Swainiac

Welcome aboard lads, enjoy the exchange of info, marks and techniques, on the best site for South Coast Small Boat Fishing. Tight Lines....Rich

Mikey, I would echo comments made re budget reels. Is it worth fifty quid, the price between a good new light reel, and the loss of good fish, and a days angling? Speak with Alun J, he has reels that are well priced, with warranties, and brand names, eg ABU. Alternatively, give Reel Care, 100 Kendal Ave, Southampton, 02380 777232, a call. He turns around any make of reel, in any state of repair for

Thanks Charlie, after switching to the short biting trace, when intentionally fishing for tope, I was a little worried that the bait would be inhibitted movement wise, by the wire. It didnt seem to matter, as this set up brought the undulate. Scratching was left for the last 45mins on the mark, tide started moving, so I thought the congers would go home......this wasnt the score though! One of the first fish boated was caught on a 100lb trace, and spun like crazy on the surface, so the trace needed shortening/replacing to get rid of the burrs on it. However, the conger caught in more tide on light gear, size 4/0 to 25lb leader, didnt spin at all. Is the spinning phenomena regular with conger, or is it based on size, tide, or just aggression? I'm actually begining to like these fish now, they certainly give u a good scrap. As far as The Piemeister goes......I was talking to him re pike fishing the other day, so he visited the site again.....hence his input!! Nice one Mark. Tight lines lads.....Rich

Went out yesterday, with ex colleagues from Hampshire Police, on board Ted and Mikes Due South. Intention was to try a few Bass wrecks closer in, so we bagged up on Joeys and scad, with a livebait well full, we steamed south of the wight. First wreck was poor...the drift being just under the magical 2 knots, so we tried an un marked wreck nearby, I managed to sqeak out a small Bass on the first drift, which tipped the scales at six and a half lbs. Thinking we were in for some sport, a few more drifts ensued.......no Bass! After trying a few more marks, and fruitless drifts, we decided the bass may feed better at anchore, which sometimes happens on this last specific mark. Assorted fish came to the boat, a solitary Bass of about two pounds, scad, good Bream, a huge Cuckoo, the biggest I've ever seen, just in the change between the pinky hue, and bright blue and orange we love to see. Conger began to come on the slack, bringing me my largest so far this season, with a fish estimated at 30lbs. With plenty of pout in the bait box, I banged on a huge flapper, hoping for that elusive forty pounder to open the door to the Conger Club......when a screeming take hit my rod. Uptide, line pouring from the reel screamed tope to me, and when I hit the fish, yes....it certainly felt Topey! Alas, no biting leader...sorry Charlie!! So down went another livebait joey, with a short biting leader, a few minutes later, a rattle on the rod looked conger like. Leaving the rod a while, then another rattle, and movement uptide, my call was a smallish bass, I hit the fish, and it was certainly there. Up she came, my first Undulate Ray, a beautifully marked fish just shy of ten pounds.....on a livebait! Unhooked weighed and returned, back to smaller baits on scrating rigs to see what I could manage in the last forty minutes. Two more conger, one landed, on 12lb class rod, and twenty five pound leader, nothing huge but it shows me its possible to boat a twenty pounder, hooked on the corner of the mouth, on light gear, great fun. All in all, an excellent day, thouroughly enjoyable in excellent company and great weather, and few species on the boat, a practice before fridays Comp against Surrey Police, out of Littlehampton. See some of you saturday, on the trailaway, tight lines all Rich

Mikey.......with the amount of parting I have....surely its mullet-less! Rich

Paul, Have mailed that fly tying catalogue to you today, plenty of good bits in there. Tied a couple last week, so will endeavour to get u alone for a few hours to try them out!! Nice bass! Rich

Guys, I've just spoken to BB, and booked 150 eels for sat. I'm not sure what time Eddie gets onto the quay, perhaps Shytalk has a clue?? If you think we need more Adam, as you know numbers going, let me know, and I'll ammend the order. Rich

Was invited out by Gordon, as crew on Cushdy, launching from Wick at 1800hrs. A slow steam down the channel, brought us into mullet territory. A few flicks with the size two mepps, and a snip of rag trailing, brought very little. A drift farther down the channel, and hooking up onto a bouy, saw us fishing towards the sedges, in shallow water. First cast, bang mullet on! Small fish around the pound, second cast...bang, mullet on! Was getting the hang of this, was like watching James bag up last sunday! Had three fish boated in four casts, the third cast saw a take, but no fish hooked. My final tally was five in minutes really, Gordon yet to nail one! The difference? My size two mepps was fluero red bladed, his wasn't. Was this the secret? I gave him my rod, bang! Fish on! Seemed to be. It just gave me more confidence to actually begin snagging them! We steamed out onto the ledge, a few drifts gave us twenty or so mackeral, enough for the evenings Conger sesh. A quick call to Adam confirmed we were on the wrong spot! So repositioned and hook down. Not frantic action, but with the spectacular natural light show in the form of the meteor showers, and the fireworks from Bmouth, saw time pass pleasantly by. I had one take, and boated one fish, not weighed, but as big as any conger Ive boated, around 15lb, so that was me chuffed to nuts! A steady steam in, watching for pot bouys, and a slower steam up the channel, Cushdy was soon back on the trailer, and I headed home, content with my mullet! All in all a great night out, thanks Gordon, appreciated! Rich

Appropriate agencies? Well, if you have evidence like video footage (mobile phone) the the Hants Police Marine unit based in Town Quay southampton are the boys to prefer prosecutions, coastguard agency may do something, being a charter skipper, he might belong to the proffesional boatmans association, so there are a few avenues. Circuit Judges in Southampton Courts have weighed down heavily on bad practice at sea, with two skippers being jailed in recent months. The section of water in question, can be quite treacherous, so no behaviour like this should be tollerated. Rich

