Photo Gallery 2011

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Fish of the Month, with pictures and stories.

December 2011

On my only fishable Needles Light charter in December, we managed to avoid the Cod all day! It was not for the want of trying, after throwing plenty of bait at the Pout and Dogs. John had the best fish in the shape of a 7lb Thornback and is pictured right, while Chris battled to the surface the best Conger, close to 40lb. Steve had a reasonable Conger of 30lb and Bob also caught Conger along with a Whiting, otherwise it was 'quiet', except for the Pouting and Dogfish.

The sea conditions made for a great day out on the sea, not cold with a nice bit of sun. This has to be the warmest winter ever for this part of the world. However along with the higher temperatures we have had some very strong winds through December and up to the end of the first week of January.

BTW - after discussing the day, in the following week, with the other skippers that were in our vicinity, we were very unlucky not to do better. Just outside and 250 yards South of us were two boats that both had some great fish. Gary Withers on 'Sea Hunter' caught and released a cracking Undulate that bounced on the scales between 17lb and 21lb, that is a hell of a an Undulate. He also had two Cod and fifteen Whiting. While just down tide from him and only 250 yards from us, Fred on 'Crimson Tide' caught a massive 14lb Bass! Steve on 'Agay' just on our inside had to wait until 8pm before catching two Cod on his last drop, one was 21lb and the other 16lb. A mile inshore, Jeff Semple on 'Lazy Daze' found five Cod for his crew with the best going 29lb to Colin Purdy's rod. I obviously put us exactly on the wrong spot as we were surrounded by good fish! That's fishing!

Movember 2011

On the third Saturday of November the Tony Lavington crew had to put up with a swell and a sloppy sea that persisted throughout the day. One or two of the crew struggled with the continuous motion and to be fair it was not ideal but the fishing was definitely switching on to full ahead. Tony can be seen with his best Cod at a shade over 20lb to add to another nice Cod he caught earlier in the same tide.

Other notable fish were four more Cod all around the 12lb mark, a reasonable Thornback, a good Whiting and a 20lb Conger plus some lead cable! The Pout and Dogs were there too, hanging onto the smaller hooks.

October 2011

This Autumn the Solent fished fine but strangely only after sunset. We also picked the smaller tides for fishing deep. White Maiden recorded the first inshore Cod of the season on a Thursday evening towards the end of October and very late in the year due to the unseasonable warm weather. The sea was still 'warm' at 16 degrees C. In the third week of October one Cod to a Solent boat was normal, with some getting two or three. Alan Headley caught this one at 15lb, which was at the top end of those reported, while others at 6lb, 8lb, 12lb, 15lb and 18lb all chomping on the Solent crabs, are from different year groups. That is odd too.

Well done Alan, another species to add to your 2011 fish list, a nice 15lb, first inshore Cod.

September 2011
 
This early September trip started late in the day due to a holiday but I couldn't wait to get out on the boat again. After a couple of jobs I was ready to go, it was sensible not to rush. The evening improved to a F3 SSW with clear skies the forecast was spot on again. The crew originally made up of six individuals became four which meant I could fish too. We found enough Macky and a Gar for fresh bait. We found two boats already drifting and soon had a decent Bass netted and in the box. The fishing produced quality Bass, coming to the boat in ones with the occasional second lost but this culminated in a 9lb 8oz Bass falling to a pirk on Rich's hire rod, on the left. Having caught enough smaller Bass already, Richards big Bass, was returned to fight again, along with another. Good man!

In mid September the Wiltshire Farmers plus a couple of locals quickly found around thirty odd Macky, a Bream, a Scad and some Pout while drifting a small wreck. After a very good start we had a day of two halves with an extremely hectic morning session of mainly Tope followed by a quiet afternoon.  It was a superb day to be out on the sea though. The  best specimen was won by Clive (right) with this cracking Brill of 5lb 12oz . Clive also caught a Tope of 13lb which turned out to be the biggest fish.

August 2011

In early  August the Tony Lavington crew were taken to the same bank as fished by the previous weeks crew and we had a completely different day, recording eleven species by the end of the trip.

The best specimen was this cracking 5lb Spotted Ray for Norman, which is the best Spotted Ray I have ever seen. Norman, left, released the well marked and weighty Spotted Ray to fight again another day. Other species caught were a Blonde Ray, Small Eyed Ray, Bass, Tub Gurnard, Smoothound, Tope, Bream, Dogfish, Scad and plenty of Mackerel. The main species were Tope with eight caught up to around 18lb. The dogfish were back in anger too, so plenty of life on the banks again. The trick was to use small hooks and baits on a 'flouro carbon' single hook trace. Apart from a small Bass, drifting was a fruitless exercise, as we tested a six mile wreck and a five mile bank in perfect conditions, all to no avail. I think the commercials have a good go.

