There's fish on deck but he's stuck in a wreck!
March should surely herald the start of spring, but no, not for us here in good old blighty we have a blizzard combined with spring tides, result chaos! The last weekend in Feb and it was my wife's surprise party and her birthday etc, etc the long and short " No Fishing"! That's all fine and dandy and luckily I had a few species in the bag to act as a buffer so onwards and upwards. Roll on to the start of the month, 1st March 2018 and the white magic begins to fall from the sky's. I am referring to the Snow as white magic as it has an incredible ability to make things disappear, firstly peoples patience, then their common sense, and finally their will to get to work. The white magic then moves onto transport , with trains, planes and buses all disappearing before our very eyes, finally it targets our foods with milk and bread vanishing from the supermarket shelves. It seems that every year it takes less and less snow to cause more and more chaos, from my perspective it was the end of the weekends species challenge. I then went on to add a serious cold to my woes and the worse a patient I become the less caring my marital nurse becomes, I clearly remember the "In sickness and in health" bit of our contract even if the "obey" bit has slipped my mind. So a few weeks had elapsed for all the above reasons and I really needed to get out and catch something, but it also had to be something I hadn't had yet. Once again the weather was doing its worst with strong winds and big tides striking the South Devon coastline with enough fury to remove roads and sea defences, the beaches of Slapton and Beesands receiving the brunt of this damage. Then a little ray of hope, another of those little weather windows that skippers and anglers alike prey for after such a long fishless spell. First of the skippers I follow, to post a trip was Chippy Chapman from Bite Adventures based in Penzance, a simple post stating 6 spaces Wrecking and Sandbanks. This surely meant Pollack and possibly a Ling, both species are on my list so I messaged straight away asking for a space, once this was secured I then asked my good lady if I was able go, she will say no one day and that will be awkward!
I alerted Chris who was equally frustrated at the lack of any opportunities of late and he also rapidly secured a space, he also offered to drive the pope-mobile which was great in my poorly condition. I advised him of the necessary baits and lures that we should take as he hadn't done much if any wreck fishing. The morning arrived and it was the now standard 5.15 alarm call to leave at 6am, the weather was calm and even lacked the morning chill so common lately. Chris arrived at 5.59 and once the 7 point turn was completed the clock hit the magic 6.00am , time to hit the road! It was a nice steady drive down and I couldn't help but think that maybe one trip I should sit in the back on a chair, wearing a white gown to really get the full Pope experience, not sure the side windows would stop a rotten tomato let alone an assassins bullet though!
We pulled up near the harbour side and Chris managed to find the last remaining free space, the reason quickly became apparent as we had a huge pond of water to wade through to get to the boot. It was at this point I realised I had bought the wrong tip for my rod and as I couldn't fish with the 2 foot butt section it was a bit of a disaster. I decided to take the tip less section and reel as I knew Chippy is sponsored by Fin Nor and would have a spare tip, the cost would be a slight bit of ribbing but I could cope with that. So we assembled by the steps looking down at the lovely Bite Adventures Charter Boat, holder of the British Catch and release Blue Shark Record and a boat I have enjoyed some great trips on. First mate and newly qualified skipper Kieran Faisey started carrying kit down the steps and before long we were all aboard and grateful to be afloat. Fellow Shark Club member Alex Mckay was also on the trip and it was great to have a catch up with another lover of the Shark.
Bite Adventures twin outboard engines churned the water to foam and thrust us seaward on a glorious sunny day that seemed impossible a few days earlier. The plan was to target a few wrecks for Pollack and as the tide dropped off head inshore for some of the flatfish species on the numerous sandbanks. The sea was flat and the sun warm, the perfect tonic for a group of anglers starved of fishing opportunities and on days like this being out afloat is reward enough, fish are truly a bonus. Chris seemed to be spending a lot of the journey looking thoughtfully out to sea like a scene from a great Hemingway novel, the truth was a little more like a 18 to 30s holiday video with some excessive chundering.
