30/07/26 - Quick session at Hobbs Point

With no let up with work through July and the hot weather continuing I didn’t really have the time or inclination to head out onto the rivers again. 

However, a few days break down in Pembrokeshire me a chance to unwind and do a bit of species hunting in saltwater. Arrived late on Wednesday evening with the temperature gauge in the car still reading 26 degrees Centigrade. However, the following morning I woke to find it grey and overcast and a cool 16 degrees. Driving through the country lanes over to Pembroke Dock it was nice to see some greenery compared to the endless swathes of “beige” back home. Popped into Tesco to pick up some bait to be going on with pending a trip to the tackle shop, but the usual mackerel and king prawns were extortionate, so I ended up getting a pack of mixed, cooked seafood instead along with some breakfast for myself. 

Pulled up in the car park just as it started to rain (shock!) so sat and drank my coffee, ate a croissant and peered through the windscreen into the gloom. Thankfully it soon settled down to a fine drizzle and as I’d had the foresight I pack my waterproof coat (it is Wales) I got tackled up and headed down the slipway. Had got there about half an hour before high and given it was going to be over 6 metres I reckoned that I’d got about an hour and a half of fishable water. Baited up my usual mini two hook flapper with a squid strip and a bit of prawn and dropped it down the wall. Did try a bit of cooked mussel, but they were far too soft to stay on the hook, so I broke them into pieces and dropped them in at my feet as “chum”. 

Made the mistake of giving a couple to a young herring gull that had been hanging around in expectation, but them had to listen to him whining for the rest of the session. Started getting a few rattles before the rod tip thumped over and, after a decent fight on the might rod, I had my first fish in the net - a nice ballan wrasse.

Added another shortly afterwards, along with a few rock gobies, corkwing wrasse and pollack, the latter shooting out from the weed fringing the wall and taking the squid strip on the drop. Almost bang on the hour after high the tide starting rip out again, forcing me to find a bit of sheltered water around the corner. 

However, could only add a few more rock gobies and a solitary shanny, so I packed up and headed to J & M Tackle on the High Street for some ragworm to tide me over for the rest of the weekend only for the chap in the shop to tell me that “there’s no ragworm in Wales”! Apparently the suppliers of farmed worm over in Port Talbot had lost all of their last batch due to the high temperatures and with no local diggers he was waiting to hear when the next lot would be available. Therefore ended up getting a wrap of frozen blacks and going back to Tesco for mackerel and king prawns anyway. I’ve done okay with them as a standby before, I just have more confidence in a bit of juicy worm. We’ll see…

09/07/26 - Summer trotting Part II (dace, dace, dace!)

Didn't get out again in June due to some unforeseen demands at work and by the time those were out the way it had got too hot and oppressive to think about staying outdoors for too long. Did have a pleasant long weekend in the Netherlands visiting the wife's cousin in The Hague, although again a high of 38 degrees Centigrade on the Friday effectively curtailed our initial sight-seeing to the morning. 

A quick nap after lunch was then followed by a trip to the beach in the evening for a dip and a beer and some food from one of the pop up restaurants along the front (along with eveybody else it seemed!). Thankfully it cooled down a bit after that and we were able to explore a bit wider and take in the modern and traditional architecture, along with the many coffee shops and shady, green spaces around the city. Back in the UK and suitably refreshed I checked the maggots I had left over in the fridge from the last session and found them in surprisingly good nick.

With the wife away for work, I therefore packed up work about 4 o'clock and headed to the Derwent. Pulled into an empty carpark yet again (not complaining, but where  is everybody?), got the chesties on and then made my way up to the run at the back of the island. 

Didn't fancy walking too far as it was still warm and my "breathable" waders didn't turn out to be that breathable last time, so decided to just stay in the same swim until I'd run out of bait. Could see from a distance that somebody was camped on the island itself and as I got closer I got a whiff of "medicinal" cigarettes. However, turned out to be a couple of middle-aged ladies who'd been enjoying a bit of wild swimming and they soon packed up and left after I arrived. 

River was gin clear and flat as a mill pond in the shelter of the far bank, but at least it was now overcast and a bit cooler as a result. 

Waded out mid-channel and sent the float and some freebies down the bubble line towards the overhanging trees. Ten, frustrating minutes followed trying to connect with a succession of stupidly fast bites that were violent enough to pull the rod tip around but just resulted in crushed maggots. Eventually I got my eye in and started to connect with the culprits - small dace, all like peas in a pod. Occasionally had a better one that at least put a bit of a bend in the Acolyte, along with the odd chub, roach, perch and bleak. However, it was the dace that kept me busy and the greedy, little buggers were still biting when I finally emptied my bait pouch three hours later. Good fun, but I might be tempted to get the "dink-dink" out next time to try and sort out some better fish.