10/08/2012 - Port Seton Harbour

Harbour view on departure

Water - As previous night
Weather - Lovely
Where - East wall
Time - 2030-2130
Method - See text
Total - 0

The weather and tides were similar to the previous evening (tide later, sunset earlier of course) although the breeze was up and the sea had more of a chop about it.

There were three anglers where I'd been on Thursday although the adjacent (east) platform was free so I headed across there. As I arrived I caught up with a local gent who was thinking about setting up too, though he wasn't keen when he heard how scant the offerings had been the previous evening. After a bit of encouragement he attached a silver lure to his rod and immediately hooked into a Mackerel which he returned. He declared early it was from a "shoal of one" and so it turned out.

I employed a new tactic I've been meaning to put into practice for a while. Instead of anchoring Mackerel lures to the bottom with a heavy weight (increasing the chances of a snag), I suspended them (four silver flashed hooks) under a bubble float and weighted them with some plasticene which allows an easy adjustment of the weight should I be able to add bait (Pollock/Mackerel strips etc) to the lures in due course. It also has the added 'bite indication' bonus of using a float.

The other rod used the toby from the previous evening although this was eventually lost low and close in on a sub-surface harbour reinforcement. So I switched to a Flying C which is surely as good a lure as any.

For the last half hour I noticed plenty of small fish close in on the outside of the harbour as well as in through the entrance. Although I couldn't get a good look, they appeared to be feeding, occasionally flashing their sides as they changed angles in the water. I obviously dragged my lure through them a few times, although I seemed to be getting attention, they refused to become hooked.

The fish didn't agree and shunned both tactics. In mitigation, I barely spent an hour at the harbour. I was over half way there when I realised I'd left all my sea rigs at home and cut a good 50 minutes out of my fishing time returning to get them before setting off again.