I dream of Ice Cream and Black Bream

Following on from the lovely warm weekend of the Conger festival things have just got hotter and hotter, I really struggle with the heat and had a few heat related dizzy spells during the aforementioned festival. Fortunately team mate John was on hand to make sure I got in the shade and necked some water, its very easy to avoid sunstroke and walk straight into heat stroke. With the temperatures set to top 28 degrees and a couple of boat trips booked I was going to be taking no chances, cover up with light layers, sun block, and constant hydration. The first trip I was really excited about was to be the first shark trip of the year and out with my lucky shark skipper Pete Davis aboard the Looe shark boat Force 10, unfortunately despite the heat the easterly winds scuppered this trip and it was cancelled. It is disappointing when the trips are cancelled but boat fishing and shark fishing in particular are expensive pastimes and the skippers want you to enjoy your day as safely and productively as possible. So the first shark of the year will have to hang on for another week, as another chance looms the following weekend again from Looe aboard Dan Gunnows boat Borlewen.

The second trip I had booked was a day inshore fishing aboard Pegasus out of Lyme Regis, skippered by a great young skipper Lewis Hodder, the target for me being the Black Bream. I had lost one previously on a trip in May out with Lewis's dad Phil and really wanted to get my revenge, plus I have never caught a Black Bream. The forecast was similar to the shark trip but Chris, also out for the day messaged Lewis and got the great news back that we were good to go and an 8.00am start. The difference between a few miles up the coast can be quite amazing but if you include fishing 2 miles offshore with 16 miles offshore the conditions can be like chalk and cheese. With the trip on, we ordered half a kilo of ragworm from the excellent shop the Tackle Box in Lyme Regis, a very helpful chap who opens at 7.30am, which is perfect. Fishing from Lyme Regis is pretty good for us, we can get there in a hour, its £2 all day to park and Lewis has quality, consistent fishing within a short steam. It was a change from the shark rods to the lighter outfits and a great chance to try out my prize from the conger festival, the Greys 6lb to 12lb class rod. Chris volunteered to drive, also offering to walk the big hill at the end of the day to retrieve the car while I watched the gear from the shade, all for the price of the ragworm and an ice cream. The sat-nav lady owned by Chris had clearly climbed out of the wrong side of the glove box, as she proceeded to take us on a scenic tour of the south coasts most narrow lanes. Fortunately we had left at 6.00am and even with the old bat-nav's best attempts to prevent us fishing, we arrived at 7.00am, plenty of time to drop off the kit, get the bait and amble over to the boat.

We reached the pick-up point just as Lewis pulled Pegasus alongside, we were joined by another angler we named Camp David, a smashing guy keen to copy and use everyone else's rigs. We boarded the boat and were informed that there would only be 5 of us on board today, great for us anglers but not a lot of money for the skipper, its such a tough, tough business. I really hope over the year, my blogs highlight just how fantastic our country's charter boat fleet really are, these guys work their socks off, to put us on fish and make our dreams a reality, please, please, get out and support them! We were joined on the boat by the other two anglers, smashing Steve, and Irish international angler Rock Salmon Roy. The sea looked a little choppy as we headed off, back the way we came towards Beer, the further we travelled the flatter the sea became.

The first hour was to be drifting for Plaice and Gurnard, the gurnard was a fish I need and I would be having a good effort at them during the day. Every time I fish Lyme Bay it amazes me how little lead is needed and the heaviest weight I used all day was 6oz, this is great when using lighter tackle for the smaller species. Lewis asked who fancied a brew, that's always music to my ears to get offered that first cup of coffee of the trip, unfortunately the invertor had other ideas, and after a strong smell of melting plastic, it packed up. So there was going to be no coffee and tea's today, Lewis has just put a door in the side of the boat for the upcoming shark festival, knowing my fellow shark anglers I think the kettle may be just as important! The drift produced no fish and Lewis decided to move to a new area and anchor a section of reef for a variety of species, this was my chance for a Black Bream. With the anchor down, bream rigs on, we were instantly getting rapid rattles on the ragworm / squid baits, the culprits were soon identified as pouting and poor cod.

The pouting can be a pain, but in shallow water when its body and eyes aren't distorted by the rapid ascent from deep water it can be an attractive little fish, as above, and as Camp David found out its a dam good Conger bait, as he caught a strap Conger after dropping one back down. Then the spotted sandpaper hoovers arrived and apart from the dogfish whisperer Chris, we were all inundated, with Rock Salmon Roy taking the brunt of their wrath. I decided to try a different tactic and baited with a cocktail of ragworm and prawn on my bream rig, it wasn't long before I had a violent take that I missed. I checked the rig to find the bottom prawn missing, I re-baited and dropped back down, straight away another violent take but this time I struck perfectly and connected. The fish fought extremely well juddering the rod violently as it circled with short powerful beats of its tail, I knew it was the fish I was after having got this far once before. The skipper was suddenly next to me with the net, stating it was indeed a bream, I once again had that nervous feeling that the hook would pull at any second but Neptune decided to reward me with another of his gems of the sea. The stunning silver fish went straight into the net and I felt elated at a new personal best and species 46, the pictures were quickly taken as the fish was to be released.

