Out in the USA female skippers are nothing unusual. In fact some of the very best flats skippers in the Florida Keys are girls with a record for putting their anglers amongst the most consistent fishing and the biggest fish.
In the UK it’s different. Female skippers are just about unknown, in fact, checking numerous sources I couldn’t find a single female charter skipper listed anywhere, so I was left guessing there are none. Oh yes there is!
I was down in Bradwell, Essex and due out with famous local skipper Terry Batt aboard his cracking new 38-foot Interceptor “Cacheflow” sponsored by Pure Fishing. We were after smoothhounds, rays and maybe bass and fishing with us was Terry’s partner Nicola Sanders.
I was chatting to Nicola about fishing in general and it turns out she’s a fully qualified charter skipper with a 60 mile licence and recently started taking trips out aboard “Cacheflow” herself when Terry needs to be away.
Having piled all the gear onboard, Nicola jumped in to the helm seat, fired the boat up, Terry slipped the mooring ropes and Nicola steered us gently out of the berth, down the mooring and out in to a slight sea with just a ripple on the surface from a light southwest breeze while we chatted on.
Nicola first took an interest in fishing around the age of 12 and interestingly came from a non family fishing background just like me. It seems you don’t just become an angler, you’re born one!
She joined Southend Sea Angling Club and started out pier and creek fishing for flounders, eels and bass, but then quickly moved on to boat fishing. She’s been an obsessive sea angler ever since. Terry and Nicola also met through fishing, so angling has had a major influence on her life path so far.
I learnt a long time that female anglers tend to be pretty damn good, and Nicola is no exception. Her best tope is a 50lber and tope remain her favourite fish, but she’s had bass to a clonking 12½ lbs, blue shark in Ireland to close on 50lbs and smoothhound in to the high teens amongst other big fish. Her fishing ambition is to fish for the big bull sharks in the Florida Keys, and having enjoyed that experience myself in the past I think she’ll find that that type of fishing quickly becomes her favourite. You can indulge yourself against real monsters using really light spinning tackle for maximum sport, which is Nicola’s preferred style.
We also discussed their new boat “Cacheflow” which they took delivery of in March 2008. She’s a Safehaven Interceptor 38 powered by a 450hp turbo charged inter cooled Catapillar engine and purposefully fitted out for anglers. She sports a proper galley, TV, sound system, Internet connection and every modern up-to-date marine electronics item and safety device you can think of. She’s capable of up to 26-knots but cruises around 18-knots.
Terry did his “Masterchef” bit and cooked up a wedge of sausage sandwiches for breakfast, while Nicola told me that the fishing had been good, but some recent days inconsistent due to the constantly changing weather patterns. I was slightly concerned as to this day’s outcome too, as the forecast was for the wind to back round and drop to nothing bringing very hot humid conditions, with torrential rain and thunderstorms due to hit us around lunch time.
On the way out we briefly stopped while Nicola baited a pot for hermit crabs and threw it over the side. Hermits are the top smoothhound bait hereabouts and she sets a new pot each day to guarantee fresh bait for the following day. At the stern of the boat a fish box full of fresh crawling hermit crab was proof of how effective the pots are.
The first mark she chose was a clean sand bank with smoothhounds and maybe bass the top target. Fishing with us were Rob Wyatt and Simon Bradbury, both from Pure Fishing, and four rods were cast out uptide while I stood camera at the ready.
No surprise to me at all when the first bite signalled on Nicola’s rod. She wound down hard to take the slack line in and struck as she felt the weight of the fish. This produced a lively scrap with the fish taking a little line before Terry slipped the net under a still lively 6lb plus starry smoothhound.
Next to hook up was Simon with a nice fish about 8lbs, with Terry and Rob both landing starry’s around the 4lb mark.
It then became a steady succession of starry hounds with Nicola leading the way with a fish close to double figures, this time taken on a single squid.
We’d been listening to the other charter boats on the VHF and nobody seemed to be doing that well on the day, but we weren’t complaining. That said we’d had no tope yet, and neither had the other boats.
