   fishing Dartmouth sea angling Devon uk charter boat shore plaice turbot bass river dart |
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fishing Dartmouth sea angling Devon uk charter boat shore plaice turbot bass river dart |
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Angling adventure to Guernsey aboard “Saltwind of Dart” - 2004 Wednesday 21st July The day before we were due to go to Guernsey. All the preparation had been done and the tackle was organised. I decided to go down to Dartmouth in the morning to feather up some Mackerel to be used for bait mid – Channel to try for some Ling. I also picked up some lug and ragworm to have a few drifts for the Plaice whilst on the local Skerries banks off Dartmouth in my own small boat. A calm but somewhat foggy day beckoned. I soon managed to feather up 50 Mackerel and a few Sandeels so I decided to drift the shallow banks for Plaice. A nice trickle of ebb tide meant that a lovely drift produced at least one Plaice per drift to lug/rag and Sandeel strip cocktails. I caught a total of 11 plump Plaice between 1lb and 3lb. It was a surprisingly productive and most enjoyable 4 hr session, a good warm up for Guernsey. Our party arrived in the evening, Dad, Graham Williams, John Taylor, Kevin Stevenson, Simon Taylor and Me. All friends and colleagues of Dad and I. We met at the pub for a few beers and dinner. There was an expectant atmosphere as we all looked forward to what promised to be an angling extravaganza. An early night followed as “Saltwind” was due to slip her mooring at 6am sharp, so alarms were set for 4.30am. Thursday 22nd July After the early start we loaded our gear onto “Saltwind” and met our Skipper, Lloyd Saunders and Paul Millman. We headed for mid-Channel wrecks in the Hurd Deep in search of Pollack, Ling and Cod. A calm sea gave us a smooth and painless crossing and we were soon into some nicely conditioned Pollack taken on a variety of holographic Storm Shads and Redgills.
We caught several decent fish with Dad, John Taylor and Graham finding a few 12lb’ers on their 5” shads. We moved on with the intention of finding some Cod and Ling. The Ling were abundant and large at the next wreck. It was noticeably deeper and with a slackening tide a switch to ‘killer gear’ or baited feathers was made by us all. The Mackerel (which I had caught the day before) and Calamari produced a huge number of nice Ling. Paul caught the best one of 28lb. He also had another of 24lb. We all had nice fish, Graham, Dad and I all had Ling knocking 20lb. A few more Pollack and 4 Cod to 16lb were also taken on the ‘Pirks.’
A super days fishing was enjoyed by us all, although Simon, still finding his sea legs was saving himself for the next three days as he had a bit of a quiet day on the fish front. In total we estimated the catch to be over 700lb. These were all studiously filleted and put on ice for our return to Dartmouth. Friday 23rd July After a good night’s sleep and a tasty Indian dinner the previous evening, we set off at 9am in search of Black Bream. We had 2 fish boxes of scallop frills and 3 boxes of Calamari for bait. A steam of a little under an hour put us over a reef in about 160ft of water. Tackle consisted of 6 – 12lb class rods, 8oz leads and a two hook paternoster with semi-circle size 2 hooks. Green and black attractor beads were also used. Rotten bottoms were used (nothing at all to do with the Indian meal of the previous evening) with a high degree of success to minimise the loss of terminal tackle as the reef occasionally snagged our end gear.
Good Bream were caught from the outset lifted everyone’s spirits. Everybody had good fish to over 2lb and at times the fishing could be described as hectic as double shots of Bream were being netted all around the boat. At one time everybody on the boat had a Bream on at the same time. By the end of the day we calculated we had caught at least 220 Bream. A good number of these were returned to fight another day, other better fish kept for the table. It was an incredible days angling thoroughly enjoyed by us all. Simon made up for a quiet previous day boating some good bream. Lloyd, in between setting up the drifts and supplying us with much needed tea, also caught some good fish. I caught a stray reef Pollack and we all had several nice Red Gurnard in addition. Saturday 24th July A fine morning greeted as and a slightly earlier start wasn’t appreciated by all as Graham, Simon and John all gave the locals a ‘treat’ as several songs had been sung on the karaoke in the pub until 11.30pm. This was the day I had been looking forward to the most. A day on the Banks with light tackle, long traces and live Sandeel and Mackerel for bait. The aim was Turbot and Brill and after last year when I blanked for the flatties, I felt it was necessary to set the record straight.
Graham was the first to snare a Turbot, this increased everyone’s concentration as we all wanted a part of the action. Numerous Cuttlefish gave many frustrating false takes but a switch from live Eel to Mackerel strip immediately produced a solid take which I missed. Then the subsequent drift I hooked what felt like a good flattie. It was. A personal best, 4lb 12 oz Brill. This was a regional specimen that brought a beaming smile to my face.
I then followed this up with another smaller Turbot and a Brill, one on Mackerel, one on Sandeel. Simon landed a nice Turbot of 4lb and Paul caught a couple of smaller Turbot. Graham added another Brill about 3lb to his Turbot before the tide slackened and the takes diminished.
It was some of the most enjoyable fishing I have had in a long time and I, along with the others will remember it for a long time to come. Attention turned to Bass and few drifts near Alderney were unfortunately fruitless for the Bass but some nice reef Pollack fell to the live Eels. The tides were a bit small for the Bass, but it had been a very good day and we returned to St Peter Port for a few bevies and a tasty supper with Paul and Lloyd. Sunday 25th July Again we were all expectant of another successful day wrecking aboard “Saltwind”. However, a wind stronger than forecast from an awkward North Westerly direction meant that fishing was very tough. We tried a few drifts and a few Pollack resulted. The decision to head for home was met with some relief from the members of the party who were struggling to keep breakfast down (mainly as a result of an even more boisterous karaoke session the night before, not helped by a 7am start.) So with a bit of slog back to Dartmouth we headed for cross-Channel and arrived back in good time to make the car journey home. It was a fantastic trip, and for 3 days out of 4 we were lucky with some brilliant weather. It didn’t matter the last day was a bit rough as the three previous days were so good.
We would all like to thank Lloyd for his expert fish finding ability and organisation as well as the numerous cups of tea he provided us with. We had some cracking fishing but also it was a really good laugh, with many classic one-liners from a certain member of the party. We look forward to another trip in the future. Jonathan Short (c) Jon Short 28th July 2004 |
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