Saltwater Boat Angling — December 2017

because we’d all had such a great day.

Ady had some lovely ling using a

mackerel flapper and also caught

his first tope. He’d been smashed up

by a powerful fish about ten minutes

before and when he hooked the

tope he certainly realized he was

in one hell of a scrap. When we

managed to boat the fish, there was

a hook in its mouth with a broken

trace – it was of course Ady’s smashed

rig from the earlier take. He was as

delighted as we were for him. John

Roberts (who comes from

Birmingham) also had a lovely

smooth-hound and a thornback ray

and Phil had some nice cod.

We were also amazed when Keith

started catching some lovely ling and

cod, although he lost a few of them

because he was using an inline rod.

We all teased him because it was like a

scaffold pole and but, as the tiny bend

in the end illustrated, he was playing

what were very good fish. After a

while, Keith changed to a lighter-

actioned rod, with more of a feel to it.

We couldn't stop catching mackerel

on every drop using feathers so we

were never out of bait. We kept seeing

birds circling and diving, which is

always a good sign. 

Tuna!

On a trip out a few weeks later, we

were watching the same thing and,

suddenly, Keith shouted out he had

just seen something really-huge jump

out of the water about a mile and a

half away. We all peered hard to see if

would breach again and then saw a

large tuna jump, sideways on, it was

an amazing sight. None of us had ever

seen tuna in our waters before,

although I believe they are becoming

more common now all around the

coast. That distinctive fat belly on a

short body signifies this extremely

large visitor to our waters.

And so, we carried on catching. I

landed a personal best ling, Phil had a

10lb cod and Keith had one of each

species.

We all feel very fortunate to get on so

well together and although one of our

members, Roy Tattersall, hasn't been

out on the boat with us yet, he did

fish with Ady on the Harbour Wall at

Hartlepool and they both caught fish.

I’m sure it won't be long before he

ventures out on the boat too.

Recording our adventures

On all our trips Phil uses his GO Pro to

record our fishing and we all take

some photos which we always make

available as viewable video footage

and post it on Facebook (along with

our catch pictures).

I can’t overstate how these first few

trips have really highlighted the joy of

boat fishing (as long as the weather is

OK) and now we’re all looking forward

to many more trips over the coming

years – and not just from Hartlepool

but from other ports around the

country. You never stop learning new

tricks and techniques and, with a

small club like ours, this knowledge is

learnt together and shared together.

If anyone fancies a trip out or to

meet up for a chat you can

contact us on 07867511363.

We meet every other Tuesday in

Anstey.

Octopus on

Ady and Philip

Ashley Butcher

Saltwater Boat Angling 43

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