Catch Reports and Gossip: Latest Reports

This page is the most popular of all the pages on the whole site (according to my Web Stats), and it will be as good as local anglers make it - so please send in your own reports and photos to share with us. No catch is too small or too boring, we know a PB doesn't arrive on every trip!

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August 2010

I have been away in Norway, not fishing unfortunately but I did find out that the herring are returning in numbers. This, couple with the increase in numbers of sprats in the winter makes me wonder if the poor bottom fishing we have had this year is because fish are feeding up in the water on small baitfish? We have seen fish on the fishfinders, but few people have had good fishing days - except for the bream. Funnily enough bream don't chase small fish up in the water, as a rule. It makes you wonder...

Dave sent me a report which has been typical of earlier trips in August:

" I always go out on Lady D from Langstone. I have noticed that lately the fishing is getting alot harder due to marks not producing fish. Bass are really hard to find this year, we normally have one bass per trip but so far none this season. We went out this Sunday 9th and went to 3 different marks one 3 miles south of the Nab and all we got was a nice undulate ray. Then we went to a mark near where the tankers lay at anchor. No fish and then ended up back at the Nab East buoy and had 10 pout in 10 mins. Mackerel were in fits and starts and none were at the Nab East buoy as expected. So to sum up what has happened to the fishing this year? The radios on Sunday were very quiet and the few fish being caught were small. Tide 4.4 spring ,weather force 3/4 nw."

Jon & Tim on The F.O.E. sent one report cover8ing the whole month! Thanks guys.

" We have been out on numerous occasions and had very good catch results due to trying hard on lots of favorite spots and trying some new ones. The bass have been thin on the ground but we've had success when targeting them, the best of 6lbs ,then a brace on feathers when going for mackerel, going 4lbs & 5lbs 7oz. On seeing pictures of plaice caught at Ventnor we thought we'd give that a go, but the weather wasn't in our favour and all we caught were large wrasse and not plaice, although we now know the location of mussel beds and know our methods and marks for next year. Yay !
Sun 15th Aug. We left Pompey at 06.15 straight out for mackerel which we had in half hours fishing of about 40-50 Good stuff. The forecast wasn't that good with a view to flying east to a couple of wrecks for the bass. Not so unfortunately due to a good 4-5 blowing making the passage bouncy to say the least. We got to a favorite winter cod spot and thought this will do.The wind seemed to rise then drop so going further east was not an option. We got into smoothys straight away on hardbacks that had been out with us and back to the freezer on 4 previous trips ! Who said frozen crab doesn't work ? Let alone re-frozen each time. The biggest starry went to Tim of 17lbs 9oz . The total was 11. The Tope put in a show as well , but only small chaps, the biggest of around 14lbs. Tim had a fantastic run,which would have been the biggest fish of the day, but bit through 150lbs mono !!!! Cooked up sausage & egg sarnies on a new cooker at 14.30 and we will be arguing who is the cook when we're codding in a few months time(NICE AND TOASTY IN THE CABIN !!!) and called it a day, with a slow bumpy ride back to Pompey. Tight lines all. Until next time........

July 2010

July is supposed to be a good month here, with tope, bass, smoothhound and all the bottom species, and plenty of mackerel for bait. However, many boats have been scratching, some have had good mixed catches but those after bass in particular have been covering a lot of miles for not a lot. I have been too busy to get out for the last few weeks and now Salar is having her starter motor refurbed so I'm relying on other catch reports this month.

June 2010

Sunday 6th June. Jon and Tim on  THE FOE: "Here we go again.....Weather forecast looked a bit iffy, with wind on its way for the latter part of the day but at 05.15 at Pompey harbour entrance all was flat and lovely for a cruise at 22 knots out to No Mans Land Fort for some mackerel. After 15 minutes or so and a few drifts later we had enough for bait,along with crab,squid,worm and cuttle. We decided on table fish first,then for the rest of the day Tope and Smoothy fun. A joint decision,we said forget the Bullocks area due to it potentially getting like the Blocks when the plaice first show, i seem to recall someones comment of likening it to Tesco's car park.
We got ourselves swiftly out to a TOP SECRET mark on Nab Rock where immediatley we got into our quarry of the Bream. Big ones! all over 2lbs. We caught over 50 in total,only keeping 25 of the 2lb plus fish enough for ourselves, and pre-asked for by friends and returning the rest. We also had a nice Thornback of 14lbs,and plenty more Macks for the table. By 11.00 we thought a move out to Utopia was in order. Oh bullocks! what a bad idea.

