Josh

Yeah is a rarity to look like that out there
glad you got out. Mind you better for sharking with a blow.
 
I’m not sure how long the ban is in got but I dread to think what not having it does to the population every spawning season nets everywhere… I know that’s rabbit hole of ‘each person got to make a living’ but purely from a conservation perspective.
if they can keep it an annual spawning season ban… well it just makes perfect sense.
 

Managed to get out on Saturday after having had a few issues with a gearbox but now all sorted so was lovely to be out
 
sadly the forecast changed at the last minute I warned the crew we’d be in for a rough ride but tbey were keen to get out. 
 
After a rather bouncy 3 hour steam we were on the shark grounds…. First run in 30 mins. Was a decent porbeagle but sadly managed to slip the hook. Rather frustrating! 
 
we had another run which after a spirited battle we had a cute little porgie abour 100-110lb to the boat. It was wrapped up but a wave soon washed it through the door…
Quick photo, tagged and released. 
 
Anorher blue of about 80lb soon came along, again tagged and released. 
 
Sadly the crew lost another porgie just underneath the boat…. 
 
I was keen to carry on but with 4 anglers with heads over the rail they decided to head in… another 3 hour steam home in a lumpy beam on sea and we were home 🙂 
Lovely to be back out there hopefully a few more weatger windows abd can get out again 🙂 

Cracking effort! Well done @Josh

great report bud nice 🐳

Top marks! Was rather breezy by us managed to get out but wish had conditions like that 😍
Nice to see the pollack ban has had an effect. How long does it last for? 

Nice job @Dicky

Havnt posted in a while so a quick recap.
Great few days out of Milford Haven, weather was kind and the range had a few days off so could venture to new areas.
The bass fishing was phenomenal with birds hitting the water all over the place and bass busting out!
The pollack was also great when you could find them, along with huss to 14lb tope estimated around 40lb, gurnards dabs weavers and dogs.
Also some nice lobsters and spider crabs In my pot 🙂

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Got out Sunday for a club comp. Best day weather wise for us this year, absolutely flat calm. Started off local looking for a bass but just small thornbacks and dogs. A move down just below Watchet produced even more dogs, thornbacks and some straps but we did find half a dozen hounds or so. Too many dogs here for my liking and the hounds were small so at slack we shot back up channel to a piece of coral. More of the same but a few more hounds and a bigger average size so was a good move. We spent the last hour failing to find a bass again but overall a great day out 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Too good a Saturday forecast to miss saw me towing to Cornwall Friday night.
arrival around 1ish launching at daylight meant couple hours sort rods unstrap pack away and shut eye for not very long but it all helps.
first stop was bait and I was picking up some
jumbo mackerel only close in which was great after about 8/9 I headed out.

i stopped off on the way out around the reefs what difference the not netting of pollack has made. Well saying that Iv seen more fish in the past but compared to last year there were a few good fish back !
 

 
Pushed out to the 20mile band it was glass on the way out which was lovely then I spent an hour or so over the slack trying for ling on this wreck. I know they’re on there I just couldn’t get them ..another time !
dumped the chum over and waited quite a while with no wind i was moving with the tide but not a great deal.
then I had one probably of 40lb.
Hour or so later I had a better one round more like 75lb the boat going for the chum bag and the proper.
i had this fish round the bait and I could wind up any more so I just hand hooked her and she wernt happy gave me a searing run. Great fun

the Yank
The run 

chum

curious blue


 I ended up with another one so 3 in total
Had to pull the hook in again by hand to get that last one tight , rather that than deep hook. 
 
food as follows

Bangers on boat took some skin damage @JonC

 
Dinner made up for it
then I crawled into the tent 💤 
 
Josh 

Mid springs, nice weather, flat sea forecast, what is not to like.
It was a hard call, due to the usual slipway spring tide limitations it was to be either a morning wrecking session getting back at 13:30, or a full day on the skerries getting back at 16:00. The call was easier as fishing the skerries on a spring is hard work and often not productive, so it was out to the wrecks.
Launched at 07:30 with kyle as crew and headed to a wreck at 18 miles. Wind over tude was an issue on the trip out with a short sea coming from all directions, but managed at steady 22knts being careful not to stuff the bow. 
There was a commercial from Dartmouth fishing the wreck and we saw he was catching bass using one rod with hookais, and 2 handlines with multiple lures. The stamp of bass looked to be 3lb ish. We kept 4 fish that were 48 / 49 cm.
we made a few drifts and had a good few bass on small lures, however, there was a large quantity of monster pout on the wreck and we had a few of those as well. We did try a wrecking rig with mack flapper over slack, but it only produced pout.
Once slack came the sea quietened down, so it was a cracking morning to be out there.
The trip in was quick on a flat sea, and we caught the tide ok by being back on the slip at 1 pm.
 


