MC Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 Yesterday I was invited on a boat trip out of West Mersea (which is handy as that is where I live) on board the Enterprise skippered by Chris Mole. We got on board the boat at 7.30 after a bacon roll and cup of tea we headed out to sea. As the weather was so nice and there was no wind we headed out several miles eventually anchorring on the southern edge of the shipping channel in the black deeps. About half way between ipswich and north foreland if you drew a vertical line. As soon as we were anchored and the boat had settled we were straight in to the rays, Nigel had a small thornback and I struck into a large male thornback of about 8 lbs. I then had 3 successive thornies with the biggest being 11lb, along with the usual run of dogfish along the way. Come the end of the day the 7 of us had 12 keepable rays (5 of which were mine and now are in my freezer) Onthe way in we saw loads of gulls working along an edge so Chris said to tackle up with some feathers to get him some bait for the next day and also some mackerel for us to take home. So this we did. We started drifting accross where the birds were working and no sooner were the feathers in the water the mackerel were coming thick and fast, all the time Chris was on deck helping unhook as well as watching the sounder telling us were the fish were in the water. Then the fun began, Chris called out that the fish were hard on the bottom which they were, only they weren't Mackerel they were Bass. And decent size bass as well, reeling in 3 or 4 bass over 1 1/2 - 2lb each at a time is tiring to say the least. After two drifts we had about 100 mackerel and about 30 bass all which were well over the 40cm limit. A good day all in all and a well stocked freezer to boot. If anyone fancies a trip at any time with a highly experienced skipper (Chris used to be a commercial fisherman) then PM me for his details Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 Martin it sounds an excellant day out Glad you had such a good time. NTTF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferretboy111 Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 That certainly sounds fun, only ever been sea fishing in australia and cuba, not sure whether id cope fishing off the english coast with the waves etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk shooter Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 How did you cope MC, it seemed abit fresh yesterday I have to echo MC's comments about the skipper though, he really is a top bloke just for the cups of tea/coffee he supplies and the dry sense of humour. Sounds like you don't need to stock the freezer up for a while then mate. Good catch. SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 A good day out, comfortable fishing and fresh fish in the freezer, thats what you call living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted September 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 How did you cope MC, it seemed abit fresh yesterday I have to echo MC's comments about the skipper though, he really is a top bloke just for the cups of tea/coffee he supplies and the dry sense of humour. Sounds like you don't need to stock the freezer up for a while then mate. Good catch. SS Don't know where you were on saturday, it was like a mill pond out there and I got sunburnt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piebob Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I was out at Arbroath on Saturday and we had a pretty big swell and force 4 or 5 wind. Not muich danger of being sunburnt but it did brighten up at about 2pm. Five out of the ten were feeling a queasy to varying degrees, and one was actually sick We caught enough mackerel for everyone to have their fill, plenty cod and the odd ling and dab. Put a few good size fish back as we reckoned we had enough between us. Most of us went back to mine for an impromptu barbie where my new smoke box was put to the test - a bit disappointed with it to be honest but I know what I did wrong so will have it sussed for next time. The lack of smoke didn't spoil thie fish though which were as tasty as ever - I cut the ling into steaks and my SO made up a quick chilli/teriyaki marinade to spice things up. Nothing better than fresh fish... mmm. Biggest cod of the day was mine at around 6 lb according to the seasoned fisherman amongst the rest of the part-timers, including me. I don't think we get much bass around here but I'd love to be able to catch and cook those. The rays sound like excellent fun. I've caught a few dogfish off Ireland before, I don't think we get those up here either but like I say, I'm just a part-timer really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronan nee Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 well done martin. those ray well taste good, hard to skin them though, but worth it. regards ronan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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