The breeze got up to a point where it was increasing all the time,and we took a few lumps of ocean over the bow and into the cockpit, so off we went back over towards Culver to get in the lee of the island,and a run to another top secret mark near Bembridge ledge..... rubbish not a bite there. Onward again to a spot inside the Warner...Mackerel and Pollack here. By 15.30 we called it a day and headed in to Pompey as the wind dropped again. On the way back we went to a secret spot to use up the rest of the worm, where we had Bass and a big green eel over 3lbs . Until NEXT TIME...TIGHT LINES ALL."

Wayne was out on 4th June: "Headed out to some banks South of the Nab. It was slow going through a bouncy sea, it meant a 5am start at the yard resulted in an 8am drop on a bank in 100ft of water. We had stopped off at the Dean to try for Mackerel but it was painfully slow with four in twenty minutes of feathering. With a bait consisting of half a Mackerel a rod was put out either side of the boat, and within fifteen minutes both myself and Bazza had bought in a Tope. 24lb and 25lb respectively."

Jon and Tim on   THE FOE again: What a Cracking day !!!!! Left Pompey harbour at around 07.15 out to No Mans fort for some mackerel,caught a couple,then back out to our Top Secret spot on Nab Rock. Within the first 5 mins we got into Bream,once again(as our last trip) all large ones 2 lbs +,non stop.Soon had plenty enough for the pan and pre asked for give aways. Returning ALL the rest (20+). Set up two ultra light rods (6-12lbs class) for a go for the Smoothy's. Wallop! straight into double figure fish ( 10 lbs 6oz upto 13 lbs) ,and what a laugh on light gear. 8 in total. We then moved inshore to a nice bit of ground near Prinsessa shoal, not much happend except for a 13 lbs 9oz Undulate ray,and lots of doggies. A move again, making our way back towards home,looking for new ground on the way.Found some nice spots ready for a try next time out. As a last little bash of the day we had a go over a wreck we know with pirks and feathers. Wallop!! 2 Bass ( 5 lbs 3oz ) & ( 4 lbs 10oz) a few more drifts produced plenty of Mackerel on the feathers and Grand Dad Pout (3 lbs +) caught on the pirks! WHAT A GREAT DAYS FISHING !!! UNTIL NEXT TIME...... Tight lines all.

May 2010

Good to see smoothhound around. Pete with Hunky Dory: "Went out Sunday 2nd May, had 9 Smoothies, up to about 12lbs off hill head, plus a couple of other vermin, in just over 2 hours then pulled out a dozen bass off Solent Breezes, biggest was a couple of pound. Great day's sport, a taste of things to come, buy the sunscreen and give the wife a kiss."

Sunday 9th May. Jon & Tim on The FOE. "We left Pompey harbour at 06.45 ,unusually late for us,but we decided to get all the rods rigged while along side rather than faff about once at anchor. We had 2 rods rigged for Mackerel for a quick try round the forts on the way out. We caught ZERO. Onwards to Dean Tail wreck for a swift look there...ZERO. No fresh Mackerel, but no worries we were armed with fresh hardback crab, frozen squid, blueys, frozen Mackerel and sandeels. The wind was fairly fresh but we decided to commit ourselves and continued out to a spot in the Utopia area. We got the boat anchored in 45 meters of water on the down side of one of the gulleys. We were getting chucked about all over the place with the odd wave braking over the bow and dumping itself in the cock pit. Within the first 5 minutes we got into fish, a nice 10 lbs Smoothound, then another 8 lbs, and another,and another......Exellent fun,then a 12 lbs thornback,hard work against the tide, then another,then another, our tally by 10.30 was 6 Smoothys,3 rays,untold dogs, 1 2 lbs bream and due to the sounder beeping every so often my bro had a go at Mackerel at anchor...full house each drop, 25ltr bucket full in no time.We sat on the same mark all day ,the sea state got better as the day moved on wind & tide together,the fish count when we up anchored at 15.20 was... 14 double figure smoothys, 5 double figure thornbacks,a million doggies,1 bream, & enough macks for give aways,a bit of supper and the freezer. All in all a Great, non stop, days fishing.UNTIL NEXT TIME, Tight lines all. JON & TIM."

