Catch Reports and Gossip: Latest Reports

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June 2008

Salar is back in action, thanks to Scott Doble at 1 Degree West Marine so hopefully there will be some of my own reports soon. So far this month I have heard reports of some superb tope from Utopia marks; some great bass catches on live sandeels over the banks, and further offshore good bags of cod on shads. There are plenty of mackerel and garfish around for fresh bait supplies.

Here is Steve's report and a superb photo: "We took the boat out yesterday leaving the moorings at about 06.45, I didn’t bother to put the pots out the night before as using crabs on my last trip was a waste of time and was just going to concentrate on the Tope, so we motored to the harbour entrance and although there were plenty of fish marking could we catch one and after 20 mins we decided to head out to the Utopia, the sea state was good and we managed a steady 18 knots stopping briefly at a mark about 3 miles out for Mackerel, but again after 20 mins we had a grand total of none, so pushed on out to our mark.

Once we got to our mark on the Utopia we decided to drift for a while for Mackerel and managed to catch half a dozen fairly quickly, then it went dead, so we put down the anchor for what turned out to be just about the worse trip we have had for ages and after a couple of hours we hadn’t had one bite, my mate even fished for smuts and couldn’t get a sniff and the only positive thing that happened was that my Mackerel rod that was left over the side caught another dozen fish, not that any bait was being required, but as the tide eased I had the first run of the day which turned out to be a Tope of about 20lbs and for the next 40 mins we managed to catch about a dozen smallish male Tope, then it went dead again and to make matters worse the wind was increasing and the boats around us were starting to disappear and with one or two waves now starting to break over the front of the boat we decided to move inshore, but the wind continued to increase to a steady SW5 and the waves got bigger, so we decided to wisely head for the harbour even though it would be over an hour before we could get on our moorings and in doing so I got soaked from all the spray that was now everywhere and the sea state was now quite evil and I was so glad when we reached the safety of the harbour.

I have attached a picture of a Tope of about 20lbs, which on the day turned out to be a good effort, but I have never known the Mackerel to be so hard to catch in June or the fishing so poor and after the very late start to the season maybe this will just be a bad year, just have to hope the Cod play ball in the Autumn."

May 2008

I have been somewhat limited this month because Salar has a severe engine problem and it out of action, however thanks to the kindness of friends I have had offers and trips so I have not been fishless. There have been some excellent bream catches both is size and volume - 5lb fish from Brackelsham Bay and 100+ catches on Boulder Bank. Shoals can be very localised so finding the right spot is essential. Smoothhound and tope are also being caught and we expect good sport from these species all summer.

Arron (faithful contributor-thank you!) sent in his story:

"After looking at every weather report available, I decided to go ahead with the trip, despite the Met giving 5-7's
Loading up on the pontoon at 07:30 and there was a F4 south-easterly blowing, in the distance you could see the edge of the front and it was getting closer, great! Myself, me bruv' and Ali headed out along with about 8 other boats, we were heading for Boulder for some bream, most of the other boats went different directions. The wind had dropped a fair bit by the time we got there and it got better and better through out the day.

We started off with the feathers and within 20 minutes we had enough mackerel for the day. As soon as our bream gear hit the bottom we were in and it was like that all morning. The tide started to slacken off and I headed east to find some ground to have a go at the tope.

I knew tope came in and around the Pullar banks so I scouted the charts looking for some banks, gulleys etc.
One bit caught my eye and I set the anchor in a narrow gulley of 85' with 70' either side. The tide started to move and so did the rod tip, seconds later, the ratchet............ bait gone. Re baited and things went quiet for about an hour until my ratchet went off again. 20 mins later he came to the surface, my pb tope of 36lb. We took a few pics and the fish was held over the side for a few mins to recover and went on his way. Me bruv' missed a run and that was pretty much it, other than another 7lb'er to me. They weren't interested in the head and gut's, fillet's or flapper's, just whole mackerel. Time was getting on so we headed back to Langstone. It was a great day and the weather turned out perfect."

Welcome Wayne, a new contributor with his excellent report:

The forecast for the day varied, as always seems the case depending on the source you check, but it was generally edging on the not too lumpy side so the decision was made and 8.15am saw us leave the slipway at the E.C.A. Fishing aboard 'Taryn' would be myself 'Wayne', and regular angling bud 'Crunch', so named for his contribution to tackling in Pompey's Dockyard League. Neither of us can claim to be experts on the many techniques involved in positioning the boat over specific marks, the use of a particular trace type, or in fact any real knowledge other than that we have gleaned ourselves from trial, and many errors! Usually our mode for finding a spot is to head to a general area such as Selsey or the Nab for example, slow down to a snails (or should that be jellyfishes?) pace and switch on the fishfinder. If the screen shows anything interesting featurewise on the bottom we drop anchor. Its not exactly what you would term as skilled, we have had a few positions where we have snagged lines and had poor sessions, but through luck and perseverance we have found one or two spots which fish well, and just occasionally very well.

