ALDERNEY* BRIGHTON* BRISTOL CHANNEL* CHESIL* DARTMOUTH* EAST SUSSEX* HAMPSHIRE* HUMBER TO THAMES* KENT* NORTH EAST* NORTH THAMES ESTUARY* PLYMOUTH BOAT* POOLE* SCOTLAND* WALES* WEST SUSSEX* WEST WIGHT* WEYMOUTH*
ALDERNEY REPORT by Mark Harding
Alan and Jake Woodnutt cod
A mixed bag month of swings and roundabouts. Many of you that have visited the island would have experienced some poor fishing. This has been mainly due to the poor visibility which we have had to endure since March. It's not made finding fish easy and I have no doubt that when you have been amongst fish you've not known it because they have simply not been able to see the baits. One of the reasons for my thinking this is that there have been at times some good days amongst poor ones, bad visibility would have that effect, no fish on the ground wouldn't. A perfect example would be last week when a mate of mine came over in his private boat and had two poor days on the banks, just one flat. The following day went wrecking before returning to the same bank and hey presto oiked out 12 Brill. Another reason is that there must be fish there is due to the amount of continued Commercial activity, they can't afford to tow for nothing that's for sure, especially with the price of fuel. Let's hope they haven't totally caned the arse out of it, definitely for sure the Turbot and Brill are worth more to us as part of the tourist industry than to support one or two families temporarily. Hopefully this is all part of a cycle and we still have a sustainable fishery.
Certainly there has been fewer Turbot but the quality fish are still there. Today I spoke to Chris Caines of Tiger Lily, one of his boys winkled out a 19lb 8oz flattie. Private Venture has been amongst the doubles too, in both size and quantities. There have other success stories too but for now what Turbot there have been will now be on the wane until they return to the banks in September. In the meantime they will be replaced by good numbers of Brill which I think that is where we are at the moment. Bass have been with us for a while now, only small fish in the main but it has provided a distraction from the flats, again the water clarity has proved to be a problem but other marks have been found where the colour hasn't been as bad. The odd double has been caught but you are likely to find fish in the 3-5lb region. The Tope, which have provided some excellent sport since the start of the season, have by and large now moved off but some still remain around the deep water rocky outcrops. Whilst fishing for these you will encounter good sport with Conger and Huss as well, scale your baits down and you will find a few Bream, Gurnards, Ballan and Cuckoo Wrasse. When on these marks it may cost you a few quid in braid, not in snags or anything like that but you may well encounter for a minute or so a line stripping, spool emptying run which is likely to be a Porbeagle. It happens pretty frequently and is quite awesome when it does happen, one day someone is going to have a serious go at these. I have had one session this season which worked out in to a blank but it won't put me off trying again. Blonde Rays are not often targeted but fish to 25lb have been landed when attempts have been made. Couches Sea Bream which provoked a lot of curiosity with visiting anglers as in general these are a fish rarely encountered in UK waters, have just arrived on the scene with the best fish falling to local angler of 4lb 4oz! A cracking fish.
Wreck fishing has been good, plenty of Pollack now after a very slow start and a few Cod. A lot more Cod have shown mid channel and to the north and for those anglers shooting their mouths off about the quantities…….well you need shooting. We all know that the Cod need protecting and just because there is a few fish showing the guys putting posts all over the forums are giving the impression that there are hundreds of tons out there at a time when the species is under threat. This must also be pretty annoying to the Commercial guys who no doubt will be lobbying their local Sea Fisheries to make changes. At the other end of the scale there are (thankfully) anglers returning Cod, something unheard of when I was a kid but it is lessons we all need to learn. I suggest we get back to reality and curb the excitement otherwise you are giving some jobsworth the ammunition to make the rules that as an angler you don't want to see……….but while it is there enjoy the angling experience. A few Ling showing when baits go down at slack tide, Congers will start to show now too in good numbers.
Shore sport has been mediocre but it normally is this time of year. If you are happy float fishing for Garfish then you will have brilliant tail walking fun from these fabulously prehistoric looking creatures. The bigger fish have been up around 1lb 8oz/10oz and easily caught, a great way for the youngsters to learn. Also thrown in for good measure are a few Mackerel, Pollack and the odd Bass. Not many Pollack at the moment but that will change. Any headland leading in to our racy tide will put you in good stead, if not the Breakwater. At night this venue has produced several Conger, one night and in quite glorious style, Mark Ashton and 'Sim' managed four in with their catch of Pollack, Dogfish and Bream…….and they only went out for a few beers and a quiet time! Elsewhere the pluggers are having a reasonable time with Bass, fish to 4lb frequently caught, or plug bombing Wrasse to 5lb 2oz! Lots of Wrasse have been caught this way. Quite unusual and frustrating for me as I had a Wrasse session with a journalist using crab baits and all we could manage were fish to 1lb 8oz, yet for a fortnight all I had heard about were these powerful rock loving fish attacking these plastic lures as if it was the last bit of food they were ever going to see! Although there are fish on the bottom its not great but as I have mentioned before it's not the right time of year so take away the 2lb 8oz daylight Sole and the odd Codling there hasn't been much else in the way of variety to report on.
Something I am never to keen on in Sea Fishing is Fly Fishing. Quite simply I can't get my head round it. It seems to 'posh' for us and something that given the nature of our sport with the potential for cock-ups it is something I would say doesn't work well. You have got to find somewhere to cast, once you have is the wind in the right direction to carry the 'fly' to the fish (if they are there)………then if you can fish is it not working because there are no fish or is it because you can't get your fly to sink…it is a new flaming learning process. Possibly the biggest problem though is my inability to change or accept change. Even last year I had the pleasure of the company of Charles Rangely-Wilson (he done the BBC programmes, Waitrose on the Thames, caught Trout…….remember?) and Mark Anderson and even then I couldn't get my head round it. I had two Bass on plugs in half an hour, put my plugging rod away so that Mark (once he'd finished swinging of my cuddy roof!) could have a go. Four hours later and many tangles I got asked why don't I fly fish………I wonder!! Anyway, last week Simon Everett visited us. Different gravy. Conditions not perfect but I got a demonstration on how it was done. I guess I can't divulge all as a feature will appear in another magazine will follow but my thoughts have changed. Watching him land Bass and Pollack one after the other was quite incredible, and to watch him have to 'fish' for them was something else too. Quite phenomenal………but I'm still not converted…………….that's only because of my inability to change.
I've mentioned it every month this year in previous reports but if you want to fish our Festival at the end of October then you need to start to make arrangements now. Expect some terrific fishing, tides look great and that time of year is special for the shore angler. If you've never fished here before it is a great way to collect all the information you need for future adventures to Alderney.
In the mean time thank you to all of you that visit Alderney, tourism is a major income for the island which most of the 'locals' are thankful for.
Happy Angling.
BRIGHTON MARINA BREAKWATERS by Dave Grinham
Good news, at long last both breakwaters are now fully opened and good numbers of mackerel shoaling on each one. Some good sized bream and wrasse taken close to the wall on the higher number, best so far about 2lb. Mullet now feeding on bread and some fine specimens up to 5lb have been landed. Smoothhounds showing on the night tides, no monsters yet but once the resident spider crabs start to moult that should all change. The big spring tides that we had, brought some nice bass in. The best was a beauty of 11 1/2lb to local ace Craig Gosling on a whole squid and some nice bass taking mackerel heads, live prawns and lures.
BRIGHTON MARINA BOATMAN'S ASSOCIATION By Alan Young
Welcome to Cod Country! The summer may not have appeared for more than a couple of days at a time - it's blowing westerly twenty eight knots as I write this and once again we're all stuck in harbour. The fuel costs are putting skippers out of business around the country but when we do get to sea we are making some excellent catches of Cod. They are mainly in the four to eight pound weights with a few of boastable size amongst them but in good condition, excellent eating and in good numbers. Pollack are still present, some of excellent size and condition although most are in the smaller weight category. Some good Ling have been boated when trailing baits on the drift and when anchored up to the wrecks.
On the ground Mackerel are around in good numbers when the conditions are right but the heavy weather tends to turn the inshore water to soup and they move further out in the channel to clear water. Live baiting with Mackerel has landed some excellent Bass but mainly attracted good Tope and Smoothhounds. Bream are on the ground in good numbers even though their appearance on the spawning grounds such as Kingsmere rocks was spasmodic. Dogs as always are present in large numbers and there have been good reports of Gurnard, Thornbacks and Garfish. Tight lines and safe fishing.
KENT By Jack Stone
YOU DIRTY B+"*S!