From Peter: "The fish are here! Eventually we set off on a sunny day with a calm sea and a hope that the mackerel had arrived. We were right, after a short drift with light spinning rods we had 30 macky and a gar in the live tank. After a further motor we arrived at are mark and dropped anchor. After a brief quiet spell the first rod ratchet rang out followed quickly by the second. "Fish on!" was heard, then again. This continued through out the day with 4 tope landed and 4 being lost near the boat and one almighty fish breaking 60lb braid after quickly stripping the real with the clutch wound tight..."
Happy fishing - enjoy.

From Tim: "Went out Sat 15th on board Kittiwake III from Gosport for a spot of bassing/wrecking somewhere east of Selsey. Mackies were hard to come by, even with 6 lads feathering away. Managed eventually to catch enough to satisfy the skipper Steve. After a couple of drifts for bass a French trawler decided we were in his territory and basically pushed us away from the fishing. Steve decided to take us to a 'secret' wreck where we had 3 pollack to 7lb perking, not huge but very welcome. By this time the current was easing enough to anchor off another secret location. Perfect conditions [for some] in the hot sun & balmy conditions, saw 6 conger to 45lb ish brought to the boat by the 4 & half anglers fishing with an estimated 7 lost. At the turn of tide the wind picked up enough to make a choppy ride home. A great day had by all even though Pompey lost!! Thanks to Steve who put us on the fish."

From Mick: "Thursday 20th May 0500 the alarm went off, I was up made my flask, climbed into the boat and fitted the Fish finder and chart plotter. Got some frozen bait from the shed, by 0545 the boat was sitting in the road attached to the car. One more coffee while I waited for Les who arrived on time at 0600. I was a little apprehensive as at this time I could hardly see the other side of the road and I as I only live 400 yards from Pagham beech it was going to be even worse visibility out at sea, By 0700 the boat was in the water at Itchenor, the car and trailer in the car park .

As we slipped the boat we were talking to a local fisherman ( commercial ) who asked where we were going. I said out to Bullocks. He quite sensibly recommended we fished Bracklesham Bay as some good fish had been taken there and there was less chance of getting hit by someone else in the fog .Why after some 43 years of boat handling didn't I think of that?

This is the first time through the harbour that I know like the back of my hand, that I had to rely completely on the chart plotter. What a piece of kit that is. Anyway through and out of the harbour found the 5 mt line and followed it until we found some pot markers. Watched the sounder and ran over some rough ground. We decided drop anchor and give it a try.

First drop with feathers one Mackerel. Anyway that's where we stayed. Two small smutts to Les, about 15 dogs between us and 8 or so bream, a bit in the small size, I had one thornback (see pic) which was super fun on the 6lb class Ugly stick. We finished the day by picking a inshore wreck on the plotter to see if we could find it. Straight there and picked it up on the sounder,so we drifted that and took about 2 doz Mackerel. Back to Itchenor around 1731, quite a long day but very interesting with gaining a bit more experience with the plotter, I am more used to doing it with a paper chat a bretton plotter and a pencil. Not the most incredible catch but it beat the poo out of watching the telly."

Latest Reports

Here's a montage of reports from Wayne:

Compressed three trips into one report, starting with a trip to the Nab. The best fish were a pair of Undulates for Bazza, the male at 10lb and the female 15lb. Also picked up Common and Starry Hounds, Small Eyed Rays, Bream, Bass and Gars.

Next up was a slow day with small Bream, Dogs, Mackerel and Thornback Ray, the best falling to me at 14lb

Finally a days travelling the Eastern Solent looking for new marks, anchored up on six separate spots which produced Rays, Smoothound, Bream, Dogs, Mackerel and a Cuttlefish, the latter is in the freezer awaiting the Cod season

Tony has been busy, two reports for two weekends (lucky man):

I managed to get out Sunday 16th May with James to hill head. The crabs are still scarce but we managed to grab a few dozen and headed off to our favourite smooth hound spot. the weather was perfect with a F2 Westerly. we got to our spot an hour before high tide just as the westerly run started. we were immediately into the smooth hounds and Jmes managed to boat several nice fish. one of which was not quite tired out enough and would not stay quiet for the photo! we only fished for an hour or so and netted 6 hounds. the water temp is still a little low so the bigger hounds have not moved inshore yet. maybe in the next week or so the huge hounds will be here in numbers.

