Latest Fishing Reports: Galloper

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  • 04/2021 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Apr 2021 by Scott Belbin

    Although I am pretty sure I know the answer I thought I would play ‘name that species’ with this one.
    I say it’s a spotted ray, Sam had it the other day and its only the 2nd one we’ve had on Galloper and the 3rd one I’ve heard of within the thames area.
    The spots don’t reach the edge of the wings and this male is clearly sexually mature despite being quite a small fish so I don’t believe it to be a blonde. Please give me you’re answers on a post card.
    These may be uncommon around here but there have been plenty of thorn-backs, a few smooth-hounds and some early bass showing the last couple of weeks.
    NEXT SPACES

    I have plenty of midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.
    Weekend spaces as follows
    25/04/21-1 space @ £70pp max 6 anglers
    03/05/21-1 spaces @ £70pp max 6 anglers
    30/05/21-5 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
    31/05/21-4 spaces @ £70pp (poss offshore trip at extra cost) max 6 anglers
    27/06/21-4 spaces @ £70pp 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

  • 04/2021 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Apr 2021 by Scott Belbin

    Like many charter boats throughout England we have enjoyed a busy (if belated) start to the season since the easing of lockdown. Fortunately we were welcomed back to sea with glorious weather, favourable tides and a few fish too. Our first trip produced plenty of thorn-back rays (roker), dogfish whiting and even a small codling for Frank. Both the weather and the fishing have been a bit hit and miss since then. However we are lucky enough to have some great sheltered marks that produce good fish at this time of year. Barry Wood caught 21 rays including this nicely marked fish to make up one of his best days on rays. Most of the other five regulars on board that day had similar numbers of rays which kept me busy in between the banter. There have been a few hounds showing too in places, our best day last week saw 13 hounds and 42 rays along with heaps of dogfish and whiting in between. These northerlies have knocked the water temperature down at the moment so they have pushed a little further off for the time being but will be back soon enough. In the mean time there are plenty of rays to keep us busy and the same northerlies that have pushed the hounds further off should help to keep the rays inshore for a while yet. They are showing all over the place so we can find sheltered fishing in most conditions at the moment if you are keen to get afloat.
    Over the coming weeks I would expect to see plenty more rays while the hounds and bass increase in numbers. I am pretty well booked for weekends but will list what dates I have spaces. If you wish to book the boat mid-week then please contact me for availability as I may be able to help you out.

    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 6 anglers plus the skipper as of 29/03/21. I will honour existing bookings as they are unless you wish to change them. If you are booked as an individual and would rather book on a trip with 6 @ £70pp then please get in touch.
    I understand this could be due to change after 17th of May but I am not willing to take bookings for larger groups until the rules have actually been relaxed on this.
    That means that until further notice I will taking bookings on the basis of groups of up to 6 people.


    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

  • 01/2021 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Jan 2021 by Scott Belbin

    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

  • 12/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Dec 2020 by Scott Belbin

    Merry Christmas from the Galloper. Apologies to those of you who were booked on trips next week that I have been forced to cancel. It is frustrating although thankfully I hadn’t quite ordered worms when it was announced we are going to be in tier 4 as of boxing day. this means I have cancelled the rest of this years trips and I hope we get a chance to get some of you out in January.
    I am still allowed to take single person bookings so if anybody is keen to get out on their own then please get in touch. Last couple of trips were spent in the river where whiting were in plague proportions at times. Dabs were numerous in places with some decent ones mixed in. the mild weather meant there were numbers of dogfish and a few rays. We even had a tiny bass and a goliath pouting.
    If you wish to book a single person trip you can hire the Galloper for £400 for a full day (10 hours) or £200 half day trip. Get in touch if you wish to get out. If not I hope to see you aboard next year.
    NEXT SPACES
    Any date between 26th of December and 3rd of January 2021
    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

  • 12/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Dec 2020 by Scott Belbin

    It was nice to get out the other day with a single person booking. Dave hired the boat for the day which was nice after a few weeks ashore. It was good timing for me too as it meant I could get a feel for how its fishing before the lockdown is eased. The weather was spot on so we started a fair way down and had thornbacks from the first cast! Between the rays whiting were thick and fast with a bite every cast. We moved around a bit as the day went on and found some areas showing more dogfish with the whiting and a couple of pouting too. Unfortunately we didn’t find any codling but I have heard of a few from the shore and private boats over the last few weeks. We were lucky enough to see several before this lockdown. Although I doubt there will be loads of cod about things were certainly looking better than the last couple of years and I am sure we will see some more over the next few weeks.
    I have had a couple of spaces come up this weekend, 1 space on Saturday and 1 space on Sunday. Both at £80pp max 5 anglers. Please call me for more information.
    I have more spaces around Christmas and into the next year although bookings are trickling in so don’t leave it too long.
    For more information, regular updates and availability please visit
    www.essexseafishing.co.uk
    follow the essex sea fishing page on facebook
    or call 07956411528

