Easter 2007
- Thread starter Oblickta
- Start date
davem2005
Well-known member
Mark,
The thought of putting your hand in their mouths beggars belief...but as you say needs must when ...and all that. You summed it up when you say that it was only a small one (90 lb). I have just been talking to a friend in the pub who has sea fished for many years. He has had fish of 10+ but never a twenty. A good friend on another forum was saying he would not get out of bed for fish of the size we were catching but then he is a regular in the area and runs a charter business where he makes money by giving his customers personal bests not tiddlers.
I dont think anyone who regularly fishes this coast would be disapointed with the following stats for the weekend.
Arrived friday 8am ...fished 8.30 till 6pm...two rods for six skate and one thornback. This included losing two anchors and having to go back to shore for refits ( which wastes valuable fishing time) Within an hour a skate fishing virgin had fish of 35lb and an exceptional male of 105lb and Graham had a fish of 159lb ( a new personal best) ..not a bad start. These were followed ( after two trips to the chandlers) by fish of 46lb, 35lb and 38lb. Also somewhere in there graham had a Thornback of about 6lb and I lost a skate on 20 class gear...end of day one and in the pub by 6.15pm.
Saturday we chose a mark at random about 1/2 mile south of our original mark, partly to avoid the lengths of anchor rope that are flowing around in the tide ( rope lengths can be over 600ft so when it breaks you have a potential for a 600 ft long snag flowing in the tide) The reason for a mark change was the intention was always to try different marks to investigate the areas potential rather than sit on one proven mark and hammer it.
After a slow startwith a few doggies and Grahams thornie things started to pick up as the tide became right. Reading from the tagging logs.
11.30 Dave Fem 46lb
12.35 Rupert Fem 31lb
14.50 Graham Fem 18lbs (tiddler bashing again)
15.05 Dave Fem 35lb
15.10 Rupert Fem 21lb
15.42 Graham Fem 66lb (recapture)
15.50 Dave Fem 24lb (recapture)
16.30 Rupert Fem 164 lb
17.05 Graham fem 66lb
About now we would normally be thinking about back to harbour and the pub ...but..
17.40 Dave Male 106lb
17.55 Rupert Fem 29lb.
And after that we went back and had a few welcome refreshers and a dam good curry.
The intial count was 18 but reading back it ONLY totals seventeen ..but its easy to loose count. You may be wondering why the names rotate ...its because we fished two rods and took it in turns to land fish . This evens out the catch and allows you a rest when you have caught a fish. We started with three rods out but after a treble hook up we fished only two so there was always a person spare to aid landing fish.
Sunday the wind picked up and the anchor would not hold so we headed for harbour , landed the boat and had a early run home. ( Oh and I caught a 4 oz dab )
Skate fishing is unlike anything we have on this coast but once you have the gear right and a few basic principles the rest is a combination of luck and strength.
But the main thing for me is watching the gracefull glide back to the depths and ultimately catching that same fish again.
Cheers
Dave
The thought of putting your hand in their mouths beggars belief...but as you say needs must when ...and all that. You summed it up when you say that it was only a small one (90 lb). I have just been talking to a friend in the pub who has sea fished for many years. He has had fish of 10+ but never a twenty. A good friend on another forum was saying he would not get out of bed for fish of the size we were catching but then he is a regular in the area and runs a charter business where he makes money by giving his customers personal bests not tiddlers.
I dont think anyone who regularly fishes this coast would be disapointed with the following stats for the weekend.
Arrived friday 8am ...fished 8.30 till 6pm...two rods for six skate and one thornback. This included losing two anchors and having to go back to shore for refits ( which wastes valuable fishing time) Within an hour a skate fishing virgin had fish of 35lb and an exceptional male of 105lb and Graham had a fish of 159lb ( a new personal best) ..not a bad start. These were followed ( after two trips to the chandlers) by fish of 46lb, 35lb and 38lb. Also somewhere in there graham had a Thornback of about 6lb and I lost a skate on 20 class gear...end of day one and in the pub by 6.15pm.
Saturday we chose a mark at random about 1/2 mile south of our original mark, partly to avoid the lengths of anchor rope that are flowing around in the tide ( rope lengths can be over 600ft so when it breaks you have a potential for a 600 ft long snag flowing in the tide) The reason for a mark change was the intention was always to try different marks to investigate the areas potential rather than sit on one proven mark and hammer it.
After a slow startwith a few doggies and Grahams thornie things started to pick up as the tide became right. Reading from the tagging logs.
11.30 Dave Fem 46lb
12.35 Rupert Fem 31lb
14.50 Graham Fem 18lbs (tiddler bashing again)
15.05 Dave Fem 35lb
15.10 Rupert Fem 21lb
15.42 Graham Fem 66lb (recapture)
15.50 Dave Fem 24lb (recapture)
16.30 Rupert Fem 164 lb
17.05 Graham fem 66lb
About now we would normally be thinking about back to harbour and the pub ...but..
17.40 Dave Male 106lb
17.55 Rupert Fem 29lb.
And after that we went back and had a few welcome refreshers and a dam good curry.
The intial count was 18 but reading back it ONLY totals seventeen ..but its easy to loose count. You may be wondering why the names rotate ...its because we fished two rods and took it in turns to land fish . This evens out the catch and allows you a rest when you have caught a fish. We started with three rods out but after a treble hook up we fished only two so there was always a person spare to aid landing fish.
Sunday the wind picked up and the anchor would not hold so we headed for harbour , landed the boat and had a early run home. ( Oh and I caught a 4 oz dab )
Skate fishing is unlike anything we have on this coast but once you have the gear right and a few basic principles the rest is a combination of luck and strength.
But the main thing for me is watching the gracefull glide back to the depths and ultimately catching that same fish again.
Cheers
Dave
mickthefish
Well-known member
fantastic stuff !
sorry for laughing at the anchor/short rope/hand slip .
yous must have been gutted at the time!
sorry for laughing at the anchor/short rope/hand slip .
yous must have been gutted at the time!
Charlie_Thompson
Well-known member
Alan C did a bit of a write up in The Journal about the trip. I'm sure he made a boo boo with the skipper thing - Dave Mason (bless him the lovely man) was not skipper of the boat was he Dave?
If I'm correct then could someone start griefing The Charlton asap - usual stuff accepted .......effing journalists etc.
If I'm correct then could someone start griefing The Charlton asap - usual stuff accepted .......effing journalists etc.
davem2005
Well-known member
I was definately the skipper..Dave Morton ...the man with the perfect face for radio.
Sorry Falcon missed your post. I assume you are the guy who went out sharking off Seaham with me. ( Rotten memory for names) .
All that remains now is to plan the next one.If anyone with aboat fancies tagging along they would be more than welcome.
Early June would be ideal as I have a few toping trips to get in at Luce bay when they arrive and am too busy to get out for the next few weeks.
Costs run out at about 60 quid a day all in except beer and grub. (plus anchors )
Cheers Dave
Sorry Falcon missed your post. I assume you are the guy who went out sharking off Seaham with me. ( Rotten memory for names) .
All that remains now is to plan the next one.If anyone with aboat fancies tagging along they would be more than welcome.
Early June would be ideal as I have a few toping trips to get in at Luce bay when they arrive and am too busy to get out for the next few weeks.
Costs run out at about 60 quid a day all in except beer and grub. (plus anchors
)Cheers Dave
