Craig
Well-known member
Morning all, sorry for the late report but I haven't had time to write this up til now and also wanted to wait for the Torbay angling festival results to be published.
So six of us set off from Diss on the 5th around 8am for a few days away to Brixham, fishing on Spot On charters skippered by Ross Parham. A quick stop at Kettering for breakfast at 10.30 and back on the road again by 11.30am. Traffic wasn't too bad in all fairness which was a nice surprise for a sunny Sunday, though the traffic heading towards the Midlands looked pretty bad on the m5 around lunchtime, glad we were heading south not north! We arrived in Paignton around 3-4pm and got unpacked into the hotel and headed out for a walk about/drink/food, and to get lunch for Monday.
Monday morning we were all up bright and early, with everything ready to go, we just had to drive to Brixham for 6.30am so we could be parked up and ready for the boat at 7am and what a boat the new Spot On is!
That's us raring to go waiting for the big white boat over the other side....?
Ross arrived as promised at 7am, we loaded the boat and were on our way in no time at all, with such a big boat we couldn't help exploring, it's bloody huge! We had some nice conditions for the day.
We were off wrecking today and had a fair steam ahead of us, so to break it up we stopped and feathered for some Mac's, I caught a couple of poor cod but apparently fish fingers don't count as fish, one of the other lads managed a solitary Mac and we wer back on our way agin, well, for a short time, then a pod of dolphins decided to come and play in the wake from the boat and start swimming/diving around Infront of it so we slowed up abit to watch then for a few minutes before we got on to the serious business of fishing.... I had a video of them and will post it up if I can find it.... On the steam out, Ross asked us if we wanted to enter the Torbay sea angling festival as there was a comp on that week and ae good prizes on offer.... Ever the optimists, we all decided it was worth a punt so all signed up and paid, more on that later...
We had some beautiful weather and not too big of a swell fishing in 150-200ft of water, so was a very comfortable day.
We drifted a few wrecks and managed a few fish, well, everyone apart from yours truly, my mistake for trying something different but lesson learnt there.... After a few hours we had tried some big wrecks without anything of any great size, we had been told the stamp of fish wasnt great at the minute so Ross tried a little one not far from where we were as a gamble that others may not have fished it so it could hold a few good ones. Well, what a decision that was, I had my first proper fish of the day since the fish fingers about 7.30am, a 12.5lb Pollack, then on the next drift Jon had a 14.5 lb Pollack. (Pic below)
Now, you'll have to excuse my hazy memory as this was a few weeks ago, but somewhere around this time, Terry had a nice little tub gurnard of about 3lb and we're all thinking, I've never seen one that big, til Wayne shouts he has a good fish and needs a net, well, what he produced was an absolute eye opener for all of us as I don't think anyone realised tub gurnards got this big! All 7.5lb of it! Absolutely stunning fish and for me was the fish of the trip!
We drifted a few more wrecks to keep filling the fish box, with a few more good Pollack coming aboard, aswell as Otto managing a 6lb cod which was a nice surprise, though not quite big enough to weigh in sadly.
We had to call it a day at some point and had a two hour steam back so packed up about 3.30pm to get back for 5.30pm, or so we thought. Halfway back we encountered a pod of dolphins again, but apparently these were quite rare so we stopped for abit to film them, even the skipper came out to have a look at them!
Arrived back at Brixham about 5.45pm, a little later than expected but all very happy anglers and a box full of fish to keep and a few to weigh in.....
Now we had to wait til 7pm for the weigh station to open, so most of the lads headed for th oib, but me and Karl decided to fish the harbour carpark for wrasse and then headed down to weigh the fish at 7 with everyone else.
Think we weighed 4 fish on the first day, so not bad considering we didn't know the comp was on.
After that we headed back to Paignton for some food but as it was late, we only managed fish and chips from the pier, and quite nice they were too!
Tuesday the weather was forecast to get worse as the day went on so we were told to be ready on the pontoon by 6.30am! We managed to get there and we're ready and waiting as Ross pulled the boat up, ready for a day if drifting the skerries for plaice and anchoring for a small eyed or two later.
We set off for the skerries and Ross set about setting the boat up for some long drifts as we were gearing up some plaice traces and bait.
