Species Hunt

[boybilly]

Got let down by my boat partner today as he got wasted on Stella last night, just my son Sam and I went out. Consequently we stayed inshore and fished for 4 hrs but still done OK. Fish as follows:

 

Sam: 4 Dogfish, 1 Bullhuss, 4 Wrasse, 1 Pollack, 1 Pout, 1 Scad, 1 Mackerel, 4 Gobies ( Do they count?) Biggest wrasse went 3lbs. I had to help hold the rod for that one as it is quite shallow inside Chequers and they tend to get back in the rocks. I just supported the butt for him coz it would have pulled the rod in.

 

BB: 4 Dogfish, 2 Bullhuss, 4 wrasse, 1 pollack, 3 pout, 3 Mackerel, 4 Gobies. Biggest wrasse, not as big as Sams.

 

I have a picture of Sam with his wrasse so I will try and send it

[Adam F]

Sounds like you had a cracking day in the sub tropical waters of Weymouth!...strange init, we spent the day in our floatation suits fishing 2lb of lead loaded with 8 squid on 8/0 pennels!, not a wrasse or mackerel in sight!

 

Well done mate, good result, I suspect not many of the boats will have bagged that many species today.

[Adam F]

Catch report from Blue Warrior: (Charlie, Ill email you the score sheets later)

 

After a nice lay in after the clocks went back, we launched at 8.00am from Wick headed for the Needles cod grounds. A flat calm sea and blanket sea mist meant the plotter was invaluable. 22 knots all the way and 20 mins later we are sat anchored 3 miles south of the lighthouse. As the mist rose, other boats joined the cod hunt, and at 11am we counted over 40 boats within eyeshot!!!!

 

We started well, with run after run from conger - unfortunatly we couldnt connect and after 7 runs on my rods and 4 to james, we finally hooked one - a small strap of about 15lb. I then connected with a decent fish, which put up a decent scrap and gave a very dogged and nodded fight - sureley the 1st cod of the year?...no, my 1st ever Spurdog though! - Not a monster but at 7lb I was well chuffed, never even seen one before.

 

Pout, doggies and whiting were no problem to the smaller rods, but the beast elluded us today - even with the National Boat Champion aboard!

 

Had a lovely run home in a flat sea the run in engine purring away and the sun setting over bmth

[boybilly]

Didnt want to fish in tight mate but situation changed and don,t really like blasting out deep single handed with the nipper on board, you never know. There are still plenty of Bass about boys if there is any interest out there. BB

[boybilly]

Adam, If you are getting decent runs and missing them, try circle hooks. I know that you use them for Bream but do you use them for bigger species. I find they are brilliant for the eels mate. BB

[great white]

Well as promised the weather was good today, it did not appear to be as good as the forecast said but it allowed us to get out to the deeper marks.

 

We had a productive day, and decided that as the competition overall results were out of reach we would stick it out and give the inshore fish a miss.

 

results on Great White

 

Charlie

7 Conger, 4 Pout, 4Whiting, 3 Dogs, 1 Bass, 1 Blonde Ray

 

Biggest Conger 31lb, several came up with a whiting or pout in their mouths

Bass 3lb

 

Sam

1 Ray, 1 Smoothound, 1 dogfish, 4pout, 3 whiting

 

Daniel

1 Mackerel, 3 whiting, 4 pout, 2 dogs.

 

Nice to see so many boats out, shame that no one had a Cod to my knowledge

 

but there did seem to be a lot of conger landed or lost. on a wide variety of marks.

 

It was strange on my boat that I had all the eels, the boys fishing identical tackle and bait did not even get one.

just my turn I suppose.

 

I will look forward to seeing the rest of the results

 

Charlie

 

[Paul J]

Great to get out again and had an enjoyable day out on Phaeton with Duncan and crew.

 

We were in the same area as Charlie and had loads of good pulls from some very strong fish. We dropped a few and broke off a few really lively fish.One of them even bit right through a new wire trace.

 

Duncan got a nice smouthhound of 8-9lbs

I bagged a pollack of 9lbs which was suprising for the slates area

we got loads of pout, a couple of small whiting, the usual doggies and i think that was about it.

 

unfortunatley we had some fuel related engine problems and had to be towed in.

 

Thank you Frank and Charlie for your assistance it is much appreciated.

I was great to get my string pulled again even if i didn't manage to land any monsters.

Thanks Duncan, i really enjoyed it

 

PaulJ

 

[Paul D]

We fished XRay on Neo and had between us 1 Conger - numerous Pout, dogfish and whiting + a cod ( Only kidding ).

 

My first ever conger - ( all previous ones have bit through the trace - Helen lost one this way as well ).

 

Lovely day out and nice to see the sun and flat sea in the afternoon.

 

Moved over towards the end of the ledge at the end for an hour and Helen caught another dogfish. Called it a day and came back in.

 

Amazing watching the brown water from Christchurch spread out past us at X Ray as the tide ebbed and also is the entrance to Christchurch harbour really right over opposite Avon beach cafe now ( I couldn;t be asked to steam all the way over there ! ).

