Latest Fishing Reports: Vanishing Point-2

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  • 26/07/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    26 Jul 2015 by TERRY BATT

    We have been out just about every day this past week.
    Fishing has been consistent, with lots of hounds showing in good numbers in the right places.
    We had some good Bass fishing on Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st, and Wednesday 22nd, then the tides were getting a tad on the small side, so we concentrated on the Smoothounds and everyone had great fun tussling with them..!!.
    By the time we got to Friday, the Thornbacks started showing up once again on the off-shore marks, so we have been doing a split day, half on Thornbacks, and the other half on Hounds, makes for an interesting day, then over the slack water we had a drift for the elusive Mackerel..!!! and we did find about a dozen, now the water is going that nice emerald green colour, but still not there in the usual numbers they should be by now, but hey ho, with this inclement weather we have been having I don't think the fish know weather they are coming or going???? I know I don't...lol.
    Saturday was blown out to weather, probably could have gone but it is no fun fishing in high winds and driving rain..!!!.
    Sunday 26th was a bit lonely out there, seemed we were the only boat to venture off-shore, but to be honest, it wasn't to bad to start with, fairly light winds, and that was wind and tide virtually together, so by the time we got off-shore and anchored up we sat there just lovely, but due to the weather over the last couple of days, the lovely emerald green water we were enjoying out there over night turned very dark brown and murky ...!! so the first mark we stopped at where just 24 hours before we had some great Roker action didn't even throw up a bit..!! so we didn't wast too much time there, after 40 mins that was enough, knowing we only had the ebb tide to fish, due to the wind freshening up all the time, the flood tide was never going to be an option to fish..!!
    So with that in mind, we moved into deep water, and re-rigged for hound fishing, and the boys did very well with hounds, up to 12, 14, 15, and 16 lbs and many more smaller ones, at one time they didn't know weather to take their fish, or scoff the lovely sausage rolls Nicola had just grilled for them.... decisions, decisions..!! lol.
    So by the time we got to 1300, it was time to turn on the TV and tune in to the Grand Prix, and with the amazing surround sound system we have on VP-2 it sounded like the Ferraris, and F1- racing cars were coming from all around us...!!! so with all the guys seated in the wheelhouse in the warm, we start the journey back to Bradwell with a very happy bunch of anglers, who immediately booked their next trip with me and Nicola before they left the boat, saying they have fished before on other charter boats, but never have they seen such a boat as the Vanishing Point-2, they said ...
    "it was just mind blowing" not my words.... there's .
    So with the weather still unsettled, we are having a few days off to catch up with life, and see family, then Wednesday if the weather is ok we will be going to look for Tope, and big Bass well off-shore, so I will let you all know how we get on later in the week..... until then......... Tight lines...!!!

  • 21/07/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    21 Jul 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Hi guys..... well
    Friday 17th July: was blown out to weather, so not a great start to the weekend..!!

    Saturday 18th July: much better day, so off we went with a great bunch of chaps..! Tom from Rayleigh with the sun shinning still a bit of wind left over from Friday, but we were on a Bass mission really, but we started on the Smoothounds for the last of the ebb tide, then as the tide turned we headed West approx 6 miles, and the started fishing for bass even though they forgot to phone as requested to order bait..!!! so we had to compromise with hermit crab tails with strips of squid..!! ... they were a bit elusive but we got there in the end...

    Sunday 19th July: well... a return to strong winds yet again, what is it with this blooming country, always blowing a gale of wind ... arrrrrgh..!! but we had an hour of ebb left, so we hit the hounds again, with good results, the the boys wanted Bass, so off we went to hunt down the silver darlings..again they had no worm bait so the same tactic was used as the day before.... hermit crab tails and squid strip.. but the wind was blowing 25-30 mph S.SW so we had to deploy a drogue to help pull the boat back against the wind, fortunately it was a big tide, and it ran very hard so all was well..!!

