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Sea Angling News Ltd. - www.seaanglingnews.com - editor@seaanglingnews.com - Issue 301 November 2020
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MONSTER BASS FOR BRIXHAM ANGLER
What a Bass for Rob Adams from Brixham. It weighed 19lb+and was caught from his own boat on a live Mackerel mounted on a size 2 Sakuma 535 Treble hook.
WINNER
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Sea Angling News, November 2020
THE TOP 5 THINGS WE SHOULD ALL KNOW ABOUT SEAGRASS
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Grass is something we may all be familiar with from walks in our local parks. What may be less familiar is grass growing underwater. Seagrass grows in dense meadows under the Ocean. It flourishes in our well-lit coastal waters, providing benefits many of us may not be aware of but which influence our daily lives. Loveday Trinick, OCT’s Education Officer, explains below the top 5 things we should all know about seagrass: 1. Seagrass is a flowering plant Just like plants on land, seagrass has roots, makes seeds and needs light to grow. This makes seagrass different to seaweeds (algae) because they have no roots, relying instead on a holdfast, a hand-like gripping structure, to provide a strong anchor to the seafloor. This makes seagrass the only flowering plant to be found in the Ocean. 2. Seagrass grows around the world Seagrass grows in both cool water and in the tropics. In the UK, we have four species of this super plant, two of which are found in the Ocean. Zostera marina and Zostera noltii are both species of Ocean-growing seagrass known as eelgrass. Worldwide, there are over 70 species of seagrass, found in a variety of coastal locations. Globally, they support an enormous array of life, including juvenile sharks and rays, as well as turtles and manatees, which survive by eating the seagrass.
A dugong (Dugong dugon) feeds on seagrass in shallow warm waters in the tropics.
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All entries must be accompanied by a clear photograph. All entries must be weighed on accurate scales and witnessed. All entries will be judged on the size of the fish, tackle used and the quality of the photograph. Weights must be submitted in pounds and ounces, metric weights may be submitted in addition to imperial weights. The Editors decision will be final in all cases.
A female spiny seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) shelters is a meadow of common eelgrass (Zostera marina). Photographed in summer (August) in Studland Bay, Dorset, England. British Isles. English Channel.
3. Seagrass provides a sheltered habitat Seagrass is a nursery for juvenile fish. It also supports an enormous amount of inverteb‐ rate life as well as harbouring rare species such as stalked jellyfish and seahorses. This is of enormous importance to the fishing industry because the fish which spend their juven‐ ile years in this nursery will become the adult fish our fishermen catch and deliver to our tables. 4. Seagrass is a natural coastal defence Seagrass takes energy out of the waves approaching our shores, protecting coasts from erosion. When habitats like seagrass are removed, waves can become more destructive, washing away our coastlines. Without the seagrass roots, the sediment can also wash away under the sea, affecting the animals which live there 5. Seagrass stores carbon This amazing plant stores carbon in the sediment which surrounds its roots. This ability has huge potential for helping the fight against climate change. In fact, the amount of carbon storage ability could rival that of the rainforests. This really is a super plant – it supports the fishing industry by sheltering juvenile fish, it protects our coastlines, and it acts as an important carbon store. We’re working to protect and restore seagrass as part of LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES, a four-year project to improve the condition of sensitive seabed habitats at five Special Areas of Conservation along England’s south coast. It is funded by the LIFE pro‐ gramme and led by Natural England. Over the coming week, we will be taking a closer look at seagrass and find ways in which this amazing plant helps us. We will also be seeing how we might negatively impact seagrass and how we can help protect it.
Sea Angling News, November 2020
THAMES ESTUARY
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REPORT FOR THE PORTS OF BRIGHTLINGSEA BRADWELL AND WEST MERSEA
By Lee Bollingbroke, skipper of Sophie Lea Still some great fishing in the thames estuary when the weather allows lots of whiting and still plenty of rays no big fish but plenty of medium fish keeping the rods nodding and getting the landing net wet. A few codling no big numbers just one here one there may be we will see more when we get a few frosts and the water cools a bit more however we are still getting some great sport with no shortage of fish. Dabs should start showing soon my favourite fish yes sounds crazy for a charter skipper but I just love to catch them a great eating fish if they are big enough. The covid problem has been a big boost for us ironically with plenty of anglers perceiving it to be a healthy sport which it is, out in the fresh air and this is were a big
catamaran has come into its own with plenty of social distancing space available on this type of boat and as the lock down eased my phone has been ringing off the hook with anglers anxious to have some fun with there mates and feel safe doing so. We are doing our part temperature testing every one that boards the boat and having hand washing facilities to keep all safe aboard, unfortunately that means no one in the cabin and a max of six anglers this is costing more for our anglers but they don’t seem to mind if it stops any one feeling unsafe which of course is our number one priority even before this pesky virus. So don’t be frightened most professional charter boats are doing there bit keeping anglers safe and fishing.
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NEWS / BRIXHAM
Sea Angling News, November 2020
Sea Angling News, November 2020
NEWS
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HOOKED ON LURE FISHING The groundbreaking new hardback from Merlin Unwin Books (RRP ÂŁ24.99) Packed with brilliant tips and ideas from Dom and saltwater lure fantatic Andy Mytton, this new book reveals a huge range of species to target and exciting tactics to try. Over three years in the making, it also features the amazing underwater photography of BBC Wildlife star Jack Perks. It is available now from various book and tackle shops, or signed from www.dgfishing.co.uk
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NEWS
ANGLING TRUST LAUNCHES MAJOR CAMPAIGN TO END POLLUTION AND HALT DECLINE IN BRITAIN’S RIVERS, LAKES AND COASTAL WATERS
The Angling Trust has launched a major campaign to halt the decline in Britain’s waters and protect the environment for future generations. With every water body in England assessed against the Water Framework standard failing, our rivers, lakes and coastal waters are in crisis with pollution from farming, sewage, plastics and litter the main cause. Our Anglers Against Pollution campaign aims to give anglers a voice in ensuring this Government lives up to its rhetoric on improving our environment and meets its own legal responsibilities. The campaign calls for: •Better monitoring of our waters •Proper enforcement of existing laws and regulations •Stricter punishments against polluters to discourage them from polluting again •A review of existing laws to help close loopholes Together with climate change, pollution in rivers, lakes and estuaries is having a catastrophic effect on plants and wildlife – and the biggest threat is in freshwater species. A recent WWF Living Planet Report estimated an 84 per cent loss in freshwater biodiversity. Combined sewage overflows (CSOs) are meant to only allow water companies to pump raw sewage into our rivers in exceptional circumstances. Yet in 2019, 6,508 CSOs released untreated sewage into our rivers 204,134 times. In total, they discharged raw sewage for 1.53 million hours across nine water companies. Exceptional circumstances? At the same time, the Environment Agency seemed to be turning a blind eye. Its own river quality monitoring programme reduced the number of samples taken by over a quarter in the last five years, from 126,723 in 2014 to 94,408 in 2019. And the number of places it took those sample from was reduced from 17,970 to 14,498. Worryingly, the number of river habitat surveys undertaken by the Agency crashed from 312 in 2014 to just eight in 2019. It is not only the monitoring of rivers that are suffering. Enforcement of the rules has been devastated, too. A good example is a group of regulations called the Farming Rules for Water. Introduced in 2018, these rules require good farming practice so that farmers manage their land both to avoid water pollution and to benefit their business. Yet due to a lack of resources, the Environment Agency cannot enforce these rules properly. With such few staff, it is estimated each farm in England is likely to get a visit to check they are following the rules about once every 100 years.
Stuart Singleton-White, Angling Trust’s Head of Campaigns, said: “The Agency is struggling, but it is hardly surprising when it has seen its budget reduced by 57 per cent since 2010. It is hard to see how such drastic cuts are benefiting the taxpayer, but it is easy to see how our rivers are paying the price. “The waters we fish are in crisis and things are becoming worse, not better. This Government has repeatedly said that the UK wishes to be a world leader in conserving both the environment and biodiversity but has frequently failed to back this up with action. Enough is enough!” Jamie Cook, CEO of Angling Trust & Fish Legal, said: “The Angling Trust has been campaigning for cleaner waterways since 1948 and through our Anglers Against Pollution campaign seeks to give anglers a voice in the fight for a better future for our environment by holding the Government to account for its promises and its responsibilities. “Our waterways are suffocating from all forms of pollution – from agricultural runoff to plastics, chemical pesticides to raw sewage. Time is no longer a luxury we can afford in the fight for a cleaner tomorrow for our environment, our fish and our fishing.” Anglers Against Pollution has already attracted support from high-profile anglers. Marina Gibson, founder of the Northern Fishing School and specialist game angler, said: “We have laws in place that should be protecting our waterways from pollution, but they are simply not being enforced in a meaningful way. Everyone wants to blame the Environment Agency, but we really need to be scrutinising the Government and asking why enforcement is so under resourced and deprioritised. It's time to invest in enforcement, incentivise the updating of sewage systems, and ensure that companies and individuals who pollute our rivers are held to account. If we don't act now it will be too late.” Dai Gribble, former Drennan Cup winner and specialist coarse angler, said: “Anglers are amongst those most directly affected by poor water quality. Agriculture and sewage are the source of both headline grabbing incidents that kill fish but are also responsible for many minor incidents that have a more insidious impact on water quality. The Environment Agency can tackle both using existing legislation. In my experience from working with the Environment Agency, more bodies are needed in the field rather than behind desks.” The Angling Trust is calling on anglers to support Anglers Against Pollution by signing the petition on the Angling Trust website.
