Beach fishing......

[carlt]

We plan to do a bit of fishing off the boat on our way up the east coast in a couple of weeks. As of yet despite trying few times we have had no success

 

Down Essex way I had loads of success pitching up where all the little boats were anchored (some smaller than my tender).

 

Threading the big lifeboat through them all was great fun.

[Naughty Cal]

 

Down Essex way I had loads of success pitching up where all the little boats were anchored (some smaller than my tender).

 

Threading the big lifeboat through them all was great fun.

We didnt end up doing any fishing in the end!

[John V]

Snap! (on my trip)

[Pete & Helen]

We plan to do a bit of fishing off the boat on our way up the east coast in a couple of weeks. As of yet despite trying few times we have had no success

 

All the gear and no idea

 

The guy who runs one of the fishing trip boats from Wells even checked over our gear last time and said it was fine, yet despite fishing next to them whilst they were pulling up fish after fish we got nothing

 

We are determined we will catch something this year though. Hopefully not sea sickness

 

 

 

 

Use the force young Skywalker

 

Use some bait

 

On a serious note, buy a mackeral from the fish shop and use slices as bait, the skin gives of nice flashes that attracts fish

[Ron T]

Beach fishermen here use a sidecast reel,you can throw out a lot further and heave a decent size weight.Wire trace is a good idea if there are any bities around.Around home,Western Aus,not here Southern France, have seen people catching fish in the canal over here,including a silure,the bloke that caught the silure actually ate it!

Edited August 9, 2014 by Ron T

[Mutts]

Best Tip For Beach Fishing!

Find the nearest pier,jetty,rocks etc etc,take your wallet and throw it into 'The Oggy'(sea) as far as you can.

Just cuts out the time wasting bit of holding a rod for a few hours!

Best Tip For Beach Fishing!

Find the nearest pier,jetty,rocks etc etc,take your wallet and throw it into 'The Oggy'(sea) as far as you can.

Just cuts out the time wasting bit of holding a rod for a few hours!

[pquinn]

Best Tip For Beach Fishing!

Find the nearest pier,jetty,rocks etc etc,take your wallet and throw it into 'The Oggy'(sea) as far as you can.

Just cuts out the time wasting bit of holding a rod for a few hours!

Best Tip For Beach Fishing!

Find the nearest pier,jetty,rocks etc etc,take your wallet and throw it into 'The Oggy'(sea) as far as you can.

Just cuts out the time wasting bit of holding a rod for a few hours!

Thanks for that Mutts,most insightful.I'll take it that your not much of an angler. Please dont let it make you bitter as the world would be a far gloomier place.

[Murflynn]

Slapton has indeed got a steep shelf. It was also used for live D day rehearsals with some fatal results.

According to a recent Channel 4 documentary, the total number of US servicemen killed was at least 2,000 !! Many of them were US navy personnel who are not listed in most of the records.

All involved were sworn to secrecy to maintain morale before the landings.

Deaths occurred mainly through friendly Royal Navy fire onto the beaches (co-ordination of timings was changed by the yankee admiral) and lack of defence against German e-boats in Lyme Bay.

[Guest]

According to a recent Channel 4 documentary, the total number of US servicemen killed was at least 2,000 !! Many of them were US navy personnel who are not listed in most of the records.

All involved were sworn to secrecy to maintain morale before the landings.

Deaths occurred mainly through friendly Royal Navy fire onto the beaches (co-ordination of timings was changed by the yankee admiral) and lack of defence against German e-boats in Lyme Bay.

You can read all about the shambles that was Exercise Tiger here. More personnel died in that excercise than in the initial beach assaults that they were rehearsing for.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger

 

And here

 

http://www.exercisetigerslapton.org

 

It's an interesting place to visit, we did last year. There is now only one memorial to those who died in the whole fiasco and that was initiated by a private individual. The only 'official' acknowledgment that was erected was to give thanks to those people who were evacuated from farms, hamlets and villages in the surrounding area in order to gain some secrecy about the rehearsals, it rather disgracefully didn't reference those who died.

Edited March 3, 2015 by MJG

[Murflynn]

When I lived in Dartmouth 1963 to 1970 there was little local knowledge about what had happened.

[pquinn]

I am sure that in any conflict that military blunders are routinely covered up to save face in front of an enemy and that things just stay swept under a carpet with the passing of time.

[Murflynn]

not so much saving face as keeping good morale among your own troops, most propaganda is aimed at your own side, not the enemy.

[Mutts]

No pquinn,

Just many years of experience!

You'll thank me in the future.

Mutts

[Locksprite]

I've fished Slapton, and the best method for casual visitors is a line of feathers. If the mackerel are on, you can a fish on pretty much every hook. If they're not on, it's a waste of time. Fortunately at Slapton they're often on, and can be caught very close in. Almost any rod will do.

 

Real beach casting (three waves+ out for cod, bass and whatnot) is a specialised activity, requiring a particular rod and reel and some hefty leads and end tackle, which can be expensive and even dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Not the kind of thing you're likely to buy for a holiday jaunt, but worth the effort if you get the bug. Immediately behind the shingle is Slapton Ley, reputed to be the largest natural freshwater lake in southern England, and once a famous pike fishery. These days it's a nature reserve. It always amused me that you could probably catch bass and pike from the same spot on the same lure depending which way you were facing, given a sufficiently strong cast.

 

Re. the WW2 training exercise tragedy, I spoke to an amateur historian who was in contact with an old boy who served in the navy at the time, and he reckoned the deaths were ultimately caused by lack of radio silence. In short, a British gunship consigned to escort the US training ships was damaged in port, leaving the Americans undefended. They flotilla were told to maintain total radio silence but hadn't, and German torpedo boats intercepted the conversations and moved in on the undefended ships. Whether that's the truth we'll never know, but it would explain how events panned out. A tragic business.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Locksprite

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

I think you can certainly have a lot of fun, and fill your freezer with the array of fish you can catch within a few feet of the shore, (Look up Sharks off Salsea beach, just this last week !).

Ok they was actually Smooth Hounds or alike, but there where Dozens abd Dozens of them, Big Buggers to, & VERY GOOD EATING !.