17/7/13 Fifty More Tope......

.......and an undulate ray.
I've been promising my piking buddy Dave a tope trip for some time but trying to pin the man down has been difficult, to say the least. But today, with the perfect combination of a small tide and flat calm conditions, I succeeded in persuading him to take time off work and join me for a run down west to fish mark 41
Mackerel were thin on the ground but, of a good size and we soon amassed enough for the day. Bites came virtually from the off but, the perpetrators were rarely more than ten pounds in weight. Great fun, to be sure, and Dave really enjoyed the action but I wanted to seek out some bigger tope.
We did have a brief move to the wreck near mark 42 but, once the tope had picked up the scent of our baits, they again turned out to be 'packers'.
Returning to a sloping bank close by our original location produced more of the same and by the end of the session we'd bagged around fifty, with this bonus 12lb undulate thrown in for good measure.
I've been told that these pack tope tend to take over the marks as the season progresses but Neil, who was fishing over on mark 21 did pick up a handful of better sized fish for his clients so, perhaps those 'bigguns' are not quite off the agenda yet.

14/7/13 Diary Of An Average Angler's Wife.

Took the Missus out fishing with me today-her first trip out in the Warrior and, her first proper attempt at boat fishing. We did try a bream trip in Scooby 2 but, she began to feel a little sea sick at anchor so this time, I was all too aware of the importance of 'getting it right'.
Taking a beginner boat fishing can be a nerve wracking task, especially if that person is worried about feeling ill. I HAD to find fish in order to keep her busy enough  to avoid feeling sick,and to make it an enjoyable occasion so she'd want to go again. A tall order.
Bream would have been most people's first choice but , they haven't been that obliging this year.
The charter boats are concentrating on the plaice fishing at the moment because of this, to entertain their crews. I was after something a little more exciting.
Pack tope on the 'half way' was the choice. They scrap hard,especially on a lighter rod, look nice,are not tiddlers, and are generally good fun to catch. Plus, on this mark, there is always a chance of a BIG tope as I found out two years ago or, some nice ray which have also put in an appearance on previous sorties.
The mackerel were obliging which kicked us off on the right foot and Jan enjoyed the 'action' straight away. I did try and swiftly get them in the cooler after despatching, and away from sensitive eyes although this didn't seem to be too much of an issue.
Once at anchor, the fishing was so lively she didn't have time to think about sea sickness. A constant procession of 'packers' up to double figures along with the inevitable catsharks (my new name for doggies which I much prefer)and finally this 14lb undulate to really test her skills.
She did exceeding well and i'm proud of her, quickly mastering casting,hitting the bites on the circle hooks and enjoying every minute.
We had about three hours fishing , which was just about right, and left the mark with them still biting....I even let her drive the boat home.

10-11/7/13 Struggling.

I cannot complain. I've had some extremely exciting fishing of late and have been very lucky with my catches but, sooner or later, something had to give.
The first day i set aside for a solo trip to try for a bass. Usually, I prefer to tackle bass alone, mainly because it takes a lot of patience and I'm a long way from getting anywhere near consistently catching the buggers. Drifting live mackerel was the method of choice and despite easily finding enough good baits to fill the tank along with a pollack which very nearly joined them, I failed miserably on the chosen target.
Now, Its likely that I may have scared any resident bass on the reef away by motoring, unintentionally of course, over the shoal.
Neil turned up later in the afternoon to drift for bass with lures and, if anyone could find them, he could......but he failed too.
I took Dave Nevatt with me on the second day starting at Smooth hound bank, but there were no smoothounds.Moving over in between the 'two fingers' which, despite being highly recommended as a ray mark,didn't produce rays, trying Phil's mark which did give us a thornback and ending up North of the 'stick' which gave us an undulate and some bait nicking bream. Dogs and a hound did show up, as well as a gurnard for Dave but,despite catching quite a few species and getting constant bites, the fishing wasn't brilliant.

9/7/13 Local Sharking

Following on from the success of our shark adventure to Cornwall, Wayne and me have now set our sights on local shark.It'll be a tall order but, we have been doing our research.
On my own patch east of the Selsey peninsula i've gathered several reports of thresher sightings and hook ups by Littlehampton skippers.Neil has had encounters and Steve Wells has also tangled with the specie. Unfortunately, I've not as yet found anyone in recent years who has successfully managed to bring one to the side of the boat.
Wayne has also picked up a good deal of reliable information about his side of Selsey and of course,the patch encompasses the Isle Of Wight which has a rich shark fishing heritage.Nowadays , there are less shark about generally but, we still feel its worth putting the time and effort into the task and, if we see a shark one day..............
I've recently heard of a Littlehampton crew that spent several days fishing a considerable distance South West of the island and scoring with a handful of porbeagles to 350lb interestingly, most caught in darkness. On the day we tried for a shark ourselves, a Langstone charter was reputed to have caught a 140lb 'porgie' quite by accident from 'our' tope grounds so, it would appear that, we do indeed, have a chance.
Quite how we would handle anthing bigger than my big Falmouth blue inside our tiny boats is anybody's guess , so I suspect that future shark captures may involve 'touching trace' and releasing at the side .
Wayne has a very tidy 17ft Wilson Flyer 'Taryn' (named after his daughter) which he keeps at the Eastney Cruisers Association- a very impressive set up with some superb facilities for small boat users and at a fraction of the cost of my own boating expenses. We met up for an early morning start running 'Taryn' down the excellent club slipway into the Eastney/Hayling channel and set off in near perfect sea conditions to an area some 20 miles off recommended to Wayne by commercial fisherman Ted Legge.
With the chum 'down' the mackerel soon appeared so , after gathering our hook bait supply , we set our shark lines at the usual prescribed distances,and began our drift. Initially, we were taken eastwards on the flood then inscribed a huge clockwise arc on the plotter taking us close on 25 miles off for the ebb tide which we continued to follow until the second slack and the end of the fishing.
Unfortunately just one slice of action to report when Wayne's bait was 'nibbled' for about a mile before a steady run ensued but, we failed to connect.Speaking to Graeme Pullen, its possible that it may have been a tentative thresher teasing us but,of course, we'll never know.
No shark, granted but, a highly enjoyable start to our campaign with another piece of the jig saw in place.We will return.

