All members - Please send in a report of your fishing trip (Boat or Shore)
preferably by email. Your webmaster doesn't mind doing a bit of
reformatting but isn't much of a typits.
(Reports are filed in fishing date order - latest at the top) |
This Year (2024) Reports |
|
No plaice for us/td> |
Eight doughty souls set off early (7:30) in the morning to do battle with mackerel, plaice, bass, gurnards and dogfish
We tried shallow bits and deeper bits but the mackerel were not exactly suiciidal(did have a few)
We tried for bass with lures with limited success.
We had three smoothounds on hardback crabs.
We dragged worms across a load of gravelly sand (and kelp) but that only produced three small gurnarsan and a littlet thornback skilfully hooked in the edge of the wing by yours truly.
Finally we tried again or mackerel with (very) limited success despite investigating several marks inshore.
Eight species were recorded (bass, bream, dogfish, red and tub gurnards, mackerel, pollock, smooothhound, and thornback ray)
Simon and Jason, with a couple of sizeable fish each, were the bass experts.
Russ had the biggest fish (smoothhound) and I was the only one to get five species.
Fishing was hard, the company was great, The weather was OK (dry). the tea and coffe were plentiful. The biscuits and kitkats were appreciated
Thanks to Gary (who is now starting to believe that "When the wind is in the east, the fish bite least" (we have told him!).
[Jim]
|
Bass no Blonde |
I thought this was a bass was the only target but the night before we found out that blondes were also in the sights so quickly added a bit of bait, a heavier rod and some heavy traces to the kit.
As it turned out the mackerel were not co-operating
Then the blondes did not turn up.
Finally, heading inshore we saw the birds working over the shallows.
Artificial lures of many types and colours were thrown at the bass but it was our guest Simon who had the secret killer so most of us changed to something similar.
Most of us got bass, only one for me, but it was the biggest fish of the day.
John Hamilton had every one of the five species caught whih were bass(acouple of dozen), bream (a few mostly small), conger (VERY small), one garfish and two mackerel.
It was the Shahs who were by far the best at bream but not bass.
Hard day
Thanks to Gary and Chris.
[Jim]
|
MINES THE BLONDE |
Yes indeed the clubs first trip this year for the blonde ray see the crew of seven leave the marina for the open sea.
A stop for mackerel see more than usual with scad , bass , etc before we anchored in a spot for the blondes.
A variety of baits on board the favourite being the sandeel, mackerel, squid and also wraps of squid and sandeel. Most of the crew were into rays a pb for nick bown of 13lb , a pb for Stacey farmer of 15lb and it was when I was taking a few pics of Stacey's that I was bringing up one and also pb of 17lb .
It then after that went quiet and so we moved to a new mark but very quiet there as well so Gary Edwards the skipper decided to return to the scene of the crime in which it was slow but delighted to say everyone caught a blonde ray.
We decided on way back to drop for mackerel and maybe bass on the drift in which there was plenty to be had .
Dickie davis and yours truly both had five species each and share of the points and I had the heaviest fish a pb blonde ray.
Big thank you as always to skipper Gary Edwards for his refreshments of tea and coffee and odd cup of soup for me and his box of biscuits that always are welcome for a dunk or two and not forgetting take a break kit kat what a touch .
Must also thank him for his advice throughout.
[Steve lewington]
B O - boat organiser.
|
RNLI 200 charity trip Dickie and Jason |
Gary held a trip for the rnli which raised £1000
When we got on the boat it was decided it would be a species competition
First we went over to Bognor to get our smaller species
Then went and anchored down
It was an excellent day
I won the smallest fish prize and the most species points
I caught pollock pout scad black bream conger ballan wrasse 6 species
Dickie also had 6 species
And I had biggest fish an eel in its teens
[Jason] |
Just two old ones |
Nigel rod-mender Cross and myself Jim forgetful Grant represented the club and seven other individuals were aboard.
We worked hard hunting mackerel but but only found TEN (and one bass) so we decided to conserve them as as best as we could (ten big mackerel = 50 ray baits) so it was off to the banks looking for blondes
First ray up was a thornback though.
I persisted with big baits while Nigel banged out a few bream,
Then there was a bit of a wait until a couple of smooth houunds and finally a 16lb blonde came over the stern,
Late on I got fed up of dogfish gnawing the ends of my big mackerel head bait and tried a squid/prawn cocktail.
Straight in to a good fish, definitely a blonde and then the braid parted
Just time to get a new leader attached, rebait and lift it over the rail when Gary said time to go beacause we were already cutting it very fine.
So it was anchor up double quick, hold on tight, throttle wide open. We got over the bar with about 2 inches/ 2 minutes to spare with everybody right up front to lift the stern off the gravel,
All good fun.
Thanks to Gary - looking forward to the nexr one
[Jim] |
Is Dickie going for gold |
Just six of us (Dickie, John H, Chris J, Steve, Gary O, and myself) set of again to hunt the tope.
Again very few mackerel found despite us zipping about looking for them so we had to rely on the fresh ones skipper Gary had in the coolbox (we also had in reserve of a coolbox of frozen which is now back in my freezer)
The mark we anchored had produced lots of tope and rays over the last few days but it didn't produce for us this time.
We had a long discussion about the shy and infrequent bites which could be summarised by the saying "When thewend is inn the East, the fish bite least"
There were three tope (2 for Dickie) and one small-eyed ray for John.
There were a number of (tope?) takes. Dickie had several line breaks.
Other species caught were - a couple of small pollock (caught while trying for mackerel), a conger (biggest fish of the day), a few bream and as far as I was concerned the best of the day was Steve's delicious (I ate it) 15oz red gurnard.
I myself have had better days, caught very little, lost fish that were "hooked", tangled up, breaking off in snags and finally breaking a tip ring
Dickie had the biggest(conger) and the most species and thereby increased his lead in BAOTY as well as moving him up to third position in the boat species hunt.
Thanks Gary for all your hard work, tea, coffee, biscuits kitkats, leader replacing and vigilance in spotting bites.