    Monday 20th July: Paul Wilkins had a fantastic crew out just my humour...lol but once again they wanted to target Bass, and why not, these guys did however order ragworm for their trip, so we made a plan...!! as the Bass we were looking for need to be fished for on the start of the flood tide, we spent just over two hours of the dying ebb tide fishing for hounds, with great effect, then once the tide was just on the turn, we crept up on the sands in shallow water and the the waiting game begins... as I told the boys, keep it quiet ... light tackle, nice worm baits with 4 onz bomb weights, then when you least expect it.... you will get a crashing bite... a real rod bender, that's when you know your Bass fishing, and after 15 or so minutes the first Bass hit, a nice fish of around 3lbs...!! this went on for about an hour, then it stopped as quick as it started, so with stealth, we lifted the anchor, and moved further up the sand bank again, into very shallow water once again, and so the process starts all over again, but once the bank was covered and we could not find our magic depth of water, I had to relocate some 6.8 miles West, to once again continue ... yep it was a good days Bass fishing and everyone had a great time, and Tom who totally blanked last time, is photographed with one of the Bass caught yesterday... well done Tom..!! good fishing, good banter, and a lovely day to go with it..!!! interestingly up in the shallows, we found little Tope about 10 inches long, and very small Thornback Rays about 7 inches across the wings,.... nice to see the young fish in number and it such good condition,,,,,, Tight lines..!!!!

  • 13/07/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    13 Jul 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Fishing Friday 10th July
    with a good group of guys that have fished with me for over 12 years, and never disappoint, Paul Nichols and friends had a good day on hounds, and it was fairly non-stop action.!!! so well done boys.!!
    Saturday 11th July, really hot, and flat calm,
    was a splinter group of really lovely people most of which we had never had the pleasure of meeting before, so thanks to Steve for bringing the guys to Vanishing Point-2,
    glad everyone had a great time and all went off the boat with huge smiles with a promise to return soon..!!!!! me and Nicola cant wait to see you all again..
    Sunday 12th July, weather CRAP..!! winds 30 knots most of the day..!!! but we pushed out to some deep water and although a bit uncomfortable at first, we soon turned into the ebb tide, so we had wind and tide together, and we just had to deal with a fairly big swell coming from the bow, but it was worth toughing it out, all on board were fine, we had zero casualties, which say a lot about the sea keeping qualities to Vanishing Point-2, all the newbies caught good hounds, and we saw some really good double figured fish come to the boat, and a really nice Skate to finish, so well done guys for a great days fishing....
    Tight lines everyone....!!

  • 04/07/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    4 Jul 2015 by TERRY BATT

    The weekend was good on Saturday with my old mate Mark Smith and his mates out with us, weather was good, we fished for Smoothounds for the first part of the day, then went shallow for Bass for the next part.

    the Hounds were quite good sport with young Zoe landing the biggest one at around 12 lbs, but the Bass although they were there, didn't really kick off like we had hoped.

    There were some cashing bites, but by the time the rod was picked up and struck, the fish was long gone..! one or two of our anglers, did it right and held the rods, and as soon as the Bass hit they were on it..!! now that's the way to catch these fast swimming predatory fish..!

    They were not the biggest Bass in the world but big enough, and in just 4 feet of water go like grease lightning.!!.

    Sunday 5th July what a difference, from the hot sunny day 24 hour previously, we woke up to cloud, drizzle,
    so we set off with the same agenda in mind, yeah we got a few hounds, not so easy as the day before due to the conditions, then and low water we went shallow for Bass but with the weather against us, wind over tide, some slapping of waves on the hull, so a bit of noise, we didn't have a great deal of luck on the Bass front a few but not great.

    But typical for that kind of day, after the lads poking up with crap weather all day, wind and driving rain, but no moans or groans...!!! UNTIL, we got back to Bradwell in the birth, the sun came out, the wind fell away, blue sky, and quickly became very hot....... is some one having a laugh...!!!! lol

    But that's fishing for you, man verses the elements.

