February review

February has been a very quiet month on the fishing front by my standards with only a handful of sessions. Seemingly endless rain and constant swells has seen most sessions more about where you can fish rather than where you want to fish.

With big tides at the start of the month I concentrated on bait collection rather than fishing so it wasn’t until the end of the first week that I finally managed to get the rods out.

A session on the big baits was in order but where to go to get out of the swell and find somewhere fishable. I opted for a mark I haven’t fished for a long time, awkward to get too and even more awkward to fish as it’s super tight for space and the little ledge you fish from slopes steeply towards the water. It’s a one man one rod kind of mark but I had caught some decent fish there previously so thought it was worth a bash. The session pretty much went as expected, I fished for 3 hours and had a bite every single cast finishing with 9 or 10 eels with the best estimated at around 13-14lb.

Next up was something different and a bash for a Rockling. I used to enjoy fishing for these in the winter when it’s a bit quiet but since the explosion of tiny eels they have become much more difficult to catch. As it happens I only had small eels before eventually switching to a bigger bait for the last cast and catching an eel around 10lb.

Then it was a switch back to the big baits for the next session but I decided to hedge my bets a little and fish 1 rod for Conger, with my second rod scaled back a bit to target a Huss. The night started with a tiny dogfish followed by strap eels before a better bite and a nice slow pull down. When I wound into the fish I thought it was just a small eel at first but as it started coming it didn’t feel like an eel and I thought it would perhaps be a decent Huss. As it got closer in it got heavier and heavier which made sense when a nice Undulate Ray surfaced, not what I was expecting but certainly welcome. I managed to slide it up the rocks on a swell, and when I picked it up it felt quite decent. On the scales it went 14-5, my first Undulate in 3 years certainly put a smile on my face.

I fished on and after more small eels I had another bite that looked like a little eel but when I wound into it, it felt a lot better. I grabbed the gaff and made my way to the water and after a cracking scrap an eel that looked around 20ish made the surface. It didn’t half go well for the size of it, I was expecting it to be a bit bigger if I’m honest. Anyway I landed it quickly before weighing it at 18-14 and slipping it back.

A cracking session for February and it wasn’t quite over yet as I managed a couple more smaller eels and a bonus Lobster to round a fun 3 hour session off.

I then did a super quick 1 hour session trying for a sardine for my species hunt but they were not there and I only managed a little pollack.

Then time for something different and a session on the beach for a Bass. Conditions were challenging with a big swell and a fair bit of weed. Bites were fairly slow, possibly due to the huge amount of fresh water running onto the beach but I persevered and managed a couple of Bass around the 2lb mark

And that just left time for one last session on the big baits. It turned into a bit of a saga, my first choice mark was way to rough so plan B was called for which turned into a long trudge across muddy fields and cliff paths before finally getting down to the rocks to fish. Sadly the fishing was pretty poor with just small eels.

The last week of the month I never managed to get out with the rods at all. The annual Sinkers Club dinner was held on the last night of the month, always a good night and I managed to come home with a fair haul of trophies.

There have been some nice fish caught by other anglers over the last month, Finlay Paton has continued his good form with a couple of cracking fish, firstly this cracker of a Garfish of 1-9

But my personal favourite has to be this superb 3 bearded Rockling of 2-4, what makes this even more impressive is it was targeted.

March sees the start of the Sinkers club Bass on measure competition which had become really popular and always throws up some quality fish.

Look out for my mid month post in a couple of weeks, it’s one of my favourites to date.

Finally for those of you asking, dad has finally had his first knee replacement and is currently living with us and doing well. he is about to start physio to get back out fishing as soon as possible.