Popular Post Andy135 Posted August 1, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted August 1, 2021 It was a rather painful 4.30am alarm today, and on a Sunday too! 😖 The plan was for Thomas and I to join @Saintly Fish and Leo on Tarlach Too to head south of the Needles after tope. After leaving the marina just after 6am we headed out of the Hamble, pausing briefly to prospect for fresh bait, where we achieved our first blank of the day! No mackerel at all, so we headed out into the Solent and on to Yarmouth where we stood a better chance of finding some bait. Yarmouth generously provided us with our second blank of the day... still no mackerel 😭. So we motored round past the Needles and headed south for a few miles. We were expecting a a bit of a chop but not the swell that we encountered beam on as we began our first top drift with the frozen mackerel we brought with us. We hadn't been drifting long when the swell claimed its first victim, Thomas, who tasted his breakfast for the second time that morning. This would be the first of several visits Thomas made to the gunnels, poor lad. The swell really got to him, but he soldiered on and didn't make a fuss, nor did he ask to go back in. Much. It wasn't long after he had boosted our chum trail that we got our first tope run, which came to my rod. Tightening down on the fish it felt good to feel a decent weight on the rod, until all of a sudden there wasn't... 😭😭 Oh the shame of bumping off what felt like a good fish. Neil's rod then gave a rattle and he wound down excitedly to bring aboard a.... rock and sponge combo 🤦♂️ Whilst waiting for another run I rigged up some feathers and prospected on the sea floor to see what was present, which turned out to be a PB Gurnard! Neil's rod was hit next, and he had clearly learned from watching me, as he did exactly the same, bumping off what looked like another good tope! 🤣 So after neatly letting off our tope we welcomed blank number three, as before long we decided to seek relative shelter back behind the Needles and switch to scratching rigs to see what we could find in a mark that was new to both of us. The answer came in the form of a strap conger and a baby bull huss for me and a pair of nice bream for Neil and Leo plus the Megalodon for Neil, which put a huge bend in his 20-30lb Ugly Stik! Unfortunately we never did find out what he hooked into because it snapped him up! 😭😭😭 We decided on another move, this time further into the Solent. As Neil recovered the anchor, amazingly he bagged a PB! I'll leave him to post the picture 😉 On mark number three we settled into stronger tides and weed, but also prolific bream fishing, including another PB for Neil and a brace for the table amongst plenty of undersized fish that went back. There may even have been a dogfish too! 🐶🐟 Finally we headed for home to catch slack water in the marina, and as we made passage back up the Solent we caught the outline of the Golden Horizon in the distance off Cowes, amongst more modern shipping. All in all an excellent day on the water, well skippered by Neil, and with more than a few disappointments and surprises! 👍 Geoff, GPSguru, jonnyswamp and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 As always, good value in having you both on board. Shame about our school boy fishing again. But never mind we are improving. Just wish the kraken had showed us some colour. I’ve never felt anything like that before , defo a spot to return to when more beefed up for the job!! Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDP Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 Not to far from one of the wrecks I used to fish at Alum Bay in those last shots, shallow water but lost of eels on it and rarely fished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 Looks like a good trip, and a shame that Neil never got to see what snapped him up. Always good to see the kids fishing, and such a shame about Thomas. @Andy135, next time, get Thomas to the stern of the boat and tell him to look past the cabin at the horizon, make sure he is standing up when you do it. He needs to have the horizon and part of the boat in his line of vision. What that does, is to balance the inner ear and eyes to the brain, which then stops you feeling unwell and being sick. I guess he was sick through looking at the water and not lifting his eyes to the horizon every now and again. The eyes were telling the brain one picture, and the inner ear (from the boat movement) was telling the brain a different story, once that happens the brain thinks you are ill, and you start being sick and feeling unwell. Did you fillet the gurnard or skin it by pulling it inside out ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 7 hours ago, JDP said: Not to far from one of the wrecks I used to fish at Alum Bay in those last shots, shallow water but lost of eels on it and rarely fished. Yeah I can’t say I’ve ever seen anybody fishing there. It’s quite a rocky floor, maybe that’s why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 7 hours ago, GPSguru said: get Thomas to the stern of the boat and tell him to look past the cabin at the horizon, make sure he is standing up when you do it. We did all of this and he came round a bit. But then He and Leo would go back to playing on a Nintendo and it all started again. Leo fine btw so it’s funny how it effects some and not others. Or Leo is just more used to the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted August 2, 2021 Author Share Posted August 2, 2021 @GPSguru, as Neil says we had Thomas outside looking at the cliffs which did help. He then fell asleep for an hour or so, so I suspect it may have been a combination of too much Nintendo and tiredness from the early start that did for him. Usually he is fine on board but the swell was not something he's experienced before. The gurnard was filleted then skinned then boned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyswamp Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 Nice trip both, great that your boys get on so well SF, monster eel ? Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 3 hours ago, jonnyswamp said: SF, monster eel ? Or maybe a Bull huss double ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 8 hours ago, jonnyswamp said: Nice trip both, great that your boys get on so well SF, monster eel ? We were thinking a monster ray, but after dragging up that rock on the anchor an giant eel that quickly ran home or just poked his head out of a hole to rob the bait was our thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 5 hours ago, GPSguru said: Or maybe a Bull huss double ? Possible, he could have run off and got me trapped under a rock. The braid was what gave way and not the leader or hook length. So quite plausible that whatever it was was hiding in the rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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