Latest Fishing Reports: Galloper
Back to Main Charter Page-
05/2022
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
May 2022 by Scott Belbin
A quick update on our offshore trips so far this year aboard the Galloper. We have been lucky enough to get lots of trips offshore so far this year. Unfortunately many were cancelled or changed to inshore trips due to weather but that is the nature of this kind of trip. We started off well with numbers of spurs and hounds from our very first trips. Although most of the hounds were small to start with they make a welcome change from the whiting and dogfish that eagerly robbed our baits throughout each trip. We had spurs on all but two trips and they varied in size and numbers from trip to trip. I often say that I am relieved when the first spur comes aboard the boat each trip as I know many other local boats don’t catch them at all or have just happened upon one or two here and there. So once the first one is aboard I can breath a sigh of relief. With consistent numbers showing early in the season and seeming to built it was a good reminder not to take them for granted when we had a couple of blanks on them. This is why I call them offshore trips rather than specifically spur trips. thankfully there were smooth-hounds, bass and thorn-back rays off there too to keep us busy. There were several ‘Spurgins’ who joined us this year and broke their ‘spurginity’ aboard the Galloper. Their new personnel bests are something to try and beat next year now. As ever there were lots of big pregnant female spurs showing. The biggest of which fell to Wayne Bennet at 18.8lbs and was one of 30 spurs we had that day. we were kept busy in between with lots of dogfish and whiting as well as a few thorn-back rays and smooth-hounds too.
As I mentioned earlier although it’s great to catch them, its not just about the spur dogs. These trips can produce all sorts of surprises and that’s what keeps it interesting. One set of tides they were off the feed so we had a look around to see what else was about. We tried one of our offshore bass marks and could see loads of fish showing on the fish finder. We only hoped they were feeding. We sent down an array of lures although feathers seemed to be the most productive as it turned out most of the marks were herring. We had several long drifts here and filled two buckets with them. We didn’t just catch herring though as several bass did show as well as some launce, whiting and pouting and least expected were the 15 or so mackerel that were either very early for this year or late for last year! We did manage to get some fish at anchor too towards the end of the day. Dave had a nice sizable bass, a few small smooth-hounds and a roker showed too. Wayne also pulled a spur out on the last cast too. Happily the next time we got off there the spurs were playing ball again. Stephen Clarke started us off nicely with one of 17.8lbs. several more spurs came out as the day went on. Barry Wood stole the lime light that trip though with a lovely blonde ray of 14.8lbs. these are pretty rare off of the Essex coast so it was notable that this was the second blonde Barry has caught aboard the ‘Galloper’ in the last two years. he must be doing something right! This set of tides also produced some more nice bass too. These are always a welcome sight and hopefully a sign of things to come. I am currently arranging and offshore bass trip for this week (06/05) if you fancy joining us please get in touch.
That’s about it for the spur dog trips this year. We will have to look forwards to next years trips. If you fancy joining us then please get in touch and I will put you on the list for next years trips.
As I mentioned I am running an offshore bass trip this week but after that we are looking forwards to the tope fishing for our next run of offshore trips. These are for experienced anglers only and I don’t offer hire rods for this fishing. I only have a few suitable tides left for tope fishing this year. Spaces as follows
21/05/22-2 spaces @ £100pp
23/05/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
25/05/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
18/06/22 2 spaces @ £100pp
19/06/22-4 spaces @ £100pp
22/06/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
05/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
06/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
07/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
18/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
19/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
20/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
22/07/22-7 spaces @ £100pp or full boat hire from £700
23/07/22-4 spaces @ £100pp
Please call Scott on 07956411528 if you fancy an offshore or a general trip
Follow us on facebook or visit our website for availability, prices and regular reports -
08/04/2022
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
8 Apr 2022 by Scott Belbin
It looks as though the weather will improve for sunny Essex over the next few days. Fishing has been great of late with the spring run of rays well under way. There have been some big females showing regularly as well as plenty of scrappy males to keep us busy. Chris Bull has caught the biggest so far this season at over 16lbs. The dogfish and whiting have been in biblical proportions with some unseasonably large whiting mixed in. there have been several around 40cm long and the biggest at 43cm (17inches) long. As If large whiting aren’t exciting enough on their own we have still been seeing the odd baby codling too.
