southbourne

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:39 pm

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i'd 1st planned 4 a turbot hunt along bournemouth but i also contemplated getting away early to dig some worm and hunt stingers at a few marks.
however a busy morning & an afternoon kip put paid to that so it was back to plan A.
the past 2 years i've been pretty lucky with finding a turbot for the specie hunt , nailing one at the 1st attempt.

19. 30 found me set up at southbourne hopeing 4 turbot ,bream, ray. and what ever else may be about

it was calm warm and dry with a few people on the beach swimming & dog walking but i saw no other anglers.

baits were fish & squid as i'd slept through the bait dig opportunity.
i made a start with a 3hook flapper bream rig and a bomber rig on t'other rod

size 6 hooks on the flapper for bream/weavers + any other sml beastys that maybe about,
size 2's on the bomber.

i caught a couple of small spiders b4 seeing a fishy bite, 2 nice little drop backs onthe sandeel baited bomber.
not much of a fight but something there

i need a definitive fish id though please***

turbot or brill ?? this one was smooth skinned & looked much more oval than usual.

as darkness fell i swopped the bream rig for a pulley with a size 2 hook,
a single strong pulldown which i thought - bass-shyte- missed it
i held the rod for a while case it came back, then watched it closely in the rest 4 3-4 mins b4 checking my bait.
i had to pump in a heavy dead weight but what ever it was threw the hook in the surf line, massive spider? or a ray?- i dunno , i'll call it a spider coz thats less depressing
while rebaiting that rod i noticed that the other had pulled over & had a wee battle with a nice ray on the bomber rig.

the piccy shows me looking a bit manic as i was still p*ssed at the one i shook off , it felt twice the weight of this one, but it WAS only a crab so it don't matter.

i swopped the bomber rig for a 2/0 pulley on a mission for a larger ray but shortly afterwards the lightning started off in the distance and marched across the channel toward me, some went left to the isle o white some went right to the purbecks with still some coming at me
i didn't bother contemplateing whether the carbon rods would draw the lightning or whether john holden had tested the beach buddys with 'faradays cage' principle in mind,i was a little jittery but mainly i just didn't want to climb the bloody hill while getting soaked by the rain i knew should be coming
and so left for my car at the top of the cliff.
i couldn't be bothered to find a venue where i could fish from my car so left for home early,
while the radio told me of the death of michael jackson,
a bit of a sad note to the end of the day
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Member Joined: Sep 23, 2008 Posts: 55

Really nice report Geejay. A good read, good advice read and great some great photos.

I've always fancied giving Southbourne beach a go at some stage. You always seem to hear good things about it and looking at those pictures I can see why.

It is of course a shame that the day was somewhat saddened by the news of MJ death.....

At least when you get asked in a few years time where you were when you heard the news, you'll have the memories of a good fishing session to remember as well.

Ps if it helps, from what you describe, it was defiantly just a Crab..... No way was it a really nice big fish winking

Member Joined: Sep 24, 2008 Posts: 59

Hey geejay,

Congrats on the catches buddy, nice to see fish of that quality coming from the beaches!

Re the fishy ID, i'd probably say you had a brill due to the shape and smooth upper side to the fish... Hard one to call tho as the colouring is much more similar to a turbot.... Only main difference between the two is that you'll find quite a few tubicles on the turbot where as the brill has none... Interesting one but hey congrats never the less mate!

Dan

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:16 pm

great read matey.. well done on the catch.. big grin

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:30 am

well done on the report....great pics