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  • 02/06/2025 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin on Galloper (Brightlingsea, Essex)

    2 Jun 2025 by Scott Belbin

    Report on-board Galloper

    I thought it was probably about time to put out my annual spurdog report. As many of my regulars know by now, I like to keep some of this stuff under my hat for various reasons.
    In reality at times it would be better to put these up as we're catching them but It's not going to happen so if you want to join us you'll have to get booked in and take your chance with the rest of them next year.
    Our season started better than last year but after that it was hard to get enough trips in to have a good look around offshore and locate these fish. There's no other boat in the area willing to put in the time, effort and miles that we do so it can be hard to locate them at times. Eventually the mother load of fish turned up (along with everything else). When there's that many fish offshore then a certain amount will overspill to the inshore grounds too occasionally. We had some mixed in inshore as well which is always nice to see.
    I noticed lots of other boats happened upon a few too. One or two seemed to dine out on a hand full of fish lucked out over one or two days which was cute.
    We had a several hard days and lots of successful days on spurs over the course of 6 months. Dad always said it's harder when targeting one specific species on a trip as you might have a good trip for other stuff and miss the target species which still feels disappointing. However it does feel great when we do find them by design and put the lads on some special fishing.
    Our best day was truly remarkable. The weather was perfect and the fishing was chaotic to say the least. The lads were on multiple hook ups throughout most of the day as packs of spurs and hounds came through. There were loads of double figure fish and PBs for most anglers. Admittedly it was hard to keep an accurate tall but we finished with 82 spurs and 54 hounds. We also had 8 rays, loads of dogfish and a few whiting. There were some serious amounts of fish there that day and hopefully it's one we will all remember. Not quite matching our biggest ever day of 88 but getting close.
    We had lots of other days with great numbers and double figure fish. On a quieter day I even managed to sneak out a double shot of small ones.
    Although we experienced some great fishing I am a bit concerned that the general stamp seems to have dropped significantly and some areas just aren't producing at all. Hopefully it's just a lul and not due to commercial pressure since the reintroduction of commercial quota for spurs. Only time will tell.
    For now, with our spur season wrapped up we will be targeting big tope as well as turning our attention to the offshore bass fishing as it improves. I have a few spaces left for tope and loads of availability for bass between now and December. We target them in various areas from shallow banks to deep water. On lures, static baits and live baits. Please get in touch if you fancy in offshore trip or even a general trip.
    Next spaces
    08/06- boat available for individuals and groups
    15/06- 5 spaces @ £60pp
    19/06- plaice and bass trip £115pp
    22/06- 6 spaces @ £60pp
    28/06- boat available for individuals and groups
    Not all dates advertised please call 07956411528 for more information

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    UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Galloper
    Sat 07/06/2025 2 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp
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    Sun 15/06/2025 6 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp
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    Thu 19/06/2025 £115.00pp
    Offshore plaice and bass Bass / Plaice.
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    Sun 22/06/2025 5 Spaces £60.00pp
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    Sat 05/07/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp
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    Sat 12/07/2025 £60.00pp
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    Thu 17/07/2025 12 Hours £115.00pp
    Offshore bass trip
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    Sat 19/07/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp
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    Sun 20/07/2025 7 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp
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    Sun 27/07/2025 1 Space 10 Hours £60.00pp
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