I WENT FISHING FOR BASS… CAME HOME WITH A DOZEN MACKEREL!

I WENT FISHING FOR BASS… CAME HOME WITH A DOZEN MACKEREL!

Another proper coastal adventure — heading down to West Bay hoping to catch bass and ending up with a dozen mackerel for the table.

After getting the chicks safely shut away and feeding Misty and Tom before dusk, I headed for the coast with a box of squid bait kindly left for me by West Bay Angling Centre after they closed.

I set up with the new camera light, talked through the fishing gear and tactics, and got the bass rods out.

The bass didn’t show — but the conger certainly did!

I caught a couple of really decent conger eels, including one almost as long as my arm. They absolutely destroyed the bass baits and twisted the traces into a complete mess.

Then, at dawn, everything changed.

The mackerel came in and I caught around a dozen — exactly the sort of wild, fresh food that makes living close to the coast so rewarding.

I later swapped some of the mackerel with Anthony at the local greengrocers for a bottle of soy sauce, then brought the rest home, cleaned and filleted them and let Misty the kitten have her first taste of fish I’d caught myself.

I’ll be cooking some of the mackerel with that soy sauce, some of my own honey and my favourite honey-and-soy recipe — so there’s another bit of coastal cooking to come.

This is one of my more relaxed Living The Dream Tom adventures — fishing, self-sufficiency, wild food and making the most of what the coast provides.

If you’d like to learn how to fish yourself, I also run freshwater fishing, sea fishing and beach fishing courses through Coastal Survival.

Find out more at:
coastalsurvival.com

#LivingTheDreamTom #CoastalFishing #SelfSufficiency #MackerelFishing #CongerEel #DorsetCoast #WestBay #SeaFishing #WildFood #CoastalLiving

The conger certainly didn’t make things easy, completely wrecking the bass traces — but that dawn mackerel session made up for it.

Then I swapped some of the catch with Anthony for soy sauce, brought the fish home and even let Misty have her first taste of a fish I’d caught myself. ❤️

That’s the bit I love about this lifestyle — going out with an idea of what you’re going to catch, but never really knowing what you’ll come home with.

Would you rather catch a bass, a big conger or a dozen mackerel?

THUMBNAIL TEXT:
A DOZEN AT DAWN!