SALTY DAZE

Hello to all

The time has come for me to go out and get my hands on some dedicated sea fishing tackle,this salt water fling is turning into more of a full blown affair.I almost feel like I'm cheating on my fresh water friend's.

The other day I found one of them tripod things ( that the fella's on the beach use ) under a rarely moved pile of tackle belonging to my old man.I took it out for a quick bait session for bass where I planted a couple of carp rods fitted with standard fixed spool reels on it.Basic running rigs on both rods with peeler crab for bait and 3-4oz leads which just about did the job of holding bottom was how it went down.

I sat back admiring my cobbled together set-up,it looked awesome in my eyes but I'm sure any proper sea angler would not agree,anyway just as the tide was about to reach its limit my left hand rod slammed over.I wound down and connected,the sea noddy strikes again I thought to myself ; after a spirited tussle I banked myself a beautiful Bass of 3lbs,no monster but I have only caught them on lures and live baits from a boat previously so I felt it was a bit of an achievement.

Another salty day

I was kindly invited to join Mox and Seb on-board Sebs friend Mikes boat that he runs out of Watchet harbour,upon arrival I noticed an immediate problem.There was no water in the harbour leaving the boat sat stranded on the mud.Not a problem replied Seb "we set tackle and drink beer" he said,Sounds like a plan pal.

After a good catch up over a can of strong Polish lager the water had flooded in setting it all good for the go,We were soon on our way out of the harbour making our way into the mighty Bristol channel.Conger and Thorn-back ray were the target species and it wasn't long before my squid bait was being investigated,tap tap tap was met with a strike.I could feel a fish thumping away in the strong tide,I soon was leading a dogfish to the boat.A few more doggy's made an appearance before I hit into something that felt like the bottom,I soon realised it wasn't the deck of the sea and got my crank on.

Kinda felt like a plastic bag that had the ability to perform the odd glide,sensations were all pointing towards a Ray of some sort so I wasn't surprised but very pleased when a nice Thorn back hit the surface.

My first ever Ray,What an amazing creature it was too! with all those sharp spikes and the lovely mottling pattern make them a awesome looking fish.Another first was the capture of a Conger eel,now I have seen plenty of them being caught on the box and web and some bloody big ones to boot,but my first must have been around 6lbs hardly the loch ness monster but a conger non the less.Moxy had a larger one that fought like stink in the tide but again not really a proper'un.

Through the use of what I think is called a T bar all the eels were effortlessly unhooked an sent on there way,good job we had it an all as I would rather unhook a big shark than put my hand near one of those skwirmy chaps.We had a great day out with Mike so thanks buddy and here'to a big eel next time.


Til next time

Good luck