Never Ignore the Locals

With reports that Withernsea was fishing well from low tide up, I decided to give it a go on Sunday with my shiny new Imax Rod and Penn reel. Stopping at the tackle shop to pick up bait, Worm, Mussel,Squid, Mackerel, I realised my rig wallet was not in the car. Thankfully there was a plentiful choice in the shop. Arriving at Withernsea just before low water to find it windier than I'd hoped, as the consensus was that it fishes better in calm conditions.

After some fish 'n' chips for lunch I started to get set up. This is when the first of several people decided to inform me how good the fishing had been last week and how bad it was going to be today. It was also when the second of the day's problems turned up. One leg on my tripod was jammed and no amount of pulling tapping or wiggling was going to unjam it. No matter I'd just have to rest the rod on a groyne. Problem number three occurred with the first cast. A birds nest was ripped from the reel and into the rod rings. This despite the fact that I'd had more than a few casts over grass , to ensure the braid was well bedded in. The bird's nest was quickly unravelled, only to the line out to sea had drifted round the end of the groyne. After much pulling it eventually snapped at the leader. I tied on another one and soon cast out again, only for a similar problem to occur. I'd made sure the leader knot was at the front of the spool. Not sure what was causing this I change spools to mono and enjoyed a trouble free day after that,

I tried various combinations of the bait I'd bought at various distances, but nothing seemed to entice the fish. Really I should have known better than to continue as the was no sign of anybody else fishing. If the locals aren't out, something's amiss. I was eventually joined by a couple of youngsters who showed me some pictures of rays they'd caught earlier in the week and weren't optimistic about the chances of catching.

 

While they fished similar baits to me, at close range, I cast out to a deeper hole near the end of the groyne. When even the crabs aren't having a go at your bait I think it's time to give up and this I did just over the top of the tide.

The problem with the braid puzzled me, so I had another go casting over grass, the next evening, and even with the leader knot at the back of the spool I couldn't reproduce the problem. Must have been a hint from the fishing gods not to bother.