[Jim] |
Dickie an Haroun share the honours |
There were nine anglers aboard including the four clUb members (Dickie Davis, Farooq and Haroun Shah and yours truly)
One of those really nice days to be out at sea even though there was a bit of breeze but we had to work hard for fish.
We whizzed around looking for a shoal of mackerel (two does not a shoal make). Seven scad did turn up but thats not much bait between nine.
We anchored on a rough area known for hounds, but if any were there they did not want the hardback crabs although one did deign to take a squid bait.
The bream seem to have decided that its the end of the season so only a few small ones were caught.
Of course there were a number of congers. A couple of dogfish and just one thornback topped.
At the end of the day we tried a couple or six drifts for mackerel again with exactly nil success.
Dickie had the biggest (25lb) conger and Haroun managed six species.
A trying day. I don't know what could have been done differently butb imts called "Fishing" not "catching"
Thanks Gary for all your hard work, tea, coffee and biscuits.
[Jim] |
Dickie shines |
Five members and one guest leave Littlehampton marina for an evening / night trip in anticipation of something big in the dark .
Dickie was soon in to dogfish and followed this up with 10lb underlute ray, couple of hounds , and a silver eel .
Giving him most species and biggest fish .
Admiral Jamie Privett had dogfish and silver eel .
Stacey farmer and yours truly had dogfish and guest angler Simon brown had a couple of hounds and doggie.
Wasn't great fishing but a first time experience at evening /night.
Thanks again to Gary Edwards for taking us and for cups of tea and coffee and biscuits and for the chicken soup that went down a treat for all .
[Steve lewington Boat organiser] |
In search of the very elusive tope |
We staerted off with assuming that mackerel for bait would not be a problem.
We sought them here, we sought them there but all we found were a few lonely strays.
We watched the birds feeding but it was little bass chasing baitfish underneath them.
We stared at the monitor as we zoomed about stopping whenwe saw likey signs with little success.
Finally after over an hour and a half a dense shoal. Half a dozen drifts over them filled the icebox.
Now for the tope.
Off to where the big tope live.
Unfortunately the tope were all out. Not one tope
There were a few congers (not very big), A couple of thorbacks, an undulate, a few little bass and of course mackerel and some scad.
On the way back we stopped for some fresh mackerel and filled our coolboxes
Biggest fish was Dickie's conger and Rickie had the most(6) species.
[Jim] |
Tope disaster |
Me and dickie ventured out on another tope trip, the weather was good and the day looked promising. We spent the normal hour obtaining the essential bait. Dickie was the mackerel king as he was bring up full strings, the rest of us was playing catch up but wasn’t to far behind. We soon had over 200 mackerel.
We then ventured out to the land of the giants. When we anchored up, the tide was slack. I was using a 3 ounce weight with a jumbo mackerel flapper, the boat was swinging around so I swapped places with John to my left. As the bait hit the floor, the rod just doubled over and the reel losing line. I put the reel on full drag and there was no signs of it slowing down towards the anchor line, the unthinkable happens. I was trying to untangle my line from the anchor rope, without the saving grace of the skipper Gary Edward’s I would have lost the fish.
When she was on the boat, I was absolutely gazed at the size of her as I knew it was a new PB for me, weighed and pics taken (thanks Dickie) She was on her way, with seeing the potential of fish that could be caught, everyone was enthusiastic with getting there baits down.
Unfortunately we didn’t see another tope that day, I finished the day off with a 49 lb tope,11 lb undulate ray and a 15 lb conger and mackerel. Dickie had mackerel and the dreaded doggie.
[Jamie Privett] |
That’ll do - Jason Weller does us proud |
Had a good weekend in Weymouth for bcc
I was the joint winner with this eel
Weighed in at 48 lb
We also came second in the four man team (Jason weller mick doody David Lee Kim Mcgreevy)
We were beaten by the England team
[Jason Weller] |
A pair of pollocks… |
What a day…out with Gary today and we had a red letter day on pollock, every pollock on board was over 10lbs, both chests full and were still being plucked out.
The new reel ( okuma cavella two speed ) performed above expectations, the two speed function came in to its own and I was lucky to take home a 11lb and a 13lb pollock for dinner.
[Jamie Privett] |
Individual day cum club trip for three |
Admiral James Privett, Steve and Russ Lewington on board holdfast for tope .
First stop was for fresh bait and mackerel but they were hard to find to say the least.
We did catch some and after a couple of anchorings we finally settled on a mark for our intended quarry the tope.
Admiral Jamie Privett led from the front and started to catch tope and other species of which were mackerel, scad ,bream and thornback ray (he was well pleased with that)
Russ had mackerel, wrasse cuckoo) conger , and tope .
Myself had mackerel, scad ,pouting, conger and best for me a 11lb underlute ray.
Biggest fish went to the Admiral a tope around 16lb / 17lb .
It was one of them days because yours truly catching a tope try as I might it wasn't to be .
Thanks again to our skipper Gary Edwards and best mate Chris for advice , teas and coffees , biscuits and take a break kit kat nice touch greatly appreciated as always by the three GCSAC AKA the salty crew.
Regards
[Steve lewington]
B O .. boat organiser. |
Steve Maxxes out |
Good day by all lovely weather and everyone caught.
Had a battle with haroun shah on the species front today ...he is learning fast that lad and has adapted so well considering its not even a year since he took up the sport .
I did just enough to beat him with six species of which were Bream , mackerel, skad, pouting, tope , and conger .
Biggest fish of the day was my conger of 12lb that took honours over my tope of 11lb .
Although my scad was apparently quite big over a pound.
Haroun had five species and rest of crew had at least four each .
Thanks to Gary Edwards our skipper and best mate Chris for always being on hand at all times great team .
So lucky to have a boat like holdfast.
[Steve but retitled by Jim] |
What a day |
Club trip with seven actually making it (no names, no pack drill) so it was Chris, Nigel, Dickie, Gary, Farooq, Haroun and myself who set off to do battle with the bream.
