moonlighter

Axes and pick axes generally have Ash or Hickory shafts

Mine are to try my very best to make the most of the few-and-far-between days of light winds, get out to sea to catch anything decent.

Yes on my own I’m afraid so not the easiest to photograph nicely

Thanks. It fell to a medium sized lemon back lure.

Thanks. It went 14lb on the boat.

The day started well with a good drive to Littlehampton and an easy launch from the slipway as the tide was up enough to keep me on the concrete. There had been patches of fog on the journey but nothing to worry about (why do some drivers insist on having their dazzling fog lights on whatever the weather?) but as I was launching a heavy fog descended, reducing vis' to about 50 metres. I decided to carry on and made a very slow and cautious trip down to the river mouth and out to sea. Luckily, as is often the case this time of year the fog was sitting in a mile wide band along the coastline and once beyond that the vis' improved to the horizon. That made the descision as to where to go easier (though in hindsight maybe I should have gone West to the Selsey area as I heard of Blondes and Spurs being caught) and i pushed the throttle forward and cruised the 15 miles to the first wreck at a a very comfortable 22kts. In total I tried 8 wrecks, 6 of which showed fish markers. Unfortunately they appeared to be of Pout and Wrasse. I did get some success at one of the more distant wrecks and landed 4 fish, one of which was a clonker. The rest were 3lb-5lb. So, overall a great day out some nice fish but, worth the fuel possibly not and more worryingly there seem to be far fewer Pollack on what I'd call banker wrecks than there were 5 years ago.

They certainly did. Plenty of breaded goujons for all the family.

I just ask for a donation to be made to the RNLI and buy the tackle I need/want when I can

Well, until today I haven’t been out at sea since the middle of August. The weather (mainly) and work (occasionally) had conspired to keep me landlocked with no chance of pestering, let alone catching, any fish. At long last everything went to plan and I got out of Littlehampton on this mornings flooding tide. By 8.45am I was four miles off in 16m of water with the pick down on some mixed ground. Unfortunately no specimen fish took a liking to my lovely squid and lug baits though I did manage 15 nice (over 1.5lb) whiting a 4lb pollack and some straps. Most importantly the boat,engine and trailer all worked perfectly and I was able to enjoy a much needed day at sea. Hopefully we will get a spell of settled weather soon so I can get out and play again.

Due to work and weather I haven’t been out, until today, since the middle of August.

That’s good she’s got a good home. Have you got another boat lined up?

I hope you have many happy trip aboard her and plenty of fish over the gunnels

Well done and congratulations on getting such great bait. The cuttle also make great eating, though not to everyone's taste.

Nice one Mike

Greetings All and a Happy New Year. It's been a while since I posted as the fishing, though frequent and productive, has consisted of nothing worthy of note. Unfortunately this Sunday's trip was the same. My eldest son and an old friend of many years joined me for the day. The tow down to LA took longer than normal due to the threat of the presence of black ice so we didn't get on the water until 8.15am instead of the planned 7.40am. Still with the tide flooding there were no time constraints to launching. As we were prepping to launch plenty of charters and private boats headed down river to fish, which is always good to see. My plan was to go to an area of light mixed ground ot the west of a small bank 4 miles out. The mark doesn't look overly fishy on the sounder but, as the sea bed is made up of a mix of sand, mud and flint/chalk lumps, it holds lots of food such as small crab species and shrimps/prawns. I've had plenty of success here in the past with catches of up to 8 cod in a tide so was hopeful. On arrival there was a well known charter right on my numbers so i had to pop the anchor down to the south of him. With great anticipation we sent down 3 sets of downtide gear rigged with strong 5/0 pennel rigs to 80lb nylon and 2 uptiders similarly rigged, all baited with a mix of squid lug and cuttle. After a quite first 20 minutes we started to get bites and a steady stream of small Witing, Dogs and Straps kept us busy. Disappointingly no Cod. The tide turned and we decided to change 3 of the rods to size 1 hooks to 30lb nylon, baited with single lug or strips of squid, to see if some of the bites we were missing were from dabs (a possibility at this mark). Suprisingly, those rigs attracted Witing to 2lb, a 7lb Thornback and a 20lb Conger, along with the usual Dogs whilst the big baits were only attracting rubbish fish. I could understand that if the sea were gin clear but it was like milky coffee with zero visibility! And that was it for the day with no Cod showing were headed back in at 3pm to ensure enough water would be over the bar. So lesson learnt, mix rigs and baits to find what works on the day. Until next time, wishing you all light winds, calm seeas and tight lines. John

Lovely looking fish but wow that's some mileage covered to get them.