 

 

 

[Adam F]

Paul - The netrance isnt over by the cafe - the flood waters have just moved the bouys thats all.

 

This time of year when the water is coloured and fishing big baits for cod - you dont know what will turn up - so I always fish 150lb trace to be on the safe side.

 

Billy - Thanks for the advice on the circles. What size do you use, and do you fish them pennel?

[boybilly]

Hi Adam, For conger fishing I use 5/0 or 6/0. You can,t fish cicles pennel rig as it blocks the action of the hook. Just lip hook a pout, mackerel flapper or tail end of squid and let the hook do the work. The only problem with them is that by their hooking system you need to let the fish run away. This turns the hook and lip hooks every time. Conger have a nasty habit of gently picking up your bait then reversing back into their hole. They can be impossible to move if this happens. Reef fish and rough ground fish are OK. I tie the hook to 50lb pike trace wire with a twist knot then cover the knot in shrink tube.Gives better presentation than thick mono mate. Got shown this at the YYS comp didn,t we Rich. Regards, BB

 

PS

I have just checked the scores using your sheet and it looks like my son gave me a duffing yesterday. Hope I am wrong or I will never live it down.

[great white]

Hi Billy

with mini species not counting I make your score 81 and your Sam's 74.

A good effort on a day where you had to stay inshore due to no adult [sober] crew.

 

If you disagree please come back to me and I will fill out a score sheet to check that the quick sums during lunchtime are correct.

 

I am sure with you for a coach and fishing more of the comps Sam will be a contender for the junior trophy next season , please let him know that he now has my two worried.

 

Charlie

[boybilly]

Hi Charlie, I have double checked and he beat me mate. His score was:

4 dogs 8pts

1 huss 5pts

4 wrasse 8pts

1 pollack 5pts

1 pout 1pt

1 scad 3pts

1 mackerel 1pt

 

Total....31pts + 50 species pts = 81 pts.

 

My score was:

4 dogs 8pts

2 huss 10pts

4 wrasse 8pts

1 pollack 5pts

3 pout 3pts

3 mackerel 3pts

 

Total....37pts + 40 species points = 77 pts

 

I would like to say I let him win, but not the case.

[boybilly]

Just one more thing, I got snapped by a very good fish. I believe it was either a trigger or a good wrasse. (That is the trouble using size 6 hooks) The club record wrasse could be teetering chaps if it was a cunner. Going back next week with velvets for a looksee. BB

[JIMBOB]

what happened to the monster conger caught yesterday?

Charlie do you weigh them in?

James

[JIMBOB]

I mean did you! sorry!!

[Bob F]

Any thoughts on why so many conger were showing on Sunday???

 

Bob F.

 

[duncan]

I gather the monsters went 46lb James........ (although there is some suggestion that the guy on the scales had a vested interest in nothing over 60 and was holding it's tail up!

 

I would like to add my thanks to all that helped out in the tow back Sunday night - boat's now sorted but there are a few questions about how the bug beat mighty Soltron into second place! Also a possible failure of the fuel cutoff solenoid connected to the ignition - currently bypassed pending a more thorough investigation (remove and look through it when connected to 12 v!)

 

Paul's pollock posted in pics; shame about the 7 lost fish - and only 1 was a hook pull . Unfortuantely I wasn't good enough to hook one of them.......

[great white]

Firstly

Apologise to Sam for me Billy I missed the pout, and you missed the fact that if you get 4 of a species you get the equivilant of that fishes score as a bonus.

therfore its Sam 85 [and second highest score of the day] Billy 81

 

That may make the juniors very tight this year, as sea sickness and bad weather has cut down the amount of fishing done by juniors in this season series of comps.

 

 

Thanks Duncan

It was no problem helping out, as we have said before thats what the Club is about.

I had simular problems last week [i also use soltron] which is why I asked Frank to do the Tow. Glad to hear that its sorted now.

 

James the eel weighed in at 46lb on the fuel barge [ before it was cut up]

Its a shame that it was not the monster as reported on the VHF, my boys were very keen to see a big one weighed in.

But with so many out there a few monsters must be lurking. A lot of good anglers are reporting losing fish or being snapped up, so perhaps there are some really big ones about.

 

Tight lines

Charlie

[boybilly]

Thank you Charlie, I have let him know and he has started gloating already. I bet the whole school knows by lunchtime. BB

[Adam F]

Bob - I think the dull morning and the very murky water caused by high winds and flood water from the river meant that at 100' it was probably still night for the eels.

[duncan]

got to embelish one of the 'lost fish' stories from Sunday -

 

the scene - 2 dogs and a pout have arrived over the side and it's mid flood; sea is a little lively. One guys snug in the stern, PaulJ and I are tackling up our second rods.........when nod nod wham our 4th guys (let's call him Dave) rod goes ballistic. Believing (I presume) it to be a Marlin he picks up the rod and gives 3 big heaves into the fish to set the hook - you know just like they do on the big game boats!

Now things get a little lively as the fish decides it will go West to Weymouth (did it hear Billy ucalling I wonder?) and Dave is insistant that it remmains in Poole waters.