Prior to this cold snap things were warming up nicely so we were catching increasing numbers of smooth-hounds and bass on our trips. Worm certainly seemed to help attract the bass and there have been some decent fish coming out already so hopefully this bodes well for the coming weeks and months. Barry Wood had the largest of several bass the other day with a fish of 4.12lbs that made his day.
Over the coming weeks I expect to see plenty of rays on our general trips. Hopefully the short blip in the weather wont affect the Bass and hounds too much. We will see plenty more mixed in on our general trips until all of a sudden they will be here in force marking the start of our summer fishing.
If you fancy getting out aboard the Galloper then please keep your eyes open for spaces that come up. I have a few individual spaces as well as availability for full boat bookings (mainly mid-week) as well as the occasional evening.
For regular updates, reports and availability please visit www.essexseafishing.uk
Find us on facebook or call 07956411528 -
03/2022
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Mar 2022 by Scott Belbin
There have been steady numbers of roker coming in over the last few weeks. There are still plenty of fighting fit spring males there and a few big girls mixed in too.
With plenty of fish around we don’t have to worry about loosing many days to weather for a while. We have seen some busy fishing at times and as ever the occasional surprise aboard the Galloper.
The other Day Andy was playing a decent female ray to the boat and as she surfaced we could see why she was fighting so hard. She wasn’t alone and in fact had a male ‘attached’ to her. I have seen this several times before over the years and normally as they hit the surface the male lets go and swims off leaving her to face the music. However this time they surfaced right next to the boat and I was able to net both fish at once. I have had double shots of roker before and even a treble shot (after a few attempts) after being challenged to do so by fellow skipper John Rawle to do so. This however is the most roker I have seen boated on a single hook rig!
Another nice surprise this week was when Kev caught the first inshore hound of the year. We have had quite a few offshore where they can be caught all year round but this was the first one inshore and quite close to home too. She was a nice fish of around 7-8lbs which explained the lively scrap she put up on the way in.
The weather looks good for the week ahead and I have spaces Friday (18th) and Saturday (19th) @ £60pp if you are interested then please get in touch.
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077 -
03/2022
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Mar 2022 by Scott Belbin
The last couple of months have been hard work at times inshore. A large influx of sprats moved in around mid-January and along with unsettled temperatures this stopped a lot of the fish feeding. However, we have plucked away and found a few thorn-back rays, whiting, dogfish and flatties to keep us occupied. We had a nice surprise the other week when Barry snuck out a coalfish in under 10ft of water. This certainly wasn’t what we expected and livened up the day for us. I hate the thought of missing out on good fishing so I like to get out once or twice a week to see how the fishing is doing. unfortunately we lost the best part of two weeks to the series of storms that ran through causing havoc. Thankfully by the time the weather had broken we got back afloat to find the fish to be feeding again. The last few trips have been producing good numbers of rays, dogfish and whiting for us. there are plenty of males ideal for the pot and some cracking big females ready to lay their eggs (obviously returned).
Pictured are Billy-Roy and his Dad Carl who found plenty of rays feeding the other day, as ever Billy-Roy had the most fish with several double shots of whiting and some dogfish too.
At this time of year as the sun get higher in the sky and temperatures rise, the fish are feeding and us skippers have most of our job done for us. I would expect thorn-back rays to be our main target inshore for the next few weeks or more. We have already seen a few hounds showing in places so it will only be a matter of time before these, along with the bass move in too. I have a few spaces this weekend and later in the month so get in touch if you fancy a trip out aboard the Galloper.
