Serious Fun

You may be wondering whatever happened to the RNLI film on sea safety for anglers that Arron and I helped with back in June. Well, the project was part of something much larger than just a safety video - it is a whole safety, information and of course fund-raising programme branded "Serious Fun" that will run for the next few years.

Apparently the RNLI revenue from legacies is declining, the value of their investments has been hit in the current financial crisis and quite rightly, they are making leisure users of the sea aware of their need for funds. The Serious Fun DVD will be launched at the Excel Boat Show in London (9-18 January) and covers all aspects of leisure boating with short films on each category of water sport including our sea angling film stars "Salar" and "Aquaholic". As soon as the DVD is made generally available I will put links on my web site. We wish them all the best with their campaign, and if you feel like subscribing, I recommend an annual membership by Direct Debit, it is quite painless and also very helpful.

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Short Cut Danger

This is really only for boat anglers that fish between the Nab Tower and Bembridge. The eastern approach channel to Portsmouth and the Solent is clearly marked running north and to the eastern side of the Tower. Many small boats fish the banks and other features either side of the channel keeping well clear of large ships passing, although we do see ferries avoiding the main channel and cutting close to Bembridge Ledge on occasion. However last Sunday's tide encouraged a small convoy of much larger ships to cut between the Nab and the Island, passing very close to many small boats anchored there. The sight of one of those huge car delivery ships approaching while you were happily fishing for cod in what you thought was a safe place, could be seriously worrying.

I hope it didn't spoil that little boat's day.

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December Bass

I was going to post a report on my fishing trip last Sunday but my single cod was dwarfed by a 33lb 10oz monster caught on another boat on the same day - have a look at my Catch Reports page for a very impressive photo!


It was a great day: calm sea, sunshine and plenty of fish. What more could you ask for - in December of all months? I had a strange experience coming back in when I ran into a huge flock of seabirds spread over about a quarter of a square mile of sea about four miles offshore. I would expect that in smaller doses in summer when they hang around over mackerel shoals, but what were they doing in December? I stopped the engine and drifted quietly. Soon I noticed spiky fins cutting the glassy smooth surface of the sea, and looking down I could clearly see groups of panicking sprats. Bass, traditionally a summer fish, had met sprats, traditionally winter fish, right there in Hayling bay and they must have thought it was Christmas. Bass were hunting in their hundreds - thousands even.


I flicked out a small sprat-like lure which was immediately jumped on by a schoolie but then another strange thing happened: as I reeled it in I saw it was being followed by about ten of its brothers, keen to get in on whatever action was going. I popped him back and flicked out again, this time letting the lure sink further in the hope I might find larger fish and sure enough the next one was a plump two pounder. I changed up to a larger surface popper and spent the next half hour catching bass after bass as they lunged for my plug in great splashy takes. I could even see the fins homing in on the lure as they cut through the surface film. Tremendous fun and a great end to one of the best days fishing I have had this year. It is also encouraging to see so many small bass, let's hope they have a chance to grow bigger.

Cod Poll Results

The Cod Poll on the Boat Angling web site has built a nice little picture of our local cod catches this season so far, and the statistics are very pleasing. The majority of returns show more cod this year than previous years, some reporting smaller sizes, others similar sizes. This picture is backed up by reports from our neighbours fishing the Needles to Poole marks, and the sample of reports on web sites all indicate reasonably good catches but few of the sizes that were once common. In a few more years maybe the 6 to 8 pounders swimming around now will have filled out a bit. Thank you to those that have helped with the poll.

Guys from the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network have contacted me to spread the word on their work to increase the (voluntary) size limits for fish taken for the pot, which seems a good idea. This is to align the limits to the maturity of the fish so they have a better chance of growing big enough to breed: the recommended minimum size for cod is 50cm. More details will be posted on the Boat Angling web site soon.

Fishing and Reading

At last, a weekend that was just about fishable. Salar has been back in the water waiting patiently for a sea trial, so I combined the two and headed for a sheltered corner of the Solent for an hour or two. You don't have to go too far offshore for cod at the moment, there has been a string of reports coming into my boat angling in-box from anglers reporting cod catches about a mile from the shore along the eastern side of the Solent. The cod didn't oblige for me this time though, but I had plenty of whiting and they are just as tasty if a bit more fiddly to prepare. A tip from the cod-catchers: don't go all traditional with huge baits - try small ones alongside, you may be surprised which one old bucket-mouth goes for.

It was my birthday recently, and with all that windy weather I had used up my store of reading matter, so I spent my birthday tokens on a few books. If you are wondering what to put on the Christmas pressie list, here are a few I can recommend. If you have been fishing for 40 plus years like me, you may remember Mr. Crabtree Goes Fishing - and if you lost the copy I'm sure you once had, you can buy a reprint. All coarse fishing, but it brings back happy memories. Another find is 1001 Top Angling Tips by John Wilson. About a third is devoted to sea fishing but there are plenty of useful ideas in the coarse section too. Finally, Chris Yates goes back to sea fishing with Out of the Blue: On Fishing at Sea . This is more of a read than a reference book, but it's a nice one to lose yourself in as you nestle in your favourite comfy armchair while the wind howls outside.