Sea Angling News, November 2020
FISHERIES BILL SET FOR PARLIAMENT 'PING PONG'
The new UK Fisheries Bill has now completed its passage through the House of Commons and now goes back to the House of Lords for ‘ping pong’ where any final amendments are bounced between the Houses of Parliament before the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament. For the first time in history, and as a result of the work
put in by the Angling Trust, UK recreational fishing is due to be recognised and will be considered a stakeholder in how UK fish stocks are managed as well as qualifying for funding to promote and develop recreational fishing.
RED DIESEL CONSULTATION: TRUST RESPONDS The Angling Trust responded to the Government’s consultation on changes to the use of red diesel – something that could impact boat anglers who currently use red diesel for propulsion. The Angling Trust supports the principles behind phasing out the use of red diesel. Our response focused around concerns over the availability of port and harbourside white diesel (particularly in remote locations) for boat anglers and the impact of any increase in costs on angling participation which could harm coastal economies reliant on the money spent by resident and visiting boat anglers.
Sea Angling News, November 2020
NEWS
COX & RAWLE BLOG by Craig Butler It’s been over 27 years since I had been boat fishing out of the Cornish harbour of Penzance. Back then,while on a weeks holiday where I fished nearly everyday on a boat called Mishana skippered by Nicky Morse. These trips were made up of a handful of holiday makers loc‐ ally known as Emmits. Nicky had a young lad, Robin, crewing for him to help with the steady flow of pollock and cod coming over the gunnels. Fast forwarding 25 odd years saw me setting off from Minehead at 4am with a couple of friends heading back to this Cornish harbour for a species hunt on board Bite Adventures skippered by none other than the grown up crewman Robin Chapman aka Chippy. Over the last 25 odd years Chippy has established himself as one of the best charter skippers in the UK so we were in good hands for a multitude of spe‐ cies. The decision was made to allocate half the 10 hour trip to target the allus‐ ive Couches bream. This would also produce a variety of other species by chance on the whole squid bait. A running ledger armed with a pair of strong sharp Cox & Rawle Specimen extra to present the squid was needed because the Couches Bream are an incredibly strong fighting fish. Frustratingly the Couches didn’t show up for us. We still manage to knock up several other species including John Dory, cuckoo wrasse, dogfish , whit‐ ing and Pout on the squid baits. The second half of the day saw us move about to various parts of reefs looking for different species. On one occasion 4-5lb Ballan wrasse were coming thick and fast. The rigs were
armed with Cox & Rawle 1/0 octopus or 1/0 Chinu hooks to help bully the big hard fighting Ballans and stop them from diving into the very rough ground we were fishing over. After everyone had their arms pulled off by the Ballans it was off to target the John Dory that live on a near by bit of ground. A quick change of tactics using a Portland rig with a long snood with a needle sharp Cox & Rawle SCR30 size 1 treble hook I was very happy to have to test before they are added to the range and what a very nice treble they are. Strong sharp and stayed sharp what more can you ask for. This was baited with a live mackerel . With the traps set is was a waiting game as we drifted the John Dory grounds . Unlike the Couches bream earlier in the day the John Dory hap‐ pily obliged with a good few 3-4lb John Dory coming to the net along with Cod and ling to near double fig‐ ures all on live baits. During the day we were treated to some incredible sights from large numbers of Blue fin Tuna breaching and feeding close by. Back on the Quay side at the end of the day I couldn’t help reflect on how things have changed since my last visit . One thing is for sure I was Im please I had a few Cox & Rawle hook patterns with me. On these species trips a selection of hook patterns and sizes are imperative for success. I won’t be leaving it so long next time before returning to fish out of Pen‐ zance. Follow the link below to check out all the quality Cox & Rawle products available. https://www.coxandrawle.com/
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Sea Angling News, November 2020
POOLE / DORSET
POOLE PORT REPORT SILVER SPRAY & SILVER SPRAY II Two modern catamarans from Poole. Fast and spacious boats fitted with twin engines. COP 60 miles for 12 anglers. Large heated wheelhouse with toilet. Hot drinks provided and microwave available. All necessary rods, tackle and bait available.
Available for wreck, reef, banks, evening trips, 4-day Alderney and 3-day Cherbourg trips. **Bass, turbot, cod, plaice, shark specials** Both boats available for charters and individuals. Owner/skippers Sam & Andy Cumming Phone 07787 375 386 www.silverspraycharters.com Email: info@silverspraycharters.com
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POOLE REPORT by Philip Higgins There have been many sightings of Blue Fin Tuna within Poole Bay, I have seen them chasing mackeral and jumping out of the water within metres of the boat, I have no doubt it will not be long before one is accidentally hooked and bought alongside to be released by a boat from Poole, during one of my sightings I was amazed at the amount of mackeral jumping out of the water to escape the Tuna it was far more than we have landed all season. Terry Allen on Danny Boy 11 has been finding some small cod in the harbour whilst drifting along with Plaice, Gurnards and Bream. The Harbour and approaches has produced very well this summer with some excellent fish being landed across the Poole charter boat fleet. Chris Knight who through severe disabilities had not been fishing for many years had been asking to come out fishing several times this summer but with the ongoing restrictions could not, eventually we got him out fishing and from the minute he came aboard the enthusiasm and smiles he gave out just lifted everyone’s spirit and
his reward was a cracking Undulate Ray. Mike James had never caught a Couches Bream before and had asked if they could be caught in Poole, that day he answered his own question with Couches, Gilt Head and Black Bream all from the same mark. The start of the winter storms arrived at the beginning of October with Storm Alex causing damage to coastal communities and keeping the charter fleet ashore and have not given up throughout the month specially ½ term week for schools. On the occasions we have escaped the weather for a few hours Poole has produced 20 plus species some days which is excellent for the time of year and we are seeing the winter whiting arriving and some illusive flounders. Poole Sea Angling Centre are again running their open boat Cod and Flounder comps this year 22/11/2020 Cod Comp and 13/12/2020 Flounder Comp, for more details please contact Andy 01202676597. Philip Higgins Mistress Linda Charters
Mistress Linda Fishing from Poole, Dorset Skipper Philip Higgins Fast Twin Engined DS Bullet 38 Fully Licensed & Insured for 12 Persons All the Latest Electronics Full On-board Facilities, Hot Drinks Provided
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Chris Knight, Undulate ray - Mistress Linda
Sea Angling News, November 2020
POOLE / DORSET
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CHESIL REPORT By Gareth Mayers Due to our prevailing wind coming from the south west, Chesil has been unfish‐ able recently. I have only managed a few quick sessions myself hoping for a codling or two but the wind & rain haven't made it a relaxing or much of an enjoyable experi‐ ence either. Though I have seen a fair few fish being landed along the shingle bank and it's common knowledge that Chesil does fish better after a big blow with some colour in the water. So the little windows we have been given have in fact fished well! This last month has seen the first run of Codling and the Bream fishing has just been unbelievable this year with some anglers landing over 25 in a session. Many anglers are now describing these target species as a pest, mainly because they are taking 5/0 hooks baited with Black lug for the Cod. The Codling have been in great condition this year, compared to last year's skinnier fish. We have just started seeing the odd double arriving and I am sure now the whiting are showing up, the bigger fish will be amongst them! There still seems to be some chunky sole showing with everybodys mind set on cod they forget that the sole are at there prime this time of year. Regular Chesil anglers Ben Stockley and Till Hall managed some lovely specimen fish Of recent but they won't be around for long as the cod and whiting will be the ma‐ jority of most anglers catches in the next month come. The blonde ray have been making an ap‐ pearance aswell with Steve Harder and friend Matt landing an astonishing 133lb of rays from Chesil! Looking good for the fu‐ ture that's for sure! Good friend Will Constance also took to the deeper ends of Chesil in search of a ray and was rewarded with a new PB blonde of 9.8LB along with a lovely spot‐ ted ray just over 3LB well done mate! Until next time good luck.....
