With the growing popularity of “shad” fishing, use of a pirk has fallen out of fashion to a degree. Nevertheless, pirking (jigging or ripping), remains a very effective method of catching cod, ling and other local species. Over the years, I’ve had some belting pollack, loads of ‘nuisance’ whiting, coalfish and even had occasional wrasse and gurnard take an un-baited pirk off the Robin Hoods Bay, Whitby, Kettleness and Runswick areas.

I first starting pirking in the late 1980’s and since that time, a lot has changed, both in terms of catches, but also pirking tackle. In those days, I fished much further offshore and went out of Whitby with Brian Marsden on Toiler, Stu Johnson on Sea Trek and Alan and Rich Ward on Summer Wine and Shy Torque. In the early days, we fished heavy, with 50lb, or even 80lb class rods and using 1½ lb bar pirks, or 500 gram Norwegian jiggers set up with a ‘killer rig’ of two muppets on 150lb mono above. At the end of a full day’s pirking, I used to be absolutely bushed.

Above :

On the right is the old 1980’s/90’s heavy gear – Big reels, mono line, Penn 80lb class stand up style rod and 500 gram Norwegian jigger. On the left is today’s light gear – longer 7’9” Abu 12lb class rod, braid and 200gram pirk.

In the late 1980’ / early 1990’s, 20lb+ cod or ling were relatively commonplace and more often than not on those trips, someone on board, usually bagged one or more during the day. Now, twenty years on, a 20lb+ fish is something of a rarity. Nevertheless, there are still a good number of cod to be had today, but we have to accept that their average size is now smaller. These smaller fish, the advent of braided line and a more open minded approach to other techniques has led many of us using lighter and more sporting tackle, which for me anyway, has maintained the fun of boat fishing.

Above : Big bar pirk with muppet on treble and big Norwegian jigger that I used to use.

Those early offshore pirking trips taught me a lot.

• Norwegian pirks out fish straight bar pirks, as they offer a more alluring movement in the water.
  Work the pirk as close to the seabed as possible, it should keep just touching bottom, which will mean you need to release a bit more line every few jigs.
• Work the pirk as close to a vertical plane as possible, once your line starts to stream out and approaches a 45º angle, wind in and drop down again. With a streaming line, you won’t catch as many fish and you are far more likely to snag the bottom.
• Keep your hooks sharp, or change them. Regular contact with rough ground soon dulls hook points.
  Muppets on trebles or singles can add to a pirks attraction – again more movement of the lure. I rate the articulated movement a muppet gives a pirk.
• A baited pirk tends to catch more ling – if that’s what you want!
  Particularly when using braided line, you really don’t need to lift the rod right into the clouds on the up-stroke. A subtle flick of the rod tip, moving the pirk only 18” or so, is often all you need.

Those old 30/50 Shimano reels weren’t called ‘Beast Masters’ for nothing, – they weighed a ton! I can’t imagine pirking with one today. They make the reel I use now look tiny.

The bulk of my inshore cod fishing is now from done from small private boats. I favour the shallower reef and rough ground marks and fish within a mile or so of the coastline, in depths of 10 – 25 metres. Here, providing the water is clear enough, the pirk can be very effective, as it can worked exactly where the cod are, hard on the bottom of the seabed. The tactics will also over wrecks, but pirk losses will inevitably be higher.

The rough ground can still be quite tackle hungry, but there are ways of mitigating pirk losses, more of which I’ll come on to later. It’s the cost of these losses which put many novices off pirking, or they choose to use cheap pirks, which they don’t so much mind losing, but in truth, I’ve found are not half as effective as the ones shown below.

The use of braided line (25 – 50lb breaking strain) allows much lighter tackle to be used now. For depths of up to around 40 metres, I use 12lb class gear and pirks of between 100 – 200 grams weight. For deeper water than this, a 20lb class outfit can be better, together with pirks of between 200 – 300 grams weight. You can use either of these outfits all day, without feeling you’ve had a workout at the gym!