5/7/13 Fifty Tope.

 49lb 'Soupfin Shark'

With small tides(4.8m) and perfect weather  I went in search of tope again, this time, taking my mate Simon along for the ride. Starting at 0700 gave us a full days fishing on the usual mark and even the mackerel were plentiful finding them in good numbers just beyond the Owers reef.
The tope kicked off from the start although most of them were smaller pack fish.
However, a few bigger fish began to show up as the day progressed. At one stage, we both had fish on at once. Mine hit the surface first and, wanting to give Simon a good look at her, especially as he'd not seen a tope quite as big before, I held it on the surface whilst he dealt with his fish.
Unfortunately, this was a mistake. The tope, probably a mid thirty, gave a hard kick and snapped my precious 30lb class Suveran clean in two.
The leader must have chafed against the break because that parted too but luckily I managed to hold on to it and successfully T bar the fish free.
Soon after came the biggest fish of the day again to my rod, a tidy fish weighed in at 49lb and still the tope came.
In the end it became a numbers game as we passed 30, then 40 and finally reached the 50 mark before calling it  a day. Once again the fresh mackerel ran out and some back up frozen continued to do the business.
Fantastic fishing and Simon loved every minute of it.

I'm currently reading 'Sharks In British Seas' by  Richard Pierce which I highly recommend to anyone interested in all species of shark and in which the tope, is also known as a ' soupfin shark'. A rather more interesting name for the specie but one also, that gives us a clue to its unsavoury use as a luxury food source.

3/7/13 Mullet Fix.

Mullet lie at the roots of my fishing. Well actually, that's not strictly true . I fished very keenly as a teenager ,mostly for coarse fish, but it was mullet fishing that kicked off my 'renaissance' period when I rediscovered fishing at the turn of the century having 'let it go' for over twenty years.
What on earth did I do with my time, I ask myself.
Mullet fishing will, I suspect, always be there. It's simple, eminently affordable and endlessly challenging and I have a deep affection for it. If , for whatever reason, I have to one day give up the boat, or can't get up the river for a pike, I 'm pretty sure I will be able to go mulleting.
Fish have been showing under my boat in the marina for some time although, I assume due to low spring temperatures, they were late turning up this year. For various reasons, I won't target these marina mullet at the present time, even though they seem to be of a very good size, preferring instead the peace and quiet of the open river.
Generally, when fishing the main river I prefer to wait for low water. It makes a lot of sense to me that the huge reduction in water volume at this state of tide increases chances of locating them.
Picking one of my favourite stretches, they were quite easy to spot, and I tried my usual trick of trotting a float downstream to any likely candidates.
It didn't take long for a bit of interest to be shown but the first proper bite was missed completely. For some inexplicable reason, I watched the float disappear completely and failed to react at all. Senior moment.???
A few minutes passed and when the bite registered, on this occasion, I did the right thing and a scrappy two pounder was soon beached-my first of the season.The feisty little fellah kept fighting on the bank and needed pinning down for a pic.
Usually, the flow starts to tail off a couple of hours after low tide at the river entrance. On a big tide the river rises, but still flows towards the sea-a curious phenomenon. Today, being a small tide the 'slack water' period was prolonged and, although the mullet require a more sensitive approach at this time with the float shotted down to reduce its buoyancy, they do seem to feed well. I can't always guarantee a fish, but it's on the cards.
The river is so still, it's akin to fishing a lake.
A couple of nibbles ensued followed by a positive take and ,'bang' another fish was 'on'.
A fat three pounder this time in sparkling condition-a welcome sight.
I fished on hoping for the hat-trick but once the tide began its flood the fish just switched off the feed which is consistent with what I've always found at this spot.
Good fun.