CHESIL
Sea Angling News, November 2020
Sea Angling News, November 2020
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NORTH DEVON
Sea Angling News, November 2020
NORTH DEVON REPORT By Wayne Thomas Autumn often deals a mixed hand with the weather determining the fishing on offer. During quieter spells boat anglers have enjoyed sport with a range of species in‐ cluding tope, bass, bull huss and smoothound. There have even been a few late porbeagle shark brought to the boat side from boats venturing out West from Ilfracombe. The Taw estuary flounder season is in full swing with plenty of flounder to just under 2lb. Hopefully the bigger flounder will show as the winter approaches and the fish pile on weight prior to departing to spawn. A few good bass have been temp‐ ted from the estuary including a fine speci‐ men of 9lb 7.5oz to the rod of Ali Laird. The open coast has brought consistent catches of bull huss with several double
figure fish tempted from both rock marks and steep shelving beaches. Bass have also been present in good numbers with big squid and fish baits productive. During quieter spells lure fishing has continued to produce good fish. Autumn is a great time to tempt the wily grey mullet with specimen fish likely as these fish seem to feed hard and loose much of their customary caution as the autumn progresses. Tope are possible from deep water marks and beaches and Jamie Stewards 47lb 13oz specimen is unlikely to be the only one caught this autumn. Fellow Combe Martin SAC member Dale KIff tempted a fine specimen smoothound of 15lb a spe‐ cies that has shown regularly throughout recent autumns.
David Jenkins with 1lb 14oz River Taw flounder
Nathan Clements with River Taw flounder
Ross Stanway with big boat caught rockling
Stephen Found with River Taw flounder Dan Welch - bass 8lb 12oz WayneThomas 5lb 4oz lure caught bass
Dale Kiff with a 15lb shore caught smoothound
Ross Stanway - smoothound
Ross Stanway - bull huss
Antony Smith River Taw estuary flounder
James Atkinson with 11lb 8.5oz bull huss
Rob Scoines - specimen pouting of 1lb 15oz.
bull huss caught on Bluefin off Ilfracombe
Dan Welch 4lb 2oz grey mullet
Sea Angling News, November 2020
NORTH DEVON
James Steward tope 47lb 13oz
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Dan Welch - tope 47lb
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NEWS / LANGSTONE
Sea Angling News, November 2020
LANGSTONE HARBOUR AREA BOAT FISHING REPORT By Neville Merritt, Southsea Marina Angling Club
Autumn is upon us, marked by the weather, shorter days and seasonal fish movements. The end of summer is the time some anglers target sole at night Alistair Gicquel and Peter Churchill show examples of what can be caught. Catch‐ ing sole isn’t easy (what is, these days?) because success is a result of finding the right location, the right calm conditions, nailing a bait to the seabed and sitting it out. Or you could fluke one out in entirely adverse conditions, just to confound the experts! Another seasonal change is the departure of the mackerel. This year we no�ced the fish were very much smaller and o�en missed when using conven�onal feathers. Sabikis seemed to find them. We saw a lot of scad shoals along with the mackerel and they are just as good (some would say be�er) than mackerel both for bait and for ea�ng. The elusive cod is scheduled to make an appearance at this �me and in common with recent years, we are teased with occasional catch reports but we don’t experience the autumn codling “run” that we used to see. Nevertheless a few are being caught from the Solent and approaches – Neil Glazier and Tim Andrews show typical autumn codling which cheered us up. Organisa�on for the annual SMAC Open Cod Compe��on on 8th November is in full swing, and the reputa�on from previous years and a big prize table will a�ract boat anglers from across the area. First prize is £500 cash for the largest cod with numerous runner-up prizes. If we run out of cod to weigh in, we switch to largest whi�ng. Although cod can’t be guaranteed, we can guarantee whi�ng so everyone is in with a chance of a prize. Contact Steve Kelly at Southsea Marina for further details.
8lb 7oz, securing the prize for the ECA. He is pictured receiving the trophy from Pete Kilshaw. Rays are plen�ful locally and the area is famous for big blonde rays. John Wearn caught an impressive blonde of 22lb which rather overshadowed Terry Watson’s fish of 16.5lb on the same boat, which would have been a good fish in itself. On a different trip Guy Chandler boated a blonde of 21lb, another very good fish.
Mark Argyle Winner Inter Club Comp
We have a healthy local stock of bass and the shoals of school bass from previous years are maturing nicely. Preston Firth shows a good fish of 7lb 14oz. Regular readers of this report will know we like to celebrate the successes of our junior anglers. Ollie Shons on his first boat trip was delighted to catch this conger – those sharp teeth will be something to talk about at school! Jake Kelly also scored well with a good Junior Specimen undulate ray of 12lb. It is good to see fish being handled sensi�vely with a weighing sling doubling as an unhooking mat. As you can see from the lack of red �nge to the wings, the fish is rela�vely unstressed and will make a good recovery when returned. Jake also added to his Species List with a spo�ed ray, pu�ng him in the lead of the SMAC Junior Species compe��on.
Guy Chandler Blonde Ray 21lb
Neil Glazier Cod 6.2
Next month I hope I can report more cod catches. Un�l next �me!
Alistair Gicquel Sole
The main compe��on held this month was the annual inter-club specimen contest between SMAC, Eastney Cruising Associa�on (ECA), Langstone Harbour Fishermen’s Associa�on and the Southsea Sea Angling Club. Winnertakes-all prize is for the best specimen caught on the day, and 36 anglers represen�ng all four clubs fished. Mark Argyle won with a bass of
Peter Churchill Sole
Mark Argyle winning bass
John Wearn Blonde 22lb
Tim Andrews Cod
Jake Kelly Undulate Ray
Terry Watson 16.5lb Blonde Ray
Preston Firth Bass 7.14
Jake Kelly Spotted Ray
Ollie Shons Conger
Sea Angling News, November 2020
EAST SUSSEX
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EAST SUSSEX DIARY By Kevin Morgan
ANDERIDA On Wednesday 30h September the club held a beach match at Pevensey Bay in wet windy conditions ! 16 anglers fished with just 6 weighing in. The winner was Jim Whippy with 4lb 13oz including the biggest round fish, a dogfish of 1lb 6oz. Second was Colin Isaacs with 3lb 10oz and Colins catch included the biggest fish and super pool winner, a lovely sole of 1lb 7oz. Third was Danion Chant with 1lb 7oz and 4th James Blackmar with 1lb 3oz. On Thursday 15th October 16 anglers again fished in Pevensey Bay with David Tame winning with 1lb 8 ¼ oz. Second was James Blackmar with a lovely sole of 1lb 5 ½ oz which was also the biggest fish. 3rd Phil Taylor 1lb 4oz and 4th Jim Whippy with 1lb 3oz. The heaviest round was an eel 8 ¼ oz for Ross Parsons. SAXONS SEA ANGLING CLUB On Sunday 4th October Saxonx club fished a match in Pevensey Bay with 12 anglers fishing. The winner was David Tame. 2nd Kevin Merner, 3rd Dan Puttick and Ken Filtness. OVER FIFTIES On Friday 16th October the Over fifties fished in Pevensey Bay in a catch and re‐
lease match. The majority of fish were whiting with the winner Peter Cracknell managing 216 points. 2nd Gary Banfield with 214 points. 3rd Darren Smith with 187 points. 4th Chris Snow with 184 points and 5th Paul Christopher with 166 points. Kerry Saint had the biggest round with a whiting of 36cm and Dave Rose the biggest flat with a plaice of 24cm. GENERAL Fishing has been un predictable with the constant changes in the weather, but some nice fish have been caught. Chris Voller caught a nice bass around 4lb while live baiting in Normans Bay and his Dad Colin had a nice 2lb 12oz plaice at Seaford recently. Some coddling are still being caught in Pevensey Bay with Jamie May catching a nice one recently! Mark Saxby caught a lovely 73cm bass at Hastings fishing with whole squid about 20 yards out. Kim McGreevy caught a couple of nice plaice at Langney Point last Sunday, the biggest at 47cm. Peter Cornwall and his friend Sala caught some nice fish re‐ cently including some sizable bass as well as whiting sole and plaice.