Well done on getting some fish on board. I had the same predicament with a locked, running vehicle on a rising tide but luckily had the spare car key in the boat. Nowadays I always leave the drivers window open when launching and landing the boat to save any panic.

After months of landlocked tedium I managed to get out on Monday The winds were from the NE eventually going round to SE but very light. I got out over the bar at Littlehampton at 07.45 hrs and headed to one of the inshore Plaice marks. The water was murkier than I expected for the time of year with masses of plankton. 2 drifts and nothing but small Bream so I moved out another mile and slightly West to an area I've had Plaice from over the years. It was a Plaice a drift and though mostly only a pound each they were all in good condition. I also had the good fortune to bag a three and a half pound Turbot! I kept 2 bigger Plaice and one of the one pounders that had deeply swallowed the hook along with the Turbot. As the tide started to ease i headed out to some wrecks 8-15 miles out. The first 4 were barren apart from some pouting but on a 12 mile wreck I was fortunate enough to find some Bass. I caught 10 ranging in weight from 3lb up to 6lb, not huge but on the light tackle i was using they fought well and all but 2 (for the table) were returned and swam off strongly. I was fishing a firetail jelly worm on a portland rig using a 6.5ft trigger grip savage gear spinning rod (Butch Light) and switched up to a 4" rhubarb and custard savage gear eel when the drift speed got over 1.8 knots. All in all a good day. Steamed Bass with ginger, chilli and spring onions on a pak choi stir fry tonight with my better half and then charcoal grilled Bass, Plaice and Turbot with Mediterranean grilled vegetable and aoili tomorrow with my eldests family. Wishing you all light winds, calm seeas and tight lines. John

Andy, That's a b****r. Having been given a day off work (the first time in 3 weeks) I am planning to getting out tomorrow, Monday, from Littlehapton. Due to the tide times it's going to be a short day and with winds from an Easterly quarter, I'm not holding my breath on catching loads but it should just be good to be out there. I'll let you know how I do (or don't) get on. Tight lines, John

Done

I don't have the horse power unlike some of you other guys but if I did I think this would make the perfectboat fishing accessory:

Yes I kept 6 of the larger ones and 5 that didn't looklike they'd survive the unhooking process. All filleted off, panko breadcrumbed and fried in olive oil. Delicious.

Or a Raclette? Hog roaster maybe?

Always dumplings unless there's a suet crust topping!

For the first time in ages I was able to get afloat this Sunday 29th. I had planned on launching from Herne Bay as the wind was forecast a lot lighter than on the South Coast. With this in mind I planned a blast over to the NE Spit area to try and find a Cod or Spur. Unfortunately, upon arriving at Herne Bay for an 8.15am launch there was more wind than expected and it was coming in from the North East, so on the nose (almost) if I were to run to the Spit. As the tides and daylight hours were making for a short day I decided against the long run east and settled on a mark in the Copperas Channel, west of the Reculver towers. The bottom here is a mix of sand, mud and chalk boulders and holds lots of shrimps and crabs. I anchored in 7m of water and set-to fishing. I wanted to get a good scent trail in the water so had 2 x 12lb class downtiders with size 1/0 hooks bated with lug and squid, and 2 x uptiders with 2/0 hooks baited with herring and squid wraps. I needn't of bothered trying to draw fish to the boat as the sea-bed was alive with 6oz to 1lb whiting. My first rod was bouncing away to a bite before I had the second rod baited. In all I must have had 70 whiting in the 4 hours fishing! I mentioned 2 surprises and the first was in the form of a very welcome change from whiting, a nice big, meal-sized Dab. The second surprise started when one of the downtiders rattled to a whiting bite. Before I could put my quiche (posh I know) down the rod buckled over and line started to pour off the reel at a good pace. I dropped said quiche and grabbed the rod, tightened the drag and thought (as the pull was very good and solid and heavy) BIG COD. I have to say the quiche was wasted in vain as the rod went very light after about 20 seconds and i was left to reel in the rather mangled remains of a sad looking whiting. Whilst unhooking the carcass I was looking at the damage to it and wondering what had taken it as the tooth marks weren't Cod-like or Thornback-like either. My answer came 10 seconds later when a Seal surface not 20ft off the stern of the boat! I'm not sure whether he or I were the more miffed at lunch being spoiled! High tide came and went and the ebb got underway and the whiting just kept coming. It was a shame more were not of a better size but at least I got out, gave the boat a good run and had a very pleasant, short day, getting home in good time to a lovely hot beef stew. Until next time, tight lines and keep safe. John