@Josh
Here is a pic of the trip off the plotter 😉


 

wow what a day, I met Tim and his son at Tims boat at 7.30 - with the plan to be a morning on the Shambles drifting the last of the flood for Turbot until the tide got too much and the afternoon under the bill drifting for bass and wrasse. 
We picked up 10 decent mackerel first thing and headed out to the shambles West bouy (as the tide as flooding W-E).
Rigged up with booms, watch leads, and mackerel fillets on long traces - size 4 hooks so the small flatties have a chance too!
Fist drift was a tad fast, but Tim hooked into a very nice 4lb Bass. great fish!

2nd drift it was my turn to get a bite - a good scrap, plenty of head shakes and taking line and I Bag a worldie of a fish - a monster Bass - it was huge - biggest i've ever seen let alone caught - it went to 10lb on the scales - put my previous 2lber in the shade! 

not long after dropping down again i got another hit - and this was another big fish - a decent fight, stripping line, and heading up tide, soon at the boat we could see it was a big tope - it didn't like the boat or the net so went for a 3rd run - soon enough we had it in the boat for a quick pic and then away. 

just as we had motored back to the west bouy the tide turned so we had to reposition - this drift produced a lovely Brill and a weaver for Tim. 
  
the ebbing tide picked up real quickly producing some nasty overfalls so we decided to drift off the back of the bank into deeper water and switch to soft plastics for the bass - we all managed a couple of smaller bass on lures - all around the 2lb mark. 
as we drifted away we realised we were heading into the race, and the sea picked up real ugly so we quickly aborted plans and motored slowly back through the horrible sea off the bill - swell coming from the SW, tide racing west - It was not pleasant for about 30 mins motoring. expert skippering from Tim on the wheel and throttle saw us back in the bay to anchor on the mud. 
here we caught doggies, smoothies and bream for the afternoon. 
I took my bass to the angling club to have it weighed as i believe it to be specimen size, meaning I might win monthly or even annual biggest Bass award. Sadly it lost weight over the day in the coolbox (I had bled it) and it came in at 4.072kg which is a fraction under 9lb - still a monster fish!
Tim gave me his Brill to take home and then i had the dilemma - was i going to have bass or brill for tea? 
since i've never had Brill before i went for that and the bass got filleted up, Vacuum packed and put in the freezer. 10 decent sized fillets off it! there were 2 more brill fillets for the freezer too
Brill fillets baked in butter and seasoned - delicious.

 
it dwarfed my chopping board and sink!

 
An epic day and a new PB - going to take me some time to beat that now!

Unlucky buddy but top effort as usual. We got out yesterday, i will report tomorrow, left at 6am home at 11am. 

About 45 - 47knts, depending on tide and wind, but that is arse clenching speed, everything happens quickly, and you need eyes everywhere !
Rarely do I go over 35kts

So I arrived home from Turkey last night
with an incredible forecast Sunday questioning do I ? don’t I ?… I should stay at home prepare for the week ahead ect…
so anyway
1am came and I was on the road by 25past
heading for itchneor slip

lauched by 3.55 and heading through the harbour I was gunning for the slack at the Outer Owers to try for some bass and I was up against it time wise with a 15mile run from the harbour. So I stopped once and was lucky enough to pick up a small scad and one mackerel great some live baits. Then was disciplined enough not to stop again untill arriving at the mark.
I actually got there before the slack had started so time wise I got more than I needed.
fish wise not so good .. live bait down and feeding the float back on one rod and Dexter wedge off the bottom with another.
no takes first drift
second drift the floats gone down great! Wer on !
nope Wer off !
so I dropped the float back without checking the bait and bang I just picked the other rod up and the float was down again! Okay yes fish is ON….
well all went light float came up the bass even had the audacity to follow the the mackerel to the boat.assuming it was the same fish..
i forgot to say when I arrived and set up I put the tiny scad on which would of been perfect and as I threw it over it came off so that’s why the mackerel went on… heinsight I recon I should of sized my hook up a bit..
anyway back round and seeing a few more individual surface splashes now casting at them
rubbers and dexters but no joy.
by this point the mackerel was stiff so I flapped it set it out then & float went down again and I was properly on … however it wasn’t a bass it was a conger of about 8lb . So I was heart pounding for the net untill I saw it. 
after than I started following the birds and there were fish with them but no joy for me. A lot of baitfish under boat in areas. Not sure what it was I couldn’t pick them up maybe very mini sandeels.


