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Nine members of our Club - https://www.facebook.com/pages/SCBI-Sportfishing-Club-of-the-British-Isles/116133465115464 - have recently returned from an enjoyable two days sharking; our planned third day, the Wednesday, was cancelled due to 20+ knot winds. We fished in groups of three with a plan to ‘rotate’ the groups between the three boats - Sea Angler 2 skippered by Malcolm, Crusader skippered by Ricky with Kevin crewing, and Mirage skippered by Dave with Simon crewing.
Monday was virtually windless, with that being the day that the group fishing with Malcolm on Sea Angler 2 spotting a school of juvenile Bluefin at 100 yard range. So not the school of ‘giants’ initially sighted off Penzance over the weekend that resulted in so much excitement in the Press. But I wonder if that was the same migration that commercials encountered off Portland last year? One of our members who’d targeted juvenile Bluefin in the North Eastern Adriatic earlier in the year was of the opinion they were similar sized fish in the 70 to 100b range. (Alright I won’t go on about the lack of any recreational quota within the EU’s quotas.)
Any rate they had, on Sea Angler 2, just a solitary Blue, with the other boats both recording five each.
Tuesday was much better. The wind was up and we all got decent drifts. We were on Crusader and were some 16/17 miles past the Eddystone, I suspect on the edge of the shipping channel. All three boats released 10 fish each. (So 41 in total for the two days.)
Um … although we had to work for our tenth after I - and I know I can, on occasions, be somewhat excitable - popped my 30lb line! Unfortunately my ageing FinNor Regal doesn’t have a strike setting on it and, with the fish really motoring and the clicker left on for maximum effect, I pushed the lever to …….. SUNSET! (I’d also lost a fish earlier in the day. That had swum past the float before going down and abraded the line. It broke on the strike.)
Still despite my embarrassment - and not surprisingly they weren’t prepared to let me forget it - and with literally minutes before lines out I got another run which proved to be the biggest fish of the trip. (I was a tad more ‘sensitive’ with my drag settings this time.) We brought it through the transom door and taped it out at 90” (7’ 6”) short length with a girth - it was a really fat female - of 42”. That equates, using the ‘formula’, to 198.5lbs - a personal best. (My previous best had been estimated at 140lbs and came from the Azores when we were night-time fishing for Broadbill. That was on a mono trace!)
We understand that that’s the biggest fish from Plymouth this season and, in all probability, was one of those ‘Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift’ fish rather than one coming from Portugal. That said though I do recall, many moons ago, they used to encounter those 200lb fish 20 miles off Cape St Vincente - the westerly point of the Algarve - mixed in with a sprinkling of Makos.
Other points of interest.
Dave and Simon on Mirage were really impressed with the consummate angling skills of our ‘dancing two-some’ taking on a double header on their Stellas. Seriously they performed well in keeping the fish apart, and bringing them to the transom separately for release.
What was noticeable on day one was that the birds in the chum trail would not easily spook - we saw one with a shark literally ‘up its bum’ before it lifted off and moved just a few yards. However on day two, with more chop, they would spook as a group and stay in the air for a significant time. That was usually the precursor for a bite. We suspect though, given the length of time those birds were unsettled at the end of our day, that the penultimate fish - the one I popped off - and the larger one had been in the chum trail deep for some time before taking the baits.
Mackerel were thin on the ground throughout and as many sharks, perhaps more, were taken on Whiting as Mackerel.
One of our members lost one fish when the heavy mono, backing the wire, was bitten through and, and it’s the perceived wisdom, that the fish had rolled up on the trace. Kevin however on Crusader had a different view. He felt that on hooking the bait would often be blown up the trace and lodge on the connecting swivel where, on occasions, another shark would take it and chop through the leader. Any rate since he’s used to lightly wire the bait to the circle hook he’s had no cut-offs. Worth considering?
Finally let me complement our crews - really nice guys, very professional and great company!
Monday was virtually windless, with that being the day that the group fishing with Malcolm on Sea Angler 2 spotting a school of juvenile Bluefin at 100 yard range. So not the school of ‘giants’ initially sighted off Penzance over the weekend that resulted in so much excitement in the Press. But I wonder if that was the same migration that commercials encountered off Portland last year? One of our members who’d targeted juvenile Bluefin in the North Eastern Adriatic earlier in the year was of the opinion they were similar sized fish in the 70 to 100b range. (Alright I won’t go on about the lack of any recreational quota within the EU’s quotas.)
Any rate they had, on Sea Angler 2, just a solitary Blue, with the other boats both recording five each.
Tuesday was much better. The wind was up and we all got decent drifts. We were on Crusader and were some 16/17 miles past the Eddystone, I suspect on the edge of the shipping channel. All three boats released 10 fish each. (So 41 in total for the two days.)
Um … although we had to work for our tenth after I - and I know I can, on occasions, be somewhat excitable - popped my 30lb line! Unfortunately my ageing FinNor Regal doesn’t have a strike setting on it and, with the fish really motoring and the clicker left on for maximum effect, I pushed the lever to …….. SUNSET! (I’d also lost a fish earlier in the day. That had swum past the float before going down and abraded the line. It broke on the strike.)
Still despite my embarrassment - and not surprisingly they weren’t prepared to let me forget it - and with literally minutes before lines out I got another run which proved to be the biggest fish of the trip. (I was a tad more ‘sensitive’ with my drag settings this time.) We brought it through the transom door and taped it out at 90” (7’ 6”) short length with a girth - it was a really fat female - of 42”. That equates, using the ‘formula’, to 198.5lbs - a personal best. (My previous best had been estimated at 140lbs and came from the Azores when we were night-time fishing for Broadbill. That was on a mono trace!)
We understand that that’s the biggest fish from Plymouth this season and, in all probability, was one of those ‘Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift’ fish rather than one coming from Portugal. That said though I do recall, many moons ago, they used to encounter those 200lb fish 20 miles off Cape St Vincente - the westerly point of the Algarve - mixed in with a sprinkling of Makos.
Other points of interest.
Dave and Simon on Mirage were really impressed with the consummate angling skills of our ‘dancing two-some’ taking on a double header on their Stellas. Seriously they performed well in keeping the fish apart, and bringing them to the transom separately for release.
What was noticeable on day one was that the birds in the chum trail would not easily spook - we saw one with a shark literally ‘up its bum’ before it lifted off and moved just a few yards. However on day two, with more chop, they would spook as a group and stay in the air for a significant time. That was usually the precursor for a bite. We suspect though, given the length of time those birds were unsettled at the end of our day, that the penultimate fish - the one I popped off - and the larger one had been in the chum trail deep for some time before taking the baits.
Mackerel were thin on the ground throughout and as many sharks, perhaps more, were taken on Whiting as Mackerel.
One of our members lost one fish when the heavy mono, backing the wire, was bitten through and, and it’s the perceived wisdom, that the fish had rolled up on the trace. Kevin however on Crusader had a different view. He felt that on hooking the bait would often be blown up the trace and lodge on the connecting swivel where, on occasions, another shark would take it and chop through the leader. Any rate since he’s used to lightly wire the bait to the circle hook he’s had no cut-offs. Worth considering?
Finally let me complement our crews - really nice guys, very professional and great company!
