Monday 17th Jan

[GPSguru]

Pretty decent weather today, so I decided a trip to the wrecks was in order. However, I was not expecting too much as Alan (mate with offshore 25) went to the 40 mile wrecks on Saturday and only ended up with 2 Pollock and one Bass after visiting 8 wrecks at between 25 – 35Nm.

I thought a good plan today, was to get out to a 15 mile wreck in 150ft and stop at a 9 mile wreck on route.

Again, -1C when I left home this morning and 1C on the slipway. Launched 08:30 on the Ebb and was going to time my return for the beginning of the flood. The sea was flat (0.3m @11secs) with just a small secondary wind swell from the NW (probably 0.3m). I made good time out to the 9 mile wreck and was making my first drop at 09:00. I made 3 drifts and there were no takers, not even a bait robbing Pout.

I pushed onto the 15 mile wreck and the circled the wreck a few times to play with my new Garmin G3 Vision charts, which seem to work quite well. I was concerned that the high resolution relief shading would be a bit slow to update the screen, but it actually works really well, however, updating the plotter is quite a faff as you have to use ActiveCaptain, but more about that later.

The wreck is very broken so I decided on a drift that took me right over the broken stern section of the wreck. Using SPJ, I was straight into a small Bass and that is pretty much the story for the rest of the morning. I needed up with 9 small Bass, 2 very small Pollock and a good number of average Pout.

Not exactly an overwhelming success, but enough fish to keep me busy. I only lost one jig, which is pretty good as the wreck is a renowned tackle graveyard.

I headed back in at 12:00 midday, and an uneventful 30knt return journey saw me back on the slip and loaded on the trailer by 13:00.

Not much in the way of pics, but here is one to show the puny size of the Bass (which all happily swam away).

A chilly but beautiful day for fishing. Not a cloud in the sky and a flat sea. Total trip distance today was 37Nm ................

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by GPSguru

[Saintly Fish]

Kudos to you Ian for going out in an open boat in 1deg. Don't think I'd fancy it tbh, I'm too used to a heated cab and a coffee machine! 
Plus you look like the Michelin man in that suit. Bet it's snug though. 

[mike farrants]

i'd be happy with a bass of that size - was a cracking day down here in weymouth - light frost in the morning, unbroken blue skies all day and not a breath of wind - had the windows open at home for a while!

I bet it was a bit fresh out at sea though!

[Andy135]

Very nice, smooth trip. Looks chilly for sure but a day on the water beats pretty much anything else in my book. Good work.

You came, you caught, you conquered a tackle-hungry wreck. Top dangling!