Gordon, will ring you this morning. Fancy crewing for you. Rich

Indeed they are! We had success on mini hokkais, but its a chuck it and see approach for the smaller ones. We found them just under the surface, and larger battleship scad beneath. Joeys were also abundant, so really its a choice between the two. I had two small bass last thursday with les, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 lb, both on pocket scad, but had two very good takes, more like a double. Vary drift length, and you will pick up Bass on the bridge. If Tomcat gives u grief, and is dangerous in his attitude to other small boats drifting "his" water, have no qualms in reporting him to the appropraite agency, the guy is being a bit of a numpty. Rich

Mikey, the boys have been drifting with any small fish of late, even wrasse have taken good bass. So long as its a sturdy bait, that gives action when a predator approaches, a take will usually ensue. Joeys, wrasse, poor cod, scad have all taken good bass in the harbour. Like you said, its the perseverence!! Rich

Martin, noted, will make you up some of my new flying collars, they worked well for me! Will bring a heavier rod for the Ray too, some good doubles being caught in our waters in the last week. I have no Launce left, but have a bucket full of mini cuttles, will bring these, and rag. Rich

Bugger! Have arranged to take six trees down tomorrow! Would have love d to have gone out. Tight lines anyway lads, will check catch reports tomorrow! Rich

Martin, am available to crew, recent reports show Freshwater Ridges are fishing quite poorly, with the bridge still giving average returns. Baits working well on the bridge are tiny pocket Scad, and Joeys, with less fish being taken on artificials. Scad were abundant in shoals about a half mile back from the island, in line with the lighthouse, but as you well know, past catch areas change!!! These scad were about 4 inches in size, an ideal bait. Charter boats are still drifting with float gear, but I had success with a portland style rig, 8 foot fluero leader to 4/0 circle streamer. Also, if you do try the bridge, allow the drift to go farther back to the rough ground past the first lip of the bridge all our fish were taken here last thursday, also had some cracking takes. Hope this helps, Rich

Great! Always good to take a fish on a lure tied yourself. I sat last week withan old friend of mine, as he taught me some whipping and finishing techniques for fly tying. End result is a few self tied patterns I hope to try out over in Florida in three weeks. Cant wait! Interseting that the seatrout took a spinner, I had no follows from trout at all on sunday. Some fish of around 6-8lb showing though. Rich

Paul, what fly pattern did u use? We had plenty leaping about the boat during the comp, on sunday, some sizeable. Over in Ireland, we used a copper type spoon to catch the huge migratory trout coming out of Loch Neagh, so I was wondering if a copper colour based fly would work on these. Rich

Paul, there was smallish blue trawler working the area around x-ray yesterday.......bloody james still blagged a bagfull of species form here!! We sat it out for a few hours after stingers last thursday, no ray, only a saviour of a smoothie taken on Rag. Have to try for the sole before they move off. Rich

Great shots Paul. Charlie, the week after sams trip out East, I did a comp on the same grounds, we had a sunfish drift by out there, but no where near as close as this one! Rich

Kam, your observations are correct, smaller bass are tasty, larger bass are wooley. However, to see group photos of the anglers on a boat all holding double figure bass aloft for a "Trophy picture" I personally find horrific. You're not telling me that all those anglers in these group shots caught double figure bass on the same drift, photographed them and then released them!! I for one, am not that naive! My Alderney Bass of almost 13lb, was possibly 30 plus years old, but it does depend on the areas they are feeding, and protein input. I know charter skippers who only allow a single eel to be taken, during eel bashes over wrecks..which makes semse, if all the eels are removed, there will come a time when none are present. I still firmly believe that the club ahs the right attitude for catch and release, and I beleive that is what makes it the club it is, and the members set themselves aside form many other groups along the coastal ares of our country. Rich

Gordon, broad across the head area, dark blotches as well as larger spots, although this isnt always indicative of the Bull Huss, I'd plum for a small Bully. Rich. Next time, turn the fish over, and photograph the underside of the snout......all will be revealed!

Kam, I was interested to see the horrible mess happening on the caharter boats!! I used a simple portland style rig, and eight foot fluero leader to size 4/0 circle streamer, a four inch scad as livebait, and the weight was a four ounce bopedo. You may have seen us drifting farther back a cross the bridge from you guys, we were having savage takes much afrther back from the fast water, and less risk of tackle loss. As far as Mr Skeggs goes, he seems to think that he has always been a charter skipper, and invented drifting across the bridge for bass. He cut up the boats on the drift, and was very close to getting reported to the appropraite agency for bad seamanship. His actions in fornt of smaller vessels was quite dangerous, making these vessels change course, and shouting across to clear off, as this was HIS mark!! What a t*sser! Its just a good job that mobile phones have video capability these days, as I can see further incidences happening with this single minded chap. I think he is intent on clearing the bass from this area singlehandedly, judging by the number of bass killed on his charter boat this year! Hey ho! Horses for courses. I know which boat I wont be using out of Lymington!! Rich

Cracking day Paul, I too enjoyed a little bass sport on board Manatee, with Les, yesterday, drifting the Bridge area. Mine took pocket sized scad, a superb bait. Unfortunately the stingray trip later on didnt actually turn into a stinger trip, although I did sqeak out a crafty smoothie just before we headed home! Rich

Mikey..............ure not so mad after all! Interesting thread this has turned out to be. All tope traces ammended accordingly! Thanks Charlie, I did enjoy the evening trips last year, alas no big fish for me though! Will look forward to it. Rich

Might be what I'm looking for!! Rich