These German made 200 gram pirks have caught me loads of fish. They have a circular sweeping action on the drop. Sadly, they seem to be unobtainable in the UK now.

These ‘Mean’ pirks used to be sold by Harris Angling, now Harris Sportsmail. They came in 100, 150 and 200 gram weights. Their fluttering action, enhanced by the additional movement from a muppet, makes these great pirks. Again, no longer available.

A good pirk that’s still available – A 200gram Norwegian shape pirk supplied by Sovereign Superbaits. A lure with plenty of action.

Something that’s always baffled me in recent years, is why more right handed sea anglers don’t use left handed multiplier reels? When pirking, spinning, fly fishing, or coarse fishing, I hold the rod with my right hand. When pirking, I hold the butt of the rod with my left hand and the fore grip of the rod with my right. With a left handed reel, as soon as you get a fish on, you can then use your left hand to wind, or engage the reel straight away, – instead of having to swap the rod from right hand to left hand, which I find so cumbersome. As soon as you get a take, you want to be in a position to wind in and keep tension on the line and fish. Auto engage multiplier reels, like the Abu and Tica below, do help in this regard.

My favoured left hand wind multipliers for 12/20lb. class outfits.
From left to right – Tica Caiman CJ201R, Avet 2 Speed MXJ 6/4 and Abu BG 7001 HS

So coming back to the question of how to avoid losing gear – here are my top tips!

• Just use a pirk by itself, don’t make it a “Killer rig” with muppets, hokeyes or anything else above the pirk. Fewer hooks = less risk of snagging. Don’t get hung up on fewer hooks = fewer fish. The pirk catches the majority of fish anyway.
• If fishing braid as a mainline, tie a 6’ – 8’ length of similar strength mono between braid and pirk, to resist abrasion of the rough ground. Braid is very susceptible to abrasion.
• At the end of the mono use a decent snap swivel link, like an interlock. (I don’t rate American snaps at all). Don’t tie the mono straight onto the pirk.
• Fish the pirk as vertically as possible.
• If you use braid and get stuck on the bottom, you have a brief moment, depending on the speed of the drift, when you can often ‘shake’ the pirk free. Once you hit a snag, you must maintain tension and rapidly ‘jag’ at the pirk. You can often release them if you do this quickly.
• If you’re fishing from a private boat, watch out for flags marking fleets of lobster pot lines and avoid them.
  On really rough ground, use two single hooks instead of a treble. (See pirk below). I find trebles tend to wedge in snags and using two singles reduces snagging by at least 50% and I find increases catches too, as the bottom single catches fish which nip at the muppet on the tail of the pirk. The two single hook arrangement also works without muppets.

This is a ‘Mean’ pirk rigged with two 5/0 singles in place of a treble. It has lasted for three full days jigging, it’s bashed about, lost most of its finish, but is still catching fish – most importantly, it’s back in my tackle box, not lost in the rough ground on the seabed.

So there you have it! If you fancy something different to winding in a shad, give pirking a whirl. If you going to try it, I would suggest this is a method that favours slower drifts and / or smaller neap tides.

Please feel free to leave your comments below, or if you wish to debate this article in our fishing forum please click here – http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14245.0

Uptide boat fishing at anchor (uptiding) is one of the most productive and enjoyable methods of fishing for Cod and numerous other species like ling, conger, bass, tope and rays. The method involves casting a 6 ounce weight and a trace, baited with a variety of sea fishing baits, uptide of the boat you are fishing from. The tackle used usually consists of a 9 foot uptiding rod and a small 6500 or 7000 size multiplier filled with line between 15 and 30 pound breaking strain. Uptiding is often done in shallow inshore waters, no more than 90ft deep and usually less than a mile from the shore.