Jamie May with a nice codling
Peter Cornwall with a3lb 12oz bass
Sala with a nice bass
73CM bass caught by Mark Saxby on whole squid
Chris Voller with a 4lb bass
Colin Voller with a lovely Seaford 2lb 12oz plaice
Colin Isaacs with his superpool winning sole
Kim McGreevy with a nice 47cm plaice
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BURNHAM / GEAR REVIEW
Sea Angling News, November 2020
BURNHAM ON SEA REPORT By Richard Saxby Not to much activity from Burnham since my last report but a couple of boats have made it out and there have also been a few days at other venues dodging the wind. The channel is fishing well if you can get out and there are reports of a few cod fur‐ ther up the coast so hopes are high for a good run of these tasty fish. As I write this the wind is howling again and we are on the brink of another lock-down. October 11th Nigel Devey took Sea Wolf out for the day from Portishead with Mar‐ tin Quinn and Andy Georgiou chasing an early cod. It seems Portishead has as many congers as the rest of the channel but they did find a couple of codling the biggest around 7lb to Andy. On the 16th we towed down to West Bay with a crew of four, myself, Stephen, Fred and Roy Saxby. There was a fairly brisk NE wind which stopped us getting out to our intended wrecks and after a few drifts over an inshore one only produced a few pout and missed takes we put the hook down off West Bexington. The sea was comfort‐ able here but the fishing was slow with just dogs and a single thornback to me. The wind eased, the sun came out and it was rather pleasant so we decided to try and rescue the day with a few drifts for plaice. This was a good move for Fred who landed 8 plaice to 1lb 8oz and Roy found 1 and a gurnard whilst Steve and me blanked!
Jamie Lock conger
Anne Lock huss
Anne Lock hound
Fred Saxby plaice
Nigel Devey huss
Two boats launched from Burnham on the 18th, Sea Wolf and Team Lock and with the big spring tides steamed down to Por‐ lock to get out of the worst of the tide pull. They all caught lots of fish with plenty of eels to 20lb, huss to just under 10lb, hounds, dogs, pout, whiting and a small codling On the 25th Sea Wolf was again out of Portishead with it's usual crew of 3. You get a bit more protection from any wind up there compared with Burnham but the fishing was below par with just a steady stream of congers with no other species getting a look in. There wasn't any size to them either with the biggest only going around 8lbs.
Martin Quinn conger
Fish of the month winner for September was Martin Quinn with a grey gurnard of 1lb 4oz and 100% Junior fish of the month was won by Jack Tench with a red gurnard of 14.5oz and 73% Next competition is a junior comp on 22nd November with the Tony Holly trophy on the 29th The next club meeting should be our AGM on Thursday 19th November at Burnham Motor Boat and Sailing Club on the sea front, pop along if you are interested in joining a friendly club. You can keep up-to date with latest news and catches and all things fishy on our facebook page and website Burnham Boat Owners Sea Angling Association.
Andy Georgiou cod
Nigel Devey cod
Sea Angling News, November 2020
BRISTOL CHANNEL / WATCHET
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 17
BRISTOL CHANNEL SHORE REPORT BY CRAIG BUTLER
RECENT CATCHES ABOARD LORNA DOONE
Thornback ray - Lorna Doone
Huss - Lorna Doone
Cod - Lorna Doone
Blonde ray - Lorna Doone
Blonde ray - Lorna Doone
Spotted ray - Lorna Doone
Huss - Lorna Doone
Cod - Lorna Doone
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18 Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com
BRISTOL CHANNEL / MINEHEAD
Sea Angling November 2020
BRISTOL CHANNEL BOAT REPORT October was filled with some very changeable weather along the Bristol Channel and as such has limited some of the opportunity to get afloat.
Thornback Rays, Spotted Rays and a few other bits and pieces. The sand marks around Minehead give a good opportunity for an angler to bag the ‘Bristol Channel Ray Slam’ (Blonde, Thornback, Spotted and Small-Eyed). All four species have been caught throughout the month but haven’t always been in abundance as would sometimes be associated with autumn. Plenty of Eels, some Bull Huss and for the lucky few Bass and Cod have kept anglers rod tips nodding when fishing on or around the sandy marks though.
When boats have been out the fishing has been exceptionally productive for numbers of fish with catches being made up of the usual mix of rays, huss, dogfish, eels and now we are into autumn some whiting and a few codling. Looking at the recent catches from around Watchet it was clear to see that as the month progressed the ‘hot spot’ holding the most fish was clearly Doniford where literally hundreds of fish have been caught. A very large amount of Eels, Thornback Rays, a few Spotted Rays, some Blonde Rays, Bull Huss, Dogfish, Cod and Whiting all coming from Doniford. Blue anchor through to The Gables has been patchy. Get on the fish and you saw bumper catches of fish but be only a few hundred yards from the fish and it was a very different story with bites hard to come by. Mainly Eels but also some very decent Blonde Rays made an appearance along this stretch to go with the usual
Huss - Teddie Boy
Hound - Teddie Boy
Cod - Teddie Boy
Bossington and Porlock have produced the usual variety of fish as is accustomed with ‘The bay’ with the Bossington end being the slightly more productive end of the bay. All four ray species, whiting, rockling, codling, some good sized Bull Huss, Eels, a late Smoothhound or two and as is sometimes the way down in the bay a lot of dogfish have kept anglers regularly changing baits in anticipation of what might come next.
Bass - Teddie Boy
Blonde rays - Teddie Boy
Blonde rays - Osprey
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Sea Angling News, November 2020
BRISTOL CHANNEL / MINEHEAD
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 19
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Sea Angling News, November 2020
NEWS
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RECENT CATCHES ON KELLEYS HERO
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LAST LAUGH CHARTERS By John Skeggs
Despite many cancellations due to strong winds, catch rates this last month have been very good. The majority of black bream have moved on into deeper waters, push well offshore and you can still target some quality fish. Bass fishing has been excellent with most anglers catching their 2 fish limit. So far this season, the biggest Bass landed aboard “Last Laugh” is 12lb 11oz (Re‐ turned), we still have another month to better this.
Huss - Kelleys Hero
Bass - Kelleys Hero
Bass - Kelleys Hero Bass - Kelleys Hero
Cod - Kelleys Hero
Cod - Kelleys Hero
Cod - Kelleys Hero
The biggest surprise last month was 6 codling in one trip, they ranged between 2lb and 4lb. Yours truly did manage a seven pounder !. Telling bait was black lug and squid fished on a pennell rig, most of the Cod are being caught in the Solent. Are they making a comeback ? Tight Lines John Skeggs (Last Laugh / Lymington)
RECENT CATCHES ABOARD LAST LAUGH
Sea Angling News, November 2020
PRIVATE VENTURE
NEWS
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 21
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Alderney and Guernsey have been closed this year due to Covid restrictions with all the UK Charter Boat trips planned to visit there cancelled. Fortunately, the flatfish fishing in the Weymouth/Portland area has been superb with outstanding brill in particular coming from marks that are rarely fished for these particular species. Dan Clarke, skipper of Portland based Fins-Up, continues his excellent run of results finding brill to 8lbs and turbot to 16lbs in the last few days but impressive numbers over consistently productive trips throughout the September and October giving many anglers Personal Bests for these two much sought after species. Apart from the flatfish, bass are showing in increasing numbers and bream are numerous and wide spread right across the Weymouth Bay marks and off Portland with some excellent specimens coming from the inshore wrecks during conger sessions. Offshore wrecking for bass and pollack will be taking place by the end of October and throughout November. General reef fishing throughout October has been good with a variety of species including spotted, undulate and blonde rays as well as a suprising number of small-eyed and thornback rays. The ray marks to the east of Weymouth are also producing tope , red gurnard and small conger. Rough ground marks on what is called The Spoil Ground and on the eastern edges of the Lulworth Banks is producing decent sized bull huss and some big larger tope. Bream are everywhere.
WEYMOUTH
Sea Angling News, November 2020
Sadly but expectedly, the very popular two man Species Hunt has been cancelled. Holding it in November underlines the variety of species around in this late month with whiting being an additional species to expect. If the weather allows, there will be increased offshore wrecking aiming for the Autumn pollack with a good chance of bass on certain wrecks.
Black Bream - Fish On 2
Thornback ray - Atlanta
Whiting - Atlanta
Bream - Atlanta
Huss - Atlanta
red gurnard - Atlanta
Close inshore, wrasse fishing becomes an increasingly popular option with the larger fish tending to show in the November to January period with crab baits being the better choice to tempt the larger specimens. Good Luck everyone; let’s hope the trips can continue. It has been a good year for the inshore fishing in particular and great to see some good sharks caught (and released) again this year with Danny Barron from the Somerset based Gannets Sea Angling Club, fishing from Fins-Up, adding to his personal best turbot with a porbeagle shark estimated to be in the triple figures! Thank you to all of you for supporting the Weymouth and Portland charter boats this year will all the obstacles put in your way. Your efforts are very much appreciated by the local skippers. Thank You!!
