Odyssey

I’ve been sent this….. I know my jokes are popular but this is bad by my standards….

2 days out west… didn’t get what I wanted but managed, spurs, blue whiting, blue sharks, pollack, pouting, wrasse, mackerel, scad, weever, whiting…. Best mackerel just under 2lb, most pollack in the 3-5lb catagory…. So nice eating size. Hopefully I’ll get some this time as usual word gets out I’m bringing back fillets and neighbours family get promised fresh fish and I’m left with one fillet! 😮😮😮 Beer battered pollack and chips soon as celebration in a few weeks me thinks 🙂 (no fishing on 22nd October… getting wed, so fishing will be perfect all weekend I’m sure 🤣🤣🤣) did some fantastic whales breaching, dolphins, we I’ve had enough of flipper and his mates getting my hopes up… thousands of them! Oversll enjoyable 2 days 🙂

Was thinking of it but I’d only want to spend lots of money 🤣🤣🤣

Love it 😍

Lieu… 😉 Extra fishing days always welcomed, gives the rest of us a chance to get out this weekend and catch something if you are working 🙂

Fingers crossed for you 🙂

Prob wrong part for you…

I’d be speaking to Bill Higham marine… or speak to Chris Smith at North Tyne Marine. Both May have some spare parts 🙂

Had a call Friday night at 10pm, did I want to crew on a Tuna trip next day, Emma was invited as a spectator and shark angler too. So less than 6 hours later we were on the road to Milford. Saw a lovely pod of whales, tuna busting, loads of dolphins etc… Trolled for a few hours, stopped for a few blues to keep the paying crew happy before back to trolling on way home. one hook up but quickly dropped and same an hour later. Fish are not in huge numbers so staying deep. Hopefully next trip they’ll be on surface. Another boat had one to dead baits. So, exciting times, good to get the kit and ways of working ironed out ready for to hit them seriously…

My keys live on the boat…. Those that know can fuel up for me or look after my girl, make sure all ok etc. same for my mate, I can fill up his (he pays!)

70 years she has lived through 2nd world war, dealt with her fathers death when she was young, stuck on the throne at a young age with the world watching her every move and lived through some pretty momentous moments of the 20th century all remaining politically neutral which must of been a bit of a challenge…. Then losing her husband after 73 years and sittitng alone in the funeral…. She had a tough gig… I know she had money etc but she never had much privacy…. So yes, I respected. RIP

You’d fit right in on my boat 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Oh dear….

Well given the latest weather won’t be any fish as won’t be any trips 😬😬😬😬😬

Begin Quote: Proposal to ban recreational sea angling for Porbeagle - The current position of this proposal is that the JNCC have made their recommendation to Defra who will share it with the House of Commons and the House of Lords before reaching/communicating the final decision. None of this will happen before a new PM is appointed and both houses return from their summer break. As we get closer to the time when the politicians will have sight of the JNCC recommendation it is even more important that we don’t provide those who proposed the ban with any more material they can use. Images, even if they are showing best practise, are routinely manipulated and used against the sport. Reports of caught fish, long fight times etc are also be used against us. The vast majority of charter skippers have heavily edited their Porbeagle posts and many have stopped them entirely this year. Reducing their business marketing is a big sacrifice for these businesses and we should all respect that by not making any posts ourselves unless you are 100% sure they are being posted in a private site. I appreciate some of you may be a bit hacked off with my repeated preaching on this subject but one bad image or piece of poor reporting when we are so close to both houses reviewing the JNCC recommendation could easily change the minds of politicians who currently have a neutral view to one where they support the ban. If we are to succeed in challenging this proposed ban, all participants in the sport, whether they are commercial or private individuals, need to work together on this and resist any temptation to post stuff. Once a post is made, we lose any opportunity to challenge any misinformation put in the minds of the politicians and the public by the media. All it takes is one post, no matter how correct it is, to be manipulated and incorrectly presented for recreational sea angling for Porbeagle to be banned and that would just be the start - bans on other shark species would quickly follow. Please help us challenge this ban by either not posting any porbeagle material or only sharing it to 100% private sites End of Quote. Due to this I won’t be posting catch pictures or providing too much detail. Feel free to PM if you want help/pics etc 🙂 Just don’t want things used out of context 🙂

I’m looking forward to shouting abuse (sorry I mean encouragement) at the anglers who hook up 🙂 As crew I’m responsible for coaching them through the fight, leadering, measuring, tagging, reviving the fish with the skipper. Won’t be on every trip as Rob got a few others as crew and I’m sure they will be keen to get involved too 🙂 Just hope the anglers don’t mind a bit of encouragement 😉

So weather was perfect last Friday to get back offshore. Nice late start at 07:30 to pick up Ian ( @headlight ) on way out. Was going out with a mate to be his buddy boat as it was first time to the deeps. quick 2 hour steam out and saw some birds working the surface so motored around for an hour or 2 but nothing busting or taking. Got the baits out. Nice steady stream of blues to 110lb but a slow drift meant slow results. No more bird activities so no tugging plastic. Headed back in for 19:00 lock. Met up with charter skipper and crew for the Welsh CHART kick off. Had a few beers and swapped tales of sea monsters and such like. Early start at 5am to meet the scientific observer. A lovely lady who is a fisheries enforcement officer for Welsh Government. Lots of stores of crab wars between the commercials… but was good to understand them and gif her to chat to us and see how we operate. Was a bit gusty at this point but nothing too bad…. Trolled spreader bars for a couple of hours but swell was too big… it was a good practice run but I kind of knew we wouldn’t get fish… Skipper and myself only ones not seasick. Good job I had full weather gear on… for the horizontal rain in now 35knt gusting wind and the chunks blowing around the boat…. Interesting run home in 3m+ swell with wind over tide near haven… Skipper did a great job and got us back safely. Was nice to jump in shower and warm up as I was working the deck making sure spreader bars weren’t tangling while being hit sideways by waves and rain…. Poor result but we tried… Im making a concious effort not to post any shark pictures on social media. These are likely to manipulated by the anti brigade and not providing any ammunition… however, all fish released boat side and lip hooked using barbless circles… we did have one fish hooked twice (I saw the tag) so I know they are ok post capture… Just waiting for COVID to bugger off (tested positive Monday morning), westher to improve and can get back out there either as crew or on my own boat to see if can find some more fish 🙂

Tourist board must love you 😉 Just booking my tickets now! 😍

Frozen black lug and squid tipped with bluey

Out Friday… heading offshore to see what can find. Be nice to get the big rods out again. Full report to follow

It’s not just fish…. (Increase in blue fin tuna, increased numbers of blue sharks etc) but other wildlife, we get more whales, Risso dolphins, common dolphins around, even some reports of flying fish off Gower…. is it global warming? El Niño, shift in Gulf Stream? Who knows…. Just need to change our expectations of fish from Cod to bonito perhaps…

Camping this weekend. Then maybe out reefing Tuesday. Time to fill the freezer ready for chum for next season and to finish off this season 🙂 Susoect I maybe crewing more than fishing over next few months but I’ll try and squeeze a few sessions in 🙂