James and I headed out to Bullocks Patch on Sunday 23rd May for some bream action. The weather forecast was good with a F2 Easterly. We stopped off at Dean Tail on the way to pick up some Mackerel over the wreck and then headed off to Bullocks Patch. we settled in at the southern tip away from the 40 boats already there. We were immediately into the bream from the off and boated a good dozen or so within the first hour. We were using small 1 inch strips of squid on size 4 hooks. The bream were comming in at all sizes and the biggest went to almost 2lbs. We lost the tide at lunchtime so I decided to move just off the rocks and onto the sand to see what else I could pick up. After boating about 7 dogs I had the bite I was waiting for. A nice 11lb thornback ray came to the surface after a 10 minute scrap. A very good day in the sun and some 30 fish caught during the day.

Journalist Graeme Pullen, whose articles and books I'm suremany of you will have read, has taken an interest in Solent fishing and thriough this web site has made contact with local anglers and catch report contributors. Here is a report from our regular Tony:

"I took Graeme out on Monday to Hill Head to target Smooth Hounds. I met Graeme at 0900hrs at Hardway in Gosport to collect live hard back crabs to use as bait. We quickly collected about 60 to 70 crabs in about 15 minutes. We then travelled to Stokes Bay to get the boat ready. We launched at Stokes Bay slipway around 1200hrs. High tide was at 1430hrs so we headed to Hill Head to my top Smooth Hound mark and set the anchor.

We managed to catch the last 15 minutes of the Easterly run and boated a small Smooth Hound of around 6lbs. the tide died right on queue and we waited for the boat to swing round in the start of the Westerly run. At 1300hrs the tide started to move and the bites started coming. We netted 17 Smooth Hounds all between 10 and 12lbs in just three hours. Just before High Tide at 1430hrs the dreaded red weed came through with vengeance. We both went down to one rod for about 45 minutes until the weed disappeared again.

The tally for the day was 14 to me and 3 to Graeme. We also lost another 3 or 4 on the retrieve. One of which was definitely a very good fish which managed to bite straight through my hook snood. It was disappointing that no monster Smooth Hounds showed up but it is only the very start of the Smooth Hound season. The fish were all in superb condition and Graeme took 127 photographs for his write up for Boat Fishing Monthly Magazine. We tagged two of the Smooth Hounds so it will be very interesting to see if either of them is caught again over the next few months or even the next few years! We could not have asked for a better day with a F2 WNW giving a flat calm sea and the sun managed to break through for a time making excellent fishing and fantastic weather."

From Steve and the IAC: "We had our annual IAC get together at the end of May and for once, we got the right weekend. Glorious weather.

Friday
We had a quick mackerel-bash in Langstone harbour before retiring for fish and chips and an early night. No need to go far, the sea was glassy smooth and there were fish dimpling the surface everywhere along the edge of the Winner Bank. Would have been a perfect night for a fly rod, but we made do with feathers to pick out a few mackerel and a pair of school bass.

Saturday
A bit choppier at 7.30am than expected but the clear skies meant a warm sun. We started by picking up a few mackerel and garfish on Dean Tail then headed east in search of hounds and tope. The tope didn't show but we had 7 hounds with the best going 11lb. Once the flood established we visited Boulder for bream. It was pretty crowded so I went in shallower than I usually would there, into about 25ft. It didn't seem to matter, we picked up fish steadily through the afternoon and the sea state was now perfect as the reef was flattening out the swell we'd seen offshore. With 8 bream to 2.5lb in the fishbox we moved down to Brake Ledge to broaden our species range a bit. We had the place to ourselves, apart from our buddy boat and some a**e of a yachtsman who found it necessary to steer a course right between two small boats anchored less than ten yards either side of a pot buoy.