30/6/13 Fishing With Bri'

Brian's a good mate of mine, and a neighbour at the marina. We seem to have similar ideas about fishing probably because we both come from a coarse fishing background. Brian's playground was formerly the River Arun where he's had considerable success in the field of match angling.
I've only been back from Cornwall a day, and that day was spent cleaning up the boat and getting her back on the mooring. With the weather set fair for the morning, it was rude not to go fishing although, after the intensity of the sharking, I fancied something a little more relaxing.
Although clear just outside the harbour, the weather soon turned foggy and the temperature dropped enough for me to don my floatation suit jacket.
Shorts and crocs on the bottom half of course.
Initially, we headed to the Pine wreck but the only thing that showed the remotest interest in our shads and sidewinders were pout.
A dive boat appeared out of the murk, and that was our signal to up sticks and move on although, they were polite enough to ask if they would be disturbing us which is unusual and considerate.
I wanted to show Brian my 'half way' mark and see if there were any tope and hounds about but before that, we needed some mackerel.
It didn't take long to collect enough for hook bait and in amongst them a lone sardine turned up. A first for me that tasted absolutely spectacular grilled on toast for the following day's lunch.
We settled on the mark just as the tide started to make and a steady stream of pack tope came to the boat along with a nice double figure hound for Bri, which were great fun as we'd both downsized to 6-12lb outfits to make the most of the sport.
Brian was really enjoying himself.
This mark has produced a BIG tope for me-about two years ago, so I felt there was always a chanc e of something special turning up.
The wind speed increased dramatically as the afternoon progressed (it was forecasted)and with a bumpy sea, came some anchoring problems. On three occasions my anchor was tripped and despite paying out extra line, on a fourth occasion the anchor actually lifted, I suspect assisted by the Alderney buoy and the fact that the sea bed was probably quite soft.
I wasn't the only boat suffering. Several boats on the radio were experiencing similar difficulties. When the spring clip holding the buoy to the ring accidentally opened, and we had to manually haul the anchor before chasing the buoy down tide, we called it a day and headed for home at a steady 14 kts.We'd had a good bag of tope anyway.
A rogue wave, caught broadside just outside the river entrance caused Jupiter to heel at quite an alarming angle but, the  boat could handle it despite both of us giving each other one of those simultaneous 'looks' as one does.
A thoroughly enjoyable days fishing with good company.

25/6/13-26/6/13 Shark Adventure.

After several months of planning and research I've finally been able to go shark fishing in Jupiter....

It all started last winter when I discovered information about a huge porbeagle shark that had been caught on the North Devon coast from a 17ft Wilson Flyer dinghy. Angling journalist Graeme Pullen was the skipper, and Hampshire small boat enhusiast Wayne Comben was the man who had the pleasure of bringing the 'monster' to the side of the boat.It was his first shark trip!
Most anglers seeking shark will use a charter boat where pretty much everything is done for you by the skipper and you rely on their knowledge and experience but, to catch shark from a small trailered dinghy off your own back is, in my opinion , quite an achievement and something I was eager to attempt  myself.
I managed to contact Wayne directly, we exchanged several emails discussing tackle , tactics etc and  agreed to do a trip together sometime.
I  read everything I could on the subject, finding books from the early sixties and seventies that are still useful to the present day shark tyro, as well as a wealth of information on the internet. However, apart from G.P there  appears to be few anglers who have attempted shark fishing from a  small boat.
Initially, I was interested in trying for the Devon porbeagles and using the WSF forum to research, eventually met up with Nick (Mr Pix) in Ilfracombe. We've since become good mates , I've had a run out in his own boat moored in 'Combe' harbour and it was his suggestion that I approach the 'porgie' grounds from his home port which also happens to be where my son Jack lives.
I had researched various launch points for this relatively isolated stretch of coastline, but they all proved to be unsuitable so I decided to go with Nick's advice if possible, though I did at this stage, have a preference to 'cut my teeth' on some blue sharks first, and build up my experience gradually.
Other preparations for this trip included the gathering of suitable equipment. I managed to track down a matching pair of  new old stock left hand wind U.S built Penn 4/0 Senators and teamed them up with some inexpensive U.K class 50lb rods. The reels were loaded with 300yds of 80lb spectra braid with a 200yd 'top shot' of 50lb mono.
Alain Storey, also a WSF find, made up the excellent traces as I don't yet possess the required tools for the task.
10/0 Mustad  hooks were crimped to 6ft of 350lb wire and attached by the biggest link swivel I've ever seen in my life. A 20ft (wind-on the reel) rubbing leader of 400lb strain was employed, and two huge sliding catfish floats were adapted for the task by attaching a run clip to the float body using cable ties.
This would enable the floats to be set at the required depth by trapping the main line in the run clip.Once a shark took, and the line tightened sufficiently to release from the clip, the float would slide all the way down to the bottom swivel-about 6ft from the hook.
This gear is probably a little 'over gunned' for blue shark and 30lb class kit would suffice however, I wanted a fighting chance should a bigger shark take a shine to my baits and during my research I found that there was always a chance of this happening, albeit a slim one.
A kidney harness and butt pad were also added to the list along with a massive 120 litre cool box used to transport the pre-made rubby dubby.
Partly because we were unsure of the availability of mackerel but also due to it's undoubted effectiveness, the chum mix was made up of waste trout sourced from my local trout fishery In Sussex.These discards would have simply been buried so it was a satisfying, if  slightly unpleasant experience to make the stuff from a recipe provided by Graeme.
The trout flesh and guts etc were minced using one of those cast iron table top devices that everybody's Mum  had in the 60's and 70's, blended with bran which soaked up the not inconsiderable quantity of oil that these pellet fed trout are comprised of, and then frozen into 3.5 litre food containers, creating a conveniently sized 'block'.I finished with ten of these, and a 15litre bucket which contained all the carcasses, heads skin, etc-also covered in bran to soak up any remaining oil and frozen. Nothing was wasted.
If I'm honest, knowing what I now know, i'd be reluctant to eat one of these fishery trout.
 It took me nearly a day to process the whole lot in the garden at home a few weeks ago but, it was to be worth the effort.
The plan was to spend a week camping with the boat in the south-west starting at Ilfracombe on the North Devon coast ,meet up with my son Jack who lives there, and my daughter Grace who ,on the 25th would be celebrating her 21st birthday, and possibly get a trip out with Nick and Jack whilst I was there.
Following on from that, I would head to the south coast of Cornwall and meet Wayne at Falmouth.
It was a 'loose' plan and very much depended on the weather behaving but I began the trip in a philosophical mood and would simply wait and see what the 'wind gods' had in store for me.
For the first three days In Devon, fishing was completely out of the question-there was simply too much wind.I spent the time just hangin' with my kids,  and Nick turned up at the camp site for a chat and to check out Jupiter.