We could see the sky darkening, then the wind dropped as the tide run eased approaching slack water. Nicola took the decision to up anchor and move to another mark that should give us the chance of a tope before the heavens opened. This mark would also see smoothhound, the odd big bass and thornbacks on the cards.
You guessed it, first in was Nicola with a starry smoothhound about 9lbs, followed by Terry with another slightly smaller fish. Rob on the stern then wound in a small thornback and Simon fought it out with another nice starry in the 7lb bracket.
Nicola’s uptider rod tip nodded a couple of times then fell slack as a fish pulled the lead free and bored off downtide. Hitting the fish it went solid and stayed that way. This was obviously a better thornback. The tide was picking up now and the fish hung deep until it got tight underneath the boat, then came slowly up through the water column kicking and twisting as it did so. It broke surface and a ray around 9lbs fell in to the net.
While all this had been going on, I’d half heartedly had a rod out and missed a couple of bites while taking photos. Able to concentrate a little more now the bulk of the pics were shot, I baited up with a big hermit crab and added a couple of soft hermit abdomens to the hook to give it more scent. I chose to cast across tide letting plenty of line go for the lead to grip.
I didn’t have long to wait before I saw the rod tip nod and the lead break out. I was testing a new prototype rod and was using just 12lb line, so took my time as this fish felt heavier and kept taking a fair amount of line. It came up a few yards in the water column several times and bored back for the seabed, but slowly it tired. Nicola slipped the net under a nice common smoothhound around the 9lb mark for me. I followed it up with a small starry around the 4lb mark shortly after.
Totting up on what for all boats had been a tough day, we’d had around 15 to 20 smoothhound, the thornbacks, plus bits, but missed out on the tope. Thankfully, apart from a few showers, the torrential rain never materialised.
It’s good to see a female charter skipper joining the ranks and hopefully Nicola will prove the catalyst for others to follow suit. Just talking to her proved instantly she knows more about fishing than most blokes and her enthusiasm comes across during the working day, plus she’s up for laugh and its great atmosphere on board “Cacheflow”.
We made a reasonable job of cleaning the boat down on the way in, or so we thought, but as we said our goodbye’s and walked off the pontoon, as I glanced back Nicola was washing the decks down and setting the boat up for next day. It can be a tough life being a skipper, but like I said she’s born to it!
BAITS ON THE DAY
Top bait for the smoothhound was far and away the fresh hermit crab. We also had smoothies on squid.
The rays took a mix of fresh mackerel and squid, either singly or as a cocktail. Nicola likes to use smaller baits and recommends strips about 2-inches long and 1-ich wide. Occasionally she’s found that the rays prefer a circular body section instead.
For the tope, she uses half flapper baits or a full head with the guts left attached, which is very effective.
NICOLA’S TOP TIP No 1
The tope traces Nicola uses are made from 150lb clear mono, but she runs the mono through a piece of leather cloth to put some heat into the mono to make it more supple and lay out neater in the tide for improved bite presentation.
Her tope traces are also made with a formed loop of double line crimped in place at the hook end. This gives a tope two sections of mono to chew on instead of one.
NICOLA’S TOP TIP No2
She never uses stainless steel hooks and will not allow their use on the boat as they are slow to break down if a fish is broken off. Her preference is for anglers to use bronzed hooks such as Mustad Viking 79515’s with the barb pinched down, or the Mustad Barbless Tope and Ray hook. Her own traces are tied up using Owner hooks which is a personal choice.
NICOLA’S TOP TIP No 3
She says she often sees anglers with old frayed line on their reels risking the loss of a good fish. She recommends that you at least fully check your reel line before setting out, or ideally load with fresh new line to maximise your chances when fighting big fish against the hard running tide they experience off Bradwell.
CONTACT DETAILS
Contact either Terry Batt or Nicola Sanders on 01621 786170 or Boat Mobile number 07768 306646.