Homicidal old fools in yachts notwithstanding, it was a good move. Another 4 hounds, two of which we tagged, another decent bream, some ballan wrasse and almost a dozen pout over 1lb. I'd picked up a load of these on my last visit in May. They are normal reef pout, carrying full bronze colours and stripes, but unusually big. Best we'd had was 1lb 12oz, a monster for an inshore summer fish. Highlight for me though was a take on my bream rod while the tide was pushing through. A big, heavy fish that heaved off downtide despite me giving it all the wellie I dared on a 10lb trace and size 4 hook. We never thought we'd get to see it but eventually I started really slowly gaining ground, got it under the boat and then off the deck. The tide brought it up well astern, a ruddy great conger we conservatively estimated at 30lb. Netting it was out of the question - just to hold it beside the boat in the tide was taking full lock on the rod, the first big headshake at that range put paid to the trace and the fish was away. A cracking end to our first day though, a great run home in the sunshine and a meal with the rest of the club at the local pub.

Sunday
I tried for some variety on Sunday. We stopped at Dean Tail outbound amid a fleet of other boats while we waited for Waimaria to launch and join us. Moby then headed for Utopia and a red letter day among the hounds and tope, while we led Waimaria east to Pullar. No bass showed on the rips there and on the Swashway at anchor we had just a single plaice and a few dogs. Waimaria were even worse off, they caught nothing except another boat that left their drift too late then couldn't restart their engine in time to avoid a collision. Martin fended them off through the bow hatch with good grace (and a large fender).

A visit to the Pullar hole at slack was unproductive, the dogfish were hoovering up tope baits and driving us nuts so to rescue the day we came home via Brake again. Parked us carefully right on the spot again, as it is actually a very small feature on the bank. The weed was bad this time but we fished through it as best we could. The big pout showed again and although we only had a couple of hours, we boated another three hounds and lost several, one of which managed a very impressive cartwheel across the surface (and into all the other lines). I also added another conger which we weighed at 25lb (picture attached). That was a great day for weather, we had just a light breeze all day. I let my crewman have the helm and came home in comfort on the passenger seat with my feet up. Dave brought us into Langstone right behind Salar!"

Last report of the month from Robin, June is shaping up well I think...

"Out with my Grandson, Ryan on Bank Holiday Monday, his first time sea fishing. Went to Bullocks Patch and after a very slow morning ended up with around 50 bream up to 3.5 lbs, all returned. A few mackerel, dogs, pout, garfish and a solitary red gurnard made for an excellent day. Weather a little breezy early on but dropped later. Look forward to another bash or two at the bream then look forward to hectic action with the smoothounds!"

April 2010

The water temperature is still lower than usual for the time of year, this does not appear to be worrying the plaice but it may delay the bream. Smoothhound are just starting to arrive, and Michael found:

"Thursday 8th April. My mate Les arrived at my house at 6:30am. The boat sat at the side of my house ready to go on the first trip of 2010. A spanking new 8 hp Honda 4 stroke, a new fish finder and my new Garmin chart plotter. The bait situation was a bit worrying to say the least. The tides were too short to dig lug, and the tackle shop had only a small amount of rag which Les got for free as it was un saleable. We attached Livalot to the car and off we went. The high tide was about 0730 at Itchenor, by which time we were on our way towards the mouth. t was then I realised I had left the camera in the car and the wife phoned to tell me all my food was on the side in the kitchen. Still the sun was shining and we had little wind. As I had not fished out of Chichester for many years we went to one of my old marks between Chichester mouth and Langstone mouth just south of the 5 metre line.

The anchor settled and I didn't hold out much hope as I knew we would have little tide run with the small tides and the bait from the freezer was disgusting. I was using two 6lb Ugly sticks with fixed spool reels. After about half an hour one rod nodded and up came a small channel whiting to the three hook patternoster soon to be followed by a second identical fish on the same rod. Les then had to our surprise - a Smoothhound of about 24 inches,that was the last thing I had expected to see. This was taken on some of the rag worm. Things were looking up as I then had a very respectable doggy. I was 3 to 1 up when Les had a plaice which was 30 cm. followed by a small bullhead. The tide slacked to nothing and we were pushed round by the breeze. Decision time, to move out to deeper water or stay put. As we had had several species from this spot I decided to stay put. By 5pm not another nibble, so we up anchored and headed in. We trolled lures through the harbour at about 2 / 3 knots to no avail. We put Livalot on the trailer and the saw a guy come ashore in his tender with three lovely plaice one to 3 1/2 lb taken down Selsea way. It was a great day everything worked on the boat so we hope to try again next week, This time with food and the camera. The only fish retained was the plaice which was very tasty. Good luck to every one and hope to recognise some boats out there...... Michael.(Pinchers)".

