Josh

Looks insane 
loved to get out there 
well done 

After a few hours sleep from the hectic beach session it was back at the boat ramp at 6am for another day offshore with the young fellas chasing marlin. They had been a pit unhappy we were have fun out there while they were at school through the week.
Normally we travel around 20k offshore to the start of the continental shelf to target marlin but this black marlin almost jumped into the boat as we left the harbour.

 
We didn't stop to have a fish as we seldom hook a fish we've seen free jumping. There were a few boats out wide with a weekend comp on, so we headed away from them in search of mackerel or small tuna to use as bait. When you find bait it will often have marlin on it. This is mackerel virtually the same as the UK variety.

 
After catching a couple of strings of them for the live bait tank we setup some live bait trolling outfits and started the search. Wasn't long before we found bait with a fair amount of marlin showing on the sounder and suddenly we were hooked into three marlin. Another boat soon moved in and they got a double hookup. Fighting three fish was crazy and had the youngsters pumped with excitement. Luckily two pulled the hooks and we were able to concentrate on handling just one.

Two of the boys (brothers aged 13-15) worked together, with the youngest lining his elder brothers fish when he was able to get hold of the leader. Soon after the elder brother had the same opportunity to leader his younger brothers fish, which was his first time doing it. Funny enough the youngest lad has caught many game fish and also works for my daughter most weekends on the charter boat she skippers.


 
More to follow as my picture size won't allow more.
 
 
 

Same as part one, only this was a much bigger fish on spin gear. Took around 30mins to get this very lively fish to the boat, in which time we had traveled over 2km from where we initially hooked it up. Twice we were down to the last few metres of line and had to chase the fish. Lots of jumps, though these were mostly to far from the boat to get good pictures of.

Tomorrow I might opt for a more leisurely day inshore with the boat and another beach session after dark.
 

 

 

 

 
 

Nice work ! 

Took my youngest daughter and her boyfriend out for a marlin session after they had finished their morning fish on the beach catching salmon today. 
 
The water temp was too hot for our normal target species of striped marlin but was good for both blacks and blue marlin. Striped tuna were in good numbers, a favourite of most marlin to eat, even though most were in the 6-8kg size. It was so much fun catching these tuna on 10lb spin gear we almost forgot about chasing marlin.
Set up a teaser and dropped two live baits out the back at the slowest speed the boat will troll at. Literally under one minute and we were hooked into an estimated 200lb lively black marlin. This fish was extremely stubborn and had the young fella soon loosing a few beads of sweat!!!!! The fight went on for around 1.30 mins before we had it traced alongside the boat and released. 
 
Most likely fish inshore around the headlands tomorrow if the weather gods allow targeting a few hammerheads etc.









 
 

Conditions were a bit sloppy so just worked the inshore headlands with the boat for around 20 bonito, 15 salmon and mixed catch of reef species. Plenty of sharks, mostly hammerheads and whalers but also caught an unusual species of leopard shark which I’ve not seen before ( pics are on my camera still ) 
Put the boat away then headed to the beach where we encountered one of the most action packed sessions I can remember. Salmon were in the 6-8kg size and quite literally one after another which made it difficult to get a bait to other species. Fished without wire and opted for 80lb leaders to avoid landing sharks. This meant going through 20-30 hooks between the three of us. 
 
Male and female port Jackson sharks.
 

 

 

 

 

Leo and I had the pleasure of @Andy135and his son Thomas for the day. Onboard Tarlach Too we set out for the Solent from Port Hamble at 07.30 in search of the Solent unicorn. 
We had not seen Thomas for over a year, but him and Leo seamlessly picked up their friendship from what seems like the last fart joke they shared! 
By 08.15 we were at our mark in the western Solent, rods baited and sent down to the depths in eagerness by 08.30, just in time for the pick up of the strongest part of the tide. I had studied the relief shading chart the night before and hatched a plan to fish slightly off of where I would normally set the hook on this mark. 
Andy was first into the fish with an ever so eager LSD (what else?). Than a lull in proceedings. After about an hour I was in and a nice plump 4.5lb codling was expertly netted and bought aboard for dispatch. It had after all swallowed the hook. 
This catch set the tone for the next couple of hours with frantic fishing being expertly executed. Shame no more fish were caught though. 
We waited for the slack water period to end and just before the tide changed I recommended a slight repositioning to fish a drop offs edge on the flood. So we picked up and re dropped 200 yards North/West of where we originally were. Andy was having rattles consistently and in the true professional manner only he has mastered, he shock them off before winding in. 
The boys in the mean time were hunkered up in the V berth playing video games, blowing up balloons and making the rudest fart noises they possibly could with the escaping air! 
Soon Andy managed to not shake off a whiting and it was collected for the pot, around a 3/4lb fish. This was followed by another of around the same size, so plenty of white flesh for fish fingers! 
Then on Leo's rod the faintest of bites was seen, and then seen again by my keen eyes. Good job it wasn't close range vision work or I'd be fucked. 
Anyway, I lifted into the bite and sure enough fish on and Leo took over🙄. 
He landed another nice little codling around 3.5lb this time. He was well chuffed. But I could sense @Andy135 was turning greener and greener with envy. I didn't want him to feel bad so I kept quiet. 
That was it. 15.38 we hauled in the anchor and set for home. Once the boat was tied up and unloaded, some merriment ensued and the cut of Leo's jib went straight through the heart of Andy, who was exclaiming about our cod and his lack of, when Leo remarked "Well that's why they call it fishing not catching Andy"!!!! 
 