My next spaces are
05/03/22-3 spaces @ £60pp
18/03/22-2 spaces @ £60pp
19/03/22-4 spaces @ £60pp
For more information, regular reports and availability please visit
www.essexseafishing.co.uk
or follow us on facebook
or call Scott 07956411528 -
12/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Dec 2021 by Scott Belbin
The last couple of trips have produced lots of whiting, Dabs, thornback rays and dogfish. the mild weather is helping keep the fish active and making for some enjoyable days afloat. I still have spaces this week if you wish to get out. If not there’s plenty of space as we head into the new year.
I will be arranging one or two trips for flounders in the new year. Last time we had a play for them we had flounders, dabs, whiting, the odd rockling and even a sand goby so if you want the catch something different then get in touch and we will sort something out for the new year.
I do have availability mid-week if you fancy a trip out. Please contact me on 07956411528 to discuss availability.
NEXT SPACES
Not all dates are advertised, I have some midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.
30/12/21-spaces
31/12/21-spaces
01/01/22- boat from £420 less than 6 people larger groups welcome max 10 anglers
02/01/22-boat from £420 less than 6 people larger groups welcome max 10 anglers
03/01/22-boat from £420 less than 6 people larger groups welcome max 10 anglers
09/01/22-boat available
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077 -
12/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Dec 2021 by Scott Belbin
The cold weather seems to have thinned out the dogfish inshore. this means the majority of our catches are made up with whiting now. There are some better ones mixed in the catches and still vast numbers of them eating just about any bait we can throw at them. On the right tides there are good numbers of dabs to be caught. The lads kept a few for a feed the other day, the smallest we kept was over 25cm long and of course we returned lots more to fight another day. there are still a few roker to be found here and there to put a bend in our rods. Hopefully this mild spell will help get the rays and dogfish feeding again.
Some times it can feel a tad predictable when whiting and dogfish are in biblical proportions but you have to be in it to win it. Steve Canham was very pleased he made the effort the other day as he caught his first ever haddock. These fish are not a common sight around here although we did have one a few years ago on a trip in the river blackwater. The odd small codling is showing amongst the whiting too and you wont catch them from the sofa.
I have space on the 18th (this Saturday) and a group on Sunday who are struggling for numbers too. if anybody is interested, after that I will be looking to fill my remaining spaces over Christmas. I will probably take a look at the weather the week before and arrange trips to suit. If you wish to join us then please get in touch and I will get you booked down somewhere.
I do have availability mid-week if you fancy a trip out. Please contact me on 07956411528 to discuss availability.
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077 -
11/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Nov 2021 by Scott Belbin
As we come to the end of another great season chasing bass offshore It seems a good time for a round up of our trips. We had already enjoyed some good sessions on the bass as part of our tope trips in June and July. As the end of July approached and the tope moved off we turned our attention to the bass for many of our offshore trips. Most of our bass trips are based on bait fishing at anchor with worm baits over various sand banks. However, when conditions suit we will try to find a few fish on lures too. Some times the bass have balled bait up tightly and we only get one or two drifts through before they scatter then other times we find our selves chasing them around for hours until we have to head home. We had one or two trips in the height of summer when we couldn’t go wrong. One such trip saw us stop on the way to our planned mark and spend an hour or so catching bass on various lures. Strings of feathers were sent out on the first drift or two and after they came back with several bass at a time the lads soon had their quota. After this we started to mix it up a little. Luckily nowadays many of my regulars now bring a light lure fishing outfit along for such an occasion. On the next drift the lads sent out some Dexter wedges, surface plugs and poppers into the feeding frenzy. This slowed the catch rate a little but improved the sport for the lads who were now fishing on a catch and release basis. We managed several more drifts here and countless more bass before the tide went off and we continued to get anchored on our first mark. The tide was just getting under way here and although we were catching fish here it was a bit of an anti climax after the first few hours sport. Once the tide was under way we decided to move and try a mark close to where we had started this morning. This was a wise move, the fish were feeding well on the bottom now. The lads started off with 2 rods each but couldn’t keep both in the water as bites were coming thick and fast. There were plenty there and they were certainly hungry too. After couple of hours more chaos at anchor we decided to finish the day off on a high and went back to lure fishing for the last hour or so. The fish were once again in a feeding frenzy as we drifted through them with lures on light tackle. I even managed to nick a fish or two myself, I took great pleasure in christening Barry’s surface popper for him! It was as if the fish was waiting for me to cast it out as I only gave it a couple of pops and a bass burst from the water as it inhaled the lure. The fish were still feeding when I had to call time. With fish showing in numbers like this its hard to say how many we had. There were six good anglers on board the boat and I stole a fish here and there too. With 4 separate sessions on the fish and all of them productive it was certainly our best day numbers wise of the year. To say the lads had 50 odd bass each would be pretty conservative as the first couple of drifts saw them catching 5 at a time on feathers. All i can say is that at a guess we had 200-300 bass that day. the following day saw around half that amount as the fish weren’t feeding as well and seemed to have spread out.