  • 11/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Nov 2020 by Scott Belbin

    Once again I have left it too long since my last update on here. So far the autumn has been fairly kind to us on board the Galloper. We had a successful trip to the south coast and back in September when we took the boat to the isle of Wight for a week or so. Since our return the fishing has been what we expect from autumn nowadays. As the smooth-hounds and bass moved offshore we were joined by large amounts of whiting and dogfish inshore. There were large numbers of thorn-back rays at first although this have thinned out somewhat over recent weeks with a large influx of herrings locally. Thankfully there are still enough coming in between the whiting and dogfish to keep us interested. When the weather has allowed we have been offshore for bass right into November. At times we have fished in some gnarly autumn conditions but the fish have been there so we made the extra effort and it payed off. I must admit there were times I wouldn’t have been there if I wasn’t on a catamaran. Even in these conditions we had 60-70 chunky bass per day.
    Closer to home the blackwater estuary has been on form for those really windy days when you still want to get fishing. whiting and dogfish are in plague proportions. Some of these are a decent size but if you fish through them there are still thorn-back to be caught as well as the odd bass or dare I say codling! Our last trip in the estuary was last weekend with some mad anglers who were undeterred by the strong winds and sideways rain we had in the afternoon. As well as the endless whiting and dogfish to keep them occupied the lads had a few rays and 3 codling from 35cm – 40 odd cm long which can only be a good sign. Lets hope we can get out again soon to try and find some more.
    As ever I continue to post weekly updates and available dates on my website
    www.essexseafishing.co.uk
    or my facebook page or give me a call on 07956411528
    I would also like to add a short note of appreciation for the work that has been done this year by the PBA and Angling trust. I think we all owe them both a lot for the work they have done and continue to do both publicly and behind the scenes. Neither of them cost much to join and are worth every penny in my opinion. As a skipper I am grateful of the work the PBA have done. I would urge any skipper to join the PBA as their advice has been priceless throughout the pandemic (membership runs October- October). As and angler I am grateful of the work the angling trust have done. They got us fishing again as the last lockdown was eased. Thankfully they have secured angling throughout this lockdown which will make it fair less painfull.

  • 09/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Sep 2020 by Scott Belbin

    This week I thought I would bring you up to date with a few offshore trips we ran over the summer. Most of these were prospecting on some new grounds I had fancied for the last couple of years but didn’t find the time to try them until now. We spent a small amount of time on the offshore wrecks each time we went. Most we didn’t plan to fish but as I hadn’t visited these specific wrecks before I wanted to mark them and see if they held anything. Most held pollock, coalfish, pouting and codling in small numbers. The first day we anchored a wreck for a few hours and had 12 or so small pollock along with a few small coalie and a couple of codling. There were plenty of mackerel about and as expected the all held plenty of pouting, scad and whiting too. We tried a couple of other marks I had ear marked for turbot potential on the way home. The tide wasn’t great at first but a few drifts later as our speed came right we Stephen Clarke had the first one. I was very happy but managed to resist kissing him in the name of social distancing. We were short of time but to prove this wasn’t a fluke we had a couple more drifts before heading home and Stephen Charles had our second turbot. I had managed a red gurnard too and on the way home we stopped for some bass too. Our next trip we concentrated on where we had the turbot at first. By the time we had caught a few mackerel the tide was pretty poor. We had 3 drifts with just dogfish and whiting so we moved on the try another bit that looked just as good on the chart. We had more dogfish and whiting at first before the grey and tub gurnards made a welcome change to them. This trip I had even managed to drag Stacey out for our 10th wedding anniversary tempted by the promise of turbot. She didn’t catch her turbo but the first flatfish to come up was on my line. It was a first for me in the shape of a small brill. The next drift Stephen had another which came off beside the boat as I was getting the net. The next run offshore was organised by Alec on behalf of James and Mark Slater with Laura tagging along too. The lads told me they wanted to waste some money on doing something mad. They had certainly come to the right place for that. We were limited on what days we could do so I picked the best tide I could even though I wouldn’t normally head offshore on one of this size. We left at some ungodly hour to try and make the tides work a bit better for us. there was a stiff breeze at first which was forecast to decrease as the day went on. After a long steam we stopped for a few drifts on a wreck we were passing to see what it held. We had a few mackerel, scad and pouting on some less than ideal drifts. We varied the rest of the day between drift fishing and anchored fishing. we had a nice mix of species including whiting, dogfish, weaver fish, thorn-back ray, tub gurnard, launce, turbot, plaice and a hectic couple of hours to finish the day with some chunky bass.
    Our last run offshore we opted to try another mew area which looked promising too. Along with the usual bass, gurnard, dogfish, whiting, mackerel, pouting scad, launce ect we had a new species for the Galloper in the firm of a greater weaver fish. these are a deep water fish more commonly found off the south west of the uk. I had been hoping to see one for some time off of here as the habitat looked suitable for them. Shane was the lucky angler who caught the little beast and he was impressed at the colours glistening in the sunlight. Shortly after Barry hooked into a much larger fish. as he reeled it up we all looked over the side I to the depths to see what it might be. It turned out to be a lovely big blonde ray. After a quick photo she was released, this was a new species for Barry and a decent fish too at just over 15lbs. not long after this Steve also had a blonde ray. Although it wasn’t as big it was a new species for him too.
    We may not have set the world alight on our prospecting trips but we did find some interesting new marks which I hope to build on in the future. Who knows if we will get a chance to head off there again this year but if we don’t I shall certainly try again next year. Our main offshore trips for now are offshore bass trips until the winter when we will turn our attention to hunting the spurdogs. We are still busy in between with inshore trips targeting skate, dogfish whiting ect with a few end of season bass and hounds mixed in. although we wont hold our breath we will still hope to see some cod as we move later into the autumn.

