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I have always tried to give a balanced view of my fishing trips, but this was a really BAD one.
We turned up just before 10am for a four hour trip in the catamaran 'Bluefin' out of Ilfracombe harbour. Though the sea looked a bit choppy, we thought it would be OK in the twin hulled boat, but as we reached our mark, the wind was very blustery and was against the tide. This caused the boat to swing round from side to side.
Experienced anglers might have been able to cope with this but the novices on board (this is really a beginners' trip one step up from mackerel fishing) had a problem keeping their lines under control, not helped by the heavy tides in the Bristol Channel. Lee and I spent most of the first couple of hours sorting out line tangles. This was maddening and reached a point where I wound in and stopped fishing because it reached ridiculous levels.
One poor lass was very sea sick and lost her engagement ring over the side. Her fiance tried to console her saying 'it wasn't that expensive,' but I bet he will have that thrown at him during every argument for the rest of his life.
The skipper eventually moved the boat into a more sheltered location where the boat was stable, also helped by the tide slackening, and everybody caught the usual dogfish. Lee and I loaded the hook with much larger baits hoping for a tope or conger only for the lad on Lee's right to hook into a heavy fish. This proved to be a 30lb conger eel which quickly cleared the decks when brought on board prior to being released. This was the first conger that I have seen and found it fascinating, and was the only highlight of the day, although I really do think the trip should have been cancelled as it wasn't sensible to take so many novices out trying to fish on a rough day.
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