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Please call Dave on:
07971 961975
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01394 283874
.co.uk
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Now taking bookings for 2009
'The Skipper'
THE COD ARE IN
Just lately the uptiding has been very good indeed; the accomplished anglers always seem to do well from whatever position in the boat they find themselves;its all about bait presentation, the next time you are out try stuffing the empty body of a squid with lug or rag, use a pennel rig and secure the bait with nice light bait elastic. It can take time to prepare this so get a spare trace made up to clip on and you are away.Balancing the weight to suit the tide and bite identification are crucial areas these will increase your catch rate if you can get it right, remember if the lead breaks out for no reason and starts bouncing downtide, don't strike, just pick up the rod and wind down hard onto the fish, this will take up the slack line from the bow and set the hook. If you find yourself in a stern position try ''trotting'' the bait downtide by attaching a lead which will only just hold bottom, (you will need a selection) lift the bait off the bottom, let out a few feet of line and allow the tackle to bounce gently downtide, pause for a couple of minutes and repeat. This technique allows you search out the seabed and gets your gear away from the noise footprint of the boat. Give it a try.
I took a party out on the Sunday 5 May to fish about 7 miles off, quite near the Sealand towers, we had a great day with a very nice mixed bag of Cod to 6lb,Smoothounds to 5lb and plenty of decent Ray to just under double figures, a few nice plump Whiting kept everyone happy.
The same mark on wednesday was a struggle, although some nice Smoothies, small Tope and the first Spurdog of the year kept us interested we couldn't find the Cod. A short move of 300m into a gulley was quiet for a time but the lads managed a few small Ray and a nice Cod. The weather was lovely, a coats off morning, however, the wind got up in the afternoon and with wind over a flood tide it became a little lumpy.
Plenty of smallish Bass are showing in the Rivers Orwell and Stour. A nice 6in ragworm on a small leadhead bounced around the boat is accounting for fish from just about anywhere. I will be offering evening 3-4 hours trips in the summer to target these fish, catch and release for most of them but of course the 3-4 pounders will get a tap on the head, great fishing. (I provide spinning rods and reels for this)
I will also be taking out small parties fly fishing for Bass, I am considering buying some inflatable boats to tow out into the river and fish from, this would allow anglers to get right into the shallow areas where the bigger Bass are chasing fry etc. I would then act as a safety boat and also provide another fishing platform. Anyone interested in chatting about the idea should give a ring.
Latest update 26 May
A difficult day, a small tide with wind over tide pushing the boat back over the anchor, nevertheless the lads did well; a nice plump Bass around the 5lb mark and a hard fighting Smoothound kept the interest going,a 3lb Codling was very welcome as was a small Thornback.
A late ebb meant a a visit back into the river for Bass with a keeper always on the cards; plenty of Bass on small leadheads with ragworm keeping most busy but sadly no keepers......looks good for the future though.
Just for interest one of my regulars got broken today by a ????? possibly a very decent fish....but it goes to show that care must be taken, firstly when tying hooks and secondly ensuring a sensible breaking strain leader at this time of the year; I recommend to my customers a minimum of 25
When the weather allows me to get out to them the wrecks have been fishing extremely well, with good bags of Cod to 8lbs and the odd Pollack showing, mostly caught on lure's; Shads doing Ok but leadheads with twin tails scoring well. A very rare Ling to just under 15lbs made a very welcome appearance yesterday, it was caught on squid bait on the drift. We had little squid on board otherwise the hook would have gone down as I'm sure there are some bigger fish at this particular site, maybe the odd decent conger at slack water. I will be sending the photo to Sea Angler and Boatfishing as Ling are so rare in the North Sea. Some good Bass have been showing out on the Gabbards live sand eels being the best bait. Its quite difficult to persude someone to try a live mackeral..........any volunteers?
Apoligies to all, I have moved from Braintree and am trying to settle in Felixstowe to be nearer the boat and for personal reasons. I'm not yet on line in Felixstowe, as you all know it takes time to organise these things.
Anyway now the clocks have gone back the inshore fishing for cod and whiting is improving all the time; the fish are not too big at the moment with the odd fish to 4-5lbs but mostly around the 2.5lbs mark. However, what is encouraging is the numbers of of fish coming aboard, easily averaging 30-40 per trip not all keepers of course but plenty of bites to keep everyone interested.
A possible reason for the upsurge in Cod numbers may be the net and longline ban currently in force.
A night trip the other night with the Colchester lads saw plenty of fish, they were really scoffing the bait down and the 'T' bar disgorger was in use most of the time.