Freelance catches from Kent's beaches and piers are improving with mackerel numbers on the increase. The thornback rays are the biggest fish coming from the beaches with the Sandwich Yacht club stretch of Sandwich Bay the hot spot. Steve Gillett of Deal beached a 10lb fish, whilst John Wells of Saltwood landed an 8lb fish during a Sea Angler magazine photo shoot. Fishing the mark recently I was appalled at the amount of angling associated litter on the beach, it is not all wind blown flotsam and they area is not popular with the public. The amount of monofilament line and plastic bait bag, cans, etc is a disgrace. Similar problems have been experienced at Sandgate where the public and anglers are also guilty of throwing their litter on the beach. Come on you lazy anglers - clean up your act!
BREAKWATER BLOWN OUT
An over stated shipping forecast prevented competitors reaching Dover breakwater for the Dover Sea Angling annual midweek species competition. The boats won't run if a force seven wind is mentioned in the forecast which is a sensible standard. However, is it me or are these forecasts now so health and safety conscious that they are becoming ridiculous? The inshore waters forecast was spot on whilst the predicted gale force seven wind predicted by the Shipping never arrived, indeed the wind struggled to beat seven miles and hour. Dover SAA has not held one official open competition on the breakwater this year, it's a fact that the weather is not getting worse, but that the weather forecasts are becoming more and more over the top and no account is taken of the wind's direction! In the event the species competition was moved to the Prince of Wales pier inside the harbour and the competitors subjected to five hours watching the breakwater smile in the sunshine. A last cast double of dogfish as the light faded saw Alan Yates from Folkestone win narrowly with 53 points just ahead of Broadstairs anglers, Dave Andrews on 51 points with Lionel Watson of Sheerness third on 48 points. Species caught included dogfish, eel, pout, flounder and pollack.
WHO NEEDS A BOAT?
We often hear anglers complain that the fishing is poor from the shore nowadays although the latest Deal 1919 Angling evening club competition would suggest otherwise. It was won with a massive weigh in by Dover angler, Luke Hutton who was fishing at Walmer beach. Luke, who has fished for England, landed 25 dogfish and 28 pouting in the three hour event for what is thought to be a evening event club record weight of 15.230kg (33.5lb for those of you who prefer Imperial) Second spot went to Andy Manning of Deal with 9.270 kg and third was Louie Smith of Deal with 8.180 kg. Dave Andrews of Broadstairs proved that it's also not all dogs and pouting landing the heaviest fish in the match with smoothhounds of 1.880kg and 1.800kg. Meanwhile in the latest Wayzgoose Sea Angling Club beach match fished at Deal, the winner was Brian Inwood of Thanet with 3.510kg, including a thornback ray of 3.410kg (7lb 8oz) which provided the bulk of his winning weight. Second was Robin Neale of Thanet with 1.600kg and third, Kevin Scott of Deal with 1.230kg. Second division winner was Matt Brisley of Thanet with 960 grams.
KENT CLUB MATCH RESULTS
The latest shore competition results include the Duke of Wellington SAC event fished from the Admiralty pier extension at Dover. Winner was Graham Finn of Dover with 84 fish for 24lb 10oz. Second Joe Croxton with 21lb 6oz and third John Cheatham with 12lb 9oz.
The Folkestone Sea Angling Association night event fished from Folkestone pier was won by competition secretary, Scott Allen of Folkestone with the biggest fish, a dogfish of 920 grams. Second place for the heaviest total bag went to Ray Coyne of Folkestone with 6.950kg, including ten dogfish plus pouting. Third was Phil Tanner of Harbour Tackle Folkestone with 6.390kg.
The Seabrook Sea Angling Association evening competition fished between the Imperial Hotel at Seabrook and the Rowing Club at Sandgate was won by Alan Yates with 6.150lb including dogfish, dab, whiting and pout. Second was Lee Heaver of Ashford with 6.050lb
The Fountain Inn Sea Anglers fished between Hythe and Folkestone pier. Winner was Barrie Dilnutt of Folkestone with five dogfish and five pouting for 3.275kg, he was fishing Sandgate beach. Second was Michael Warne of Hythe with 2.750kg and third, Nigel Bristow with 2.620kg including a sizeable codling. The Fountain Sea Angling Club pier event was fished from Folkestone pier and Saltwood angler, John Wells top scored with 12 dogfish and 26 pouting for 9.940kg. Second was Michael Warne of Hythe with 25 fish for 5.945kg and third was Barrie Dilnutt of Folkestone with 5.590kg.
BOAT MATCH RESULT
The Seabrook sea angler's boat event saw Terry Stone of Hythe win with 28 points, ahead of Cliff Sharp on 17pts and third, Mick Sullivan on 15pts. Catches included pollack on feathers caught drifting over a wreck plus, dabs, dogfish, pout, whiting, mackerel and codling. Cliff Sharp won the second boat match of the month with 20 points. Darrell New was second with19 points and John Smith third with 17 points. Catches included 1 bass;1 cod; 3 dabs; 27 dogfish; 1 garfish; 1 gurnard; 3 pollack; 17 pouting and 14 whiting.
Best freelance bass in the boat out of Folkestone was landed by Shane Gausden in his dads boat "Dangler" out of Folkestone, it weighed 9lb 10oz and was hooked on a live "joey" mackerel fished on a flowing trace on an 8lb boat outfit.
PIER HEAD OPENING SOON
Work on Deal pier head continues to progress with a completion date around August - The pier through is NOT closed with the stem continuing to produce fish including smoothhound, pout and dogfish. Beach catches at Deal have also included a good number of big smoothhound with most around the 5lb mark with the odd lunker, all are taking peeler crab and the hot spot is Sandown Castle. Deal's Brian Smith was "busted" by a big hound recently when he couldn't get his clutch of quick enough - You have been warned, unlock that star drag when you cast out because smoothhounds can pull and will easily break 15lb line!
WEST SUSSEX REPORT By Mike Perfect
Returns next month
LITTLEHAMPTON REPORT by Neil French
Two unfortunate and unhappy incidents this month, the theft of Michelle Mary from it's moorings which made the news headlines and the collision of an unhelmed yacht into Lady Anne whilst at anchor resulted in both vessels being damaged, causing them to be lifted for repairs. Both skippers have had to cancel bookings during this busy time, I wish them both a speedy return and I trust their crews will be sympathetic and supportive when they are relaunched.
A fine and settled period with plenty of boats, both private and charter venturing out this month has provided me with plenty to report. Bream and Bass have been abundant along the reef system at anchor, with many to specimen size. Littlehampton is famous for big Bream and several have been landed in excess of 5 pounds, but an outstanding fish of 6lbs 8oz landed aboard Delta Dawn, just short of the British Record reiterates the potential of our port to produce the biggest specimens in this country. Livebaiting for Bass on the inshore wrecks produced large catches and once again I have to congratulate those crews who returned over 75 Bass in excess of 5lbs aboard Spirit to fight another day, the crews involved know who they are and know the numbers are not exaggerated. Best fish and a personal best for Graham Simmons pictured just short of double figures. Shorter tides found us venturing down to the Selsey marks for some superb sport on light tackle with big smoothhounds to 20lbs on crab and squid baits, whilst mackerel on wire traces accounted for the first of the seasons Tope to 40lbs, all of which incidentally are returned unharmed. Highlight for me personally was the first Turbot and Brill landed aboard my boat from our port, the only others having come when we venture down to Alderney, we were actually fishing for Rays at the time having successfully found Thornbacks to 15lb, Small Eyed to 10lbs and Undulate to 13lbs, once again rarely killed these days. Offshore we found good numbers of Pollack to 19lbs and Cod in the 10lb range on Gills and Shads but with fuel now at nearly 90p a litre it needs to be productive to justify the effort and on hard days it is often costly to wreck hop in search of feeding fish, especially if the water clarity is poor. I haven't been at anchor on the wrecks this month but the coming weeks, if conditions allow, should provide some sport with heavyweight Conger.
This cracking 6lb 8oz black bream (hen fish) was caught off Littlehampton on board the Delta Dawn after eating a healthy breakfast before putting to sea. Unfortunately, the fish had spent it's roe when captured. Difficult to say when the roe went, but had we not have stopped for breakfast, Tas might possibly had the UK record! This is our Shakespeare Ugly Boat reel winner this month.
www.spiritofarun.co.uk neil@bandelectronics.co.uk Tel 01243 582299, Mob. 07831 848561, Fax 01243 585294
WEST WIGHT REPORT by Arthur Savage
The West Wight area is in full swing this month producing great sport fishing for anglers. It has so much to offer you are hard pushed to know where to start. Mooring the boat up on the pontoon, just a couple of days ago, we had the Mullet anglers having some great sport with fish up to 5lbs on carp rods; they looked to be having a great time. The Western Solent is also fishing well at the moment with very little weed to worry about. Bream and Smoothhound are in good numbers on all of the marks from Lymington Banks down to Calshot. Mackerel are now being caught off Sconce in good numbers with the best tide being the flood. I have also had some reports of Bass from Hampstead, Warden Ledge and the Bridge.