The popular bream marks to the south of Portland are consistently lively with many other species likely to turn up including bass, pollack, conger, rays, gurnard, dogfish and others. Species Hunts in this area in October/November can often reach double figures while anchored on just one mark intended for bream. November will be upon us as this report is being read and who knows what the National situation will be. As far as the angling goes, November will continue to see bass in the Portland Race area and often shoaled up in the calmer waters to the east of the main Race. The bream tend to stay a bit later now and may go on until mid November. Blonde ray fishing will be good from banks to the west of Portland where again a number of additional species can be expected including conger, occasional bass and sometimes a passing shark! It pays to have a decent strength trace on when fishing these particular west of Portland Banks‌but, as always, seek the advice of your skipper who is out there regularly (we hope!) and keep you updated. Turbot - Fish On 2
WEYMOUTH
Sea Angling News, November 2020
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 23
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24 Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com
NEWS
Sea Angling News, November 2020
WEST SUSSEX By Alan Brown
Fishing the past month has been all over the place with the weather we have been having, with a lot of northerly winds, fol‐ lowed by brief south/west blows. There has been fish to target, but hard at times for most. Once we get a good period of south/westerlys things should improve. Shoreham arm and beaches are seeing large numbers of whiting moving in, among the undulate rays, with bass and odd codling. When calm few plaice still showing. Worthing pier and beaches have been fishing well, with the pier fishing well with plenty of undulate ray, conger and odd codling. Littlehampton beaches been showing bass and undulate ray and thornback ray and odd better conger. Bognor beaches have been fishing well despite the conditions and weed with plenty of rays, bass, conger and odd small codling in the mix.
Pagham has been much the same as bognor end, but better sized fish showing from the deeper water. Selsey has been weeded up most of the month, but when it clears there has been plenty of undulate rays along east beach with odd thornie and better conger. While the bill will come into its own once the weed goes and we have a good blow with a chance of some better cod. West beach has been fishing better after a blow on the banks with rays and bass. Rivers and harbours have still been hold‐ ing good numbers of mullet and bass still and the flounders have just started to ap‐ pear aswell. The coming months should see the weed slowly disappear and rays in numbers along with a chance of some good conger and codling, with hordes of whiting if that's your thing here in West Sussex.
Luke Danny Hinshelwood with a Selsey undulate ray of 11lb13ozs that was the biggest of the 3 he had
Kyung with a cracking 11lb bass from shoreham West arm
Wesley ubsdell with a 10lb undulate ray from East beach selsey
Johnny booth with a male small eyed ray from selsey
Tom churcher with a nice worthing pier undulate ray of 11lb2ozs
Sea Angling News, November 2020
BACK TO BASICS
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 25
BACK TO BASICS By Martin Wood up he is a decent guy who does a great job. Nothing was a problem and Sean sorted out my rigs and I had them too me in good time as well! All knots & crimps are strong too. So what do we use? A lot of people like strong pulley rigs of 100lb mono for rig body and hook length but for me I prefer a running ledger format and asked for some rigs to have 150lb wire trace which has a thing plastic coating and some others of 200lb mono and all lead to a Cox and Rawle 8/0 hook the rig body was 150lb the joy is as long as you check your rigs over after catching decent conger and wash them off you can normally reuse them. The reason I ask for running ledger is it gives a much more natural presentation and if you’re putting large baits out like I do then they come in to find it anyway you don’t need to cast miles 30- 50 meters is just fine. BAIT: Your best baits will be fish and squid baits and depending on the time of year it is. So just ask yourself is it herring season? Are the whiting moving in? Are the mackerel in? Is it squid season? You get the gist of it! I fish to what is around if possible to make it even more natural for that bait to be there all little extras that help espe‐ cially if an animal has been caught before or is a cautious animal.
This month I figured I would cover a species that is prevalent everywhere at this time of year and often over looked or seen as a nuisance and are either loved or hated... CONGER EELS with me I hate the small bootlace eels that tangle up your rigs and love the larger ones as they can provide a formidable fight especially if you’re over rocky ground and they get a hold of a rock or feature! To me they look like an an‐ cient primeval monster which I guess they are. Conger eels can grow in excess 7ft and to over 200lbs although that size is offshore normally but a shore catch of 30-60lb is a decent eel to be had and you can regularly catch double fig‐ ure eels between 15-30lbs without too much hassle. Lets look and see how, but just before we do a couple of tips you may want if you are doing this. Obviously conger have a slime covering them and have a rather efficient bitey end! You will want a T bar, Rag/cloth and gloves, the T bar stops your hands getting too close to the Congers mouth and teeth but some people use long handled forceps or large long nosed pliers but the T bar is the most efficient espe‐ cially if it’s a deeper hooking! Obviously a rag is for wiping off your hands but is also useful if you cover the congers eyes if it’s a deep hooking as it will calm it down whilst you remove the hook. Another way of calming a conger down is turn‐ ing it upside down it doesn’t hurt it and en‐ ables you to unhook and release it quicker. Gloves are mainly just so you can hold it easier without getting your hands slimed up and it slipping out your grasp. GROUNDS: So you will catch Conger anywhere with mixed ground but the best places are rocky marks or marks with Headlands around them they will also live around Harbour structures and reef systems. You can catch congers on clean beaches too as they travel and scavenge a lot they are not always resident to an area they can be “no‐ madic”. RIGS: With conger your rigs want to be strong and I go over kill as that way if your fishing rough ground and have a decent eel on as well you stand a better chance of getting it in so the stronger the better for me to resist rock rub‐ bing or teeth. I spoke to Sean Cassin of All rigged up on Facebook about what I wanted give him a look
Mackerel baits: I find two main ways are the most effective. Way one is that you chop the tail off the Mack‐ erel run your filleting knife up the spine ¾ of the way towards the gill plates and then the same the other side cut the spine out and hook through the underside of the mouth and out through the top of the head and then put in through the skull and back out just above the gill plates then the hook should be sat just above the flapping body whip your hook se‐ cure in place and you have a good flapper with guts out and plenty of blood and oil scent and movement with the flapping sides which most people swear by although I prefer to use this way on the boat and it’s not the best bait to cast. Way two is my favourite from the shore and that is get a whole small Joey mackerel or her‐ ring chop off the tail and score the sides. With your hook come into the side of the fish head with it and push in through the gill plates and then out the body and whip it securely into place which ends up ¾ of the way up the bait. You now have a bait that will travel better when going out and doesn’t break up upon entry to the water also your bait gives off scent for longer the scent trail is less but constant and is not lost in a strong tide which has a constant scent trail for a fish to follow. Squid baits are nice and easy I just get 3-4 medium squids put them top to tail alternating and then just whip it up together like a large torpedo leaving the tentacles to move about. I hook it through the top and have the proud hook point coming out half way down the bait making it hard to non wanted species to get on the hook. With both large baits I find its key to not strike too quickly! You see a good bite and instinct tells you to strike I leave these as quite often its the fish lifting the bait off the bottom and chomping up the unhooked part. I wait until they give a solid pull on the rod and then lift into it, you generally get a better hook‐ ing and it’s still in the front section of the mouth. I went for an eel fishing session with a friend just last week using this exact way with whole Joey mackerels and herring using way two and had a great night with around 11 eels in total with 4-5 being of a good standard and only a couple of large dog that managed to get on a bait. Also baits don’t have to be fresh! You can use old baits which some of my mackerel is and are for this reason old packets of macky de‐ frosted and refrozen a few times all bloody and not the best for other types of fishing but we have to remember Eels are successful because they are scavengers as well as excellent hunters and opportunistic feeders as well so will eat stuff that many other fish will leave. So happy hunting and any old bait that needs using up now is a good opportunity!