I needed a decent high pressure weather system with at least a couple of days of settled calm weather to attempt the 30 mile run down the coast from Ilfracombe to the porbeagle grounds...and it just wasn't going to happen. I expected as much before I left Sussex but also hoped for a more localised run out for tope with Nick but, high winds a rough seas put paid to that also.
Grace and me had spent a terrific 'day 3' walking the coast path together, checking out likely swims, and although 'day 4 ' was her birthday, she would be spending it with other family members so, sent me on my way.
She's a 'Top girl' my daughter, who fully understands her dad.
The weather for 'day 4' was looking promising with light winds so, a quick phone call was made to Wayne, and the boat hitched up for the 100 mile drive south arriving at Perranarworthal camp site just as darkness fell. We would be shark fishing in the morning!
A ten minute run from the camp site, the public slipway at Mylor is an absolute dream location to launch a boat . Shallow, sheltered, available at all states of the tide and with a convenient mooring pontoon and secure, cheap parking for van and trailer ,it's one of the finest I've seen.

Heading out of the huge natural harbour  we motored in a south easterly direction until we hit the 40 fathom line approximately 15 miles off shore to begin our drift.
 This piece of advice was provided by local commercial fisherman,  Frank Vinnecombe who, along with his brother Robin ran a couple of  charter boats back in the 60s and 70s -the heyday of Cornwall shark angling.
Friends who use shark boats in neighbouring Looe tell me that they run a similar distance and depth so, there must be something to it.
We were a little concerned about whether or not we'd find mackerel for hook bait, especially as locally, the commercial fisherman had reported a shortage in recent years with a worsening situation.In Sussex,at the present time, they can be extremely tricky to locate.
 We needn't have worried.With the chum bucket in play,the mackerel were soon attracted, our sets of feathers were full almost immediately and we soon amassed a box full for baits, albeit of quite a small size.
 Once we'd had enough mackerel, the sharks rods were made ready.The four floats were set at varying depths from 10 to 40 ft , the shallowest being the closest to the boat, getting deeper further down tide. In this way, we attempted to set the baits within the chum trail which slowly sank as it drifted away from its source at the boat.

The chum trail must be continuous otherwise the homing shark may break off from the scent and never find the baits. It seemed to work very well-a distinctive oil slick being quite apparent on the surface of the sea...we sat back in our comfy chairs and waited...................
I suppose it took a couple of hours before the clicker on Wayne's TLD sang it's merry tune, and the 'Pompey Shark' bent into the first fish of the session. A very entertaining tussle ensued and, when the blue shark came into view, I'll admit to having my breath taken away somewhat.
 An incredibly elegant fish with a long streamlined snout, huge 'winged' pectorals,  a deep steely cobalt blue back, a bright pearly white underbelly and, of course, those teeth.A mightily impressive beast which Wayne estimated at about 75lb and cleanly released at the side of the boat.
I was elated. All the preparation and planning had paid off. A 'proper' shark caught from my own boat!!
Next , it was one of my Penns that burst into life and I had my first ever taste of being connected to a proper shark. Not a particularly prolonged fight, it has to be said, but the diving runs were very impressive and it was necessary to thoroughly tire this one out as it was coming on board for a photograph.

Once Wayne had a firm grip on the trace with gloved hand, my rod was securely propped in a rod holder with the reel drag fully loosened off. The other three rods had been reeled in and stowed out of the way under the cuddy and the deck had been pretty much cleared of anything that could get in the way.
Working together with one swift motion, we lifted the shark on board and I straddled the fish in an attempt to settle her down. With the hook removed I could just about drape her across my knees for the photo session before she was unceremoniously 'heaved' once again, over the gunwale. None the worse for her experience, she immediately kicked off  and dived into the depths, seemingly annoyed.

 What a sight for sore eyes.
I've caught bigger sharks from a beach in Africa but no fish, by a long shot, has  been so satisfying to catch. That shark was, at that point, the pinnacle of my angling career.
Wayne's next fish was about 60lb and was quickly followed by another take on one of my 'red' reels. This  fish felt considerably heavier than my previous, and gave a much stronger fight with deeper, more prolonged soundings.
Eventually with the leader on the reel, we could see that this was a much bigger shark and, at first I was reluctant to bring my prize on board. Wayne managed to talk me into it having experienced a similar sized fish on Graeme's boat and, with hindsight, I'm so glad he did.
The pictures speak for themselves. The fishes snout rested between my two seats and the tip of the tail  ended up much higher that the rod rail despite the body being 'snaked' across the deck. She made the Warrior feel very small indeed. I later estimated her at  94 inches, and Wayne reckoned she was a three figure fish  -I'll never know for sure but don't care in the slightest. It was a huge fish to bring aboard my little boat.

