Unfortunately we ended 2020 in tier 4 here in mersea so like much of the year we were unable to take out our planned bookings and forced to cancel due to the latest covid guidelines.
I know I am not the first to observe it was a strange year and not what any of us anticipated at all. If you had told me how the year would pan out I wouldn’t have believed you, not even until a week or so before the march lockdown.
I am sure most of you understand how awkward it has been to try and run a charter business within the ever changing rules this year. It was painful to see a healthy diary full of bookings melt away through the first lockdown and even once the lockdown was eased and limitations on group numbers meant more bookings were cancelled.
We have had to adapt to suit the guidelines as they have changed and unfortunately this put us out of some peoples price range. I am sorry to those who couldn’t make it this year and hope to see you when things get back to some kind of normality. I am very grateful to those of you that have still been able to come out. I know it has worked out a bit more expensive per person and I appreciate your support. Although it may have worked out more expensive per person I have tried to meet somewhere in the middle with prices so we have taken a hit too.
I think we all owe a lot to both the Angling Trust and the Professional Boatmen’s Association for firstly working hard to make sure angling has been allowed since the first lockdown ended and secondly trying to make sense of the ever changing guidelines for us all. Much of the work carried out by these organisations is on a voluntary basis behind the scenes by people who love the sport and simply wish to give something back so please show them some appreciation.
2020 started well for me aboard the Galloper. January can be a hard month to fill for a charter skipper. The weather and fishing have a reputation for being poor and money can be tight for our anglers post Christmas. Luckily for me there are a few keen anglers who still wish to get out fishing and I have had some great days at the start of the year. We are fortunate enough to have some great fishing within the shelter of the blackwater estuary at times and 2020 started particularly well. There were several thorn-back rays to be found in a few places around the estuary. this meant we could get out and catch decent fish almost regardless of the weather. Our best trip was with over 40 rays and we had some decent fish too into mid-doubles.
When the weather and tides suited I was also able to head a long way offshore in search of some different species. The lads had a few spurdogs and smooth-hounds each time along with rays and other species such as the ever popular dogfish. Shane Ashby got our winter offshore season off to a good start with a nice brace of double figure fish first cast! We headed offshore as often as we could in between the winter storms.
Meanwhile inshore the fishing gradually improved as the water temperature started to increase. As we moved into march things were really starting to pick up and in 4 consecutive trips we had a total of 285 rays (72,40,93,80). As usual the vast majority of the fish were released with just a few males kept for the table. Unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy this sport for long as suddenly the country was put into lockdown. A phrase I had only heard for the first time just a week or two before hand and suddenly it was our reality.
Happily, angling has been one of the activities people are allowed to take part in since the first lockdown ended. Due to this and people seeking outdoor socially distanced activities, the sport has seen a rise in participation. This helped to balance out the bookings we had previously had to cancel and meant we were as busy as we could be.
With all of these people wanting to come fishing it was lucky that there were a few fish to be caught. By the time the lockdown eased in may we caught the tail end of the spring run of thorn-back rays. After such a mild spring it was no surprise that the summer species had arrived in our absence. The first trip I did post-lockdown was just my wife Stacey and I. the weather was spot on and with great tides we headed out for the afternoon and into the evening. We started out with a nice mix of rays, dogfish, smooth-hounds and bass (the bass seemed to be in good numbers and widely spread). We were a little spoiled for choice to be honest and after a couple of months without fishing we were trying to fish for everything at once. We even had some dabs and a tub gurnard before chasing some bass we had seen working for some time. After catching a good few bass we got the anchor down and targeted the hounds. We had a busy couple of hours with plenty of fish into low doubles before heading home. It was a nice way to get back into it after such a long time being stuck at home.
In late may and early June the guidelines meant we could only operate with myself and one other person on board. Fortunately for me the weather and the fishing at that time of year were enough to temp a few single person bookings out. I think people were desperate to get afloat and the lads put the money they had budgeted for trips cancelled trips during lockdown towards hiring the boat on their own. We had some successful trips for smooth-hounds, bass and tope at this time. Stephen Charles had a new personnel best hound of 18.8lbs on an evening trip with me. I was joined early the next morning (and admittedly bleary eyed) by Alec who had a successful trip too. We caught all sorts including bass, rays, whiting and an eel although the smooth-hounds were our main target. We easily had 40-50 with many double figure fish on a glorious sunny morning.
By June we were able to operate with a few more people on board which made things slightly more affordable for the lads. Most trips were 5 anglers plus me which would be the new ‘normal’ for the rest of the year there after. We carried on targeting the smooth-hounds when tides suited as well as tope when conditions suited and often catching bass in good numbers all over the place. The best tope fell to Ian Hewett at 47lbs. this was one of 5 we had that day and many we had that season. There were several others over 40lbs including a new PB for Wayne Bennett of 44lbs, a PB for Fred Young of 41lbs and another 44lb fish for Stephen Clarke. Our best trip for tope was somewhat of a mixed trip that was planned as more of a ‘taster’ day for Tom and his group. We started off for bass and found a shed load of fish which we were able to drift through for several hours. As midday was fast approaching and time ran away with us I dragged them away from the bass which were still feeding to try for a tope for the last few hours of the trip. I hoped to see one fish as we had a short session on a mediocre tide on a mark I hadn’t fished for years. we had a run on the first cast which was promptly lost. I thought we had lost our only chance but as it happens we had a good run of fish over the next few hours. We had a run on most casts and ended up boating 8 tope and loosing 5 before we headed home. Most of them were around 30lbs with Mark (a regular who had organised the trip) catching a new PB of 37lbs.