Beautiful day start with but it blew up to a force 5 in the mid afternoon, for about an hour.
Straight to fish
Most of us concentrated on the bream, Dickie successfully targetted the bigger stuff and bagged 5 congers (to 22lb) and a tope, Chris produced a tompot blenny and a cuckoo wrasse to go with his pout abd bream to give him the four species.
Harouns 2lb 12oz bream was the biggest so far this year (GCSAC and Holdfast) but his pout and ballan only gave him three species.
Brilliant day.
Fantastic fishing and tea, biscuits, kitkats, ice.
Thanks to Gary and Chris.
[Jim] |
What a day |
Indviduals day but Farooq and Haroun were aboard again as was Barry Handley. I took up a station on the Starboard side where I could keep a beady eye on those three,
Beautiful dayo start with but it cut up a bit rough at lunchtime
As we are coming to expct, Gary took us straight to the fish (well one small adjusment because we hadn't really started hitting them in the first ten minutes}
It never stopped, loads of good sixed bream for everyone.
One of the best days bream fishing I have ever had (in 62 years), At one point the lead was not getting to the bottom ad I even managed to catch more than one good fish at a time (5 double shos and a treble)
There were of course 9 "BAOTY" points up for grabs and Haroun snaffled them all with smoothie, bream, dog, pout catches.
Haroun and Farooq, I believe, are now considering a larger coolbox to transfer the fish to their recently purchased freezer.
Fantastic fishing and tea, biscuits, kitkats, ice.
Thanks to Gary and Chris (who was riding shotgun)
[Jim] |
What a load of Pollacks |
Tuesday
Not perfect conditions today with stiff westerly winds confining us to Porthcurno Bay.
Then to top it all, pink plankton affecting the fish feeding & annoyingly clogging up our lines.
Notably commercial boats calling it a day & coming in early.
Bait fishing was hard work but we managed to catch 11 species between us.
Alan lake was top dog today with most species (7 no.), heaviest fish being a bull huss of 7lb & a specimen greater weaver of 1lb 3oz (contender for fish of the quarter?)
Wednesday
Wind dropped to offshore North Westerly’s meaning we could venture further South
Again, bait fishing was hard work and with no mackerel but again we managed to catch 11 species between us.
We spent an hour on a wreck pollack fishing catching 40 plus between us
All good sizes, the biggest being 8lb by Simon Mann
Phil had most species @ 7 no. and a bull huss of 8lb
Thursday
Lovely day & regrettably our last day.
Armed with lots of ragworm today so off we went
Again, bait fishing was hard work and with no mackerel yet again but we again managed to catch 11 species again between us.
We did some wrasse fishing where Ricky Never Regions caught a 4lb 1 oz ballan (contender for CGSAC wrasse trophy ?)
We spent an hour on a wreck pollack fishing catching 40 plus between us
All good sizes, the biggest being 9lb by Phil
Gavin had most species today @ 8 no.
Summary
A great 3 days considering the conditions.
Special thanks to the CGSAC team (including personal carers Gavin & Ricky ) & Chippy
I had been very unstable on my feet during the trip only for the MRI to reveal while we were away that I had 2 no. fractured vertebrae!
Dates for next year now booked for June 10 to 13 2025 (4 days Species fishing)
[Phil] |
P b - Personal bests !!!! |
Sunday 2nd June saw seven anglers leave Littlehampton marina in search of our quarry the tope .
Fresh mackerel was the key to hooking up to one of these big females.
Gary Edwards our skipper told us drop lines and up lines for must be an hour and half looking for the elusive mackerel.
Gary's best mate Chris who was on board with us managed a few as did our chairman sir jim .
With six or seven fresh mackerel and plenty of frozen with bream from previous trip we anchored not a million miles from shore .
First blood went to capt James Privett with his okuma multiplier going into melt down as braid and sound of the ratchet was an all to familiar sound for the first tope of around 30lb and pb for Jamie.
It wasn't long before yours truly had that same sound of a pick up and dropped and picked up again which in turn then decided to take me on a Sunday stroll aboard holdfast.
The power of this fish was incredible to say the least and what seemed an age around ten to fifteen minutes a big tope and personal best of 43lb was on board what a feeling of joy and arm aching to have.
There wasn't time to reflect when the rod was off again and another fight and tope of around 25lb was had .
Not to be out done was russ lewington whose rod and reel went into over drive and his tope hit the surface to say hello something that Gary's mate Chris hadn't seen before as it arched the rod over and the fight begun and ended with another pb tope of 35lb .
Most species on club trip was by Jamie who included underlute ray and dogfish.
Russ had dogfish, John and dickie had dogfish, jim our chairman had mackerel .biggest fish went to Steve lewington a tope of 43lb .
Big thanks to our skipper Gary Edwards and his best mate Chris for advice throughout the day and the teas and coffees given to the thirsty crew that is greatly appreciated by all
Thank you
Regards
[Steve Lewington (Boat Organiser] |
Saturday 25th May. - Sandy point hayling island Hampshire.
Beach report |
Very small window of opportunity at this venue .
A must for low water see 7 anglers take to the beach .
Fishing was hard to say the least but 2 anglers did catch.
1st place was Paul harcus with overall length of 74cm 2 species a conger eel of 53cm and a bream of 21cm .
2nd place was Peter cousins with overall length of 56cm 1 species dogfish.
[Steve Lewington] |
Seven go in hope for tope . |
What a lovely day with the early morning sunshine it looked promising to say the least on our anticipation of a big tope .
We were away at 8.00am to try for mackerel as bait .
We tried several spots and had a few but they were thin on the ground to say the least .
We had frozen though including bream that had been caught on a previous trip.
Twenty odd tope were caught between us all with the best going to that man Simon Mann with a 22lb fish that when on board seemed to end up with its head caught in straps on my cooler bag.
Most species was boat angler of the year 2023 Jason weller with four species including mackerel, dogfish, bass,and tope .
Think it probably was still to early to nab a big female but a really enjoyable day on board holdfast and it's skipper Gary Edwards who supplied tea , coffee and biscuits and kit kat to all .
