Tuesday 8-6-21

[GPSguru]

Well, the planned launch at 6:30, ended up being at 7:45 as I was finding the enthusiasm difficult to muster !, However, I slowly took the straps off the boat and got it ready for launch, thinking to myself, “I don’t know that this is such a good idea “

Anyway, once launched the sea was flat (as expected) and we steamed through the slowly clearing mist and into bright sunshine (shore radiation fog). I had planned the day around both the tides and sea state. Up until the tide changed at about 1:00pm the sea would be flat, however soon after 1:00pm the tide would start the flood and the wind would have swung SSE, which would result in a wind over tide lumpy sea. The idea was to come back in a 1 -2pm.

I headed straight to a favourite wreck at 9 miles, that rarely disappoints, but held the speed back to 22knts as I was feeling very tired and drained.

We were the only boat on the wreck so I took my time setting the rods up. The wife can’t be doing with lures and she finds the wind up 10 turns, drop down, etc, etc, much to intense, so she asked me to set up a feather rig. After some discussion we decided to go with Snowbiki tinsels on size 4 hooks and that meant she has a chance of landing any fish that grabbed them. I went for the usual RedGill blue / white.

First drift and she had a bite just past the wreck which turned out to be a Redband fish, and she then went of to catch another 11 of them, some were proper snakes. It also triggered the ‘match the hatch’ instinct in my fishing and I dug out a RedGill Bright Orange lure. The next 2 drifts I had really good headshaking bites but couldn’t manage to get the hook to stay connected. A look at the lure and it was woefully apparent as to why, I was so tired and out of it that I hadn’t removed the plastic tube hook guard. We certainly had a good laugh about it !

Early on, after we had been there about an hour, I could see another boat in the distance coming toward us. It was Tim, who is a commercial Rod/Line from Exmouth and I have seen him on the wrecks quite a lot over the years. He pulled up along side and asked how it was going, to which I replied ‘poor’ ! He told us he had been up at first light and this was his 7th wreck for the day and all he had to show for his efforts was one Pollock of about 4lb ! He stayed for a few drifts and then moved on.

The tide was now slack, so I changed tactics to see if any Bream were over the wreck at mid water. I went down with a Portland rig and size 1 Chinu with a strip of squid, almost immediately I had a bite which turned out to be a decent sized pout, and went on to have another 3, which avoided a blank.

The sea started to get snotty as the tide turned, so we headed in, a nice steady trip at 18 -20 knts, but at one point about 4 miles out, I saw a biggish fish turn on the surface and a wide paddle tail disappear below the surface. I guessed Bass and should have stopped and used the spinning rods, but TBH I couldn’t be arsed, I was just too tired.

Interestingly, my mate Alan also went out but didn’t bother to ring me as he thought I was still grounded. He had spoken to the Brixham boats that had told him the inshore wrecks were dead, but the offshore wrecks were producing good numbers. He went to a wreck at 25 miles out and found Pollock to 14lb and Cod to 9lb. If I had been out all day and the sea forecast was good all day, then I would have gone to the same wrecks as I fish them a lot !

All in all, a nice day to be at sea, it was mirror calm and hot sunshine, however, at the moment I have to cover up in the sun and that is going to take some thought as I was way too hot in my Sakuma smock, Eagle claw neck/face Buff, and Trokar cap. A side effect of the drug I am on is extreme fatigue, yes, I know exactly what they mean !

Anyway enough waffle, but only one pic

Edited June 9, 2021 by GPSguru

[Andy135]

Well done for making the effort to get out in spite your fatigue. Kudos to you. Shame about the fishing but at least it wasn't a blank 👍

[Saintly Fish]

A good effort under the circumstances Ian. 
What you need is a long sleeve Offshore outlaws T-shirt to keep the sun off and not over heat. XL do you? PM me your address. 

[GPSguru]

3 hours ago, JonC said:

Just finished, some big words in there. 
Good idea putting covers on all your hooks, I guess it’s game over if one gets stuck in the side of the boat. Pssssssssssssssssssssssssss

RedGills come with hook protectors fitted, and they can be a PITA to remove sometimes. 
The error I made has been done by many, and many times !

[GPSguru]

10 hours ago, Andy135 said:

Well done for making the effort to get out in spite your fatigue. Kudos to you. Shame about the fishing but at least it wasn't a blank 👍

The fatigue is nothing like I have ever experienced, putting one foot in front of the other to walk is like a huge effort. I didn't do myself any favours as the day before, I had laid 32m of composite decking until late in the evening!

[GPSguru]

4 hours ago, Saintly Fish said:

A good effort under the circumstances Ian. 
What you need is a long sleeve Offshore outlaws T-shirt to keep the sun off and not over heat. XL do you? PM me your address. 

Thanks for the offer Neil, but at the moment I am sorted. The wife has produced a large pile of long sleeved T shirts that I have never worn.

[GPSguru]

6 minutes ago, JonC said:

I guess there’s nowhere to hide from the sun  on a rib, could you configure some sort of Bimini? 

Yes, it can get very hot on a good day, but we rarely anchor, so there is always a slight breeze when drifting. 
 

Bimini’s are ok, but fraught with issues, and are also speed limiting.

[Andy135]

36 minutes ago, GPSguru said:

The fatigue is nothing like I have ever experienced, putting one foot in front of the other to walk is like a huge effort. I didn't do myself any favours as the day before, I had laid 32m of composite decking until late in the evening!

Yeah, I can see how that wouldn't help 🤣👍

[Saintly Fish]

45 minutes ago, GPSguru said:

I had laid 32m of composite decking until late in the evening!

And there was me starting to feel sorry for you!