Above : Heading Out Of Whitby On A beautiful Winters Morning

Catch Big Cod On The Inshore Waters

In the past visitors to Whitby have often thought that to catch good fish you need to disappear over the horizon, to far off seas never before fished. However the Whitby charter boats have found this not to be the case. Infact they have found some excellent catches with fish to 30lbs within 5 minutes travelling distance from the harbour entrance. Although at times it does pay to visit distant wrecks and reefs there are other days when monster sized cod swim within a few hundred yards of the coastline at Whitby.
In the winter months the Whitby charter skippers have noticed that lots of cod come close to the shore at Whitby in search of the abundance of food which seems to gather around the profusion of rough ground and rock ledges around the coastline. So the local skippers have developed their own take on the widely utilised method of uptiding at anchor. With a light rod usually about 9 foot in length and a small multiplier reel filled with 15 – 30 pound line a rig baited with squid, mussel, or worm is cast away from the boat using a 6 ounce grip lead. Once the lead and bait are settled on the bottom line is let off the real to create a bow in the line between the rod tip and the weight on the bottom. The strength of the tide pulls the grip lead in tight onto the sea bed and pulls the rod tip down.

Above : Simon West with a 10lb cod from Malc Pitmans Boat Sea Spray.

One Bite And They Are Off. Cod Swim Downtide With The Bait.

When uptiding for cod, a bite is often signified by the rod tip springing upright. This happens because the fish has picked up the bait, swallowed the hook and started to swim downtide. At this point the angler winds up the slack line and starts to reel in the fish. There is no need to strike the bite when uptide fishing as the fish are already hooked by the time you take the tension on the rod. As the cod starts to get down tide of the boat the weight of the fish then begins to show on the rod and the angler has the fight of his life whilst trying to real in the fish against the strong tide flow. A big cod on light tackle fighting with the aid of a strong tide flow will give a fight to test even the most skilled of anglers, this surely has to be one of the best methods for catching cod whilst afloat.

Above : Sea Otter 2 Skipper Paul Kilpatrick – Uptiding at Saltwick Bay

Book A Fishing Trip ? – More Info On Uptiding ?

If your interested in booking an uptiding trip from Whitby then please contact one of the Whitby Charter Skippers. If you have any more questions on this method the skippers will be only to pleased to answer them for you. Another way to learn more about uptiding and other fishing methods utilised by the Whitby Charter skippers could be to drop into the Whitby Fishing Forum.

Above : Uptiding at Sandsend with Whitby in the background

Learn More About Uptiding

For more insight into uptiding please read our kayak uptiding article. Although the article is aimed at kayak anglers it gives more indepth information on how to use the uptiding method to catch fish.

You may also wish to read any topics in our forum that are in the uptiding category.

There is also a list of boat fishing news articles under the uptiding heading here.

For information on other boat fishing techniques please visit our boat fishing homepage.

Read More…….

It is not an exaggeration or overstatement to say that braided line has revolutionised modern day sea angling.  This is certainly true for many branches of boat / kayak angling, and increasingly so, for spinning and other shore casting techniques.  Braid first came on to my radar, whilst boat fishing in the early 1990’s– the product that I noted being used then was the white coloured Dynon 3000.

Dynon 3000 – One of the earliest braids on the market and still available today.

So just what is so special about this ‘wonder line’ –braid?

Kevlar and Spectra braid’s unique properties are (a) that diameter for diameter, it is significantly stronger than either nylon monofilament, or braided Dacron, which some boat anglers were still using then. (b) It has virtually zero stretch, as opposed to mono which can stretch by up to a quarter of its length. (c) It is not affected by ultra violet light to the same degree as mono, which gets weaker and more elastic with continued exposure. It therefore has a far longer working lifespan. (d) it does not absorb water.

At a stroke, because braid was so much thinner and cut through the water better than mono, it didn’t get influenced by tide as much, so the requirement for 50lb and 80lb class gear that was so widely used, was no more. The heavy leads and pirks, heavy rods to work those heavy leads and pirks and heavy reels to hold all the heavy (and thick) monofilament line became redundant!  Those that made the switch from mono to braid, found weights of leads and pirks could be instantly halved.

