Not every day goes to plan and not every day goes the way we want, this time it did though and what a cracking day it turned out to be.
The alarm was set for “early” not Slinky o’clock but still we were out of the marina by half past eight and steaming towards some of the three mile wrecks. Each wreck had at least a couple of boats over them so we kept going until we found an unoccupied wreck at 6 miles. What the fishing lacked in quantity, at least for now, it made up with in quality.
We had a couple of fish at about 6lb followed by the first double of the season, a cod weighing in at 11lb taken on a shad that was dropped to the wreck then tightened straight into the fish. An 8-pounder followed and was carefully returned along with several other fish before the three wrecks went quiet and we moved to whiting city for a brew over the 6 mile hard ground. They came too thick and fast, there was barely enough time to pick up the mugs of coffee before the next whiting hit.
Right on cue, the wind picked up for an hour or two causing the drift to become fast and lumpy. We set off for the hard ground at St Mary’s, stopping to pick a few more fish off the wrecks on the way.
Pushed north by the wind on one long drift, the average fish size decreased, now we had the quantity box ticked. The fish were hungrier than last week, all taking lug baited lures.
We kept 5 fish and all the others were returned, except for a bucket of mackerel for the freezer. Did I mention that the mackerel were back in force?
Steve with a fish on the way up.
And along came another one…
The alarm was set for “early” not Slinky o’clock but still we were out of the marina by half past eight and steaming towards some of the three mile wrecks. Each wreck had at least a couple of boats over them so we kept going until we found an unoccupied wreck at 6 miles. What the fishing lacked in quantity, at least for now, it made up with in quality.
We had a couple of fish at about 6lb followed by the first double of the season, a cod weighing in at 11lb taken on a shad that was dropped to the wreck then tightened straight into the fish. An 8-pounder followed and was carefully returned along with several other fish before the three wrecks went quiet and we moved to whiting city for a brew over the 6 mile hard ground. They came too thick and fast, there was barely enough time to pick up the mugs of coffee before the next whiting hit.
Right on cue, the wind picked up for an hour or two causing the drift to become fast and lumpy. We set off for the hard ground at St Mary’s, stopping to pick a few more fish off the wrecks on the way.
Pushed north by the wind on one long drift, the average fish size decreased, now we had the quantity box ticked. The fish were hungrier than last week, all taking lug baited lures.
We kept 5 fish and all the others were returned, except for a bucket of mackerel for the freezer. Did I mention that the mackerel were back in force?
Steve with a fish on the way up.
And along came another one…
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