New beginnings and happy endings
As I write the latest blog I'm still recovering from a bout of self inflicted Sun Stroke a condition I suffer from if I don't take appropriate precautions, in fact last night I was too ill to even consider doing the blog. Its worth reminding ourselves as anglers, we may be surrounded by water but the sun can get us from multiple angles, and while pre-occupied with the act of fishing the skin burning can go largely unnoticed. I have a real concern that the wonderful flavours and aroma of many of the sun creams on the market is a real turn off for the super scent abilities of the fish. I think its high time we had some Calamari Cream or Lug Lotion, just to give us anglers some sun protection, of course I could always ask Chris to rub on my cream but I think id rather burn! Now back to this weeks update, incredibly we were approaching a bank holiday with a fantastic weather forecast, so skippers could finally announce trips with a large degree of confidence. I was particularly relieved as my first trip since the previous blog was going to be doubly exciting, and although only a half day trip the weather looked spot on. The trip was to be newly qualified charter skipper, Kieren Faisey's first paying customer trip and I was delighted to be supporting this inspiring young skipper as he starts his new venture. Kieren has previously been working as first mate aboard the excellent Bite Adventures, and with Chippy Chapmans tutorage and support, he has now started his own path with Lo Kie Adventures. The trip was to target the Haddock residing in the deepwater off Penzance, this was a species I had never fished for and never caught so the prospect of a new personal best is always an exciting one. Rapidly improving Chris would once again join me and was just as keen to support Kieren as I, but with the trip only being a half day we decided to get there early and try for a Blenny. Below the sunrise from the pier at Penzance.
The departure time from my place was crazy, being 4am but we wanted to get to the pier for first light and give ourselves a few hours mini species fishing before our 9am start aboard Lo Kie. To mark the start of the summer I had ordered a new shirt and being Hi-vis it was certainly going to make the challenge and charity stand out!
We arrived at the pier at 5.30am and set up the light rods to target the little critters that live in the walls, unfortunately we only had maggots as bait. We tried a multitude of rigs, lures and spots but nothing seemed to be working today, I know this pier is normally productive so we must have just been fishing badly. I guess the pea green shirt could have spooked them, in fact Kieren said to me later that morning while on the boat "nice to see the bling is on you and not the traces"!
Before long Kieren arrived to start setting up the boat and he was full of confidence that we would have good morning's fishing and furthermore that I would get my first Haddock. Within the hour we had swapped the cold hard pier for the gentle rocking of the charter boat Lo Kie, and we were now joined by angling mates John Locker and Sam James. The rest of the charter was made up of first time anglers and with introductions made it was now time for the skipper to start her up and go begin his career!
The boat was a lovely steady ride and was clearly relishing the clean water of the south coast waters having been based up in Minehead, with the chocolate waters of the Bristol Channel. It was great to be fishing with John and Sam again and together we make up three quarters of our Conger Club team, so some team tactics were discussed. Having not fished for Haddock before I had took a crash course in the basics the previous night, finding out they like small hooks, small baits and can be finicky biters. However there is no substitute for actual experience and the reality was largely the opposite of what I had read. The rigs I finally settled on after speaking with the skipper and John who had caught them previously were 3 feet of 50lb mono, zip slider with 10oz flat lead, 3/0 hook with squid strip bound to the shank then a 2 inch strip of squid to tip the hook it doesn't get much simpler. Within 30 minutes we were on the mark and the plan was to try this spot and if no good we would steam a short distance to a wreck and finish the day there. I could see that wreckaphobic Chris was not keen on attaching a load of his tackle to another Penzance wreck and was clearly praying the skipper hit the hot spot on the first attempt. Kieren dropped the anchor and slowly the boat found her position in what was left of the tide, " ok down you go guys" we sent down the baits with an air of excitement all secretly hoping for the first fish. My Fin Nor lethal shook violently and pulled downwards I lifted into a fish that fought well initially and continued spasmodically up to the surface, I had everything I could cross, crossed in the hope it was the target. Kieren was over in a flash knowing this was to be the first fish for paying customers and sure enough a stunning silvery Haddock circled its way to the surface. I didn't bother hiding my adulation and shouted "yes" as species 39 was swung over the rail.
