Author: Neville Merritt (Page 41 of 43)

We didn’t have a booking today despite it being perfect conditions and a perfect tide, so myself and Caroline went out alone. We arrived at our chosen mark and delayed fishing for 20 minutes whilst we watched the dolphins we had stumbled upon. As soon as we started fishing we were hitting cod. Because of the slow drift speed we were managing 3 cod per single drift each.

Catch, unhook, release, back down and repeat. We only keep the gut hooked fish and return the rest. We had a few Pollock mixed in but primarily it was cod after cod. Interestingly they were all sub 20lb. Whereas we normally get some larger ones, these were all sub 15lb fish. Could it be the larger ones are heading inshore to spawn??

Caroline was yet again the one to catch the out of the ordinary species and landed a lovely condition 7.5lb John Dory. We did our best to return it, but it wouldn’t go back. It wont go to waste, we will find a recipe somewhere which will hopefully do it justice. (look on the White Fish recipe pages, any recipe calling for fillets would be great.)

OK, this is not the Solent but I thought you might like to see this. We have just spent 10 days in Cuba and I deliberately didn’t go fishing, this was family time. However, I couldn’t resist sticking my nose in….On the 30 minute ferry ride from one of the islands I noticed a bunch of the crew trolling off the back of the ferry with some large and very battered Rapala-type lures. They were hand-lining with what looked like 400lb mono, trolling the lures about 50 metres behind the ferry. Half-way across there was great excitement as they landed this very nasty looking barracuda.

We popped out today not knowing what we were going to do. With the scarcity of mackerel we even took some frozen fillets with us should we need them. Once we got past Bembridge the swell was rolling and the weather grey and dank. But with forecast set to improve we pushed on with an eye on the sea state.

We got to our mark and it happened from first drop…

Cod… then Pollock, then Cod and so on and so on.

We have no need for Cod or Pollock, so we attempted to return all we could, however the swim bladders blow so easily on Pollock, 8 ended up given themselves up to the coolbox, and the cod we so greedy 12 ended up gut hooked. None of them went to waste as all went to feed friends.

Out with Richard and Peter on Richard’s boat yesterday.  Went to Outer Nab Rock area to fish one of our summer marks.  A bit slow, with rays and dogs.  However, Peter landed a tagged Spotted Ray.  Not the usual tag I’ve seen on Bass, but a Labeled Nylon Cable Tie inside a blue plastic tube attached to the rear of the disc close to the tail. Written on one side of the label was “328” and on the other side what looks like “CIACH”.  See photos attached.

Have you seen or heard of such tags being used? The fish was released with the tag still attached.

Woke up early and left the marina about half six. We went straight to an east Nab mark and on my first drop I had a strap conger which came off right next to the boat, just means we didn’t have to unhook it. The bites were almost constant and we missed or lost a few fish. I had a small thornback then as the tide slackened dad had a hound at about 7lb which gave a great fight running uptide, followed by another one similar size. As there was no wind the boat became completely slack on the anchor line but just before we decided to get the anchor in and move to a mark for the flood i had a nice 10lb undulate ray on a mackerel head. As the tide spun at slack we moved to a patch of mixed ground south of the nab.

First drop down gave a small thornback followed by some dogs. As the tide ran hard there was a long quite patch of no action. As it started to slow down i had a few pout and then something much bigger on my other rod. After quite a fight in the tide my dad netted my 13lb undulate (pictured), this was also on a mackerel head with some guts. After a few whiting, pout and dogs my dad had some scad on baited feathers intended for bream as we were trying for ten species in the day. I felt a small bite so reeled up a few turns and felt a big hit, i struck into it and after a few dives brought a bass to the surface. I was pretty happy with this. As the tide really slackened off my dad had a small spotted ray which brought us to ten species – conger, dogfish, thornback, undulate, smuts, pout, whiting, scad, bass and spotted ray. As the tide was slack i got the anchor in and we drove home over a lovely flat calm sea. Hopefully, some nice weather matches with some bigger tides to get some more bass.

An early start was well worth it……

As we have not been able to get to the western Needles for some time and the weather conditions where perfect we headed out.

What a day: Alan and I got into some serious fishing, between us we had 14 Blond Rays (7lb to 15lb) Pollock – Plaice – Makeral – Tope  – Turbot and of course Dog Fish.

At on stage all 4 rods where going with Tope and Rays it was like a “Pack Attack” great sport.

Lets hope the weather continues to be kind to us and allow us more days when we can get out.

Me and my dad were out again last weekend, the 13th and 14th. We drove down on Friday afternoon. After we launched, we were motoring around the our berth when we saw the man on the boat that had launched before us paddling at the marina entrance. We went to have a look and he had engine trouble so we gave him a tow back to the slip pontoon. His daughter didn’t look impressed. I doubt he’ll be persuading her to come out fishing any time soon.