The virtually zero stretch properties of braid were another eye opener for me.  Sometimes when I was working a pirk or bait, in 70+ metres with mono, I couldn’t always be certain that I was fishing hard on the bottom.  Now, using braid, I could feel every single bump as my weight or lure came in contact with the seabed. For the first time ever, I could actually feel the difference between my end tackle hitting soft and hard ground, or even coming into contact with the structure of the wreck!  Bites at these depths, felt far more positive and the whole fishing experience suddenly became far more involving at my end of the rod.

In the early 1990’s, anglers simply loaded braid onto their existing old gear, just to try it out. To begin with, I don’t think many of us could get our heads round the lines thin diameter and as result, we purchased braid that was unduly heavy.  Slowly however, as braids popularity increased and our confidence in the new material grew, lighter boat tackle evolved, to the extent that today, a heavy downtide cod boat rod would be 30lb class, with many boat anglers now using 20lb or even 12lb class inshore.  I know some of the kayak lads, fishing close to the coastline, go lighter still.

So is all modern braided line the same?   The quick answer, in my experience is – No!  There are many different braids on the market already and new products being introduced each season, so it is all but impossible for us to keep up with every latest make and brand.   What I can do though, is tell you a little more about the small selection of braids I have experience of using, the ones I liked and disliked, and why that was so.

I don’t propose to go into all the science behind modern braid, such as to how and what it’s made of, as I’m not sure how this will help the average angler. In any event, I don’t profess to know myself and quite frankly, I don’t really care!   Instead, the things I do care about when buying braid are it’s strength, it’s diameter, the length of braid on the spool, it’s texture i.e. is it coated/fused, it’s profile, it’s colour, its density (does it float or sink) and it’s price!

Let’s just look a bit more at each of those properties in turn.

Strength – Not all braids are equal!  Some measure their strength in lb. breaking strain, others in kg.  I am told that some braids break at, or below their stated breaking strain (for I.G.F.A. record purposes) others break above their stated breaking strain (b.s.), so they appear to outclass other brands.  As with mono, just something to be aware of between brands.

For sea angling, braids from 20lb. b.s. to 50lb. b.s. will cover the majority of applications.

Diameter – Again, not all braids are equal!  One brand may measure their diameters in metric, others in thousands of an inch.  Why, as a modern age material, they can’t all be uniform is beyond me. I’m certainly not a ‘metric martyr’ and I don’t care whether the diameter is stated one way or the other, or even both ways, but making direct comparisons, as things stand, is not always straightforward!

I’m not in a position to check these stated diameters with a micrometer, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was also an inconsistency between stated and actual diameters on some brands, as there can be with mono too, apparently.

This is borne out by a table I found on the web, part of which I’ve copied, courtesy of  http://www.tacklebox.co.uk/line_tests.htm

Diameter is an important factor to consider when choosing braid.  As with any line, there is a compromise to be made between diameter and breaking strain, but in the case of braid, the greater the diameter, generally speaking, the longer it lasts.  I’ve got some 65lb Power Pro braid on an Abu 5001 casting multiplier, which I use for lure fishing for pike, that’s over 10 years old and still going strong.

For those moving from mono to braid, these inconsistencies in stated diameters mean that it’s not always easy estimating the equivalent amount of braid to use on a reel, even if it gives mono capacities or stated line diameters on the reel.  Also, I’ve found some braids bed on a spool better than others.  I’ll cover this further, when I come onto “how to load braid onto your reel” later.

It’s easy to overload a reel with braid.

The diameter of braid can influence how it sits on the spool and casts from the reel.  When casting heavy weights or lures, thin diameter braid can bed into the remaining braid on the spool, causing snatched casts.  With a fixed spool reel, this is not always fatal, but with a multiplier it frequently is, and one of the reasons why some anglers give up on braid prematurely.  Thicker braid casts far more easily off a reel than thinner, particularly with multipliers.

A table showing Power Pro Braid v Mono diameter

If you’re boat or kayak fishing and not casting, none of this will really worry you.  You will be interested though in the stated diameter of the braid, as it is this factor that will influence by how much the tide affects your line, and therefore the weight of end tackle required.

