Having bought a new boat earlier this year in April, it feels a bit crazy that it’s taken until July to have a proper go in it but, as anyone who has ever owned a small boat will tell you, it ain’t easy! With the trailer axle breaking soon after buying the boat taking a month out to fix and kids that we’re keen to come along but didn’t want to venture out to sea, I just had to be patient. Eventually patience ran out and I took a day of holiday from work to get out there. Even then, the night before going, feeling so tired and the weather window looking like it might just be a few hours I nearly sacked it off in a grumpy huff. In the end I decided I’d get the boat ready and have a look at it in the morning.
And in the morning after a decent sleep I decided to go for it. The weather wasn’t great so any thoughts of getting offshore for a go at the sharks looked off the cards so it was going to be a good test of the boat in snotty conditions and a play with the lures on a half decent tide.
First stop was a pinnacle of reef to flick some jigs or what we used to call, pirks. Ok, pirks these days are a bit more refined than the door handles they used to be but ultimately you’re still bouncing a bit of metal with a hook hanging off the end of it in the hope a fish will grab it. And first stop and first drop, a predictable pollack did what pollack do. On light gear they are fun to catch. Years ago when I worked on a charter fishing boat, a 12lb class rod was considered light gear. At the time we were still trying to educate guys who were hell bent on using 30 and even 50lb class gear who would winch and wind anything they hooked to the surface with fish eyes bulging and swim bladders bursting out of their mouths. Using little spinning rods and small reels, this is a long way from that and much more fun!
There were clearly loads of fish there and I could have stayed and caught them for hours but when another boat soon arrived and got ready to sit on me, I left in a hurry. I’m not totally antisocial but I’m not a fan of sitting on top of other boats, it’s just not cool.
Keen to open up the engine and keep testing the boat performance, I lined up the next mark which was a run of about six miles. The tide was just right for this one with a decent ebb tide washing over the reefs. It ranges from 10 feet to 80 feet deep and can produce some excellent bass fishing. I’ve had a real variety of fishing on this mark and know how to get a bite but I’m a long way from knowing all its moods and how best to tackle it. I always hope for the epic surface fishing I’ve had here but you generally know as soon as you pull up if that’s going to happen and on this occasion it clearly wasn’t. So it was on with the old faithful savage gear leadheads. The approach is simple, cast, sink, wind. Then find them. I found a few and they were nice fish but not huge. Everything was released as I always do on the first bass session of the year. A bit of good karma in the hope of bigger things to come during the season. There were quite a few other boats and SIBs in the area. All the engine noise is never great so having caught half a dozen fish I was happy to move on. By this time the wind was freshening but it was still comfortable on the boat if you acceot the good old Orkney hull slams.
I pushed on again to another mark another couple of miles along the coast. This is another area that can be brilliant but I’ve not put in the hours here yet to catch consistently. I gave it 45 minutes but with no fish coming and the conditions getting rougher I opted to race back to the original spot for a quick go before heading in. As I got there it really was getting shitty. The coastline was starting to disappear behind the incoming weather and there were white caps all around. Another couple of pollack and I was done. Run away!!
A really fun few hours on the water, a great test in the boat and a few decent fish caught. That’ll do for me.
A much better forecast...
Then just a few days later there looked like another weather window was opening. This one looked like a proper one. Not a breath of wind all day. I was pushing my luck to get a second day of annual leave but it was granted. This forecast meant I really could push offshore and go for the sharks and enjoy the wildlife that had arrived in the last week or so. I normally fish for sharks in Falmouth bay around the famous old Black Head ground. But, for something a bit different, I wanted to try the marks from Fowey. I wouldn’t be a million miles from the same ground but it’s more exposed without the shelter of the Lizard peninsula just a few miles to your west. With the perfect forecast, this was an ideal time to get out there and explore, and get out I did!
After a 45 minute steam I pulled up a few (a lot..) miles offshore in flat calm conditions. There was only a small tide but it was enough to ensure I had a drift to send out a fishy slick to attract some Blue sharks. I deployed the chum buckets that I’d prepared with winter caught mackerel way back in January. Having that in the freezer made the day possible as although there were mackerel about they were patchy at best. It always pays to plan ahead.
There were dolphins and whales rolling past everywhere. Without any wind you could hear the blows all around and up to a mile away. A pod of Rissos Dolphins were around for a good hour. Never coming very close but easy to spot their scratched white flanks with the binoculars. My binoculars are essential kit. I spend all day with those things pressed to my face. They can be the difference between witnessing epic events and incredible fishing and missing it all and catching nothing.
If it wasn’t for the wildlife watching while you wait, shark fishing would be so dull. Having not fished the area for sharks before, after a couple of hours with no signs of life the doubt was creeping in. But, as is often the case with shark fishing, when they arrive, it’s like flicking a switch. One minute you’re falling asleep, the next there’s sharks everywhere and the reels are screaming. When they do arrive Blues are generally easy to catch. Occasionally they can be a bit fussy but on the whole it’s a case of, drop a mackerel over the side and hang on. Using sensible 20-30lb class gear the sharks which were between 20 and 80 pounds were good sport. If a big fish were to come along you’d have to take your time but you’d still beat these fish. They are strong but they’re not like a bill fish or a tuna in the scrap leagues.
After four fish caught back to back I was more than happy and ready to steam home. There were hundreds more dolphins on the way in and a minki whale not far away. That’ll do for me!
Two days holiday taken and both well worth it. The next month is silly season when the car parks are full, the boat slips are “entertaining” and I’m happy to come back in September. For now I’ll be out chasing something else in August, I’m just not sure what!? And that’s the fun of it.
