Famous - H'Pool - 22/4/07

[..::Pike Pirate::..]

Seeing as though the pc was a bit blown up i couldnt post a "going" post about this but i can post the report!
Same morning boat routine as usual...half 5 start...breakfast in a bun (sausage, egg, bacon, 2 of each all in a huge bap prepared skilfully by me) and we went to the tackle shop...bought a few hokkai and small shad rigs because we got a tip off from the skipper that baited hokkai's and muppets were taking off the wrecks!
met up at the fuel berth at half 7, and set sail for a wreck about 5-6 miles offshore at an average speed of about 12-14 knots :-) a few piccys took on the way out for your viewing pleasure!

What lies ahead?


The Gang! (gordon with his back turned in the orange coat lol)


Looking out onto the headland. that long thing is the Heugh. nice pier.


got there and we started our first drift with a slight swell on...i had my hokkai's on with macky squid and sandeel with my norwegian pirk and everyone else has pretty much the same set up for the days fishing

first drift and gordon (the ling machine) pulled up a decent ling of about 8lb and kenny was next with another ling.
second drift, same wreck, couple more ling caught then it went quiet so we went over another with pretty much the same results.
third drift and im getting worried now, im usually outfishing everyone by now but im being outfished!

we had fished the hartlepool wrecks a bit now with some ling and one codling so we steamed up north a but more and looking at the shore i think we were about 3 or 4 miles off of horden and blackhall now.

i baited up with my mini shad rig and first drift over, me and dad both caught two nice plump 2.5-3lb codling! nice eating size! very nice. gordon then continued to outfish the whole boat by catching a 6lb 5oz cod, then a 5lb12oz cod and a few more ling! on the other side of the boat, people were catching plenty of pout and some decent codling up to around 4/5 pounds. along with the ling of course!

then it gets interesting! kenny has a rod that literally takes a shark to bend it and he strikes into something thats bending it slightly!! we all know this must be a nice fish so we all shout "GAFF!" because the deckhand seems not to have a net. it comes up through the water and almost in disbelief we say "a pollock??" yes thats right, kenny landed a nice pollock of around 5 or 6 pounds i guess. dad has never seen a pollock landed up here ever so this must be a first!



i then feel another bang bang bang on the rod and strike into something that feels heavyish and im glad to say ive caught my first ling! about 4 pounds and a lovely fish with the black and white edging to the fins makes them look superb



of course while drifting over wrecks you find you have to be in it to win it and being in it usually means you lose quite a lot of tackle. well i lost both my new bought rigs and dad must have lost a good 5 or 6 rigs lol, the amount of lead on them wrecks now must be enough to sink them again!

the codling


the ling


our friends the seagulls (gannets too!)


the day finished with us getting back into the marina at about quarter to 6, paying our money and going home to prepare our fish! fillet and steak and whatever . a thouroughly anjoyable day full of firsts for me! (seeing a ling, catching a ling, seeing a pollock, dont laugh southerners but it was the first time id ever seen a pout in the flesh and the first time id ever caught a cod above 6 ounces!) definately going out again in two months !

[pingu]

Great report and pictures well done PP

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Well done mate looks an interesting day

[Norfolkboy]

Well done PP, sounds like you had fun