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today could be called a very short notice trip or a very late trip as I slept in yesterday.
I finally decided to renew my launch permit from sunderland after looking around at alternatives. So this morning at 9am I decided to go fishing...no crew at short notice but a phone call on sunday evening reporting a shark sighting about nine miles off souter lighthouse set me off on my favourite subject. So chuck on the shark gear ...up to the marina office..pay me money and thats me set for another year.
Headed out about 11.45...my "informer" had mentioned a wreck 9 miles off souter lighthouse. A quick study off the gps and I chose a mark in that area. The sea is flat calm ...I have a full tank of juice and I'm wearing sunglasses
On my way I was approaching a wreck marked on the charts so decided to detour and have a look. Also an opportunity to get some bait. I turned the boat around and faced the wind and thought "Oh...theres a lot of white caps when you look back into the wind" (or words to that effect).
I had been travelling at about 24 knots with the wind...comfortable and no worries...I have to say that if I had not stopped to check out that wreck I would have continued to my planned target 9 miles out.
Found the wreck and tried a few drifts but with drift speeds of 2.5 knots its hard to hold bottom. Nothing caught. So its decision time...continue out to the planned area or turn back.
Well it was uncomfortable but not dangerous so I opted to try further out but aware of the changing conditions..the further I went the worse it would get.
By the time i had reached about 6.5 miles out things were certainly picking up...a quick drift over another wreck...and I do mean quick...things were getting up to 3 knots...decision made ..time to head back.
Reverse coarse and slow down...It was a rough ride straight into a s/westerly and the wind was getting up...I got wet and the max speed I could do was about 8 knots.
Back inshore it was a different climate alltogether. I spotted an intresting looking ground feature about 1/2 mile of hendon dock. Looked like a satelite view of Jordan with a nice gulley in between. Dropped the anchor in about 30 ft of water with a plan of fishing the channel ( about 50 ft wide) between the two bulges. By the time the anchor held in the wind I had crossed from the southerly boob ...over the clevage and was on the northerly hump with the channel about 30 yards to the south on some very rough ground. Fish finder showed less than 30 ft but the channel was 15 ft deeper.
Two bait rods out ..one with a pennel 0/4 and a full squid.. and the other with a running ledger, 0/3 kamasan uptide and loaded with mussel which I collected at the bottom of the slip on the off chance. (proved to be a good move) Both aimed at the deep slot but the wind was against tide and the boat was swinging heavily with every gust of the wind.
First bite to the full squid within 5 minutes. Nice codling of 3 lbs. This was followed by a hectic hour with the majority of fish coming to the mussel. Nothing huge but 13 fish with a best of 5.5 lb in an hour changes a day from a disaster to a result in very quick time. An excellent hour then all went dead.
Had I caught them all or had the turn of the tide moved them on. Its a narrow channel about 50 ft long so the possiblity that I had cleared out the residents was in mind. With the tide flowing in the opposite direction it made sense to me to up anchor and try the opposite bank. Nothing for 2 hours so I pulled up the anchor and drifted inshore...nothing more caught.
Time for home...good day had ...three keepers for six fillets.
Great day and a lot learned. (Main thing learned was to check whats happening behind you)
Cheers
Dave
I finally decided to renew my launch permit from sunderland after looking around at alternatives. So this morning at 9am I decided to go fishing...no crew at short notice but a phone call on sunday evening reporting a shark sighting about nine miles off souter lighthouse set me off on my favourite subject. So chuck on the shark gear ...up to the marina office..pay me money and thats me set for another year.
Headed out about 11.45...my "informer" had mentioned a wreck 9 miles off souter lighthouse. A quick study off the gps and I chose a mark in that area. The sea is flat calm ...I have a full tank of juice and I'm wearing sunglasses
On my way I was approaching a wreck marked on the charts so decided to detour and have a look. Also an opportunity to get some bait. I turned the boat around and faced the wind and thought "Oh...theres a lot of white caps when you look back into the wind" (or words to that effect).
I had been travelling at about 24 knots with the wind...comfortable and no worries...I have to say that if I had not stopped to check out that wreck I would have continued to my planned target 9 miles out.
Found the wreck and tried a few drifts but with drift speeds of 2.5 knots its hard to hold bottom. Nothing caught. So its decision time...continue out to the planned area or turn back.
Well it was uncomfortable but not dangerous so I opted to try further out but aware of the changing conditions..the further I went the worse it would get.
By the time i had reached about 6.5 miles out things were certainly picking up...a quick drift over another wreck...and I do mean quick...things were getting up to 3 knots...decision made ..time to head back.
Reverse coarse and slow down...It was a rough ride straight into a s/westerly and the wind was getting up...I got wet and the max speed I could do was about 8 knots.
Back inshore it was a different climate alltogether. I spotted an intresting looking ground feature about 1/2 mile of hendon dock. Looked like a satelite view of Jordan with a nice gulley in between. Dropped the anchor in about 30 ft of water with a plan of fishing the channel ( about 50 ft wide) between the two bulges. By the time the anchor held in the wind I had crossed from the southerly boob ...over the clevage and was on the northerly hump with the channel about 30 yards to the south on some very rough ground. Fish finder showed less than 30 ft but the channel was 15 ft deeper.
Two bait rods out ..one with a pennel 0/4 and a full squid.. and the other with a running ledger, 0/3 kamasan uptide and loaded with mussel which I collected at the bottom of the slip on the off chance. (proved to be a good move) Both aimed at the deep slot but the wind was against tide and the boat was swinging heavily with every gust of the wind.
First bite to the full squid within 5 minutes. Nice codling of 3 lbs. This was followed by a hectic hour with the majority of fish coming to the mussel. Nothing huge but 13 fish with a best of 5.5 lb in an hour changes a day from a disaster to a result in very quick time. An excellent hour then all went dead.
Had I caught them all or had the turn of the tide moved them on. Its a narrow channel about 50 ft long so the possiblity that I had cleared out the residents was in mind. With the tide flowing in the opposite direction it made sense to me to up anchor and try the opposite bank. Nothing for 2 hours so I pulled up the anchor and drifted inshore...nothing more caught.
Time for home...good day had ...three keepers for six fillets.
Great day and a lot learned. (Main thing learned was to check whats happening behind you)
Cheers
Dave
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