Here is a story that will encourage new boat owners. Just before Christmas Dave bought a new boat, and was a bit overwhelmed by everything that had to be learned. However he persevered, asked around and learned a lot very quickly. His first pictorial report shows how far you can go: a good choice of weather, preparation and confidence - result: two very nice blond rays from the Overfalls, weighing 23lb and 26lb. Both took whole squid baits fished at anchor as the tide slackened. Another big one was lost at the side of the boat. Well done Dave and crew Andy.

From George: "Took the boat out for the first time on Friday 23rd to give her a run. We somehow managed to end up over by Boulder so decided to test the anchor system for a bit. Turns out we also had a box of squid so thought it would be rude not to have a bash. Typical of my brother he caught this nice 12lb undulate on the first drop but then only dogfish until we called time on the adventure a couple of hours later. We tried for some bream (although we only used rigs designed for big ones) but no joy. Lovely day, nice flat sea and boat performed well so no complaints at all."

March 2010

This is the month we have been waiting for since about Christmas. Snowdrops are out, crocuses are budding and plaice are beginning to be caught off The Blocks. Not in huge numbers yet, and the early ones will be very thin, but they are here. Wayne proved it:

"Had a spin to the Blocks on Friday 5th March. Not really expecting much as the water was a bit too coloured but the one bite of the day produced a Plaice. Needs a few days of settled weather before another trip. "

Jon on F.O.E. was out on Saturday 13th, perfect weather but the plaice fishing was slow.

" With great expectations (again !) off we went to have a bit of a plaice session off the blocks. We arrived at first light to be the first of the armarda of boats that was soon to be a total of 27 in relativley the same area all after the same quarry. We sat very patiently for the full 9 hours without a single bite on our 6 rods,with all the usual coloured beads, spoons,wishbone rigs, a lovely drop of worm, thin strips of squid etc,with every slight wobble of any of the rod tips,we were trying to convince ourselves a cracking plaice was just starting to have a nibble, but alas,we had NO fish, nor real bites all day. (My brother did claim the ONLY catch of the day with a specimen 3" Whelk !!!). An absolutly corking day out on the water none the less. AND WE DID SEE 2 Plaice caught on other boats that were in eyeshot of us.Anyway tight lines all. TILL NEXT TIME............"

Wayne was out twice more:

"Managed to find the right conditions for a couple of short sessions on the Eastney shellfish beds. First trip was Saturday 13th on a slightly choppy sea, only two fish of 1lb and an average size Plaice for this mark of 2lb
The bites were sparse for the 4 hours fished and the ragworm baits were mostly untouched, apart from the odd rattle of what was probably Shoal Bass and the occasional Whelk it was a quiet few hours.

Next time out was Tues 16th which was a beautiful day, flat calm, warming sun, and light breeze, perfect.
Bit of a late start saw us on the mark at 10am with the current just beginning to pick up. The bites were better from the start although the first few did not result in hook ups. An hour in and the first fish of the day fell to Bazza on his 12lb class set up, 2lb on the button. As the fish was swung in Bazza's second rod rattled in the rest and letting a little line out the bite was allowed to develop. When enough time had passed the second Plaice of the day came to the net, a slightly plumper fish weighing 2lb4oz. As the tide turned a few more bites suggested we may have been in with a shout of a few more fish but at 2.30 we had to pack in due to prior arrangements. Nice few hours nevertheless."

Sunday 28th - still slow, although some boats mid-week were catching several (as opposed to ones and twos-still not great!). A cold wind, and a F3-4 south westerley which was annoying. There were only 15 boats off The Blocks, I was expecting more but it gave plenty of room for everyone. My total bag was...one plaice and a whelk. Not of any size but at least it wasn't a blank. Back to the marina by noon, a big bowl of soup and a snooze in the cabin. You don't have to be catching to enjoy a few hours on a boat.

