Skerries Banks -Tuesday 13th April

[GPSguru]

 

A cold day on the cards, but the sun was shining and the sea was forecast flat (ish), so an early trip to the Skerries  banks was deemed to be a good idea. The weather for the day was sunny with a max of 10C, the winds were N veering SSE generally F2 with a max of F3. The sea state was indeterminate but expected to be 0.2m with  a trough range of 5secs to 14 secs.

High tide (mid springs) was at about 8:00 so that seemed a good time to launch and with low tide a 2:30pm we would have enough water to get back on the slip at 4:00pm …… perfect

We launched at 8:30am, with an air temp of 3C and a sea temp of 8.4c, so a bit chilly in an open boat. The crew for the day was the wife, Kyle, and me.

Once out of the estuary we were met with a lovely sunny morning and a flat sea, so I powered up to 25knts and took a route through the cruise ships moored in Babbacombe Bay, and passing the time of day with the local safari RIB, Whistler, who was out bright and early.

The 20Nm trip down to the banks was uneventful and not too cold with a light NW wind on our starboard quarter. There were a few boats (not many) spread out along the banks, so deciding where to fish was going to be down to experience. I decided to drift the eastern end and within minutes Kyle was into his first plaice of the day, a bit on the small side, so it went back.

Our bait was frozen Mack, frozen Squid, king prawn, and a pack of frozen blacks. I dropped down a set of tinsels to see if any Launce (snakes) or early Mack were around, but there were none to be found.

After a couple of long drifts and also going down to the western end of the banks, it was obvious that the eastern inner bank was the most productive, and with a drift of 0.7 -1.2knts we were soon catching a lot of quite decent fish, with the biggest going 3lb ish. I noticed we were also joined by ‘Outlaw’ (Owen Mallia) who was also making similar drifts to us.

We had decided that we only needed to keep 10 fish, however, we ended up keeping 14 and we put back another 17 fish, so in total 31 plaice for the day. Also I had a couple of decent whiting, and my wife had a very nice Grey Gurnard of about 1lb.

At about 2:00pm the tide was picking up and the wind had veered SSE so we were getting a 1m (ish)  chop of wind over tide across the shallow banks, but nothing the boat couldn’t handle. At 3:00pm I called for rods in and we made our way back into Teignmouth.   It was the early flooding tide so normally I would go on the seaward side of cod rock, but familiarity got the better of me and I decided to go between the Mewstone and Cod rock, as we passed cod rock, the sounder alarmed and I glanced over the side to see that we were in 2ft – 3ft of water covering the rocks, and we were travelling at 20knts !  …… A close shave indeed !

A round trip of 50Nm and a really pleasant day. The only downer was the fact that I lost my Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses over the side, as I left them on the A frame when we motored back for Another drift !

 

A decent Plaice

 

Big baits were needed, Whole king prawn tipped with squid

 

[Saintly Fish]

Great report Ian. Thanks for the effort. 
Some great fishing there, not jealous at all. I just wish I lived in an area where nice plaice were gettable. It’s a species that just seems to miss us in any numbers or sizes. 
I must say that a man of your experience going the short cut around cod rock and nearly running aground is a surprise. Thought you’d know better!! 

[Andy135]

Top report and top fishing! Well done to you and crew 👍

Very envious indeed. We often visit Dartmouth to see family (well, we used to but haven't seen them in over a year now) and I've always wanted to fish the Skerries. I hear that Lannacombe Bay just past Start Point can be good for turbot and bass on its day too.

Bad luck on the Aviators, but I guess it balances out with your lucky near miss! 😯

[GPSguru]

16 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Great report Ian. Thanks for the effort. 
Some great fishing there, not jealous at all. I just wish I lived in an area where nice plaice were gettable. It’s a species that just seems to miss us in any numbers or sizes. 
I must say that a man of your experience going the short cut around cod rock and nearly running aground is a surprise. Thought you’d know better!! 

 

Unfortunately, familiarity breeds contempt, but I won't make the same error of judgement again in a hurry !

I only normally go through that channel 1hr either side of high.

Here is a zoomed pic of my track, I must have passed between the rock pinnacles on the finger ............ TBF, when on the plane I only need 15inches of water for the prop and skeg, as the hull has a massive planning pad at the stern end of the keel.