Wayne finished the session with the fifth shark of the day and we returned to port having had a superb day's sport ands grinning like Cheshire cats........what a day.
Shortly before leaving for home we spied a couple of sunfish cruising slowly about ten yards away from the boat displaying their distinctive  fin?????
We did try to follow and Wayne put out a bait but with no luck. An incredible sight to end the session.Happy 21st Birthday Grace!

Day 5 and we were blessed with an even calmer sea and slower drift speed, and this may have contributed to the sharks being a bit slower to find our chum trail. I think it was afternoon before Wayne took the first shark-another good fish in the 70lb bracket.

This was later followed by a spell of bad luck on my part.
We'd seen sharks nudging the floats-apparently they're attracted to the colour -yellow. I hooked into a shark and felt a strong dive immediately and then it all went slack! The 400lb rubbing leader had been bitten clean through.
Obviously before taking the bait, and whilst investigating the float, the shark had tangled the rubbing trace in its teeth and severed the leader when tension was applied.
 Interestingly, the two fish that were brought on board showed some 'teething ' problems by biting both my deck brush (also yellow) and , rather less amusing, getting a good toothy grip on one of the fuel tank filler caps. He soon let go probably disliking the taste of petrol but took a few brush bristles with him.By way of compensation, we later found a couple of teeth left inside the boat which we kept as trophies.

Shortly afterwards a shark again picked up my bait, and then....... proceeded to drop it. Bugger! Second chance missed.
Whether it was the same shark, or there were a few in our 'swim', we're not sure but almost immediately, Wayne's neighbouring float took off at a pace ,the shark was firmly hooked and my crew settled down to play his fish.
I managed to clear two of the rods away before noticing my remaining rod buck violently, the 'Senator' scream loudly, and yet another shark had taken my bait. We had two on at once In  something of a feeding frenzy.
Laughing at the situation, we managed to keep our sharks well apart. I let mine run  away from the boat to keep it clear of Wayne's fish however, there were some slightly tense moments as my shark decided to swim towards the boat thankfully,  changing its mind before coming into harms way.
Wayne managed to 'trace' his fish and quickly release it-another good sized shark of 70 plus before helping me deal with mine, a bigger specimen in the 80lb range, which was also cleanly 'T' barred at the side of the boat.

We'd also briefly glimpsed shark swimming under the boat obviously picking up the source of our chum trail so it actually turned into quite an exciting afternoon's fishing.Eventually with the wind picking up, we decided to call it a day.
Back at the slipway and we met with a local bass guide who was actually quite surprised by our stories of local shark, and despite the excellent weather conditions we saw very few other boats 'out there'.
Day 6 and the good weather had started to break.
 We could have tried our luck at the 'Manacles' and have been sheltered somewhat , the mark being in the lee of some high ground but, instead we stayed at the campsite and talked fishing before taking a short trip into the village for a pasty lunch.
It proved to be the correct decision as the wind picked up considerably in the afternoon.
Wayne wanted to call on Frank Vinnecombe who still has a boat in the harbour, and a fish shop in Mylor Bridge despite being nearly ninety years young.

 

Although Frank wasn't at home we eventually bumped into him by chance, and were able to personally thank him for his tips on location.

This has probably been my longest blog entry and fittingly so, as it's most definitely been the most satisfying and exciting fishing I've ever experienced. Everything worked as it should and the boat behaved impeccably both on the water, and behind my camper van.
In the end,all the preparation, investigation and planning paid off, and we were lucky to pick up a fish or two.I'm already thinking about the next trip!

19/6/13 A Fifty !

