Becky M Newsletter

Monday 13th June, 2005

The weather has been kind to us these last few days, even though the standard of forecasting is crap now on the TV forecasts, unless you want to know if you will need to wear a raincoat, or sunglasses.

If you are planning a fishing trip, listen to the shipping forecast, or just trust your skipper to make the right call. You can’t even rely on getting an accurate forecast from any of the websites, as they often differ from one site to another. I suppose you could try several different sites, and see how many of them are near enough the same, and then draw your own conclusions, that might work.

Well I managed to get Gill, (my youngest) out for a days fishing the other day, and she and Chris, (her partner) managed to get themselves some nice Black Bream for their Barbecue, I done my bit, so I should be alright for a Father’s Day card this year!!

There are still some nice Black Bream around, although they are beginning to move on from their usual haunts, and we are having to look about further.

On one of my little jaunts in search of something different I went onto some rough ground where we not only found the Bream, but also found Rays, and Conger, so that mark deserved another visit. So with one of my regular crews aboard a couple of days later I revisited the mark, and found all of the same species, but also had the added bonus of a Turbot for a new member of the party (Jude Riddler), who was out on his first charter trip. The organiser of the trip, was also pleased, as he was using his new rod for the first time, one of the Fladden multi tipped rods, and latched into a lively Conger of about 25 lbs. Considering the “quiver” type tip that Steve’s rod had it gave a good account of it’s self in bringing the fish to the back of the boat to be released.

I was quite impressed with the rods action, plus by changing the tip you can use the same rod, and apply it to many different types of fishing thereby doing away with the need to bring extra rods along.

This is the type of innovation that can alter boat angling as we know it, and at the same time save you, the angler, carrying all that extra equipment every time you want to go out.

I have got a multi tip telescopic rod that I use for “Breaming”, but I have also caught Bass over seven pounds with it, and it certainly makes fishing interesting, and it’s surprising how powerful the rod is.

There are several of these type of rods on the market now, and they are fairly inexpensive, so why not give one a try.

Tight lines,

Dave

Wednesday 1st June, 2005

Well I have been able to get a few trips in this last week or so, and I have been able to bring pleasure to my anglers by finding the right places where the fish have been. Sometimes I have had to go that little bit further afield to get the results, but it has been worth it. It just takes me that little bit longer to get where I want to be.

We were getting some nice Black Bream for a while but the bigger ones are beginning to move off now leaving the smaller ones to plague us. Never mind, the majority of the big ones caught aboard my boat were returned, as were all the females, so with a bit of luck (if everyone else was to do the same) we should all benefit in the future.

I suppose that it won’t be long before the Bass put in an appearance, then we will be charging all over the ocean after them.

The Tope are in now, so I will have to get the tagging stick ready for them the next time I am fishing south of the light.

I haven’t tried for the Smoothounds this year yet, but there is a distinct lack of hermit crabs in our area at the moment. Although its not surprising though, as there are now a lot of pots out there fishing for whelks, and that is creating a shortage of shells for the hermits to occupy.

I am led to believe that DEFRA will not allow the shells to be returned to the sea once the whelks have been cooked, because they say that it would cause pollution, so in theory they could be causing the hermit crab to become extinct!!

Daft isn’t it, I wonder if they have thought of it like that, or is it that there is some plonker sat behind a desk, who has never ever given it a second thought that the discarded shell is utilised by another creature. It is probably the same moron who allows the big conglomerates licences to dredge for shingle, unaware that it is also an area where fish, crab, and lobsters lay their eggs. But then it is all done in places that can’t be seen by the general public, so they are unaware of the damage caused, if it was done in the New Forest there would be hell to pay, but underwater, who is going to see that damage, or even care!!

I am supposed to be taking my youngest out tomorrow, but guess what, the weather is going to rat-crap again, but with a bit of luck I might be able to find her some Mackerel for her Barby, still we shall see.

Tight lines,

Dave