His general knowledge is also so helpful and greatly appreciated.
Thanks Gary.
[Steve L] |
Out for the bream again |
What a great day to be out on the water, warm, calm and great company. All nice guys and amongst them were Farooq and Haroun as well Barry (who used to own/skipper Malaki) and his son Jason.
The fish were co-operating too, Gary stuck us on them right from the start. We never moved. There were bream under the boat and as we swung round we found more. Gary never had to do anything with the anchor < As each angler decided that they had enough bream for the table, bigger baits were tried. Tope runs resulted and after much good humoured banter, a couple were boated. Farooq had a little one, mine was aboout 20lb but the biggest oft the day would have gone 30-35 on the scales.
All thanks to Gary for his expert skippering, ice, tea, coffee and kitkats.
Two of the party were "rod hires" and I am afraid they may have been spoilt because its not always as good as this (even on Holdfast).
Another great day!
[Jim] |
Change of scenery |
I was invited by Bex (remember Kelley Heroes) to join her on a bream trip out from Brighton.
Bex herself could not make it but I met up with Brooke, Chis, Emily Jessica, Kev and the others in the multi-storey and on to the boat for 7:00
Very nice at sea (not too hot)
We did a bit of drifting along the edges of rocks then dropped anchor when the tide started running.
When the tide died again it was back to drifting to end the day
There were a few bream caught, I had half a dozen or so, as well as pout, a plaice that was too small (really thin too) and a ballan wrasse. .
A couple of tiny dover soles put in an appearance but I do not repember who got them
Another enjoyable day with old friends.
[Jim] |
Jim after the elusive big bream |
Very civilised start time - meet 8:20 sail 8:40
Weather was dry and sunny enough to give me a red nose,
We went to the Kingmere and tried several marks. Bream present but not the really big ones (best was one that weighrd in at exactly a kilo (2lb 3.5oz?)
We came in later and tried another couple of marks looking for ray etc. twhere we did finda few smallish congers, and a couple of smoothhounds.
Iended up with a nice trio of bream to take home and caught my first tope of the year as well as my share of congers and a dogfish.
It was an excellent day out in the sunshine.
[Jim] |
Thursday 9th May - Selsey Bill East Beach
Lewingtons on the beach |
New venue see the Lewingtons rock up at Selsey bill east beach.
Short walk from the car was ideal considering what we had just tucked into at the local chippy.
We settled into a set of groins and cast into the sunset with wraps of sandeel and squid on two rods and crab on a third looking for an early hound .
It wasn't long before russ had that familiar knocking on the tip and a doggie soon come a shore .
Not to be out done my rod tip was doing the same and a small conger eel was soon on the beach .
Dogfish and a slightly bigger conger of a couple of pounds was had in a session that ended in the early hours.
They weren't our intended quarry of a undulate ray but it was good just to be out doing a bit in a very calm sea that almost resembled fishing a big lake .
We intend to get back out some time soon.
We spoke about hillhead on the spit at low water for another ray the thornback.
We feel you have to have some sort of plan of attack watch this space .
Lewingtons wrapping up Steve and Russ .
[Steve Lewington] |
Bream Bream Bream |
This was an EARLY start - meet 5:15 sail 5:45
Weather was dry, a little overcast but pleasant,
Gary did not mess about. Thought about trying the bass but no birds working so it was off with the lures and on with bream gear.
We never moved very far all day, but Gary re-anchored several times to keep on the bream.
The fish were biting tentatively at times and then swallowing 3/0 hooks ten minutes later.
Paul and Chris both had a go for smoothounds but the only thing Paul's crab attracted was a smallish conger.
Anyway everybody got plenty of nice sized bream for the table. Paul took the honours with a conger for the biggest fish and was the only one with all three species (bream, conger, dog).
[Jim] |
I was in Selsey Friday evening for some beach fishing. When I saw there was a space so booked myself on. Jamie also managed to get aboard.
Weather was dry until late afternoon but a stiff north easterly was blowing most of the day.
First mark there were plenty of bites. We noticed they were a bit finicky but as we were catching put it down to the easterly wind.
Gary set up the rod hire guy with hard back crab and had a smoothound almost straight away.
We moved to a few marks but no more smoothound after myself and jamie riged up with crab. The bream were about from start to finish and lots for everyone for the table.
we both had doggie and bream.
[Simon Mann] |
The bream are IN |
I booked a place witH Gary on an individuals btream trip. Who should I end up parked next to but Haroun and Farooq and waiting on the boat was Dickie Davis making four club members.
7:45 for 8:15 start with a clear but cold day.
Staight to the inshore mark where we found bream. Gary did have to do a bit of clever jiggery pokery with the anchor but only actually moved a very small distances or adjusted the anchor warp to keep us on the fish all day.
Everybody had lots of bream and if there was anything else down there it probably couldn't get much of a look at the baits
Dickie had the biggest fish (his one conger) and I had the most (3) species, lots bream, one tiny conger, and one dogfish.
Great day - great company, thanks for the tea, coffee biscuits and the KitKat Gary and not forgetting marking and icing down all the fish during the day (makes a differenc).
Be seeing you again soon.
[Jim] |
Saturday 20 April - Hove West Sussex
Stacey hits te beach |
New member Stacey farmer from Worthing decided on a trip to local beach and was rewarded with dogfish, plaice, pouting, and a couple of underlute rays.
Stacey joins our hunt for most species on the beach 2024 in which our Simon Mann leads the way with 19 species to date .
We also look forward to seeing him on the boats welcome aboard Stacey.
[Russell lewington] |
Dickie and Jim at Littlehanpton again |
Just the two of us from the club on this individuals trip.
A more sensible (7:30 for 8) start with a clear day and a light but chilly breeze.
I started out fully insulated ("Guy Cottens", thick fleece, Big fishing jacket)
A neap tide so the boat was at the mercy of what little wind there was.