Of course not every trip can be the same and we never know what stamp the fish are or where they will be from one tide to the next. Thankfully we had good numbers of fish in most trips. The stamp was fantastic for several trips in October. There were lots of fish around 5-6lbs coming out, these are hard to beat for sport in just a few feet of water on light tackle. Typical numbers were 60-100 bass per trip with a couple of anglers on 20+ bass for one rod. I had a two person charter one day which saw the lads catching around 35 bass each. Despite having plenty of room there was only time for 1 rod each that day. the fishing built to a beautiful crescendo as the lads kept improving on their best fish. Keith set the bar at over 7lb and over 1lb better then their previous biggest but Stuart (Dad) pulled the best fish of the day out at over 8lbs. not to be sniffed at on a spinning rod!
The last few trips saw a smaller stamp and fewer keepers but the lads were pleased to see 40-50 bass on a lovely day at the end of November. We often commented how we wouldn’t have been targeting them this late 10 years ago.
Although I am sure I could still find some bass next month, I doubt we will target them again while the lads cant keep any. Most of the lads accept the size limits and quotas nowadays but it can seem silly for the lads to return fish while there are boats illegally bass netting around us at times.
Our next offshore trips will be targeting spurdogs. Although I already have lots of days booked in for these please drop me a message if you wish to be on my contact list for upcoming dates.
The General trips have been pretty close inshore of late. This is party due to weather and partly because that’s where the best general fishing is. The Blackwater estuary and surrounding area’s are alive with whiting. When they are feeding its hard to keep a three hook rig down there for more than a few minutes before every hook is full! Besides the whiting there are still numbers of dogfish most places and numbers of Dabs if we try for them. Thankfully there are still a few roker here and there to put a decent bend in the rod although some times we have to work for them.
I have a few spaces in December including this Saturday and plenty of availability next year although prime dates are going quickly so please get in touch -
11/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Nov 2021 by Scott Belbin
Sorry for the lack of reports on here lately. I cant believe I havnt done one since July! Things have been a little hectic since then with the arrival of our first child amidst a very busy summer of bookings.
An average late summer trip produced hounds, rays and bass. Mixed in would also be some dogfish, baby tope and the occasional eel. We had a couple more stingrays as they moved out of the estuary too. The fishing was great, we had some nice mixed fishing inshore which kept our anglers happy. Although most of the hounds moved out in early September, we have still been catching one or two inshore until very recently. This is surely a sign of the times.
There were good numbers of thorn-backs around in places throughout the summer. These are a great standby and popular for the table too. The average stamp can be a little small throughout late summer and early autumn. However the fish we are catching now tend to be a better size.
The bass fishing has been great again this year. We started our offshore trips for them as the tope were leaving and we are still heading offshore for bass now. The size and numbers of fish have been great so far and we hope to continue targeting them offshore until the end of the month. Our general trips have produced a few here and there throughout the summer. Just like the hounds these fish have hung around inshore later than we would traditionally expect. We have still seen one of two of these mixed in with our general trips recently. Catching a sizable bass puts a smile on any anglers face after all.