COMPETITION BEST LURE CAUGHT FISH PRIZE The Red Gill is for the heaviest lure caught fish. The editors decision is final. The claim will have to be backed by photographic evidence and weighed on accurate scales. Full name and address will be needed plus details of where the capture was made. If you wish to have your photo returned please enclose an S.A.E. Entries to Red Gill competition, Sea Angling News 102 Periton Lane Minehead, Somerset TA24 9BP or email: editor@seaanglingnews.com. Usual competition rules apply
26 Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com
LRF / NEWS
LRF REPORT By Richard Salter I’ve had few sessions this month and whilst many of them have been quite short and sharp, there have always been a few fish to be found. After looking back over my photos to jog my memory before I wrote my report, it was noticeable how we’d employed several methods to tempt our fish, so I thought I’d focus on that a bit this month. Dropshotting is a really effective method when trying to scratch out as many fish as possible or just build up a nice tally of species and we’ve used it to good effect recently. I employed this tactic during a short lunch break trip to Elphinstone in Plymouth, where fishing straight down the wall of the car park found me 7 species in just a couple of hours with ballan, corkwing and goldsinny wrasse, tompot blen‐ nies, scorps, pollock and a sand goby taking a liking to a bit of gulp or isome fished amongst the weed at the base of the wall. My next trip was to Brixham, where I explored a rock mark with my friends Martin and Joe. Martin was plucking out multiple corkwing wrasse when we arrived, again using a dropshot rig. We all employed this tactic to fill our boots, mostly with corkwing but also some small ballans and the odd micro pollock. Heavier gear and Texas rigs were used to catch a good number of slightly better ballans up to a couple of pounds. Texas is my go to method when searching for bigger wrasse in snaggy areas, which is where they tend to be! We also had some joy throwing metal jigs about towards the end of our ses‐ sion with plenty of pollock, including some better sized ones for Joe and some small mackerel, including a double hook up for Martin. The next session was back at Elphin‐ stone, where I met up with my Major Craft allies, Ben and Andy. This ses‐ sion was more of a social meet than anything but it also produced a few fish and it was particularly noticeable how we each employed different tac‐ tics to achieve our results. Ben had been fishing a cheb, or flexhead rig initially. The cheb rig is a useful one as its design allows you to change your hook to suit your target whilst the ar‐ ticulation of the hook gives an inter‐ esting movement to a lure. Ben caught a ballan on this rig before changing over to a dropshot rig, to great effect! Ben caught the usual Elphi suspects but also caught a little gem of a tub gurnard as he worked his lure a little further out, on some cleaner ground. Andy employed the classic split shot rig and again caught the usual sus‐
pects as well as a real lump of a cork‐ wing wrasse. Meanwhile, I went with a carolina rig. I often use a carolina rig when trying to catch fish that like to feed hard on the bottom, or to fish a small lure but need to get it out a bit further. I feel the sliding weight means the reduced resistance a fish will feel when hitting a lure will mean more hook ups, in theory! My carolina rig found me a few wrasse and gobies along with a rarer Plymouth catch in the shape of a dragonet, which made up a cool double hook up alongside Bens little long spined sea scorpion! Ben and Andy had to get off, so I headed over to Mount Batten. I spent a couple of hours messing around with jigheads and chebs here. Drop‐ ping down in the holes between the boulders found me plenty of poor cod, pout and goldsinny. Ecogearaqua Komushi were working well as were Keitech Easy Shiners, which the pout in particular were really loving as did a nice sized pollock which engulfed the lure at range as I searched around in the fading light. My last couple of sessions have been back at Brixham, which is a good bet when trying to find some shelter from the British weather we’ve been enjoy‐ ing lately! I had a very slow day, where I tucked in on the inside of the break‐ water and tried to shelter from a cold easterly wind that made the water clarity less than ideal. It took a few hours before I found a few ballans. I’d been switching between LRF and HRF gear all day and found fishing light chebs and texas rigs (around 5g) and 2 to 3” lures on my HRF gear was a good compromise, allowing me to al‐ most drift a lure over the tops of the boulders using the current, rather than dropping heavier weights down deeper and risking getting repeatedly snagged or getting beaten up at will by the wrasse on the lighter gear! Keitech Custom Leech and Little Spiders proved particularly popular here. My final session of the month was with my wife, where we squeezed in a couple of hours fishing whilst the kids were at school and the sun shone, briefly! We kept things simple and dropshotted with gulp and isome down the side of a little quay. Clair drew first blood with a nice little tom‐ pot blenny. her first ever. I found a few corkwing and little ballans whilst Clair also caught a ballan, which was an‐ other first for her. So overall it hasn’t been a bad month with a steady stream of fish coming to a variety of methods. Hopefully there will be plenty more opportunities to get out over the coming weeks and months to find a few more. Tight lines all!
Sea Angling News, November 2020
Sea Angling News, November 2020
LRF / NEWS
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 27
28 Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com
NEWS
ROVING RODS - EELS By Martin Wood With the weather now in full swing of changing into autumn and with so many colours around in the trees and leaves everywhere locally and leaves on the floor, with stiffer cold autumnal winds blowing it means that the Bristol Chan‐ nel species is at a time of change which has also of late seen a large influx of conger eel coming in around the shore marks and the first shows of good whiting along with the return of the dogfish to our catches. With all of this present I have been having a bit of fun taking part in a Specimen competition online run by Jason Scott who a lot of you may know from his You tube channel The East‐ bourne fisherman. I decided that one section I would like to try and win would be the Conger eel section so got my heavy duty rigs together which came from a guy called Sean Cassin of All rigged up, I then sorted out my gear ready. I gave Chris and Josh a call to see if they wanted to come along to the gulley for an eel session. Unfortunately Josh already had other arrange‐ ments with some friends but Chris was game. The weather that evening was a bit blowy which was lumping up the surf close in at the gully which I thought may cause us an issue with landing fish but it was going to have to be good old fashioned timing involved with the surf and using it to our advantage to land the fish ... if we get any! On arriving at the mark there was nobody else around so we had the choice of where we wanted which was a bonus Chris chose to go to the left of me about 20 meters away and we both started to set up a bit further back from the sea than normal due to rogue waves and crashing surf close in. Looking out into the blackness at sea as I was setting up my tripod I could see the sea was really swollen it was so dark due to the moon being so low and no light pollution that the blackness just swallowed up the light as if it was a kids torch. All set up I was using my Century kompressor WR300 and my Tronix pro Xenon travel rod which is standing in for my broken rod at present but that’s another story! So with reel all set up on the WR300 I had a whole Joey mackerel with the tail chopped off and scored on the sides with a wire bite trace from All rigged up leading to a 8/0 tope/conger hook all in a running ledger format. On the Xenon I was using the same rig again from All rigged up but this time with a 200lb mono bite trace which has a slightly better presentation than the wire trace but this one was loaded with Herring. The bait which was herring was good decent fresh bait and the mackerel has been defrosted several times and refrozen from trips before where they are not used and not really suited for when you need good bait sessions, BUT they are perfect for this. All bloodied up and skin splits a bit when taken out of the packet it was bloody and oily ... a great bait and one that I find for eels out performs fresh bait. Casting the baited rigs out into the blackness I get one of the baits out to around the 50 m mark and the other one on the xenon at 30m and then sit and wait. FIRST BLOOD: After sitting and chatting for a bit around twenty minutes or so awaiting for our baits to do their thing my Rotten bait on the wr300 starts a heavy rattling the cutch is set so not worried but the hook is ¾ of the way up the bait and using single hook only. Resisting the urge to strike I wait for the “pull” which normally signifies the Conger has taken the bait and the hook, its chomped its way up