South and West of the Needles, from Christchurch down to the Shingle Bank, Bream and Smoothhound are producing some great sport with the occasional Plaice being landed on worm. Freshwater Reef and Brook Banks, to the east, have continued to produce some beautiful Blonds and Painted Rays and the first Undulate Ray of 16½ lb; all of these fish were weighed, photographed and returned to the water.
Tope fishing over the smaller tides at St Catherine's Deeps have certainly separated the men from the boys with fish up to 50lb fighting every inch of the way to the surface. Great care must be taken when you get them on board, firstly not to put your hands anywhere near their mouth, but also importantly not to let them thrash around and damage themselves (and others). These fish are measured, weighed, tagged and returned to the water to fight another day.
Offshore wrecking is also producing some beautiful fish with the Pollack improving in size, best fish weighing in at 17½ lb, which is unusual for the time of year as we normally see a reduction in size, down around 9-10lb, which we call summer Pollack. Ling and Conger can also be found on anchor at slack water, with one angler from Warren Sea Angling Club, Mr. Peter Hartley, boating a 25½ lb Turbot as the boat swung off the tide. The Cod have also arrived on the mid channel wrecks and over the banks, which is also producing some real sport.
DARTMOUTH REPORT By Mike Concannon
SPECIAL SHORE CAUGHT FISH
Junior Anglers have recently been showing us "Adults" how it should be done. I'm really pleased to see this happen. It is reassuring for the future of our sport. Rhys Coulson, Junior Angler Big Bass from Shore - Friday 30th May - I was invited to join Sean Coulson and his teenage Son, Rhys, who are both members of Brixham SAC on a shore fishing expedition in search of those elusive big Bass. I was very excited by the prospects. The plans were dented when Sean found his bait freezer had given up the ghost, which reduced his supply of fresh Devon Peeler Crabs to a handful of live peelers, and half a bucket full of dead Crabs which were starting to "Whiff". It couldn't get worse could it? You probably know the answer to that rhetorical question. Yes, it did. Sean called me around 8.15 pm, to let me know that he had been delayed. We would miss the tide at our preferred venue. It was one of those warm evenings with high humidity in the atmosphere. The conditions screamed "Bass". I put my two 11 foot Bass rods, a new "Northwestern" Flounder rod, capable of casting 1 to 3 ozs; and a 15 year old friend, a "Silstar Bass" 2 to 4 ounce rod, recently refurbished by me; into my rod sling, together with a lightweight rod stand. The "Northwestern" rod was fitted with a "Grauvell" Zeus 4000 size fixed spool reel, while the "Silstar" had my "Mitchell Avocet 7000". Both reels were loaded with 15 lb class clear monofilament line, terminating in a 30 lb clear mono leader.
I put the very minimum tackle in a large plastic bucket, which included several sliding lead links; an assortment of 2 and 3 oz lead weights, with and without grip wires; some "Gemini" small swivels; a few black 8 mm beads for use on the line as lead stops; some 25 lb clear mono trace line; and a handful of Sakuma "Manta" size 8/0 hooks.
I met Sean and Rhys and together we clambered down a steep slope to our chosen spot on the shore. By the dim light of our LED headlamps, carefully pointed away from the water so as not to spook the fish, we tackled up just one rod each. We were anxious not to leave it too late and miss the run of the end of the tide at this location. We baited our hooks with 2 or 3 Peeler Crabs each. Rhys was the first to get his line wet and quickly registered a good bite. There were fish at our feet, but were they Bass? Within minutes Sean and I had cast our baits out perhaps 50 yards from shore into a fairly calm sea, across a gentle sea breeze. We both registered bites but did not connect with the fish. The adrenalin was starting to pump around our veins as the excitement mounted.
We re-baited and cast our lines out again. Within a few short moments I was rewarded by a clear bite which registered on the rod tip and almost pulled my rod over. I was quickly into a good fish. At first it put up little resistance, but as it neared the shore it put up a brave fight, taking line from the spool of my reel. Sean grabbed the net and scrambled down to the water's edge. He expertly netted a Bass for me, which I weighed at the time, on digital scales as 5 lbs 9 ozs. I was a very happy chap. A couple of casts later, Rhys caught a fine Bass which we weighed on digital scales at 4 lbs 5 ozs.
As the tidal flow weakened, we had a few tentative bites, but no more fish. Around 1.0 am we re-baited our hooks for the umpteenth time and discussed what time we might leave as the fishing had considerably slowed down. We chatted quietly about all sort of interesting fishing experiences and righted the wrongs of the entire world, as one does. The next thing that happened was when Rhys' rod tip registered a very clear bite. Rhys grabbed his rod from its stand and was clearly into a very good fish. It initially swam towards him and he reeled in line, thinking the fish had gone. Then it turned and ripped line from his fixed spool reel against a well set clutch. Rhys kept his rod tip high and as soon as the fish stopped, pumped it back towards the shore in small stages, while Sean scrambled down to the water's edge, landing net in hand. I shone a torch to guide Sean and after some wild thrashing by the fish close to the edge, Sean cleanly gathered it in the landing net. It was ours. We were "over the moon". We could see it was a very big Bass. We gently unhooked it and checked it on my digital scales. It confirmed our initial estimation when it registered approximately 9 lbs 3 ozs on my hand held "Berkley" lip grip digital scales.
We fished on for about another hour in high hopes, but without any further success. We retired tired but very happy around 2 am. The following morning, Sean 'phoned me to tell me that Rhys' big Bass had been weighed-in on the certified scales at Brixham SAC, where it tipped the dial to 9 lbs 10 ozs 14 dr. That is potentially a new Junior Brixham club record for shore caught Bass for Rhys. Nice one! "Thank you" Sean and Rhys for your excellent company and for asking me along. Isn't it great when a plan, even a scheme modified by circumstances, comes together and exceeds your wildest dreams?
More Bass - Space precludes inclusion of full details and photos, but I must give an honourable mention to other excellent locally shore caught Bass. Wednesday 11th June - 7 lbs 9 ozs 2 dr by Sean Coulson. Sunday 8th June - 7 lbs 0 ozs 8 dr by Steve Ford. Sunday 1st June - 8 lbs 8 ozs by Mark Wills and Wednesday 4th June - another of 6 lbs 5 ozs by Mark Wills.
"Gar Blimey" - Saturday 7th June - Email received from Jason Upham, a good pal and fellow member of Brixham SAC. Isn't it really great to see Junior sea anglers enjoying so much fun. They are the future of our sport. Well done to all the lads and to their Mums and Dads for encouraging them by taking them angling. Here's what Jason said:
After our successful week catching Gars we had to give the kids a crack! We took my lads Shay and Corey Upham and Shinta's lad Harvey Bevan-Jones. They had a great day, all taking Gars of NFSA specimen size or better. Shay had Gars of 1-8-0, 1-4-10 plus other smaller ones. Corey had Gars of 1-11-12, 1-9-8 plus others. Harvey had his first ever specimen fish, a huge shore Garfish of 2 lbs 1 oz 4 dr.
Graham Dryer's River Dart Thin Lipped Grey Mullet - Wednesday 28th May - Jason Upham, who is a member of Brixham SAC Emailed. What an excellent specimen Thin Lipped Mullet.from the River Dart by Graham Dryer, who is the proprietor of Brixham Bait and Tackle and Chairman of Brixham SAC. Here's what Jason said: Graham Dryer caught this cracking Thin Lipped Mullet on Tuesday morning in the River Dart. It weighed 3 lbs 4 ozs 8 dr. It's a club specimen and new personal best for this specie for Graham.
River Dart Grey Mullet - Wednesday 11th June - It would be remiss of me not to mention that our favourite Mullet Master Mike Bailey caught a Grey Mullet from the River Dart today which exceeded 5 lbs. It was returned alive. Mike lost a bigger Mullet at the same location a few days earlier when it took him into the moorings and broke his line.
Jason Upham's Shore Caught Bull Huss - Monday 26th May - Jason Upham, who is a member of Brixham SAC Emailed. Here's what Jason said: This weekend saw the first round of the Plymouth shore league. I went out before the match for a practice and had a great night Hussing from a local shore mark. First cast, I had a Bull Huss about 10 lbs which was returned alive. Then later in the evening, I had a cracker of 14 lbs 0 ozs 10 dr. This was followed by another of 11-3-0. A pretty good night and high hopes for the match! Sods law prevailed though and in the match my best Huss was only 6 lbs 6 ozs.