Most of our general trips now see us catching vast amounts of dogfish and whiting. These little bait robbers keep us busy In between the thorn-back rays. We have already seen some nice dabs showing in the estuary too. These provide a welcome break from the whiting and dogfish on a windy day in the blackwater. The bigger ones taste great too and numbers should improve over the next few weeks. On the right tides these will give us something else to target over the winter. As I say each year, the blackwater is our biggest asset particularly at this time of year. We can enjoy sheltered fishing in most wind directions and save you cancelling a days fishing. we are often worth a call if you have been cancelled else where and still wish to go fishing for the day.
I daren’t mention the ‘C’ word! Obviously, I don’t expect to see any numbers of cod here over the coming months. I will happily eat my words if they turn up in vast amounts but its doubtful. There were one or two showing last winter when we were allowed out. Hopefully this year we will be able to continue with trips throughout the winter which will give us the chance to catch one or two more.
I have a few spaces and available days over the next couple of months if you wish to get out. Not all bookings are advertised but you can always ask via my mobile. I will try and update next years calendar soon but it is starting to look quite busy. If you want to book a specific day or type of trip then please get in touch sooner rather than later.
For my availability, regular reports and more information please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk or call 07956411528 -
07/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
Jul 2021 by Scott Belbin
Despite being busy on our general trips lately we have still made time to head offshore in search of tope in between. It can be a risk for a skipper to set aside certain tides for fishing like this but thankfully they were all filled quickly. The weather has been kind to us this season as well as the boat meaning we could work more weather when we wanted to. This meant we only lost one tope trip to weather and there’s no substitute for time when it comes to this type of fishing.
Our first trip of the year started well with a 39lb male fish for Richard. Not a bad fish to start the season. This would have been followed a while later by a very lively fish that managed to clear 300yards of braid from Deans reel in 3 powerful runs! With all the other lines in I started to haul the anchor but it was too little too late as it had already straightened his 10/0 circle hook! I reset the anchor for one last cast and Dean re-tackled while licking his wounds. Luckily he had another run soon after however this fish was different gravy to the one he had just lost. Still a nice fish to start his season with as it was a male of 33lbs.
We ended up chasing another fish on our next trip too. This was a decent fish although no monster. The reason we gave chase was a rather dodgy jerky clutch on Martins antique reel. I think the whole boat was relieved to see that fish in the net after such a nerve wracking fight in a strong tide.
After a strong start, we managed to find a few fish on most trips. Some times we had to work harder than others, moving around or staying later to get the best of the tide. most of our trips we were lucky enough to see fish to over 40lb if not just shy of it and we found steady numbers too. Tope fishing around here is often a waiting game nowadays so it is important to make the most of any fish that come our way. Using circle hooks has meant fewer missed bites and the majority of fish made it to the boat once hooked. Of course loosing fish is part of angling and we did our fair share of that too. A few fish were lost through hook pulls mid fight. I put this down to an unlucky hook hold most of the time. There were some gear failures too which are frustrating as many are preventable. These include people using mono rubbing leader that were too light as well as mono bite traces which were bitten off when the fish took the circle hook deeper than expected. Some are just unfortunate though Stephen Charles has had his fair share of bad luck tope fishing. on one busy day when we had a total of 13 tope he had a cracking bite which hooped the rod tip over before going completely slack. The bait must have been laying back up the mainline which meant when the fish took the bait it bit straight through his mono leader too! Shortly after I found my self berating Stephen Clarke instead as he had just lost a fish. I must confess after seeing several fish lost to tackle failures I can be a little fussy with the lads, I check tackle, traces and clutches regularly to try and prevent lost fish. Stephen is one of the lads I don’t worry about normally. He hadn’t long returned a fish of over 30lb when his reel screamed into action over slack water. With a bit of sea running the boat had already started to sheer on the anchor rope and the other lads soon reeled in out of the way when he hooked up. The fish went on some seriously powerful runs at distance which is better than waking up on a short line. one of the other lads