to and onto the hook and is off with it! With that I tighten up the clutch a little but leaving enough that the fish can take line if its needed and lift into the rod with that I get a big heavy thump on the rod as it knows it is hooked and its fish on! Reeling like mad at first and lifting the rod up to bully the fish away from the bottom so it can’t wrap itself around anything there I could feel it spinning and recoiling away on the end of the rig trying to get off but no chance those Cox and Rawl hooks are super sharp! A few minutes of tug of war and were at the surf line I can see the head and body and it a half decent fish maybe over what I need to take the lead in the section which was stand‐ ing at 1M10CM I flick my headlamp onto full beam with both lamps which is enough to wake the dead up with the Fenix HM65R I can see it all in the surf with a large swell coming in behind and a large pool of wash still in on the stones ...perfect! I wind up on the reel and as the wave comes in I use the surf to lift the fish and wind like fury to keep the line tight as the surf pushes my fish onto the beach excellent stuff! I walk down to the eel and hold the leader and bring it up the beach to my box, I whip out the name card and tape ready to photo it and it comes to 106cm damn! Just short! But was my first cast so plenty of time yet heading to the tackle box to get the T bar diving into the box deeper and deeper searching around I can’t find it ... yes that’s right.... I’ve forgotten it! What a complete Twat! I just have some long nose pliers so a quick call to Chris and he runs over with his luckily. Eel photograph quickly taken, then unhooked and it’s a safe return to the sea. Standing back I launch the eel at the sea as the wave comes in and off it goes with a slither back to the blackness. Walking back up I’m pleased with myself first cast and I get a half decent strap of about 7-8 pounds so a quick cleaning off the hook and then whip it back into place with bait elastic with my next pre made bait I make in between waiting on fish and with a quick flick of the rod it was back out to 50M for some other greedy snot monster to take. Putting the rod back and setting the clutch again I literally just put my butt cheeks on the seat box and the xenon bends over well and keeps going jumping back up and on it the line is starting to be taken with the rod in hand I tighten up the clutch a bit and lift into it with that the bend gets a bit better everything hooks up beautifully and its solid I can feel the fish is in the under current so winding down and lifting on the rod I bring the eel up a few feet and then repeat this a couple of times keeping the pressure on to get the eel out of the undertow and its back to being easier again I turn my headlamps into daytime mode and I can see the eels head about 15m out again as I’m bringing the fish into the surf I use the waves to land the second eel. Whilst collecting the eel and bringing back from the shoreline I notice the herring is smashed to bits with just the head and spine left the eels is a bit smaller but is a scrappy little number and around the 6lb mark a quick photo and borrow of the T bar and its conger two away back home safely. Hooking up one of my other premade baits quickly and a short walk down and it’s a case of another gentle cast to 30m so far both have scored so if it’s not broken don’t change it! Setting the rod down in the rest I break out the all important flask and shout across to Chris if he wants a brew as well to which I get the thumbs up and an emphatic nodding. Cups filled and put down and sods law Chris is into a fish, good stuff! Chris brings it in easy
Sea Angling News, November 2020
enough and it gets thrown onto the beach by the wave and he has a double shot of dogs on a pulley rig I offered a photo op and got that look women normally give us guys when more fishing gear turns up on the doorstep so had a little chuckle and carried on sipping the nice hot sweet brew. All traps reset back into the water and the wind had picked up and the tide was nearer al‐ though on safe ground you can feel the power of the waves as it crashes into shoreline and feel it through your boots from the stones un‐ derneath and fishing in the dark reminds you to have a healthy respect of nature as you don’t get a second chance! I was just letting my mind wander about what equipment review I would do next for The Snag website when the rotten bait was having strong stabbing motions on the end again I fought the urge to strike to early and then there it was the rod pulled to the right and over already up line started to leave and I tightened up the clutch again leaving some to play if needed reeled down and lifted up into the rod all of the sud‐ den the Kompressor was bent over and send‐ ing a bend into the middle happy days another decent eel I could feel the banging on the end and the rod tip moving up and down in line with the thumping, reeling down I lift up again to get the eel out of the gulley which has a strong tidal flow in it and all of a sudden the line goes slack I reel furiously to catch up with it as its obviously swimming my way and its game back on with rod bent and line taught again. This one was feisty it spinning the whole way in and even when the waves dumped it on the beach and this one was bigger and fatter than the first one unfortunately I didn’t bring the scales or I would have weighed this one but either way I grab the leader line and bring to my box and rod stand a quick turnaround to ask Chris for the T bar and he’s already there Johnny on the spot with T bar ready... Top man! A quick snap whilst still on the hook to save getting slimed up and so it is easier to handle and it was an unhook quick measure although we we couldn’t get him to stay still at all and snapped 1M 13CM but I think straightened out would have been about 1M 14cm-1M 15cm and as we all know every cm counts! It started to go quiet for around twenty minutes with myself and Chris wittering away about fishing in general when Chris saw his rod with some small taps and enquires so went back to his rods with that as I was watching to see what was going on with his rods my xenon bent over hard and then was biting like a dog‐ fish feeling a bit confused I grabbed the rod and lifted into it tightening up the clutch the rod arched over nicely and I was thinking this could be the conger I’ve been looking for it was heavy all the way in but no spinning just banging I eventually got it into the shoreline and went down as the water cleared away I had a conger hooked through the lower jaw perfectly and also had a dogfish foul hooked by his tail add all of that into the undertow and that was my good conger. A small chuckle to myself at thinking it was a good one I unhooked the dog easily and quickly released him after a photo and then un‐ hooked the eel a quick measure even though wriggling away came to 1M11CM nice but not quite big enough. A quick photo and then released safely to fight another day as well. Although this one left his mark as he slipped away he swished his tail and slimed my leg up well. A few cups of coffee later and we were ap‐ proaching 3hrs of fishing and it had been pretty nonstop action of smaller straps and dogs for Chris I had a couple of cheeky eels get on the end of the hook somehow which were between 2-4 lb but all appreciated to
keep me moving. With that Chris had a great bite and hooked into a good fish putting a very healthy bend into the rod getting it out the gulley he was bringing it in nicely winching down on his 525 multi with the eel surrendering very small amounts of line it comes into the surf where I’m waiting near the shoreline to make sure he comes in then I see its big fat head in the surf coming out of the frothing surf line and its great chunk of an eel the best tonight and just as I was about to grab and haul up the beach from the surf he bites through Chris 80lb hook trace and everything “pings” up the eel about turns and disappears this was a nice eel if landed I think would have easily gone to 20lb but not to be tonight, not knowing who was more gutted, I feel for Chris as I lost one of this size at Donniford a while back with my boys and I like people who come with me to catch good even if I’m out fished in the process. But I guess we learn every time we are on the beach no matter how long we have been fish‐ ing and it’s the reason I now go over gunned with conger for this exact reason. As the tide hit slack water the ocean seemed to suddenly be devoid of life we stayed half an hour into it and no bites were showing by this point I had just used my last bit of bait so we agreed to call it a night and pack up. Walking back through blackness with the odd set of eyes peering out of bushes catching our headlamps we were talking about the evening and how enjoyable it had been whilst discuss‐ ing when next to go out possibly for a ray ses‐ sion or try my monster hunt again. It was a thoroughly enjoyable night and not one I may have done if it wasn’t for the small comp by Jason Scott and thanks again to Sean Cassin of All Rigged up for your great rigs mate top notch stuff. Tight lines all till next month
Sea Angling News, November 2020
ROVING RODS
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 29
30 Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com LDSFC
10th Shingle Bank League Competition 28th September. On Monday evening the 28th September Lymington & District Sea Fishing Club held its 10th Shingle Bank League competition. The weather for the evening was good and 13 club members signed on. 10 weighed in fish consisting of conger eels, black bream, dogfish, sole, pouting and whiting. The best fish of the evening was a conger eel weighing in at 3lb 1oz caught by Malcolm Stote. Results: 1st Chris Ellis 6lb 15oz, 2nd Malcolm Stote 5lb 10oz, 3rd Tom Bagnall {Sir} 3lb 3.5/8oz, 4th Keith Panks 2lb 5oz, 5th Ed Taylor 2lb 3.1/8oz, 6th Andy Richmond 2lb 0.2oz, 7th Luke Woodford 1lb 3.1/4oz, 8th Danny Panks 15oz, 9th Andy Hopkins 9.4oz, 10th Roland Blomfield 6.2oz. On these competitions only edible fish are retained. All fish are weighed and released immediately and gently back into the sea.
Wesy Bay SAC
The Result is in; The winner of the third quarter of Fish of the Quarter competition which ended on October 31st was Roger (Hoot) Guppy with a magnificent shore caught golden grey mullet of 829g which gave him 121.91% and won him a £30 Angling Centre voucher. Second place went to Paul house with a shore caught 2kg 65g thick lipped mullet for 113.84%. Third was Rod Barr with a boat caught 4kg 963g small eyed ray for 99.48%. fourth was once again Rod Barr with a 17kg conger eel for 93.69% and last but not least was Ben Carter with a 54kg 37g thresher shark for 85.09%, this was also the first caught by a club member since the club started in 1951. All the fish were returned back to the sea alive and well.
GG mullet Hoot 1-13-4
LDSFC
11th Shore Competition. On Saturday 10th October Lymington & District Sea Fishing Club held its 10th Shore competition on the Shingle Bank at Milford-on-Sea. The weather for the com‐ petition was dry with a northwest wind. Eleven club members signed on and all eleven weighed in fish consisting of dog‐ fish, whiting, undulate ray, conger eels, bass, black bream and pouting. A total of 36 fish were caught, weighed and released immediately for a total weight of 36lbs 9¾oz. The best round fish of the evening was an undulate ray weighing in at 10lbs 12oz
Sea Angling News, November 2020
RESULTS
caught by Chris Ellis. The best specimen fish of the evening was also the undulate ray of 10lbs 12oz caught by Chris Ellis. The flat fish pool of £11.00 is a rollover till the next competition. Results: 1st Chris Ellis 6 fish 13lbs 10¼oz, 2nd Malcolm Stote 2 fish 4lb 15oz, 3rd Ben Daniel 8 fish 4lb 11 7/8oz, 4th Pete Tomkins 2 fish 2lb 14oz, 5th Pete Chamberlain 3 fish 2lb 7oz, 6th Andy Hopkins 2 fish 1lb 11.8oz, 7th Steve Pitman 2 fish 1lb 11.6oz, 8th Roland Blomfield 2 fish 1lb 7.6oz, 9th Terry Kempton 3 fish 1lb ¼oz, 10th Andy Richmond 2 fish 14¼oz.