First drift only produced one fish, to me on my mates rod as he was busy at the time, had to smile as it was the first time id ever drifted for plaice and the look on his face when he saw me with his rod and a plaice was priceless. We had a good few more drifts about there and managed a few undersized plaice aswell as 10-15 keepers that came home with us. Jon also managed a very nice plump dab of just over 1lb that he weighed in later. After a while the weather started turning, the wind got up and the chop got worse so we headed for abit of anchor fishing for small eyed rays and anything else that was about. This didn't fail as we had a few plaice again and two small eyed rays, not the biggest but mine was my first so I was a happy bunny.
After this we had a very very choppy trip back, so much so that two of us felt abit ropey and had to try and do our best to keep lunch and breakfast down! ?
When we got back, we decided to hang around for abit, a few lads went for a drink while I went fishing again and managed a few little wrasse and pouting, and I mean little, the pout were maybe half an Oz at most.
Tuesday evening we got back in sensible time ready for Jon to weigh his dab in before a quick shower and off to the harbour lights in Paignton for an evening meal, well everyone except me and Karl as I read the message wrong and we were sat waiting at the wrong pub for 20 mins, hahaha.
Wednesday we set off after breakfast at the hotel and managed to have a good drive back, arriving back home to glorious sunshine and blue skys. A good drive back is abit optimistic actually as I was in my mates transit van with him and only the passenger window was working so it was rather warm when the temperature outside was 29 degrees, he also has no air con in there so we were definitely glad to get home!
Now the comp was from the 3rd to the 12th of sept I think, based on a percentage system for weights.
We weighed a few fish in between us all and Wayne was winning with 191% for his tub gurnard til one of the last few days when someone got a massive bass that was over 17lb I think, so knocked him off the top spot, but as he said, what a fish to be beaten by!
I think I got a little prize for my Polack, Jon won a prize for his Pollack, another for his dab and a prize for the combined percentage for those two fish, and Wayne won one of the big prizes £250 I think for his tub gurnard.
So all in all it was well worth the trip and a very enjoyable few days away for us all. Can't wait til next Sunday when we're off to Looe for another few days fishing, report to follow when I get back and have time.
So six of us set off from Diss on the 5th around 8am for a few days away to Brixham, fishing on Spot On charters skippered by Ross Parham. A quick stop at Kettering for breakfast at 10.30 and back on the road again by 11.30am. Traffic wasn't too bad in all fairness which was a nice surprise for a sunny Sunday, though the traffic heading towards the Midlands looked pretty bad on the m5 around lunchtime, glad we were heading south not north! We arrived in Paignton around 3-4pm and got unpacked into the hotel and headed out for a walk about/drink/food, and to get lunch for Monday.
Monday morning we were all up bright and early, with everything ready to go, we just had to drive to Brixham for 6.30am so we could be parked up and ready for the boat at 7am and what a boat the new Spot On is!
That's us raring to go waiting for the big white boat over the other side....?
Ross arrived as promised at 7am, we loaded the boat and were on our way in no time at all, with such a big boat we couldn't help exploring, it's bloody huge! We had some nice conditions for the day.
We were off wrecking today and had a fair steam ahead of us, so to break it up we stopped and feathered for some Mac's, I caught a couple of poor cod but apparently fish fingers don't count as fish, one of the other lads managed a solitary Mac and we wer back on our way agin, well, for a short time, then a pod of dolphins decided to come and play in the wake from the boat and start swimming/diving around Infront of it so we slowed up abit to watch then for a few minutes before we got on to the serious business of fishing.... I had a video of them and will post it up if I can find it.... On the steam out, Ross asked us if we wanted to enter the Torbay sea angling festival as there was a comp on that week and ae good prizes on offer.... Ever the optimists, we all decided it was worth a punt so all signed up and paid, more on that later...
We had some beautiful weather and not too big of a swell fishing in 150-200ft of water, so was a very comfortable day.