 

[Saintly Fish]

11 minutes ago, GPSguru said:

 

Unfortunately, familiarity breeds contempt, but I won't make the same error of judgement again in a hurry !

I only normally go through that channel 1hr either side of high.

Here is a zoomed pic of my track, I must have passed between the rock pinnacles on the finger ............ TBF, when on the plane I only need 15inches of water for the prop and skeg, as the hull has a massive planning pad at the stern end of the keel.

 

Still, could have been a bad end to a great day. I hope you went home, sat on the naughty step and had a stern word with yourself! 

[jonnyswamp]

Excellent report and some nice fish, must admit my stomach turned a bit when you mentioned 2-3ft of water above the rocks

I did similar a year or 2 ago down towards Stout and my arse felt like it was making Cadburys buttons for a bit

Should've done the lottery last night

[Dicky]

Some nice plaice there. Hopefully we will trail down soon. Heard whispers of some nice cod on the inshore wrecks already.

[GPSguru]

1 hour ago, Dicky said:

Heard whispers of some nice cod on the inshore wrecks already

Yes, I heard the same whispers, but as yet, I have not seen any Cod on the wrecks we fish. I would assume that the cod are on the deeper wrecks to the west of Brixham.

[Tony smith]

That’s the way to do it plaice galore 

fished the skerries many times lovely place 

well done you. 👍
 

[Odyssey]

Great report! 
 

Not done a plaice trip myself, only caught off the beach but very tasty 😋 

[GPSguru]

On 4/14/2021 at 12:09 PM, Andy135 said:

Bad luck on the Aviators

 

Ordered a new pair today from Ray Ban UK, however, delivery will be about a week as I have specified Zeiss glass polarized lenses.

The pair I lost were 20 years old, I bought them in Florence at the Ray Ban shop on the golden bridge, so they have certainly given good service.

Edited April 15, 2021 by GPSguru

[Odyssey]

I don’t wear sunglasses on the boat. 
 

I got out the habit when fishing out of Cardiff as you need X-Ray vision it’s so murky....

Oh and the main reason is it’s wales, we don’t get sunshine here 🤣

[jonnyswamp]

54 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

I don’t wear sunglasses on the boat. 
 

I got out the habit when fishing out of Cardiff as you need X-Ray vision it’s so murky....

Oh and the main reason is it’s wales, we don’t get sunshine here 🤣

I'll wear shades when I'm fishing, but they react with whatever is in the windscreen, so just squint if I'm heading into the sun

Or just look like I'm constantly saluting an imaginary Captain if the sun is low

[Saintly Fish]

I always have sunglasses on. They have a lanyard to stop them going over. I’d have though @GPSguru would have had the same. I can’t fish without sunglasses unless it’s raining and real dark. 

[GPSguru]

1 hour ago, Saintly Fish said:

I always have sunglasses on. They have a lanyard to stop them going over. I’d have though @GPSguru would have had the same. I can’t fish without sunglasses unless it’s raining and real dark. 

Having lived in Oz, and spent time in a number of hot countries, I always wear sunglasses if the sun is shining, regardless of winter or summer. 
 

I already wear a lanyard for the go-pro remote, and another for the line clippers. However, I have never been able to get on with the type of lanyard that is used for glasses.

On the boat I tend to put them on the offshore 105 compass, which is a bit like the shape of a bald head ( l guess reminiscent of @Andy135 who seems to be well on the way to a chrome dome 🤣).  
There was no excuse to lose them, on the A frame are 2 large dry boxes !

 

[Saintly Fish]

3 minutes ago, GPSguru said:

( l guess reminiscent of @Andy135 who seems to be well on the way to a chrome dome 🤣)

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Andy135]

2 hours ago, GPSguru said:

 l guess reminiscent of @Andy135 who seems to be well on the way to a chrome dome 🤣).  

Ooh! You fucker!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🖕

[Saintly Fish]

2 minutes ago, JonC said:

I must say though if I was going flatty bashing on an oversized lilo I would wear these

They are soooo you Jon. They take away the attention from your receding hair line! 

[GPSguru]

1 hour ago, JonC said:

I must say though if I was going flatty bashing on an oversized lilo I would wear these

Looks like you need a good curry to show you what your arse is for ...... 🙄

Edited April 16, 2021 by GPSguru