 51lb tope...a new P.B

Took my mate and ex pontoon neighbour Steve Wells out with me for this one-a trip we've been meaning to do for sometime. Steve has recently sold his own ride but continues to do an awful lot of boat fishing at various locations around the country and, as a seasoned sea angler, his experience and wealth of knowledge shines through.
Steve is a fan of uptide fishing but, with a subtle difference-he doesn't actually cast uptide. I suppose his method could be called 'down tide uptiding' as he simply drops a grip lead to the sea bed from the stern of the boat, then pays out enough line for the tide to create a bow which will in turn dig the gripper in.
 The advantage is, that even in strong tide runs, it's only necessary to use a lead of half the weight of a normal down tide set up.
The disadvantage is, that the angler is a bit out of touch with the bait, and pick ups aren't quite so straightforward to hit. It all takes a bit of practice and adapting to the method. It's also NOT a method for tope on circle hooks. I suspect the reason for this is that there is a constant tension on the line and the circle is not allowed enough time to do it's job.
On recent tope trips all my fish have been taken on a down tide circle rig. As soon as a bite is detected the reel is thrown into free spool, the clicker disengaged, and the tope allowed to run freely feeling zero resistance. A few seconds later, the line is gently tensioned and the tope is usually, cleanly hooked in the scissors. It works very well but, the areas I'm targeting for tope require small tides to fish effectively because of the depth of water and tide strength. Even a small tide at mid flow requires 1 1/2lb of lead to stay in contact with the sea bed.
The 'uptide' method works much better with a 'J' hook. We proved that conclusively today. Generally, one waits for the lead to 'trip' and they hook themselves and Steve tells me that he rarely experiences a deeply hooked fish. The 'J' hook is certainly much easier to release using a 'T' bar at the side of the boat.
We punctuated the long run out at 24kts with a quick search for some mackerel which as ever, proved difficult to locate. With a few in the cool box and a back up of frozen we set down on Steve's first choice mark , an unnamed small wreck in about 50ft of water that's now in my plotter as #42. It was quite easy to locate and orientate on the sounder and we laid the anchor about 60 yards uptide of the structure.
The tide was completely slack at this stage but we still quickly found a  double figure tope each which was a promising start..........and then the mark died. Not a touch.
Steve is a very patient angler and I was quite prepared to sit it out and see what the mark could produce but , after a bite less hour, we agreed to move on, this time to mark #41.
Skipper Neil had advised me to seek higher ground nearby on this area to anchor but, flushed with the success from my last outing and hearing from Alex that a friend had struggled the day before close by with just one small tope, I chose to stick the boat dead centre in the  100ft gully where i'd done so well last time out. I also wanted to see if I could hold anchor, especially as the tide was now flooding properly and far stronger than on my previous visit.
Instructing Steve  who loved to play 'crew',  to 'lay' the chain, the pick instantly got a grip and held us rock solid just a few yards from 'the' hotspot, itself quite a satisfying manoeuvre.
Bites were virtually instant-they were in residence.
With 1 1/2lb failing to hold down tide, I joined Steve on the 'grippers' and fished the 'down tide up tide 'method. At first my crew conclusively out fished me by more than two to one  but, I gradually gained proficiency in the method and pulled a few back myself never quite redressing the balance.
Most of the tope were in the 20lb bracket and were released at the side of the boat but Steve did 'wrestle' (see the picture) one on board and this weighed in at 34lb.
Finally, despite picking a few mackerel up on 'static' feathers whilst toping, we ran out of fresh bait and out came the frozen stuff. A very gentle bite to my rod then produced something a little bigger and a dogged scrap ensued. Once at the surface, it was clear that she was a good'n so the decision was made to bring her on board. Actually, Steve hauled her over the side pretty much on his own before i'd even had a chance to put my rod down.
Once on the deck, I straddled her, pinning her down, and covered her eyes with the weigh sling.  She soon calmed down enough for us both to squeeze her into the completely inadequate pike bag and get her on the scales. 51lb corrected and my new personal best.
A couple of quick snaps were taken-the seated method being far more suitable for my own well being, and she was soon back over the side powering down into the depths and none the worse for her experience.
Having now accurately weighed a sizable tope, I now know that the big tope I caught a couple of years ago was of a similar size but, today's will hold rank as my best.
Once the tide had slackened we returned to 'normal' down tide techniques and continued to pick up fish though things did slow down a bit.
As evening crept upon us a sudden breath of wind signalled the possible approach from the south west of a thunder storm, so we high tailed it home. Final tally was 22 tope to the boat, I think I might just have been short of double figures.
The down tide/up tide method is certainly worth persevering with as it allows fishing in much stronger currents at these usually 'small tide' venues. I suspect it would work quite well with January's blonde rays and perhaps other applications and whatever the case, it's a useful tool to have in the armoury.

14/6/13 Back On Form

 5lb 2oz

The boat has been sitting idle on its mooring now for nearly two weeks whilst I wait for an opportunity  to get out. Strong winds have been the cause and yesterday it was literally 'blowin' a hoolie' out back.When it has been calm enough ,I've been working....'C'est la vie'.
 One has to be very philosophical when it comes to running a small fishing boat. Although our changeable weather can be frustrating, there is simply nothing we can do about it so, my attitude is 'get over it and get out fishing'.....for something else.
I took Jan, Neil and Mick tench fishing to the pits a few evenings back and rather disappointingly, we blanked. Now I don't really mind blanking when i'm out on my own, but it was a shame, on this occasion, that I couldn't introduce them to the fighting qualities of this feisty fish.
This afternoon, I decided to return for a few hours in the middle of the day. Not my favourite tench time but, it was cloudy and overcast so light levels were low.
I chose, probably for the last time this season, to fish my favourite corner swim. Pastures new are beckoning as there is more to learn about this venue so future trips will be to 'new' swims on 'new' pits.
Whilst the sky remained cloudy, three tench took a fancy to my maggot baits one of which, yet again, snapped my hook length. The takes on the bolt rigs are so fierce that I do need to consider an alternative set up for my reels when using this method especially as my main line is braid which, having zero stretch, is completely unforgiving, but necessary when bullying these tench out of the lily pads which they love to dive into.
 I tend to slacken the drags right off but the rods still try to leap into the water when the tench strike. An open bail would work I suppose, if I could find a way of  trapping the line but a baitrunner type reel would give much better control.
The first fish was the 'proper porker' in the net pic. The fattest tench I've ever seen at 4-07 followed by a nice 5-02 from the same near bank lily pad.
Once the sun emerged from behind the clouds the feeding seemed to abate however, entertainment was provided by this plucky little blackbird who continually thieved my maggots during the remainder of the session-obviously feeding her brood.

7/6/13 Hamble.

The River Hamble at mercury marina has been a regular haunt of mine in the past when searching for the elusive mullet. The venue was chosen for this year's first attempt at the specie as it usually produces the goods in the early part of the season.
Unfortunately today , for me at least,that wasn't to be the case however my fishing buddy Dave scored two golden grey mullet around the pound mark , whilst I could only manage a small bass and, a first for me, a tiny smelt which bore a striking resemblance to the Fiiish Minnow soft plastic lure, which I've been using with great success recently for bass.