It was far from the biggest of Haddock ,but was still a personal best and being the first time I've seen one close up, it was clear they rely on sight with those large eyes, the telescopic small mouth perfect for grubbing around on the bottom. Its strange I never actually thought I would be in a position to fish for Haddock, what with their dwindling numbers and love of deep water. The Haddock fishing in Penzance has improved year on year and now, its probably one of the most consistent of fisheries for them, the great news is, that the Haddock seem to be moving east with fish caught in the Bristol Channel and Falmouth. I can recommend having a go for them, lovely looking, great sport and sublime eating quality.
John was too my left and was having bites but not connecting, Chris and Sam on the right were still waiting for some action. A couple more Haddock were caught by the first time anglers and one of these being a nice fish of around 5lb, Kieren was doing a great job of offering advice, baiting hooks and unhooking fish. Amazingly I was into another fish and I noticed this bite came shortly after lifting the bait up and dropping it back down, it was indeed another Haddock and a bit bigger. Kieren had passed the news to Chippy over the radio that I had caught the Haddock I was after, and his reply was " if he's catching them, there must be bloody thousands of them down there"! Chris then received some interest and struck into the fish, he has a knack of attracting, the dogfish!
John was getting a lot of interest from the anglers lines further up the boat as their lighter leads drifted down tide and onto his. It appeared that I was having a lucky day as once again I was into a Haddock and I couldn't understand how, when I was in-between John and Chris who was also into another dogfish. Its a funny thing fishing, and it happens time and time again that identical methods a few yards apart can have such differing results. Sam finally had a good bite and we all hoped it would be a Haddock to christen his new rod, but it turned out to be a Whiting and I think the look on his face as he unhooked the whiting conveyed his disappointment.
John the fish Locker just wont be beaten, and after a few modifications and a heavier lead he was quickly into his first Haddock of the morning. This was then followed by a real scrapper and a much better fish just to prove he was still in the game.
The angling tourists were keeping Kieren busy and they were getting several fish, in my view totally due to the advice and assistance of the skipper. I decided to push my luck and enquired if Kieren and Chippy were sharing a kettle as catching these Haddock was thirsty work, fortunately he took it well enough and before long he delivered us a lovely brew, another tick. As soon as I picked up the coffee cup the rod bounced as another Haddock sucked up the squid bait and I soon had it on the boat, just as Chris hooked yet another Dogfish.
Keiren, keen for Chris to get his first Haddock asked if he could make some adjustments to the rig and bait setup, only a fool shuns the advice of a skipper and Chris happily agreed. With the changes made it wasn't long before Chris connected with his first ever Haddock, we were all delighted for him, having waded through a sea of dogfish.
John and I were still getting plenty of Haddock bites and I made the mistake of saying I'm managing to avoid the Dogfish only for my very next fish to be a Dogfish, Grrrr!
I had a final Haddock before it was time to go and in the 3 hrs fishing landed a respectable 10 fish with 9 of them being Haddock, Chris also had 10 fish with 8 being dogfish and 2 Haddock. John had 6 Haddock with a couple of nice ones and I really felt for Sam who didn't manage one this trip, but still fished really hard, next time mate! I think the boat tally was 50 Haddock in a half day trip,not a bad start for the fledging skipper and I for one can vouch for the overall skippering skills of young Kieren. I am looking forward to another trip with him soon, he is surely going to have a great career in a tough business.
Saturday morning Chris and I knuckled down to some maintenance at the lakes and its really starting to take shape with the recent grass cuts and extra planting now showing. We had a couple hours Tench fishing as there were a couple of guys fishing the top lake, they had 5 Carp in the morning including the Koi I was after last week. Sam James and his kids were on the bottom lake and the kids were busy having a Rudd match landing over 120 fish. The Tench fishing was hard and I didn't get a bite until I moved over to the windward side of the lake, whereby I caught a fish within minutes. Like a shark getting the scent of blood, Chris soon moved over to the same area and promptly connected with a Tench another nice fish. I managed one more on the feeder before we called it a day.
We said farewell to Sam and wished him luck for the evening ahead, I think Sam was there to spend a night out with the kids rather than any serious fishing, its great to see the youngsters enjoying being outside and camping. When I got back from the lake I was reminded of what's just around the corner as my Shark Club festival badge had arrived, looking forward to this annual event and great social.
