SPECIES CAUGHT IN 2005:

 

Conger Eel,  Dogfish,  Herring,  Mackerel,  Ling,  Plaice,  Pollack,  Pouting,  Bream,  Black Bream,  Cod, Wrasse,  Tope,  Brill,  Scad,  Red Gurnard,  Blonde Ray,  Bass,  Squid   - (19 No.)

Saturday 22 January 2005

Club trip out of Weymouth with eight anglers aboard Offshore Rebel. We left Weymouth at 7.30 am and headed due south for some wreck fishing approx. 20 miles out. There was a chilly breeze from the north, but the sea was reasonably smooth for the voyage out.  We reached the first wreck at 9.15 am, but after four drifts we had only landed three small Pollack. Our skipper, Steve West, decided to try some other wrecks and we fished another four during the day.  The fishing was a bit spasmodic, but by the end of the day we had landed over thirty Pollack of varying sizes from 5 lb up to 19 lb, the latter being landed by Richard Hyde, who later in the day parted company with his rod and reel, and as he watched it disappear beneath the waves he claimed it was dragged from his grasp by a 'massive' fish, but I think we have all heard the saga of 'the one that got away'. My contribution for the day was three Pouting and a Pollack of 13 lb 7 oz, caught on the final drift.  It was an enjoyable day's fishing and everyone seemed pleased with their efforts including one angler Tony who had a blank sheet. The wind was picking up as we returned to Weymouth arriving back at 5.15 pm.

 

Friday 18 March 2005

Private trip with Wayne Emanuel's group of eight out of Weymouth on board Offshore Rebel fishing for Plaice . Left Weymouth at 8.00 am and started first drift on the Shambles Bank at 9.00 am. Weather was overcast with light southwest wind making it ideal for the drifts.  Progress was slow with only one Plaice of 2 lb caught by lunchtime.  Skipper Steve West decided to move to the mussell beds, but after a couple of empty drifts decided to move back.  Things picked up in the afternoon with another seven Plaice caught, ranging in size from 1 lb to 3lb 12 oz.  By 4.00 pm fog was starting to drift in with the light wind swinging to the southeast.  We finished at 4.30 pm and returned to Weymouth by 5.30 pm, all a little disappointed with the poor catch.

 

Saturday 19 March 2005

Club trip out of Weymouth aboard Tiger Lily wreck fishing.  Left Weymouth 8.00 am, fog with 100 m visibility and light southeast wind.  Headed due south for the wreck of HMS Delight approx 25 miles out; started fishing at 10.00 am on slack water and within minutes several large Pollack had been landed, up to 12 lb, fish were aplenty for the next hour and a half drifting, but as the tide increased the fishing dropped off.  The skipper Chris Caines decided to move to another wreck close by, but after a further hour of blank catches he decided to move back towards Weymouth to try some wrecking for Ling.  After 45 mins sailing we arrived at the wreck of the Merchant Royal, a large liner rising 30 metres off the sea-bed. Chris informed the group that this wreck is a proper *@~* for losing tackle and that we should not leave the gear on the wreck, but only drop down after we clear the wreck. On the first drift a Conger of 15 lb was taken, but on the second drift and following Chris' instructions I 'hit the jackpot', the rod bent over and I knew I was into something big.  After about 15 mins winding in a Ling over 4.5 feet long appeared on the surface and with the expert hand of Chris it was successfully landed on board. I was completely exhausted with the effort and after a short rest weighed the Ling at 28.5 lbs, a monster (see photo on page 1).  Several other Ling were caught up to 23 lbs.  We packed up at 4.15 pm and arrived back at Weymouth at 5.30 pm.  The fog never cleared all day , but we could see a bright ball of the sun through the fog, which resulted in a very red and sunburnt face and nose ..ouch!  This was a very enjoyable trip and made up for the poor time the day before.  Chris really does know his stuff.

 

Wednesday 30 March 2005

Club trip out of Weymouth aboard Tiger Lily Plaice fishing. Only 6 of 8 anglers turned up, this gave more space for us all.  Left at 8.00 am with a light northwest wind and headed to the eastern end of the Shambles Bank. Fishing was very slow and the first small Plaice of approx 1.5 lb was not landed until late morning, after about 3 drifts. Another 2 small Plaice were caught before 12 noon.  With 'slack' water coming on the skipper decided to move to the western end of the Bank where a mixture of small Plaice, Dogfish and Smoothhound were landed.  Things improved mid-afternoon with larger Plaice being landed, the best being 4.25 lbs and my best being 3.25 lbs.  The total catch for the day was approx. 18 Plaice, 2 Dogfish and 1 Smoothhound, not too bad for 6 anglers considering that Plaice are few and far between these days.  We packed up at 5.00 pm and headed back to Weymouth for nice 'fish and chip supper'.

