Andy135

Very nice. Looks like a lovely spot to call your home port.

@Davemc just sent me this pic of one of his bream from yesterday. Looks flippin' amazing!

Sorry to hear and kudos for calling it in. Must have been tempting to have just kept going to avoid wasting valuable fishing time, so as others have said, well done for doing it right. And at least you caught some fish as well 👍

Funny how you two get all animated and energetic about it AFTER the season has ended. Roll on next season and you can show us all how it's done then.

For normal people, yes. But for you...?

Well played Mike! Some good, consistent performances throughout the season - kudos. I'm rather pleased with 2nd spot given that football doesn't really appear on my radar. Looking forward to next season already 👍

Frankly, that's a great result. A coolbox full of blue gold. Well dangled everyone 👍 I'm always amazed at the sheer optimism of pout - what possessed him to think that a whole squid on a 4/0 would fit in his gob? 🤣. But clearly it did, so it's a fair catch. I've heard of the Mudstone Ledge and how it can be a decent long drift with the tide all the way down to Scabbacombe. Looks like it should be rocky, snaggy and kelpy over the Ledge - decent pollack territory I would have thought?

I'm sure @Davemc can confirm that too.

But why is 7.5 too little??

That's rather precise of you. Tell us, why 7.6 instead of 7.5? Or 7.7?

We were flipping between regular Navionics chart view and the C-Map relief shading this morning to give a better perspective on the ground we planned to fish over. I personally wouldn't be without relief shading.

No, a good skipper drops a spiky bream on your foot, as @Davemc can confirm 🤣

I think you'll find that was my effort too 🤣

That'll teach you for catching too many good fish... 🤔🤣

🖕 let's see your effort then...

Passage back to Portsmouth past the anchorages at Bembridge at 26kts.

Some vids from this morning

Bulk buy? 👍

A 5am start this morning to make the run down to the marina to meet @Davemc for a bream trip. Dave had been up most of the night luring for bass at the top of Pompey Harbour so how he looked so chipper when we met in the marina car park is beyond me! Setting off into glamour conditions saw us making smooth progress out of the harbour and past the Solent Forts. We spotted a flock of seabirds between No Mans Land and St Helen's Forts so we paused to drop some lures over the side. First fish came to a small slow jig But that was all for this spot, so we kept going. As we neared Bembridge we saw a bank of fog rolling in. We cautiously proceeded at a sensible 11kts, following my track from the previous week. Eventually we made it into Sandown Bay and set to fishing proper. I was using my go-to bream rig, a two hook flapper with pennelled snoods and floating beads, baited with squid strips. Dave was using a selection of soft plastics and slow jigs. A few drifts later the first bream fell to squid. Dave had a couple of missed bites but persevered with lures. We scratched another couple of smaller bream before deciding on a move further into the bay as the fog lifted. This proved to be the right call as we found a patch of large nests on the sounder. Dave switched to a heavier Slow Blatt jig to get down quicker and this paid dividends almost instantly, with a lovely male falling to the slow jig. I was quickly into another bream too, and on subsequent drifts we had double hook-ups, which made for some frantic unhooking with only one net between us. While I was gutting the keepers we'd taken I left my rod to bounce on the drift, which quickly attracted a savage take. I looked up at the sound of the ratchet whizzing to see the rod bent round and the line being taken under the hull. This was the culprit. Before we knew it, it was time to head in. We had each boated several keeper bream and had returned several more, including both bass. The conditions were perfect as we made our return at 26kts back to Gosport. I'll put up some videos of the day later tonight. Thanks Dave for a top morning's dangling and proving that bream can indeed be taken on lures 👍.

You did well today Dave. Will put up the report shortly 👍

Hopefully you'll see him in some catch photos tomorrow. 🤞

Out early doors again tomorrow with @Davemc. Target is bream... on lures...

Good work! Well dangled 🎣👍 As above, what was the weight?

Solar powered bacon eh? 🤣