Length – Guess what… no, don’t worry, I won’t mention equality again! Needless to say some are measured in metres, some in yards!  It might not sound much of a difference, but bear in mind, one yard is over 8.5% shorter than one metre.  Pro-rata, the price you pay between different brands with different units of measurement, should really reflect this.

Braid usually comes in the equivalent of 150 metres/yards, 200 metres/yards or 300 metres/yards.  Limited brands are also available in much longer lengths on bigger bulk spools, but the price per unit of measurement doesn’t drop massively.

For inshore boat /kayak fishing, spinning etc. 150 metres/yards should be ample.  I’d go for 300metres/yards for beach casting and offshore boat work. Think in terms of a worst case disaster, where the braid broke near the reel, would you have enough left to carry on fishing?  Once the braid has been on your reel for a season or two, you can extend its use by reversing it all on the reel, end to end.

Texture – Certain braids such as Berkley Fireline and Fireline XDS have a fused or coated exterior. This makes them more rigid than uncoated braids and therefore slightly more friendly to cast in that they are more tangle resistant.  Their diameter is usually greater than uncoated and again helps resist bedding into the spool.

Positive results from XDS, not quite so with Fireline original.

The one gripe I have with this line is that I have found under extreme heavy pressure, i.e. skate fishing in Scotland, that original Fireline will distort and the round profile gets flattened as it goes over the tip ring.  I’ve tried using roller rings and the same thing happens. Whether this weakens the line, I just don’t know. I did contact Berkley about this and sent a sample of damaged line, but they never bothered to get back to me!

This is my mate, John Hudson using one of my 80lb class set ups on Skate in the Firth of Lorne,  Scotland.

The braid line being used is 100lb Fireline XDS.  The drag is set to slip at around 40lbs.

When you are fishing in depths of 400′ – 600′ braid’s properties are a real advance over mono.

One of several skate we caught that day.  John’s biggest went 197lb. We will back for that 200 lb’er!

The texture can even affect how the line sounds when winding in under pressure!  Some uncoated braid grates on the retrieve and sounds like a cheese wire going through the rod rings.  This probably got a number of people worried as to whether special rod rings for braid were necessary?  I think unlined rings do become grooved over time, but I’ve found all the modern lined rings I’ve got on my rods, work just fine with braid.

The coated braids I’ve used, such as Berkley Fireline and more recently Fireline XDS do seem to be more abrasive resistant to underwater snags than other uncoated braids.

Profile – Some of the early braided lines were weaved in a flat profile.  The original Penn Tidecutter used to be one of these.  It came off the reel leaving small spirals running down the line and I always thought this flat profile braid would be more susceptible to catching the tide.  Personally, I always look for a round profile when buying braid. Look closely, as it’s not always easy to spot.  If in doubt, roll the braid to test, between finger and thumb.

Colour – Braid comes in a variety of colours, from clear/opaque, to black, white and a myriad of colours in between.  The Daiwa Accudepth braid even comes in different colours every 10 metres to let you know how deep you’re fishing!

Daiwa Accudepth

Braid is not always colour fast – that is, some of the colour can wash out of it.  I know the Power Pro braids can loose their colour, thought this doesn’t affect their strength in any way.  You can currently purchase Power Pro in Hi viz yellow, red, moss green, white and black. Some braids, like the early Gorilla Braid, has a pattern weaved into it, as different coloured fibres are used in its construction.

Gorilla braid

Clear braid

For much of my boat fishing I use yellow braid.  The reason being is that I can see where it is in the water, which can be really helpful at times. Also, if I tangle with someone else, or should I say, someone else tangles with me (when in doubt, always best to pass the blame here!) different coloured lines do make it slightly easier to do the ‘Clive Anderson’ – (Whose line is it anyway?)

I’ve read all sorts of theories about one coloured braid being more visible underwater than another – even that red being the first colour of the spectrum, makes that colour line the least visible at the shallowest depth, orange the next and so forth.  Given that I never fish braid straight to a lure, though I’m aware a number of people successfully do, I’ve never worried that my brightly coloured braid might deter fish – though I have heard people saying categorically, that yellow braid can and does!

