May Review

The first half of May was dominated by easterly winds, resulting in often cold days and flat calm crystal clear seas, not the best fishing conditions. Despite that my luck continues to be good and I have been blessed again with some nice fish including another PB, my 3rd of the year which is pretty unusual for me.

First session in anger was a mackerel bash hoping for a feed and maybe a few for the freezer. Tbh it was hard work with just 3 Mackerel, 2 Pollack and a Sandeel to show for my 2 hours hard graft but at least it was enough for dinner.

Then it was back on the Giltheads and another fairly slow session with a few small Bass and 1 small Gilt for me but dad did have a slightly better one of about 1-8.

I then did a spur of the moment session on the rocks for a Mullet. I used to fish the rocks for Mullet quite a lot years ago and had some nice fish with plenty of 4 pounders and a few 5’s but for quite a few years now the average size on the rocks has been really small and a 3 pounder is quite rare. I started ground baiting and after about 20 minutes saw what looked like a decent fish come through the chervy before disappearing. At least I knew there were fish in the area. Nothing happened for the next 40 minutes so I set the depth a little deeper and put on a fresh piece of bread flake and dropped it back in. A couple of minutes later the float dips and we’re in. The fish came straight to the surface and shook its head and I was convinced it was a decent Bass. It then plodded around deep under the rod tip for a while before screaming off out to sea and then coming round in a big ark and taking me on top of a shallow reef that was barely covered. I could now see it was in fact a Mullet and a good fish. With patience and a bit of luck I managed to keep the 5lb hook length away from the heads sticking out the water and steer it back into open water only for it to turn and go straight back onto the head. Again I got it back into open water and again it went back on to the reef, this fish wasn’t stupid. Eventually it moved back into the open water and as it tired I managed to steer it back in front of me and was relieved to finally slide it into the net. It looked pretty big to me, possibly a Pb but then a mini disaster, I went to get my bag which I keep my scales and camera in only to discover I had left it at home. Open water mullet are one of my favourite eating fish so I decided I would keep it so I could weigh it properly and get some photos. I fished on for another hour and had another Mullet, this time normal stamp for this area about 1-8 before curiosity got the better of me and I packed up and went home to weigh my prize. I was very happy when the scales settled at a PB busting 6-11. Dad popped up and we went and took a few photos. Oh and it tasted amazing!

I went back a couple of days later just incase lightning was going to strike twice and had another one of 2-12

Next was a session on the Stingray which was a blank, I have been trying lots of different areas for these over the last couple of years and have got used to many blanks but you don’t know until you try.

Next was a St Caths session on the Wrasse with dad which only produced small stuff before another session on the Sting Ray only this time I actually caught 1! It wasn’t a monster at 13-6 but was very welcome.

Then another session of the Giltheads that was really slow with just Bass upto about 2lb followed by another Mackerel bash which produced zero Mackerel but amazingly 47 Sandeels the most I have ever caught from the shore in 1 session. A mixture of Lesser, Greater & Corbins also ticked off 3 species for my species hunt.

Then it was back to St Caths for a Tope bash which again was really slow with just Dogfish and small Pouting although dad did have a nice Lobster which he kindly donated to me and Zena.

The remainder of the month consisted of 6 Stingray sessions that actually produced 7 Stingray the best being 13-0, 12-12 & 10-13 with the others being 8-0 to 9-12. Not huge fish but it’s nice to know what you are doing is working as you continue to search for some bigger ones.

June sees me away camping for a week so a little less local fishing but I will keep searching for the elusive big Stinger and probably have a try for a hound.

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