Hoop

A day of walking rugby Saturday and then out to see a band resulted in a late start Sunday.  We were greeted on the slip at 1130 by a stronger Westerly breeze than forecast so aborted the planned Bullocks/Pullar Hole and went to the East of the Island which was a good call as the wind peaked at 20 knots.  We had the choice of marks as nobody was on Princesa, Culver nor Sandown Bay; maybe we were in the wrong spot?
Caught the sun and plenty of fish: mackerel, spotted ray, congers, dogfish, some good bream and my biggest pout of the year.
The wind dropped by 6 for the journey back.

How dreadful, no hobby should result in a loss of life

Again, just the wife and I, and a day where we were unsure what to do. I was not keen to fish the local wrecks (for obvious reasons), so decided that we could do with some Mackerel for making chum, and if the Mackerel were not there in numbers, then a trip out to 15 miles off Berry head to the Meatboat wreck would probably work as a plan B.
After the wife's reel seat broke when she hooked a ray on the skerries, I have treated her to a new Kenzaki super braid (12 - 20) and a Fin-nor MA12 reel, and this combo needed to be christened !
Launched at 08:30 and first stop was the Orestone and Hopes Nose. I did my usual trick of a trundle around at about 6 kts until I found some sign of life on the sounder. Then I switch the sounder over to 'livescope' and hit the Mackerel with deadly accuracy, in terms of depth and which side of the boat to fish.
I found a drift where we were constantly catching, and the size of the mackerel was good, with mostly mediums, and medium large. The wife was using a string of 5 snowbiki's on size 6 hooks, and I was using a string of 3 Hokkai's on size 1/0 hooks.
By about 11:00 am we had a good number of Mackerel, so I decided to head over to a huge mussel farm that is located quite close to us in an area known as the Livermead Roads. The mussel farm is owned by a guy I know well, who also owns the oyster farm in the estuary where I launch. Last year his lower mussels on the strings were devastated by Bream, it took him a while to work it out, but the local divers were happy to go down and find the answer. I set up an excellent drift that took us along the edge of the mussel strings, using the size 6 tinsels baited with a sliver of squid. After 2 log drifts, it was obvious that the bream had gone on holiday, so we returned to slaughtering the Mackerel shoals.
All too soon it was 12 midday and time to head in for the afternoon school run. Just as I left the back of the Orestone we were joined by a huge pod of junior dolphins who stayed with us for 4 miles at a speed of almost 18 kts, often banging into the boat, and coming clean out of the water along side.
It was a very nice day to be out there, wall to wall sunshine and a completely flat sea.
Just one pic that says it all, I had half emptied it before I remembered to take the picture, so in all we had a little over 200 Mackerel, which fills the Igloo box to the brim.
Most of these will be made into chum for next month's shark fishing, but we had Mack for evening meal, and a few of the lager fish have been filleted for consumption over the next couple of days.

Just the wife and I, and the weather was good for a trip to the skerries. This has to be planned in as much as the sea conditions on the Skerries can often be a lot different from where I launch, but today both matched my critera.
We launched at 08:30 and headed to the back of the Orestone for some fresh Mackerel bait. By 09:30 we (she) had about 20 Mackerel and we pushed on toward the skerries. A loverly day with a flat sea and 0.4m swell every 8 secs. As we came onto the skerries, a pod of large dolphins cruised up alongside the boat and were in the mood for playing. Whilst the wife was taking some video, I heard the mayday relay on 16 that my mates boat was sinking. I jotted the co-ords down on my phone and plotted his position as fishing on the wreck of the Glocliffe. The detail of this in a different post.
We were too far away (18 miles) to be of much assistance, but from what I know now it would have been futile anyway.
As we were on standby as a resource to solent CG, if they want a vessel to search from the south, so I decided not to anchor for Ray's, and we fished for Plaice.
The fishing was OK, and we had 17 Plaice of which 9 were keepers, no, I am going to correct that, we had 16 plaice and one flounder, of which 8 plaice were keepers ! I really should wear my glasses more often !
Also, we had a number of Grey Gurnard, although quite small.
No pics, and early in the afternoon we made a very subdued trip back to the slipway.
 

Another invite from my friend for an early kick off, but instead of a little mist it was full on fog with visibility from 300 down to 100m. A lovely sailing yacht, Trinovante, was just preparing to leave as we left the lock and passed us shortly after we had started our first drift on their way up to the Orkney Islands. 


