Latest Fishing Reports: Our Joe - L
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08/08/2019
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
8 Aug 2019 by Shaun Pedley
Today aboard Our Joe-L, Wreck Fishing with a different outcome . . . Again!
One of the anglers I had aboard today managed to hook a Thresher Shark while drifting a Mid Channel Wreck. (Second time this has happened in just over a week so we was slightly more prepared this time)
The hard runs in all direction confirmed it was a shark and I soon had all the other anglers reeling in the lures so we could give this one a good chance of at least being seen on the surface. The transom was free for Peter to fight the fish as I started steering the boat towards the fish. I’m glad I did when I noticed the tackle Peter was using, a light fladen multiplier reel and a 20lb class rod.
We had everyone’s attention aboard and I have to say all 9 other anglers all helped out by telling me where the fish was running and getting out of the way very quickly when asked by me and Peter.
After about 20mins and some brilliant fish fighting we saw the tail fin of a Thresher darting across the surface for around 80m then diving again, no jumping which I was surprised about after last weeks amazing mid air sighting!
Just as the fighting became a little easier for Pete and he started to gain some decent amount of line without me driving the boat the line suddenly went all slack and the hook was spat!
Some nice pollock caught today on the wrecks along with some very big Pouting. Shame we had no Ling today but you can’t have everything I guess. We was just lucky to get out in this small break in the weather.
I’m thinking of running a couple of sharking trips throughout August and September now so if you’re interested, please let me know. This is now the 3rd different sighting of a Thresher Shark in the last month and 2 of them have been hooked.
#PaigntonBoat
#FishTorbay2019
#SharkFishing
#ThresherShark
Shaun Pedley -
01/08/2019
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
1 Aug 2019 by Shaun Pedley
July’s Fishing Report aboard OUR JOE-L
Well it’s curtailing been a challenging month for me as charter skipper, we have had some good days of the wrecks catching Cod, Pollock and Ling into double figures but a good days drifting is still hit and miss. Anchoring has been good for congers up to 60lb and we’ve started fishing for them on lighter rods too with some brilliant catches up to 50lb, bream are starting to arrive her now too but not big just yet.
On one memorable occasion (Memorable for the wrong and right reason at the same time) we headed out to one of my favourite wrecks on a flat calm day. After 3 drifts we had nothing, not even a bite or a sign on the sounder. The only reason I stayed on that one after the first drift was because I knew she ‘normally’ holds some fish on a quiet day. At the end of the 3rd drift we had more than one reason to move. When the anglers were winding up one line started to shoot under the boat! Once he realised it was fish someone asked if this was where we had the Tope biting pollock in half a couple of weeks ago? I told them we was miles away so it could be something completely different. On saying that I heard something Jump out the water behind me, on turning around expecting a dolphin I saw an amazing sight of a Thresher Shark out the water and land in his back about 20-30 meters from the boat. He was about 8 foot long plus the tail at an educated guess and soon broke the 20lb line after landing and swimming away. (If only we had some bait aboard we would have had some fun for sure!) couple of the lads had started fishing on feathers and had nothing so I knew there was nothing in the area due to this Thresher and it was time to move on. Such a shame but the lads weren’t keen on sharking so we moved on.
(So you could say we’ve had a Thresher Shark Hoked but I won’t claim that one!)
The Skerries Bank has produced some brilliant fish recently compared to past years with more Plaice over 2-2.5lb than before. (Dave Saunders on Kelly’s Hero Brixham had one over 4lb I believe too! ) seeing some small Turbot caught several times this year too!