Flounder in the Teign - Monday 19th May - Dave Fortune, Publicity Officer for Brixham SAC, Emailed. It's good when it's your own success and not just that of one of our many pals! Here's what Dave said: I went down the River Teign on Monday afternoon for a Spring Flounder and caught two. The biggest would have been a good 3 lbs in the winter. It weighed 2 lbs 8 ozs 12 dr. Hopefully it's a sign of improvement for the river.
SPECIAL BOAT CAUGHT FISH
Steven Amer's Paignton SAA Junior Club Record Golden Grey Mullet - Sunday 8th June - Barry Amer, who runs the Paignton SAA web site www.psaa.org.uk Emailed. Here's what Barry said: Just to let you know that myself and Stuart Jay, together with my my son Steven, went Mulleting today from Torquay. We started off slow this morning but managed to catch to a few Golden Greys around the 1 lb 10 ozs mark. My Son, Steven, joined us later in the day. On his first cast, Steven landed a Golden Grey Mullet, about 2 lbs 10 ozs. It later weighed in at PSAA club on calibrated scales as 2 lbs 9 ozs 4 dr, setting a new Junior club record, beating his old record of 2 lbs 4 ozs 12 dr.
Rocky Marshall's Big Grey Mullet - Monday 26th May - Email received from Doug Mosedale, Fishing Chairman of Brixham SAC. Here's what Doug said: "Rob "Rocky" Marshall's Grey Mullet , 5 lbs 11 ozs 12 dr, caught from a dinghy in Brixham Harbour. It was weighed on official scales, and then released alive and well to grow, breed and fight again another day." What a superb Mullet and great to see it was returned alive and well to grow, breed and fight again another day. Well done "Rocky".
The 'Other' Mike Johnson's Big Thornback Ray from Boat - Saturday 10th May - I received an Email from Mike Johnson, a member of Torbay & Babbacombe ASA. For a moment I was confused as I have for many past years known a good pal, a different Mike Johnson, who fishes out of Paignton SAA. For a fleeting minute I was confused until I saw the photo attached to the Email and realised it was not the same chap. What an excellent fish. Here's what Mike had to say: I thought you would like to know what an excellent day I had aboard my mate's boat "Wizard", which is owned by Gary Messenger, fishing out of Dartmouth. The Torbay and Babbacombe ASA staged a club competition on Saturday and Sunday fishing from boat and shore. On Saturday we were going for Bull Huss by the Mewstone at Dartmouth and we had them up to 12 lbs. Later on when the tide eased we fished another mark close by, and I landed an 18 lbs 3 oz Thornback Ray. I caught it on 25lb mainline and a 20lb class John Wilson boat rod. It was a lovely fish, a monster. Its weight is 180% of specimen size. It won our club competition.
"Silver Sea" Dover Sole - Saturday 31st May - Bill Devlin from Ivybridge enjoyed a day out aboard "Silver Sea" Skippered by Dave Harrison. Dave should very soon have his new Blyth 33 catamaran "Gemini", which is an updated replacement for his previous "Gemini" which was also a Blyth 33 cat. Here's what Bill said: On Saturday 31st May we were invited out on a Brian Coles trip with Dave Harrison. There were 5 of us from the "Conrods of Ivybridge" plus other local anglers. In all 30 Plaice were caught, plus a few Red Gurnards, and some Whiting. The best fish of the day was a Dover Sole of 1lb 7ozs, caught by Phil "Kipper" Craig, of the Ivybridge Conrods SAC.
Bull Huss from "Skerries" aboard "Outlaw" - Saturday 31st May - Jim Davis, who charters his very smart Vigilante 33 "Outlaw" out of Dartmouth Emailed. Here's what Jim said: "Chris Worbley with a Bull Huss caught on the "Skerries", on board "Outlaw." "This fish was caught using live Launce, presented on a 'circle' hook at slack tide, while waiting for the tide to turn. It just shows how a change of tactics can pay. This fine fish was returned alive after being photographed. Also, several Plaice and Whiting were caught on a fine day out of Dartmouth." You can find good Huss on the rough ground bordering the "Skerries" and sometimes on the shingle banks, close to Crab Pots, where they are attracted by the smell of the pot bait. Nice fish. Good to see it returned alive. Those Circle pattern hooks are great. Very few deep hooked fish and the hook-up rate is excellent.
Jim Laing's Huge Summer Pollack aboard "Samuel Irvin 3" - Monday 9th June - Every month, Jim Laing and I enjoy a great day fishing out of Dartmouth, aboard Ian Noble's Dartmouth charter boat "Samuel Irvin 3". It's a Blyth 33 catamaran, with plenty of space where one can fish in great comfort. Today we were out with several friends old and new, fishing the mid-Channel wreck marks out of Dartmouth. The conditions were as close to perfect as it gets. The sea was flat with the sea breeze no more than a soft Zephyr from the NNW. To top it off, the fish were hungry and in full predatory mode, eager to grab our lures. Mike Morgan, from Wales, caught several fine Pollack, all taken on a white "Sidewinder" lure. Chris Tracey, from Dartmouth, caught several excellent Pollack, taken on various "Storm Shad" and "Sidewinder" lures. Lizzie Busby, also from Dartmouth, enjoyed her first ever day out charter fishing. She caught several quality Pollack.
Top fish of the day was a truly magnificent Summer Pollack caught by Jim Laing, President of the Torbay Sea Angling Festival. It fought like a Tiger, making several crash dives which ripped yards of bright yellow braid line from Jim's Abu reel. Jim used his new Shakespeare Salt Sport Braid 20 to 30 lb class rod to subdue it. The soft tip action cushioned the dives very effectively. Jim later weighed-in his big Pollack on calibrated scales at Brixham SAC. It recorded 19 lbs 13 dr. That is for most of us a fish of a lifetime. Well done Jim. Thank you all for your excellent company, and Ian, once again, many thanks for another superb and enjoyable day afloat, "Fishing Dartmouth".
Lizzie Busby from Dartmouth proudly holds one of several fine Pollack which she caught on a red and yellow "Sidewinder" 6 inch lure aboard Ian Noble's Dartmouth charter boat "Samuel Irvin 3" - Photo courtesy of Mike Concannon.
Read Mike Concannon's full Dartmouth report in this month's SAN
HAMPSHIRE COASTAL REPORT By Allan Watson
Drayton AC Midweek League, Hayling
Garfish are the usual target species for the match angler at this time of the year during the daylight hours with smoothhounds and dogfish after dark but it didn’t work out this match as the gars weren’t feeding and the spider crabs made presenting a bait a real problem nipping off the hooklengths and the competitors had to make do with a few pout and some small smoothhounds. Steve Carter fishing worm and crab baits came out on top with a smoothhound weighing 1lb 1.5ozs with Richard Payne runner up with 1lb 13ozs and Mark Barnett in third spot with 1lb 11.5ozs. All of the club matches are open to guests; give Jim Griffiths a call on 02392787210 for details.
Gosport and District AC Beach Championships Round 7, Warsash
Andy Shepley picked up the winners spoils and the heaviest fish pool in the latest GDAC beach match at Warsash with a bass of 1.050kgs earning him 105 points in the fight for the club championship trophy. Runner up with an eel and a flounder was Nick Allen with 950gms and 95 points with Colin Morris in third spot with 770gms and 78 points. Top lady on the day was Elaine Steel who managed an eel weighing 650gms worth 67 points in the championship race.
Allan’s Marine Super League, Lee on Solent
21 anglers survived the weekend’s celebrations to fish this month’s Superleague at Lee on Solent and as usual at this time of the year smoothhounds played their part and Dave Edwards and Nick Pateman had the joint heaviest fish after they both landed a smoothhound weighing 5lbs 3ozs. As usual at this time of the year crab is the top bait and it’s the number 1 bait on the match anglers bait menu list.
Winner on the night with 3 fish was Duncan Beck from Waterlooville with a weight of 7lbs 6ozs while runner up Andy Gunn had 4 fish for 6lbs 12ozs and Dave Edwards was in third spot with 5lbs 6.5ozs. In the league Andy Gunn leads with 20 points, Dave Edwards is chasing with 26 points and Duncan Beck is in third spot with 30 points. The June venue has changed for the next match from Eastney to Browndown, with the draw at the Stokes Bay car park, give Kim Andrews a call on 02392470514 Allan’s Marine on 02392671833.
