Latest Fishing Reports: Vanishing Point-2
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02/12/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
2 Dec 2016 by TERRY BATT
Hi guys,
well with the absence of Cod we still have to keep going..!! we appreciate all our customers for their unprecedented support.
I know the Thornbacks have been the mainstay of our catches just of late, but now the water temperature is falling fast, it mat still not be to late to see some Cod..!! I did here several boats during the week from the Blackwater had landed 6 between them so who knows may be this might be the start of a little showing..??? we can only hope so.
We will be leaving early tomorrow and get the last 2 hours of ebb tide in and be ready for the first of the flood.... and with all baits firmly on the bottom, all we need is Mr Cod to come along and start feeding..... Sounds simple doesn't it...lol speak to you all soon remember what one of these looks like....!!
Tight lines...!! -
02/12/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
2 Dec 2016 by TERRY BATT
Hi guys,
well with the absence of Cod we still have to keep going..!! we appreciate all our customers for their unprecedented support.
I know the Thornbacks have been the mainstay of our catches just of late, but now the water temperature is falling fast, it mat still not be to late to see some Cod..!! I did here several boats during the week from the Blackwater had landed 6 between them so who knows may be this might be the start of a little showing..??? we can only hope so.
We will be leaving early tomorrow and get the last 2 hours of ebb tide in and be ready for the first of the flood.... and with all baits firmly on the bottom, all we need is Mr Cod to come along and start feeding..... Sounds simple doesn't it...lol speak to you all soon remember what one of these looks like....!!
Tight lines...!! -
07/11/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
7 Nov 2016 by TERRY BATT
What a weekend…. Cold, Windy, raining, lovely combination..!
The fishing was incredibly hard since Friday, but the boys fished on in true blue fashion..
It did help that while fishing on Friday, there were three professional charter boats out, and all in the same location, give or take a few hundred yards between us … Chris Mole on Enterprise, Phil White on Chinook-II, and me and Nicola on our boat Vanishing Point-2. When a red trawler from West Mersea trawled right down Chris’s line, turned slightly North and went down the port side of Enterprise, then turned to the Southwest and towed right across the front of our boat Vanishing Point-2, the worked his way across to Phil White’s boat Chinook-II…. What a total idiot..!!! not satisfied he has the whole of the Estuary to tow around, but no…!!! he has seen a few charter boats fishing the same area for a day or two, and is obvious we are catching a few fish, so he takes the easy option that after we have found the fish, he will take what he can, and scare what’s left so we had no chance of catching any more once he came through and decimated the area….. Pratt.
Well after that, we on the Vanishing Point-2 steamed East to a spot where we know it’s not possible for the trawlers to tow through, as it is quite rocky and old flag stones have been dumped, so would smash their gear up….!!! While we realise we all have to make a living, but you have to temper that with respect for one and another, I mean we would not dream of dropping our anchor in front of a man trawling on his tow line, and we think these cowboy trawler skipper should not feel they can ride rough shot over everyone else, like we don’t matter…. Well it does, we are trying to make a living too… but there are many highly respectable trawler skippers out there, as usual it is the small minority that give the rest a bad name, but we know the good ones and are happy to work with them…
Well, we did back among the fish on the fish on Friday afternoon, and got a few more, nice Thornback’s to double figures.
Saturday was a tough day for just about everyone, it was like a light switch had been thrown, the fish just seemed to turn off…?? We caught just one Roker, plenty of Whiting dogs and stuff, and ended back in the river near the radio Caroline vessel looking for one or two more Roker, but alas, the tide died, the boat headed into the 24 mph Northerly wind, with only Whiting coming in… and not many at this Point, I said to Mark ..”think it’s time to go” so all agreed we fired the engines and we were on our way, but the guys never complained, they could see we tried everything in the book to catch them fish, but I think due to the sudden 2 degree drop in water temperature the fish as they always do switch off…!