First mark was close in and sstraight away one of the other guys had a bream double shot.Early promise was not upheld however, so after a couple more smallish bream and a few dogfish we headed out to the "Kingmere",
Things improved and it there were a few more (and better) bream.The sun was quite warm so gradually shed big jacket followed by fleece and then the "Cottens".
At time went on the bites got scarcer, we moved back inshore, temperatures fell it got windier, fleece and jacket back on.
Although a little tope and a spurdog was caught Dickie and I just had conger, dogfish, and bream and I didn't even get a dogfish. So most species and biggest fish (a conger) for Dickie
Another good day - many thanks Gary - looking forward to my next trip.
[Jim] |
Sunday 14 April - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
First club trip to actually make it to sea |
Nine men booked for fishing. Alarms were ringing from ten-to-stupid (Four-something a.m.).
Dickie, Farooq, Haroun, Gary, Jason, Jim, John, Nick, Nigel all parked up ar the Mainaa and then assembled on the boat for roll call for 6:45 and off we jolly well went.
Nice day and, despite a bit of banter from the skipper (Gary Edwards) I was quite happy that I was n my shorts (Jason wimped out!).
A neap tide so Gary had a few problems getting the boat to settle in the desired location but wewere spot on the money because we soon started finding fish and other boats were buzzing around the area and re-anchoring several times,
Bream came in steadily throughout the morning but bites dried up duriing the afternoon even though we did try a couple of other marks.
The only other species were: The ubiquitous dogfish for everyone except John, a tiny smoothhound for Dickie, a lonely mackerel for Haroun, and pouts for Nick and myself.
The Shahs were the breaming stars with Farooq reeling them in two at a time and Haroun taking the largest of the day (not actually weighed). Most species was a 4-way tie with the points shared between Dickie, Nick, Haroun and myself
Great day with constant coffee and tea - many thanks Gary
[Jim] |
Shore Fishing News to date (April 7th)
Think it deserves mentioning that Simon has amassed these species for 2024.
plaice , flounder, turbot, bass , *mullet, small eyed ray , Gurnard, dogfish, whiting, conger , pouting, mackerel, garfish, wrasse, codling, and gilt head bream .
With Herring, sardine and anchovy it could be 19 species (Still waiting for confirmation on them ).
*His mullet was thick lipped
It's a long way to go yet
But most species off the beach so far for 2024 is .
1st place - Simon Mann
2nd place - Jamie Privett
3rd place - Paul Harcus
[Steve Lewington] |
30th March - Shoreham - Beach match
Results
Ist place - Paul harcus - 4 species - Total pts - 290
2nd place - Peter badger - 2 species - Total pts - 167
3rd place - Jamie Privett - 2 species 1 under 20cm - Total pts - 33pts
4th place - Dan mallia - 1 species - Total pts - 20
Biggest fish - paul harcus - conger - 75cm
[Russel lewington - Beach Secretary] |
Some day in January - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
Dickie,Jason and Gary Edwards |
Dickie and myself wet fishing on a hold fast indivuals day
We had the boat to ourselves
Dickie had the starboard side and I had the port side
We anchored a couple of wrecks looking for some good eels and the went to some rock work
I managed to loose a couple but then got my act together and managed to catch a couple and Dickie had eels too
We also had pout and dogfish
I had most spices with 3 and biggest fish 15lb eel (not the big ones we were looking for)
Dickie had eels and dogfish
Fishing was hard but we had a lot more fish than Jennifer’s pride2 the day before with a crew of 6
I also had the smallest fish a translucent baby eel
Many thanks to Gary we had a great day
[Jason] |
Reports from Last Year (2023) |
|
Friday 15th December - Plymouth -
Sea Angler II
Bass on lures |
6 members of the Plymouth Seafarers club set of at 7:15 for drift fishing trip for bass.
Weather was mild for the year 11c, light westerly wind so great conditions.
We started our first wreck drift around 9;30, initially we all caught pout, a couple of small pollack (around 5lb) and I also caught a red gurnard. We then moved to another wreck, east of Plymouth about 15 miles out, we then started catching bass, between 4lb to 6lb in weight.
In all we fished about 4 different wrecks, between us we caught 15 bass, I had 4, white lures working best.
We called it a day around 3pm. All in all a great day, nice to catch bass, we were also visited a few times by a small pod of dolphins (around 6-8) plus seeing bluefin tuna nearby.
[David] |
Saturday 2nd December - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
A cold day in littlehampton |
I went fishing on an individual’s day on holdfast
The 5 of us braved the cold
I had a fantastic day and caught pout congers to 10 lb small bream loads of bass to about 2 lbs using feathers at first then switching to a patchinco surface lure and had great fun at one point I had 2 bass on 1 lure
I also caught my first ever herring
Great day many thanks Gary
[Jason] |
)
Another great trip. |
Having been blown out on the over 60s trip the day before I rescheduled to the Wed inshore.
I had been at the Unit about 10 minutes when Farooq and his son Haroon (spelling?) hove into view.
Although there were only four (Chris Hawkins was the fourth) anglers instead of the normal eight) on the day Ian still took us out.
To the Nab area for the whiting to begin with and we did get some (Up to 2lb) and a bullhuss comfortably into double figures.
Then with the afternoon forecasted to bring more wind we headed inshore and up the Solent to try for the mythical cod.
o cod but we did get some more nice sized whiting. During the day were also little congers, dogfish and some quite big pout too.
The tea and coffee service was also exemplery.
[Jim] |
The aftermath of Storm Agnus. |
![[]](images 2023/2023 09 29 1.jpg)
Sorm Agnus hit on the Wednesday with vengeance following a progressive build up from Sunday onwards .
The Scillian ferry didn’t go out and Chippy & co. had to move their boats for it to moor in its places. I’ve not seen that before
We managed to fish on the 5th day of the 5 day booked trip in Porthcurno Bay just out of a considerable swell.
Beggars could not be choosers so we fished for what we could with just 3 of us on board .
A 4th person helped us load until he realised, he was on the wrong boat & had to get back off.
A very entertaining day as fishing out of Penance always is with us catching 16 species in such a restricted area.
