Williamson, John Roberts and finally
‘Captain’ Philip Hickling.The first trips
We began our fishing odyssey by
going to the coast at Immingham, on
the Humber estuary, which is a good
ninety miles and a two-hour drive
away. This is the port from which I
caught my first cod and, of course, I
was understandably over the moon.
Unfortunately, I also managed to put
the filleting knife through my hand
while gutting the fish, a common
enough accident but, as a result, I
ended up at Leicester Royal infirmary
having eight stiches put in. Despite
this, I was still purring with delight
about my first sea angling catch.
From then on, the club members
ventured further afield to the Bristol
Channel and then to Chesil beach.
Sadly, we didn't actually get to fish
this iconic venue as the weather blew
us away and so we had to find more
sheltered waters a few miles down thecoast. One of our number, Keith
Williamson landed his personal best
bass (5lb+) a couple of other
members (Ady Jurkowski and Phil
Hickling) somehow managed to land
a couple of lobsters so we all viewed
that trip to be another success,
despite the weather.Our own boat?
A number of us (me included) had
already been out a fair few times prior
to starting the club. Then, we went
together on a few trips with a variety
of charter boats. One charter boat wasbased in Wells Next to the Sea, a
Norfolk port with an enchanting
surrounding area, and another was
from a port further down the coast.
We caught fish and also caught the
boat angling bug...but what we really
needed now was our own boat.From day one, Phil Hickling, one of
the founders of the club, had
expressed a desire to get a boat for
the whole club could use. The club
was only about eight months’ old but
we already had a few trips under our
belt so, when Phil revealed that he
was already looking for a suitable
boat, the other members were very
interested to see how this would
develop.
Phil had done his homework on boats
and navigation and had a clear idea of
what he was looking for. We were all abit like kids at Christmas, very excited
and dying to find out what boat he
had found for us.Epic Daze – a Quicksilver 640
We didn’t have long to wait, Phil had
found a great boat, that could fish four
comfortably, and the deal was done.
The boat was a Quicksilver 640 and,
thus, the Epic Daze, as it was called,
was brought to the Midlands on a
trailer so we could add some personal
touches and important safety items.
It wasn't long before we managed to
secure a club mooring at Cardiff
Marina and our angling dream
became a reality. Now, I’ve suffered
from sea sickness for years, but I
wasn’t going to let that spoil this new
adventure so, after trying some new
sea sickness tablets, I seemed to start
finding my sea legs - so far so good!
From then on, we regularly went
down to Cardiff, usually in the early
hours, so we could get an early start. It
was about getting a feel for the boat
how it handled and what it was like
fishing in it.First trip
On the first trip we went on out in to
the Bristol Channel, found a mark, and
set the anchor down. It wasn't long
before some nice thornback rays came
over the gunwale (and were of course
returned) and Ady started by using
some big mackerel flapper baits and
managed to locate some big conger at
anchor and ling on the drift, both over
wrecks. There was a running joke
about the chicken legs he always
seemed to be scoffing from his lunch
bag which we all saidSaltwater Boat Angling 41
The crew preparing to goEpic Daze in Penarth DocksP40-42 Ansty Angling Club.qxp_Layout 1 03/11/2017 13:58 Page 2