Sorry for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks. I want to keep reports going on here for those of you who are regular readers but I will also limit it for the time being as I am getting so many calls from people asking for trips. As of today I can take up to 5 people from different households within guidelines for £400 or £80pp. I don’t know what will happen over the coming weeks but I cant accommodate anybody for a the next fortnight.
I thought I would report on our first trip after the lockdown was eased. Stacey and I headed out on a long awaited trip blessed with perfect weather. As the lockdown was eased I caught up on a few jobs on the boat so she really was spanking for our first trip. We fished the afternoon evening and ended up out around midday. We scratched a few crabs from the pot on our way and were soon fishing our first mark. There was plenty of tide pushing through by now and the fish were feeding well. From the first cast we were catching a variety of dogfish, bass, roker and smooth-hounds which came to all manor of baits. The stamp of bass wasn’t bad and there were several of keepable size mixed in. the roker were in good numbers too and although it can be easy to take them for granted they were more than welcome after the last two months. Some of the hounds were a half decent size and good fun to catch. Stacey had the first double figure one although it wasn’t much over 10lbs. we both had lighter rigs with small hooks out too and I managed to sneak a dab out on my one before we had a move. Our next mark produced several more fish as the tide eased. Stacey had a tub gurnard which always puts a smile on her face as they are so colourful and exotic. Meanwhile we could not only see several groups of gulls diving in but we could hear them. despite over half a mile between them and us! I had asked stacey several times if she wanted to fish amongst them but apparently bass don’t interest her. However as the tide further eased and bites dried up I took her over to them anyway. I did intend to fish myself with a surface popper but I didn’t get much of a chance as stacey kept pulling stringfulls of bass up one after the other! on the few casts I did manage I saw a couple of bass follow but without taking. We didn’t spend long here as we wanted to have a go for hounds on the start of the next tide. by the time I dragged stacey away from the bass her set of feathers had been mullered after several strings of 3-4lb bass! As we headed to our next mark stacey cooked us dinner on the go which was a very welcome bacon butty. We reached the next mark with perfect timing and set up for hounds and bass. The next couple of hours was great fun with pandemonium every time a pack of hounds came through and often left us with double hook-ups. We had several more double figure fish although nothing over 13-14lbs. I was using a spinning outfit which made good sport even better! The bass kept coming too and they seemed to be everywhere we went that trip. Yet more birds were working here too although by now we had our fill of them and were concentrating on the bait fishing. I have no idea of numbers of each fish but everything was plentiful. I just wish I could have shared it with more people. Hopefully I will get more of you out over the coming weeks. If not I will keep reporting and hopefully I can get you out next year.
Keep an eye on my facebook for more information or visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk. For the time being I wont put my number on here but if you wish to get afloat then you could try Stacey. She is now able to operate, and this is mainly on a bookings only basis. Please call stacey on 07791859624