Their website is full of information on the fishing off Bradwell and can be accessed at www.vickyemma.com
In the UK it’s different. Female skippers are just about unknown, in fact, checking numerous sources I couldn’t find a single female charter skipper listed anywhere, so I was left guessing there are none. Oh yes there is!
I was down in Bradwell, Essex and due out with famous local skipper Terry Batt aboard his cracking new 38-foot Interceptor “Cacheflow” sponsored by Pure Fishing. We were after smoothhounds, rays and maybe bass and fishing with us was Terry’s partner Nicola Sanders.
I was chatting to Nicola about fishing in general and it turns out she’s a fully qualified charter skipper with a 60 mile licence and recently started taking trips out aboard “Cacheflow” herself when Terry needs to be away.
Having piled all the gear onboard, Nicola jumped in to the helm seat, fired the boat up, Terry slipped the mooring ropes and Nicola steered us gently out of the berth, down the mooring and out in to a slight sea with just a ripple on the surface from a light southwest breeze while we chatted on.
Nicola first took an interest in fishing around the age of 12 and interestingly came from a non family fishing background just like me. It seems you don’t just become an angler, you’re born one!
She joined Southend Sea Angling Club and started out pier and creek fishing for flounders, eels and bass, but then quickly moved on to boat fishing. She’s been an obsessive sea angler ever since. Terry and Nicola also met through fishing, so angling has had a major influence on her life path so far.
I learnt a long time that female anglers tend to be pretty damn good, and Nicola is no exception. Her best tope is a 50lber and tope remain her favourite fish, but she’s had bass to a clonking 12½ lbs, blue shark in Ireland to close on 50lbs and smoothhound in to the high teens amongst other big fish. Her fishing ambition is to fish for the big bull sharks in the Florida Keys, and having enjoyed that experience myself in the past I think she’ll find that that type of fishing quickly becomes her favourite. You can indulge yourself against real monsters using really light spinning tackle for maximum sport, which is Nicola’s preferred style.
We also discussed their new boat “Cacheflow” which they took delivery of in March 2008. She’s a Safehaven Interceptor 38 powered by a 450hp turbo charged inter cooled Catapillar engine and purposefully fitted out for anglers. She sports a proper galley, TV, sound system, Internet connection and every modern up-to-date marine electronics item and safety device you can think of. She’s capable of up to 26-knots but cruises around 18-knots.
Terry did his “Masterchef” bit and cooked up a wedge of sausage sandwiches for breakfast, while Nicola told me that the fishing had been good, but some recent days inconsistent due to the constantly changing weather patterns. I was slightly concerned as to this day’s outcome too, as the forecast was for the wind to back round and drop to nothing bringing very hot humid conditions, with torrential rain and thunderstorms due to hit us around lunch time.
On the way out we briefly stopped while Nicola baited a pot for hermit crabs and threw it over the side. Hermits are the top smoothhound bait hereabouts and she sets a new pot each day to guarantee fresh bait for the following day. At the stern of the boat a fish box full of fresh crawling hermit crab was proof of how effective the pots are.
The first mark she chose was a clean sand bank with smoothhounds and maybe bass the top target. Fishing with us were Rob Wyatt and Simon Bradbury, both from Pure Fishing, and four rods were cast out uptide while I stood camera at the ready.
No surprise to me at all when the first bite signalled on Nicola’s rod. She wound down hard to take the slack line in and struck as she felt the weight of the fish. This produced a lively scrap with the fish taking a little line before Terry slipped the net under a still lively 6lb plus starry smoothhound.
Next to hook up was Simon with a nice fish about 8lbs, with Terry and Rob both landing starry’s around the 4lb mark.
It then became a steady succession of starry hounds with Nicola leading the way with a fish close to double figures, this time taken on a single squid.
We’d been listening to the other charter boats on the VHF and nobody seemed to be doing that well on the day, but we weren’t complaining. That said we’d had no tope yet, and neither had the other boats.