Results: 1st Duncan Beck 7-6-0, 2nd Andy Gunn 6-12-0, 3rd Dave Edwards 5-6-8, 4th Nick Pateman 5-3-0.
League: 1st Andy Gunn 20pts, 2nd Dave Edwards 26pts, 3rd Duncan Beck 30pts. 21 fished the match.
Remaining Fixtures:
JULY 15TH HILLHEAD HW 10.45PM 4.OM
AUGUST 12TH HASLAR WALL HW 9.26PM 3.67M
SEPT 16TH LEE ON SOLENT HW 12.53AM 4.67M
OCTOBER 14TH CLARENCE HW 11.48PM 4.66M
NOVEMBER 25TH EASTNEY HW 10.00PM 4.27M
DECEMBER 16TH STOKES BAY HW 2.38AM 4.64M
ALL MATCHES ARE OPENS FISHED 8.00PM TILL MIDNIGHT BOOKING IN FROM 7.00PM TILL 7.30PM
DETAILS: KIM ANDREWS 023 92470514 ALLAN'S MARINE 023 92671833
Southsea Sea Angling Club Rowe Trophy Match
The members of the Southsea club fished their latest match within a designated area around The Hounds, West of Selsey, targeting the black bream on a mixture of squid, worm and fish baits. Winner on the day was Jamie Eyres who landed 6 fish for a weight of 5.55 kilos with his heaviest fish weighing 1.2kgs. Runner up was Ian Dale with 6 fish for 5.02kgs and Brian Dale also landed 6 fish for 4.52kgs. The heaviest bream of the day was a cracking fish of 1.97kgs falling to the rod of Lee Swire.
Drayton Angling Club Championship Match, Pagham
Drayton held the latest club match along Pagham beach looking for the bream and smoothhound that come inshore at this time of the year and 20 members landed a mixture of black bream, dogfish and smoothhounds for a weight of 38lbs 9ozs, all caught, measured and released.. Dave Padmore landed a smoothhound of 10lbs along with bream for a weight of 14lbs 10ozs and a comfortable win ahead of Ady Williams who had a mixed bag of bream and a dogfish and in third spot was Allan Mason with a smoothhound of 5lbs 2ozs. Crab was the bait for the bigger bream and smoothhounds while the smaller fish were tempted with worm and squid. Unluckiest angler on the night was Kev Paynter who lost a smoothhound well over 10lbs while a club member was trying to tail it in the surf.
NFSA Wessex Div Champ of Champs Boat Competition, Poole
The action was pretty good during the Wessex Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers Champion of Champions and members boat competition which was held out from Poole where a wide range of species were recorded.
Dave Mann representing Dorset Police SAC won both the Champion of Champions and the NFSA open members event while fishing from ‘Strongbow’ skippered by Dick Peckham with a catch worth 103 points, species caught during the event included black bream, garfish, rays, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, smoothhound, conger, pout, dogfish and bass. The runner-up in the event was Richard Ferre who is the chairman of the NFSA, he finished with 87 points while fishing from ‘Lady Betty’ skippered by Ady Pochaud. In third position was Jane Hopkins from the Lymington Club with 81 points while fishing from ‘Jo Jo’ skippered by Dave Grimshaw followed by Len Hartley from Armfield & Ringwood with 68 points while fishing from ‘Sheila‘s Promise’, Malcolm Stote representing the Lymington club with 61 points while fishing from ‘She‘ll-do’ and Steve Daley with 55 points while fishing from ‘Lady Betty’. The event attracted 46 competitors who went afloat in six charter boats, one of the days best specimens was a nicely marked cuckoo wrasse weighing well over 1lb which was bagged by Kim Bowden who was representing Eastney Cruising Association, Bowden is also treasurer of the Wessex Division of the NFSA. Another cracking specimen landed was a 16-3 undulate ray bagged by Tony Warburton who is also a member of Eastney Cruising Association; it was weighed and released alive.
Lee Swire with the biggest bream landed in the latest Southsea SAC boat match, tipping the scales at 1.97kgs.
Full SAN competition details here
PLYMOUTH BOAT REPORT By Malc Jones
Returns next month
Geordie can be contacted on 01752201572 or e-mail c-cheeta@blueyonder.co.uk
EAST SUSSEX REPORT by Kevin Morgan
The Terminus club
On Sunday 18th May The Terminus fishing club held a match at Whitehorses in Pevensey Bay. The winner with two eels and pout was Ian Hopper with a weight of 2lb 2oz, second was Phil Metcalf with 1lb 5oz and third Steve Dell with 1lb 4 ½ oz. The heaviest fish was a 13oz eel for Dennis Puttick.
Unfortunately Sunday morning on the 1st June, meant an early start for The Terminus club, with warm bright these were the only two sizable fish caught, although many of the summer fish are beginning to show, with mackerel and garfish just starting to appear as well as a few nice smoothhounds from the beach. On Saturday 14th June The Terminus club held a catch and release smoothhound only match, at the wood yard in Normans Bay. Only 3 smoothhounds were landed two undersize fish for Steve Dell and Joe Plumstead, and a nice 4lb 5oz fish for the winner Fred Puttick.
P.B.A.C.
On Monday 19th May, The P.B.A.C. also held a match and the winner was Gerald Sergeant with 3lb 5 ¼ oz of pout, second was Cliff Manners with 1lb 5 ¾ oz and third Steve Dell with 1lb 3oz. Bill Byford had the biggest fish with an eel of 15oz 1drm.
The P.B.A.C. held a match on Monday 2nd June, with the main catch being pout mainly caught at Whitehorse's. First was Gerald Sargeant with 3lb 15oz, a close second was Keith Erridge with 3lb 14 ½ oz, third Paul King and fourth Cliff Manners with 3lb 6 ½ oz. The biggest fish was a bass of 1lb 13 ¾ for Paul King and the heaviest flat a sole of 14 ½ oz for Rob Ellis.
Eastbourne Nomads
On Tuesday 20th May The Nomads held their first bass and species match, where points are awarded to different species and so the anglers only bring one from each species.
With 27 anglers fishing, first with a bass, pout and a dab was Trevor Rooney with 40 points for 2lb 11oz, second was Phil Chapman with a pout, eel and rockling for 25 points and 11oz and third was Snowy Ruffell with a sole and pout for 20points and 1lb 9oz. The heaviest round was a bass of 1lb 11oz for Trevor Rooney and the heaviest flatfish was a sole of 1lb 4oz for Snowy Ruffell.
It was also the third and final round of the drawn pairs series with Keith Erridge and Ian Hopper winners with 148 points, second were Dean Riley and Trevor Rooney with 135 points and third Chris Kirrage and Graham Lewis with 130 points.
On Wednesday 28th May The Nomads fished the second Bass and Species Cup, with 17 anglers trying to catch as many species as possible. First with a bass and an eel for 40 points and a weight of 2lb 7oz 4dr was Simon Watkins. Second was Tony Kirrage with an eel and pout for 20 points and 1lb 5oz 8dr and third was Phil Chapman also with a pout and eel for 20 points and 1lb 4oz 8dr. The heaviest round was a bass of 1lb 8oz for Simon Watkins and the heaviest flatfish a sole of 12oz 2dr for Graham Lewis.
On Saturday night 31st May Phil Chapman organised a night competition for the biggest fish and the winner was Trevor Rooney with a smoothhound of 5lb 3oz.
On Wednesday 11th June, The Nomads fished their third Bass and species match, with 21 anglers fishing along Eastbourne seafront. First was Mark Crossey with 3 species for 40 points, a bream sole and pout. Second was Richard Cowderoy with 2 fish for 20 points a sole and pout and third was Keith Erridge with 20 points also a sole and pout. The heaviest round was an eel of 11oz 6drs for Simon Watkins and the heaviest flat a sole of 1lb 15oz 4dr for Richard Cowderoy.
Anderida Fishing Club
On Monday 19th May Anderida club held a beach match, with 27 anglers fishing. The winner with 3lb ½ oz was John Ryder, Johns catch also included the heaviest round fish, an eel of 1lb 6oz. Joint second were Paul King and Olly Plumstead with 2lb 11 ½ oz, Paul also landing the heaviest flatfish, a flounder of 11 ¾ oz and Olly qualified for The S.A.M.F. finals. Fourth was Simon Teague with 2lb 9oz. Macaulay King won the juniors with 8oz. This was also the final leg of three for the spring cup and the winner with 81 points was Scott Hesling, second Paul King with 73 points and third Steve Dell with 69 points.