PS If you like Peter Gander's drawing above, you can get it on a t-shirt or mug from FishPrint.

Boat Angling Web Site Survey

As if to prove a point from my previous blog - that if anglers aren't fishing they are probably thinking about fishing - the recent spate of windy weekends has resulted in a lot more activity on fishing forums and web sites, including my own http://www.boat-angling.co.uk/. Although it is not a commercial site (apart from my t-shirts and mugs!) I want to keep it useful for local anglers, and judging from the high visitor statistics I must be doing something right. Things can always be improved, so I have introduced a short survey on the home page using Polldaddy to find out what people want (great name, no wonder the young guys that set it up sold it recently for £millions).

When it has run its course I'll publish the results but already the first flurry of responses has been very interesting. For example, I never realised another local site has introduced subscription charges for those that don't send in catch reports! Rest assured, http://www.boat-angling.co.uk/ will always be free. We have also had opposing views on a forum. Although the idea of a contact exchange forum is a great idea, there are already a lot of sea angling discussion forums available and they take a lot of volunteer work to keep any troublemakers under control. A club meet maybe? Fishing buddy exchange? Summer beach bash after a fish-in? Charter boat reports? All great ideas - please keep them coming in, 2009 could have a lot more action!

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PS Do you think that if I changed the name to Fishingdaddy I could sell it for £millions too?

Why do we do it?

This bad weather is dangerous because when you can't go fishing you start thinking, and we all know thinking leads to trouble. I was reading a forum post recently about charter skippers having to limit the amount of clobber anglers bring with them on board, and I started pondering why we need to buy so much fishing stuff. The only bit of tackle that really matters is the last few inches of line, the hook and the bait. If that is the right sort in the right place at the right time, you'll catch something even if the rest of it is attached to string.

So why do we spend so much on different rods, reels, lines, weights (OK, pass on that one, we keep loosing them!) and every new-fangled thingmy that is a must-have? I have a theory, well two actually. The second theory is that we like to extend our fishing pleasure far beyond the act of dangling line in water, and we do that by browsing shops, magazine averts, mail order catalogues and the Web. We fish for tackle and when we start unwrapping our purchase we get the same little rush of excitement as landing a fish. That is all pretty obvious, and no different from any other sport surrounded by clever merchandising. My first theory is more significant and it is to do with attitude, and attitude creates (or is derived from) confidence. Sorry if this is getting deep, I did warn you. So this is how.

If you have lashed out a wad of money on the best tackle and bait money can buy, you know that it is down to you and the fish. So nothing distracts you, you concentrate, you persevere, you guessed it, you catch fish. On the other hand, with a hook that might be too shiny, a line that you think might be too thick and spook the fish, or with a rod that is just a bit too long/short, you mentally almost give up before you start. You don't believe you will catch, you inwardly blame the gear, you flip about from one mark to the next and go home early, fishless. Your attitude translates into behaviour, and it is that behaviour that catches (or doesn't catch) fish.

If you can buy confidence in the form of £100-worth of black carbon with rings on, sure why not. But if you saved yourself the money and instead convinced yourself that your bait was well presented and in the right place, (and assuming it was) I bet you'd catch something good. Even with a crummy rod.

End of the Red Era

If you use petrol in your boat you won't care about this, but us smug diesel-buyers have finally come to the end of our run of luck. Instead of paying 9.69p a litre to the tax man, we'll have to pay a whacking 40.66p from 1st November. Most boat owners are queueing at the pump to squeeze every last drop of red diesel into their tanks before the end of October. There are a couple of odd anomolies though - red will still be sold and used but you will have to declare (usually by signing a form at the pump) that you have paid duty on it if you are using it to fuel the propulsion of a pleasure craft. This is because the same pump is used to fill the next boat which could be a commercial craft and not liable for the new rate of tax. If you have a heater on board powered by diesel (and most boats use the same fuel tank as the engine fuel), you don't have to pay the new duty on the fuel used for heating. The powers that be have decided that heating fuel can be up to 40% of the total fuel used by a pleasure craft, but that claim will have to stand investigation should they decide to have a close look.

You may think this is all daft and the rules have so many holes in you could use it to trawl for sandeels. Who am I to say? All I can suggest is that you are very honest about the tiny amount of diesel used in the heater alongside the massive turbo-diesel engine you have in the back, and that the idea of sneaking a few cans of low tax diesel into your tank at dead of night where it can't be identified among the same red diesel which you have paid tax on, absolutely never occurred to you. If you want the full HMR&C pitch on it, have a read of Brief No 4098.