 

Sunday 3 April 2005

Club trip out of Lymington aboard Private Venture wreck fishing. Nine anglers on board as we left at 7.00 am, rounding the Needles and heading due south.  Weather was slightly overcast with a light southerly wind and slight sea state. Skipper Arthur Savage proposed to fish a wreck for Pollack and Ling which lay approx 40 miles out, nearer France than UK, and in 200 ft of water. We arrived at the site at 9.30 am with the sun now shining and the wind easing. The fishing got off to a good start with several Pollack up to 9 lb being caught. By 11am the tide was changing and the catches were getting fewer so we moved to another wreck. On route however we picked up a large piece of rope floating just beneath the surface, but as the boat was a twin hull only a small section got caught up in one of the propellers. We managed to clear the snag and retrieve the rope from the sea before continuing to the next wreck. Several more Pollack were landed before the tide dropped off completely, but the wind at a gentle breeze we changed to heavier tackle and enjoyed a couple of hours fishing for Conger Eels ranging in size from 15lb to a huge 68lb, which was hauled onboard to be weighed. When the tide picked up we changed back to Pollack fishing and several more large ones were landed, the best being 13lb. It was a very enjoyable days fishing with over 30 Pollack being caught ranging in size from 4lb to 13lb and 12 Conger Eels 15lb to 68lb, my contribution for the day was 5 Pollack 6 to 9lb and 3 Conger Eels 15lb to 30lb. We packed up at 3.30pm and with the wind behind us we arrived back at 6.00 pm

 

Sunday 24 April 2005

Club trip from Langstone aboard Bessie Vee for Smoothhound.  Left Langstone at 8.00 am, with a change made on the day that we would be Bream fishing. Weather was quite settled with light easterly wind and slightly overcast. Sailed out for approx 10 miles and set anchor and started fishing for Bream, this was new to me as I had not tried this fishing before. Things started slow, but gradually the fish started to appear, but just as quickly as they had arrived they soon departed. The skipper decided to move and have a try for Smoothhound and Tope.  We headed easterly and dropped anchor just off Chichester, half rigged up for Tope and half for Smoothhound. There were nothing being tempted, but we had time to admire a shoal of Dolphins swimming around the boat and individual swallows returning from the south. This was not the best of days fishing with only about 6 Bream, 2 Garfish, Mackerel and a 17.5 lb Blond Ray. My contribution was a nice 1.5 lb Bream.

 

Sunday 15 May 2005

Private trip from Weymouth aboard the new Lady Godiva fishing for anything inshore.  Left Weymouth at 7.45 am with 9 anglers on board, weather was sunny with south east breeze. Started fishing at western end of Shambles Bank where we enjoyed some mixed fishing of Pouting, Bream, Dogfish and Mackerel.  When the tide turned and started to ebb from the east we moved to the west side of Portland to gain shelter and continued to catch Pouting, Dogfish, Mackerel, Wrasse, Bream, Smoothhound and Herring.  In the afternoon we moved to the wreck of the M2 Submarine where we enjoyed a couple of hours catching Pollack, Pouting and Dogfish. In all it was a good days fishing with 11 species caught.

 

Sunday 29 May 2005

Private trip from Weymouth aboard Revolution wreck fishing. Left Weymouth at 8.00 am with 9 anglers on board, weather sunny with light northerly breeze, skipper Josh Simmonds decided to trawl for sand eels and use them as 'live' bait. After about an hour gathering the sand eels we headed due south to a wreck about 22 miles out where we enjoyed some nice 7 - 8lb Pollack. To keep everyone catching fish we moved to another four wrecks during the day where we caught numerous large Cod, Ling and Pollack, the best being a 20lb Ling, 16lb Cod and a 12lb Pollack. In all we caught between 40 and 50 decent sized fish. My tally for the day was four 9 - 12lb Pollack, two 7lb Cod and one 15lb Ling. We arrived back in Weymouth at 6.00 pm.

