Weymouth Marina 8th July 2006

LW 11.30am / HW 4.30 pm
Cloudy going to Sunny 23^oC Wind SW 9mph

I'd arranged to try and meet up with a couple of people from AnglersNet who'd got a small mullet fish-in sorted for the weekend ….
Sean was the local host, along with his friend Mark, whilst Andrew and Dave (Breamagain) had travelled down from the Medway had fished the Friday and were staying at a local campsite.

Andrew had very kindly said I should phone him once I'd arrived and that they would be up around 5 or 6am from the campsite probably to get a fry-up for breakfast, and we could take it from there….
I'd got up around 3am that morning and set-off by 3.40am or so, with my rod, tacklebox, and pre-made bread groundbait all loaded in the car……
The drive down was without incident, but took me longer than I'd judged…. 130 miles, with 60 of that on A-roads resulted in me arriving in Weymouth around 6.15am or so… Found somewhere to park, and then walked down to the north end of the marina.

When I got there I looked over the railings ….. loads of mullet … rising, sleeping, chasing … in the open and under the pontoons….. I was sorely tempted to start fishing there and then, except for one thing… I'd elected to take the long-handled landing net out of the car rather than the drop-net …. Big mistake, and one I'd tried to resolve by phoning Andrew from the car before I walked down, except he'd got his mobile switched off, as had Dave!!!! The drop would be possible to net from using the long handled landing net, if a little awkward if fishing with someone else, but not really an option on ones own…
And so there I stayed like a lemon for about an hour, uuuming and errring about going back for the drop-net or to stay and wait for the others, whilst spooning out some bread to see if I could get the fish to feed.

Most seemed disinterested and continued to sit under the pontoons, with the odd fishing rising or chasing each other in the more open water. I did have a good sized bass take interest and came zooming in and out a couple of times, to right under my feet, guess it was around the 4lb mark, but it soon moved off.
I later learnt (from Sean) that most of the mullet I was looking at were in fact thin-lipped, although I'm still a little confused at telling the difference when they are in the water, rather than being in my hands to observe.

Around 7am I managed to get through to Andrew, and arranged to go back to my car, pick up the drop-net and meet them on the other side of the Marina around half an hour later….
Found the area that Andrew had described and waited, a little perturbed by the general lack of fish to be seen in the vicinity, (I only saw one or two cruising fish whilst I waited).
Anyway Andrew and Dave arrived and Andrew pointed out a swim to start fishing in ….. it was only after I'd started that he pointed out that Sean and Mark had fished the same swim the day before, and had in fact been baiting it up for the past week or so, just as he's telling me this, Sean and Mark arrived.

I did offer freely to move off to another patch but they weren't unduly worried, and said it was big enough for the three of us, whilst Andrew and Dave went further down to where they'd had some success the previous day. In fact it turned out that they'd all had mullet the previous day with 2 each to Andrew and Dave, but the larger fish (although only 1 each) to Sean and Mark. Sean was still smarting as he'd lost a couple of very good fish under the pontoons and had cut through the hook lengths on the superstructure.

I started with a weighted 5 No4 float and fished a couple of foot down …. I had a little difficulty getting the weighting right , but fixed it by swapping to an un-weighted one which I then fully shot.
After about 10 / 15 minutes and a couple of flicks of ground bait, my float started to tremble and then bobbed a couple of times.. then nothing …… I turned to Sean and asked him about what sort of bites to expect, and he promptly described just what I'd seen, except for the part where the float should go straight under, and to strike at that moment .. in other words a classic aggressive mullet bite (if there is such a thing).

