Popular Post Andy135 Posted September 20, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2022 Neil, Leo and I set off bright and early yesterday on a cod hunt to the Spoils, south of the Nab Tower. The forecast was ideal all day, with light to no winds and a very small tide. We arrived on the mark in time to fish the majority of the ebb, and with anchor and baits down we waited. And waited. And waited. Not much at all for the first couple of hours, before a strappy conger came aboard to start off the tally. Closely followed by a good sized spider crab, which had taken a liking to my cannonball lead and wouldn't let go. A smoothound followed shortly after. and a decent thornback. The bites started to dry up at slack, so we had a choice to make. Do we head inshore and fish a reef mark for smaller species, or do we stick it out at the Spoils to see what the turn of the tide might bring? The latter was our choice, so we spun the boat around and re-anchored for the flood. The wind had dropped off to almost nothing, and combined with the small tides we had beautiful conditions. Fishing the flood proved to be the right choice, for as the tide began to run we had a magic hour of frantic fishing. More smoothounds and rays - spotted and thornback (spot the joker in the next photo... ) and best of all, my favourite!! We also rustled up a couple of scad and, amazingly, a string of mackerel to the boat too! Leo added to the species tally with an immense example of a rare (to us) species - I'll let @Saintly Fish add the details and photos. Suffice to say it was a cracking fish! As the tide picked up the bites slowed, so we headed back in not long after we saw @Scotch_Egg2012 whizz past us heading home on a friend's Osprey. How did you get on Scott? All in it was a great day out, with amazing weather and brilliant company. As we headed into the marina we could see the dry-stack pontoons were almost fully taken. A couple of under-sized openings but not much that was Jersey Girl-shaped. Cue some delicate close quarters handling and crewing to get us snugly into a berth. thejollysinker, Josh, Dicky and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 looks like a cracking day out - plenty of fish and and a nice mixed bag! and just look at the smile on your face proudly holding a doggie! Geoff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted September 20, 2022 Author Share Posted September 20, 2022 6 minutes ago, mike farrants said: and just look at the smile on your face proudly holding a doggie! They're my favourite 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike farrants Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 i can see that! 🤣 Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 A great day out was had yesterday, and once I'd spent the first couple of hours licking clean the windows, I had enough energy left in my jaw to tell Andy how his fishing trip should go. So, as already mentioned we turned the boat and fished the flood. I decided to catch just a couple of fish (literally a couple), but I was busy instructing the other tu on how it's done. First to my rod was a nice little spotted ray. Then a feisty hound. That was enough for me. Leo decided to up the game and (landed) caught a 12lb Bull Huss. This thing really gave him a work out, and a decent smile that lasted the rest of the afternoon. And didn't we know it 🤣 He also had a nice strap conger.. and enjoyed himself whilst playing with the mackerel, one of which was aptly named Banana once rigor mortis had set in. Thanks again to Andy for a cracking day out, and well dangled. It's not true what they say about him!! thejollysinker, Andy135 and Geoff 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDP Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 Only an Arvor owner would say parking, most other boaters would refer to it as docking a boat🤩 GPSguru 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 (edited) An excellent manoeuvre to dock, not so easy in a crowded harbour, well done. Looks like you had a really good mix of species, and all 'net worthy', the highlight for me would have been the Huss. Any double Huss is a real handful, and they fight real dirty, so top marks to Leo. Usually when you get them on the boat, they crap all over you ! Why are Mack not so common off Portsmouth ? On the Skerries, we had 60 ish (I didn't count). Kyle spent an hour catching them singly on my 40g Lure Game rod, using a 20g green stinger casting jig. I cleaned the boat tonight, it takes feck'in hours to get rid of the mack scales and shit. Did you take that spider home for the pot ? There looks to be a good enough amount of meat on those legs. They smell absolutely lush as you boil them up. Edited September 20, 2022 by GPSguru Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted September 21, 2022 Author Share Posted September 21, 2022 Yes, the crab took a hot bath. Delicious with pasta in a light garlic & chilli dressing. As for the mackerel, they just seem to be more sporadic each year. Finding a large shoal is getting rarer - instead it's a case of picking them up in ones and twos wherever you can find them. Leo's huss was definitely fish of the trip and he did well to play it to the net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 20 minutes ago, Andy135 said: Leo's huss was definitely fish of the trip and he did well to play it to the net. And to hold it still enough for the camera 💪🏻. Did you get much meat from the crab legs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted September 21, 2022 Author Share Posted September 21, 2022 6 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said: Did you get much meat from the crab legs? There was just enough for a meal for two in the legs, but I hardly got any from the body. Mostly a goopy mess in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 4 hours ago, Andy135 said: There was just enough for a meal for two in the legs, but I hardly got any from the body. Mostly a goopy mess in there. Yes, pretty much all the meat is in the legs. I expect that you immediately noticed that the meat is a very sweet savoury taste, but for me the cooking smell takes some beating. TBH, I now prefer spider for eating, although browns are way more common for eating. Spider are regarded as a bycatch and often thrown back. Most of our spiders caught here end up going the France. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.