 

25 - 29 July 2005 Alderney Trip - See Alderney 2005 Page

 

Saturday 6 August

Club Competition trip out of Lymington on board Due South for Species. Left Lymington at 7.45 am with light northerly wind and started fishing at entrance to harbour for Bass and Mackerel. We had caught our quota within 30 mins and moved west along the shore to approx 1 mile off Southbourne to try for Pollack, Wrasse and Bream.  After catching several of each species we moved about three miles offshore, anchored and enjoyed several hours of trying to catch Dogfish, Tope, Bull Huss , Rays Smooth hounds and Pouting.  By the end of the Competition we had caught 10 species and Dave Finn had an individual score of 325 points. However although we equaled the number of species caught on the other boat, Tiger Lily, out of Weymouth the winner was on this boat with 333 points - close!

 

Saturday 28 August

Private trip out of Weymouth aboard Lady Godiva for Mid Channel wrecking. Left Weymouth at 7.45 am on a flat calm sea, blue sky and no wind - bliss.  We planned to fish on some mid channel wrecks approx 28 miles due south of Weymouth. As we cleared Portland we could see the surface heaving with sprats and sand-eels, a sure sign of Mackerel; we dropped our lines and immediately began pulling in medium sized Mackerel four at a time. After about 30 mins of sport we moved on again and after about 1 hour we arrived at our first wreck, baited up with Mackerel strips and began to catch black Bream to 4 lbs and loads of Pouting. As the tide eased we dropped anchor and carried on pulling in Bream, Pouting, Pollack and a 15 lb conger. When the tide started to run again we moved to several other wrecks and continued to catch a selection of species including a 6 lb Bass and two cuckoo Wrasse, really brightly coloured like a rainbow. Also pulled onboard was a tangled mass of line with several jelly eel lures attached which someone had lost on the wreck and a 2 foot length of lead tubing!

The weather was absolutely fabulous with the sea like a sheet of glass, no wind, deep blue sky which merged with the blue sea.  In all this was a very enjoyable day with a good number of fish landed, several bright red foreheads, necks and arms.  We arrived back at 17.45 pm.

 

Saturday 17 September

Club trip out of Weymouth aboard Tiger Lily fishing for Bass in club Bass festival.

Left Weymouth, with 6 anglers on board at 8.00 am, but Chris the skipper was not very hopeful of us catching much Bass as the tide would be ebbing all day.  Undaunted we decided to give it a go, but first we had to catch some sand-eels for bait; usually we buy them, but as a result of a tragic accident last week the boat that normally catches our eels sank with the loss of the skipper, but his three man crew were rescued.  After catching enough eels and Mackerel we began drifting over the west side of the Shambles with only a few Bass to 2lb being caught. We moved further west to where the other boats were fishing, but the fishing was still sparse. We then decided to go a roaming to what we could catch, but still no joy. By the end we had landed only 25 Bass, 3 Dogfish and a Ballan Wrasse.  To end the day Chris received a call from the Search and Rescue Control Room requesting permission for the Search and Rescue helicopter to carry out a 'dummy' rescue operation winching the crewman down on the deck.  This was a 'once in a lifetime experience' seeing it first hand, with loads of photographs.

 

Saturday 24 September

Private trip with Wayne's gang out of Weymouth aboard Offshore Rebel.  Left Weymouth at 8.00 am with eight anglers on board, weather was sunny with light southeast wind. We were unable to acquire sand-eels in Weymouth so our first stop was to catch some sand-eels - easily said than done and after about an hour we had only caught about two dozen and over fifty Mackerel.  We started off, just south of Portland Bill, fishing for Black Bream as the tide was still ebbing and we landed about twenty Bream up to 2lb. At about noon time we changed gear for the Bass which the trip was all about, but for some unknown reason, although we could see them on the fish finder they were not interested. We tried 'live' bait, Mackerel and shads, but our success amounted to one Bass at 4lb between us all. We changed back to fishing for Bream and by the end we had averaged about six each.  This was not the day we had hoped for and the skipper thought it may be the easterly wind that was responsible as this has happened on numerous occasions in the past.

 

Sunday 9 October

Private trip with Wayne's group out of Weymouth aboard Offshore Rebel with nine anglers targeting Rays.  Left Weymouth at 8.00 am on a clear, calm sunny morning with a gentle southwest wind.  Stopped off on route for Mackerel for bait and started fishing at 9.30 am approx 1 mile southwest of Portland Bill with boat set at anchor.  Fishing was slow to start with but by lunchtime the first of several Blonde Rays was landed, a nice female of 23 lbs followed by a 24 lb male caught by myself. Several other smaller Blonde Rays were landed along with the usual Dogfish.  As the tide changed so did the fishing with the Rays now disappeared it was all change and we set up our gear for Black Bream and enjoyed the last hour catching over twenty five between us all.