LDSFC
Adult Win-Sum League Competition. On Wednesday evening 14th October Lymington & District Sea Fishing Club held its monthly Adult Win-Sum League com‐ petition at Steamer Point. The weather and sea conditions for the evening were both good and seven club members signed on. All seven, weighed in fish con‐ sisting of whiting, pouting and eels. Results: 1st Paul Watson 698cms, 2nd Pete Chamberlain 586cms, 3rd Ben Daniel 513cms, 4th Chris Ellis 428cms, 5th Colin Saunders 264cms, 6th Billy King 235cms, 7th Luke Woodford 177cms. The longest round fish was an eel of 58cm caught by Paul Watson. The longest flat fish pool was not won. As these competitions are run on a meas‐ ured and returned basis all fish are gently returned to the sea after measuring.
winners on the day including Ed Taylor, Paul Hollyoake, Chris Rogers and Arran Harmer. The league is really starting to heat up now after three rounds with Arran Harmer (currently on 300%) and Paul Hollyoake (currently on 291%) fighting it out for pole position. Results by boat: Boney M: Arran Harmer 100% (366 pts) Richard Day 98% (360pts) Ben Daniels 87% (320pts) Robin Lane 75% (277pts) Karl Bates 30% (110pts) Total species- 21 Lady Margaret: Ed Taylor 100% (275 pts) Martin Bobbett 98% (270 pts) Andy Southwick 75% (188 pts) G. Smith 54% (150 pts) Total species- 14 Mistress Linda: Paul Hollyoake 100% (403 pts) Chris Ellis 79% (340 pts) ---- ----- 76% (331 pts) ---- ----- 58% (253pts) Marc Duncan 51% (221 pts) Total species- 14 Random Harvest: Chris Rogers 100% (356 pts) John Bellamy 72% (257 pts) Rod Giles 64% (229 pts) Paul Wilson 53% (191 pts) Malcolm Gerrish 30% (110 pts) Total species- 18 Anyone wishing to fish the league please contact Robin Lane on 07876 471901 for more information.
Savage’s Private Venture. With a big tide it was decided to fish a mark to the west of Christchurch Bay until the tide slackened enough to venture off the Needles. The first mark saw plenty of dogfish and strap congers, plus a couple of rays: the best a particularly nicely marked thornback skate - falling to club president Derek Smith. Both he and Arran Harmer man‐ aged to catch congers that were just size‐ able; Arran’s being the slightly bigger, and enough for him to win the Commodore’s Cup for the heaviest conger. Perhaps the highlight of the day was watching several pods of porpoises breaking the surface as they moved slowly across the bay. The second move produced a similar variety of species, with the addition of a few small whiting and pout. As the tide picked up the final move was to the Shingles to drift for bass. Whilst everyone made contact with them, only a few proved to be sizeable. 1st Arran Harmer 110 points; 2nd Derek Smith 87 points; 3rd Jane Hopkins 64 points; 4th Malcolm Gerrish 47 points; 5th Alec Harmer 35 points; 6th Roland Blom‐ field 11 points.
LDSFC
Vernon Everitt Match Boat League Series. On Saturday the 19th of September Lymington & District Sea Fishing Club held the third match of the league from Poole, kindly sponsored by Christchurch Angling Centre. The idea of the league is to test your ability as an allround angler, with different points awarded to different species (up to a maximum of 10 per species) and further points awarded for the number of species caught overall. An added skill is the management of your bait throughout the day. Due to the numbers of members wishing to fish, this match was held aboard four charter boats all of which were chartered from Poole Quay, showing just how popular the league has become. Owing to a stiff North- easterly breeze, fishing was mainly contained to fishing inshore around Poole Harbour and close to Bournemouth Pier. Despite the adverse weather the fishing was very prolific with all boats catching an array of species ranging from plaice, mackerel, scad, garfish and gurnards around the pier, to wrasse, gobies, dragonets, blennies, rays, smoothhound and pout amongst the rocks on Poole Patch. However, the best of the fishing was reserved for the harbour where pollock, wrasse, plaice, gurnards, bass, weaver fish, black bream and guilthead bream were located from a variety of marks. Notable fish included a red mullet for Arran Harmer and a lively bass for Ben Daniel which provided great sport on light tackle and small hooks! Congratulations to all our boat
Ben Daniel LDSFC
Derek Smith LDSFC
Arran Harmer LDSFC
LDSFC
RESULTS OF LARGE COMPETITION 18 October 2020
BOAT
A perfectly timed weather window allowed club members to enjoy their October monthly large boat competition aboard Art
Arran Harmer LDSFC
Sea Angling News, November 2020
RESULTS / FIXTURES
Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com 31
OUTLAW PRO UNVEILS MEGASTORE NINE MONTHS AFTER ONLINE LAUNCH
The newest and fastest growing UK fish‐ ing retailer, Outlaw Pro, is set to open its very first store in Billericay, Essex on Sat‐ urday 31 October. Outlaw Pro launched online only this Feb‐ ruary and thanks to huge success in spite of the challenges that this year has presented, is fast on its way to becoming the leading angling retailer in the UK. With a mission to disrupt the £1.4 billion recreational angling market, a strong focus on offering premium products at fair prices, and with a quality of customer ser‐ vice that outperforms all competitors, the Outlaw Pro megastore will provide a truly immersive experience for anglers. Whilst browsing products, customers will be able to stop and observe carp up to 15lb - including leathers, fully scaled mir‐ rors and zip linears - in the store’s 11tonne fish tank; check out the bivvies on the turfed raised bed; enjoy fishing con‐ tent broadcast from the store’s 12’x6’ screen - including product videos, Terry Edmunds Casting Tips and ‘Live from the Lake’ sessions hosted by Russell Webb; be transported to the bank with Outlaw Pro original atmospheric scents; and book a session to try out new purchases at Out‐ law Pro’s very own four acre fishing lake in Brentwood. With fishing experts on hand offering tailored advice to suit any skillset, visitors to the Outlaw Pro store will also benefit
from the knowledge of high profile anglers including long range casting legend and ex-record holder, Terry Edmonds, who will regularly be on site advising customers on rod choice. Set over 6,000 square feet, the new megastore will showcase Outlaw Pro’s ex‐ tensive product range, which is designed to suit all fishing abilities; from complete novices to the most expert of anglers. Products include bait, clothing, tackle and bank accessories for carp, coarse, match & predator anglers. Supporting a whole host of top British manufacturers, Outlaw Pro partners with premium brands to offer customers the best quality fishing products without the premium price tags. Brands available at the store will include Outlaw Pro own brand, Shimano, RidgeMonkey, NASH, Summit Tackle, Cygnet, Trakker, ESP, Avid, Carp Royale, Drennan, Preston, Ze‐ bco Browning, Quantum and E-Sox. Co-founder and Outlaw Pro ‘Guvnor’ Stewart Lawson says “We’re chuffed to be launching Outlaw Pro’s first store. It will be a total game changer for the industry. We believe the Outlaw Pro experience is un‐ like anything else on the market and can’t wait to invite customers in to join in the fun.” For more information about Outlaw Pro, visit www.outlawpro.co.uk.
Red Gill Tel – 01305 789297 E Mail – sales@redgill.co.uk www.redgill.co.uk
MATCH PLANNER BOGNOR REGIS AMATEUR ANGLING SOCIETY OPEN CHRISTMAS BEACH COMPETITION DAY COMPETITION SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 0800 TO 1300 CATCH AND RELEASE TO BE FISHED AT WEST END BEACH BOGNOR REGIS BOOKING IN AND DRAW FOR PEGS FROM 0700 AT WEST END BEACH OPPOSITE WAVERLEY PUB MARINE DRIVE WEST PO21 2QA ENTRY COST £8.00 SENIOR £4.00 JUNIOR OPTIONAL POOLS FLAT £1.00 ROUND £1.00 POOLS HIGHEST SINGLE FISH POINTS CASH PRIZE SUBJECT TO ENTRY - TEL JOHN SMALL 07799 762377 AFTER 5PM
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ANGLING TRUST WYVERN REGION DATES FOR 2020/2021 IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO HELP US OUT ON THE WYVERN COMMITTEE PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR HELP TO PUT ON OUR OPEN EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 12TH/13TH SEPTEMBER 2020 SALCOMBE SMALL BOAT FESTIVAL. WYVERN AGM 11TH NOVEMBER AT THE RBL, ALPHINGTON. 8PM SAT 30TH JANUARY 2021 PRESENTATION EVENING AT THE RBL IN ALPHINGTON, EXETER. 8PM SUNDAY 3RD JANUARY 2021 WYVERN OPEN SHORE AT SLAPTON. (TBC) CONTACT DETAILS FOR ALL WYVERN EVENTS IS MIKE SPILLER 07779308093.
32 Email: editor@seaanglingnews.com
NEWS
Sea Angling News, November 2020
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WALES TELBOY’S TACKLE Amlwch, Anglesey Tel. 01407 832965 www.telboystackle.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 01643 705225 The Angling Trust is the representative body for game, coarse and sea anglers in England and Wales. Our members support the campaigns and legal action we carry out to protect fish stocks and our programmes to increase the number of anglers fishing for fun and in competitions. We're fighting for the future of YOUR fishing, but we need YOUR support to do more. If you want to protect your fish and fishing, for now and in future, join your representative body today.
All advertising shops are automatically included, but any other shop wishing to be listed can be for just £20 per month. This will give you your shop's name, address and phone/fax number and a bundle of the Sea Angling News each month. PHONE : 07825 181 694 OR EMAIL: EDITOR@SEAANGLINGNEWS.COM