even had time to pop to the loo and return with the fish still fighting hard then suddenly after some more head shakes it went loose. We assumed the hook had pulled however it turned out the fish had pulled through his double crimped trace! It seemed the previous fish had weakened his trace and a decent tope wont give you a second chance with weakness’s in your tackle. After this we took extra care to change traces after each fish to avoid loosing another decent fish. the following day I was joined by more regulars and we had another busy trip. No tackle failures although we did pull the hook on a decent tope. Andy had bought his daughter Honey with him for her first tope trip. Honey has fished with us several times over the last year and I have mentioned before how she is a natural angler. We were all keen to see how she would handle her first tope and we weren’t disappointed. Honey managed two decent tope. One at 27lb and one at 35lbs. her Dad Andy just pipped her with a 37lb male, one of several fish that day. Another young gun I was pleased to see amongst the tope was one of our other regulars Alex Canham. Alex has fished with Dad and myself since he was very young so to see him set a new PB tope of 39lb at the ripe old age of 15 was a pleasure. His Dad Steve said he enjoyed seeing Alex catch that fish more than he enjoyed catching his own PB of 47lb a few weeks earlier. Steve’s fish was joint biggest of the year. He shares this honour with Chris Bendall who now had also has a new personnel best to beat.
Other notable fish included a tope with a bent dorsal fin for Stephen Charles. It resembled the captive orca from ‘free willy’. Paul Willis had a tope with half of its tail seemingly cut off? Also a recapture of a fish that had already been tagged a fair while ago by somebody else. There wasn’t much info on the tag other than an address in leatherhead. If anybody has heard of this project please let me know and I will pass on the relevant info.
Although there is a chance of us picking up one or two more stray tope this summer we have finished our run of tope trips for now. For the next few months our offshore trips will consist of mainly bass trips with a few other special trips thrown in too. Please book these trips in advance where possible as they often require certain tides.
We should see plenty more hounds and bass over the coming weeks as well as sneaking some other trips in too. If I cant get you out soon then please remember the bass will hang around offshore into November so please ask to get the best tides.
i have individual and full boat availability from October onwards although my father Stuart (07850234077) on the Razorbill may have spaces before hand.
please call me on 07956411528 for more information -
05/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
May 2021 by Scott Belbin
Although I never rule anything out with sea fishing, it is safe to say our spring season on the spurdogs is now over. Due to the lockdown from Christmas onwards we lost a large chunk of our season this year. However the northerly winds throughout April bought the water temperature down and helped keep them here long enough for us to find a few.
To be honest Stacey and I couldn’t resist heading out on our own during the lockdown. We had a lot of work done to the Galloper while we couldn’t operate. Once she was back in the water we wanted to give her a good run to check everything was ok which was a great excuse to head offshore. As well as finding vast amounts of dogfish and a few roker we located the spurs too. Of course Stacey had the biggest at 17.8lbs shortly before we headed home.
Our next trip was with a group of lads from Norfolk, the lads have all fished with me before various times. Some have been off for spurs with me before and others like Tom were one their first trip. Tom told me he would be happy to catch a 2lb spur as that would be his first and therefore a new personnel best. After a good steam out we arrived at our first mark and the lads sent their first baits out. First cast and Tom had a bite, it was fighting better than a dogfish but wasn’t of any size. As luck would have it he had a spurdog on his first cast! It wasn’t much bigger than that 2lb but it was a start. this wasn’t the only spur around either as one or two others started to come out too. Billy was fishing next to Tom and soon pulled in the first double of the day. this was a lovely fish of 16.8lbs in weight. A couple of other double figure spurs followed for Tom, Dean and Steve but Billy must have trodden in something as he was finding the big girls. We had a move in between but billy had a great run of double figure fish starting with one at 16.8lb followed by a 17.6lb, 18.4lb three at 14lb and a 15 before I stopped counting! A couple of packs of big females passed through after which everybody had double figure fish including Joe and Ian. After Toms modest target of just catching his first spur of any size he went on to crown the day off with a cracking fish of 22.6lbs! this was obviously a PB for him but also a new boat record for me on the Galloper beating Stacey’s long standing fish of 21.3lb from back in 2007/2008 some time.
