Photo Gallery 2010

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Fish of the Month, with pictures and stories.

December 2010

Not much to report this month as we only got out once. It was with the Alan Headley crew where the lads did well on the larger Whiting.

Consistent Cod Catcher, Tony Wells, found one nicely marked target fish, just making double figures and pictured left. Tony also caught the Best Cod in the Cod Championships, on the Thursday, held in the Solent, with a nice Cod around 20lb. It earned him £1000! He swears by his methods and proved again that they work on a day when no one else could catch one! It is not for me to tell you what his method is either, that's his secret. I won't complain about the weather this winter, as the summer was fantastic, so we will see what we get given to us next year.
 

November 2010

Is this the best year for Cod for a long time? Probably. Is this coinciding with a second cold winter and like we used to have? Maybe.

One thing is for sure, my previous best for an inshore double figure Cod catch, on one of my boats or any boat that I have ever been on including charters from the distant past, was bettered yesterday, Saturday 27th November, with the Tony Lavington crew. They hauled in ten double figure Cod that averaged 16.5lb. This was a record breaking trip for me.

Norman is showing a specimen 'Lunker Cod' at 27lb which was his best out of a personal catch of five Cod, and of the ten caught through the flooding tide. Tony Lavington chipped in with a handy four Cod and Dave caught one. The other four anglers tried hard, used the same baits but never managed to get lucky. Is it is all in the hook-up? Definitely.

October 2010

Early October an individuals trip on White Maiden were able to get out and fish a fortunate break in a run of weather systems rolling across the South that week. The fishing was comfortable, with some morning sun and it stayed dry until we up anchored. We fished a bank for most of the day but first we drifted an inshore wreck for 10 mackerel which was very useful, but we found no Pollock or Pout.

We then tested a 114' mark, a small gulley, at around four miles, to find a few dogfish and a 7lb Thornback but it was a bit quiet for us. So we soon moved to a bank and immediately shook off the bait robbing fish and found a reasonable Bass, five Blonde Rays to 23lb, a couple of Tope plus a Small Eyed Ray, so not too bad by the end of the trip. Here's Clive with a very nice 23lb Blonde Ray.

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September 2010

On a Thursday evening in September, the Charles Stanswood crew had a varied evening trip; after fishing the first mark, deep at West Lepe, where we had five or so Bream and a few Mackerel but then also a bit too much weed, we moved over to Newtown. Here we found too much wind for the tide, which caused White Maiden to swing around the anchor, and not much 'life' either, so we moved back over to sheltered Sowley. 

The first fish there was Andrews racing Cod at 12.5lb, then came five small Hounds plus Dogs, Bream, Pout and a Bull Huss. Most of the fish came at the end of the ebb and there was not a lot of weed. The crew were pleased that the fish came on the feed eventually and for the breeze to ease off. We finished off nicely on a lovely moonlit calm Solent.

August 2010

the regular monthly trip for Trident SAC found Mackerel and Scad bait fish immediately. Strings of small Scad flew over the gunnels, ideal for Bassing. The first few drifts on an inshore mark didn’t produce a fish. The next two drifts alongside a wreck followed the same pattern and that was using great bait. The five mile banks gave us a few Bass. Our first proper fish was a good Bass, which was lost at the surface and typically, the best fish hooked that day. The next seven Bass boated were between 2.5lb and 4lb. The weather improved from lunch time, with the rain stopping too.At anchor we found a Thornback, a couple of Spotted Rays, Dogs, Bream and the Tope caused havoc. So eight species in all. Pictured left to right is John, John, Roy and Chris.
 

July 2010

On the Trident SAC trip in July, we had a good start, after anchoring near a small wreck, with a Bass, a Skate, Dogs, Mackerel, a Red Gurnard, Pout and a few Tope. We then tried a couple of banks and a 'long drift' for more Bass but with no luck. We then drifted another wreck but failed there too! So for the last couple of hours we went back ‘onto the hook’ down at Brook. After a flurry of Dogs and a couple of Tope, while the breeze freshened to 20 Knots, I was considering a move.

