Author: Neville Merritt (Page 17 of 43)

June provide plenty of fishing opportunities and the summer species have been very obliging. Highlight of the month was the national Sea Angling Classic competition based from Portsmouth. Please see our separate report here. The catches were very representative of what has been around this month: a lot of hard fighting smoothhound, big tope, plenty of bream, rays and bass. There were fewer big bass boated during the competition than you would expect at this time of year but that was because the best bass marks were beyond the limits of the competition grounds.

From personal experience, this year has shown a significant improvement in bream catches both in number and size. Hopefully this is linked to the conservation efforts over the breeding grounds of Kingmere Reef in West Sussex, and improvements will continue.

We had a flurry of early mackerel, then they became rather difficult to locate reliably. As the summer progresses they should shoal up again. There are plenty of baitfish in the water to attract them in.

Some very good pollack came from the more distant wrecks – see gallery.

Mullet are well established in the harbours and give good sport when conditions are unfavourable outside.

Future dates to be aware of:

Sunday 31st July – SMAC Open Species Competition with a great prize table

Monday 8th August – Southsea Marina Fuel Bay out of action for maintenance work

As we approach the end of June and losing a few days to the weather, we take a look back at an incredible month.  June started with amazing fishing, with plentiful packs of Tope, Smooth hounds and mackerel still fairly easy to find.

Every trip bar the last one produced Tope to 40lb + and one amazing day producing 30+ Tope in 4 hrs crazy fishing only to be cut short by the weather which arrived earlier than expected. A day out on the overfalls and French banks produced bass on most drifts with the majority being in the 3-5lb bracket.

Our first Sharking trips have taken place, sadly no hook ups yet only lots of small Tope, but we have seen one free jumping Thresher which is always a awesome sight.

Towards the end June we had the Sea Angling Classic in which we had entered the Charter Boat section. There was some stiff competition with the likes of Glen and Zac Cairns running their Valkyrie charters and the Wetwheel boats from Portsmouth and Hamble. Our 2 teams consisted of Steve Batchelor and Colin Searles both England international anglers and myself with our secret weapon in the one and only Mr Peter Churchill aka (Mr Tope).

The plan was to use Peters 30+ years of knowledge about the tides, marks and fish behaviour. After an exciting start with over 60 boats racing from the start line, we managed to secure our first mark without to much hassle, although I didn’t get the anchoring spot on as got pointed out! We all fished our socks off and by the end of day 1 Peter and I finished in 1st position.

Day 2 was going to be more tricky as we knew we had a target painted on our backs. But we managed to get on our marks, again my anchoring wasn’t quite up to the standard of Mr Churchill although close enough for us to catch our intended species. By lunchtime the fishing had slowed up, more to do with the amount of boats flying around than the tides I think, but this is where Steve and Colin really showed us why they fish for England. Constantly changing baits and rigs for the different target species and to be pulling out fish while I was lifting the anchor made the difference.

At the presentation event held in Portsmouth historic dockyard, the excitement of everyone involved was electric. Harvest Moon won 1st in the charter boat section with Steve and Colin getting 1st place and Peter and I coming in 2nd spot. Plans for next year’s event are already in place.

The only thing that made the result of the Sea Angling Classic better was receiving a email from CEFAS to inform me that I had been picked from the application process to be one of only 25 boats legally allowed to target Bluefin Tuna in the UK. This is something I have been working towards for the past few years and can’t wait to give people the chance to catch these amazing fish.  More details to follow if you fancy booking a trip of a lifetime!

Stuart Newell, “Harvest Moon”

(Contact Stuart on 07919 001400 or British Big Game Charter on Facebook)

This year, unlike previous years, summer started the way it is meant to start! Bream arrived in good numbers and some excellent catches have been made both in size and quantity. It’s good to see so many fish returned and only a few kept for the pot. There have been plenty over the 2lb mark and the largest bream recorded at SMAC so far this year (4lb 8oz) is already a lot heavier than last year’s Bream Cup winner (3lb 13oz). See the SMAC Open Bream competition report and also the Harvest Moon report for more details.

A spectacular Gilthead bream was weighed in on the Isle of Wight. It was caught by Robbie Swindle on ragworm while he was fishing for stingray, and tipped the scales at 7lb 12oz. This shows what could be out there, you just never know when a specimen fish could turn up.

Mackerel have also arrived in good numbers, and of a respectable size too. Last year they were late turning up but when they did they were plentiful. This year they already here in similar numbers, although I have found they don’t always seem to be hungry. You can find them in the usual places including very obviously in the entrance to Portsmouth harbour, right where you aren’t supposed to be in a small boat! See photo.

Tope followed the mackerel in and plenty of good fish have been caught. Bill Arnold and Peter Churchill shared these photos of large tope to an estimated 50lb coming to the boat (see the Gallery below). Conservation-minded anglers like Bill and Peter prefer to release big tope at the side of the boat rather than bringing them aboard. Large tope can damage themselves with their own strength, and their greater bodyweight needs the support of water to prevent risk of internal damage.  Smaller tope can be brought aboard without much harm if handled carefully. Thanks also to Dan Lumsden (wrasse of 3lb 15oz featured in our header photo) and Stuart Newell for their catch photos in the gallery.

There had been much anticipation of the national Sea Angling Classic competition on 17th and 18th June from Portsmouth, and we wish all competitors the very best of luck. We look forward to bringing you the results in our next Catch Report.

Neville Merritt

This month we have a guest report written by Stuart Newall, skipper and owner of “Harvest Moon” and UK Big Game Charters.

Here’s a look back at May onboard Harvest Moon.

The beginning of the month was taken up by exploring the inshore reefs for the Black Bream that were being reported. We found good numbers of 2lb+ fish just perfect for the table, but I’m glad to say that the majority of anglers returned 99% of their fish. The best day was dream fishing with over 100 fish to the boat with six over 3lb and two 4lb fish, the biggest 4lb 8oz weighed on the boat.

We then turned our attention to Tope and Smoothies, with an early arrival of mackerel making our job easier. The Tope fishing has been very good with every trip so far producing 40lb+ fish and a good number of 50lb+ thrown in too. Fresh mackerel has been the best bait but frozen mackerel and herring also producing the goods. At times it has been a struggle to keep a single rod in the water with fish from the off.

The hardback crabs have been sorting out the bigger Smoothies again, at times it has been hectic fishing with every rod in the water screaming off as another pack moves through. Our biggest smoothhounds so far have been around the 15-16lb mark.

Looking to the next few weeks ahead we will be taking part in the Sea Angling Classic in June, and the start of our Shark fishing.

Tight Lines

Stuart Newall.

(Contact Stuart on 07919 001400 or British Big Game Charter on Facebook)