Sunday I had managed to find a couple of spaces aboard a boat from Lyme Bay charters, this successful charter business is a father and son team of Phil and Lewis Hodder. The two charter boats they operate are Alice Rose and Pegasus both run out of Lyme Regis Harbour. The trip was another short one and was targeting Black Bream, another fish I've never fished for. Lewis had kindly messaged me a rig diagram and some tips, that's a great way to impress new customers. Chris and I arrived at Lyme Regis and parked up in the top car park and made our way down the lovely walk down the hill. We once again had planned to try and catch a few mini species from the numerous walls and piers that made up the harbour and sea defences. This time however we decided to call in the local tackle shop and purchase some fresh ragworm, as usual with local tackle shops they are a wealth of knowledge and the owner gave us some great tips and picked out the smaller rag for us, top bloke. As we were early we decided to have a slow walk to the boat to check out some potential spots for later, it all looked very fishy. Before we knew it we were at the boat, there were already a couple of anglers aboard so we stepped down and introduced ourselves to skipper Phil, now skipper Phil is the polar opposite of skipper Kieren and told us he was retiring shortly. It seemed strange to have the pleasure of fishing with two great skippers one embarking on his new career and one happily ending it.
The day was a scorcher and it was my first outing for my shorts, something Chris found highly amusing with several cracks about short fat hairy legs. Eventually the boat was full and we headed out in search of Black Bream, this was another short steam of only 2 miles and once again it was to be fishing at anchor. We picked up some tips from a few of the guys who clearly new how to bream fish and the first drop down was met with frantic bites, the initial excitement was short-lived as anglers wound in multiple catches of tiny pout. We fished through the swarm of these bait robbing little orange pests and it wasn't until Chris said we should keep a few for conger bait that they ceased! Then a small Black Bream was landed and returned, its spawning time and the fish are quickly returned to preserve the future stocks. A couple more Bream were caught when I received a good rattling bite and upon striking I knew I had a Bream as the small fish bounded around wildly, then it was off. I was gutted that's two species that have got away recently and despite fishing hard that was my only chance, a small group of Smooth Hound arrived and probably pushed the few Bream out. Two hounds were caught in quick succession before they too disappeared although one was a scraper double, so it lovely to see. For Chris and I it was to be a couple of hours T barring Dogfish from our hooks as a pack moved in to fill the void created by the departing target species. I couldn't get out of the sun and I would have gladly used sun cream, if it deterred the skin rasping pack of Rock Salmon , we were soon back in the harbour and I saw enough of the fishery to know I will be back when the Bream move in properly. Our final effort was along the harbour walls but the quiet little harbour was now like the kick out of a Little Mix concert with people and families filling every available space, even the walls were covered with groups of families engaged in the art of Crab wrangling. We eventually found a few rocks to scramble over and this lead to a nice boulder strewn gully. I flicked out a Ragworm and straight away it was hit by a greedy little wrasse. I carefully directed it through the dense kelp and boulders, now seeing it was a stunning male Corkwing, a species I had already caught but this one was so vibrant I couldn't not take a quick picture of it.
Chris lost a fish to the snags before I managed another bigger Corkwing only to see it drop off at the edge, the wrasse were beating the smaller species to the bait so with the water receding and the sun getting hotter we decided to call it a day and admit defeat. It was a close, but no cigar on this trip, although I will be back to fish with Phil's son Lewis who will continue to run Pegasus and I will get that Black Bream. Thanks for your company as ever Chris and I couldn't end without posting a picture of your big fat Gypsy hand towel that you hand crafted rather than pay for the real thing, also visible your homemade scent feeders that are as close to the real thing as Quorn is to meat! I particular like the fact that you chose Pouting orange as the colour and essence of Doggy as an aroma.
Sort of reminds me of the industrial grade tripods you made, capable of launching Scud missiles, or the plastic sand spikes that wouldn't prop up a bit of bamboo let alone a rod and how could I forget the fact that you squirreled away off cuts of the electric fence wire to create sea booms! You are as tight as old man Steptoe when it comes to tackle, and your innovation is borderline eccentricity, however life would be so less colourful without your totally awesome fishing show derived lunacy and I could never forget my personal best Plaice was attracted by one of your Spoon, spoons, or should I say loon spoon! Its going to be slim pickings next weekend as I'm on call for the week so that limits my fishing somewhat. The following weekend is a National Anguilla Club fish-in, up in kent which should make a good blog and it will be nice to meet up with some great old friends and maybe even get an Eel or two!
