Never one to
pass up an opportunity to fish, as my son Lee and my fishing buddy Reg were
down at the weekend, we chartered the Jessica Hettie out of Clovelly along with
Graham and Matt, a couple of friends. It was on this boat a few years ago that
my friend Neil caught the British record Amberjack.
The day was dry and cloudy but warm but with a stiff breeze, abit stiffer than
anticipated in the long dry spell, so we
headed for the west side of Lundy to avoid the wind.
We started of
with feathers fishing for mackerel to use as bait and for Clive, the skipper,
to cook for us on the boat for lunch. I’m not a great lover of mackerel, but
when they are this fresh they taste totally different to the fish from
fishmongers, and I really enjoyed it. It
wasn't the easiest days fishing although we caught a stream of Pollack, and
eventually we managed a the few mackerel needed, initially baiting the feathers
which produced better quality Pollack, a Cuckoo Wrasse and a Ballan Wrasse. Reg
and I changed to a single bait fished just off the bottom to try to avoid the
dogfish and were rewarded with Pollack to 5.5lb (pictured).
As ever with
Clive, we tried a variety of locations, and the decided to try spinning just
below the cliffs. After fishing a few locations without a knock, suddenly Lee,
Reg and Matt all hit bass at the same time a shoal moved through. These were
all in the 2-3lb range. Then no further bites. We tried trolling with plugs,
spoons, spinners and poppers without success so went back to bait fishing in a
new location.
There was fight
for the cabin on the return which Graham and I, being total gentlemen, won
leaving the other to get soaked with spray as we returned against the
increasing wind.
However, we all had a fresh fish or two for the evening meal, with the majority
being returned.