I joined this site last year and ive enjoyed reading many catch reports, whether it be shore, kayak or boat fishing. I tried a spot of shore fishing during the winter months but drew a blank everytime. To that end i have been looking forward to my favourite type of fishing, boat fishing for quite a while. I only started last year and went out three times on stoney broke, lone shark and sea spray and i enjoyed every trip, always coming back with fish.
I don't mind going on my own but sometimes its good to go with a friend and have a bit of banter, so i asked an old friend of mine if he fancied coming along and he was more than eager. I had a spare rod and reel, and we could pick up more terminal tackle from the shop on the morning of the trip. I booked two places on Lone Shark with the new skipper Mick got my tackle sorted and cleaned.
On the Friday night before the trip i gave Mick a ring and was gutted to find out that he couldnt take us out because we were the only guys on the boat. I totally understood that he couldnt just take us because he would be out of pocket, but i was still gutted because i knew the chances of getting two places on a boat at that late time were nearly impossible, especially with the previous weather being poor and the conditions for saturday forecasted good. I immediately got the list of boats and skipper contact details up on this site and started to make phone calls. By the tenth skipper i was beginning to accept that the trip wasn't gonna happen, but i when i spoke to Paul Drinkwater he told me that Paul on Sea Otter II had had a couple of cancellations and may have two spaces. I hadnt rung Paul yet because i just assumed he would be full, considering his reputation! I gave him a ring and he told me he could take us, and told me to pick up some shads, i knew what they were but i had never tried anything apart from pirks and hokkais!
So half four Saturday morning soon came and we chucked the kit in the car and took the hour journey to Whitby. We popped into Rods N Reels for some squid, shads and the other bits of tackle you normally pick up, dropped it all off back in the car and then grabbed some breakfast from the cafe. After polishing off bacon and sausage butties with a nice cup of tea it was time to get on the boat and get set up. Like i said earlier i had only ever pirked so i set my friend and myself up with hokkais and a weight at the bottom (lost too many pirks with treble hooks on last year!) Conditions were looking good apart from a bit of a breeze, but i had to have the obligatory heading out to go fishing picture.....
We were soon at our first drop and it was time to feel the buzz of dropping your first line in of the day. We started doing the usual pirking method but Paul quickly corrected us and told us to leave the lead on the bottom, within mintues we had a few bites and my mate felt the tell tale sign of a fish on, he soon wound in a pouting which was nothing to sing about but to him it was first fish caught and he was soon releasing the pouting back in, baiting up and dropping his line back in. We caught a few more pouting and moved further out to another drop. Again we picked up more pouting and moved further out again, at this drop my mate pulled in the first keeper, a nice ling, he said it was the biggest fish he had ever caught and was buzzing. Paul was buzzing about as usual, soon as he positioned us he would be out with his rod and he was managing to catch on baited shad so i thought it was about time i started to ty this shad thing. I quickly knocked up a few snood lines attached to different coloured shads (orange, blue and brown). Paull told me to drop it down to the bottom, give it a flick to stop the shad snagging and reel in at a steady rate to about 8 turns and then repeat the process. I carried on fishing like this for the rest of the day and pulled in one ling and six cod, giving one away and releasing one because i didnt want to fill the freezer and not use it all. All in all it was the best day i have had out on a charter to date. Paul was brilliant, helping us out all the time, getting us on the fish, getting me off the pirks, selling us some more weights for cheap and even filleting our fish at the end of the day, which would have saved me some fingers!
I'd like to take this oppurtunity to thank Paul for a great day out fishing and hope i can get out with him again.
Here are a few more pics from the day (not too many taken cos i was enjoying the fishing)
Conditions were great when the breeze died off and the sun came out later aswell
The days catch for me and Chris
I may not look it, but i was happy! Just don't smile much on pics!
Chris getting in on the posing with fish lark! Problem is he picked one of my cod up and not his ling! Numpty lol
Hope you enjoy reading this report as much as i did writing it. The fish was nice on the barby last night aswell!
Danny