Thunderstorms and a strong north wind didn't help matters but it made a pleasant change to do some 'simple' fishing.

3/6/13 U..tope..eeeaaaah!

Armed with the valuable knowledge I'd gained from my recent outing aboard 'Spirit Of Arun', on the charity tope trip of a couple of weeks ago,I decided today, to try and get my first of the specie on board Jupiter.
Tide was 4.7m and the wind speeds during the morning were looking perfect for the long haul down to the mark.
Unfortunately, my intended crew-Pete Cook, had to cancel yesterday, the hunt was on last night to secure a last minute replacement.I needed someone with experience and, as Dave Nevatt hadn't previously been out in my Warrior , and it was a week day, i knew he'd be up for it.He actually agreed to come along whilst sailing home from a boat trip out of Hove last night-the man loves his fishing.
We left port at just after 0730 making a slight detour en route to an area adjacent some local reefs to try a pick up some fresh mackerel which have been a little difficult to locate lately.
It took a couple of moves to find them,but we soon had ten or so in the cool box before speeding off at twenty plus knots to the mark.
Upon arriving, I was a little concerned about anchoring the boat securely in such deep water.The chosen gully , at 100ft, was somewhat deeper than I'd previously experienced ,and although i do carry an additional anchor warp to join to the main if required,I did wonder if the 5 kilo bruce would be enough.
I needn't have worried. Keeping a close eye on the plotter's trail line function, the anchor dragged for a few yards then dug in deep, holding us rock steady in the considerable flow,  and positioned centrally in a wide gully.
Half mackerel baits(either end) on 8/0- circles attached to 5ft long 250lb mono traces  on a standard running leger rig were employed, and within seconds of my ten ounces bumping the sea bed, the rod bent over and the ratchet on the Avet screamed to signal an immediate take.We hadn't even set Dave's gear up.
I gave  the tope plenty of time to run freely with no resistance before gently tightening up-essential to prevent the fish dropping the bait.A brilliant fight ensued but, once tired the tope wallowed on the surface long enough for me to slacken the lever drag, hand the rod over to my crew,don welding gloves, get a firm grip on the tope's tail and dorsal , and haul her on board.
Remembering Spirit skipper Neil's proceedure for dealing with these toothy critters, I straddled the beast pinning her securely to Jupiter's deck, lifted her snout with one hand whilst swiftly nicking out the circle from the corner of her mouth with the other hand successfully managing to retain all of my digits in the process.
A quick measure and wrestle with her for the camera and she was safely sent back down into the depths none the worse for her experience out into the 'other world' -job done.A cracking first tope for the boat at around 40lb.

From then on, it was 'game on'. Virtually a fish a drop and, on a couple of occasions both of us hooking up at once in what was probably the most hectic fishing i've seen on my own boat.A couple more were brought inside for weighing and photography but my pike weigh sling proved to be totally inadequate, the  weighed fish however, which at 25lb was the smallest, gave us a good reference to work from when estimating sizes, the majority being successfully 'T' barred at the side of the boat.
In total we 'touched trace' on 25 fish with three over the 40lb mark, and split, numbers wise, almost exactly between us. The skipper naturally getting the 13.There were also several missed runs and dropped baits but generally , if left alone, the baits were soon retaken .
There was evidently a snag of some kind near us,because several sets of end gear were consigned to 'Davy Jones' locker' and indeed, at one point, i feared that we might run out of traces and had to resort to knotting a new circle to the heavy mono when i broke a hook clean in two with the long nose pliers-not easy.
Despite allowing the tope to run,, virtually all the fish were neatly lip hooked -the circles proving their worth.
The fresh bait soon ran out and we resorted to the back up mackerel, acquired and quickly 'iced' on the last trip out.Contrary to perceived wisdom, they didn't care a jot, and continued to feed voraciously on the frozen stuff.Perhaps today they were just 'up for it'.
As the tide slackened off completely and began to flood, the bites did slow down a little and by then a brisk south-easterly had picked up, so we decided to call it a day and slowly make our way back to port with the tide, but against the wind.........bumpy-yes, uncomfotable-no. Reducing speed down to 13-14kts we still made good headway without too much slamming.The boat handled it brilliantly yet still sipped on the fuel. By the time we'd returned to the river entrance we'd only just 'done' the first tank.Roughly 30 nautical miles on 24litres of fuel is excellent economy.
Despite suffering throughout the day with an aching back,leading to the occasional 'lie down' on Jupiter's deck, Dave had thoroughly enjoyed his day out and proved to be excellent crew-his seasons of boat angling experience quite evident. It was actually quite difficult to get him to agree to go home- i seem to remember the same situation the last time we ventured out on a boat together after bream.
A truly brilliant day's fishing for a spectacular specie.

31/5/13 Showing Off......

