Latest Fishing Reports: Duke IV
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31/07/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
31 Jul 2010 by Bob Marshall
Excellent fishing here at Ramsgate with good Thornback Ray and Smoothounds. The big Bass have started to show with a fine pair weighing 8lb 12oz to Sam aged 15 who was in line to win the pool for the biggest fish of the day, some suggested that £40 might not best be paid to such a young lad when Dad Nigel weighed in with a last minute Bass of 12lb 4oz. Nice job Nigel! Both fish caught on mackerel fillet on Ramsgate charterboat Duke IV. See more pics on www.fishingramsgate.com
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28/06/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
28 Jun 2010 by Bob Marshall
The weather Gods are smiling on us here at Ramsgate with calm seas and plenty of sunshine, this all makes the fishing so pleasant, the fish are playing ball too!
We are getting good catches of Thornback Ray from the many banks in our area, the Bass are shoaling and we are catching some quality Smoothounds.
Mackerel are also around but not in the numbers we would expect at this time of the year, this is the second year where they are relatively thin on the ground, could this be due to bad luck or possibly something more serious like overfishing in other areas?
I keep thinking of the thousands of tonnes being trawled in the north of Scotland! Could these Mackerel have been making their way south?
July and August are probably the best months of the year to try for large Bass using whole squid or large mackerel baits. Pick a large tide and sit in the rips around the North Foreland or up in the Thames Estuary, be patient and you may be rewarded with a double figure fish! Please bare in mind these fish will be females, with huge spawning potential so to return them is a great service to the future Bass stocks and great to see them swim off after a quick picture!
Malcolm Andersons crew from Corby landed 17 Thornbacks on Duke IV, releasing most of them unharmed, this followed a tough day on the wrecks so well done chaps, hope you enjoyed your trip to Ramsgate! -
24/05/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
24 May 2010 by Bob Marshall
The water has warmed up, the crabs have peeled and the fish have arrived! At last summer is here! Been out on the wrecks and we landed plenty of Cod and Pollack on Duke IV. A good trip with the individuals Thursday then back out with Crew Lucas from St Albans on Friday. All caught plenty of fish, topped there freezers up till the next trip!
All fish taken on lures on the drift so great sport and as Duke IV is a sportfishing boat all small or unwanted fish were returned to fight another day. Well done chaps!
Inshore fishing has been good one day then quieter the next, with Thornback Ray, Smoothounds, Bass and some cracking Whiting! Martin's crew from Gravesend had a good day inshore with Smoothounds (all returned) and Thornbacks along with Whiting and Dabs, see pic. The Bass should start shoaling on the banks now, you can't be sure where or when, just be in the right place at the right time, keep your eyes open and have some hokkies in your box! Don't worry we've got plenty on board Duke IV!
See pics & latest reports on www.fishingramsgate.com -
23/04/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
23 Apr 2010 by Bob Marshall
The wreckfishing season has started here at Ramsgate and blessed with some fine weather we got out there on Duke IV. As with everything in nature it appears that things are running a couple of weeks later than would be normal. We tried a few wrecks before we got amongst the fish! The water is still cool and carrying some colour which is not best for our favoured method of drifting the wreck with lures but after a slow start on both days we got amongst the Pollack, fine hard fighting fish they were too! We also caught a few Cod, not as many as would be expected but I am sure numbers will improve throughout May!
Inshore fishing has been pretty good with fair numbers of Skate, the odd Bass and the first of the Smoothounds arriving. Mackeral should be here soon and they will bring their predators with them! -
09/04/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
9 Apr 2010 by Bob Marshall
Fishing on Duke IV now much improved with the arrival of the summer species. This along with the spring run of Cod and Thornbacks we are keeping the angler’s busy! Also being caught are some quality Whiting and Dabs!
Smoothounds and Bass, although mostly small are here and feeding so by moving about we can have a good mixed bag of fish!
Some large Bass being landed in the nets, it would appear that these fish are travelling so not interested in our baits, mores the pity!
The Cod will be moving off to the wrecks by the end of the month to join the Pollack that will be there already. Shads, Redgills and jellyworms are the way to fish the wrecks here off Ramsgate with Hokkies and pirks on the banks.
