The Great Species Race.

I found myself on a beach near Hamble. High tide was faast appoaching. The competition was baout to begin. Two Fisherman ready for battle!
Stefan had setup and already had a rod setup and cast out to sea. I chose my rig options carefully. Rig number one was a simple running ledger. The bait a Gulp fake crab, Stefan mocked my choice, laughing. On my 2nd rig i used a two hook flapper. one hook had ragworm tipped with squid, the other another Gulp crab.

The two beachcasters were quickly cast out. Suddenly the rod bent and tugged. I struck and reeled in. Stefan looked dismayed! Not the fake crab he cried. I laughed. what was the first fish of the season! A ThornBack Ray! What a start to the "The Great Species Race". A species I and Stefan had never caught I was delighted, the Ray was caught on Ragworm much to the relief of Stefan! Fish and species 1 bagged. The Ray was released back.
Why is it when I pour out a cup of tea the fish bite! Still I wasn't complaining fish number two was being landed. A smooth hound caught on the fake crab, Stefan was left reeling and probably wishing he had the fake crab on his hook. a 3lb Smut ( smooth hound) what a result.
two species in the bag for Carlos.
Fish number three turned out to be a Pouting, very unusual as they are a deep water fish.

Three nil to Carlos, Stefan was begining to look like he had swallowed a wasp.

The night was nearly and the only thing biting for Stefan was the crabs. Suddenly Stefan yelled and began reeling in on his spod rod! He landed a Dog fish. Not much later he landed another Pouting.

The night was over. Four species had been caught.

Carp Fishing Broadlands

I have fished Broadland's many times and never caught a fish! I always fished the main lake, so on this occasion i decided to fish the Match lake. The day was cold and not much happened. I opted for float fishing with maggots, a perfect winter bait for carp. The carp in this lake are not massive but from 2lb to 15lb. I used the trusted method of keeping a trickle of maggots going. Whilst doing this i noticed a swirl on my lefthand side. I fired out some maggots and cast my float in the same area. The bite was almost instantaneous. after several minutes of playing the carp I landed a 4lb carp. That was the highlight of the day but at least i had broken my duck at Broadlands.

Christchurch Harbour

I went to Christchurch Harbour hoping to find that the Bass had arrived. Unfortunately the Bass had not but the Mullet were there in force. i tried several baits, bread, ragworm, sweetcorn. I even tried fishing with several types of fly on my fly rod. But it was to be a day were we drew a blank.
But it was a loverly day and i can think of worse places to spend a day.