Glancing out onto the deck it was clear everyone was happily chatting and all set to have a really fun day out.  A few minutes later I noticed that one of the crew (Martin) was taking the opportunity to lie back on the engine box and grab 40 winks whilst soaking up the sunshine.  This was my chance to score the first point and so I quickly grabbed my favourite lipstick and applied a nice thick layer of red with a hint of cherry!  I have never seen a bloke get up so fast in all my life.  Was this the fear of drawing unwanted attention from the rest of the crew or had I simply chosen the wrong colour?

Ok enough of all that time to get on with some serious fishing.  Well that was the intention.  We started with a variety of different lures being used and the first of the day went to Nigel who landed a codling of around 2lb this was quickly unhooked and returned leaving Martin to step up in front of the camera first with a Bream which he caught on a sidewinder.

Martin I could have got away with saying that was a monster Bream but holding it up in front of that toned 6 pack sort of gives the game away.

That was about it for the action for almost 2 hours.  We hit slack water and changed to our lures to baited hooks in the hope of catching either a nice Ling or a Conger but today we were out of luck and so with a move onto another wreck and the tide starting to run again it was back to the sidewinders and shads and back on the hunt for some nice Cod and Pollack.  We had to wait yet another hour or so before we were to see the first good Cod played in but much fun was had filling “The Body Mike’s” bucket with Pouting.  I have no idea what he had planned for dinner but he certainly wanted plenty to take home with him.  It was Sean who was fishing away quietly in the corner and I am sure trying to stay out of trouble was rewarded with the first big bite of the day.  He netted this lovely summer cod which weighed in at 11lb.

Nice Cod

With the very next drift we saw 4 lovely Cod played in.  Nigel and Darrell netting the first two on the back of the boat.

Sean with another doubler.

Followed by “The Body Mike” who landed his first ever Cod. (well that’s what he told us)  Not wanting to get his hands dirty holding the fish for a photo Martin kindly stepped up to the camera so the fish was recorded forever on film.

With another 20 minutes of quiet time we had another brew, devoured the chocolate biscuits and even had time to check out those special little thing that anglers like to carry in their tackle box.

Martins good luck teddys from his children

Back to the fishing!!!

It was time for some nice Pollack and as Nigel was reeling in this lovely fish Neil was taking his time with the biggest Pollack of the day.

A really nice fish that was made to look tiny when Neil’s weighed in at just a little over 15lb.

Cracking fish Neil – Well Done!

With that lovely big Pollack it was time for more cod and lots more banter.  Were we all mad today or can we blame a little of it on the sun?    ermmmmmmmmm No I think its safe to say there was a boat full of mad people.  Sean came good with the first good sized Cod of the day and was also about the play in the last good sized Cod too.

The biggest Cod today at 14lb

Brian didn’t manage to get himself a cod today but after just winning the battle with anorexia he was cool with that and really enjoyed the day out.

It was soon time to head back so we used the time well to gut and fillet the fish.

Another great one guys – can’t wait to do it all again soon.

Bob who is a regular with us saw the biggest fish of the day with this Cod.

Bob also came second in the battle for the most fish caught today – sorry Bob but I beat you again.

First time catches of Cod for these two cheeky chaps.

The day ended with a really good catch and some lovely cod for everyone and another great day out at sea.

Michael also landed this nice Pollack.

The unusual catch of the day was this lovely squid which came up on a sidewinder.

With the tide as good as slack the crew decided to do a variety of different things.  Some of them got the feathers out for Mackerel and then used them for bait others put on sidewinders and one or two put Cuttlefish bait down.

After 10 minutes of drifting and not really moving anywhere at all nothing had happened so we moved about 20m or so to the other side of the wreck where we could sit above what looked like the best place to get a catch.

I was standing talking to Nick and Ian and after being asked whom I thought would be the first person on the boat to get a positive bite and having just answered that I thought it would be Ian the first bang went Ian’s rod.  He was fishing with a baited hook (cuttlefish) and he was onto a good fish.

Whilst Ian was playing in his fish down went Nick’s rod who again was fishing with a Cuttlefish bait.

I was ready with the net for Ian’s and up came a Ling, which weighed in at 11lb.

Nick was still playing in his fish and Ian was already saying that whatever it was he had caught you could just bet it was going to be bigger than his.

And it was!

Only by 1lb though as Nick had netted the second Ling of 12lb.

The fishing was rather slow today and it was a good half an hour before the next good bite.  Collin was the next one to get a good bite and he brought the first Cod of the day to the net.