  • 02/07/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    2 Jul 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Hi boat fishing anglers... It might be a case of teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, but with lightning forecast for tomorrow, if you are at sea..! and you see lighting, it might is advisable to disconnect all your VHF aerials and radar plugs for a short while, until the lighting has passed, then reconnect, so if you do take a strike it will only damage your antenna, and not you set..!! remember, on the sea you are the highest point..!!!.
    Stay safe lads, and great fishing......Tight lines..!!
    19 people reached

  • 29/06/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    29 Jun 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Well summer is here...!!!!!! phew it was hot out there yesterday, I had the pleasure of the company of my good friend, the legendary Bob Cox, who is probably one of the best Bass fisherman around, and once again on our new boat, after his long election campaign, we had our dear friend, and a good friend to the fishing world...!! "Nigel Farage", party leader of UKIP, and with Nigel was MEP for the SE of England, Ray Finch, Fisheries and shipbuilding spokesman.
    What a great day we had, my lovely wife Nicola made sure the boys didn't go hungry, after due to over excitement I'm sure??, Nigel and Ray left their lunch cooking nicely in the car..!!! ...lol
    but Nic got the George Foreman Grill going, and it was bacon rolls all round...!!!!.
    We had a variety of fish yesterday, from Bass, Smoothounds, Skate, Doggies....lots of Doggies, Pouting, and Mackerel..!!
    It was quite a hard day to be honest, it was not fireworks like it had been a few days ago, there were long gaps when the fish didn't bite, it didn't matter what we threw at them bait wise, they just would not play, then we would get a nice flurry and so on, but there was no shortage of banter on board, with Nigel and Bob both seasoned journalist, and both as sharp as razors it was most entertaining to listen to...lol and Ray Finch was just the nicest guy..
    We did touch on the subject of pulse trawling for the short time we were serious, and it was good to see both Ray, and Nigel are fully aware, of this activity and are on it, but it was a relaxing day out where I think Nigel was in a way relieved, that we were a long way off-shore with very limited mobile phone signal, so he was not pestered with calls, and could just fish..!!
    It was nice to see the first Mackerel yesterday, Bob spotted birds working, and directed me to an up-tide position from the birds, and after a while fired one of his Bass bullets at the direction of the birds, and ..wow..!! his rod buckled over as a Bass hit the lure, then he shouted from the bow .."fish all around the boat" and the guys all dropped their feathers and all got Bass... marvellous..!!.
    After returning the fish to fight another day, Nicola continued to feather, and got some Mackerels... now we had some seriously good bait to go with.
    After a really lovely day at sea, Nigel was very enthusiastic at the prospect a nice pint of beer at our local pub "The Green Man" at Bradwell, and we all enjoyed one of Mike's famous Steaks..!!
    I know people have their own thoughts about Nigel and UKIP, but as always Nicola and I found him the perfect English gentleman who had time not only with us on the boat, but happily interacted with the locals in the pub, and allowed them all to take photos with him, and as I have said before... he is a man of the people, for the people, and we wish even greater success, for UKIP under Nigel's leadership.... see you guys soon
    Tight lines.......
    Terry & Nicola.....

  • 29/06/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    29 Jun 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Hi Gareth, Monday got cancelled due to unbelievable circumstances, two car crashes, and accident at work, and an unexpected hospital appointment, but these things happen..! but we were not busy during last week, so Wednesday we were off, lovely day, high expectations of big Smoothounds as it was a dedicated hound trip. But....!!!!! when we arrived on site pot to collect our hermit crab pot, which had been down for a few days, we should have had about 150/200 hermit crabs in, but sadly nothing..!!! once again, small private fishing boats are leaving port early, and pulling our pots, they empty them out, and just throw the pot back in the water, not even baited up, and this has got to STOP..!! we had no option to return to Bradwell, and say goodbye to our party, who were not pleased, as they all took a day off of work, and didn't want to fish for Skate, as they had their last few trips catching them, so we lost £450. 00 charter fee, the party all lost a days fishing and a days holiday, and it cost us around £50 in diesel to and from the site where our pot was. This mindless act of theft has a massive impact on our living,... and it is our living!! and as if that wasn't bad enough, we went to pick our pot up last evening ready for today's trip, and guess what..??? yep it took me and Nicola 15 mins to even find our pot, it was a quarter of a mile away from where we dropped it, when we did eventually find it, and retrieve it, there was a few hermit crabs in it, as who ever stole our crabs did have a bit of a guilt, as they did put in 3 mackerel a whiting and a pouting, then threw it over the side with all the ground gear wrapped around the pot so it didn't fish well at all ...!!! PLEAS PLEASE..!!!!! guys, who ever you are???, please stop pulling our crab pots..!! as with summer fishing ramping up, all the professional charter fleet are busy, and we are struggling for bait as it is, and we don't charge for these crabs, we harvest them for our parties to try to help with the cost of the day, the last thing we need is to have to cancel a trip once we are actually on it, like I had to do this week, and lose hundreds of pounds.. But the weekends fishing was very good, lots of hounds, one or two Bass, still some Whiting being landed, and a shed load of spotty dogs... Ok well, we are off today with a fisheries MEP on board, he wants to see first hand the state of our fishing, well he certainly has a nice day for it, I will put photos up later and see if you recognize any one... Tight lines
    ( and please whoever you are, leave our pots alone)