I have to say, even though the fishing in the south coast of Devon isn’t producing the Cod and Pollock were used to, having the experienced anglers we get aboard Our Joe-L we have just had to change the days plan slightly to enjoy the day from species hunting to big conger days, Always a great laugh aboard with some top banter being chucked around and plenty of tea and coffee. -
31/05/2019
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
31 May 2019 by Shaun Pedley
May 2019 aboard Our Joe-L ����������
We’ve had several Mid Channel Wrecking trips this month from charters and individual bookings. The earlier trips producing some nice fish as always and in big numbers but towards the end of May the Mid Channel Wrecks started to produce less fish than usual so rather than flog the dead horse, this gave me the perfect chance to head to some of our lesser known inshore marks that are often steamed over by angling boats. Believe it or not there is still one or two that the commercial boats don’t yet know about and we certainly had a couple of good days on them, producing Cod to 13lb 2oz and Pollock to 14lb 8oz.
We also had the chance to explore out into the Herd’s Deep in search of some new territory and to find some new marks. The 18hour day proved quite successful with every wreck holding plenty of fish and even the rough ground marks produced fish which I was doubtful about to start with. Conditions weren’t on our side but the Our Joe-L handled it fine in the deep stuff and although she was drifting a bit too fast for the deeper water due to the 20knts of wind, we was still catching sizeable fish. I set a time limit on each wreck of 45 mins weather we was catching or not. This was because we was there mainly to find as many wrecks as possible and also to leave plenty of fish for next time, not wanting to just catch everything on the first mark we found until it was gone and go home.
We’ve also hosted one of our Devon Sea Fishing Holidays. Over the years the May bank holiday trip has become a bit of a competition with two trophies up for grabs for best fish and most species of the week, our regular holiday fisher Bob Nunn cleared up winning both with 9 species and a Cod of 13lb.
We’ve also had Bass, Ray and Plaice trips throughout the month with very mixed results throughout mainly due to the may weed blooming very thick and fast but luckily things are now clear again.
One of the days that stood out purely as it was something different for us was a 3 boat competition charter that was booked up with Our Joe-L, Gemini and Outlaw. With all 3 of us fishing out of Dartmouth for a Start bay species comp. knowing both other vessels fish the area a lot more than we do I knew we’d have our work cut out and with it being a big tide it wasn’t going to help thing all.. still come the end of the day the angler in gunwale position 4 aboard non other than OUR JOE-L won the day with a total of 6 species and over 15 fish. A good day to be aboard Our Joe-L!
Overall species caught in May include;
Cod to 13lb 2oz
Pollock to 15lb
Ling to 12lb
Bull Huss to 12lb
Bass to 6lb 8oz
Coalfish
Ballan Wrasse
Cuckoo Wrasse
Tub Gernerd to 3lb 10oz
Red Gernard
Plaice
Turbot
Launce
Conger to 35lb
Poor Cod
Herring
Whiting
DogFish
Pouting
Mackerel
. . . and one cuttlefish
With more fishing holidays booking in for June and our first ever Alderney fishing holiday we are looking forward to seeing what the next month brings and the rest of 2019!!!
Tight lines and sea you in June !!!
Shaun Pedley
Our Joe-L Charters and Fishing Holiday
#PaigntonBoat -
12/04/2019
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
12 Apr 2019 by Shaun Pedley
That’s the first Devon Sea Fishing Holiday for 2019 hosted here in Paignton for us now finished. We had 4 anglers plus a few extras individuals that came wrecking during the 5 days fishing aboard Our Joe-L .
MONDAY - We headed down the Ray Pits trying new marks out and on the famous Skerries Bank. With nice weather but cloudy water, we struggled for fresh bait on feathers so decided to head out with what we had out of the freezer only. Using smaller hooks down to a 1/0 due to the lack of bait and a decent tide, we produced Blonde Rays up to 19 1/2lb and a couple of decent Plaice on a slack water drift.
TUESDAY - Mid Channel Wreck Fishing
We fished two small wrecks and one large wreck on a big but dropping flood tide throughout the morning and the start of the ebb in the afternoon. We produced some double figure Pollock along with plenty of smaller ones, a couple of Whiting on baits and a Tub Gurnard fell to Roy who had just taken a likening to the flavour of these fish only weeks ago, so he was well chuffed!