with a short day planned I shot into a tope mark  that Iv had some incredible action in the past that’s pretty reliable and that was very quiet too. A small black bream  and a few dogs .
Amazing forecast saw some monster mullet in the harbour biggest Iv ever seen. So just sunsets & sounders today 
not even a poorly cooked sausage 

30knts, which is 4000rpm.
On a longish offshore trip probably 28 ish

It is great to have Kyle back as crew, now that he has finished his A levels, so we launched at 07:30 into a flat sea, with an intention of getting back to the slip at 15:30.
The forecast for the skerries area was fog / mist until 09:00 and then a cloudy but warm day, but the weather guessers got that very wrong.  Once we rounded Berry Head, the mist was thick and getting worse, so I dropped the speed to 24knts, however the visibility was 1/2 mile so no real issues. On went the Nav lights and I also double checked that the AIS was fully functional.
We arrived at the Skerries at about 08:15 and the visibility was just a few hundred yards, but the sea was mirror calm, and no wind.
A few drifts across the banks produced numerous small Plaice and only one keeper (we don't keep anything under 35cm), 4 plump Mackerel, one monster Launce (snake), and numerous Red and Grey Gurnard, so plenty to keep us busy.
At the end of slack water (12:15 ish), we motored over to the outer edge of the banks and I dropped the pick. Bite were slow, with kyle getting a doggie and 2 decent  blonds (8lb & 10 1/2lb). I was trying out some other ideas and only managed a 3lb spider !
At 14:30 we pulled the pick, the visibility was getting worse at maybe 200 yards, so a gentle trip off the banks at 20kts, but we picked up speed once we reached the Mudstone Ledge.
Back on the slip at 15:30, a total trip of 48nm, and a very pleasant day.
Just one pic that says it all

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So I arrived home from Turkey last night
with an incredible forecast Sunday questioning do I ? don’t I ?… I should stay at home prepare for the week ahead ect…
so anyway
1am came and I was on the road by 25past
heading for itchneor slip

lauched by 3.55 and heading through the harbour I was gunning for the slack at the Outer Owers to try for some bass and I was up against it time wise with a 15mile run from the harbour. So I stopped once and was lucky enough to pick up a small scad and one mackerel great some live baits. Then was disciplined enough not to stop again untill arriving at the mark.
I actually got there before the slack had started so time wise I got more than I needed.
fish wise not so good .. live bait down and feeding the float back on one rod and Dexter wedge off the bottom with another.
no takes first drift
second drift the floats gone down great! Wer on !
nope Wer off !
so I dropped the float back without checking the bait and bang I just picked the other rod up and the float was down again! Okay yes fish is ON….
well all went light float came up the bass even had the audacity to follow the the mackerel to the boat.assuming it was the same fish..
i forgot to say when I arrived and set up I put the tiny scad on which would of been perfect and as I threw it over it came off so that’s why the mackerel went on… heinsight I recon I should of sized my hook up a bit..
anyway back round and seeing a few more individual surface splashes now casting at them
rubbers and dexters but no joy.
by this point the mackerel was stiff so I flapped it set it out then & float went down again and I was properly on … however it wasn’t a bass it was a conger of about 8lb . So I was heart pounding for the net untill I saw it. 
after than I started following the birds and there were fish with them but no joy for me. A lot of baitfish under boat in areas. Not sure what it was I couldn’t pick them up maybe very mini sandeels.


with a short day planned I shot into a tope mark  that Iv had some incredible action in the past that’s pretty reliable and that was very quiet too. A small black bream  and a few dogs .
Amazing forecast saw some monster mullet in the harbour biggest Iv ever seen. So just sunsets & sounders today 
not even a poorly cooked sausage