What a summer we have had this year, the wrecks fished brilliantly throughout and when the weather allowed;it was not unusual to boat 100plus cod to double figures!!! also landed were smallish ling and pollack.Most unusually we actually started to return fish on a couple of trips as the boat and anglers were full up. Experienced anglers caught well on shads and jellies but whole squid worked close to the bottom scored well. Lets hope 2009 provides the same level of sport. I have the tide tables for 2009 and I am taking bookings for next year, so if you want a good tide for what ever you want to target, call me for some dates to consider - be quick as prime tides are going fast.
Derek Richardson from near Bury St Edmunds a regular on board caught a magnificent 30 lb smoothound earlier in the year, well deserved indeed as he certainly puts the time in. Oh, and he also managed to win some rods and reels for his efforts, well done.
I have taken on Steve(Skip)Easterbrook as a relief skipper, Steve is a very experienced boat angler who knows the area very well. He has recently qualified for a commercial licence and you may well find Steve as your skipper for the day, you wont be disappointed.
Judging by recent catches, we may well see a very good winter for cod fishing. Despite the weather my party last Saturday had a few nice fish, biggest around 5lb with plenty of fish around the 2lb mark. On Sunday, just a couple of miles off Felixstowe, Steve and his party caught well; 22 Cod were boated the best being 8lbs. Monday and the weather much nicer, we caught all day, no large cod but a couple of reasonable skate kept everyone on thier toes; throughout the weekend. The weather for the rest of this week looks quite settled so hopefully the boat will find more large Cod and first night trip of the winter is coming up this friday so keep posted for a full report.
Its been a good week weather wise, initially winds from the NE were with the flood tide so conditions were reasonable, but Sunday the winds were very strong NE, luckly for Steve the Dock area is fishing well so he spent all day there while other boats remainded in harbour.
Monday 27 Oct saw a party from near Bury St Edmunds catch 50 plus fish, again plenty of smaller codling around the 2lb mark, with the odd bigger fish. However, a few nice skate put in an unexpected appearance, that was most welcome. Wednesday we had a party of dockers on board, lots of banter and plenty of laughs was accompanied by plenty of fish to 4lbs, luckly the organiser Tony Baxter caught the biggest.
Friday came with good weather conditions, we had Derek Richardsons party on board, again from the Bury St Edmunds area. The fishing was a little slow as it is sometimes with an easterly wind but we caught well in the end; another skate put in a appearance with the odd codling to 4 lbs.
Back in the marina by 4.15pm a bite to eat and out again by 6pm, gluttons for punishment you might say. Well I was expecting much better, again it was very slow, a nice tide but easterly winds put the damper on proceedings......we tried a couple of marks out the front of Felixstowe, yes, we caught, but small fish were in abundance; we even came within 200m of Landguard Beach to catch small codling and Whiting.....so plan C was the docks area and yes it was the place to be , we caught quite well with fish up to 4lbs and plenty of bites were missed......typical of this time of the year, back in the marina by 1215am, tired but all happy..... never mind next time, thats fffffishingggggggg.
Sat saw Steve as skipper; after only a few hours sleep (he was out with me Friday night) he left the marina with a dreadfull weather forecast; knowing the harbour was to be his limit and a boatfull of rugby players he had to get it right.......he did, 26 keeper fish with Simon Cordles best fish of close to 6lbs kept everyone off his back.
Sunday saw a better weather forecast and with Vince and his party from Eley on board; a bit of lateral thinking was in order, Steve decided that a favourite mark near Rough Towers might chuck up a few better fish....a good decision, 2 skate and plenty of cod up to 13 pounds kept everyone happy, well done Steve.
Wed 12 Nov saw Trevor and his team from Ipswich out on a lovely sunny day;chilly in the first few hours but once the sun was out....great. Well, we caught most of the day, some nice fish to around 5lbs and plenty of 'keepers' kept us busy, squid was the only bait on board and we used a whole 10kg box of unwashed Lowestoft specials, thats how busy we were.
Steve went out Sat with Maldon SAC, again squid was the only bait on board and he took almost 60 'keepers' with 24 fish between 4-6lbs. Just out the front of Felixstowe seems to be producing well; reports that Frinton and Clacton have been producing is also encouraging and another option.
So guys the message is that squid is all bait that you need, why pay £18 per 100 lug, probably 400 for 8 anglers plus small boxes of squid, when a 10kg box of squid will last a boat all day; I will do you a box for £32, so organisers ring and book the boat plus bait. Remember midweek trips are cheaper by negotiation.
Tight Lines
Dave