  • 07/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    Jul 2020 by Scott Belbin

    Its been a while once again on since my last report on CBUK so I thought I would fill you in on this years tope season aboard the ‘Galloper’. its been a good season all together. We managed to get most trips out and we were successful on most of them. Those that we didn’t see any tope on were either struggling for weather and bait or we got carried away bass fishing. we started back in may when despite struggling to catch mackerel Stephen Clarke set a nice bench mark with male a fish of 44lbs. Stephen had the boat on his own that day and I was lucky enough to fish too. I had a small tope around 10lbs and lost two more including one that did a good job at clearing 300yards of braid from my reel on the first run!
    The next couple of trips we had better weather and a good supply of bait. The lads had 5 decent fish the first day going from c.15lb, 27lbs, 38lbs, 44lbs and the biggest falling to Ian Hewett at 47lbs and another male. Many of these were personnel bests for the lads which is always nice to see.
    The next trip saw two decent fish on the boat, Fred managed a new PB of 41lbs on a carp rod of all things. To be fair both Fred and the carp rod did very well but this isn’t something I would encourage too often. Mark also had a new PB tope of 31lbs that day and consequently booked another trip with some different pals soon after this one.
    The next trip came and Mark bought Tom and his Friends along. The weather was spot on and with plenty of bait we headed off for a mixed day. we started off targeting bass and had loads in the first few hours. There were plenty of sizable fish to go around and the time flew by. It was soon gone 11am and we had to drag our selves away from the bass that were being so obliging if we were to have a chance at any tope. We were finally set up and fishing for tope just before midday. I had set my sights quite low and decided I would be happy if we saw a tope. We had a tope run first cast on one of the rods but unfortunately we were broken off. This was a promising sign even though it could have been our only chance. Happily it wasn’t and we went on to bring 8 tope to the boat that afternoon and loose a further 6. It was madness at times to be honest with a few beginners on board. At one point we had 3 decent fish hooked at once, needless to say I had my hands rather full and it was no surprise one or two were lost. The biggest that day fell to Mark at 37lbs so he had beaten his PB from last trip. Many of the fish we had that day were around the 30lb mark and very welcome.
    As we came to the end of our main tope season we mixed in more bass fishing with the tope again and once the lads had their quota of bass we went in search of tope. We scratched a few more out to finish the season off with more PB’s for Dave and Chris along with some nice bass. Stephen Clarke has the biggest bass so far this year with a nice fish of 10.7lbs. its quite common for decent bass to be a bycatch while tope fishing as they tend to favour the fish baits we are offering.
    Although we may see one or two more tope this year our main season is now over. I will be taking bookings for next years tope fishing soon.
    Closer inshore our trips have been productive as ever. Over the last week or two we have seen some good action on the hounds at times. The lads fished hard the other day and kept count of 63 hounds. There were plenty of scrappy fish in the 6-10lb range and the biggest went 13lbs. we had a few sizable bass too. We have been getting a few bass mixed in most inshore trips which are popular for both sport and the table.
    Most of my offshore trips will be for bass until into November this year.
    Staying with this year I have been through my diary for the next couple of months and consulted my parties regarding current covid rules. Some have chosen to give it a miss for a while which means I have the following availability.
    08/08/20- offshore bass (weather permitting) £90pp (worm required can be provided at extra cost) 6am start 4 spaces
    09/08/20- offshore bass (weather permitting) £90pp (worm required can be provided at extra cost) 6am start 1 space
    16/08/20- general trip 3 spaces @ £80pp max 5 anglers
    31/08/20-general trip 1 space @ £80pp max 5 anglers
    05/09/20- general trip 3 spaces @ £80pp max 5 anglers
    06/09/20- general trip 5 spaces @ £80pp max 5 anglers or boat £400
    12/09/20- general trip 3 spaces @ £80pp max 5 anglers
    I am still keeping things the same regarding numbers on the boat until I hear anything different. So its max 5 anglers (unless living together in which case 6) I don’t have much availability at the moment although I could have to move groups around due to numbers ect. Please keep an eye on here for spaces.