On Tuesday 3rd June Anderida held a competition and the winner Darren Mitchell caught pout at Whitehorse's for a weight of 3lb 11oz. Second was Phil Metcalf with 2lb 14 ½ oz and joint third Joe Morgan and Ollie Plumstead with 2lb 12 ½ oz. The biggest fish was an eel of 12 ½ oz for Ian Hopper.
Club member Marco Marsiglia fished at Alices Pipe on Saturday 14th June and managed to catch a new club record smoothhound of 8lb 8 ½ oz, using crab.
The working Mens club have formed a new fishing club, with ten anglers fishing along Eastbourne beaches on Tuesday 20th May. First with flounder and pout was Deckland Moulding, he also had the heaviest round with a pout of 175 gms and the heaviest flatfish a flounder of 225 gms. Second was Wayne Bennett with 100gms, third Steve Oliver with 75gms and fourth Paul Waterman with 25gms.
General
For the second year running Pevensey Bay's Jim Whippy captained a team to win the prestigious Poole Species Hunt. With 34 teams of four competing it's a tough one to crack and Jim's team this year, the Weymouth Angling Centre 'Hairy Gurnards', tied with Bembridge IOW, with 19 different species for 32pts, with each team winning £1,000. The rest of the team were Southampton international Colin Searles and the Somerset pair of Ian McLean and Mike Patten. Last year Jim led the BFM team to a clear victory with 21 species. Amongst the species the team landed this year was this super 13lb undulate Jim caught in mid afternoon. Third team just one point behind was Lysander from Littlehampton, skippered by Dick Leggatt.
Anglers Den held their annual week long species hunt on the week beginning 1st June, with a good turnout of 38 anglers and favourable weather conditions some quality fish were hoped, with 7 categories to fish for. The best bass was a 2lb 11oz fish for Keith Mitchell, heaviest pout was 15 ½ oz for Steve Dell, heaviest smoothhound was a 6lb 1 ½ oz for Steve Burbidge, heaviest plaice was a 1lb 5 ¼ oz fish for Ian Hopper, heaviest sole a 1lb 5 ½ oz fish for Dan Paine, best eel a 1lb 10 ¼ oz fish for Gerald Sergeant and the best other species a ballan wrasse of 1lb 9oz for Keith Mitchell, 220% of previous record.
The charter boats out of Eastbourne Marina and many other ports in the south coast are enjoying a good start to this season, not only is the weather favourable most of the time, they are landing plenty of cod to double figures, on the off-shore reefs and wrecks. The Terminus club fished on Excalibur from Eastbourne and landed over sixty cod between them up to 12lb.
Jim Whippy caught a fine blonde ray of 23lb 3ozs on a solo trip to the back of the Shambles off Weymouth in his Raider 18 named 'Whips'. The strong tides mean fishing can only be done over the slack tide and the ray took a long strip of mackerel.
BOAT REPORT FOR NORTH THAMES ESTUARY AND PORTS OF BRIGHTLINGSEA, WEST MERSEA & BRADWELL by Lee Bolingbroke
The early part of the month we have been very lucky not having to steam far for some great sport with plenty of thornback skate fishing at its best and easily finding up to thirty fish within just a few miles of port.
We are now steaming past these fish to try and get our anglers some mixed fishing offshore and to be honest the skate numbers have started to drop now and move from their breeding grounds inshore.
A few boats are targeting tope now and as I write the Sophie Lea from Brightlingsea Essex has managed the biggest fish this year so far with a male fish of forty eight pounds, caught by Charlie Potter from Sudbury, although there is plenty of time yet to better this fish.
Several smoothhounds now showing up offshore with some decent fish amongst them, although I am always reluctant to target them early as using hermit crab only restricts better fishing at this time of year, with baits such as fresh mackerel and squid for bass, skate and tope. Lots of mackerel also about this year with plenty turning up just about everywhere offshore and of course probably the best fresh bait you could use.
A new charter boat has joined the ever expanding fleet, the Gloria B 2, a fine Profish thirty six foot charter capable of up to twenty knots is now working out of Brightlingsea, Essex. if you fancy a trip out on her give the skipper Terry a ring on 07952163804 as the boat was launched late in the season she is one of the few boats to have some weekends still available.
I wrote last month of several Brill and Turbot being caught and several have been landed again this month, only small fish but where are their mums and dads, they must be close and we are still exploring some of the offshore sand banks to find them. Lots of small bass on the flats this year, worm baits as usual with fish from just half a pound to two pounds great fun on light tackle. Some bigger bass also being caught and the biggest so far in our area was caught by Bob Buck from Sudbury with a fish of thirteen and a half pounds and half hour later a bass of twelve and a half pounds caught by Mark Stevens on the Sophie Lea from Brightlingsea.
THE HUMBER TO THE THAMES by Ray Power
Summer is here, however some one forgot to tell the weather. From what I can make out from a retail point of view is that the above, credit crunch and cost of fuel is making a big dent in sales this year. Far less anglers fishing and being far choosier when they go as well, which is a shame as the fishing overall has been pretty dam good at times.
The spring codling run have at last come to an end, but a couple of marks were producing fish up until a week ago. Some reports of matches were being won with upwards of 20lb, mainly of codling. Also now the winds have come out of the east, the smoothhounds have turned up in the north of Norfolk and the Lincs coast. As reported last month, some excellent very early catches of mackerel from Southend Pier, have continued although slightly more patchy than before. The front of the pier has produced best, with Sabiki fish skin lures giving best results. Fair numbers of small bass also being caught by anglers using the same methods, but close to the pier. Southend boat anglers finding some good bass fishing at times from a couple of marks. These fish being landed on red gills, jelly crab, ragworm and livebaits, depending on where you fish. Further up river, the shore marks have been a little slow from the north side of the river, with only a few small bass, flounders and eels. Only a few soles showing from this side of the river, however more have been reported from the south side, with Gravesend’s sea school stretch being one of the better marks.
WEYMOUTH REPORT By Paul Whittall
June has been a very pleasant month so far...warm weather, calm seas and, most importantly, some good fishing. The bream have moved away from the Northern Shore, as they normally do, and are expected to return to the Portland area marks in July. However, reasonable catches are still being made by boats heading further east and rounding St. Albans Head to Windspit and Dancing Ledge. Apart from its delightful name, Dancing Ledge also offers rays, pollack, mackerel and wrasse, all of which are good fun on light tackle. St. Alban's Head has a deep hole close inshore where very good pollack fishing can be enjoyed using ragworm or live eels.
The tides work well to allow a try for bass on the way back to Weymouth with drift fished sandeels the best method. The Lulworth Banks are also worth a try using coloured feathers bumped along the bottom for pollack with red gurnard and the occasional bass likely. There are a number of small wrecks around the Lulworth Banks area, all of which are stacked with pout but likely to produce pollack and maybe a bass on the drift plus the chance of a conger at anchor.
The Adamant Bank has been fishing very well for tope and an assortment of rays and dogfish.
On a very big tide, fishing the ebb has seen good catches of bass on lures or eels. These banks can also produce an unexpected brill or turbot.
The Shambles Bank is pretty quiet at the moment but there is always a good chance of a turbot. As ever with this very prized species, a good deal of patience is required with dedicated turbot anglers knowing that a whole day's fishing can produce absolutely nothing. When a decent sized turbot is caught it is a fish to be proud of.
There are a few bass running along the southern edge of the Shambles and by the West Shambles Buoy with Portland Race having produced some excellent bass sessions already. Live mackerel fished on a light lead tends to produce the bigger fish.
To the west of Portland is the Kidney Bank. Today, Monday 16th, blonde rays to 28lb were caught along with a few small tope and stacks of dogfish. Again, there is the chance of a turbot or brill taking the baits intended for the rays. Just south of the Kidney Bank is a very rocky area of seabed which leads southwards to the aptly named 130 metre 'Deep Hole'. This is fishing very well (it must be fished on neap tides) for huss, conger and tope with excellent sessions for these three species being reported.
Close inshore to Portland there are plenty of wrasse and pollack for the light tackle enthusiast. Mackerel are patchy, probably because the sea is full of the 'May Bloom' so expect to take time to catch your bait.
There are plenty of wrecks around the Weymouth/Portland area. Anchoring sessions have been reasonable for conger to 65lb with a few good ling into the 20lb bracket taking legered mackerel flappers. Drift fishing is producing some surprisingly large pollack for this time of year with a few fish reported over the weekend touching the magic 20lb mark.