Density - The vast majority of braid sold today floats, though be aware that a small number of brands sink (but these are usually aimed specifically at the coarse fishing market).  Floating braids make lures fish slightly higher in the water when trolling or casting, compared to comparable diameter mono lines. Floating braid is great for float fishing, as you don’t need to grease the line anymore.

Shimano sinking braid

Price – this can be quite a variable and as with so much in life, you generally get what you pay for.  Brace yourself for a price in the order of £0.80 to £1.00/yard. As a rule of thumb, good braid is approximately 3 to 4 times the price of good mono, but provided you keep it away from abrasion, it can also have 5 or 6 times the lifespan of mono.

So that brings me to the end of Part 1 of my article on braid.  I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and not found it too technical!  For those that haven’t used braid before, this should have given you something to think about, before spending your hard earned?  For those that have used braid, but haven’t got on with it yet, hopefully some answers. Finally, for those who already use it and love it – my apologies for teaching you all how to suck eggs!

In Part 2, in next month’s article, I’ll be covering;

How to load braid onto a spool.

• How much to load.
• Breaking out when snagged with braid.
• Abrasion resistance, or lack of.
• Problems with lack of stretch.
• Weakening coated braid by continual casting.
• Knots for braid.
• Mono / Fluorocarbon leaders.
• Brands I’ve used and tried.

Tight lines, (whether braid or otherwise).

Mull Of Galloway Shark Tagging Event

The second annual shark tagging event organised by SSACN and tagsharks.com will be held in 2010 over 3 days in June. The 18th, 19th and 20th June will see boat and kayak anglers from across the UK decend on Scotland with the main aim of catching and tagging as many sharks as possible..

http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=tags;tagid=1518

Sharkatag Slideshow

Sharkatag 2009 was a great success and it is hoped that this year will be even better.

More information on sharkatag can be found at the following link :

Sharkatag Gallery – Includes Images From Past Events

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

 

Beer, particularly the home made variety from our village pub,   (which has its own micro brewery)  is a wonderful liquid for persuading people to take on challenges and so it was a few weeks back, late one Friday night, when after a few, Neil dropped his guard.  My tales of what excellent tope fishing we had round here and the fact that we wouldn’t be steaming out to sea for hours, persuaded him.  A trip was booked with ‘Browny’ from Brid.   The tides for the day in question looked perfect, so all we needed now was decent weather.

On the lead up to the trip the weather looked increasingly poor and I think Neil was quite relieved when, the previous evening, I let him know the trip was off.  Before he had any ideas that he was off the hook, I told him I’d re-booked a week later!  The tides were not so good, but we’d go and just make the best of it. As the day approached, the forecast looked good, but Neil was not to be persuaded by the Met Office, XC Weather or the skipper’s views on what may lay ahead the following morning.  No, he had to see the sea for himself!   It was agreed that he’d follow me to Brid and if the sea was not to his liking, he’d turn round and just leave me to it!    Anyway, on Tuesday this week, the sea was as predicted and was smooth to slight.  Neil climbed aboard!

I’d mentioned to Browny that I might call in at a supermarket for some mackerel “just in case”. Browny thought I was barking, but as it happened I hadn’t realised that the fish counter doesn’t stay open on a 24hr supermarket and it was gone 8.30pm ewhen I called in, so I couldn’t buy any.   Doh.     So off we set in search of some fresh bait.    Nothing doing at the sh*t pipe, so we moved out to the ridges to try there.  I’d warned Neil that he might hook a weever on the mackerel feathers and so it proved on one of his first drops.  After trying a number of ridges, all we’d had were launce, weevers and a handful of whiting.  For those that fish marks around the Smithwick Banks and Flamborough head will know how the sea can be quite rough and so it proved again.  Neil’s face said it all,   no bait a snotty sea, why on earth did I get talked into this………

Browny then took the decision to head south.  We tried a couple more marks, but still no mackerel.  Maybe a trip to Morrison’s hadn’t been such a daft idea after all?   At least had flattened off again and my companion didn’t look quite so glum now.  Close to the tope mark, we came across another private boat tope fishing – they’d picked mackerel up close inshore and soon we did likewise.  At last we had a few baits flicking at the bottom of the fish box.  The mackerel were very patchy, we all hooked a few, and then they vanished, only to reappear 5 minutes later.  Once we’d got about 15 in the box, Browny said “F*** It, lets get the pick down and give it a go”.