Mackerel,scad,pout,poor cod, tub & grey gurnards ,blonde & small eyed ray,bull huss,bass,brill ,turbot,cod,greater weaver,cuckoo wrasse & doggies
Notable fish were ;
Simon Manns small eyed ray of 9lb 13 oz & Liam Evans with a 1 ½ lb greater weaver
Simon’s ray was the biggest fish & a contender for fish of the quarter ?
Liam with caddy Chippy) & I shared most species with 12 no. each.
I booked a 3 day trip JUNE next year so watch this space if anyone is interested
[Phil] |
Sunday 1 October - Plymouth -
Sea Angler II
Report from our Plymouth Correapondent (member) |
Seafarers Club Species Competition
11 competitors took part in the annual species competitions. 9 were on Sea Angler 2 and two on a private boat. It was agreed the fishing area had to be around the eddystone reef.
So at 7pm both boats left port on an overcast mild day with a southwesterly wind of around 12 - 14 kn.
We (on sea angler 2) stopped just outside Plymouth breakwater for mackerel and all of us were quickly catching 2-3 at a time. So after about 20 mins we headed for the eddystone lighthouse area and started drift fishing for about an hour, a number of small pollack were caught around 3-6lb pound and I caught on a pink sidewinder lure a 3lb 8oz Couches bream. Early afternoon we anchored up. We were all quickly catching cuckoo wrasse, pout, poor cod, scad, mackerel, Ballan wrasse and one small bass.
I also caught a 3lb 4oz Black Sea bream and another about 1.5lb.
After about a further hour, we finished the day with drift fishing.
The results. I came 1st with 99pts, 2nd Stan on 94pts, and 3rd john with 82pts.
It was an excellent day out with everyone catching fish.
My 2 biggest bream are in the attached photo, a 3lb 4oz black bream and a 3lb 8oz couches bream.
[David Lee] |
Sunday 28th September - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
Jasion reporting on an individuals day |
Drift and anchor wrecking
Early start 6 for 6.30
First we went drifting we had some nice pollock and some pout
Then we anchored the Moldavia we had eels pout and bream
Finally we went drifting again and had some nice bass up to 5lb
I had pollock biggest 9 1/2 lb
Pout and a bass 3lb
A 10 hr trip became 13 hrs and we all had a fantastic day
Many thanks to Gary
[Jason] |
Saturday/Sunday September 9/10th - Weymouth
Meercat (Ryan Casy)
A very successful & enjoyable weekend
|
Saturday
Nice sunny day, even the tuna was leaping for joy off The Bill .
14 species in total consisting of blondes, small eyed, smoothounds, bream, mackerel, bass ,pout, poor cod ,whiting, conger, pollack ,turbot, brill & doggies. Lots of blondes, bream & congers in particular
Notable fish both going to Simon Mann being a 1lb 11 oz mackerel & 7lb 1oz bass
Simon had most species of 9 no.
I had the biggest fish being a 13lb blonde ray
Sunday
10 species today where Mr Tope & his mates put in appearances throughput the day .
Simon Mann left his breaming rod unattended . It was almost yanked over the side but I managed to catch the butt in midair . Trace bitten off but rod & reel saved.
Chris Jarrett’s trace was then bitten off.
I was then leaning on the gunnels, minding my own business, watching Gavin Hunt reeling in what we thought was a strap.
Dialogue consisting of “its gone ,no its back” kind of thing took place when a great big bloody Porbeagle surfaced to say hello.
200lbs ? I bloody s*** myself & mentally took a while to recover .
Then Chris Jarrett hooked into it again, Ryan had a go on Chris’s for a bit but the line eventually snapped & he ended up on his back side.
Notable fish both going to Simon Mann being a 2lb 14 oz bream
Mick Doody & I had most species of 6 no. each
Simon Bedwell the biggest fish being a 25lb tope.
Great couple of days
Thanks Ryan with your drone taking the aerial footage.
[Phil] |
Sunday September 3rd - Littlehampton - Lynander (Dickie Legget) Club Competition (Second Leg) |
Lovely day with lots of different fish caught.
Approx 250 scoring fish between 6 of us & a total of 14 species .
Places as follows.
1st Phil 100%
2nd Mick 86.80%
3rd Gavin 86.45%
With 5 mins to go I flicked out for scad with rag worm & caught a club record 3lb sting ray instead
I had most species (10)
Jason heaviest fish being a conger @ 12lb
Thanks Dickie ,good fun & I believe you enjoyed it also.
[Phil] |
A Pic and a brief note from one of our Weymouth members
|
Blonde ray = 23lb 6oz
Caught on Offshore Rebel
We had 25 blondes
1 brill 3 turbot spotted Ray undulate ray
Bream dogfish , red band fish and pollack
Great day
[Mick] |
Sunday 27th August - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
Wrecking with Gary |
This was a 10-hour wrecking trip that was more like 12 hours by the time we got back in.
Very reasonable cost I thought including bait, thanks to Gary.
We left at 7 am & came back in about 7pm
Breezyish North Westerly developed when we got out there with a little bit of honking from 1 or 2 & someone lost their cap.
Lots of mackerel, scad & pout about
No pollack drifting the wrecks although a few were caught on a previous trip we understand.
Picked up some bream, a gurnard & a steady flow of eels while at anchor throughout the day.
Dustin Pitman had 5 species.
Farooq had the heaviest fish, an 18 lb conger.
[Phil] |
Sunday 27th August - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
Wrecking with Gary |
This was a 10-hour wrecking trip that was more like 12 hours by the time we got back in.
Very reasonable cost I thought including bait, thanks to Gary.
We left at 7 am & came back in about 7pm
Breezyish North Westerly developed when we got out there with a little bit of honking from 1 or 2 & someone lost their cap.
Lots of mackerel, scad & pout about
No pollack drifting the wrecks although a few were caught on a previous trip we understand.
Picked up some bream, a gurnard & a steady flow of eels while at anchor throughout the day.
Dustin Pitman had 5 species.
Farooq had the heaviest fish, an 18 lb conger.