We could see the sky darkening, then the wind dropped as the tide run eased approaching slack water. Nicola took the decision to up anchor and move to another mark that should give us the chance of a tope before the heavens opened. This mark would also see smoothhound, the odd big bass and thornbacks on the cards.
You guessed it, first in was Nicola with a starry smoothhound about 9lbs, followed by Terry with another slightly smaller fish. Rob on the stern then wound in a small thornback and Simon fought it out with another nice starry in the 7lb bracket.
Nicola’s uptider rod tip nodded a couple of times then fell slack as a fish pulled the lead free and bored off downtide. Hitting the fish it went solid and stayed that way. This was obviously a better thornback. The tide was picking up now and the fish hung deep until it got tight underneath the boat, then came slowly up through the water column kicking and twisting as it did so. It broke surface and a ray around 9lbs fell in to the net.
While all this had been going on, I’d half heartedly had a rod out and missed a couple of bites while taking photos. Able to concentrate a little more now the bulk of the pics were shot, I baited up with a big hermit crab and added a couple of soft hermit abdomens to the hook to give it more scent. I chose to cast across tide letting plenty of line go for the lead to grip.
I didn’t have long to wait before I saw the rod tip nod and the lead break out. I was testing a new prototype rod and was using just 12lb line, so took my time as this fish felt heavier and kept taking a fair amount of line. It came up a few yards in the water column several times and bored back for the seabed, but slowly it tired. Nicola slipped the net under a nice common smoothhound around the 9lb mark for me. I followed it up with a small starry around the 4lb mark shortly after.
Totting up on what for all boats had been a tough day, we’d had around 15 to 20 smoothhound, the thornbacks, plus bits, but missed out on the tope. Thankfully, apart from a few showers, the torrential rain never materialised.
It’s good to see a female charter skipper joining the ranks and hopefully Nicola will prove the catalyst for others to follow suit. Just talking to her proved instantly she knows more about fishing than most blokes and her enthusiasm comes across during the working day, plus she’s up for laugh and its great atmosphere on board “Cacheflow”.
We made a reasonable job of cleaning the boat down on the way in, or so we thought, but as we said our goodbye’s and walked off the pontoon, as I glanced back Nicola was washing the decks down and setting the boat up for next day. It can be a tough life being a skipper, but like I said she’s born to it!
BAITS ON THE DAY
Top bait for the smoothhound was far and away the fresh hermit crab. We also had smoothies on squid.
The rays took a mix of fresh mackerel and squid, either singly or as a cocktail. Nicola likes to use smaller baits and recommends strips about 2-inches long and 1-ich wide. Occasionally she’s found that the rays prefer a circular body section instead.
For the tope, she uses half flapper baits or a full head with the guts left attached, which is very effective.
NICOLA’S TOP TIP No 1
The tope traces Nicola uses are made from 150lb clear mono, but she runs the mono through a piece of leather cloth to put some heat into the mono to make it more supple and lay out neater in the tide for improved bite presentation.
Her tope traces are also made with a formed loop of double line crimped in place at the hook end. This gives a tope two sections of mono to chew on instead of one.
NICOLA’S TOP TIP No2
She never uses stainless steel hooks and will not allow their use on the boat as they are slow to break down if a fish is broken off. Her preference is for anglers to use bronzed hooks such as Mustad Viking 79515’s with the barb pinched down, or the Mustad Barbless Tope and Ray hook. Her own traces are tied up using Owner hooks which is a personal choice.
NICOLA’S TOP TIP No 3
She says she often sees anglers with old frayed line on their reels risking the loss of a good fish. She recommends that you at least fully check your reel line before setting out, or ideally load with fresh new line to maximise your chances when fighting big fish against the hard running tide they experience off Bradwell.
CONTACT DETAILS
Contact either Terry Batt or Nicola Sanders on 01621 786170 or Boat Mobile number 07768 306646.
Their website is full of information on the fishing off Bradwell and can be accessed at www.vickyemma.com