We finished the day off with 37 spurdog, several roker, hounds a few whiting and plenty of dogfish. our next few spur trips didn’t disappoint either. We had to work harder to find them on some day than we did on others but we still found some good fish. one of our regulars Leon Saville has tried a few trips for spurs over the last couple of years without much luck. However his persistence paid off with a lovely double figure fish on his first trip this year. The same day produced some big for all on board including Neon with a mid-double and Dave with a beast that just broke the 20lb mark. The next trip saw Russells crew boat even more Spurs with several more mid doubles up to 18.8lbs.
Our best trip of the year was when all the ducks seemed to line up. The weather was typically snotty on the way out although it settled a bit during the day. our first mark produced very little appart from a few roker but a short more made all the difference and the fish came steadily throughout the rest of the day. As is often the case when there are numbers we had a lot more smaller ‘pack’ spurs but there were no shortage of big girls out there too. At times I was nothing short of carnage as a pack passed through and several fish went banging away down the tide. once again there were lots of mid doubles mixed in and a couple of upper doubles too including two over 19lb for Steve Hill and Stephen Clarke.
After seeing all these big female spurs It was hardly surprising that our next trip produced a lot of tiny pup spurs. I would wager some of these were not long born. despite struggling between adverse weather and tides we did still find some spurdogs and the biggest fell to Ian Hewett at 15lb. we were now getting very late in the season for spurs and we failed to find any one trip. It wasn’t the last we saw of them though as they had one last hurrah and a few found their way closer inshore before migrating for the summer.
Its not only spurs we see on our offshore trips and we have been lucky enough to catch a few hounds and roker each time. We caught one or two of each into double figures too mixed in with the spurs. There have been lots of dogfish and a few whiting as well as a few other species here and there as we try different marks depending on tides and weather. We had a few bass, a codling and a coalfish, a nice brace of pollock and even a spotted ray. This fishing is not for beginners and to be honest I wont take bookings from just anybody for these trips. The fishing can be challenging, the conditions can be tough (we were offshore on days other boats cancelled) and it can be hit and miss. As long as we are allowed to operate as normal this winter I will be running my first spurdog trips from January next year. For now my offshore trips will concentrate on tope and then from July right through to mid-november my offshore trips will be targeting bass. These are better suited to anglers of most abilities although the sea conditions can be a little testing for those without sea legs.
I don’t really have much availability for tope but I can offer plenty of spaces for offshore bass trips over the coming months. Please remember we encourage catch and release but you are allowed 2 bass per angler in line with the current rules.
NEXT SPACES
I have plenty of midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.
Weekend spaces as follows
05/06/21- offshore trip 1 spaces @ £90pp max 6 anglers
19/06/21-offshore trip 1 space @ £90pp max 6 anglers
04/07/21-3 spaces offshore trip £90pp max 6 anglers
18/07/21-6 spaces offshore trip £90pp max 6 anglers
25/07/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Stacey is still operating the ‘lady grace’ on a bookings only basis both mid-week and weekends at the
Moment but and is likely to fall under the same restrictions as me. so please call her on 07791859624
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077
COVID-19 UPDATE
We have now had confirmation that the large deck area on Galloper we have some good news. we are able to accommodate up to 8 anglers plus the skipper as of 17/05/21.
This is great news for anybody planning a full boat booking as they can try and keep the cost per person down a bit.
However we are keeping any existing bookings as 6 anglers plus the skipper for now and I will only take bookings for later in the summer on this basis. I would rather leave the date open for now until we are out of the woods with covid. It wasn’t much fun re-arranging things last year and I hope to avoid it this year if I can help it.
If you wish to book a trip with more than 6 people at short notice and the guidelines are still the same then I will gladly take you.