Big tide meant we were drifting at 1.2 or faster which is a little fast for lures especially over the very rough ground we were over and I was having a nightmare, losing gear and time. We had a couple of fish but the lines were well angled so the lures weren't fishing properly and any droppers were liable to catch as they bumped up and over the rock scars. Mostly fresh run fish as you can see from the lovely colours. 

The fog came in quite bad as we moved north so we were puttering on at 6-10kn for safety and in an area we normally fly over we saw a good few pinnacles so we did a U and drifted over it. First drift we had one each and although the drift was slowing it was still a bit fast but the next few were much better and we really got into them with codling to 4-5lb and pollock to 6. It was nice to hit the pollock as a week ago we were on a great reef for them but they were absent. One codling came back with me as it broke its jaw during the fight so it became supper, Mediterranean style cod in Mediterranean style weather 😋

Hope to add more fishy photos later. 

What a difference a couple of days make !
With Kyle at college, the crew for the day was my wife. TBH she is pretty damn good at the plaice and Mackerel, also it was to be her first trip of the year as she doesn't do winter fishing, or non sunny fishing, or temps below 15c fishing 🤣 , however, she does love to fish.
We launched at 8:30am and the sea was reasonably flat
I had to keep the speed down to an 'amble' as the wife likes to take in the scenery, and to be fair the journey along the south hams coastline is very scenic, so I 'ambled' along at a steady 25kts. On the banks there was a little wind over tide and being mid springs the drift was quite quick at about 1.8 to 2.1 kts. we did 4 very long drifts and only had 2 small plaice, which were returned to grow bigger. I am fairly sure that the May Bloom is to blame, as the sea claity was worse than poor, and on the steam down to the banks I noted large slicks of brown scum, which of course is dead algae. Also, we had no takers on the mackerel tinsels (apart from a small Gurnard), and as both Mackerel and Plaice are sight feeders the water clarity was not doing us any favours.
At about 12:30 I put plan B into action, and set about dropping the anchor on the outer edge of the banks. Soon the boat had settled,  we sent down the big fish baits, and we needed 10oz of lead to hold bottom. Quite quickly the wife had a bite and hooked into a fish that didn't want to move, but with some effort she got it moving in the water column, however, disaster struck when the reel seat broke loose from the blank (Tronix Aphex 12-20), and it is not the first time it has happened on Aphex's. So, I lent a hand in carefully keeping tension on the braid with a gloved hand whilst she did her best to keep the reel seat from turning on the rod. Eventually a decent Blond surfaced and was quickly netted, going a respectable 14lb. The Aphex will go in the bin and be replaced with a Kenzaki super braid.
Then we had a succession of dogs (5), and just before slack water I hooked into another ray. This time it was a juvenile blond at 7.5lb, but if you didn't know, it looked just like a spotty !
All too soon it was time to get back, as we had other stuff to do late in the afternoon, but a gentle steam back saw us safely on the slip at 3:30pm.
A pleasant day in the sunshine and the fish tally wasn't too bad, with 2 plaice, one Grey Gurnard, 5 dogs, and 2 blonds.
 
A 14lb Blond

 
A 7.5lb Juvenile Blond, with the markings of a spotty including the wing eye's

 

I got an unexpected couple of days off, so today I took advantage of the northerly winds and sunshine. Got a couple of nice Raja Clavata (thornback ray for @JonC), a couple of feisty starry hounds, so many dogs I had to start catching them by the tail to test myself. And, one for @captin slows old outlaw....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday was a decent weather window and the forecast looked almost right, so Kyle and I made an early start off the slipway, launching at 07:15.
We were treated to a flat sea, so a steady 28 - 30kt cruise soon ate up the miles, and we were on the skerries banks before 08:00. The visibility was only about 3 miles but plenty good enough.
The Skerries were like glass when we got there, so plan A was put in to action, and we drifted for Plaice. Luck was on our side and by 11:00am we had 6 very decent Plaice in the coolbox.  Whilst drifting, I also tried for Mackerel, we only got one, but were also rewarded with 6 king size launce. Also, a small Grey Gurnard made an appearance.
Slack was due to start at 11:30am, so plan B was put into action. I found a decent point on the outer edge of the banks, where I dropped anchor and the boat swung around so we were fishing the sloping edge bank into 90ft.
As we were looking for Rays,  big fish baits were the order of the day, on wide gape 3/0 hooks as sometimes large plaice will show up.
We immediately starting catching dogs, but at about 12:30 Kyle lifted into a decent fish, and after a decent fight in the tide a Blond ray was netted that went a tad over 17lb. More dogs and then at about 1:30 I was rewarded with a Huss that went 10lb 1oz (we will call it 10lb). Earlier after Kyle had the ray, I got bitten clean off at the hook(50lb mono trace) which was annoying.
All too soon it was time to head back, as I need to be on the slip for 3:00pm
Apart from the 8 dogs (Kyle 5, me 3) it was a very rewarding day.
 