We didn’t go on Sunday, we could have done, but after some consultation with the group with even smaller tides, increasing winds against the tide and no real chance of getting off-shore, we all agreed to try another day… we believe… “ JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DON’T MEAN YOU SHOULD…!!!”
Well we will be out tomorrow Tuesday 8th, with the wind forecast to be dropping to 8 mph Westerly we will be out trying to find the fish once again, and hoping that idiot form West Mersea don’t decide to hunt us down and ruin our fishing once again…!!!
Tight lines…. -
02/11/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
2 Nov 2016 by TERRY BATT
Had a nice day out yesterday with some good mates... John Rawle, Bob Cox, Nigel Farage and
Ray Finch UKIP MEP..
John took the helm and steamed us Eastward roughly 14 miles, and put us right over the fish, we had Thornbacks coming to the boat quite rapidly, and both John and Nigel got a double hook up and landed fish at the same time.. ( Nigel's was bigger) and Ray Finch hit back with a lovey Thornback Ray, not to be out done, (as John has been tacking the Pea out of me lately) I caught the biggest fish of the day..! a nice double figure Ray.. but with Nicola cooking up a storm on the grill, bacon, sausages, burgers, and a bit of clay shooting over the slack water.
Sadly no Cod yesterday, Bob Cox a true hardened angler, toughed it out with Whiting live baits, and was not deterred... sadly, although one of his live baits got hammered and disappeared, he didn't manage to nab a fish on the live baits... but you have to admire his resolve..
The flood was very good for fish, loads of Whiting some good ones amongst them..!! and a good 20 odd Thornbacks to 10 lbs, doggies ect.
The ebb was a bit of a struggle as the wind went more to the East, then the rain started and I think we were losing the will to live...lol
But as Nigel had to be back in London for various appointment's so we decided to up anchor and head back to Bradwell for 16.30.....
But Nigel has vowed to return for Codxit to get those Cod out of the water..he he he ..!!!
Ok.... tight lines every one
-
31/10/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
31 Oct 2016 by TERRY BATT
WARNING TO ALL CHARTER SKIPPERS..
This photo is of a guy called Glen Curtis..
He booked my boat the Vanishing Point-2 up several times, had good Cod trip, Roker, and fantastic Smoothound trip on the 13th July 2016, his last trip with me, from memory they boated over 65 big hounds really good day..
He then booked with Nicola a trip on October 23rd Sunday...!! before leaving the boat in July.
Nicola called him 3 weeks before the trip, just making sure everything was alright for the forthcoming trip..?
yes he said looking forward to it...
Then, having not heard from him by 6.45 pm Saturday 22nd (the evening before his trip) I tried to contact him and the phone just went to voicemail, so I left a message saying to be on the boat for 0700 hrs in the morning, as me and Nicola were going out for the evening.
But on returning home still no answer from Glen Curtis so got the distinct feeling he was not going to show up.
I left more text messages asking him to at least text me to say he was not coming so at least me and Nicky didn't have to get up at silly o'clock in the morning to wait for a charter party that was never going to turn up..!!!
But needless to say we got no call or message, so we had to professional and turn up anyway..!! but as predicted Glen Curtis and his party did not show up, so we just had to go back home.
The really annoying thing is..., we had no more weekend dates left in our diary, and we could... if we had know, sold that Sunday 23rd October trip 10 times over, in fact the guys who had the next day booked with us, Monday 24th October were desperate for a weekend date as they flew in from the Arab Emirates for their trip, and was choked that they could have had the day before..... Sunday 23rd was flat calm, Monday 24th was blowing 24 mph dead Easterly and was fairly rough.....
So if a guy call..... GLEN CURTIS rings you up to make a booking on your boat be prepared to be let down, the man has no morals, and is in my opinion, lower that a snakes belly.....
Just to be clear Glen Curtis on this point........ YOU ARE BARRED FROM OUR BOAT...!!!!