As I made my thoughts known, Chris latched into a cracking 14lb 12oz Thornback Ray, while John landed a nice 4lb Spotted Ray and Bob caught the Bream he was after, as they came on the feed, at the end of the tide. So it was a good finish to the day, although it was a bit bouncy on the way back.

Chris, a relative beginner, shows one of the best specimens caught in July. This cracker was slipped back over the side to lay her purses and was the second Thornback of the day, with the smaller male, kept for the pot.

The specimen size for a Thornback Ray is 13lb, in these parts. It is a good fish and they punch above their weight, I like them!

June 2010

June this year had the best weather for an entire month that I can remember, apart from May that is! The fishing was good too and varied with a wide variety of species. Here is Richard with a nice Bass, of the Don Tucker crew, from Lee On Solent. They respectfully and kindly compromised on a 0600 start, to take in the footy, England v Germany. We made the last 16 of the world cup. The fishing was far better than the footy! They started with 3 Bass, the best at 6lb, after a few short drifts, and before we headed out deep for some bigger fish.

May 2010

Not a great picture but still definitely the White Maiden Fish of The Month.

This was caught on a Pat Warne crew eveing trip in May. After the sun set onto a dark and crimson, mirror like sea, Kevin got into something very decent. After a struggle to the surface a large Blonde literally hit the net but flapped and dived away, nearly all the way down to the bottom again! Meanwhile, I had plenty of time to get the bigger net. To be fair Kevin took his time and coaxed her back up to the surface well, where I still had trouble getting it in the big net. It was only when I went to lift her up over the side that I realised that this ray was huge. The scales with the net went down to 30lb and a bit and so, less 4lb for the net, she was around the 26lb mark and obviously lost, as I would never have expected a Blonde Ray to show up where we were, let alone a Blonde of this size! The beautiful Blonde, swam off slowly no worse for the experience, I am sure.

April 2010

In early April a great forecast meant we had plenty of scope and so we comfortably fished the banks well South of the Needles Light, all day. The tide range was kind at just 2.2 meters but this still required 1.5lb of lead in the hardest run of the Ebb.

Trident SAC crew caught six good double figure Spur Dogs with two of them at specimen size, just over 13lb. All these fish were weighed and released. All but one angler had a double figure fish, so they were reasonably well shared around too. The 'one that got away' was assumed to be a massive Blonde Ray. We took turns on the rod as the fish was massive, but in the end the trace wore through!

What a great start to the summer of 2010, that incidentally followed a particularly cold winter.
 

March 2010

This March was holiday time in Mexico, celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary. I had decided not to run any trips out in White Maiden in March this year and to have a break at a sensible time when the going is traditionally difficult round the edges of the English Channel.

So here's our boat champion out from Huatulco, Mexico. Alison jumped in the chair, or rather I jumped out, when this skip jack tuna decided to grab the one and only small lure we were trolling. The big lures never attracted anything, so Alison gloated for a good 10 minutes afterwards. It was a treat to be relaxing in the sunshine in March, while others did all the work. Having said that I would like to have tested my back on one of the big fish they get out there.

February 2010

After some difficult trips we eventually found a few fish with six species making themselves available to well presented baits on Saturday 20th February. But the fishing was still quiet and possibly described as hard depending on how it is approached. All the lads fishing on White Maiden through February had some great weather and in the end found a few fish. Again Tony Lavington landed the best fish, Congers apart.

Here is Tony with a nice 5lb Bass caught on 5 miles.
 

January 2010

What a good start to the year, here is Tony Lavington with a very 'New Year Cod' of 16lb. This turned out to be the last trip for a few weeks while snow caused chaos up until the end of January.

When we did get out again we had missed out, on arguably one of the best times of  the year, after the water temp went right down to 4 degrees C.