As ever, I refer you to Mark Harding's excellent reports on Alderney for detailed and up to date reports. Many of the Weymouth charter boats are making the trip to Alderney now and angers meet at Mark's harbourside shop to swop stories from which Mark is able to piece together detailed observations. Alderney offers a lot of very exciting fishing which charter boats cannot take you to....have a look at Mark's Alderney Angling website for some mouth watering details on the sort of fishing he enjoys with his 'small boat'. Small boat owners in Alderney really do live in an angling paradise...but you must have very detailed knowledge and a small boat to experience the very best that the island has to offer.
July is a lively month with everything available. The water will clear so the mackerel will return as will the bream. Plaice catches may feature from the Portland bream marks. Bassing will improve in the Portland Race and surrounding areas with bass also starting to appear on a few wrecks. Conger, tope and ray sessions will all become much more productive from a variety of marks south of the Shambles and to the west of Portland.
With all the non stop gloom around, rocketing fuel prices and the feeling that there are just so many forces targeting charter skippers and anglers, it would be good to anticipate a month of sunny weather, good fishing and friendship at sea.
Thank you all for coming to Weymouth and we look forward to taking you fishing with us next month.
BRISTOL CHANNEL REPORT by Dave Roberts, AlyKat
Good weather still prevailing making finding fish a doddle. Most ray marks producing good fish with small-eyeds to 12lb, thornies to 14lb 8oz, spotteds to 4lb 8oz and several blondes over the twenty pound mark. Geordie Clarke from Doncaster found a fine smoothhound of 15lb whilst fishing the "AlyKat" annual ray comp, nil point! Such is life. His mate Kev Brewster fared better taking the heaviest ray of the comp with a 14lb 8oz thornback. The staff of Veals Mail Order Company joined me for a short ray trip to be rewarded with almost thirty blondes to the best part of 20lb. Jansen Teakle and Harry brake landing a nice pair of doubles simultaneously. The "Codswallopers" club from Essex also enjoyed some fine sport with conger, huss, smoothies and lots of rays.To the west of Porlock, inshore grounds producing good numbers of huss and pollack though the latter are still on the small side. Also beginning to make an appearance are some fair sized wrasse. Dogfish still a pest everywhere but that is something that we have to put up with. Mackerel now showing around the Foreland point area which is obviously a good sign from the bait point of view. My Lundy Island trips start at the end of May so hopefully, I will be able to give some positive results from these interesting trips next month that is if the oil Barons don't make these long trips totally unviable. On the brighter side of the fuel price crisis, here at Minehead, we can still offer a cracking days sport without having to steam long distance, which means the angler doesn't have to take out a second mortgage for a days fishing.
Minehead boats on deepsea.co.uk and Bristol channelangling.co.uk
You can find the charter fleet on www.deepsea.co.uk or bristolchannelangling.co.uk
BRISTOL SHORE REPORT by Jansen Teakle
Continued, but a little inconsistent warmer weather, has kick started the summer season, I'd like to say with some style but that would be a slight exaggeration. The anticipated Smoothhounds hit the marks past Minehead a little way into May but were a little patchy at times with what seemed to be an initial flurry of fish to begin with followed by fewer showing over the following days tides.
Most of these pack hounds were small with most examples between 5 and 8lb with a couple near to double figures and although no records were broken, these spirited fish certainly give a good account of themselves.
Hounds are not the only thing encountered around these areas as most regulars will know, as the dreaded dogfish nail those expensive crab baits at every opportunity it can become quite frustrating and although this is not such a common occurance when targeting the hounds, they certainly do their best to hamper the Small Eyed Ray fishing as myself and two friends found recently; 3 rods, 50-60 dogfish and one Ray (not my fish I hasten to add!).
At the time of writing, the North Devon spider crab moult is only just getting underway; consequently catches from the usual marks are down on this time last year. Reef marks north of Blue Anchor will shortly see an influx of larger female hounds that will move inshore to pup, feeding as they go and it is these fish that local specimen hunters will be seeking in the coming weeks and into the summer months. It goes without saying that fish in this condition should be released as soon as possible after capture to avoid prolonged suffering.
Anglers targeting the Small eyed Rays are finding patchy sport, again one tide saw four taken into double figures by one angler and the next few days saw just the odd one. Bass continue to show throughout the mid-upper reaches of the Channel and are still worth targeting at short range with light tackle. Mullet are evident at most marks with numbers of fish present in all of the muddy creeks and offer a real challenge to the angler with plenty of time on his hands!
I know of no one who has had any consistent success with these fish in the upper channel, in the past they have been taken on chopped worm as well as the usual bread flake but they do seem incredibly difficult to tempt to a hook bait, perhaps owing to their love of sucking microscopic nothing-ness from the mud and because of this would probably need to be 'trained' onto bread by way of pre-baiting. The Thornback Rays will continue to show from the rock marks around Weston Bay, mostly small and together with Congers will make up the bulk of catches here together with small flounders and eels if you scale down. A local angler fishing Sandpoint recently accounted for a Sole that when weighed went 3lb 11oz, a top fish in anyone's book, and was taken on ragworm at short range during the settled weather.
The fishing in its current state will continue well in to the Summer with little change of any note, but hopefully next month I can bring news of some larger hounds and a few more Small eyed and spotted Rays as the great 'speckled sea rat' disappears for a few months leaving the better quality fish to find the baits!
Tight lines all
WESSEX DIVISION CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS AND NFSA MEMBERS BOAT COMPETITION REPORT 7 JUNE 2008
This years Wessex Division's joint boat competition was fished out of Poole on Saturday 7th June.
The sign in was held in the Fisherman's Café by Poole Angling Centre and I would like to thank both the staff of the Fisherman's Café and Andy Robins for their time and help with this competition.
We were graced with beautiful sunshine and light winds as the 46 competitors boarded the six boats in participation of a good days fishing.
The six boats Jo Jo, Lady Betty, Shar, Sheila's Promise, She Will Do and Strongbow all headed in their own different directions with all the skippers hoping to bring back the top angler and bagging the top skippers prize.
Fishing was for six hours from first line down to establish who would be this years Wessex Champion of Champions and NFSA Wessex Division Members Champion.
All fish landed had to be to NFSA size limits and the competition was scored on a points system on a catch and return basis.
For most boats the fishing seemed to start off steadily enough with bream and dogfish coming to the boats and a few smoothhounds showing as well.
Other notable species that were caught were varies types of Rays, Pout, Gurnards, Pollack, Wrasse, Garfish, Whiting, Bass and a solitary Conger Eel caught by Kim Bowden.
There were two very close finishes, one being on boat Lady Betty with our National Chairman and Individual Boat Anglers Club angler Richard Ferre beating Southampton SAC's Bill Baynes by one point and also beating England boat international Colin Searles and England boat manager Ray Ashby.
The second and more notably was on the boat Jo Jo with ex England Ladies Shore angling international Jane Hopkins of Lymington and District SAC beating Ian Wallis of Southsea SAC by one point and also beating England Boat International and arguably England's top boat England International, Individual Boat Angling Club's Ray Barron. Well Done Jane, not an easy boat to win.
The other four boat winners who won their boat more comprehensively were England Shore international Malcolm Stote (She Will Do) of Lymington and District SAC, Dave Mann (Strongbow) of Dorset Police SAC, Steve Daley (Shar) of Salisbury A SAC and Len Hartley (Sheila's Promise) of Armfield and Ringwood SAC.
The presentation was held afterwards in the Marina Club along with a raffle and food laid on by Adie and I would like to thank Adie and his staff for allowing us to use the club and for the lovely hospitality they gave us. The awards this year were presented Chris Holloway, who I would like to thank for coming along and doing that honour in his first year as Wessex Chairman.
First place and this year's winner winning the £200.00 was Dave Mann (100% 103pts) winning both the Wessex Champion of Champions and Wessex NFSA member's trophies. Winning the £100.00 second prize was Richard Ferre was also second in both competitions with (100% 87pts). Jane Hopkins was third with (100% 81pts) winning £50.00. Jane was also third in both competitions as well.
The prize list went down to 15th place.
There was an optional pool of £3.00 which was for the most species caught and that generated a kitty of £126.00 which was shared by 7 people. They were Ray Ashby, Bill Baynes, Perry Dack (Warren SAC), Andy Deavin (NFSA Member), Richard Ferre, Jane Hopkins and Dave Mann. They all received £18.00 each. A two man executive team draw was made before the competition and it was won by Dave Mann/Len Hartley and Jane Hopkins/Steve Daley who both had 200% and received £50.00 for each pair.
The top skipper was Adrian Ponchard of Lady Betty. The day was enjoyed by all and most deemed to think it was a great success. For that I would like to thank all the competitors for competing and to Ray Ashby and Kim Bowden for their help.