[Phil] |
There s a plaice for us |
Late start
Two dropouts so there were just four of us.
Great hopes for mackerel, bream, rays, bass and plaice (we took worms) etc.
Unfortunately the mackerel were a bit scarce (or a bass)but Clive perservered with them on and off all day (Thanks Clive)
The bream were there but on the small side though we all got some
No sign af a ray (or a bass)
Jason and I also had little congers and I was the only one NOT tocatch a pout.
Biggest fish was a conger for Jason who also got 4 species.
a couple of scad and pout were caught as well as three small conger..
we finished up with plaice catching about ten sizeable ones between us
Man ofthe day was Mr Anderson who had the seven species including a red gurnard and alsoo the biggest fish (10lb conger).
Good Weather, good company, and a good trip - thanks again Clive
[Jim] |
Wednesday 9th - Friday 11th August - Hillhead )
Smoothhound carnage |
Day before trip see us collect 150 odd hardback live crab for a 3 day session.
Hillhead is a famous Wall in Hampshire
Not the easiest of places to fish due to its slopping wall although odd steps are located in several groins along the length of wall .
Day one - 9th of August
We were soon hauling hounds average size about 8ish although we did catch a few doubles mine ....Steve at 11lb .
Day two - 10th of August..
Again lots of hounds and I repeated the day before weight with a 11lb one .
Day three - 11th of August lots of hounds but Russell came up with a beauty of 15lb
It was something we planned and it all came together on the 3rd trip ..
We will return because I do believe the venue will produce a 20lb fish .. watch this space tight lines
[Steve lewington = boat organiser.] |
Sunday 10 August - Gosport -
DoinTheDo)
Catching a few rays |
Me and Phil fished on DoinTheDo out of Gosport on 10th August
We caught a few Mackerel and a couple of Scad for bait then headed to the “Fingers” where we fished all day
We caught steadily throughout the day with Small-eyed, Spotted, Undulate and Thornbacks rays plus small Tope and Smoothound being the main species caught
Phil caught the biggest fish, a 9lb Small eyed ray and also had the most species 8
[Gavin] |
Tuesday $ July - Club Meeting
Just the Highlights |
Steve Lewington officialy confirmedthat he would take over as Boat Organiser. He has a few ideas he would like to try - so watch this space. Welcome Steve!
Then Paul Harcus officially relinquised the Boat Secretary position after many years in the post
A little bit of arm twisting and Russel Lewington stepped up!
Paul has asked me to publish the following note:
As you all may know by now. I am finally standing down from my roll as Beach secretary. I would like to thank everyone who have turned up for the comps, and the fun days out over the past 15-20 years.
We have a new Beach Secretary Russel Lewington . He is very keen to take on the roll, and I'm sure there will be more comps and different venues .I hope you all will continue to support the beach section.
So thanks Russel, and thanks again to all for your support.
tight lines Paul
I,in turn, as chairman, would also like to welcome Steve and Russel onto the committee and look forward to a bright future for the club.
[Jim as Chairman/Webmaster] |
Thursday 6 July - Hillhead -
The Lewingtons Shore fishing |
Russ had another smoothhound at 10lb on the nose quite literally.
[Steve Lewington]
thats the first picture
|
This second picture is of "one he caught earlier" (10lb 12oz) back in May, just before he joined the club.
[Steve L] |
Wednesday 28 June - Plymouth -
Sea Angler II
David the Seafarer |
3 club members from seafarers club left port at 7am for a Ray trip.
We stopped off first by the Mew Stone for mackerel. We were lucky and caught about 60 fairly quickly plus some launce.
We then headed for some sand banks near Hope Cove.
Initially we were catching some dogfish plus cuckoo wrasse. I then caught a 3lb 8oz black bream. As the tide started to turn we moved to another bank about five miles further east.
As soon as we started fishing again we were catching spurdogs, my first was at 17lb.
Between three of us we caught over 45. I caught the biggest at 21lb with several others at 19lb.
Other fish caught were Tope, grey and red gurnard and to top the day off a 8lb 4oz turbot.
A brilliant day with fish being caught all day.
[David] |
Sunday 18th June - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
Bream and more |
7:30 srart
Nine on board..
There was a fresh North East breeze and with wind over tide it was a bit bumpy to start with but once the tide turned conditions were great (you were right Gary)
As for the fishing - that was great too.
Twelve species - bass, toppot blenny, bream, conger, dogfish, mackerel, pout,smoothhound, tope, undulare ra and ballan wrasse.
When the bream stopped feeding some of uswe geared up for the tope and smoothhounds.
Then I swapped back to bream when that slowed (I consistently guessed wrongly)
Jason had the most species(7) and Steve's 20lb conger was the biggest fish
An Excellent day out Gary and thanks for the tea, coffee and biscuits.
[Jim] |
<
)
Jim's Birthday Bash |
Just the four of us fishing, Dave, Rio, Cassius and myself.
Nice day with the early start being a bit of a shock for Rio an Cassius (six 0'clock pickup)
Jess wsas in charge ably assisted by Chris and young Emily kept an eye on Colin the Caterpillar.
We had dogfish, pout, and mackerel of course as well as bream, tope and smoothhound.
In the afternoon the tide turned, the breeze increased, the sun hid behind the clouds, the boat rocked a bit and the three younger ones lost interest and got a bit pale so we headed in (only about half an hour early).
It was now actually raining by the time we tied up and then we ate most of Colin the Caterpillar (saved a bit for Brooke)
Great day! Thanks Jess and Chris
[Jim] |
Sunday 4th June - Littlehampton -
Holdfast (Gary)
Bream and more |
7:00 srart
Nine on board..
There was a fresh northeast breeze and with wind over tide it was a bit bumpy to start with but once the tide turned conditions were great (you were right Gary)
As for the fishing - that was great too.
Twelve species - bass, toppot blenny, bream, conger, dogfish, mackerel, pout,smoothhound, tope, undulare ra and ballan wrasse.
When the bream stopped feeding some of uswe geared up for the tope and smoothhounds.
