Celtic Maid - report 1st July - Exmouth

[tommy a]

With all the brilliant weather recently it came as no suprise that our long planned trip on Thursday was the worst weather weve had in weeks - still we met with Kiwiw ( member of forum for many years - a bloody good laugh ) on the dock front at 6. 30am.

Looking out it looked bleak, windy and wet as the forecast had said - with strengthening winds we feared the worst but we thought wed at least have a few hours makeraling and bassing off Teignmouth or on the Galacia - which is usually a waste of time - but better than nothing.

Anyway we boarded the Maid with sandeel left there for us and steamed out - pretty choppy to say the least but with waves breaking and crashing over the bow we decided to at least try the Bretagne wreck 6 miles out before it got worse. The usual mix of banter and outright piss taking took place and in no time we found ourselves sat on the wreck.

Whilst the old man manouvered us over the start we chucked our sandeels out and hoped for the best - first minute and my spinning rod bent over - a few minutres later our first bass of the year, a keeper at about 3lbs and the first on our boat as weve only had it since the winter.

Spirits raised and confidence high we all went like mad - drift after drift and the occassional miss of the wreck as we are still learning the technique - the weather improved with no rain all day but a steady wind and swell kept us all on our toes. Result for the day was over 25 fish - mixture of one bass, plenty of pollack, pout and a large channel makeral.

Between 3 of us we kept a dozen fish all the larger ones - not large if you fish a charter but on your own boat and on an inshore wreck 3 - 4lb aint bad returning at least that amount to grow bigger.

At 3pm we steamed in and got in through the channel with only 3ft of water - quite a test with the swell that was running but safely navigated and back to the berth in the dock.

To say our women were pleased with us would be an understatement - plenty of fresh fish for tea and even better we gained passes for next times trip. This is the first real effort weve had to target a few wrecks and fish for the day with bait pre - ordered - wed planned to go out 30 miles for some cod or bigger fish as I hear the wrecks are producing the cod but with the forecast and everyone saying we wouldnt even get out, I think we can consider it a very good day.

Looking forward to the next settled weather when we will certainly be going further afield after the bigger pollack and bass and maybe some cod.

Cheers

[pingu]

well done tommy, result in the end

dave

[scottish_and_mental]

Glad it went well mate.....sounds like you all had plenty of fun - if not in the sun
Hope to see you soon and find some big buggers
Steve

[tommy a]

Steve,

PM me your details mate so I can tx or e mail you about the next outing.

Tommy

[fishypaul]

well done tommy,a good days fishing mate

[devonutopia]

Nice! Out of curiosity how big was the mackerel? I caught a few on saturday morning off Torbay, about 2 miles out, and a couple were decent but nothing I would describe as "large". Would love to catch a real specimen one day.

[tommy a]

Jason - bout a pound and a half - biggest one Ive seen in many years. There is supposedly a spot off Hopes Nose where you can get them to 4lb with baited feathers in very deep water but Ive not tried that.

[devonutopia]

Hoping to get back out on a boat from Brixham in the near future, so will bear that in mind. We got to 30m deep, but apparently went to 50 not far from there. Some kind of shelf apparently.

[wellyfish]

sounds like a fun old day tommy im moving back up to devon next week to a proper job again with 2 days off a week so hoping for an invite next time .....

[tommy a]

No hope about it kev you are v welcome - just supply us with the info on where to fish !