For whatever reason I thought this might be a long battle and looked at my watch (1046h).

Now Dave has 90lb braid and a heavy wire trace to about an 8/0 O'shaunasy(?) hook so the eventual outcome seemed in little doubt at first.

However, when the fish made a further serious attempt to go West Dave's response was to tighten up the drag on the real a bit; with a little prompting from others on board (come on stop playing around with it/put some pressure on it/didn't you have any wheatabix this morning etc...).....Dave's initial response was in a similar jesting vein (***** **** ** ******** *******) then he went to tighten the star drag; whilst struggling to hold the rod with the other!

A distinctive 'crack' followed by a (further) series of expletives made us believe the fish was lost but one look at Dave hanging on to a bucking rod said otherwise. Another 'crack' was followed by words I hadn't heard before, mixed in with a message to the effect that the manufacturers of the reel components, namely the stars on the drag, would appear to have been a little light on their manufacturing tollerances because the dear little things were snapping off as Dave applied a gentle pressure to tighten the drag.........

Crack - there went No 3 and the line is still running out against a mere 20/30lb pressure (estimated) and Dave is hanging on for all he's worth.

He did recover some line, and at best guess he had the fish around half way up, but the weakest point of the gear eventually gave (believed to be the braid to nylon leader knot tied earlier by someone else on board ) after just over 11 minutes of tussle.

Dave calmly stated that these things happen ( and set about tackling up again - a Penn 49 loaded with Braid being gently passed over when the air had settled.

Later that night the local distributor of that particular reel was engaged in a quite rational discussion about tackle and offered to return the real to the manufacturer - when their response is obtained they will be named. Suffice to say it wasn't a 6000 class reel.

Apart from a hook pull for PaulJ all the other losses were trace 'cuts' - including one new 100lb wire one (Dave again!)

One thing does stand out for me - the need to balance you tackle. There are few reels out there that can do justice to 90lb braid; as to whether Dave was giving the fish too much 'teddy' - with hindsight yes but nothing the basic set up shouldn't have handled with ease.

Ah well that's fishing -

[Bob F]

You've gotta giggle.

 

Any ideas what the fish was?

 

Bob F.

 

[duncan]

are you kidding Bob?

It was definitely a -

(1) bigger brother of the 15lb bass, subsequently landed on the boat 200 yds down tide

(2) a huge cod

(3) a record Blonde with attitude

(4) tope (big)

(5) porbeagle (having taken a pout which took the bait)

(6) a good conger

 

any betting man would proabably favour (6) - however as the one that got away nothing can be ruled out and by the end of the week new facts to support 1-5 will emerge

 

[great white]

Duncan

I am afraid that the above sounds as if in fact Dave was giving the fish to much Teddy [Your words] and had the clutch far to tight.

 

The boys and I only fish 30lb class gear and 30lb braid on the heavy rods so the Clutches are set fairly light. while this can cost fish on wrecks it does not tend to on open ground.

 

Several of the eels on Sunday got their heads down and swam away a few times, but with a heavy trace of 90lb mono and pennel 6/0 hooks I was confident that they would come to the boat eventually.

The only breakage we had was a new softwood gaff handle [1 Day old] that snapped as the boys lifted the largest eel in for me. a bit of whittling and thumping on the deck and its good as new but 18" shorter.

 

A few of the Royal Marines I used to fish with were always prone to overtighten their drags and use the fishing as some form of exercise in speed winding, but it cost them a few big fish when hooks pulled out or lines parted.

 

My boys do not have the muscle for that style of fishing, but a slower retrieve and a bit of calm coaching usualy gets their fish to the net.

3 of my eels on Sunday were caught on my uptider and 20lb mono, they were obviously not bullied up on that gear. all three had taken a pout or whiting that had taken the smaller bait.

The trace was still 60lb test and the uptide hook 4/0 size just in case.

 

I did lose 1 eel, it spat out a whiting of about a pound 1/2 way up. the hook was down the thoat of the whiting and had not actually been in the conger. the fish had been well chewed.

I wonder if a circle hook would have lip hooked the whiting and therefore been in a better place to hook the eel?

 

The strangest thing on the day was that I had 8 eels on my two rods and the boys using two rods each did not even get one. they were getting a bit fed up by the end.

On another day I would have let them play the fish but I am trying to make them fish properly and be more independant of me now they are bigger.

 

 

Charlie

[duncan]

teddy - John Wilson's word not mine

 

I'm sure Dave will replay it Thursday night if he gets along (he is suggesting he will!) and you can judge for yourself from the facts (hehehe)

 

I agree that, as a generality, we all want to feel we are making ground and in control of any fish. In reality if we have a good hookhold and a decent amount of line we have control in open water - it just doesn't always feel like it at the time!

 

I now fish almost exclusively with lever drag reels and set them up for the line loaded - this only leave the small matter of keeping my fingers out of the way but I am getting much better at that recently!

I find that whilst you can set up star drags too I always end up confused as to resetting the settings after loosinging off when getting a fish up near the boat.

 

I am still waiting for anything decent to give me a go on the Formula reel - really thought Sunday was going to be the day