The stamp of the Plaice

 
17lb Blond

 
10lb Huss

 
Bloody nuisance fish !

Well done on getting out and putting the graft in and creating memories for the kids.
I'm on 3 sessions including one on baits for the weekend thus far, for sod all in return! Considerable distance and water covered, no Bass appear to be home.. stacks of Mullet about though.
Yesterday, a mate told me he had Bream, Hounds, Ray and Dogs from the same beach we'd fished the night before..the following day in daylight. 
May Rot in the water, patchy up the harbour, range bait gear picking up occasional clumps on the line... Will slow things up till it clears. 
Out again on bait next Friday on more favourable tides.

Neil, Leo, Thomas and I hit the shingle for an afternoon session after bass, bream and rays. It was blindingly sunny and very warm.

The boys spent most of the afternoon eating ice cream and sweets and jumping off the sandy back of the shingle bank, doing their best to cover themselves in grime and/or break an ankle. Luckily they only succeeded at the first and failed at the second. Phew! At one point Neil joined them, and collected a bloody elbow for his efforts 🤣.
But as the sun started to set we remained sadly biteless.

Frustrated by my inability to catch (and no, before you ask, not even a dogfish 😭) I called it a day early, and treated the boy to a McDonald's on the way home.
So, a big fat blank for us, but a fantastic day on the beach for the boys.
Sometimes it's not all about the fishing.
 
 
 
Apparently.

Not been out at all in the last week, foot injury sustained to my foot and general daily life keeping me busy for the most part, with unfavourable weather forecast for the weekend I had written off any adventures and was looking forward to a lazy one..
In actuality, I spent the better part of this morning looking out the window contemplating inaccurate forecasts with real time conditions looking quite promising... an amount of procrastination ensued, quick flick on to outlaws to see if anything was doing.... then the realisation hit me, why look for fishy tales of others.. why not just get out!? So I did.
Bit later on the tide than I'd have liked by the time I'd arrived hibbling at my chosen mark that was already well into the ebb.. Stuck with soft plastics for the duration and managed to winkle out just one Bass in a short 2 hour session.. strange sort of take, having had a number of goes before nailing the lure. canny thing managed to wrap me up with an underwater obstruction, loosening up on it for a moment saw it free it self and moments later beached. Not massive but another session along with another fish.
Found a fresh cuttlefish corpse, believe its the time of year they breed and die shortly after.. would've made decent bait for later had I had the freezer space.
 

A few hours on the lures last night with @Bones, our first session together this year. 
Weather, mizzle and a very slight westerly breeze to begin with and by 0130 or there abouts, the wind dropped away to nothing and a light fog decended.. weather wise, comfortably warm and pleasant evening to be out.
Covered a fair amount of water bit sadly nothing doing on the lures. spooked fish on the walk back in an area already identified that holds a number of fish.. sometimes it's out of the crap sessions that lessons are learnt and new approaches are developed from.. for the most part I think Rag or Crab will be the way forward on this particular mark next time, bust out the light gear, floats and go again.. 

That was a nice bass. Didn't we put it down to beginner's luck?
And with his little baitcaster too 🤣

Ah yes, I remember you were well jel and swiftly spat your dummy and left the forum!! 