WEDNESDAY - Rough Ground/ Reef Fishing
We fished a couple of patches on the Rough Ground which was brilliant sport but nothing of notable size. Malcolm Wright of Colchester Sea Anglers did manage a club record Cuckoo Wrasse of 13oz. These marks produced Conger, Cuckoo Wrasse, Pollock, Dogfish, Red Gurnard and Dogfish.
THURSDAY - Inshore Wreck Fishing
We started off within 10NM off the South Coast on one of my favourite inshore wrecks from 2018. We had a 10-15knt East wind over a dropping flood tide - my top condition for this wreck in 2018. Seven lads produced a decent stamp of Pollock up to 12 1/2lb, filling the boxes up. When the tide allowed, Dan was practising the art of Slow Pitch Jigging with Master craft jigs. It certainly had the attention of the lads who hadn’t seen this style before! We also had the first Cod of the year falling to Peter from New Zealand who had never fished in UK waters before. Fishing on our Shakespeare Rod and Penn warfare 20 Reel. The Cod weighed 6lb.
Friday - Mid Channel Wreck Fishing
With the Weekend’s conger comp looking to be postponed to later on in the year, I decided to run a longer day to make up for it. Again we had seven lads aboard and six of them had planned to fish my weekend eel comp. We started off heading out into a flat calm Torbay thinking if we can get out, this forecasted Easterly won’t affect us at all! After 10 mins I could see the wind over the surface and knew it would change my plan of heading East. A slight change of heading is all you need in OUR JOE-L like many fast charter boats. We were soon out over 35 miles fishing in a forecast Easterly wind (for the 3rd time this week) over a small flood tide. We caught a steady amount of Pollock up to 6 or 7 lb on the first 3 wrecks it took us until the forth to find the bigger fish for the day, with half a dozen or so going into double figures again, but nothing over 11lb. We had boxes of bigger fish than inshore wrecking the previous day, but not as many fish over all.
It was great to see that such a range of lures catching on the wrecks but the top lure once again is the Sidewinder Sandeels 4 and 6 inch and the super real Skerries Eels Sidewinder
Species count for the Week -13
Pollock
Cod
Whiting
Tub Gurnerd
Red Gernerd
Cuckoo Wrasse
Blond Ray
Plaice
Dogfish
Pouting
Spur Dog
Launce (Caught as Bait)
Mackerel
With the forecast looking ‘marginal at best’ all week, we managed to beat it and headed to sea every day and it was much better than expected. That really is the beauty of these Fishing Holidays - staying at @Parkholm Hotel, 5 mins away from the harbour, you might as well try it in the morning and often you’ll be surprised to get a full day if fishing in! This compared to what we have all experienced in the past - you guys booking a day of fishing then its cancelled the night before thinking it will save you a long early morning journey to the harbour for nothing, only for it to turn out lovely the next day!
The next Devon Sea Fishing Holiday still has limited spaces, arriving on Sunday 26th May for an option of 4 or 5 days fishing. This is Whitsun Week fishing for ‘The Whitsun Annual Trophy’ for best fish and a shield for the most species caught in the week. Last year both won respectively by a pollock of 16lb and 11 species.
Shaun Pedley
OUR JOE-L Charters and Fishing Holidays -
09/04/2019
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
9 Apr 2019 by Shaun Pedley
�� DEVON HOLIDAY FISHING REPORT ��
The lads from the South East have had a couple of decent days fishing aboard OUR JOE-L on this weeks Devon Sea Fishing Holiday hosted by us. The first 2 days have been very productive and fun!
Monday morning the tackle was aboard in no time and with full bellies from Sandra’s Breakfast at Parkholm Hotel. We headed out for a bit more bait on the feathers but the east wind had produced visibility that relates to pea soup! So we stuck to what the lads brought down with them.