So I turned back to my gear, rebaited, cast out, and two minutes latter the float is trembling, does a couple of bobs, and whoosh, under it went, and at the same moment I lifted the rod to strike hard …. Thump I'd hit home .. the mullet came up to the surface, and looked to be a nice fish of say 3 to 4 lb (I guess)…. No sooner had it done so than it was off, straight under the pontoon … I lowered the rod tip and managed to get the fish back into open water, then whoosh it was off again, this time trying to get under one boat and then another, I managed to steer it clear both times, but then disaster, it made another run for the pontoon, I thumbed the centre-pin as much as I could to bully the mullet, but the line went slack .. retrieved the tackle to find the hook length had parted about halfway along, I guess some damage was done during the mullets first pontoon run, and the extra breaking I'd applied to stop it from getting under again was enough for the damaged line to part … I was somewhat gutted, but also resigned to the fact that its part and parcel of having to fish light.

Things went rather quiet after that, with one small school bass to Mark, and after about an hour, Sean and Mark moved off to the other side of the Marina. I spoke with Andrew and Dave who'd also lucked out thus far.

I seemed to catch numerous small crabs, and I think knocks from sandsmelt that I could see every so often flashing in the water….
Around 11am things started to pick-up again with a number of mullet cruising through the swim, and others playing chase in the shallows to my right, which many of the people walking past took great delight in pointing out to me!!!!! I had a couple of half chances with mullet cruising under into the deeper water, my float bobbing but no solid take, or just me striking into nothing :-(

Eventually I did manage to hit home … only problem was it turned out to be a small fish of 14” rather than the 5lb mullet I was hoping for!!!! Landed the fish with the drop-net, much to the delight to the assembled crowd.. I had one chap who told me that in 20 years he'd never seen anyone actually land a mullet here, to which I had to gently bring him down by pointing out that he still had to wait … as it was a Bass!!!!!

Had a bit of difficulty getting it to swim out of the drop-net when I tried to return it, and eventually had to lean over the wall as far as I dared and gently drop the fish into the water… didn't seem to effect it, and it shot off into the deeper water….

Phoned Andrew to jokingly asked if a bass counted!!!! Andrew said they to had moved over to the other side of the marina, but I decided to continue … really a case of being too lazy / tired to up sticks and walk around… I paid the price --- the swim went very dead save for the odd mullet swimming through but totally disinterested in anything I had to offer.

Just after 1pm my phone rang, it was Andrew to tell me that they were having a cracking time with a load of mullet at their feet in a feeding frenzy, but not taking any hook bait …. Told him I'd be right over, and promptly packed up and walked around the marina to find then all sitting over one of the drain guards, with mullet splashing around hitting the floating crust and groundbait offerings …..

In that time Andrew had landed 1 golden grey of just under a pound. Mark had also had a thick-lip just further up of around 3-04. Dave had managed a sandsmelt!!!!
Stood on the pavement above and to the left of Andrew and Dave and had a grandstand view of the mullet running into the swim, hitting the surface, and following the ground bait…
I had a number of takes, with the float going straight down, but I failed to connect with anything on the strike …. But then neither did anyone else. After a while Sean and Mark moved off, back to where Mark had scored with his 3lb'er.

Not long after the activity grew less and less, and soon we were left with just the odd fish hitting the surface here and there, or the odd pair or trio of grey ghosts slipping through the swim a few feet under the surface…
Dave and I did have the pleasure of a sea trout come swimming next to us … looked magnificent with its brown sheen and vibrant spots….

Around 2.30pm, Sean came running back with a very large smile, and with a large mullet … dead on 4lb ….

Andrew and I took some pix, and the fish was returned… took a few moments to get going, but it swam off strongly once it was free of the landing net…..

After that it really went dead, with just the odd bit of activity now and again with fish hitting the surface or passing through…..

By 3.30pm I was getting tired and thinking of going home….. said goodbye to Dave (and Andrew via the mobile as he'd moved further around), but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to thank Sean or Mark for a very pleasant day out (so if your reading this Sean - THANKS, hope we can do it again sometime).

It took me another 2.1/2 hours to get home (and that was a reasonably clear run in the car), so I think if I do go down that way again, I'll have to sort out some sort of accommodation and stay for a longer period to make it worth while, and hopefully a little less exhausting!!!

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