Then I swapped back to bream when that slowed (I consistently guessed wrongly)
Jason had the most species(7) and Steve's 20lb conger was the biggest fish
An Excellent day out Gary and thanks for the tea, coffee and biscuits.
[Jim] |
<
Compeetition time |
7:30 srart
Eleven competitors.
The fresh East wind may have had something with it but the fishing was patchy
We were finnding a few fish but not in great quantities of any particular species.
Both boats found bream and wrasses
Holdfast bagged the low-scoring mackerel and pout
There was a scattering of other species but no rays at all.
Biggest bream was 3lb (Jason) Bigget fishes were 2 x 15lb congers (Jason and Mick}
RESULTS
1st Jason Weller on Holdfast pos 5 scored 211 / 211 making 100.00 %
2nd Mick Doody on Lynander pos 3 scored 200 / 200 making 100.00 %
3rd Jim Grant on Holdfast pos 4 scored 157 / 211 making 74.41 %
Good Comp
[Jim] |
The bream have arrived |
Over 60s trip (imshore)
Nice day but a bit chilly and the East wind was no friend to the fishing.
Fairly slow but there were a few bream caught and they were mostly sizeable. Farooq was aboard with his son and managed to find the biggest bresm (comfortably over 2lb) as well as a small-eyed ray and a conger.
Dogfish were also about
Of the two of us Farooq took the honours with the biggest fish and four species.
Great day! Thanks ian.
[Jim] |
Hard work
|
First time out with Gary. A very smart and fast NEW boat
Our target was the the early bream
We tried several marks without a lot of suceess but Gary and Chris could not have tried harder.
There were not a lot of fish Caught though we enjoyed the day.
Coffee and tea flowed generously.
We had bream, dogs and congers but noot big numbers or sizes.
I had most species and Gavin's conger was the biggest fish.
Good weather, good company, good boat, good skipper.
Thanks Gary
[David] |
Sunday 5 March - Plymouth -
Crusader
Lingo Stars!!
|
This was a short 5hr trip as there had been computer issues the day before on the boat. However, with 6 anglers on board, 2 from Guildford City Angling Club. Simon Mann was holidaying in Cornwall and following a call a few days earlier joined me for the trip.
We left Plymouth at 11am, with a very light wind and completely flat sea, we headed to the reefs just south of the Eddystone Lighthouse to drift for pollack and the elusive cod, the latter had been caught recently albeit in very low numbers.
We started our first drift around 12noon and my first drop I caught a pollock around 5lb. Fishing proved relatively slow but gradually most of us caught some pollock plus a small ling, all on lures. Simon also caught a whiting.
I also caught my first ever Coal fish, albeit only about 2lb
Later in the day, at close to low tide we drifted with baited hooks. I landed a 19.5lb ling closely followed by Simon catching a 8lb ling. Several more ling were caught by others.
My Ling was the biggest fish of the day.
We headed back to port around 4pm, a beautiful day with amazingly flat sea and were joined on the way by a pod of dolphins.
[David] |
hursday 2 March - Plymouth -
Sea Angler II
Rays Galore |
Six anglers boarded Sea Angler 2 for Ray trip fishing the banks near Hope Cove, we left Plymouth at 7:30 with a light NE wind.
We anchored around 9am and I tried out my brilliant repaired Tubertini nautek pro 3m rod with a very fine tip. Within two mins I caught my first blond ray of 10.5lbs, the rod worked brilliantly. Then a few mins later I caught my first dogfish of the day and as it surfaced, being an …!!!iot I lifted the rod which quickly snapped 6 inches above the repair – my fault.
Anyway, all of us caught dogfish, blond rays, the biggest at 18.5lbs and some spurdogs. I caught the most blond rays, 6, biggest at 16.5lb plus a spurdog.
[David] |
4th Feb 2023 Sea Angler 2 out of Plymouth
Catching rays and getting bullied |
Seven anglers boarded Sea Angler 2 for hopeful Ray fishing trip. We left port at 7:30am, weather was good, slightly overcast, but mild for time of the year, and westerly wind of about 5knts.
We headed out to some banks a few miles out from Hope Cove, South Devon. We quickly started catching Blonde Rays, biggest was 24lb. I caught two, biggest was 20lb and then I caught a 11lb bull huss and a small ling. Late morning as the fishing went quiet we up anchored and went to some sandy banks just outside Salcombe.
Here we were hoping for more rays, but none were caught. However, Bull huss to 16lb were caught, plus pout, dogfish and I caught 7 strap congers.
It was a good day overall with everyone catching fish.
[David] |
Saturday 28th January Plymouth with Seafarers Club on Sea Angler 2
A new specioes for David (and the club) |
I went fishing with the Seafarers Club annual club comp with 9 on board. It was a beautiful bright January day, with a NE wind blowing a gentle 5knts. We headed out to reefs 7-8 miles east of the Mew Stone.
Soon after our first anchor we started catching pout, then I had a spurdog weighing in at 16lb. This was quickly followed by somebody catching an 18lb spurdog. About 10 spurdogs (I caught 3) were caught at this reef.
We then moved onto another reef early afternoon, fishing got a bit quieter, Ballan wrasse and more pout were caught, however. I then caught a small a fish I haven’t seen before, a comber, see attached photos.
* a club record if only it had been weighed!
It was a good day overall with a steady amount of fish being caught, I came 4th overall.
See you all at the AGM on 7th Feb.
[David] |
Just four up |
7:30 srart
Two dropouts so there were just four of us.
We dabbled about around a feature a bit until the tide dropped enough to tempt us into deeper water.
Anchoring in the deeper water did not produce the expected numbers, or size, of whiting or the hoped for spurs.
Then we came much further inshore which did allow us to gatch a few more whiting.
All of us caught dogs and whiting
Jason and I also had little congers and I was the only one NOT tocatch a pout.
Biggest fish was a conger for Jason who also got 4 species.
Paul did get VERY cold but I think a break in the cabin and a hot drink improved things for him.
Well done Clive
[Jim] |