The first trip was with James (brother-in-law) to the Skerries, and we were tasked with catching Plaice. That was on Saturday 29th April, and it was the first trip to the skerries that we have made this year as the sea conditions have been poor due to the East winds. It was a neap tide and a flat sea, so the trip down was done in about 35mins at a steady 35kts. Alan in his Offshore 25 had already left as I was launching, so he had a 10 min head start on me, but we both arrived at the skerries bell buoy at the same time 😉
Fishing was OK with a drift of 1kt, and we managed 14 Plaice of which 9 were keepers. Although the Plaice MLS is 27cm, we don't keep anything under 35 - 40cm. James also hooked 2 big spider crab, the biggest being just under 4lb. It is annual shagging time for the spiders, and they come into the coastline of Beesands, Hallsands, Slapton, and Balckpool to breed. No rays, only one Grey Gurnard and no Mackerel or Launce. TBF a good day, and we got back at about 3:00pm, however, on the way back I noticed a whistle from the engine and a quick check on the smart craft showed that the Alternator was not charging. When I flushed the engine, I confirmed the Alternator was running very hot and no output. This is a common fault on the Mercury 150, and it has now been replaced under warranty (a superseded part number). With 200Ah of battery, and the engine / electronics probably only drawing 10A max, we had 15 hours of runtime, so no bother really. Birchell Marine at Torquay harbour came up trumps again, by sorting it out, even though they were busy with bank holiday stuff. To change the alternator on the Mercury is a 10 min job, as it is on top of the engine and just 2 bolts hold it in place.
The next trip was with Kyle out to the 12 mile wrecks on Sunday 7th May. It was a short trip as we needed to catch the tide on the slip (spring tides). Launched at 7:30 and returned at 12:00 midday. Another successful few hours with 6 Pollock, all around the 5lb mark. It was interesting as I was getting a few Pout on the slow jigs and Kyle was just getting the odd tap on a Vibro shad. Kyle changed to a 115mm dark Red Gill and was straight into a Pollock. Once on the deck, the Pollock was spitting out a load of tiny whitebait and sandeels. A good example of 'matching the hatch' and we both went with the small Red gills and took a further 5 fish. Also, Kyle got bitten off twice, with the line completely frayed, So I assume there might have been some Ling in the mix.
Looking for a nice calm day now with a 10sec plus wave pattern, as I want to get out to the Gateway wrecks in the mid channel (about 47 miles), out there you are closer to Alderney than the UK mainland. That is always a 100 mile plus round trip and I have to carry extra fuel as the inboard tank is only 90L
 
The stamp of the Plaice, that one was a plump 40cm

 
The stamp of the Pollock, it has lost some colour as it had been in the fish coolbox for an hour or so with loads of ice.

 

No, I'm still a useless cop out. 

Went out yesterday with my stepson, ha a mixed bag of dogfish, thornbacks and smoothounds. Main thing is my stepson enjoyed the day catching  smoothounds. Although  I  probably  should hVe given him some sun tan lotion. 
 
 
 

What blanking? 🤣

good report budd keep it up 👍

A few hours on the lures last night with @Bones, our first session together this year. 
Weather, mizzle and a very slight westerly breeze to begin with and by 0130 or there abouts, the wind dropped away to nothing and a light fog decended.. weather wise, comfortably warm and pleasant evening to be out.
Covered a fair amount of water bit sadly nothing doing on the lures. spooked fish on the walk back in an area already identified that holds a number of fish.. sometimes it's out of the crap sessions that lessons are learnt and new approaches are developed from.. for the most part I think Rag or Crab will be the way forward on this particular mark next time, bust out the light gear, floats and go again.. 

Got to be out there learning the mark to win it next time, so well done for putting in the legwork. It'll be all the sweeter when you nail a big bass there in future 👍

A few hours on the lures last night with @Bones, our first session together this year. 
Weather, mizzle and a very slight westerly breeze to begin with and by 0130 or there abouts, the wind dropped away to nothing and a light fog decended.. weather wise, comfortably warm and pleasant evening to be out.
Covered a fair amount of water bit sadly nothing doing on the lures. spooked fish on the walk back in an area already identified that holds a number of fish.. sometimes it's out of the crap sessions that lessons are learnt and new approaches are developed from.. for the most part I think Rag or Crab will be the way forward on this particular mark next time, bust out the light gear, floats and go again.. 

A few hours on the lures last night with @Bones, our first session together this year. 
Weather, mizzle and a very slight westerly breeze to begin with and by 0130 or there abouts, the wind dropped away to nothing and a light fog decended.. weather wise, comfortably warm and pleasant evening to be out.
Covered a fair amount of water bit sadly nothing doing on the lures. spooked fish on the walk back in an area already identified that holds a number of fish.. sometimes it's out of the crap sessions that lessons are learnt and new approaches are developed from.. for the most part I think Rag or Crab will be the way forward on this particular mark next time, bust out the light gear, floats and go again..