Strange he seems to be effected early on in the day and recover in time for lunch, I'm only glad I've never suffered the affliction as you don't find much sympathy on a boat full of anglers. The engines slowed as we approached the site of the rusting hulk of the ship wreck, now home to an abundance of sea life. As I look at the gently rippling water surface I am reminded of just how incredible the skippers equipment is in the modern charter world, plotters, sidescan digital sounders and GPS can find these sunken hulks, but only an experienced skipper can interpret the data and position the boat according to the conditions on the day. Tide, temperature, wind and type of species are all fundamental in boat positioning. Fortunately we were in good hands and soon Chippy shouted for us to drop the lines, the wreck wasn't that deep and soon we were working our various fish imitation lures over the ironwork. Within 20 minutes we knew the wreck was not fishing well and it was time to try another wreck a few miles away, there's no shortage of sunken ships in the sea around the Penzance peninsula. Within no time we were back fishing another barnacle covered sunken ship, this one was in a bit deeper water, evident as the line rapidly emptied from the spool. A shout from the stern of the boat " fish on" the first Pollack had grabbed the imitation fish and soon a few more made the same mistake. As I counted each turn of my reel handle, I noted at 23 turns a definite pluck on the lure, but this was a chance missed. I dropped the lure again and counted getting to the 20th turn when the lure was grabbed, the fish dived hard for the wreck taking line which is typical of the fighting prowess of the Pollack. Soon my first fish circled up to the surface virtually exploding out of the water assisted by air pressure. This was fantastic I had managed species 22 fairly quickly in the trip so now it was time for some fishing sport with these hard fighting fish.
I took a few pictures and got back into position for the next drift over the wreck, the lure reached the sea bed but there was no time for counting turns as a fish grabbed it instantly and once again a fighting Pollack was slowly brought to the surface. Chris seemed to be battling a real monster as his rod was bent double with line streaming off but as strong as he is there was no way he was pulling in the ship he was now attached too! His line gave way and his lure was lost, unfortunately this is a risk while fishing these degrading chunks of steel with their twisted rails and crumbling superstructure. The next drift I was into a fish again and Chris was once again fighting the wreck only pausing to clear his stomach, I was starting to think that Neptune takes a dim view of seasickness and he was exacting a high price on Chris today as another lure became part of the ship.
I managed to lose a few fish after they spat the hook fairly rapidly but still ended up with several Pollack before the tide started to ease off. Chris was having a nightmare and lost 5 lures to Davey Jones Locker but took comfort in the fact that he had used the ones from my tackle box, and there I was thinking I hadn't lost a thing!
With the tide dropping off Chippy suggested I try for a Ling with a bait, I do like fishing for Ling they are like a Conger Eel with morale's no sneaky wrapping their tails around pipes and through portholes. I decided to use a baited pirk a method I've caught Ling on before, the dangerous thing is the Ling sit tight on the wreck and so the bait needs to be right in there too. Chippy advised me to use a mackerel flapper and Kieran quickly obliged and prepared me a mackerel bait fit for a King, or in this case a Ling. I lowered the baited pirk down into the darkness and once on the bottom I slowly raised the rod tip up and down to imitate a dead chunk of fish pretending to swim. Within seconds the ploy worked as a hungry Ling pounced on the bait, back on the surface this was indicated by the rod suddenly arching downwards. I knew I had my second species of the day and species 23 of the challenge so I played the fish steadily praying it didn't come off on the journey to the surface. The ling appeared on the surface at the same time as the smile on my face, its great when a plan comes together, strangely we never had anymore Ling so good fortune indeed.
We now headed in for a bash at the sandbanks and secretly I was hoping for a Weaver fish a toxic spined fish that would be a real bonus for the challenge. Chris was happy with the arrival of the sand fishing as it brought an end to the tackle grabbing wrecks!
The water clarity inshore was pretty poor and both Chippy and Kieran feel it can be the kiss of death for the bait fishing over the banks. This indeed turned out to be the case and the skipper undertook several moves before finding an area with a few fish feeding, with a few Huss, Dogfish and Whiting appearing. Chris suddenly struck a rattling bite as a fish arrived to save a blank and this fish was possibly a personal best being a big Pouting, this species is not popular and other than Conger Eels no one are ever pleased to see them. It was nice for Chris to get some penance for the tough day he had suffered and he followed the big pouting up with another for good measure. I made the mistake of saying even a Dogfish would be nice and like magic one appeared to remove a bit of my skin and mess up the rig, still Id hate to have a sea without them in it. That was it for the trip and it was a great day with the usual banter, several fish including two more species off the list, highlight was the appearance of an 8lb Coalfish to one of the other anglers, a stunning fish. Thanks to Chippy Chapman and Kieran Faisey for all their help and the loan of a rod, look forward to the next trip. Great to fish with the rest of the guys and Alex has promised to take me fishing for Turbot and Seatrout sounds more like fine dining!
The final part of any Penzance trip is a 3 piece variety meal at the local KFC but upon reaching the door a sign greeted us "Limited Menu" so this meant the variety meal had no variety. They managed a few bits of chicken before closing the drive thru and ending the chicken altogether, Kentucky Fried Chips only! Sad times if we cannot get Chicken to Penzance how will we ever get men to Mars.