As we moved into July we continued our offshore trips and had a few more tope but our attention turned more towards the bass. There were good numbers all over the place but some of the sport we enjoyed offshore was fantastic. We found some huge shoals in places which were great fun on lures. Although at times they would take anything we threw at them we had particular fun with surface lures at times. Poppers proved to be a fun (if a little frustrating) way to pic out larger fish. When the conditions weren’t good enough for lures we bait fished at anchor and had some impressive catches throughout the summer and well into the autumn. The biggest bass we had all year was at anchor bait fishing and fell to Stephen Clarke. It was a new PB for him at 10.7lbs and was returned after a quick weight and photograph.
Throughout the height of summer our inshore trips continued to prove successful. There were often plenty of bass here too but they were joined by numbers of smooth-hounds and a few thornback rays among many other species. We have been using more rag worm on our general trips over the last few summers. These help for the bass and have also accounted for several stingrays and even a few soles last year. We didn’t have any giants of either species but its nice to see some variety on our trips.
On the subject of variety we have several anglers who like to try for different species than may be expected from an Essex charter boat. Several of these people join me to target spurdogs in the winter. However in the summer we have the potential to catch many more species with suitable anglers if conditions are right.
My father ,Stuart spent a lot of time fishing the offshore wrecks for cod, ling and pollock. He tried for other species too as well as accidentally catching several other species along the way. Naturally he passed this information on to me and I have been able to build upon his knowledge over the years. with the advance in boats, navigation and fish finding technology in the 30 odd years that have passed since he first went off there things have changed a fair bit. We no longer see the big catches of cod and ling but I can confidently head off there and target fish like plaice and bass as well as trying new areas for new species. Last summer I concentrated my efforts on a new area I had fancied for a few years. I had marked it out as ground that could hold turbot and brill which we don’t normally target around here. We managed a few trips to this area and tried new marks each time. We stopped on a few new wrecks and had a few small pollock, coalfish and cod mixed in with heaps of pouting, a few scad and mackerel. We tried drifting the marks I fancied with relative success. On the first trip we tried on our way home for an hour or two. We had the usual whiting and dogfish along with the odd red or tub gurnard as the tide got going. As the tide notched up a little Stephen managed to sneak out a turbot! We should have been heading home by now but to prove it wasn’t a fluke (no pun intended) we had 2 more drifts and this time Stephen Charles had a turbot too.
We were now desperate to get back off there and try out the rest of the marks. Thankfully the weather was kind to us and coincided with decent tides on a few more occasions. Not everywhere was productive or even existed anything like our charts suggested but that’s part of trying new things. We managed some more turbot and brill as well as a couple of blonde rays and a greater weaver (which I was very pleased with). I cant wait to get back off there this summer to further the knowledge we gained last year.
After a heat wave at the end of August the surface temperature in our creek was as high as 23’c. this heatwave ended suddenly and as September arrived northerly winds bought the surface temperature in our creek down by 10’c within a couple of weeks! Although the main stock of hounds and bass moved out we still caught a few here and there for several weeks.
Stacey and I managed I holiday (of sorts) in September too. We took the Galloper away to the south coast for just over a week and were joined by several of our regulars throughout the trip. I will report on this separately at some point. We used a couple of weather windows to make our journey each way as comfortable as possible and returned just before the weather turned.
By now there were good numbers of thorn-backs inshore once again to keep us busy. When weather and tides permitted we made our way offshore in search of the bass that shoal up on the banks before migrating. This helps extend our bass season by some time. We had some great trips for bass throughout October and right up until the day before the November lockdown came into effect. The Galloper had to earn her keep in some less than ideal conditions in October. I must admit she took it all in her stride, at times we were comfortably catching bass in conditions I would have endured in many other boats. Numbers of bass were really good and they were still showing well until our last trip when we had over 120 bass!
We only managed a few inshore trips in the late autumn as lockdowns and tier systems meant many trips had to be cancelled. When we got afloat there were still fish to be caught. The whiting were in vast numbers on most trips. The mild conditions meant there were still several dogfish and thorn-backs to be had too. We only managed one try for dabs for a few hours and they seemed in good numbers. We even managed a few codling too, it’s a shame we were stopped as we averaged over 1 per trip which is a vast improvement on the last few years.
Hopefully we are allowed out again in time to try and sneak a few more codling out among the rays, whiting and dogfish that will be present. I also hope we will be able to get some of you offshore in search of spurdogs and other winter offshore species too.
Looking forward to the year ahead we expect good numbers of rays throughout spring. From April onwards we should see a few bass and hounds arrive and numbers pick up as we reach may. June and July we will expect nice mixed fishing including the tail end of the rays with numbers of bass and smooth-hounds inshore. Offshore we will target tope until they more on when our offshore trips will mainly be targeting bass. These should be around until late October if not into November over the last few years.
I also hope to get some more do some more trips offshore for the turbot and other species as well as squeeze in another south coast adventure. All in all we have a busy year planned when we are allowed to get you back out there again.
Once again thanks to those who have been able to get out with us throughout this strange time and apologies to those who couldn’t get out with us. hopefully we will be able to get you all out again soon aboard the Galloper. Tight lines for now.
If you would like to get something in the diary for this year then please call me (Scott) on 07956411528
