Elsie May V1 2-3-4/11/07

[jeff]

Just to follow on from Graham's comments. ( I did see that small fish mate)

Great company, great fishing.............great breakfasts, morning snacks, lunches, afternoon snacks, evening meals and late night snacks. I learned a lot from two good anglers as well.

Personal best caught, (previous was 102lb Sailfish).........Mr Volante has some catching up to do now....!!! (Not that the two of us are competitive at all...!!!)

Dave is right. It's not an expensive trip considering the fishing you are doing........especially with Dave and Graham who kindly provided all the gear and refused to let me use anything from my box which was left in the van the entire trip. Word of warning though.....it's bloody hard work. I spend 4 nights a week in a weights gym and it didn't prepare me for the physical exertion....(and I'm not talking about lifting food to my mouth before we get anymore sarcasm)!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks lads....

What Dave didn't say in the message was that we stopped at a "Honeymoon Hotel" when we got stuck on Sunday........I'm beginning to think him and Graham were getting ideas or it was a plan to snare me so I made a sharp exit after a couple of drinks.....(Ha-Ha)

As Charlie says......as I'm no longer on Strictly Come Dancing I'm basically free to fish now...!!!

Are you still working on the Seal and Pollock video Dave...?

Cheers,
Jeff.

PS.......Did anyone find my missing welly...?

 

[Topfly]

Great post Dave, thorourly enjoyed reading about your weekend and the great pics, well done lads

 

[davem2005]

Jeff,

Not quite sure what you are inferring with the honeymoon hotel bit

What did make me laff a bit was as we drove past that hotel we all agreed it "looked expensive"...little did we know that an hour later we would be booking into it after exhausting other options

I had forgoten about the pollock/seal video...short but cute.

Everytime i go up that way ...and have a few beers on saturday night...a nice curry...a few more beers....and then I fancy going clubbing....



Unfortunately this year the seals were not around in any numbers

With regard to borrowing gear you can probably appreciate better now the situation with regard to deck space. Tackle losses are very low...I think the total losses for three days were one set of skate gear due to a misterious break of the braid and fortunately not with a fish on..other than that we never even lost a hook. Its far more important to have the room as three people and a 5 ft by 6 ft skate in a sixteen footer can be a squeeze.

It would be daft for someone to go out and buy "the heavy gear" for what may or may not be a one off trip, and some of it isn't cheep. I think a quick reconning would be that between the three skate rods there is probably over 300 quids worth of braid alone!

Another point is that for long periods we only fished two rods despite having 6 onboard and a few spares back in the van...its a diferent world up there and those depths require different tactics. Bait fishing for bits can be exhausting and most people give up after 3 or four drops but can also be very rewarding when you know there is something other than doggies attacking the big baits ( as proved to be the case on the last day).

I have fallen in love with that venue and as you saw I fish as many different marks as I can. I am still trying to find that elusive shallow water skate mark (sub 100 ft) where a species hunt can be viable with a reasonable chance of a skate. I am told it exists ...just I have not got the gps numbers ...YET.

I am up to 12 seperate marks where I have landed skate and the total landed is 45 for nine days fishing and an average of well over 100 each fish.

Not a difficult venue to fall in love with....you just have to put up with the crowds

The boats now in RQ's so thats it for travelling for this year ...but I will be back at Easter 08 and may just go back to that hotel to see that polish barmaid.

Cheers
Dave

 

[willywetegg]

Cracking thread lads, apart from the trailer it sounds like you had a fantastic time, well done.

Jim.

 

[gazzawill]

keep me informed about the easter trip dave mate .
me and my mate ron will take our boat up sounds like a fooking good weekend to be had lol

 

[davem2005]

Certainly will Gazza.

You can take it as read that it will happen. Maybe not easter weekend as i am not sure how early easter is next year...but within a few weeks of it.

We went at easter this year and no mackrel were available so we bought nearly 40 quids worth. A fortnight later there were plenty to be had.

Ill keep you informed.

Cheers
Dave

 

[alan]

Really enjoyed reading this Dave/Jeff/Graham,great photos as well

 

[cocomonkey19k]

i also enjoyed reading it sounds like a cracking sport i'd be happy with a fish the size of that doggie lol never mind a skate.