Today we anchored up at a spot which my dubious chart reading knowledge suggested was about a mile and a half NW of Bullocks. From the moment our squid baits touched bottom the sharp tugs on our rods let us know the Bream were about. First fish up though was a pretty Spotted Ray of around 3lb. This was soon followed by a few Bream all of the 1 to 2lb mark before one of the rods in a holder really started to bend and bounce. Fortunately it was my rod because on the end was a lovely male Bream, coloured in stunning bright blue hues, and weighing in at over 4lb. Between the shoal Bream, a few Dogfish and Pout our 5lb box of squid didn't look up to it so we broke out the lures and tried for a few Mackerel. Half an hours constant casting, dropping and reeling saw 3 Mackerel in the bucket and, had the net been to hand a fat Cuttlefish would have joined them! I managed to bring in a big (well it was big to me? 18") squid the previous trip which was well hooked on one of its tentacles but other than that all previous 'Cephalopods' have dropped off either as soon as they reached the surface or were lifted out of the drink. Either we get the landing net prepped or invest in a squid jig or two.

As the day progressed a steady stream of fish came aboard including a Thornback of just under double figures and a nice Bass of around 3 and a half pounds, both to 'Crunch's' rods. A few tiny Smoothounds took our baits too although tiny might not be a small enough word to describe them! We fished two boat rods with multipliers apiece plus i had a fixed spool for lures etc. I tried a small sliver of Mackerel under a float for a while as a few Gars followed the Hokkais in but a Kittiwake that joined us for the best part of the day kept making a concerted effort to rob it so that put paid to that idea. Between him and a pair of Fulmars they finished off the Mackerel skeletons and the last of the squid. We upped anchor around 2.30pm after what was an extremely enjoyable day, and made the short journey back only slowing to admire a pair of yellow headed Gannets perched on the waves. All the fish were returned alive other than the Mackerel and a couple of Pout which although were gently unhooked decided to relax as soon as they were returned!

The next fishable day can't come round quick enough! Bring it on.

Finally Tony sent in this report from his trip in the eastern Solent area:

"We went out on Friday from- 3.30-7.30pm. We did not want to go too far so we went to the Forts to try for more mackerel. First - lots mackerel and birds on surface aroundHorse Sand but close in on the uptide side and difficult to get close in so we went over to No Mans Land - not many about but got a few as the tide was still flowing east. We decided to try drifting the banks - quiet but had a nice starry smoothhound. As soon as the tide slackened we anchored at my favourite spot and bingo lots of small bream and dogfish plus one hound but the highlight was two thornbacks - one 9lb and one ugly beast at 11lb and that with no tail - see the photo! We seem to have found thornback city. Wind was light, sea calm, and warm and sunny - the best day for a while. I just hope thats the start of summer."

April 2008

By the end of the month I managed to get out a total of twice, thanks to the weather. However, I did catch my first bream of the year and reports from boats on Boulder and Princessa indicates that they are around and if you can keep a shoal interested you will get good sport. Either move about to find them, or groundbait to keep them in the area, these fellas don't stay around for long. Oddly enough I also heard of two double figure cod caught in late April, both south east of the Island.

Arron sent in this report of two tiring(!) days fishing the last weekend in April:

"I went out on Mick's charter boat out of Langstone on Saturday, Buccaneer, his first trip this year after the referb' and what a cracking job Mick's done.

The bream weren't playing that day, not one landed. However we did have a mixed bag of large pout, dog's, blonde's, thorny's, small huss and a large rockling. A mate did have a 10lb cod on his first drop, on bream gear, very lucky to land the fish. The weather definitely made up for the lack of bream. 

On Sunday I planned on having a clean up on the boat but after Saturday I had to find some bream.

In the morning we headed straight for Boulder along with Buccaneer. Someone on Buccaneer was into a bream almost straight away. I had to re-anchor a few time's to find some fish but when i did it was 5-10 minutes of madness every 45 mins or so as a shoal came past. We had 19 on the boat there and thing's slowed down. We went to another mark for some hounds but as soon as we got there a rib turned up and threw 2 diver's over, so no fishing for us! We the sat in Bracklesham Bay for the last hour of the day and I pulled out the last bream of the day too which went 2-8-0.

After two 16 hour days I'm very tired today but it was worth it."