Meanwhile Nick and Ian were still having a good old banter about it being typical that Nick had got the bigger of the two Ling.

Nick took the competition between the two of the up another level when he next landed a Pollack.  It was only around 6lb but it had put him further into the lead.

With the fishing slow but steady I looked over to see Angelo who appeared to be stuck in the wreck.  When I asked if he was stuck he said yes so over I went to get him out.  I took his rod and it did indeed feel like he was stuck but I was able to reel in line and being able to see a number of other lines crossing and the reel being hard to reel I took it that we must have a good old tangle going on.  I lifted the rod and wound in several times before I felt a bit of a kick on the end of it.  Realising that he was into a good fish I handed back the rod so he could finish playing it in.  He was delighted with a 12lb Cod.

Ok back to the Nick and Ian show!

Ian’s turn to take the lead on combined weight caught today.  He netted a very nice 8lb Cod.

Would Nick be able to rise to the challenge and retake the lead?

Well if any of you know Nick then you will know that he is just a jammy git and it wasn’t long before he was playing in yet another fish.  This time a Cod and although it only weighed in at 7lb it was enough to give him 1^st place in this little battle between the two of them.

Today we didn’t see lots and lots of big fish but those that were caught brought a lot of pleasure to the anglers.  For Nick it was his first Ling and for Angelo it was his first Cod.  Everyone caught fish today but not everyone got a big one, although Nick and Ian did very well.

Another great day out and enjoyed by all and the weather turned out nice with the ride home being a lot smoother.

With music and champange flowing the day was a lot of fun.  There was certainly more celebrating than fishing going on but the birthday boy who lost a couple of nice bass early on in the morning finally got one in the net later in the day.

Happy Birthday!

The following day we were fishing with a stag party and and we between them they landed some smashing Cod of up to 14lb but the hightlight was to come on our short evening trip when we were joined by little Zac.  Zac had told his mum that he really wanted to catch a fish and take it home and eat it, so mum brought him along on a lovely sunny evening and we headed out for a short Mackerel fishing trip. Despite being only 4 he soon got to grips with the fishing rod and was fishing for Mackerel like a professional.

Full of excitement and Zac very quickly caught his first fish.

4 year old Zac with his first fish!

It was non-stop fun throughout the entire trip with Zac filling a bucket with Mackerel and even managing to catch a couple of Gurnards which he released back to the sea.

The time flew by and it was very quickly time to head back home.  There was just enough time to show Zac and his mum how to gut and fillet the fish ready for supper and give the boat a good hose down.

Well done Zac – you were a superstar!

The wreck fishing trips have seen great this week too.  The summer cod are in prime condition and we have seen the bites and catches becoming more consistent.  I have certainly been kept busy gilling, weighing, tagging and gutting fish this week.

Yesterday saw another good day out on the wrecks.  The cod caught today we mostly under 10lb.  Perfect for the table!  Tony played in the biggest cod of the day which weighed in a just over 10lb.

Also caught today was this small John Dory.  It was for many of the crew on board as it was for me too the first time they had ever seen one.

Beautiful little fish.

Like I said its been a busy week but one which we have really enjoyed.  The next few days sees us out on the wrecks fishing for more of those lovely prime summer cod.

Rob C and John got us up and running on the first drift.

Rob C was soon in again and this time with a much bigger fish of 12lb. Rob E was next with a 6.8lb Cod.  Rob was now well in the lead to win the wager they had made between them for the biggest fish.

Johnny did a double with a 7lb Cod and a small Pollack.

Please put some clothes on boys!

Gary soon joined the party with his Cod.

Simon and Johnny both played in a 6.8lb Cod whilst Moira on the other side of the boat was batttling with a bigger fish of 10lb.

Rob decided the outcome of the wager with his next fish which was the biggest landed today with this 14lb Cod.

Dave netted the largest Pollack of the day with this lovely fish and Cass was busy at the same time playing in yet another Cod.

With plenty of fish coming a board today it was to be disappointment for Larry who lost a couple of fish which came off the hook as they reached the surface and ended not getting on onto the boat.  Larry is the happy chappy in the daft hat.

Another Pollack was landed along with yet more cod.

At this point I feel it is only fair to mention that Rod who I am sure was trying his best all day managed to play in and land this:-

I am not sure it counts as a catch but he did get it onto the boat!

A great day lads – see you all again soon.

