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SPECIES CAUGHT IN 2013:
Pollack, Pouting, Tope, Garfish, Conger, Bream, Mackerel, Bass, Dogfish, Whiting
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Saturday 26 January - Tiger Lily - Blown Off
Saturday 16 February - Tiger Lily First RCBDSAF Club trip of the year aimed at wrecking. After a poor start to the year it was good for both anglers and skippers to get out on the wrecks. We left at 8.00 am with a light southwest wind and sunny skies and sailed due south for about one and a half hours for the first wreck located approx 24 miles off Portland. The tide was just at its highest so we would be fishing on the ebb and into the second drift I was on the fish and landed a nice 6 lb Pollack. This started a frantic rush by the others to change to the same Sidewinder lure that I was using, but only one other fish was landed after another two drifts. The skipper then decided to move further south and try another wreck and after 4 miles sailing we arrived at our next wreck which was being fished by Wild Frontier. It wasn’t long before we were all into the fish with some nice Pollack to 10 lbs. We were joined by two other Weymouth boats Top Cat and Katie Ann, but there was plenty fish for everyone, but as the tide ebbed away so did the fish and for the last one and a half hours there were only a few small Pollack, but numerous Pouting. I hooked into a really nice Pollack, but within 20 feet of the surface my line tangled into another angler’s line and the fish was gone, but this was a big one. At the end we had landed 57 Pollack with my tally being 8 Pollack, best at 10 lbs. Everyone enjoyed their trip out and all landed fish on a nice calm sunny day.
Saturday 23 March - Offshore Rebel - Blown Off
Saturday 27 April - Offshore Rebel First ‘Offshore Rabble’ trip of the year and with a 7.30 am start we set off due south on a wrecking trip. The weather was sunny, but with a cold northerly wind pushing us out on the ebb tide. We reached our first wreck about 25 miles out at 9.45 am, but after four fishless drifts we moved six miles west to another wreck where ‘Wild Frontier 11’ was already landing Pollack on each drift. We were soon into landing some reasonably sized Pollack and after about an hour the odd Cod was being caught. We persevered through the slack tide and with a mixture of Shads and small live sand-eels we continued to catch Pollack and Cod with the usual Pouting annoying everyone. We knew that our trip back to Weymouth would be very wet and rough sailing into the strong northerly wind so it was decided by the skipper to pack up when ‘Wild Frontier’ left the wreck. This came sooner than expected at 2.30 pm and we followed in WF’s wake which made it an easier sail back. WF broke off to fish behind Portland and we carried on into the shelter of Portland harbour to clean and fillet our fish. Jai was not onboard as she had just arrived the night before and was not ‘acclimatised’, so it was everyone doing their own. We had approx 30 Pollack and 14 Cod onboard, but unfortunately my tally was 2 Pollack with the best at 12 lbs.
Saturday 22 June - Offshore Rebel - Blown Off
Saturday 20 July - Private Venture - Blown Off
Saturday 28 July - Offshore Rebel - Blown Off
Tuesday 13 August - Offshore Rebel - Double Booked—Cancelled
Wednesday 14—16 August - Supanova II Annual three day Conger Competition fished out of Weymouth. Left jetty at 7.00 am and as we had stocked up with Mackerel the night before we were able to set sail directly to our intended wreck 30 miles due south. We arrived at 9.30 am and after what seemed ages trying to work out the tides and setting the anchor we dropped our baited lines and waited ..and waited .. Eventually after two hours we had the first Conger hooked, but nothing of any size. We persevered until slack water, but no more eels were caught so we up-anchor and headed 10 miles back towards Weymouth and anchored up again. We soon were into the eels again, but only 7 more were caught, best at 30 lbs—not a good start. There were also some Bull-Huss, Pouting and Mackerel caught on the Conger traces, but no Congers for me.
Day 2 started dull and overcast as we sailed southwest, first for Mackerel and then 20 miles to our first wreck. This proved a better wreck with some decent sized Congers being caught. We tried several other wrecks, but with mixed fortunes. I had 4 eels between 30 & 40 lbs and a small Tope. Our total for the day was 39 Eels, best at 50 lbs.
Day 3 was dull and wet as we headed south 20 miles out, the wind was stronger and anchoring up seemed take forever. We had to keep resetting the anchor due to the strong tide and wind, but in between this we managed to catch 41 Congers, the best at 67 lbs, but not quite big enough to be in the ‘money’. There were also catches of Tope, Pollack and Bull Huss. My tally for the day was 4 Congers between 30 & 40 lbs, but I did lose a big one at the very end when my leader snapped 20 metres from the boat ..sob .. sob.
Monday 2 September - Offshore Rebel Individual trip aimed at Blonde Rays and maybe a try for Congers etc in the ‘Deep Hole’. We were all set to leave by 7.45 am until the skipper realised we were missing one of the seven booked. After some phone calls to the ‘local’ missing angler he eventually arrived at 8.20 am—not a good start. We stopped off around Portland headland for fresh Mackerel as bait, which didn’t take too long and we were soon anchored up on the Kidney Bank and sat back and waited in the ever increasing tide. We had to increase our weights up to 3 lb to maintain contact with the bottom. After an hour we had the first Blonde Ray on board, but only 5 lbs in weight, another followed shortly after, but still small at 15 lbs. Another two small ones were landed along with a small Tope. Eventually the ‘takes’ stopped completely so it was decided to try the ‘Deep Hole’ for Conger, Bull Huss etc. This move still didn’t bring any great results with only a small Conger, Dogfish and Pouting being caught. In all, another very disappointing day fishingwise, the nice sunshine being the only bright bonus.
Saturday 26 October - Offshore Rebel - Unable to Go
Saturday 16 November - Offshore Rebel - Unable to Go
Saturday 7 December - Valkyrie At last I am able to get out on the sea again. This was a trip with RCBDSAF Club with 8 anglers on board targeting Cod and Whiting at anchor. We all met up at 7.45 am at the Hayling Island mooring and were soon sailing down the east side of Hayling Island heading for anchor point 0ne mile east of Isle of Wight and about 6 miles out. There were several other boats at anchor roughly 500 metres apart so no crowding. We set our gear for Cod with a Pennell rig and Squid, Cuttle Fish and Mackerel as bait. It wasn’t long before the first Whiting came aboard at 1.5 lbs, followed shortly after with another to yours truly at 2 lbs. The Whiting continued to be landed with a mixture or Dogfish and Pouting, but no Cod!. Myself and several others decided to change our tackle to concentrate on Whiting and enjoyed a steady catch on the slack tide at 1 pm. The weather was calm with a gentle westerly breeze and smooth seas, great for December. The Cod never appeared, although another boat 700 m away landed a 15 lbs Turbot. We were back in port at 4.45 pm with over 35 Whiting to show and yours truly with 8, best at around 3 lbs.
Not a very good year for bookings for one reason or other, fishing was poor with low catch returns compared with previous years. Lets hope next year is better.
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