Prawn/Bait Netting - Mumbles Pier ???

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 11:50 am

Hi,

Just bought myself a small prawn/livebait creel and with some holiday coming up I intended fishing Mumbles pier for a few days.

I was wondering if anyone knew if it would be worthwhile or not putting the net out for some live baits...??

Rgds

Mac

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:51 am

The honest answer is "yes", you will get a load of pouting, some crabs, and a few gobies and smelts using nets, but I personally much prefer fishing for pouting by keeping my spinning rod in hand, using size 4/6 hooks, tiny bits of ragworm, and dropping directly off the sides. Not only do you get instantaneous sport, you also have a good chance of occasionally hooking bream, pollock, trigger fish, mackerel, and red mullet. The more I fish this way down the pier, the more fine tuned I become in recognising how different species bite, meaning that once I have caught my pouting and put him out on a float or ledger, I can try to ignore and shake off the frequent pouting bites I get, and only strike for the bigger species. Two days ago, my friends and I hit three bream, one very large mackerel, and a lovely trigger fishing this way whilst everyone else on the very crowded pier end caught doggies or blanked.

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:03 pm

Hi Mate... What I have is actually a little creel... so was really after prawns. But great info anyway. I was a huge admirer of one of your previous threads about your big bream. It actually got me thinking of getting down to the pier during my holidays.

You mention the end of the pier being crowded. This is my great worry as i dont really want to fish shoulder to shoulder. Did you fish further down the pier and is it as good..??

Regards

Mac

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:50 pm

Prawns aye. I haven't seen anyone catching and using them on the pier, which probably means it's worth a go. I saw a small article on using them in the newest Sea Angler mag and played with the idea myself. I'd be very keen to hear how you get on.

Thanks for the kind words regarding my other post. I realise I must be starting to sound like a broken record, harping on about Mumble Pier all the time, but the truth is it's my favourite "easy" fishing mark, and as I'm on crutches at the moment, "easy" fishing is what I'm after. That said, it can get very crowded, although it is weather dependent; very busy on sunny days / deserted when the weather worsens. I always fish the old landing platform at the end, and I had it to myself on two occasions last week, hitting a lovely shoal of bream on one day. When it's busy though, I don't struggle to find space because I don't cast. The currents are incredibly strong at times, and badly crossed and tangled lines are constantly occurring to those guys who needlessly whip their 6oz leads 100+yrds out off the front(usually right past the fish!). I like to sit right on the edge holding my rod, and so only need a space as wide as my shoulders. Every big fish that I've heard being caught off the pier has been hooked no more than 50 feet from the sides, including a 17lb 8oz smoothhound!

I look forward to hearing how your prawns do. Good luck.

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:01 pm

OK mate... no problems, I will let you know if I have any joy.

Thinking of dropping down a bag of groundbait also....?? Done this type of lightweight close to the pier stuff in Scotland so I know where you are coming from on your tactics.

Kind Regards

mac