  • 22/06/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    22 Jun 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Hi Guys,
    well the weather forecast was as usual very wrong suppose to have been a great week... start of summer??? instead it blew 20 to 30 mph most days..!!.

    Monday we went Bass fishing and the wind blew at 30 mph, so we went up river to have ago at the Bass in shallow water, and once anchored in 4 feet of water we got a Bass on the first cast, and several other takes, but the weed was horrendous, so we pushed further up river to the mussel beds to see if it was any better there, well it was marginally better but still very weedy.
    so we then went 5 miles East to have a go for Bass outside the shelter of the river on a big sand bar, but no joy there, we had some Skate but not what we was after.

    So the boys decided to take on the weed again up river, and they did persevere, but all we got was a heap of schoolies, so not our best hour...

    Tuesday 16thJune
    saw Vere's party on the boat, they had a reasonable day with lots of Skate and great banter, but again the weather played it's part .!!!

    Wednesday 17th
    June was Engine's service day...!!!! eerrrrr!!! but done now, in readiness for our long off-shore Tope trip the next day..

    Thursday18th June
    was forecast to be 4 mph Westerly...Fantastic..!!!!! yay..!!! at last, but no..!!! 28 to 30 mph West North west, but we still went out to the Knock deep, where we found our quarry first fish up was a lovely 40 lbs male, and the tide was running hard as it was a 6 metre tide, but we were up shallow so manageable, we had some good sport with some fish landed, and other ferocious runs of 60 to 70 yard runs and then after a while managed to throw the hook....dam..!! but a great day was had by all, well done Paul nice PB..!!

    Saturday 20th June,
    We had a group of individuals, and be had a great day on the Smoothounds, Tom who had never fished for these fish was just blown away with the sheer power of these lovely sport fish..!! ( Photo inset of Tom's first hound)

    Sunday 21st June
    once again, the party wanted to go Bass fishing, and got their own bait, Lugworm, & Ragworm , well I don't think I have ever seen bait in such terrible condition, the Lug, when opened was just a big blob of smelly jelly mess, and the Ragworm was all dead and rotting, so it was a good job we had Herring, squid, and hermit crab on board, so we took them Hound fishing for a couple of hours, then at low water they wanted to try fishing for Skate, it was hard at first, as once again the wind was blowing at 27 mph dead Westerly, wind dead against the tide..!! so the boat was swinging about for a while, but once we settled the boys got a nice few Skate, which they were still skinning as I approached Bradwell Marina.... lol, but they all seemed to have enjoyed their day out.

    Well that just about wraps things up for last week...! will be back after our next adventure on Vanishing Point-2

    Tight lines............!!!.

  • 16/06/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    16 Jun 2015 by TERRY BATT

    WHAT.....!!!!!! flat calm sea, sun, no wind..... where does it end, well just about there actually..!!

    We set off at 0830 this morning, with high expectations, picked up our crab pot, and got some bait for the day, then cruised at 22 knots all the way to our off-shore mark for some hound fishing.