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31/10/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
31 Oct 2016 by TERRY BATT
Well what a lovely weekend...!! flat calm water, not a wind turbine turning, Sun shinning, and fish biting ..! utopia ..!!!!!!
We had some good sport with Thornback Rays, dogs, plenty of Whiting, and odds n sods.
The Codling are just starting to show off of the Essex coast with a few having been caught locally.
I would think looking at the weather for this coming week, the unusually high temperatures we have been experiencing lately looks like to be coming to an end, which should allow the water temperature to fall below 12 degrees, and coupled with the spring tides will hope fully flush in the long awaited Cod run.
There is still some good Bass fishing to be had off-shore if you have the right tide and conditions.
Last week, just when you thought we couldn't make our $1 million vessel Vanishing Point-2 any better, we decided to have a hot air hand drying machine installed in the toilet (Heads) as we have not liked for a while hand towels for drying ones hands, and it was you ladies that brought this to our attention, that you were not keen using cotton hand towels, and people (mostly guys) have been handling bait and stuff and some actually used to wipe their hands on the towel before going to the toilet, so we agreed we had to address this problem, so as I say the new hand drying machine is now fully installed and working... and going down a treat with all our customers... especially the ladies.....
But.... now we have used this for a week, I said to Nicola my wife and second in command on VP-2, I think this will prove so popular in the colder months of winter, that anglers will be disappearing to the toilet just to warm their cold hands...!!!! so we are looking at putting a second hand drying machine just inside the wheel-house so you can dry and warm up cold wet hands after baiting up....... I know we are just too kind to you anglers, but with a vessel of this quality and vast expense, we think you deserve to get what your paying for.... Tight lines. -
17/10/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
17 Oct 2016 by TERRY BATT
It's official now ... the last weekend date has now gone for this year.. December 24th yep Christmas eve... the guy are flying in from the The United Emirates, they come about 4 times a year and in their quest to get some Cod they have taken the only weekend date we had.... (Saves me doing last minute Christmas shopping)
Well just need the water temp to drop now, and looking ahead the weather seems to be getting colder from Thursday onward, N-NE for Friday if we get a week of Northerly winds that should take down the water temperature down to where it need to be, then perhaps we will see some Cod.
I know the odd one has come out, but it's a bit like fools gold, we have had Codling right through the summer once you clear the inshore marks, they are just there not lots, but we had almost one per trip in July while chasing the big Smoohounds, every now and then a Codling would scoff your hermit crab.
When the Cod do turn up and I don't think it will be long, I would think there wont be lots of those hoppers but a better stamp of fish, hopefully around the 8- 13lbs mark ...!! we can only hope.
Most of our Cod last year ended up North of the Hummber, and from there up to Peter-head they had so many Cod it was the best Cod fishing they had, had for years, so all we can hope is these fish migrate back down South and give us some good sport...
We do have some mid-week dates available, so once the Cod start to show up we will let you all know and if you fancy a crack at them we would love to take you, but I think honestly we are looking at least another 2 weeks before, if we are lucky we will start fishing in earnest for these lovely rod bending fish,
Photo from this time last year Alan Tarrent.....
Tight Lines guys.... -
16/10/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
16 Oct 2016 by TERRY BATT
Yesterday started out flat as a witches, with the lack of Cod at the moment we have to fish for what we can catch..! Love em or hate em, ( I personally love them) it was on the hunt for
Thornback Rays,.
But you can still make it very interesting by seeking out the big Rays…. In that I mean we knew in shore on various marks, the other boats were getting more Thornbacks than we were, but most fish were small, around 2 to 3 lbs, but my lads would rather fish for not so many fish, but better quality and that’s when it gets interesting..!! instead of taking the easy option of dropping on a shed load of small fish, we went to a mark where we know the larger fish go when they start to come in for the winter, (Knowledge is power) .
We had a fairly slow start with only a few dogs to start, then Steve got a nice Ray of 8.5 lbs then another at 9.lbs, but still slow going.
We could hear the others inshore getting more fish, but with many under size, but their parties were having a great time catching fish..!!