Tight Lines
Dave Oliver
CHESIL REPORT by Heggy
The late algae bloom caused by the recent period of hot weather and flat calm sea has not done the local angling any favours, although not killing sport completely it has knocked it back considerably, even the number of dogs dropped off. Catches consisted off a few Smoothhound during the daylight hours with fish up to 7lb, one or two early Gurnards and one or two late Plaice. What is needed is a good blow to stir things up then things should start to improve. We should see plenty of Gurnards, more Hounds, the first proper catches of Bream. July heralds the start of the Scad season and the end of the month normally means its time to look for Triggerfish. once considered an exotic species and a rarity in UK waters they are now just another species that is regularly taken from Chesil. One pleasant surprise was the amount of decent Garfish along the bank, most years these larger fish are only around for a couple of weeks but this year they have stayed for some time. Local angler Phil Cheeseman broke the 22 year old Weymouth A.S Garfish record with one of 1lb 11 1/2oz, helping him win the latest club match, whilst another Chesil regular, Ian Dancey from Southampton took two in the recent Daiwa/Samalite league match, totalling 3lb 4oz and also helping him win this particular match as part of a 19lb bag. It was this time last year that the Codling showed up in extraordinary numbers, whether or not they show again this year is anybodies guess, only time will tell.
Local rocks fairly quiet as expected, the larger Wrasse should start to show towards the end of August, beginning of September, with the large Gars still on the beach it may well be worth a go from marks around the Bill, although Crab pots with excessive amounts of slack continue to be a nuisance. Church Ope Cove should produce a few Rays and Sole after dark and the odd flat during the day but remember this venue is also popular with other beach users at this time of year. Now is the time to try the harbour for Gilthead Bream in calm conditions and Bass when its rough, fish light for the best results.
Eels starting to show in Weymouth harbour with many over the 2lb mark and fish to well over 4lb a good possibility, best last year was 41/2lb and again like Portland harbour go light for maximum sport. Plenty of Thick Lip Mullet around with the best so far at 5 1/2lb but most of the Thin lips seem to have gone up into the lake. All in all things look good for the next month or so in the area.
WFSA match report
The 1st Welsh Federation of Sea Anglers East Region Personal Members match was fished at Ogmore on 11th April with a good turnout from across the region.
The Weather was very hot very little wind and bright sunshine which did not help matters but all anglers persevered and all caught fish, including Rays, Dogfish, Turbot and Whiting. The match was fished as measure and release in the aid of conservation.
The results are as follows 1st place went to Gareth Davies with 217cm, 2nd place went to Steve Griffiths with 164cm, 3rd place went to Mike Dixon with 145cm, 4th place went to Andy Phelps with 115cm.
Should anyone wish to join the Elite East Region Section then please contact Mike Dixon (PM National Secretary) on 029-20337359 or visit the WFSA website at, www.WFSA.org.uk where you can download the relevant application forms.
SCOTLAND REPORT By Barry Scholes
With the water temperatures warming week by week, we have had some great fishing in the South West of Scotland. Flounders are flooding in along the estuaries with each tide along with the Smooth Hounds. These fish are all after the same thing; the moulting crabs (Peelers) which make up the main part of their diet at this time of year. If you really want to stand the best chance of connecting with a Smoothie, then you should ensure that you have the best peeler crab possible. These fish have been taken all along the Solway Coast, right up to Balcary Flat Rock recently. Several Tope have also been caught in this area, with fish up to 20lbs taken from the Shore. Boat Anglers have made the most of the good settled weather recently with many small boats finding fish in Luce Bay and beyond.
Dogfish are in abundance around the South-West rock marks; while many of these marks are producing Pollack, Coalies and Wrasse. This coming month will see some better sized Pollack, possibly into double figures. Further up the Clyde coast, all of the usual marks have seen the arrival of the Mackerel; there are small Coalies and pollack available up around the Greenock area, with Dabs and a few Dogfish at distance off the esplanade.
The Sea Lochs are always a draw for both local and visiting anglers alike. The target from the shore will be Thornback and Spurdogs from both boat and shore anglers. Many of the shore marks are busy throughout the coming months, so it would be worth seeking out new marks, that are more out of the way and don't see a lot of anglers. Skate Fishing in Oban is always popular with many of the boats being booked up a year in advance. If you are hoping to find a place on these boats, please check availability on the charter boats that operate in this area before you travel. The Western Isles will produce good Pollack this month, try spinning artificial lures, or float fished ragworm from any of the fantastic rock marks that can be found here. The boat fishing would also be worth a go, however you will probably have to tow your own boat, as charter boats are as rare as hens teeth in theses parts.
Further North Boat anglers will be hoping for some good ling and pollack from the rough ground marks that abound in this region. Cod, Haddock, and Coalies, can all be expected throughout the coming months.
The East Coast of Scotland will see an improvement this month, with many of the rocky shore marks producing Cod and Wrasse, along with Pollack and the odd Conger. The beaches from north of Peterhead all the way down to Queensferry will produce flatties, with Dabs, Flounder and Turbot showing on many beaches, these fish can be right in at your feet, so they make a great target for the kids, as they don't have to cast to the horizon to get in amongst them. You should use the lightest gear possible to get the best out of these small fish. Try small rag, lug, tipped with a little bit of Mackerel. The Tay Estuary on both sides will provide good fishing with Riverside Drive on the North shore and Balmerino on the South shore worth a visit. Peeler Crab, and worm baits tipped with Mackerel will score well. Expect Eels, Flounders, Codling and the odd Schoolie Bass.
The Forth Estuary up to and beyond the Kincardine Bridge will provide good Flattie fishing, with Bass and Eels adding to the attraction. The area around the PowerStation on the North Shore is normally very consistent for the bass which congregate around the hot water outfalls. Please be sure not to trespass onto the restricted areas here.
Boats around the Dunbar area will target Cod and Pollack from the reefs, many fish fall to artificial lures (Jellies, Shads, Etc) so make sure you have some in your tackle box if you are heading out.
Let me know what's happening around your local coastline, send me picture of your catch and we will include them in this report barry.scholes@tiscali.co.uk
NORTH EAST by Sam Harris
A new fishing tackle company, called "Sonik Sports Limited" started last month. Based in Blyth in the North East of England, the company at present is catering for the game and carp market, but by September will be going 'full steam ahead' into sea angling. I had the pleasure of visiting the warehouse and was very impressed with the quality and finish of the rods in stock. There are samples of the beachcasters at present, which I had the opportunity of handling. They range in length from 12 ft to 16 ft and the feel and fittings are absolutely superb. The company will also be supplying clothing, waders and also terminal tackle. Prices are very competitive and reasonable. The men behind the venture are John Openshaw, M.D., - a well known game angler; the Commercial Director is Ian McCormack, also a top game angler - and the Operations Director is Tony Anderson, first class North East sea angler, who has been involved in the development of fishing tackle for many years. He is also well known on the competition circuit and has won many top open matches.
Sonik Sports are available mail order and on the internet. They have an excellent website, which is www.soniksports.com. or you can telephone them on 0845-3076262 and the address is : Sonik Sports Limited, Riverside Business Park, Coniston Court, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 4RP.
Once again, the weather played havoc with the boat fishing for most of last month. Rough seas always seem to come at the weekend when most people are able to get out - and then during the week, flat calm seas! When it has been possible, the boats have had reasonable sport, but very few double-figure fish taken. The majority of the cod seem to be between 4 lb and 6 lb. and sport from the hard-ground has been almost just as good as from the wrecks. The mackerel are now in, but at the beginning of the month, they still weren't being taken in the usual quantities. This species, this year, have proved to be exceptionally large with 1 ½ lbs to 2 lbs not unusual.
Shore angling, some good plaice have been taken from the beaches with some fish going to 3 lbs on ragworm and crab. The Rivers Blyth, Tyne, Wear and Tees all are producing flounders and eels on crab and rag. There are also undersized codling and coalfish in the Tyne and Wear. From the rock edges only odd codling are being taken with crab essential for success.
The N.E. Division of the N.F.S.A. in conjunction with National Fishing Week are holding a Junior Shore Angling Competition in the River Tyne on Sunday 27th July. Juniors must be under 16 on the day and entry is £3.00. Fishing is 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. with registration at the Ouseburn Regeneration Centre, Newcastle Quayside from 7.30 a.m. Under 12's must be accompanied by an adult. All entrants will receive free junior membership of the N.F.S.A. The event is being sponsored by the Shakespeare Company Ltd. For further details, contact myself on 0191-5184561. The event will only take place in the River Tyne - not on beaches or rocks.
MORE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE SAN EVERY MONTH
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