The mackerel were halved and two uptide rods were cast downtide with plain 6oz leads.  I had two of my own uptiders a Shimano Beastmaster and a Team Daiwa uptider both rated 4-10oz. The reels were two ABU 7000 lever drags with the level wind removed, which makes gripping the spool with slimy hands so much easier, the third reel was a ABU 7500 again with the level wind removed.  All my reels were spooled with 20lb mono and had a 5m rubbing/shock leader made of 80lb mono.  A 3’ 75lb home made wire trace crimped to an 8/0 bigmouth extra hook completed the rigs.  A friend had lent me a 10’6” catfish rod, with a 5lb test curve as another casting rod.   Browny lent us a fourth uptider complete with a Penn coffee grinder reel.    A tope on a fixed spool would be a first for me!  With two rods out the stern and two cast with grip leads to the side, the traps were set.  I explained to Neil how the tope pick up the bait and the procedure for playing them.  Browny likes to see them run and doesn’t like to see them played too hard as he says it can make them roll up in the trace.  Anyway, as Neil had never seen a tope in real life, let alone catch one, the first run was going to be his!

We fished for an hour or so, but with no enquiries at all.  I was half tempted to try for some more mackerel whilst we were near the inshore mark, but Browny thought we’d get some further out so we set off to try another mark where he’d caught previously.  Half an hour later we had the pick down once again and all four traps set as before.   I always leave a mackerel rod over the side of the boat and Browny was first to spot the rod tip jiggling.  Phew – more bait at last.   It was all hands on deck to catch a few more before they vanished, when ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz   tope on!   The Daiwa uptider was away and judging by the speed of the run Mr tope had already been hooked.  The rod was passed to Neil.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzz the coffee grinder was off too and Dave wound down to the fish only for the line to part.  We think Neil’s tope had snagged the line somehow.

Neil gently played the tope and I could tell by his Cheshire cat grin that all thoughts of sea sickness had finally vanished.  It took around seven to eight minutes to get the tope to the side of the boat so that Browny could lift it in.  With the hook out, we put it in the weigh sling – I guessed it would be 30 odd pounds, but it took the needle to a smidge under 40, not bad for a first tope.

Half an hour later the same Daiwa rod was away again.  This time is was my turn.  It was 12 months ago since I’d played my last tope, so it good to feel the yellow 20lb mono being stretched once again.  The fished looked slightly bigger than the first and the spring balance weight showed 50lbs.   A new tope PB for me.

Nothing happened for the next hour or so, but as the mackerel were prolific, we took the opportunity to cash in whilst they were there and fill a box or two to freeze down for rubby dubby for the next porgie trip. In the midst of mackerel, the spool on the fixed spool indicated another tope run.  The rod was passed to Neil, but the fish soon spat the bait.  The hook point had been masked as the tope turned the bait and it had failed to find a hold.   I said to Neil we wouldn’t count that one!     Back to mackerel again, which was interrupted as quickly as it had started.  This time, it was the catfish rod that had gone.  Neil was still dealing with his mackerel rod so I wound down and hooked the tope for him.  A gentleman’s stand off then ensued with Neil saying I should carry on and me saying no, it was his turn.  I pushed the rod at him and the matter was resolved once and for all!   The tope was moving at some speed and it suddenly breached at the stern of the boat with an impressive splash.  I wish I had that moment on video!    Browny thought it would be a smallish fish to breach like that, but as the fight went on, so the estimation of the tope’s size grew.   The catfish rod coped with the tope quite easily; in fact its through action in many ways made it a nicer rod to use than a ‘tippy’ uptider.   As we picked up colour in the water I had my video ready and captured the boat side action.   It then became evident that this was the best of the day – it was a cracking tope at 65lbs!!