Those lucky enough to go on the many calm mid-week days have reported good bream catches. The usual marks of Boulder, Bullocks Patch and Hounds should start producing quality fish from now on. Try float-fishing when the tide is not running hard - a sliding float with the hook a foot or two clear of the bottom means you can fish ultra-light, and cover more ground. It is a great way of fishing as the tide is turning when slack water makes float fishing easier and you get fewer fish on static baits.

Steve set me the first smoothound report of 2008, sounds like a day of great sport:

"Here is my first report for 2008. After a couple of weeks delay we eventually got the boat back on her moorings on Saturday, but it was too late to go fishing so we put the crab pots out overnight and went fishing on Sunday, which turned out to be a bonus, as although it wasn't as warm and sunny as the Saturday, the wind was lighter and when we left the harbour at 05.45 it was almost calm.

I had read your blog about Smoothhounds being caught out on the Utopia, so that's where we headed for, well almost, in fact we were going to a mark just East of the Utopia that we found last year that produced a lot of Tope and Hounds, unfortunately wind against tide prevented a rapid journey out there because of a short sea, but after 45 mins we eventually chucked out the anchor and settled nicely over the mark some 70ft below.

Having collected about 35 crabs in the pots, these were mounted on our 4/0 hooks by simply pushing the hook through the leg socket and out through the shell and after only 10 minutes the ratchet on my lever drag indicated the first run, which fairly screamed away and when I took the rod out of its holder it felt like a good fish, although at this time of the year we were expecting a lot of big females in pup, and after a good five minute scrap the first hound of the season was tailed into the boat and was estimated at about 14lbs and quickly returned to the sea, as we don't like to distress the pupped up females any more than necessary.

The day progressed nicely with hounds screaming away the crab baits at regular intervals, most of which were Females weighing an average 12lbs with the biggest going about 16lbs, which was not as big as last year, when several went over 20lbs, but it was only our first trip, although it was noticeable that there were very few fish marking on the sounder all day and this time last year there were quite a few when we caught several Mackerel, but despite feathering for some time nothing was caught, but hopefully it won't be too long and then we will see the Tope move in.

Eventually the bites stopped and the tide was pushing through to fast for our leads to hold, so we moved inshore to the Medmery and caught several small Bream and lots of Smuts with the final tally for the day being 21 Smoothhounds, 5 Bream a large pouting and lots of Smuts and I have attached some pics of the better Hounds." - Cheerz Steve

March 2008

I tried to stretch March as far as possible hoping for some more fishing reports, but the weather just wasn't playing ball. Weekend after weekend was blowy, but when we did manage to get out most of us only ventured as far as The Blocks. The plaice were there as usual, some days and some tides producing more than others. It is a good mark if you don't want to travel too far from Langstone, but you do get better and more consistent catches from the banks east of Selsey later in the spring and early summer.

I have one actual fishing report (mine) which is on the blog and hardly worth repeating here as I caught only a pin whiting and something spiky!

February 2008

I have a funny feeling that 2008 is going to be even more topsy turvey than last year. Already, smoothound and bream have been reported, and Arron was first in with a plaice report:

"The alarm went off and I woke to clear a blue sky and a light easterly wind. Got my gear together and made my way to the marina, the gate didn't open 10:30 so had a bit of lay in too. On the way out me and Darren couldn't believe how lovely it was, the sun was shining and surprisingly warm for February.

We got to a well known plaice mark and fished rag tipped with strips of squid and limpet. I was using a wishbone rig and Darren was using a Paternoster type rig both loaded up with beads. Fishing was very slow with no bites, the anchor started dragging so I moved up tide and set the anchor again. Within 5 mins I'd landed my first plaice of the season just over the pound mark. Half hour later the same rod went again. It fought harder but was a fraction smaller. That was it for the day, 2 bites 2 fish but what a beautiful day. For the time of year catching was a bonus." (Archive photo- just to remind everyone what a plaice looks like!)

We were out again on 24th in our respective boats. My report is on the Blog as it doesn't justify being here. Judging from other web reports, the plaice fishing can be patchy but if you hit the right spot, good bags are still possible.

January 2008

Just to prove it is the New Year, here is a report from my first trip of 2008. Saturday, the alarm goes at 5.30am and it is -3degC but hey it's a chance to fish. As I headed east out of Langstone Harbour the sun was rising over a gentle swell but that was about the best part of the day. The further east I went the less protection I had, and by the time I reached Bracklesham it was very lumpy. Nevertheless I fished on, and fed the Selsey dogfish population with expensive squid. My good deed of the day over, I headed back to top up with fuel and have a nice hot cuppa back in the marina.  I should have gone to Culver!

