapointment for me. I'd built this trip up in my mind as the first chance of a proper fish this year, but we didn't even get a sniff of a decent fish.

A damned good recky trip if nothing else though (we looked at several marks along the coast at low water before fishing) and Portishead is somewhere I'll probably be back to some day. Just not for a while!

Once we started fishing, everything looked perfect. It was just after low and we'd found the "pipe" mark which looked great. I clambered down from the pipe and found some firm sand setup and chucked out and even found I could hold bottom. Dave of course stay "up top" complaining about getting back up again with his dodgy ankle.

Dave perched "On high"!

"Silly sod", thinks I, "It's great down here". Great that is, until the tide started to flood and the firm sand I was standing on turned quite quickly to not so firm sand and I was forced back on to the pipe as well.

Dave had already pulled in a couple of codling by now and all I'd managed was a crack off and a snagged (and lost) rig into the kelp. Arse.

Imagine my mood then when we decided enough was enough and started to tackle down. With the tripod balanced on the pipe, I'd removed one rig and had started to strip the bait from the other when I knocked a leg of the tripod and the whole lot started to crash towards the rocks. Luckily, I managed to catch it with one hand, but in doing so managed to stick a 3/0 wide gape into the thumb of my other hand. Luckly not past the barb, but I was now stuck. One hand holding the tripod and rods, the other streched out to the other side with 6oz of lead on the pulley rig pulling the hook further into my hand. Errr, what to do now? Dropping the rods wasn't an option as this was guarenteed to pull the hook further in past the barb and I obviously couldn't do anything with the other hand so I just stood there for a minute or two contemplating what to do next. Eventually I managed to manouver the rods a touch more vertical and was able to reach the hook sticking out of my thumb with my other hand. Phew. How on earth it never went in past the barb I will never know, but thankfully it got extracted just as Dave reached the scene with a "hello mate, you alright?"

After this, we went and took a good look at the famous battery point, but decided against that again due to access for Dave's ankle! Must admit though, the climb down did look a little dodgy and so we made our way back to the yatch club slip.

Access here was much easier, but the flooding tide was rapid to say the least. Having had the recky earlier was useful, but I still managed to loose a fair few rigs. I did manage a couple of little codlets to save the blank though so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

All in all, not quite what we'd hoped for, but a few more options for when the fish do eventually return.

Lesson learnt
**********

1. Thou shalt always paid heed to the tide in the Bristol Channel. Damn that thing moves quick.
2. Team Speckled Hen can sniff out a kebab shop at 100 miles.
3. Thou shalt NOT, I repeat NOT, stick a hook in your hand when the other hand is otherwise engaged.

[paul p]

Nice report guys. Tight lines

[tjnorton]

Great report and pics. Looks like a superb place to fish.

tj

[pingu]

cheers all,,
i do believe i shall be back up that way very soon( me and rays huhh)

looking back was definately one of the best reconicence trips yet, and lots gained from it

dave