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Trip #101 - Chesil Cove

I had been reading all week that Rays and Hounds were about and popping up all along Chesil, so knowing that I was going to hit the beach for a few hours on Friday night meant I was buoyed with enthusiasm! I’m still at the stage of giddy anticipation when it comes to picking a location to go fishing along this shoreline, but I made the decision early on to try out Chesil Cove. Although this location supposedly fishes better in the summer and autumn, I was hoping to catch a few and if not, at least I was wetting a line.

Trip #100 - A Dog's Tale...

After bringing some beachcasters and multipliers back from South Wales I’d decided to get out and give them a go. As I’d said previously, fishing in the day takes away from spending time with the little one, so a lot of my trips will be evening and on in to the night. Chesil beach is so vast, I had no idea where I would try my luck for this session. I had heard Seatown was throwing up some Plaice, but the previous days wind had meant the clarity in the water was reduced. A bit of toing and froing and I resolved to go to Abbottsbury.

Trip #99 - Pootlin' Around Portland

It’s been a long time since I’ve managed to get out on the bank or beach. So long that when we recently moved house my rod tubes and holdall’s had developed elaborate spider’s web decorations. My seat box had been yet again ravaged by mice (they seem to like the foam), and I found what looked like a hibernating hornet nestled in between my landing net and keepnet bags. This didn’t make the journey to the new house... I hate Wasps and Hornets. Bees can crack on, Wasps and their even angrier cousins. No thanks. It’s been a crazy busy few months; house moving eats time… and money. But now slowly the dust is beginning to settle and I found I had the chance to get out for an early morning session on Portland. My wife, the little’un and I had been down there on Easter weekend, and the ledges screamed fish. So I had to get down there and give them a bash.

Trip #98 - Catch it, Kill it, Eat it!

Trying to plan and execute a fishing trip regardless of length when you have very small child can be like trying to arrange a small military operation, FACT! So on the weekend when I noticed that the tides were right, the weather was right and the time of year was right, and after a quick phone call to the Tackle Box (where I was informed the fish have been coming so close you could catch them in a bucket) I mentioned over a cup of tea “I may go and try and catch some mackerel tonight…”. This went down rather well; as we both like mackerel. I grabbed my spinning bag, checked I had some feathers, visited the shed for my rods and packed the car. I pottered around the house for a while and made sure all my bits were done and ZIP! Before you know it I was popping along the B3165 towards Lyme Regis and thinking about the evening ahead.

Dinner is served!

Trip #97 - West Bay Wanderings

This is a quick blog I wrote in the summer, but for reasons described below I haven't got round to posting! Enjoy!

It's been quite a while since I've managed to get out and wet a line. New family members have the ability to eat up all your time doing all the fun stuff that young families do. It's been and will continue to be a huge roller coaster. I've only managed a very early morning session at Lyme Regis, blanked and was home before 9am. Anyway.... the weather over the last week has been one of almost constant and blistering sunshine and I had been told that the mackerel had arrived on the south coast. My wife and I had agreed to visit West Bay for a few hours on Sunday morning, and I would be taking a box of lures and some feathers.

Trip #96 - Easter Annualisation

In a working world of "week on week", "year and year" and various other almost meaningless annualisation terminology I thought I would make my own annual observations. I had a few hours spare in the recent bank holiday. As I'm sure you're aware little mini Murphy tends to monopolise a lot of my spare time these, so my habitual Sunday of sloping off for the majority of the day to test out various angling venues seems to have temporarily been placed on the back burner. Where I imagine it will remain for the best part of the next year or so. So when the chance came to wet a line, I snatched at it and decided to re-try Lyons Gate Fishing lakes. I had seen on social media that the Tench were start to appear, so I thought I'd give it a whirl, and see if I could catch a few, failing that, I would see if I could remember how to use my pole.

Trip #95 - Last Day Dalliance

The day is fast approaching... The 15th of March, and being a borderline workaholic I wasn't going to be able to get a week day off to get out and give the river a proper bash. To be honest I haven't been able to get out much at all this season, my last trip was a very short and frosty morning spent on  lake very near to my house. Unfortunately I think they may have few resident mink which have wonderfully unraveled all of the great stocking work that had been carried out in the previous summer and the hour or 2 my brother and I spent there was a complete blank! So the week leading up to this weekend was spent religiously checking the EA river levels website. Despite a squirt of rain earlier in the week, the river level was running a lovely and consistent 0.73m. Ideal (Although where I intended to fish would be a fair bit deeper than that). I had decided to get out and away early, and one of the advantages of having a baby is that lay ins are seldom. Sure as the sea, at half 3 we were up and feeding him, and I endeavored to leave the house at 5 and be back for 9(ish).

The dog led the way!

Trip #94 - Go Small or Go Home

Contrary to the popular saying “Go big or Go home”, after some trial and error on one my most recent trips (before the blustery onset of winter) size definitely does matter. The tides were looking favourable and on the whole I don't mind an early start, it also meant that I would be home well before lunch. So when the alarm went at 5, I was up and out the door not long after, driving my way down to Lyme Regis. This early in the morning parking was free, but I had enough change to cover a few hours, if the fish felt like actually biting. I was starting to become disillusioned with constantly blanking while spinning, and was hoping a different stretch of beach may help to break my duck.

Nice to get out so early.

Trip #93 - A goalless draw

A trip from late autumn.

My recent fishing venues have involved beaches rather than pegs and river banks and with a few days off the wife and I managed to sneak off and have a few nights away in Saundersfoot, West Wales. It's a place that I spent several summer as a child and a place where my brother did a lot of fishing while he was growing up. That said I gave him a quick ring for some advice on how best to tackle my chosen venue - Monkstone Point.