July 2011

On a Thursday evening in July the Pat Warne crew had a F6 Westerly at the start of play. Mackerel were easily found through Hurst before we went into the Bay and anchored the same mark as we fished on the Tuesday evening. The wind at 24knts pushed up the sea and it was a bit uncomfortable at first but eased back, just as the forecasters said it would. The weed was a problem too for the first 45 minutes and the crew confided in me later that they thought it may have been a mistake but our end result proved it was a good decision.

The Bream were even more obliging than Tuesday evening with the odd Bream around the 2lb mark taking 6/0 hooks. Bream were caught throughout the evening along with Bob's two Bass, the best going 5lb 8oz and Pats Thornback Ray, towards the end, which was a cracker, at 15lb 4oz.

Pat's Ray, although not the best picture, was one of the best Thornback Rays to hit the deck of one of my boats and a very good specimen for our area. The big female was returned to fight another day. Added to the species list was a small Conger, some Scad and more Mackerel caught at anchor. Again this is not the best picture but deserved to get on the Fish of the Month Gallery.
 

June 2011

The Saturday crew from Trident SAC club were supported by three local lads. They had a reasonable but chilly day of bright sunshine, that ended in a fresh breeze, averaging 22 knts.

At the start, the Mackerel were of a perfect live bait size and so we tanked and drifted them live over a bit of rough stuff. Ian caught this fantastic Bass on a Joey Mackerel that weighed 9.5lb, which, with a full belly, would have been a good 10lb plus.

After this we lost gear, for just a few Pout, so went for a safer drift on a bank but to no avail before anchoring up. Here the lads found two 10lb Thornback Rays, a couple of Tope to 15lb plus and a few dogs but it was generally quiet. So we moved back inshore, a couple of miles but still a few miles off, to look for a bream.  Bob hooked a Bream immediately. This was followed by more Bream, a Whiting, Poor Cod, and the best Thornback of the day at 11lb by Steve.

May 2011

On this Wednesday, end of May, evening trip, with the Charles Stanswood crew it was ideal for fishing the Solent, with a nice easy tide to chase the Hounds and Bream. During the first hour we were able to fish deep and fairly soon Charles and Nigel were both into a reasonable fish. They are pictured together as their timing allowed me to frame both of them prior to fish release. Then towards the end of that hour as the ebb tide picked up, another Hound came to Nigel’s rod. This week is obviously the week when you will catch the heaviest Hounds, as both double figure but fairly small females were weighed down with pups.

April 2011

In April the Church Crookham crew returned to a tested Bream mark to find the fish still fussy but bigger and slightly more obliging.

The day itself was hotter and calmer and the biggest challenge was avoiding the burn, what a cracker though for April. The flood tide trickled along with a steady stream of quality Black Bream, twenty four in all, with Keith Newton boating the best at 3lb 5oz. There was also a few Ballan Wrasse, a Corkwing Wrasse, Pout, a Gar and a Pollock.

March 2011

March is my boat out and maintenance month. It is a break in my bookings diary and a chance to possibly get somewhere hot and sunny for a week, hopefully fishing. Then there is also the opportunity to watch one or two Six Nations matches.

As March is traditionally tricky to locate inshore fish I never used to like it but I actually enjoy March now as I don't work so hard!

February 2011

A brief respite in the weather and a nice small tide allowed the Tony Lavington and John Richards crew, again one of the few crews to get out and fish a nine mile bank in February. Nothing secret as they are showing on the chart. The swell at times during the day, was probably the biggest that I have taken White Maiden over the Bridge in. On the way back the odd wave broke on the Needles Light and went two thirds of the way up! As we crossed the Bridge the breakers crashing into Scratchels and Sun Corner were huge. Awesome stuff!

Anyway back to the fishing; the distance trip was worthwhile with a specimen Spur Dog, a near specimen Conger and a good Blonde Ray, plus another five double figure Congers. All the fish were over 12lb and released but it was slow, with just eight fish coming to the boat, one about every half hour. Here is Mike who had the most fish including a 14lb Blonde Ray and a 14lb Spurr weighed before release.  This is one of our prime target species for February, if we can get out!

January 2011

In January the Tony Lavington crew were one of the few crews to get out. We went back to fish the mark where we caught ten Cod on their last trip. But it was too quiet around two miles, so after the anchor had dragged on the hard, flat sea bed we tested four miles. Even here in the middle of the ebb, the fishing was just as quiet, with more lead required. The anchor held better in the not-so-flat sea bed, so we settled down waiting for the tide to ease back. Whiting were boated to 2.5lb with Jon showing the best at 3lb. It had been attacked by something on it's travels. There were also some large Pout to 2.5lb.  At dead slack water Tony caught a 10oz Dab on Hokkais; there's a first time for everything. So no Cod for us in January this year but what a great Cod season it had been.

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