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By Vic, 5 October, 2009 11:36

The ‘sandeel only’ bait experiment I had been thinking of got under way last night with a session just East of the Beachcomber at Seaford beach. I arrived just after low water and set up two rods – one with a ledgered DVice pennel and one, a standard running ledger with a pennel, both baited with sandeel. I had only been able to get packets of small sandeel instead of the larger launce I had wanted, so due to the small size of the bait, I had to scale down to 1/0 hooks as opposed to the usual 4/0 or 6/0 I would use.

The Dvice was sent out at distance and the other chucked out just beyond what breakers there were. I was disappointed to see that the sea had flattened out substantially with hardly any lumpy water, it had retained virtually no movement after the recent winds and had cleared out with just faintest hint of colour.

About an hour after low water, I had the first take on the close in bait, which resulted in a plump bass of around 2½lbs. Shortly afterwards, I had another take which I snatched at and missed.

Things went quiet for a while as the water movement dropped off and it wasn’t until around 10pm that I had another take which I missed. A couple of whiting then made an appearance on the distance rod but they were of no real decent size, certainly not big enough to go home for fish cakes.

While dealing with the last whiting, the reel on the rod screamed and the rod arched over. I picked up but it had gone. As I started to retrieve, it went heavy and almost snagged up. I could feel the kicking of a fish on the other end and from the weight, it felt like a good ‘un. I was however, gutted to see a large ball of weed coming through the water and then weed jamming in the tip ring. I cleared the tip and then dragged the weed onto to the shingle where a bass of around the 2½lb mark flapped on the shoreline.

Another missed run about an hour after high water followed by nothing.

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By Vic, 3 October, 2009 10:21

As the weather looked promising with some Westerly winds building up over the weekend which meant more movement in the water, I decided to take advantage and fish Seaford beach after work on Friday. I arrived at the beach at about 9pm and set up just about half way between The Beachcomber and West view. The wind was a moderate, in the face breeze; sea state was not rough – a bit lumpy and easy enough to hold bottom. DVice held solid as did 5oz Breakaway gripper. Things looked just right.

I fished one rod with lugworm /squid cocktail at varying distances on a ledgered DVice and another rod close in with a ledgered 4/0 pennel baited with either whole squid or sandeel.

First fish of the night was a bass of around a pound and a bit which took sandeel close in and then managed to get its revenge by slicing my thumb with one of it’s gill plates. I then missed a lovely run, and followed it with a hook up but dropped fish, both again of sandeel. Only had one knock on the squid which took me by surprise so much that I struck, forgetting I had the reel in free spool (not a good idea). These were all about 1 – 1½ hours before high water after which it went dead.

Had a couple of small Pout on the lug/squid combination and then about an hour after high water, had a couple of whiting which were of a decent size. It then turned off completely with no other bites showing.

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By Vic, 13 September, 2009 01:55

I went to clean and service my Penn 525 Supermag xtra the other week and found that the graphite cage had cracked on the left side at the top. This crack was all the way through and the only thing holding it together was the outer ring, once this was removed, it would allow the crack to open up more. When the outer ring was removed I noticed that there was a small screw hole there with nothing in it. Now I had not noticed this crack prior to cleaning and I know for a fact that the reel hadn’t been dropped or abused and I know that there never was any screw in this hole. So what’s the story?

It appears that this is not an uncommon problem amongst 525 series owners and I have read a few reports of this happening, some due to dropping or other mishap, some for no apparent reason. You can read a few reports of it in this thread here at Whitby Sea Anglers website forums. There was also the question about the screw hole; should there be a screw or not? The answer came from none other than Neil Mackellow, who stated that the screw had never been fitted, as it was “deemed unnecessary by the Penn engineer” and this was also why the screw doesn’t appear on the reel schematic (which I hadn’t noticed).

Anyway, the upshot of this was, rather than wait for however long it was going to take to get this resolved through returning the reel, I decided on getting a replacement cage and doing it myself. At least I knew it wouldn’t take too long. I ordered the new cage from Ewen Hill, a former Penn service technician and within two days, the new cage arrived and I assembled it all the same day, so I now have one perfectly sorted non-cracked reel. I’ll see if the damaged cage can be repaired with epoxy type glues to at least a standard where it could become a backup – just in case!

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By Vic, 8 September, 2009 16:19

Having been weeded out at the Beachcomber in Seaford last time around, I was eager to have another go and to see if there were any decent bass in a feeding mood, so I had another session last night. Got there at about 7.30pm while still light and parked about 50 yards East of the of the pub and hopped out onto the beach for a peek to see if the dreaded weed was lurking. At first glimpse, I couldn’t see any weed but I did see what I thought was a string of net markers only about 10 yards from the shoreline. It wasn’t until I got closer and had a good look, that I could see they were Gulls – strangely all equidistant and in a perfect line and parallel with the shore, it was so weird. Anyway, I’m off to Specsavers tomorrow so as not to be so easily fooled next time.

