Final Results for 2009

Well done to Neil for winning the fishing league for the year of 2009!

44 in total, which is pretty good overall!

I am looking forward to challenging for the trophy in 2010! Bring it on!!

Wouldn’t Mind This Lot For The Old Crustacean League

Took one look at this lot in Carrefour in France, and thought this is one tidy haul to win the old crustacean league for 2009, its just getting Dave and Neil to believe me that might be the issue!

Makes the British fish counter look pathetic really!

A Freezing Bloody Cold Chesil Beach – End Of Year Play-Off

Today saw the final team fish for the year, so it was off to Chesil Beach for the event.

On the way we made a quick detour into Veals Mail Order shop in Hengrove, where I picked up a new rod and a pair of Sundridge HotFoot Fisher boots (with the money my parents gave me for Christmas).

So off we headed, arriving just short of 1pm. It was bloody windy, and bloody cold if the truth be known! But it wasn’t going to stop us.

Neil was sporting his new boots, the Sundridge HotFoot boots (more classic style with a furry lining). He also had “seal skinz” socks on too, so he was warm as anything.

We were all expecting temperatures of possibly –9C, so we dressed accordingly. As you can see the see was very calm, and the sun was out. Although it was bloody cold!

The sun started setting, and still no sign of any fish being caught, and it was really getting damn cold at this point! Dave had used his tent as a wind break, and took a rare moment to relax!

As the night drew in, Dave started catching some small whitings (all of which went back in the sea). Then he pulled out a nice horrible sand eel, well it was quite big!

Then the unthinkable, I caught myself a little whiting! Shriek with joy in my catch bringing my grand total to 4 for the year!

Then Neil pulled in a juvenile dogfish to extend his lead in the species league over Dave.

 

Then I caught the biggest fish so far of the night, a biggish whiting, I was quite pleased with this catch I must say (5 now for the year!!!!)

Bugger me, if I didn’t go and catch another one, 6 now for the year!

To round the night off, Dave caught a lovely dogfish (checkout the face in the second picture!), making it even on the species count between him and Neil, but Neil won the overall fish caught league for the year 2009… on to next year we go!

P.S Me and Neil stopped off for scoff in Dorchester on the way back, the only kebab shop that doesn’t do a doner! i had to have a pizza instead, chicken kebab, thats not a kebab!!!!!

Blowing a Gale @ Lyme Regis

Time for yet another fishing adventure for the famous 3!

We wanted to goto Chesil Beach but the forecast stopped us due to high winds and big waves. So we opted for the nice and safe, easy to get to, good facilities of Lyme Regis.

We had no bait, and the bloody shop in Lyme decided to open at weekends during the winter period. This left us all within 10 miles of Lyme and nothing to fish with!

So with help from Mike and Steph in the office we obtained the phone numbers of two local(ish) bait shops. The first in Yeovil was hopeless, whoever answered the phone was about as dynamic as a piece of paper! Sounded like a gormless wonder, I had to ask all the questions. For example, I asked if they had any frozen bait and the answer was “yes”, need I say more!

Anyway thank god for Seaton Tackle Shop on the harbour front! We got our frozen squid, fresh rag and lugworm from there and headed for Lyme Regis.

So it was a little bit of a detour, but we arrived in Lyme and got a nice £1 car park about 50m from the harbour (there is some benefit to off-season!!).

All geared up we headed out on the harbour wall, where Dave was awaiting us and the bait.

So we decided with all the waves crashing on over the Cobb wall behind us that a little trip was required to see how hairy it was.

As you can see below it was quite rough, and many waves were crashing on the Cobb wall. It wasn’t even that windy at this point to be honest (not like it was in the evening just before we left!!!).

Dave was still on the harbour wall trying to get the first fish (you can just about see him in the distance on the wall).

So we tried for an action shot, and this was about the closest we could get, without risking our lives!

The waves were impressive, the photos dont really do them any justice to be honest.

   

Anyway enough of the waves, because the unthinkable happened! James Hunt returned from the grave to join us fishing! Check out DT in his circa 1975 suit! This was the best moment of the day :-)

Anyway enough of the fun, time for the fishing to begin, with DT setting the benchmark with the first 4 fish of the evening, as nothing occured during the day!

I managed to pull in an enormous weight, which I was hoping was a big fish! Alas it was to be a piece of bloody carpet that weighed 2lbs! Perhaps it was Axminster :-)

Dave packed up and headed for the hills about 8pm, with 2 x Whiting and 2 x Pouting to his name.

Myself and Neil had got sod all at this point…. and then my luck changed and in the fiercest of winds I pulled in a pouting, which increased my total fish count by 50% to 3 for the season!! I was over the bloody moon!

Fish was hooked nicely, so no pain to remove it and put back in the sea where it swam away to live another day!

The wind in the evening was horrendous, everytime I took my rod off the rest it kept blowing over. So I had to place the weights in a carrier bag and use them for ballast in the end!

At 10pm we decided to call it a night, so the tally was Dave 4, Duncan 1, Neil 0 (for a change!).

Onwards and upwards for the next time…..