    Please call me for more information on 07956411528

    Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077

  • 05/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    May 2020 by Scott Belbin

    Its been nice to get afloat again after a couple of months under ‘house arrest’. It seems many of you are also keen to get afloat and although we cant take everybody we have at least been getting some of you out. So far we have only taken single person bookings and I must say I was very grateful for the support offered by some of our regular customers who were willing to hire the whole boat on their own. I understand this may be outside of many peoples budget so the good news is we are now taking groups of up to 5 for the rest of the month in line with current guidelines. Hopefully by next month we will be able to take more again as there is plenty of room on our catamaran.
    The first trip I did post lock down was just my self and my wife to blow the cobwebs away. The weather was glorious and the fishing was even better. We had a great mixed bag of smooth-hounds, bass, dogfish, dab, thorn-back ray and tub gurnard within the first couple of hours. After that we drifted through some bass with lures for a short while. I didn’t get much time to fish as stacey had string after string of decent bass several of which were 3-4lbs in weight. We anchored for the rest of the trip in search of some more big smooth-hounds. We weren’t disappointed as several packs of double figure fish made their way through as the evening progressed. We didn’t have any monsters but several were 13-14lbs. they were also interspersed with yet more bass and a couple more rays before we headed home. On our trips since then we have seen similar fishing and the biggest hound we have had so far is 18.8lbs. hopefully this will be beaten before the summer is over.
    To be honest I don’t have room for anybody before July and my diary is all over the place from then on depending upon what guidelines are relaxed so please bear with me.
    For regular reports and more information please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk or like the essex sea fishing page on facebook.

  • 05/2020 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

    May 2020 by Scott Belbin

    while we are still under lockdown I thought I would take this time to report on our offshore trips between January and April (obviously cut short by the lockdown). Even on a big comfy catamaran we need the right weather and tides as well as some willing anglers to get over 30 miles offshore. This restricted our trips to just 4 this year, several were cancelled due to weather. The rest of our bookings were after the lockdown and typically the weather was cracking then! When we did get offshore we had varying amounts of thorn-backs and the obligatory dogfish. our main target species would be spurdogs as it has been for several years. These trips have produced some nice cod and bass in the past as well as a blonde ray a couple of years ago. With this in mind we try to cover all of the basses with our traces. Sure enough the very first cast on the first trip produced a double figure spurdog on each rod for Shane Ashby. The biggest went 15.4lbs and was a new PB for shane. The other went just over 13lbs. these are the stamp of fish we have come to expect around here over the years. unfortunately this brace of fish wasn’t a sign of things to come. We did catch a few more spurs throughout the day and a few hounds too. People often seem surprised when we catch the hounds off here at that time of year. The water was just shy of 10’c off there (3’c warmer than inshore at the same time) and the hounds do seem to run in the packs with the spurs. In fact I have seen hounds in small amounts in every month of the year off here. The next trip we managed 11 spurs but nothing bigger the 13lbs and nothing to beat Shanes first fish. with the lock down stopping us by the end of march we will have to wait until next year to target the spurdogs again and already have a couple of parties booked down for them. In the mean time who knows when we will be allowed out again? hopefully it will be in time to sample some of the fantastic sport we can have for smooth-hounds, bass or tope in the summer. If you wish to book a trip please get in touch or bear us in mind when we’re allowed out again.
    For now I am putting various reports on my website and facebook page to keep you occupied.
    Stay safe from Essex sea fishing call Scott 07956411528
    www.essexseafishing.co.uk

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