Ouch......🤣

My fish of the day...

Leo's fish of the day..

 
Andy's fish of the day..
 
🎣
 
The journey home..
 



 
 
The motley crew...
 

 
Thanks boys, a great way to start 2023!! 👍🏻
 

 

Come on then guys and gals, best catches of 2022! Not always the biggest maybe the most memorable? Get some pics up 🙂 
 
Memorable parts for me:
Mad spaniel appeared… 
Skate to 199lb,
porgies to just under 300lb,
blues to 140lb, BFT to 400lb,
pollack to 9lb
and for first time in years….. lots of mackerel 😍😍😍
Had a nice huss of 18lb 5oz, couple of cod, pouting, wrasse, rays, conger, blue whiting, spur dogs and off course everyone’s favourite…. LSD…
Been a good year, roll on 2023 and hopefully some better autumn weather! 
 
However…. Hats off to @mike farrants for the great reports. Given me a kick up the bum to diversify 2023…. Need to doend more time on the lures…. Oh and to catch a stone bass …

Yesterday I took the boat in for the engine annual service (300 hrs – 3 years). The place that I have been going to for years has changed hands and the grease monkey that always serviced my engines rang me to say he is going on his own, but cant do warranty work, however, he highly recommended another main dealer close to me.
I gave them a call about a month ago, and TBH the phone conversation gave me quite a warm feeling, so I was Ok with the change. I dropped the boat off at 9:30am, but told them I would struggle to be back at 6:00pm, but would call when I was on my way. The Service Manager said he could stay until about 7:00pm if it helped, which was very much appreciated. Also, I was greeted by one of the Grease monkey’s that used to work at the previous service place, so in my mind, all was good.
I eventually arrived back at 6:10pm and the service manager took me through what they had done.
A full service, including water pump, new thermostat, all new fuel filters and also flushed through the cooling system with a Mercury corrosion inhibitor, and sprayed the engine with Mercury Corrosion guard. In addition to the above, under warranty, also changed the trim/tilt pump (because the case was rusty) and they also found the water pressure sensor to be faulty (5psi out) , so replaced it. The water pressure sensor on mine engine is an optional extra, but it is connected to the CanBus to detect either no pressure (pump not working) or over pressure (cooling blockage).
He also said there was something I would need to watch as I had thrown a code, but a good code, I had triggered the rev limiter! (but only once). He said to do that, in that boat you must have been moving quite fast. Apparently on my engine the rev limiter is set at 5400.
I am pretty sure that we did that on the way back from the last skerries trip as the water was flat calm when we crossed St Mary’s Bay, I remember giving full throttle and I remember glancing at the plotter and seeing 41knts, but we slowed down pretty quick as we came onto Berry Head.
Anyway, whilst at the dealers, I checked the plotter (it doesn’t reset max speed on the trip) and it was showing 44.7knts.  At least it confirms that the boat is correctly propped !
The price was about what I expected to pay, and the service seems to be exceptionally good. I explained to the service Manager (Antony) that I am engine fussy, because I do long trips and don’t carry an Aux. He went on to say that the Mercury 150 is a very robust engine and mine is barely run in, one of the commercials he looks after in Torquay Marina has 3000hrs on it and runs like a dream.
So, just the trailer to service in October (I do that) and then I am ready for the winter season.
As a bonus, the Jeep, now 19 years old, passed its MOT, with no problems or advisories.

few
more 
fish for the tally 

Fair play Luke got out there and made it happen , had solid day out there,
takes extra alone even though we can all do it , and are all motivated, when someone else is game with you it seems easier.
 
I went out solo too.
the weather updated good in the weather I went out into a bit of residual swell but it literally went to pancakes by the afternoon.
 
i really thought it was going to happen , I had ones n twos busting up round me .
doing everything I could checking algae ,but it wasn’t to be … next time though !

 

when I looked over the hood after hearing these dynamite blows to the water … not dolphins…
I started chunking like Jeffery darma .


 
Lad I speak to was out today caught his first thresher today nice big one . 

Fair play Luke got out there and made it happen , had solid day out there,
takes extra alone even though we can all do it , and are all motivated, when someone else is game with you it seems easier.
 
I went out solo too.
the weather updated good in the weather I went out into a bit of residual swell but it literally went to pancakes by the afternoon.
 
i really thought it was going to happen , I had ones n twos busting up round me .
doing everything I could checking algae ,but it wasn’t to be … next time though !