That was to be the last of the action for the day, but what a day indeed.  Neil had chalked up three PB’s launce, weever and tope and I chalked up my fourth PB of the year with my tope.  Neil described the day as 110%, which pretty much sums things up.    As with any form of fishing, luck plays its part, but on this day it was Browny’s experience that put us on the tope.  The private boat, we had spoken to earlier in the day had blanked and had said that their three previous trips had been blanks too – so toping isn’t a certainty at all, but when it comes right, boy is it good fun.

As soon as it was hooked I knew it was different to the 2 and 3 pounders we had been catching up to then.  No massive long runs but a very, very strong fish that kept close to the bottom for what felt like an eternity.   I’d forgotten to bring my landing net (Doh…..)    which posed a bit of a problem, but John skilfully picked it out of the water by the gills.

The bass weighed 9lb 7oz and is not only a new PB for me, but probably my bass of a lifetime from the Yorkshire coast. It just shows the fantastic potential we have for all sorts of specimen fish here.

Each year the local charter skippers hold a spring, summer and autumn Whitby angling festival. Fishing usually takes place over 14 days (Unless otherwise stated) from boats registered with The Whitby Charter Skippers Association. In recent years the Whitby Charter Skippers Association have added a 4th event to their calendar. 2008 saw the first ever winter uptiding festival at Whitby. Due to the success of this event the skippers now intend to make it an annual event.

Whitby Angling Festival 2010 Dates For Your Diary

Spring Whitby Angling Festival -  3rd. to 18th. April 2010..  One thousand pounds for the biggest fish over the festival. Plus many other place daily prizes.

Summer Whitby Angling Festival - 19th. June to 11th. July 2010. Five thousand pounds for the biggest fish Over the festival. Plus too many other great prizes to mention here.

Late Summer/Autumn Whitby Angling Festival - 11th. September. to 26th. September 2010. One thousand pounds For the biggest fish over the festival. Plus many other place daily prizes.

Winter Uptiding Angling Festival – Dates To Be Announced, 1st prize of £1000, for the heaviest single cod. £50 daily prizes  One thousand pounds for the biggest fish over the festival. Plus many other place daily prizes.

Over The Years

The Whitby angling festival has seen some major catches over the years including a 45 pounds cod taken onboard Rich Wards boat Shytorque. Perhaps none better than this 45 pound cod taken on Rich wards boat Shy torque. The prizes for the Whitby angling festival continue to grow each year. In 2008 the prize tabled topped twenty thousand pounds in total, and it is hoped to do the same in 2009. In the summer angling festival there are individual cash prizes for 1st second and third heaviest fish in the categories of Cod, Ling, Haddock, best specimen and junior angler.

Above : Dave Perett Whitby Angling Festival Winner 2006

Above : John Egan From Hull Autumn Angling Festival Winner 2007

View More Pictures In Our Boat Fishing Gallery

Angling Festival Archives – Related reading.

This site is home to a mass of information on the festival including an extensive archive from past festivals. To read more from our festival archive please  look at the related posts in the right sidebar or search for Whitby Angling Festival on our search page.

Information on the Whitby Angling Festival can also be found at www.wcsa.co.uk

The wrecks off the Sussex coast hold some of the best Conger Eels Fishing locations in the UK. Ranging in sizes from 30 to 100 lbs, you can see from some of the video these fish are excellent sport…

There are more vidoes to watch over on the sea breeze channel on you tube – http://www.youtube.com/user/SEABREEZE3CHARTERS

Some of you may remember Forum member Andy Stonehouse from his bass fishing trip to the Channel Islands last summer. This year Andy and his mates opted for a spot of boat fishing in Norway where they visited the northern port of Husoy which is located in the Oyfjorden on the Island of Senja.

There fishing was hindered a little by the weather and a faulty gps on the boat, but this did not stop the lads from landing cod to almost 30 pounds and some specimen haddock and Norwegian wolf fish.

To read Andy’s story please click the link below.

http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10639.0