The angler responsible for catching the first fish of the day has asked to remain anonymous but I can tell you that the Cod weighed in at over 10lbs, which got us off to a nice start. The same drift also produced this small Pollack and a smaller Cod.

More good sized Cod were caught throughout the day in including this one which came in after being towed for half a mile due to the angler thinking he was well and truly stuck on the wreck and having 300 metres of line out.

Its not surprising it took a while to play in when you consider that this is how it was hooked.

Here are a few more pictures from today.

We didn’t get off to a great start.  Could we catch a Mackerel this morning?  No – not for toffee.  Try as we might they were not playing ball today so we got going to our fishing mark with plenty of squid but no Mackerel.  This was really disappointing as we were hoping to get some nice live baits down for Bass. This crab was one of the first catches of the day and after a quick photo was returned.

After a few Pouting the Bream started to show in a steady strickle all day. The Bream today were smaller than the ones we have been catching over the last couple of weeks but everyone was landing them and to top it off we also had a couple of nice Bass.

Clive landed the first Bass of the day, a beauty at 4lb exactly and then went on to bag a few good Bream too.

Clive’s brother got the second Bass later in the day.  A little smaller at 3lb but still a nice fish.  We would like to thank Martin for taking a moment to stop catching pouting to land this one.

Well done Martin!

Everyone else on board chipped in to get the total Bream catch upto 31 before an early return home to watch the football.

Get a shirt on please!! lol

Nice one!

Thank you for a lovely day lads and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

P.S.  Yes we know the football was rubbish but the beer was good.  Hope you guys also enjoyed the evening.

Nice fish Peter!

First ever Cod! Well Done!

Excellent!

Come on you can pose better than that.

Much Better!!!

Poor Bob who was out fishing with us again lost a fight with a hook but bravely fished on after a little TLC and was rewarded with this beauty.

One of the Cod Bob caught today.

And just to prove he survived his injury.

All the Cod caught came in on rhubarb and custard sidewinders or blue shads.

A short stop on the way out to the fishing mark saw the live bait well stocked with perfect sized Mackerel for live baiting.  With this in mind several members of the crew decided that they would be trying for a Bass today.

We got off to a good start with Ron claiming the first Bream of the day on the ebb tide.  In fact it was the ebb tide that produced the most productive fishing of the day.  We were kept busy for the first couple of hours with a constant flow of Bream being played to the net.

Ron with the first Bream of the day.

Dan

Bob

Vivian

Janette

Oliver

Richard

Bob and myself had put out a line in the hope of nicking a Bass.  Bob used a live Mackerel on a pennel rig and I popped a Mackerel head on a 6/0 hook but not much was happening.  The action at this point of the day was all happening for the rods out in search of Bream.

Simple squid baits on size 2 circle hooks were finding the targets.

As we approached slack water the catches slowed down and then for a good hour or so came to a complete stop.  When the tide did get going again the fish were not so happy to play ball.  We were catching the odd one or two in little flurries for the rest of the afternoon and everyone decided that we should move towards home and try out a different mark.  Everyone wanted fresh Mackerel for the table so we decided to give it just another 15mins on this mark and then move on.

Typically at this point the Bream decided that it was time to come back out to play and Bill played in the biggest of the day weighing in at 3lb 8oz.  What a fight this feisty fish gave him darting and diving all the way in.

Bill

Come on Bill best of the day -  its got to be worth a kiss!!!

Awwwww

This was swiftly flowed by another couple of good sized fish and so the plan to make a move was cancelled It was then heads down and concentrating on hooking one that would better Bill’s catch.

Dan got one almighty knock on his rod, which he had baited up with a Mackerel head and as he lifted into the bite it was obvious that we were looking to be netting a Bass.  The fight the fish was giving had caught everyone’s attention and we all stopped what we were doing to watch as the Bass was played to the surface.  This was a good fish and looked to be easily a 10 lb’er.  Every angler’s nightmare followed when the good bend and tight line suddenly became a jolt and then slack.  You can imagine the noise that echoed around the boat as we all groaned with disappointment.

Bob’s line out for Bass managed to produce only dogfish and my own line took several good knocks but nothing but lost baits for me.  We enjoyed seeing the last couple of bream caught before it was time to head back home.  All the fish that were kept were gutted and prepared on the way back to the marina.

Everyone on board today caught the target fish but the fishing in general was a lot slower than we had expected it to be today.  The crew landed 26 Bream, numerous pouting, a couple of Dogfish and some wrasse.  Well done to all the crew who were great fun to spend the day with.