 

when I looked over the hood after hearing these dynamite blows to the water … not dolphins…
I started chunking like Jeffery darma .


 
Lad I speak to was out today caught his first thresher today nice big one . 

I certainly ticks a good many boxes for me, especially being close to the coast .......... example, if it is raining for an hour or two, then I just set off later.
Take heed, there are RIB's and then there are RIB's ............ some are way better than others, but cost more money and are harder to find.

Do ya lake dags ?

Yes! That's it! The solution to my problem. I'll give up fishing and become a trailer snail.
#gofuckyourself

Atlantis hulls are spot on. Very well made and with plenty of sea-keeping ability. No doubt she is a beast and a perfect tuna boat.
Selling because I'm after a rib. I'd like to encourage my kids to get on the water more and a rib would enable them to jump in and out of the water more easily, swimming and diving etc.
And also, to be honest, it's your reports and @GPSguru's that have rekindled my desire to fish the south west. I used to keep an Orkney 440 down in Dartmouth years back. I have family in Devon and Cornwall so I could trailer a rib down to the South Hams or Fowey and have places to stay for a night or three.
Or maybe I find a smaller hard boat up here and buy a Takacat or other SIB to keep in a family member's garage down there.
Lucky to have options but not sure what's right for me and family just yet.

Oh my …. That’s sooooo up my street 
 
what an utter weapon !
 

Ahem...
https://www.findafishingboat.com/atlantis-26c/ad-125100
#justsaying... 👍

Got to be in to win it! 
 
My issue with flying solo is helm is in cabin… can’t fit through door harnessed up 🤣 then when you leave your gaff in there too…. (Should of gone to scouts).
Weather crap next week…. I want ti sunny but windy next Saturday as I’m a bit busy getting wed but after that hopefully get back out there 🙂
looks like you had cracking conditions… next time sure you’ll find one 😄😄😄

Fair play Luke got out there and made it happen , had solid day out there,
takes extra alone even though we can all do it , and are all motivated, when someone else is game with you it seems easier.
 
I went out solo too.
the weather updated good in the weather I went out into a bit of residual swell but it literally went to pancakes by the afternoon.
 
i really thought it was going to happen , I had ones n twos busting up round me .
doing everything I could checking algae ,but it wasn’t to be … next time though !

 

when I looked over the hood after hearing these dynamite blows to the water … not dolphins…
I started chunking like Jeffery darma .


 
Lad I speak to was out today caught his first thresher today nice big one . 

Cool fish !
jesus christ ! 49degree

Just gotten home from a remote fishing trip up north, just over 9000km of road and trails before heading out to an island where barrels of fuel had been dropped for the ten day fishing trip.
Daily temps were a comfortable 38'c around the outside of the island but deciding to do a walk across the centre of the island through the red soft sand was pretty hot, to the point I had to stop every 500-800m to try and seek shelter from the heat 49.3c.

 
Did a mix of boat and land based fishing, all of which was off the scale in terms of non stop action. Pacing yourself and taking plenty of breaks was a must. Keeping fully covered from the sun was another, hence why even my hands are covered by gloves.
My biggest fish was taken using a whole live mullet intended for barramundi. This biggest fish I landed using a light 4 piece Bone Voyage travel rod and a small Shimano rarenium reel. The shovel nose ray was just over 2.400m and doesn't do justice from this image as its wings fall down over the gunnels.

 
More to come.
 

Bit of a busy day as was flying solo….
But 15 fish that include the word blue in them. No PBs but still a fun day…
was a looooong day… left home at 4, left Milford at 6am out in dark and fog, back in at 8pm in dark, home at 22:30…. Work again today at 6am…. I’m too old for this…. (As he looks at weather forecast already planning next adventure…. 🤣🤣🤣)

Leo, @Andy135 and I had second attempt at catching cod on Tarlach Too yesterday (Saturday in case you're reading this on Monday).
The first attempt turned out to be a comedy of errors which resulted in no fishing whatsoever from 2 boats! Too long a story to go into ! 
 
Any way we set off at 12pm and the plan was to fish into the dark and return at 10pm. Which we did. However, before we even left the mooring Leo decided to throw down his gauntlet by landing a nice 4.5lb bass on his first Chuck of the spinning gear. 
That was pretty much the highlight of the day. We caught a few fish, but the tide was sooooo big it seemed like nobody on the bottom was really feeding. A couple of small conger, a few dogs, a nice pout for Leo and not a lot for me. But as usual, I'm all about making the trip the best I possibly can for the guests. No selfishness on my boat. 
I did however catch the fish of the day (in weight anyhow), around 8-9lb. 

Andy had the biggest LSD I've ever seen, it was so big it even made his arms look short 🙄
That really was about it. We returned in the dark to the mooring just before 10pm. A good day had, but as always more fish would have been better. Thanks Andy for the good company again! 👍🏻

 

 

 

 

 

 

Down to 1.3m…. Jerry cans refilled… chum ready…. Just need to wake up on time 🤣