Tubbies from Beer

[Baz T]

I was invited by a friend to join him on a days boat fishing out of Beer, in Devon yesterday. A trip had been booked on Blue Lady, and we were hoping to target red and tub gurnards, and hopefully some black bream too. I had fished on Blue Lady a couple of years ago, when I regularly boat fished, but having changed to carp and pike angling, I hadnt been out boat fishing for a while. Despite selling all my beach fishing gear and most of my boat gear, I did keep my 12lb class boat road, and multiplier (loaded with braid) just in case an opportunity like this arose once in a while.
We left Plymouth at about 0600 for the drive up to Beer, and when we arrived it was a lovely sunny day, with hardly a ripple on the sea. Shortly afterwards the other 4 anglers arrived, as only 6 of us were on this trip, which meant we had a bit of room onboard. I had also fished with them before, so it was nice to see them again after a couple of years.
Cyril, the skipper, has fished these waters all his life, and can usually put us on the marks for fish. He is quite a character too, particularly when he says he will take us out the 7 mile wreck, which is actually only 5 miles out!!! He usually puts down some rubby dubby too, which is basically a tesco bag (or occasionally an asda one) full of mashed mackeral, and weighted down and rigged in such a way that it turns upside down and empties the rubby dubby once it reaches the bottom.
We waited on the shingle beach while Cyril launched the boat down off the beach into the water, and then came back and beached it bow first, so we could clamber aboard via the wheeled platfrom/ladder. We tackled up. I had rag, lug, squid and mackerel as bait. I usually use lug, tipped with squid on a size 1 or 2 hook, with 3 oz weight, and then change to mackeral when the worms run out. The tide was running a bit, so I eventually had to go up to 6 oz for a while, then back down to 3oz at slack water - its great fishing this light.
Before we knew it we were at the mark, and the anchor was down. The weather was nice and warm, not much of a swell, so we settled down to wait for the sharp rattle of a bream bite, or even a gurnard.
A couple of us had bites, only to find mackeral on the end when we brought them in, however they didnt plague us too much during the day, but did provide some fresh bait, and a couple for the freezer too.
Fishing was quite hard work, but eventually some bream started coming on board, about 2-3lb mark, so although not prolific they were a nice size, plus the odd dogfish. Eventually a couple of red gurnard about 2lb or so came up. Just after mid day the sky turned darker, and the swell got up, and the rain came. We wedged ourselves against the railings and continued to fish, with the occasional large (very large sometimes) wave hitting the boat, but we still managed to catch fish.
Later in the afternoon a tub gurnard of 3lb 12 oz was caught which was a cracking fish, the biggest of the day, although another came close to it but wasnt weighed.
Time for home, and Cyril even beaches the boat bow first, and the boat is then hauled up the steep shingle bank with us onboard to the waiting ladder/platform, and off we step, and head for the cars. I didnt get any pictures of the bream etc, just the one Tub Gurnard.

A good day out. Between the 6 of us we had about 20 -24 black bream, half a dozen red gurnards, a couple of tub gurnards, the obligatory dogfish, which were a nice size so Cyril the skipper skinned them for us, and also some large mackeral.

You can see by the photos and vid the change in weather, just as well we took our waterproofs.

Early morning at Beer
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We wait for the Skipper to launch the boat - blue boat above the red car
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Bit of change from the beautiful morning !
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Peter with his 3lb 12oz Tub Gurnard. I thought it was a red gurnard initially but apparently it is a Tub as it has beautiful blue tips to its fins - you cant see them in the photograph though[IMG][/IMG]