    With the anchor set, and the order given to start casting, 8 lead weights hit the water, it was not long until one rod buckled over, and the reel started peeling line off it, yep the fight was on..!! a very angry Smoothound had attached itself to one of our anglers crab aits, and didn't look like it was going to give it back..!!!! lol and it most certainly did not, after a few minutes into the fight, the line went lose and it was clear to everyone on the boat the fish had gone...! but when we got the hook in, we could see why the fish was not there, it had snapped the 4/0 Varivas big mouth extra we were using, it must have been a monster to have done such a thing..!

    We started getting a few hounds fairy quickly, (always a danger when that happens) it usually means you have dropped right on them and spooked them while dropping the anchor, you tend to catch those around you then that's it.... but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

    At high water we opted to cut across all the sand banks back into the Blackwater, and did some Skate fishing, and the boys did OK on them, and after a couple of hours doing that, it was time for home...... it's been a long day, when you consider I was up this morning at 0530 to write my report before going fishing...!!

    So I will say good night and Tight lines, until tomorrow.....!!!

  • 16/06/2015 Fishing Report by TERRY BATT

    16 Jun 2015 by TERRY BATT

    Terry here..!!! again..!! lol,
    Well as I told you, on Saturday just gone (13th July) we had that lovely 10 lbs Bass, and Jim who organized the trip I see has put a very nice review on here, so thank you Jim.

    There is a couple more photos I will attach of some of the Thornback Rays that were caught that day by other members of the party, I know they say that size doesn't always matter, (think some women may disagree..!!!) but seriously, here are some of the photos of the Rays, not the biggest in the world, but just look at the faces, and that my friends, tells the whole story..!!! it's call fishing, big fish, or not so big fish, that smile that says
    I'VE DONE IT.....!!!!! is the reward for any charter boat operator, then you know, you have done your job well..

    Sunday. (14th July) weather much improved from the previous 24 hours, we woke up to flat calm conditions, so we set off at 0700 and headed off-shore to look for Smoothounds and we found them on the very first mark we came too.

    We were all on our own, not a boat in sight, then about an hour later we had four other fishing boats in very close proximity..! but it didn't affect our fishing, not sure the other did so well though, it is a tight bit of ground and once one charter vessel is on it, there is very little room for anyone else.

    Monday (15th July....yesterday) we had a really smashing bunch of guys out looking for some Bass fishing, but once again the weather turned nasty, with 28 to 30 mph NE winds and it was difficult fishing conditions, but as seasoned anglers, there was no complaints, they just said to me,... your the Capt, just do what you can.

    So we thought for the first hour we would try going up river for some Bass, and we got a schoolie first chuck, it seemed a decent fish at first!!!, but the under all the weed, we saw the little fellow, a school Bass about 10 inches long...! but the boys plodded on, but the weed beat us in the end, so we moved 7 miles east on to another shallow bank, but not much happening there, one or two Rays, so once again, up anchor, and moved about 1.5 miles South, and lots of Rays, no Bass sadly, then at slack one of the lads Les, put on a piece of Herring and caught a cracking Gurnard. (Photo attached, but then the boys said they wanted to take on the weed again up river, and have another go for the Bass, so we went a little further up river to Osea island, and although the weed was not so bad, there was only little school Bass to be had, one or two slightly bigger ones, but still under size, but it must be said, that for there size on light tackle they do give great bites like fish 4 times their size...lol

    Well time is ticking on now, I got up early to write this report, but me and Nicola are once again due on the Vanishing Point-2 at 0800 hrs for another great fishing adventure with a returning party from a couple of weeks ago, and the have the boat booked for today, and tomorrow... Go Veer..!!

    I think at first people were afraid to enquire about the Vanishing Point-2 because she is an ultra modern, and mega expensive vessel (£700,000.00), that they thought they would not be able to afford to charter her, but the reality is, that she is roughly the same price as most Cat's operating in our area, so anyone can afford to come on her.

    If you fancy a fishing trip, either as a party, novice or experienced, just give me and Nicola a call and we would be happy to talk you through it....

    Right...... we are off fishing !!!!!, report back later with the days report............... Tight lines everyone..

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