We drifted a few wrecks and managed a few fish, well, everyone apart from yours truly, my mistake for trying something different but lesson learnt there.... After a few hours we had tried some big wrecks without anything of any great size, we had been told the stamp of fish wasnt great at the minute so Ross tried a little one not far from where we were as a gamble that others may not have fished it so it could hold a few good ones. Well, what a decision that was, I had my first proper fish of the day since the fish fingers about 7.30am, a 12.5lb Pollack, then on the next drift Jon had a 14.5 lb Pollack. (Pic below)
Now, you'll have to excuse my hazy memory as this was a few weeks ago, but somewhere around this time, Terry had a nice little tub gurnard of about 3lb and we're all thinking, I've never seen one that big, til Wayne shouts he has a good fish and needs a net, well, what he produced was an absolute eye opener for all of us as I don't think anyone realised tub gurnards got this big! All 7.5lb of it! Absolutely stunning fish and for me was the fish of the trip!
We drifted a few more wrecks to keep filling the fish box, with a few more good Pollack coming aboard, aswell as Otto managing a 6lb cod which was a nice surprise, though not quite big enough to weigh in sadly.
We had to call it a day at some point and had a two hour steam back so packed up about 3.30pm to get back for 5.30pm, or so we thought. Halfway back we encountered a pod of dolphins again, but apparently these were quite rare so we stopped for abit to film them, even the skipper came out to have a look at them!
Arrived back at Brixham about 5.45pm, a little later than expected but all very happy anglers and a box full of fish to keep and a few to weigh in.....
Now we had to wait til 7pm for the weigh station to open, so most of the lads headed for th oib, but me and Karl decided to fish the harbour carpark for wrasse and then headed down to weigh the fish at 7 with everyone else.
Think we weighed 4 fish on the first day, so not bad considering we didn't know the comp was on.
After that we headed back to Paignton for some food but as it was late, we only managed fish and chips from the pier, and quite nice they were too!
Tuesday the weather was forecast to get worse as the day went on so we were told to be ready on the pontoon by 6.30am! We managed to get there and we're ready and waiting as Ross pulled the boat up, ready for a day if drifting the skerries for plaice and anchoring for a small eyed or two later.
We set off for the skerries and Ross set about setting the boat up for some long drifts as we were gearing up some plaice traces and bait.
First drift only produced one fish, to me on my mates rod as he was busy at the time, had to smile as it was the first time id ever drifted for plaice and the look on his face when he saw me with his rod and a plaice was priceless. We had a good few more drifts about there and managed a few undersized plaice aswell as 10-15 keepers that came home with us. Jon also managed a very nice plump dab of just over 1lb that he weighed in later. After a while the weather started turning, the wind got up and the chop got worse so we headed for abit of anchor fishing for small eyed rays and anything else that was about. This didn't fail as we had a few plaice again and two small eyed rays, not the biggest but mine was my first so I was a happy bunny.
After this we had a very very choppy trip back, so much so that two of us felt abit ropey and had to try and do our best to keep lunch and breakfast down! ?
When we got back, we decided to hang around for abit, a few lads went for a drink while I went fishing again and managed a few little wrasse and pouting, and I mean little, the pout were maybe half an Oz at most.
Tuesday evening we got back in sensible time ready for Jon to weigh his dab in before a quick shower and off to the harbour lights in Paignton for an evening meal, well everyone except me and Karl as I read the message wrong and we were sat waiting at the wrong pub for 20 mins, hahaha.
Wednesday we set off after breakfast at the hotel and managed to have a good drive back, arriving back home to glorious sunshine and blue skys. A good drive back is abit optimistic actually as I was in my mates transit van with him and only the passenger window was working so it was rather warm when the temperature outside was 29 degrees, he also has no air con in there so we were definitely glad to get home!
Now the comp was from the 3rd to the 12th of sept I think, based on a percentage system for weights.
We weighed a few fish in between us all and Wayne was winning with 191% for his tub gurnard til one of the last few days when someone got a massive bass that was over 17lb I think, so knocked him off the top spot, but as he said, what a fish to be beaten by!
I think I got a little prize for my Polack, Jon won a prize for his Pollack, another for his dab and a prize for the combined percentage for those two fish, and Wayne won one of the big prizes £250 I think for his tub gurnard.
So all in all it was well worth the trip and a very enjoyable few days away for us all. Can't wait til next Sunday when we're off to Looe for another few days fishing, report to follow when I get back and have time.