Afterwards we went and watched the fireworks at Cowes on a friends boat, interesting watching fireworks from a boat it was great. After a late start, Saturday afternoon we planned to go out to some Nab marks however the wind was as forecast, quite strong, so we used our Plan B, New Grounds after hearing good reports on this site and because of the shelter it offers from the SW winds. My dad managed a nice 14lb undulate and a bit later as the tide slackened I had a small smut. Strangely we had no dogfish so it felt a bit slow but nice to have a few fish for a couple of hours fishing.

On the way back in we had a few drifts for mackerel and managed a few however there were so many tiny scad which we didn’t want to keep. Sunday had a great forecast which was accurate. We went straight to the Overfalls and stopped at Utopia for some mackerel where we soon had plenty. The tide was ebbing so we started at the eastern end and did a long drift over lots of banks and undulating ground, I did have one take but it didn’t hook up. We used joey mackerel, lures and shads. We tried more smaller drifts where there were small overfalls on the surface but this didn’t produce either.

I later found out the bigger tides are for the bass and these smaller tides are better for anchoring targeting blondes on these banks, Now I know for next time. However, we got a good opportunity to use our new rod rests (picture attached). Instead of go back in defeated we anchored on our favorite Nab mark and I had 2 undulates at 10lb and 11lb (pictured). Even though we were fishing 5 rods we didn’t have a dogfish at all, very strange especially as we had a chum of mackerel out. The drive back in was beautiful with the orange sunset on the flat calm water. A good weekend and not a dog at all, not complaining. Hope to get back out to the Overfalls soon on a bigger tide to get some bass.

Rebel Runner is out of the water for annual antifouling and service. I thought there would be no fishing for a couple of weekends then a dream opportunity suddenly appeared. Dave and Caroline (yes, THE Dave and Caroline of these report pages) invited me out for a day mid-Channel! Dave is launching a new and rather special charter business soon and this trip was to be their “shake-down” trip to iron out any wrinkles.

I met Dave and Caroline at the marina for a 6am start, and we were joined by Barry and Graham. The morning light as we left the harbour was stunning.

As we headed out, Dave told me his philosophy for his charter business. “I want this to be special,” he explained. “This is not going to be your regular charter. The trips will be for discerning anglers who want quality fishing. If we target bass, we will pick the best tides and location and have some great fishing. If conditions are not ideal, we won’t spend the day in the Solent – we won’t go. ” Dave and Caroline are top anglers and highly experienced. Going out with them won’t necessarily guarantee you fish but they will put you in the right place and demonstrate (probably by catching fish themselves) the techniques that work on that spot. They have put in hundreds of hours researching the areas first-hand before launching the business. The result is first-class knowledge of what will work. You may have to travel to the marks, and the trip won’t be cheap, but it will be worth it.

We eventually arrived at the mark and Dave set us up for the drift. The boat is well laid out and there is plenty of room so the five of us were able to fish very comfortably. Dave explained what rigs worked best and checked our gear. Caroline then demonstrated the technique and very soon was into a fish. That set the heart going! Dave called out whenever we drifted over a shoal, and Caroline kept pulling up cod and pollack.

Barry started catching too, and I realised that the technique had to be just right. It took a while to adjust but after a few more drifts I was finally into a cod. The day had started with gentle winds but by early afternoon it was decidedly lumpy. The boat handled the conditions perfectly but it was pushing us off the critical drift line and the fishing became progressively less productive. Dave wisely called it a day and we headed back. Dave is a perfectionist and will do everything in his powers to give anglers a brilliant day out. Caroline is an amazing angler as well as a very capable crew. She easily out-fished us all and it was clearly technique alone – she was using the same lures and gear as us and even fished in the same positions. I was very impressed!

Back in the marina, Barry showed off the quality of the fish caught. Between us we had filled a large Icy-Tek with cod, pollack and a huge mackerel, although I have to admit the majority of the fish were caught by the demonstration team not the guests. Fish were there to be caught, they could be caught, but who said fishing was easy!

We popped out for a few hours today and made our way to grounds that are being very good to me. Got there about 11.30 just as the tide was moving, first drop was a Ling for me. I was chuffed as I haven’t caught one for ages, and It has been my target species for a few months. First drift Caroline had a wrasse on an 8 inch lure. Next drift was pollock for Caroline and cod for me. From then on it was cod each on every single drift. Caroline snapped an unbreakable ugly stick.!!!!!!!!! Forgot the cream for my head!!!!! But all in all a good day. Only a week or two away from offering charters, so all in all very exciting and glad to see I have a few nice cod spots to take people out to.

Gordon and I set out late morning on Saturday ( due to a heavy night I’d had the night before). We initially headed out to Dean Tail where we immediately had plenty of mackerel for the first time this year – although the majority were really small. We then headed to New Grounds for the first time ( as a result of reading some of the catch reports – so thanks for the posts). Gordon fished squid/ rag cocktail  and I fished a fresh small mackerel flapper. We arrived just before high tide and , apart from the slack period at high tide, had bites  on a regular basis- and mercifully were not pestered with doggies. Gordon had  a smoothound and three rays , including a double figure undulate , whilst I also had three rays and a bass of 3lb.  So New Grounds lived up to its reputation for accessible and varied fishing – and I had the perfect hangover cure of fresh air and a few fish!