The annual outing to Guernsey by 7 members of the Burnham on Sea based 3B’s SAA on June 18, 19, 20 and 21 produced some cracking fish caught over 4 days.

A regular date in the 3B’s diary for a number of years, the trip aboard Lloyd Saunders’ "Saltwind of Dart" out of Dartmouth is eagerly anticipated.

This year started as usual with a glorious Devon morning seeing the boat slip it’s moorings and head out of the peaceful harbour.  As regulars, the crew knew it would be at least a couple of hours before the revs on the big Scania engine would drop, indicating that we had reached the mark.  Time for the usual banter and the ritual un veiling of some new fangled piece of plastic in weird shapes and colours - says on the packet “Guaranteed to Catch” (one born every minute came the reply – usually from Lloyd).

A quick sighting run and Lloyd was ready to start the drift – drop them, stern first.  Long way down -300 ft and 90 seconds to be exact.  A bit quiet at first, just a few small Pollack to 6 lbs, but entertaining nevertheless.  A few drifts later and with no great improvement in the size of the fish we moved to another mark about 6 miles away.  Again a quick sighting run to get the tide and wind right and down we went again – only this time nothing for about 45 minutes.

Then suddenly, as if a switch had been turned on, the rods started to bend over in quick succession with Pollack to 15½ lbs falling to Ian McLean, a slightly smaller one for Richard Pettitt, Ling to 16½ lbs for Roger Greene and one to 16 lbs for John Rowlands. Several other Pollack and Ling well into double figures kept the crew happy, Paul the deck hand busy and a smile on Lloyd’s face.

All too soon time to set off for St Peter Port and check in at the B & B at "The Yacht Inn".  A few beers, some food and "Karoke" rounded the day off wonderfully.

The next day saw us heading out on the banks to drift with either live Sand Eels or Mackerel strips for Flatties and Bass. Although school Bass were being caught, they were of no great size or quantities.

A few Turbot were brought on board but again of no great size the largest of the day being Dave Rigby’s 4½ lb.

A single bonus Brill did fall to Dave again before we lost the tide and decided to have a go at the Black Bream over a rough ground mark. Scallop frills and squid were the baits and as soon as the baits hit the bottom the bream jumped on them along with the ever present Pout.  Great fun on light gear over a dozen Bream were caught with Sam Simmonds coming out on top with a 'belter' of over 3½ lbs.

A deserved mention too for Roger Greene who brought up a couple of 3 pounders on the same drop.

Again time ran out for us all too soon and it was time to head back to port for some more liquid replenishment on what had been a scorching Sunday.

The third day was a late start with only about 3 hours fishing, but enough time for Dave Rigby to pick up a fab Brill of 5½ lbs on Sand Eel.

Turbot were again caught but with a stiffer breeze from the North East.  Fishing was a bit lumpy with the tide, and a paucity of fish resulted in us all welcoming the “come on up let’s go” shout from Lloyd.

As we were away at 7 next morning we were all in bed reasonably early.

The morning sun glistened on the water as the boat gently reversed out of the harbour.  As we picked up speed and looked back at the Port, I’m sure we were all sad to be leaving as the trip is a special event for the club and we are already thinking about next year.

Nearly three hours later the engine revs dropped and we were ready fish over some reefs for Pollack and hopefully some bonus Cod. The tide was slackening off quickly when the first Cod hit, followed in quick succession by a few others of about the same size.

Interspersed with these Cod were Pollack of just over 10 lbs which kept the rods jigging.

Best of the day was Ian McLean’s 20½ lb Cod caught on a "Shad" with about 30 minutes of the day’s fishing left.

Nearly every colour "Shad" caught, with the remaining sand eels also producing good Pollack.  A total of 66 Pollack and 10 Cod were caught, which represented the best day for a number of years for the club.

And so to Dartmouth for the ritual sharing of the fish. Thanks to Lloyd who once again took us to the fish (but can’t put them on the hook), to Paul for his hard work looking after us, to the 3B’s club for bringing together a great bunch of blokes and putting them on a small boat in the English Channel and more importantly for the weather for making it an another enjoyable and safe trip.

Regards

John Rowlands – Sec 3B’s SAA