I tried an old flood tide mark for Rays but the high pressure had slowed the tide sooner than expected so soon shifted.
Slack water over the skerries we had some nice but smallish plaice that went over 1lb.
When the Ebb kicked in we anchored a new little mark I’ve been wanting to try for a little while, with a couple of alterations after dropping the anchor we was on! Blonde, blonde, blonde biggest went over 19lb not quite making the 20lb for Kevin.
The Fisherman’s famous saying of ‘the one that got away’ was brought back for the afternoon as Malcolm Wright #Shimano Tyrnos 20 reel loaded with braid started to scream! (FISH ON!) All eyes widened knowing it was a big big blonde on the other end! Rod in hand and just as the thought turned to the drag and the fight for him the braid snapped! And with a big disappointing sigh from all 4 anglers, that was the end of that.
The ray marks round here have often produced Blonde Ray over 28lb and into the 30’s in the recent past! That would have secured the specimen prize for Malcolm’s club of Colchester Sea Anglers for a long time he tells me!
Today was Mid Channel Tuesday and with reports of the wrecks being slow at best at the moment we didn’t know what to expect. I targeted a couple of wrecks that should have been left alone for a while. All 3 wrecks produced pollock all day long. Not every drift but most drifts fish coming aboard. Getting bigger as the day went on with the biggest couple making it into double figures but most were 6-8lb.
Couple of nice Whiting and a Tub Gurnard to add to the day.
Over all happy faces aboard and the lads are all enjoying there fishing holiday with us here in Paignton, South Devon.
Tomorrow is another day and makes half way for the Fishing Holiday. Forecast could look better for the rest of the week but we will see!
Shaun Pedley
Our Joe-L Charters & Fishing Holidays -
25/03/2019
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
25 Mar 2019 by Shaun Pedley
Boat launched after her refit at 0930 and the first fish caught at 1230!
After launching the OUR JOE-L in Totnes after the winter refit I decided to test the New Shimano and Penn hire reels out on a small but productive inshore Wreck between the River Dart and Torbay. 4 Drifts produced a pollock of 5-6lb and we turned back to take the boat home to Torbay. With dinner caught and the reels tested all was happy.
With reports of the Offshore and Inshore Wrecks being slow at best at the moment I thought this wasn't a bad result, all I aimed to do was half a dozen drifts trying a couple of new reels out and if I caught dinner then bonus.
Now time to get offshore and stuck into the Wrecking this season! First trip this weekend so finger crossed for the weather and then its Fishing Holidays every month from here on!
More Reports to come.
Shaun Pedley
OUR JOE-L -
12/2018
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
Dec 2018 by Shaun Pedley
2018 Fishing Report from Shaun Pedley, OUR JOE-L . . . Well, where to start?
The first full year for me as a Full Time Charter Skipper, running the Our Joe-L and organising the Fishing Holidays with my family.
The Fishing.
I'm not going to lie here, at times it has been slow throughout 2018 but I'm confident I made the most of the different year we've had on the wrecks. The hottest water temperature for a long time saw the Black Bream arrive in numbers towards the end of the year! The Lads who have been sharking have seen big numbers too and we've also spotted Tuna jumping on more than one occasion. Now, back to our fishing.
I started the year mainly drifting on the wrecks, seeing some nice Pollock caught offshore and the occasional Cod. We fished a Plaice Festival on a weekend in April and had a number of catches weighed in. Not quite a match for the local Skerries Bank residents that produced some nice fish, though I've been working on that throughout the Summer and we will be back in 2019 for the comp!
We had a good time in May & June fishing inshore on the wrecks. On most days we caught more fish inshore than when we pushed offshore, so knowing the inshore marks was key for the beginning of the Summer! The Skerries Bank had also started to pick up, with the number of Plaice and Turbot caught rising all the time. Whilst on the lookout for some new spots, we had a couple of fish other than the usual Pollock and Cod with Coalfish, John Dory, Red Gurnard, Tub Gurnard and Bass! One to remember for another time then!
