Charter Boat: Hard Labour

Photo of Charter Boat Hard Labour
Photos: 1 2 3 4
Licensed For: up to 10 passengers
Code Of Practice: cat2 code
Hours: 8hr / 10hr / 12hr / Multiple Days Trips
Contact: Carl and Shane Porter
Map: Location & Directions
Type of Fishing: Uptide fishing the Thames Estuary for smoothound, bass, tope, roker, cod etc
Tackle Available: Yes - Contact Skipper
Bait Available: Yes - Contact Skipper
Boat Specification: Blyth 10m, powered by twin perkins sabre 225hp, 18 knot cruise. 16ft wide deck for ample fishing space. side doors for easy boarding / wheelchair access.
Facilities: Heated wheelhouse, full size on deck toilet and shower, ample seating. Oven for heating pies etc
Additional Description:

Launched at the end of september 2011, after a 10 month build, Hard Labour is fitted out to the highest spec, fully coded and insured, with the latest electronics onboard. She has easy access for wheel chairs and plenty of deck space. Being 33ft long at the waterline and with a beam of 16ft she is an extremley stable fishing platform and with her large deck area she comfortably accommodates the 10 anglers she is coded for. Being the size she is means less days lost to the weather.

Powered by twin Perkins Sabre 225hp engines she has a comfortable cruise of 18kts and a sprint speed of 25kts. Meaning we can fish the distant marks of the Thames Estuary, with less time travelling andmore time fishing.

About the Skipper:

Hard Labour is owned and run by two brothers, Shane and Carl Porter. We have fished the Thames for the past 30 plus years, so have a lot of marks under our belt. Both of us are fully licensed and insured. We have had boats for the last 25 years, . Between us we have a vast knowledge of the marks in the Thames Estuary.

We aim to give our customers a memorable day out and can tailor a trip to suit the needs of individual parties. Beginners are always welcome aboard and where required we will offer as much or as little assistance as is needed to get you fishing with the correct techniques for the area.

We look forward to welcoming you aboard for a great day out.

This Charter has been listed as Wheelchair Accessible. Contact the Skipper for full details.

Catch Stats

Latest Catches

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Latest Fishing Reports

  • 06/05/2013 Fishing Report by carl porter on Hard Labour (Wallasea Island, Essex)

    6 May 2013 by carl porter

    Photo of the Fishing Report

    May bank holiday weekend was a mixed bag.

    Saturdays forecast wasn't the greatest and considering it was predicted to blow 20mph, it was actually blowing 35mph. We still managed to find some fish, but the weather cut our day short.

    Sunday was a better forecast and the offshore banks were the target. fishing wasn't fast and furious but steady and over the course of the day the species and numbers of fish racked up. schoolie bass, dabs, skate, codling, pouting and the ever present thames tiger shark (LSD).

    Monday was a local trip and by far the best day for numbers of fish although the species list was down. Plenty of skate was the order of the day mainly good sized fish too in the 8 to 10 lb bracket, with the biggest of the day going 11.5lb. Most of the maids went back, but the boys were not so lucky. The crew went home with a good feed of fish

  • 09/02/2013 Fishing Report by carl porter on Hard Labour (Wallasea Island, Essex)

    9 Feb 2013 by carl porter

    still plenty of codling to be had nothing big but good fishing all the same and good numbers of skate offshore
    saturdays anglers managed 45 keepers to around 4lb

  • 02/01/2013 Fishing Report by carl porter on Hard Labour (Wallasea Island, Essex)

    2 Jan 2013 by carl porter

    Wednesday and thursday this week have seen good numbers of cod and roker coming to the boat. The forecast not being at its best limited us slightly in the marks we could fish. Both days produced in excess of 10 codling to 4.5lb and roker to 10.5lb.

  • 21/12/2012 Fishing Report by carl porter on Hard Labour (Wallasea Island, Essex)

    21 Dec 2012 by carl porter

    Photo of the Fishing Report

    with a small set of tides deepwater was the order of the day about 20 or so miles east .the ebb was a bit of a dissapointment really with 2 cod about 8 lb each and a couple of roker. however we decided to stay put and wait for the flood .an hour into the flood and bang it kicked off a couple of cod in the 7 to 8 lb bracket and then a crackin 25 lb fish followed by a regular stream of roker and cod several between 9 and 11.5 lb oh and a 2lb bass and a huge dab finished up with 12 cod 8 roker and 1 bass between five of us interestingly the big cod came on lugworm as did several others.

  • 12/2012 Fishing Report by carl porter on Hard Labour (Wallasea Island, Essex)

    Dec 2012 by carl porter

    Photo of the Fishing Report

    This month so far has seen the bigger fish coming on the feed, general stamp of fish are in the 5 to 7 lb bracket, with a good show of double figure fish. There are still Roker to be had and the last few trips have produced bass to 4 lb. Hopefully the sport will continue well into the new year.

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Reviews

Summary:

5-star 8
4-star 0
3-star 0
2-star 0
1-star 0
  • 5-star graham mann (11/11/2012)

    Excellent days dangling. I had codling, bass, pout, whiting and a dog on what was a great day out. Shane and Carl were friendly, full of good advice and a pleasure to be with. Look forward to the next adventure. Graham

  • 5-star Andrew Scott (13/10/2012)

    Another Brilliant day out on Hard Labour, Skipper put us on the fish from the start, Cod to 9IB and Roker to 10IB, everyone had a brilliant day out and teh help and advice given by the skipper to our beginners was second to none. Highly recommend to anyone!

  • 5-star stuart gravely (18/08/2012)

    great day again, i didnt catch loads personally but it was very hard going and after a very slow star we ended the day with over 30 sizeable bass and 4 hounds, 2 of which fell to my rods, but a great laugh had by all on the boat, especially from playing with bens starfish collection, p.s. shane i promise i didnt take the biggest bass.....

  • 5-star stuart gravely (04/08/2012)

    another outstanding day on hard labour, a little more hard going than the last but we still managed to take more hounds than we could ever have hoped for, aswell as a few bass in the mix as well, rods biting from start to finished, thanks once again lads b

  • 5-star stuart gravely (21/07/2012)

    the best days fishing I have had in over 20 years, shane and ben were the perfect crew, more smoothound than I have ever seen and all of a good size, cant wait till next trip!!!

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