December 2007

You might have thought I have lost interest in catch reports - not so, but the weather has been rubbish, and Christmas shopping has probably got in the way too. However I do have news from Steve:

"I got out about 2 hours before high water and it was just about calm, so only took about 20 mins to get to my normal mark. I used two squid on a 6/0 pennel rig and put out three rods and was into fish almost immediately with the first of only a few Smut’s caught today, this was quickly followed by the first Cod of the day weighing in at 5.5lbs, but I hadn’t even got the net under it before the tip on one of my other rods was being violently bent over, so I quickly netted the Cod which was just about on the surface and then picked up the other rod and lent in to the fish, which had obviously hooked itself and was now realising it was hooked started to take line of the reel, I thought it could be the elusive 20 pounder I was looking for, but it wasn’t nodding and felt very strong and after playing it for about 10 mins I eventually slid the net under a big Bass which went 11.5lbs on the scales.

It was noticeable that the fish were coming just before high water and in a busy 45 minute period I caught another three Cod all around the 5-7lb mark, I also dropped two more Cod and I missed another two very good bites that just slammed the rod over, but failed to hook themselves, so for a short trip I can’t complain." (Photo below from a phone, sorry for the poor quality)

My last trip of the year was on 30th December, with almost no wind, a gentle swell and bright sunshine. An amazing change from the gale the day before! I fished the flat grounds north of the Nab Tower which is a reliable whiting haunt, and I wasn't disappointed. The three hours around high water are very gentle tide runs and the whiting were feeding voraciously. Nothing of any size but a good contribution to the family freezer.

Arron was out after the cod. He reports:

"After the weather we'd had and having the last 5 weekends blown off I was dying to get out. Sunday 23rd brought us some really calm weather so i traveled east to a favourable mark. I stuck to big squid baits and 6/0's ignoring the little rattle's but my brother downsized his hooks and pulled out a few small whiting, pout and a doggie. I was on the phone and noticed the perfect doggie bite but when I hit into it it hit back........ a lot harder than a doggie would. A few minute's later it surfaced and I was over the moon as it was my biggest cod of 2007 14lb dead and I think my biggest ever. The rest of the day was slow and I missed another 'doggie' bite.
Fishing wasn't great but it was lovely to get out after so long.

Steve sent his final report of 2007:

"I managed to get out on Sunday and went down to my usual mark, although it was a bit scary leaving at 04.30 in the pitch Black not knowing how much the sea had calmed down after the previous few days storms, but with what wind there was and the tide behind us it was quite a smooth ride, although there was still quite a swell, but we were on the mark in about 25 minutes.

The first hour was busy with lots of Smut’s and one solitary Pout, then my mates rod gave a better nod and he pulled in the first Cod of about 4lbs, then one of my rods nodded and I pulled in a Cod of about 9lbs, then 20 minutes later my other rod was being violently pulled over and after a 10 min fight I landed my second double figure Bass in successive trips only this one was slightly heavier at 12lbs for which I was very thankful as a lot of sea anglers may never see a double figure Bass let alone catch one."

"After a couple of hours the tide really started to push through and I needed 12ozs of lead to hold bottom with my uptider’s and shortly after changing to the heavier leads one of my uptider’s kicked hard over and when I struck it felt very heavy and it immediately started to rip my 30lb braid off the reel aided by the strong tide, I thought it was another big Bass and I kept as much drag on it as I dared and it eventually started to come towards the boat before kicking again and taking some of my hard fought line back again, I was pulling as hard as I could and after a few more kicks it started to come more easily towards the boat and eventually we saw the predator that had taken my double squid bait and was very surprised to see a very large Conger about 5ft long and very broad spinning in the tide, by this stage my arms were really aching and I was struggling to pull it close enough to the boat to be netted and pulling as hard as I could I just about got it to the front of the net when there was a loud bang as my rod tip snapped breaking the braid on the jagged edge of the remaining rod, but we both estimated the Conger to be about 45-50lbs and I felt exhausted and gutted, although I wasn’t surprised my tip broke as it wasn’t meant for handling such large fish in a strong tide and it would have even given my wrecking rod a good work out.

The sea remained slight for the rest of the day and it was pleasantly warm in the sunshine and the final count was too many Smut’s, 1 Pout, 4 Cod, 1 large Conger, 1 double figure Bass."

Previous reports have been moved to the Archive pages

If you want to hear about other catches, we need your reports emailed in, so please let me know how you get on! We can keep reports anonymous if you prefer, and we never give away special marks.

Please keep sending reports - the more the better!