|
SPECIES CAUGHT IN 2015:
Pollack, Cod, Pouting, Bass, Sting Ray, Bream, Mackerel,
|
|
Saturday 4 April - Offshore Rebel We had a full complement of 10 anglers for this first of the season trip for Pollack on the wrecks. We set off at 8.00 am and headed due south with light cloud and a stiff northeast breeze heading for a wreck in mid-channel about 25 miles out. We arrived at our mark at about 10.00 am and set about drifting over the wreck and it wasn’t long before the first Pollack came aboard. There was a steady flow of Pollack to about 15 lbs, but as the tide eased away so did the fish so some anglers decided to try for Ling with Mackerel strips, but this resulted in more Pollack and to everyone’s surprise a Monkfish, first one caught by hand for many a year. We decided to move to another wreck in the afternoon and this resulted in some more Pollack and a small Cod which was returned. We packed up at 3.30 pm and headed back with about 60 Pollack in total, my tally being 5 Pollack to 12 lbs.
Sunday 7 June - Offshore Rebel We were all on board (9 anglers) by 7.30 am for our wrecking trip for Cod. With flat calm sea and clear blue sky we set sail due south to a mid-channel wreck and after two hours we were close to our planned wreck when we saw four other boats already on this wreck, so we altered course to the southwest and arrived about 20 mins later. We started our drift on a slackening tide and were soon into Cod, approx 6 - 8 lbs in size. We were soon joined by Supanova II and we took turns in drifting over the wreck. The fishing was awesome with an average of 6 fish per drift. We decided at 1 pm that we had enough fish from this wreck and slowly drifted northeast allowing us time to clean and fillet our fish before we reached the next wreck. This wreck turned out to be just as good with large Pollack and even larger Cod. The catch rate slackened off so we moved northwards to lessen our sail home and stopped off at a few more wrecks on route. These also produced good catches so everyone was well pleased with their catches (this was a day reminiscent of the late 70’s when the Cod were in plentiful supply). We finished with over 100 Cod between the 9 anglers and all the fish were ‘pooled’ so everyone had an equal share. My tally was 10 Cod, best at 9 lbs.
Saturday 4 July - Offshore Rebel On holiday so dropped out
Saturday 1 August - Offshore Rebel As the Cod had moved off the wrecks this trip was Inshore for Bass and Bream. We set off at 8.00 am with light winds and blue skies and headed to the west side of Portland to catch some Mackerel for ‘live bait’ for the Bass fishing, but unfortunately they were few and far between so it was decided to use artificial eels instead. We moved over to the west side of the Race and drifted with the strengthening tide. It was into the third drift that the first Bass was landed, a nice 8 lbs to Mick Sands, this was followed by another two decent sized Bass to other anglers. As the bottom was very undulating it was very difficult to prevent snagging and losing gear, so as the tide eased we moved eastwards for Bream. We anchored up east of the Race and were soon landing some decent sized Bream to 3 lbs, but after about an hour the tide picked up again so it was up lines and over to the Shambles Bank for another try for Bass. We had some small Bass just under the size limit so they were all returned for another day. We made our final move back to the east side of the Race and anchored up as before. The Bream were not so plentiful as before, but there were still a few reasonably sized ones caught with a mixture of Pouting, Dogfish and Bull Huss. I had the pleasure of hooking into a nice 10 lbs Sting Ray, first one caught on board for many years. Although I didn’t land any big Bass I was pleased with my Sting Ray.
Monday 24 August - 26 August - Supanova II This was to be the annual Weymouth Conger Competition, but due to the weather forecast of Force 7 - 8 gales for the three days it was cancelled in advance.
Saturday 12 September - Offshore Rebel Holiday commitment so dropped out.
Tuesday 6 October - Supanova II Blown Off
Saturday 10 October - Offshore Rebel Dropped out
Saturday 21 November - Offshore Rebel Dropped out
|