Charter Boats UK

I MUST GET OUT TO A WRECK AGAIN  - (I must get out to a wreck again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a plump Cod and a rod to catch her by, And the Ling's kick and Pollock's run  that bends the rod right over, And a few pints and a tale to tell when the trip is over) - A great summer wrecking trip with Colin on Flamer 3 that deserved a write up a little more literary and evocative than normal to do it justice (apologies to John Masefield).      

Colin Penny and the Irish Snapper – 24 July 2010. 07.00hrs North Quay Weymouth Flamer 3 slips her moorings heading for the other side of the Bill (Portland Bill that is). After so much Wrecking, Turbot fishing and Plaice Fishing this feels like unchartered territory this year (I’m sure Colin’s charts say beyond here be dragons). On our way we make a short detour to drop anchor and have a go for the Bream on the edge of the Shambles catching the last of the tide we start to catch the Bream and a few lesser species but with the tide turning we have to move to our main fishing grounds around the Bill. The plan is to anchor a reef and fish for Bream, Huss and Congers. We pick up a few dogfish and our Irish contingent (Donald) gives us the benefit of his wisdom stating where there are dogs there are Rays and sure enough up he comes with a 13lb Thornback (pictured on the web page) luck of the Irish or Irish Blarney? Were not sure until in a feet of great strength he manages to break his rod pulling out of the bottom. Donald tells us that he has caught Shark and Marlin on the rod – we all agree he must have been broken up by an Giant Irish Snapper cus boy did it snap. During the rest of the trip we picked up Bream (to 3.5lb) together with Huss and Gurnards. When one of the Bream rods is doubled over, we realise the Congers are feeding. A Conger on light Bream gear! Only one winner there so over the side goes the slightly heavier gear. We pick up Conger to 30lb on 20lb class tackle great fun. The tide begins to run much faster and reluctantly we make for Weymouth at the end of another great day on Flamer 3 and a tall tell of the Irish Snapper that got away..

Colin Penny and the almost Turbot – 23 July 2010 10 anglers met at the North Quay Weymouth our departure time is 7.30 hrs. Before we leave port a visit is made to Weymouth Angling (a useful tackle shop that opens from 6.30 am for those early starts) to stock up on tackle and bait. Today we hunt Bream, Turbot and Brill in and around the Shambles banks. Our first action is drifting outside the banks catching mackerel before we rig up for Bream, a steady flow of Bream, Red Gurnards, Pouting and Dogfish come into the boat. Later that morning we anchor and the numbers of Bream increase as does the average size with plenty of fish now meeting the skippers personal exacting size limits for keeping (he’s a hard man to please but this is real conservation in action). Around midday we weigh anchor and steam for the Shambles proper. Here we drift for Turbot and Brill. My target is a 10lb plus Turbot to cross off my targets for the year list (I’m not greedy low double figures is fine by me). We land Turbot and Brill and I manage a Turbot which takes the scales to 9lb almost but not quite the target (the almost Turbot is pictured). In the afternoon we head back for the Bream our catch rate improves and the average size increases further with fish coming in to 3lb – a Bass also makes an appearance, however, although just over the size limit it’s returned to grow bigger. 16.30 hrs we arrive back in Port 10 happy anglers with good memories and plenty of fish for tea but also knowing we did our bit for conservation.

21 June 2010 - The “Skins on Tour” angling adventure from Weymouth to Dartmouth begins. The crew: Skipper Colin, myself, a father daughter team Nick and Fiona (aka princess), four guys from Leighton Buzzard: Geordie (aka Spartacus); Tim; Tony (aka stud); together with Jim Stone (aka the Gurnard master) & by special appearance from a galaxy far, far away, Dodgy Dave (team mascot and number 4 skin). Our target a Wreck, where we take Cod, Pollock and Conger. 22 June – Heading our of Dartmouth we maraud our way over and around the Skerries bank catching Plaice, Whiting, Pollock and Dogfish – quiet night on shore!. 23 June - our big day, a dawn raid on the Skerries Plaice followed by an early finish for footy, fun and fifteen pints (the Leighton Buzzard boys live up to their motto “may we never loose the mind for it” and they never did). 24 June - We get down to the real species competition, more Plaice & Whiting but the real professionals target Poor Cod, Pouting, Gurnard, Huss and Sand Eel – another quiet night in the ale house. 25 June – Our return - we make a foray to another Wreck plundering Cod, Pollock and Bass finally making port in Weymouth with our fishy bounty and make for the local hostelries. Overall - fishing good, weather excellent, Seal Arms (our accommodation, drink and victuals suppliers) superb - my sincere apologies for the singing. Most off all the craic on and off the boat needed to be experienced to be believed – thank you Colin and the rest of the crew for a great week (ole ole ole ole we are the skins, we are the skins).

As always we had another great days fishing with colin on flamer III we were booked on a wrecking trip for cod and we were not disappointed with cod up to 16lb and pollark up to14lbs many thanks

Had a fantastic 3 day event on board Flamer III with our trusted skipper Colin. Think this is the 6th year now we have been out with Colin and every year just gets better. Colin is friendly, pleasant and extremely knowledgable which goes a long way to making a great and successful trip that combined with his tea and coffee making abilities. Very much looking forward to next years trip and seeing the new boat :-)

Another great 3 days fishing and fun! Many thanks Colin and we look forward to seeing you in 2011!!

Another great day wrecking with Colin. The trip was advertised as Pollock, Cod & Ling etc. Well Colin called it right again we had plenty of Pollock, Cod and Ling with the etc. being a couple of nice Congers (caught on the drift) and the obligatory Pout. I manged a decent Cod just under double figures, a Pollock of around 10lb and 4 nice Ling to around 15lb but the best catch of the day by far was a 20lb Cod landed by Jenny Foley who hooked the fish on the first drift of the day and went on to add some nice Pollock to her tally.

Day 2 of the two day trip and the lads from Devon who mostly made up the crew again elected to go wreck fishing. Colin chose a group of wrecks well to the south of Portland Bill and we struck gold on the first drift with 3 cod up to 12lb in weight followed by some decent pollock. We visited 3 or 4 wrecks throughout the day with the results being excellent on each occasion. Everybody had a good day and were well satisfied by the time it came to beat the retreat back to Weymouth. It was interesting to note that the water transparency out deep was clear and not affected by the May bloom.

This is Day One of a 2 day trip and the boys from Devon who made up most of the party elected to turbot fish on The Shambles on the Wednesday and wreck fish on the Thursday. Steve caught a decent turbot on the second drift but after this we were disappointed. It was noticible that the water quality and transparency deteriorated due to the May algae bloom and although Colin tried very hard on all parts of the bank we were unlucky not to catch any further turbot and had to be content with dogfish, pout and whiting. The mackerel continued to be scarce.