Having seen that there were no signs of weed, I set up one rod with a ledgered DVice, size 2 hook baited with lugworm and chucked this out while I set about setting up the bass rod in preparation for darkness. Having got everything sorted and had a coffee, I tended to the worm rod, to find it rattling away. On bringing it in, I saw an obvious small flatfish coming in that I first thought was a dab but having taken hold of it and turned it ‘colour side up’ I saw that it was a small plaice. Unhooked and put back, baited up and re-cast. The next two fish were whiting which although not ‘pin’, weren’t exactly ‘jumbo’ either.

As darkness fell, the bites dried up with not one bit of interest shown except by large balls of the ‘Spaghetti weed’ we’ve been plagued with. Anyway, I decided it was time to deploy the bass rod in earnest. I put the worm rod to one side, baited up the 4/0 pennel rig with a whole squid and lobbed it out into what was not so much a nice surf but a gentle tumble of wavelets. First hit was a small bass which threw the hook at the waters edge. Next was another bass of about 1½lbs. which was quite a spirited little blighter.

It all went a bit quiet after that until about 2 hours before high water when it went a little hectic with a bass a chuck, the biggest going about 2½lbs but not one was on squid. I’d changed tactic when it had gone quiet and had tried to some largish blast frozen Ammo launce (Greater sandeel) which the bass hit really hard. One of the fish had a distinct deformity of the lower jaw and lip which made it look like Victoria Beckham at a photo opportunity. Its mouth could hardly open and it was a hell of a job to get the hook (how a 4/0 got in there in the first place is a mystery). Hook was removed and ‘Posh’ was returned to pout another day.

I was full of expectation for the ‘Golden hour’ after high water but it was not to be. After the earlier flurry of activity, it went to none at all and before long it was 2.30am with not one more fish added to the tally. As I packed up, I reflected that it hadn’t been too bad really – total of 8 bass, 2 whiting, 1 plaice. Now, I know the bass weren’t huge – not even big but it was good fun and its better than a blankety blank. I think I may give the launce another try on the next trip and see if I get similar results. I was surprised that only two were taken on squid but it could just be coincidence that at the time I changed over to launce, the fish came on at the same time and that if I’d carried on with the squid, I would still have caught anyway… who knows.

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By Vic, 6 September, 2009 09:57

Fished Seaford last night from about 8pm through until 2am. I was originally going to fish at the Beachcomber but the amount of weed put me off and so tried Edinburgh Road section where it didn’t look too bad. I set up shop about 50 yards East of the car parking area and cast out nice juicy lugworm and squid cocktail on a ledgered DVice into the a decidedly lumpy sea.

Within minutes, the rod was keeling over under the weight of weed that had attached itself to the line. Retrieved as far as I could until the leader knot jammed in the tip ring due to weed build up. Having cleared it, retrieved, de-weeded and re-baited, I cast out again trying avoid the rafts of floating weediness. Few minutes later, the same routine. This was repeated several times until I got thoroughly pissed off with it. Even if by some chance, a fish could chew its way through the crap to get at the bait, I’d be lucky to land it with the tip ring jamming up, so I thought a change of tactic needed.

Opted to go short and lob a whole squid on a long link ledger (running paternoster) 4/0 pennel about 20 yards out into the crashing waves where the weed didn’t seem to have invaded. As I stood there holding the rod, I wondered if I’d be better off sitting at home in front of the telly, when I had a lovely take, pulling the rod over in my hands. I struck, felt a brief weight, then nothing apart from the tug of the waves. I brought in half of my squid which looked a bit sorry for itself, removed it and lobbed it back in as a freebie.

Stuck on another squid and sent that out. The next bite, I hit well and soon, a nice little 2lbbass was on the beach. All thoughts of the telly disappeared as I let the critter back to sea.

It was now about 11pm and the wind was beginning to ease a bit and the sea flattening out as the tide rose. Undeterred, I chucked another small squid out and before long, another take, another bass; this one though managed to throw the hook as it lay on the beach and the next wave took it back out – ah well, at least I had technically landed it!

My last smaller squid (the rest were somewhat bigger than I prefer) was mounted onto the hooks and sent out only about 10 yards or so and then I put the rod in the rest while I had a coffee. Just as I picked the rod up, it bounced and then pulled down hard and line began to pull off the reel in ragged lunges. I struck and the fish began to swim parallel with the beach. Moments later, my prize was on the beach – a nicely conditioned bass of around 4lbs. which I could see, to my consternation, had thrown the hook and was flapping seawards. Not wanting to drop my rod, I dashed over and tried to stand behind the fish but the next wave swirled around my legs up to my knees and when it had receeded, so had the fish….. arse, damn and Scheisse!!!

That was to be the last glimpse of a fish for the rest of the night and so after the ‘Golden hour’, it was with thoughts of what if and if only, I packed up and trudged back over the beach to the car. Bollox!