A Ramsgate restaurant was recently offering local caught Halibut steaks, getting ready to report them to trading standards under the Bulldung heading I was surprised to find that a local netting boat actually landed the fish, weighing 65lb just three miles out from the harbour, this same boat has also landed some good Turbot and Brill, so they are here, just got to get em on rod&line!
Get latest reports at www.fishingramsgate.com -
27/03/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
27 Mar 2010 by Bob Marshall
First trip out since the relaunch with Jane's group from Deal. We managed to find the fish with some nice Cod to just over 8lb. Been a long wait but looks like the start of the sping run of Cod & Skate!
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03/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
Mar 2010 by Bob Marshall
Duke IV has just been relaunched following the annual service & we are ready to go!
Best of all the Cod & Skate along with a few Bass & Tope have arrived off Ramsgate!
Shake off those winter blues & come fishing!
Space available throughout April & with prices the same as last year.
You know it makes sense!!! -
03/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
Mar 2010 by Bob Marshall
Fishing remains tough on Duke IV, largely due to winter refusing to loosen its grip upon us. Despite this the water temp is rising, although slowly!
Thornbacks have arrived and we are getting increasing numbers. These fish are disgorging Sprats! just goes to show even Skate will rise off the bottom to feed on these fish when in abundance. Cod remain elusive, maybe they are still high in the water, the netters are not getting many either! The Sprats run between 15’ to 20 feet below the surface and at times appear as a solid mass on the fish finder, although they are thinning and should be gone by mid march???
We are catching Dabs and Whiting along with some Dogfish!
A few small Bass showing up on the east pier, so they are coming along. So despite the gloom, better fishing is just around the corner.
We should have the spring Codling run by now, maybe the cold weather and the Sprats have put this back a couple of weeks, this should run through until late April so plenty of time yet!
Not many anglers at the moment so a big thank you to all those that have braved this long and very cold winter, without you the boats would be gone too!
Dave from Hythe Kent with 12lb8oz Thornback Ray -
09/02/2010
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
9 Feb 2010 by Bob Marshall
We were enjoying great fishing on Duke IV early in Jan with a fish a chuck, Whiting, Pout and Dogs and amongst all this the Cod. They seemed to be very mobile, here one day somewhere else the next. A strong tide stream was when you got the Cod. The smaller fish would slow off and then up comes a Cod then maybe a couple more then back to the smaller stuff, the tide slacken's so we move find a bit more tide and we are back amongst the Cod. Keeps the fishing interesting and we are lucky here at Ramsgate with the English Channel meeting the Thames Estuary and the North Sea on our doorstep there is always a good tide somewhere. Lug and Squid the bait of choice with whole Squid next.
Then the sprats moved in!
I have never seen them so thick! The sounder would show a constant line of them around 15 feet below the surface and at times the screen would show them as the seabed so thick are they in places.
With all this fodder around its hardly surprising that the Cod along with everything else has come up in the water to feed on them, totally ignoring our baits. The fish I think, are here but we cant catch much at the moment.
The upside of this situation is that the fish are having a good feed and putting on weight so we can look forward to some good Codding when the sprats move on, this should be anytime now! Where do all those sprats go the rest of the year?
Plenty of spent Skate purse’s on the beach so the Skate must be here, although we are only getting the odd one. The weather has'nt helped either, with the water temps dropping to around 41'f.
Skate will move into the area in large numbers throughout Feb and March and good catches are possible. They are still an ‘at risk species’ so its good policy to return what’s not required in particular the females, every little helps as they say!
Feb/March will also be the start of our spring run of Cod and if last year’s was anything to go by should be a good one. They should stay around through April, then gradually move offshore to the wrecks. The Bass, Hounds along with all our summer fish will be heading our way by now So to sum up, once the Spratt’s move out we should have some excellent spring fishing to look forward to, so dust off your rods and get down here, do some fishing! Checkout website for latest reports www.fishingramsgate.com
Chris, Terry and Ric found some Cod on an individuals day! -
28/12/2009
Fishing Report by Bob Marshall
28 Dec 2009 by Bob Marshall
Ben's group from Eltham had a fine weather day on Duke IV and along with some cracking Whiting they got amongst the Cod. The fish preferred a tip of squid with their lug today. The fish just kept coming and even the sun came out.
Read Ben's Review for his comments on the day.
Glad you enjoyed the day Ben and look forward to seeing you again soon!