Jupiter' to my mate Rusty today, who is seriously thinking of going down the Warrior route-'sensible man' I say.
This month has been a pretty good month for me fishing wise and , looking at the sea state from my bedroom window this morning, it would have been criminal not to squeeze just one more trip in before June dawned.
Russ had texted me with a request for a run out in the Warrior to check out how she performed and , like any confirmed petrol head, I cannot resist a bit of blatant 'showing off', so after a quick phone call , we were crossing the river bar within the hour, with barely inches to spare beneath Jupiter's hull.
The Kingmere reef is our 'traditional' bream mark and it was here we headed mostly because, I'd yet to try it for myself this season.
The flat sea really meant I could stretch the boat's legs, and show Russ what she was capable of and, within seconds of leaving the harbour she was skimming the surface at close to 30kts- I was even quietly impressed (frightened) myself. Actually, she feels rock steady at speed.
A few bream to two pound plus co-operated on the reef, along with pollack and pout before we decided to try for some bass on #6 despite the tide being both flowing in the wrong direction (flood) and being pretty meagre in size anyway. I was aware that chances were slim but just had to prove it to myself. Russ picked up a colourful ballan wrasse before we abandoned the reef and headed out in search of mackerel for bait.
Beyond Black Ledge the water took on a murky appearance which I'm assuming is the much talked about 'May Bloom'. I'm not entirely sure of this but it certainly didn't look conducive to good mackerelling-apparently they dislike it in their gills, so we relocated to clearer waters inshore at one of 'Phil's skate marks' and bingo.....twenty odd 'mackies' were feathered up and in the bait box.A few dogs finished us off and by then we'd completely lost the tide and it was time to call it a day.
All this whizzing about gave Russ a fair idea of what 'Jupiter' is capable of and he went away impressed and with a lot to think about.
Interestingly, the 'big three' as I've now christened Littlehampton's regular charter fleet, are mixing it up on the fishing front.I was unaware that our plaice fishing was available virtually throughout the year until a conversation with Dave Nevatt revealed that over in Shoreham they fish for them year round.
It's just that sometimes other species are available to L.A crews and they are fished for in preference. With this year's spring being about a month late the guys have continued to go for plaice because the bream fishing has only really just got off the ground in the past few days.
I'm unaware of the situation regarding hound fishing and I've yet to try for them myself but, pups are showing on our local beach marks so I'll bet their parents are out there in some numbers and the situation is no doubt similar on the ray front.
I suppose the charter boys have to supply what their customers want and, for visiting day anglers, that probably means our bream fishing and when the time is right, bass. All very interesting stuff.
 Anybody want to shed any more light on this? Be good to hear from you.

30/5/13 One Bass!

.........but a good'n at 6lb 8oz.
For various reasons I struggle to consistently catch bass from our reef systems and still feel that I've a long way to go with the specie.
I have three very good mates who are extremely successful with bass but in very different ways. I've pretty much gathered as much information from them as is fair and reasonable, and now feel that it is up to me to put that knowledge to good use but, it'll take time. The fun is in the learning.
This morning was spent helping 'bass junkie' Pete with his new Orkney Longliner 2 .I picked it up for him at the Orkney factory In Arundel, and dragged it behind the camper to his boat pound In Bognor where, with some help from a couple of fellow boat 'nuts', we managed to successfully transfer it on to Pete's launching trolley.
A pretty little boat this and the first one of it's kind out of the mould-serial number 1-it reminds me a lot of my 520 and Orkney seem incapable of producing a boat that isn't pleasing on the eye. The company have gone for an update with this 'new' Longliner and it is now a semi-planing hull rather that the old displacement plodder and, I must say, it's a lithe looking craft with a low hull weight to boot.Pete's got a 25 horse motor to go on the stern so it should really fly and I can't wait to have a run out in her. I hope the new design proves to be a sales success and manages to keep this recently troubled local boat building company afloat in the future.
With an afternoon to spare and reasonable weather conditions I decided to run the boat out again mostly to try to gather some mackerel bait for a planned tope run.
I couldn't find the mackerel and even though my mate Neil had tipped me off that he was 'hammering' the bass as usual, AND put me right on the mark, I couldn't bloody well find them either!!!!!!Bugger.
Frustated, I moved quietly over to one of my favourite reef drifts on #6 and finally managed to bang out the above bass on a jigged 60g Fiiish Minnow.Fantastic scrap on the light baitcaster.
Actually I should have had two more on board but successfully bumped them off......and 'that', as they say, 'is the way the cookie crumbles'.

29/5/13 Three Men In A Boat

I've been meaning to take Simon and Andy out in 'Jupiter' on a bream run for ages and it would also give me a chance to see how the boat would work with three anglers aboard. Just an afternoon sortie really on marks #7 and #9 and a chance to show these 'beach boys ' what we've got 'out there'.
The first mark proved to be a bit slow despite me hauling a nice bream on the first drop so we relocated and worked some soft plastic over the reef whilst I scanned the sounder. Fish were present, and in numbers, but just weren't interested in the lures......had to be bream I thought and this did indeed prove to be the case.
Once we'd dropped anchor and sent our baits down on an ever increasing tide, a good run of fish turned up with about thirty taken and all of a good size up to 2 1/2lb.
With not another boat in sight it was quite satisfying for me to put this 'new' bream mark on my map and the guys were having a lot of fun in the process despite the weather which, with some penetrating rain, wasn't exactly ideal.
Towards the end of the afternoon I received a text from a mate who had been concentrating on bass with live bait and lure on #6.He'd had a few and asked if we'd like to join him but unfortunately the tide had pretty much done it's thing by the time we'd arrived which was a shame because I would have loved to show these guys a 'spikey' or two.
Although easily achievable,it had been a bit of a 'squeeze' fishing 'three up' to be honest but, at the end of the day,it was a lot of fun and that is what fishing is all about.