With a couple of Black Bream caught early in July, I had a feeling we were in for a good year on them. We had a fishing holiday in August who wanted to target them specifically, so off we went on the hunt to follow up Dad's reputation of catching lots of Bream! On day one we caught none - what a start, time for a rethink! We tried some different baits and I picked a wreck that I had my eye on all year. Bang! A number of decent sized catches in a couple of hours, the biggest up to 4lb7oz. Kevin won't let me forget that one in a hurry! With everyone aboard happy with their catches and the best of the Bream tide gone, I decided to use the remaining time of target Cod. Same wreck, but a different strategy of drifting on baits and lures. A few catches around the 6-8 lb mark to round off the day. The rest of the week was much the same on the reefs and wrecks.
Moving on to August which was a cracking month for Conger! A couple of specific Conger Charters from our regular guys who fish for the British Conger Club (BCC) and many competitions, On the day it was Essex Boys vs Devon Boys! Being a Devon Boy myself it was hard not to be one sided, although the Essex Boys smashed it! Catching a 66lb half way through the day was enough to win a BCC Silver medal, what a result! Our eldest fisherman proved to be the wisest too, as he spent more time hooked onto an Eel than off! We quickly lost count on the number of catches and a shame the weather called off the next day. We had planned an experimental day having fished well the day before, but that is mother nature for you!
In September we fished in the annual Torbay Fishing Festival. The usual crowd booked our hotel and fished with us for all 9 days. The usual target for us was Conger and Bream and when tide wasn’t favourable, Pollock and Ling. I'm proud to say we won trophies on all 4 species over 100%, narrowly missing out on top boat by 1 fish. After winning 8 prizes in total, it was a pleasure to see our fishermen at the prize giving.
The Dartmouth Fishing festival
Unlike the rest of 2018 the weather was not playing ball and we called off day 1. Day 2 made anchoring up on the wrecks a no go, Pollock it was then! With only 3 guys fishing they all caught a dozen Good Pollock each and all weighed in there best. Biggest Pollock on Day 2 was ours at 15lb. Day3 Saw again similar conditions but we all agreed on a strategy to catch one Eel big enough. Knowing nobody else would have anchored up in this weather that would be all we needed for a winner. It took all morning drifting over the wreck having a nice sport of bass fishing to wait until the conditions were as good as they could be. 3 re anchors and an hour later the short rods came out and heavy leads went over the side, right on the sweet spot. I said to the lads that we won't be here long in these changing conditions so best baits and sharp hooks on please! With 4 caught in half an hour and one big enough to take for the weigh in we picked up the anchor and headed for home. Enough of that. Well we did get beaten for the Pollock on day 3 but Paul managed to walk away with a nice new Conger rod and a trophy for the best Conger of the weekend. Job Done.
The Boat was safely out of the Water the next day for a good winter refit and will soon be ready for 2019. I’ve heard the lads are having a nice spot of Cod and whiting inshore and the winter Pollock are starting to show in sizes. This is a really good sign for next year already.
Shaun Pedley
Our Joe-L -
06/06/2018
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
6 Jun 2018 by Shaun Pedley
Plenty of Pollock Showing on the Wrecks now with Cod showing up too. Quite hit and miss on location still though but its great to see them coming up in numbers!
We was catching Pollock and Cod about 2-3 wreck length off the wreck witch shows the amount of fish down there.
Sidewinder Blues, Reds and Yellows were possibly most successful lures of the day but all lures and makes had caught a number of fish. -
27/05/2018
Fishing Report by Shaun Pedley
27 May 2018 by Shaun Pedley
Plenty of pollock caught on the Wrecks.
Drifting all day over 4 different Wrecks 20miles off the head.
Plenty of fish to the net for the time of year.
Enjoyed by all aboard.
