 Freaky Friday in Cornwall
I have just come back from a trip to Cornwall with my partner and
my boy and I was lucky enough to witness what the locals called 'Freaky
Friday' while I was there. We stayed at The Headland Cottages on the
headland over looking Fistral Beach in Newquay - and if you are looking
for a place to stay in Cornwall you will not get better than this for
comfort, location and value for money, the cottages are stunning with
all the mod cons and the views out over the sea are breathtaking.
I fished all states of the tide and every day bar one, I used a 2.5tc
carp rod and one of my 10000s, a 15lb Mainline and 3oz running leads
going up to 5oz breakaways with 4ft hooklengths and a single hook.
I just roved all along the beaches and climbed over all the rocks and
caught fish every where I stopped, I found that I caught most of my
good fish on the beaches in 3/5ft of water just at the 50/60 yard mark
as the tide was in the last 2hrs of the Ebb and the first 2 hours of
Flood. I used rag and squid as my main baits and both fished as well
as each other, but I found the squid easier to use and was more confident
putting it on the hook.
While fishing off the rocks I caught plenty of bass, wrasse and pollack
but they were all under 2lb, the beaches on the other hand produced
mainly bass at about 3lb with the occasional bigger one - the best being
just over 4lb. I also had a couple of mullet to 3lb and a couple of
nice thornbacks from the rocks on Freaky Friday on the flooding tide.
When we arrived I was itching to get straight down to have a look at
the rocks and just get to the water, but you know how it is - you can't
just go running off and leave 'her indoors' holding the baby, so as
Lisa started to unpack I suggested that I should take Albert down to
see the beach for the first time. She agreed, but I know she knew I
had a ulterior motive and she shot me one of those 'do you think I am
stupid' looks.
While we was at the beach the tide was at the bottom of the Ebb and
this was great for looking for any features like deep gullies that flooded
first on the Flood, especially near the rocks at the end of the beach
- and I found some great looking places and made a note of them.
When we got back Lisa suggested I go fishing while she went shopping,
so grabbed my bits and was off. I made my way to the end of the beach
to were I had seen the deep gullies, thinking that the fish might be
laying up just waiting to come in and feed on the food around the rocks
as the tide flooded back in. I only had squid with me so I put one on
to a size 03 Aberdeen hook and a 3oz running lead and thumped it out.
The tide was running from the left to right so I paid out a nice big
bow in the line so I didn't put too much pressure on the lead while
the tip of the rod was holding a nice curve and the butt resting on
my thigh, rod in hand the bites were impossible to miss with a solid
thump and then slack line.
After winding down to the fish even the small ones thrashed about in
the surf and gave a good account of themselves but you knew when you
had a bigger one on from the bite. Generally if you got a good thump
and felt the fish straight away it was small and I had to dislodge the
lead myself, lots of slack line after a thump generally meant you had
a bigger fish, I think they were just pulling the lead straight out
of the sand and charging off with it.
That night we had bass for our tea, wrapped in foil with spring onions,
sliced chillies and then slowly cooked over the BBQ. I even opened a
bottle of wine (now I was on holiday!).
The next morning I was up before the sun and on the beach as it was
getting light, the tide was well on its way out and low water was at
6am. I started by flicking out my lead to the 3rd breaker at about 60yrds,
bait was a baby squid that I had brought with me from London. It was
a gentle tide and I managed to get direct contact with my lead and held
on to my rod with the butt on my thigh and the tip up high. Nothing
happened for the first 3 chucks but on my 4th after the bait had been
in the water a couple of minutes I had a good solid thump and I struck
into thin air, so I rebaited, and put it back on the same spot, after
a couple of more minutes I had another thump, the tip went over as the
fish went left with the tide and I gently persuaded it to turn and after
a couple of minutes I had a lovely looking bass of about 3lb on the
sand at my feet.
The biggest bass of my sessions was taken on the morning before Freaky
Friday, just as it was getting light, fishing Fistral Beach as the tide
was flooding, I was using squid again and it was the first of 4 fish,
the others were all around the 3/4lb mark. I took the fish really tight
to the rocks in a deep gully that was full of crab shells and potential
food items that had been left by the receding tide. It was a great fight
with the fish taking the bait in 4ft of water and then trying to get
back out to sea via 18-24 inches of water, it looked like it was skimming
along the surface as it arched a water spray up into the air - and after
a couple of good attempts at freedom I managed to beach it on an incoming
wave, the fish weighed just over 4lb and it was just right for the BBQ.
'Freaky Friday' was what the locals called it; apparently there was
a freak high tide on a full moon and 30/40 mph winds coming right at
us - and I must say - I'm sure it was bigger and windier. I started
fishing at about 12 Noon as the tide was coming in and after an hour
I had to move round to the other side of the headland as the water was
very rough and the wind was so strong that the sand was too much to
contend with.
On the other side of the headland there was no wind and I tucked myself
up on some nice rocks and fished out onto the sand at about 50yrds.
The fish were biting and I had a string of bits before I got a good
solid pull and landed a nice bass of about 3lb, I missed a slow pull
and put it down to weed, on my next cast I had a good rattle and a slow
pull, I struck into a fish and after a couple of minutes I saw it -
and realised it was a ray!
After I landed it one of the locals came over and asked if he could
have it for the pot and offered to buy it so he could have it for his
supper. I told him as long as he took a picture for me he could have
it. I re-cast my rod and set it on the rocks and set up for the picture,
as I went to my bag to get my camera, I noticed my rod had started moving
slowly towards the water! I grabbed it thinking some weed had snagged
it and realized it was a fish, after a couple of minutes I had another
ray on the rocks - so I ended up with a brace and the old boy had a
nice bit of supper for him and his wife
I wanted to fish on but about 2hrs after this shot the water was so
unpredictable that I decided to call it a day, we watched the storm
come in from the window of the bungalow until it got dark and I'm glad
I come in when I did.
I was chuffed with what I had caught and enjoyed every moment of it
and we have decided to go back again for Christmas.We are staying with
a friend who owns a farm and has converted all the outhouses and barns
for rent and there might even be a boat trip on the cards, I will let
you know how I get on.
I can recommend the accommodation to anyone who wants something nice
at reasonable rates. We stayed in the cottage called 'Heurs 4', we found
all the staff to be friendly and very helpful. The grounds are all well
kept and the views breathtaking from all sides off the headland.
Check out their Website below:
Heurs 4
Headland Cottages
Fistral Beach - Newquay - Cornwall - TR7 1EW - England
Tel: +44 (0)1637 872211 Fax: +44 (0)1637 872212
www.headlandcottages.co.uk
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