February 2010

The general run of reports is that if you go out, expect to catch a few pout, dogfish, small ray and maybe a late whiting, but not much else. Most charter skippers do their annual refits in February, although it is always worth a try. Jon sent me this report for his boat The F.O.E:

"Well once again we left Portsmouth harbour at 06.40 with great expectations on Sun 7th Feb. Hardly a breath of wind, no short chop inbetween the forts, 23knots @ 3600rpm. What could be better. Dropped the hook on a spot just north of the tower in the hope of the last big cod that have missed the commercial nets and us anglers. 3 rods each, triple squid.etc,etc.

2HRS Later... 3 lbs spotted ray, and NO other bites AT ALL ! We moved. Now 2 miles south of the tower on a great looking rock ledge. 3 lbs thornback, NO other bites AT ALL. Tackle loss and snagging a pain in the bum. We moved. New spot back near the tower again. A doggie. NO other bites AT ALL. By now we were both hacked off, but what a great day to be on the water, the engine now behaving well after sorting out a problem with air getting in the fuel line. Hopefully the plaice won't be long now then TOPE. Anyway tight lines all. From JON on THE F.O.E.

P.S. Steve the skipper of Kittiwake 3,we should have listened to your advice and stayed in bed this day !!!!!!! TILL NEXT TIME..........."

Sunday 21st... there have been reports of the first plaice off The Blocks, very early yet and only appearing in ones and twos. Last year was much better than previous years, let's hope the trend continues.

January 2010

A few folk with more flexibility around their social calendars managed to use the calmer days over Christmas and the New Year to do a bit of fishing. There was the usual mix caught of dogfish, pout, whiting, strap conger and for the lucky ones, a cod or two. Cod are unpredictable: some caught none, others caught several, and Glen fished all day and his crew landed eight in the last half hour!

Local marks producing a few cod are Culver, around the Nab area and Nab Channel.

George sent me this report for 2nd January from Ruby Scrumptious:

" Went out yesterday for the first time in about 6 weeks or so, so for a start it was just great to be out. Fished out by the Nab Tower and caught the usual suspects - conger about 20lb, various skate under 10lb, pout, loads of dogfish and a cod of about 15lb. Not a brilliant haul, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless."

From Jon on The F.O.E.:

Got out on Jan 2nd,left the slip in Portsmouth at 07.20 cruised out to the Nab at a nice 19-21 knots, still darkish at 07.55 when we put the pick over the side on a spot near the tower. The first 2 hours produced the odd dog and a couple of small whiting. Decided a move was in order,so got the pick up and with a bit of farting about,due to a dragging anchor and a concrete like bottom to get a hold in ,ended up fishing along side the charter boat Valkerie. Within the first 10 mins of being there a nice 16lbs cod came to the net. (Sorry to the skipper on Valkerie,your punters must have been pissed off seeing us land that one with lots of happy shouting, and so close as well ). Carried on till gone 13.00 when Valkerie upped anchor and left the mark. Oh dear , just as well as another thump on the Zzipplex and in came # 2 Cod weighing a tad over 9lbs. Went on to fish till 15.00 and then off back to Pompey. The main engine playing up with what we think is fuel starvation or air getting in . Something to investigate before our next trip.

And a snippet from Wayne - anyone got any photos?

Saturday 2nd Jan an ECA member caught a 32lb Cod on the Foul Grounds. Weighed on the club scales - it's the best I have heard about this season.

Sunday  17th, XC-Weather was forecasting F3 westerly, which meant fishing would be possible in the right place. Arron and I nipped out for a few hours and fished just outside Sandown Bay. However, between the two of us we managed a whiting, a pout and two dogfish. If you think that was bad two other boats blanked, so I guess that was a successful trip by comparison.

Sunday 31st January. I think we'll draw a discreet line under January and look forward to better months. Most boats seem to be reporting just the odd pout, whiting and dogfish. I went out for a look-around today and found a massive flock of gulls over the Horse Elbow, and the fish finder was alive with images - all mid water. I guess "something" was mopping up the sprat shoals. I tried the usual methods, and even a cast net in the hope of a pan-full of sprats, but no joy.