 

Saturday 22 October

Club trip out of Weymouth aboard Tiger Lily fishing for Bream and Bass.

Weather was bright with sun breaking through and light southwest wind as we left Weymouth.

Started fishing at east side of Portland Bill on the flood tide (drifting eastwards, but fishing was very slow with only an average of one Bass per drift and this was averaging about 1.5 to 2lbs.  As the tide slackened we changed to Bream fishing, but again it was poor with only one Bream to 2lbs being caught, but a large selection of Dogfish, Pouting, Mackerel, small congers and even a squid!  As the ebb tide picked up we returned to the Bass fishing, but again this was poor, but fortunately I landed the best of three at 6lbs. For the last two hours we moved back to just outside Weymouth harbour and enjoyed landing squid and Cuttlefish.  Not a very successful trip ... where has all the Bass gone.  Arrived back at 5.30 pm.

 

Saturday 5 November

Club trip out of Langstone aboard Valkyrie fishing in Cod and Whiting Competition.

Weather was overcast with light drizzle with forecast for heavy rain and strengthening winds later. The other boat in the competition was Bessie Vee with 6 anglers onboard and 7 on the Valkyrie.  We left at 8.00am and headed due south for a bank 11 miles out.  Both boats arrived at the same time and after dropping anchors fishing began. Fishing was very slow, but the skipper Glen Cairns assured us that there would be Cod to catch. We continued fishing on the ebb tide until it changed to the flood tide at 12.30pm, but all we had to show for our efforts were several Dogfish and three Conger Eels to 25lbs.  The afternoon was no better with the strengthening southwest wind the Bessie Vee decided to move closer inshore for more shelter, but as the Valkyrie is a catamaran we could ride the ever increasing swell much better. By 2pm the wind was whipping up the sea even more so Chris decided also to move inshore, all we had to show was a few Pouting, Dogfish, conger and a 1lb Whiting. The fishing was no better inshore and the competition finished at 3.30pm and the rain still hadn't arrived. When we reached Langstone the other boat was moored up and everyone gone, but the skipper Spike surprised everyone by stating that no Cod or Whiting had been caught on his boat which meant that the miserly 1lb Whiting caught on our boat was the winner. If only!

 

Sunday 13 November

Club trip out of Lymington aboard Private Venture with 7 anglers on board targeting Cod and Whiting. Weather was better than expected with light northeast wind and slight cloud cover.  Set off at 8.00 am and sailed to southwest side of the Isle of Wight where we anchored up approx two miles offshore. There were over 25 other boats anchored in the same area, but all well spaced out. Fishing was very slow during the morning with only Dogfish, Pouting and the occasional small Conger Eel being caught. Late morning we moved further east where there were reports of some Cod being landed, but we were not very successful and by late afternoon we had only caught one Cod, a nice one at 17lbs and a whiting at 2.5lbs. Again there is a scarcity of Cod around the south coast which clearly shows that Cod stocks are diminishing. This was confirmed on 16/17 November when during the Cod Championships only a handful of Cod were caught.

 

Sunday 4 December

Club trip out of Lymington aboard Private Venture hoping for Cod. Left Lymington at 7.45 am and after 'bouncing' our way across the Solent we dropped anchor about 3 miles south-east of the Needles. The anticipated shoal of whiting that was there the previous day, as always, had decided to move. We set our lines up and waited ..and waited ..and all we had to show for our efforts were 5 congers to 35 lb, a small Whiting and a few Dogfish. Again the Cod did not materialise and at the high costs of a day's fishing this won't be an option next year. The good part was the nice calm weather and clear blue sky which kept everyone smiling.

 

Saturday 10 December

Club trip out of Weymouth aboard Tiger Lily fishing on the wrecks.  We left Weymouth at 7.45 am and with a gentle swell and clear skies we steamed south for 25 miles to the first wreck, arriving at 9.30 am. We hit it lucky and within four drifts over the wreck we had landed over 12 Pollack, the best at 15 lbs and a crab at 4 lbs. We moved to another three wrecks as the tide changed, but the fish were few and far between with only a few small Pollack, Pouting and Dogfish. Afternoon saw us return to the first wreck where we picked up where we had left off with some decent sized Pollack. The sea had smoothed off and the watery sun had still some heat and for December this was a day to remember.

 

Summary for the Year - A very enjoyable year with several personal bests being caught - Pollack, Tope, Ling, Blonde Ray, Plaice, Brill, Turbot and Conger. The Alderney trip was a real treat and I am booked up for 2006. Tight Lines!

HOME