With my first Bream caught I should have perhaps changed tactics and gone for another species, especially as Lewis told me there was a good chance of an Undulate Ray from this mark. However I decided to try for another of this little warriors and dropped the rig once again baited with prawn but minus the ragworms, straight away I had another Bream on, much to the amazement of everyone else. This one was a little bigger and turned out to be a female, I didn't worry about a photo opting to release the beautiful fish straight away, I dropped straight down again hoping to be third time lucky. Incredibly it was hit straight away again and this one felt like the pick of the bunch taking line on a couple of occasions and putting a good bend in the rod, then up pops a conger eel on my size 1/0 hook and prawn bait. It would have been a great bream though, that signalled a change of tactic and I put out a squid / mackerel tube bait in the hope of an Undulate Ray. Camp David then brought in a stunning Spotted Ray that I would have loved, a species I needed and I was torn as to change to a smaller bait again or stick it out, I opted to stick not twist. The result of persevering with the big bait was another spotted sandpaper hoover that had managed to get the huge bait in its tough little mouth. With the dogs being a pain it was time for a move to another bit of ground, back towards Lyme Regis a short steam along the coast. The sea had flattened right off and the sun was beating down unbearably as if a god, was using a magnifying glass to burn us up, like ants trapped on a path. I had kept as covered as I could and sat myself close to the wheelhouse to utilise the tiny bit of shade the structure created, ice creams filled my head, and I was sure that a boat based Mr Whippy would make a killing out at sea, maybe I had already had to much sun. The weekend before I had the delight of lovely toffee crunch ice cream with a flake, at the conger festival, but remember my disappointment after thinking I had purchased the jumbo cone, only to see John Locker with a cone twice the size, its not just bigger fish he gets! This week however, I would get the best ice cream they sold, and to hell with the cost, we arrived at the new mark just as I was covering my ice cream in imaginary sprinkles. The anchor dropped and we were once again fishing, it wasn't long before smashing Steve was into a nice fish and Lewis quickly netted a absolutely stunning Red Gurnard a really nice size one too, then Chris was into a fish and he too brought in a Red Gurnard, another stunning little fish, that was a new best for him and made his day.

With two Gurnards in quick succession I swapped over to baited feathers in the hope I could bag one for the challenge, this resulted in more dogfish, the sea must be paved with them. The skipper did manage to locate another bream but it seemed to be a shoal of one and the hope of a few more bream never materialised. We finished off the day with an hour drifting for Plaice but both Chris and I had neglected to bring our plaice rigs and paid for it, as half a dozen plaice were caught to the other guys. While drifting for Plaice I did retrieve my rig to find it covered in small delicate Starfish another of the seas little wonders.

The day was over and both Chris and I both enjoyed our day immensely, both having new bests and especially getting species 46, the journey back in was an imaginary kaleidoscope of different flavoured ice creams. We bid fell well to Lewis and the guys and while Chris climbed the hill to retrieve the car I went to get the ice creams, Chris arrived just in time to receive his, super, dooper, double, choca, strawberry and candy floss ice cream. That was, and I am sure Chris would agree the best ice cream we've ever had, and I don't think I can remember going to an ice cream shop with so much choice, 12 types of cone alone was mind boggling.

Saturday was a day at the lake and with the stock pond having dropped by 3 feet I really need to get some of the fish out and into the main Carp lake, these fish having never seen bait before are extremely hard to catch and I may need to introduce bait for a week to get them intrested.

I had a walk around the lakes and its incredible the flora and fauna that has made its life on this once barren field, dragonfly's swarm over every water surface, pond skaters dance with one another. The lakes are full of fry with shoals of mini Perch, Orfe and Bream forming black masses just beneath the surface. The multitude of water plants so lost, when first planted now fill every available space, and the multitude of coloured lillys are now self seeding appearing at new locations across the lakes. One of my favourite plants is the Purple Loosestrife a plant highlighted to me by John Wilson in one of his early carp stalking programs, I literally had to have them because of him.

Its not easy creating a fishery where everything is in balance, and so much work has gone into what we now have, I think every time I see Tadpoles, Newts, Kingfishers, Lizards and a myriad of other water loving creatures it really is a little pat on the back to my dad and I from mother nature and that's tribute enough.

The fish are also a product of a healthy un-stressfull environment, fin perfect, content and growing well, a lack of angling pressure surely helps. Despite my list of jobs, the fact these fish are there cruising under my nose, means I cannot help but spend an hour stalking, although they are growing ever more cunning.

I still managed to catch several fish on the high tech, hook and bread technique that has been so productive over the years and I'm sure for many more to come. I went to the trouble of taking a few self timer pictures of a couple of the 5 Carp I had stalking and considering how hot its been and the recent spawning they are still looking peachy.

Above nice Mirror that I filmed refusing bait multiple times before I finally conned by reducing the bait size, below a Common that wolfed the bread down without a second thought.

So that's the blog for this week done, I'm really made up with the Black Bream so thanks to Lewis on Pegasus for that one, thanks Chris for driving and walking the hill in the heat and well done on that lovely P.B Red Gurnard. Next week it will probably be a spot of Tenching on Saturday morning and Sharking on Sunday, looking forward to it already especially as I will be fishing with my old mate the legend that is the Brumsta.