So after a bit of head scratching taking into consideration the tide flow, we pulled the anchor and trotted 1.3/4 miles West onto a soft mud patch, and in no time we were pulling Thornback's to the boat into double figures .
Once the tide reached high water at 12.15, and with the wind picking up from the South we decided to move behind a sand bank, although completely covered by the high tide it still gave a bit of shelter from the beam on swell, even on a big Catamaran like Vanishing Point-2 it was a tad uncomfortable, but well fishable, but once the ebb tie got away we started getting more good size Thornback’s until it was time to go around 2.45pm, then a slow ride back to Bradwell, so the lads could deal with the fish they kept…
A good day all round, I did speak to Chris Mole on the West Mersea based charter boat Enterprise, who like me was taking the harder option of targeting the larger fish, on the ebb he was a few miles West of my position and had located Bass, so well done to Chris always a great adversary to fish with.
We did not go out today (Sunday 16th Oct) as the wind was forecast to be worse and going South-easterly so given how rolly it was yesterday I think that fishing should be enjoyed, not endured…!!
Photo inset is a new comer, and lovely guy Bill with his Trophy winning fish.... Well done mate, see you on the next trip.
Tight lines and hot guns..!!! -
10/10/2016
Fishing Report by TERRY BATT
10 Oct 2016 by TERRY BATT
Well just got back from today's charter and over the last 3 days we have landed 142 Thornback's, with a large percentage returned and some taken for the table...
Today's party started the day with a clay shooting competition so by the time the shooting was done, the ebb tide had just got away.. that saved an hour of sitting there with little to no fish as the tides are so small at the moment it takes an age to run..! and usually it's no tide run, little to no fish.
But once we got on our fishing mark we got a couple of fish almost right away, then nothing..?? so I pulled the anchor and guided the boat just 350 yards East, just up the bank a bit, and then we were off...!! another 30 Roker followed during the rest of the day... the lads we very focused and given the lack of tide, they missed very few opportunities.. which can make the difference between a good day and a not so good day...
Of course we had umpteen LSD's and Whiting, to fill in the gaps, but all in all, a very nice little day, with nice people..
Only heard of one Cod being caught from a local boat, so nothing to get excited about yet....! with the water temperature today still tipping the scales at 15.8 degrees I think it will be another couple of weeks before we will actively start trying to sell Cod trips, I am not sending out false hopes when I know you will be disappointed, as the old saying goes, One swallow doesn't make a summer...
and One Cod doesn't mean they are here...
All the Blackwater based boats are fishing quite well at the moment.... Phil White on Chinook II from my port of Bradwell has returned with some good catches, as has Chris Mole on Enterprise out of West Mersea, Lee Bollingbrock and Lester both from Brightlingsea all catching well.
In the coming weeks I expect to see a larger presence in the River Blackwater and through to the Wallet our colleges from the River Crouch, coming to join us on our home fishing grounds to seek out the winter Cod... so lets hope they turn up in good number and we all work together to give our parties some great days sport..!! look forward to seeing you guys again..!!
OK having both engines undergoing major service over the next two days, so back out on Friday.
Tight lines & Hot guns...!!!!
Photos from today's trip Tuesday (11/10/16) -
09/10/2016
Fishing Report by mark hall
9 Oct 2016 by mark hall
the day had come for us the canvey lads for our fishing trip on board the" batt cat " vanishing point 2 on Sunday 9th
we set of around 7 am we got to one of terry's fishing spots and within 10 minutes we was catching some good skate and all through the day we didn't really stop even the wind did not effect this boat, in all we had around
40 skate up to 9lb ,countless doggies some whiting and a few smoothies up to 7lb still no cod but I'm sure
the November trip terry will find them. as usual terry and nic really try their best, if they aint netting fish ,or helping
the novice angler or making tea and bacon sandwiches lol .have now booked every mth for 2017 once again cheers guys can't wait till 20th November
