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  • 14/08/2010 Fishing Report by Dave Gibson on Meerkat (Weymouth, Dorset)

    14 Aug 2010 by Dave Gibson

    Report on-board Meerkat

    The Drift Lines
    Sunday the 15th August and the Prince of Wales Sea Angling Club are on-board the Lady Godiva for an inshore fishing trip,

    The forecast is for 15mph North Easterlies becoming 10mph North Westerly by midday, the plan is to do a mixed day of Bass, Bream and Turbot fishing and so we set off for our first mark to catch some Mackerel for bait, after 35 minutes steaming we arrive at “The Arial’s” a mark just west of Portland that usually holds good numbers of Mackerel, We soon realise that the wind is quite a bit more than the predicted 15mph and after landing sufficient bait fish I decide to switch to Plan B and motor down to the Cove end of Chesil Beach to find some shelter from the wind,

    As we approach the Cove I see that my good friends Colin Penny (Flamer III) and Ivan Wellington (Top Cat III) are already at the mark and drifting for flatfish, my intentions are to anchor the mark for the Black Bream, Gurnards, Smoothhound, Plaice and Dabs that we have caught here on recent trips,
    I can see that Colin and Ivan are up on the sandy area and so I drop my anchor on my usual mark which is right on the edge of the reef, within a couple of minutes I receive a phone call on my mobile from Colin who says, “Now look here Gibbo, what’s your game then anchoring up in ‘My Drift Line’”, he continued “ I just said to Ivan “look at that cheeky bugger Ivan” (all in jest of course) So I replied “I haven’t anchored your drift line Colin, I have anchored on my mark which is well off ‘Your Drift Line’”,
    Colin then says “what you hoping to catch there then Gibbo, I ain’t never anchored up here” I replied that he should try it sometime as the Bream fishing is particularly good, “Oh Okay” he says, “Good luck then”,
    30 minutes later and Colin is back on the mobile, “How much lead are your boys using then” he asks, “6 or 8 ounces I reply”,” is that all” says Colin, “yes” I reply “if you anchor on the edge of the tide here you don’t need much more than that”, “What you catching then” he retorts, “Black Bream, Gurnards, Mackerel and Dogfish so far” I reply, “hmmm, I might come and join you as there ain’t much doing here on the drift” and sure enough Colin positions Flamer III about 200 yards to the West of us, another 30 minutes go by and I notice Ivan has also anchored up about the same distance to the west of Colin so it’s my turn for a moan on the mobile “Now look here Mr Penny, what you doing blabbing to Ivan about my mark then”, Colin replied “Well, I didn’t exactly blab I just answered his question about what I was catching and when I said Black Bream he said he was on his way mate”

    15 minutes later and Colin is back on the mobile, “Here” he says, “You lied to me”, “What do you mean” I replied, “We ain’t caught any Gurnards yet” he chuckled, “That’s because your lads are not fishing it right” I retorted, Colin went on, “There’s one bloke at the back of my boat who is banging out the Bream”,
    After speaking to Ivan who tells me that his lads are also “catching” I notice that the wind has suddenly dropped and so we up anchor and push on out to the Portland Race for a spot of Bass fishing, this was a bad move as the Bass had just “Gone off the Boil” as we arrived and after spending a fruitless hour trying for a Turbot on the Shambles bank it’s time to head for home, on the way back to Weymouth harbour Ivan rings me to say that his lads had caught quite a few species on ‘The Drift Lines’ including Bream, Gurnards, Congers and Rays,

    I must admit that I stumbled upon this mark by pure chance when I was out with a group of school kids and after quickly realising that they were struggling with the drift fishing for flatties decided to “Chuck it and Chance it” on the nearby reef, they had a great time at anchor and it just goes to show that sometimes we do get fixed ideas about where and when we fish certain areas.

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