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BOAT FISHING REPORTS
The website of TRUE BLUE, the Poole based angling charter boat.
Skippered by Steve Porter for Bass, Wreck and General Fishing.

Westerly winds of force 4 to 5, decreasing PM to force 3 to 4 made deciding whether to go on this trip difficult. But with so many cancelled trips of late, 7 out of the 8 anglers booked decided to give it a go. The fishing was fairly steady all day with just the odd fishless drift. The catch was all pollock. No real biggies, with just the odd one making it into double figures.

Imagine the look on my face when 10 anglers (2 more than I recommend) boarded the boat, all carrying seat boxes to go on a wrecking trip. Imagine what was going through my mind when I discovered that some of these boys were new to wreck fishing. Now consider the shipping forecast. NE winds force 5 to 6 decreasing PM to variable 3 or 4. As is often the case with winds from the north, conditions get progressively worse the further you go out to sea. That was certainly the case today and I am sure that when we arrived at the mark, the wind was a good force 6.

But despite all the above factors, we ended up having a good day. The guys coped well with the conditions and the fish, mainly pollock were plentiful with some drifts accounting for as many as 5 or 6 fish. Several doubles were landed including the best of the day, which when weighed back on the Quay went 14lb12oz for Geordie Greenwood. Today also saw the first of this years wreck cod landed.

Well done to todays crew for sticking with it in what was at times quite difficult conditions. It was good to see their efforts pay off.

Its probably a bit early to be sure, but it does seem that the fishing offshore at the moment is a little better than at this time last year..

The first inshore trip of the season. Despite an unfavourable weather forecast, the conditions were good with a flat sea and some sunshine. Exceptionally small tides meant that we were able to anchor the wreck of the Kyarra and the deep hole off St Alban's head in the hope of catching a few conger. Sadly the fishing was very poor. Not a hint of a conger or ray, just a few dogs and pout.

New customers and a day to impress out on the mid channel wrecks. A blustery west wind persisted all day and this coupled with the small tide seemed to effect the fishing which remained slow throughout the day. Most notible fish of the day was a good sized male cuckoo wrasse.

Winton Workmen's SAC and another day on the wrecks. The fishing was still below par but much improved on the previous day. Our second cod of the week was landed together with several pollock up to just over 10lb. A period at anchor to target the ling produced only conger.

Following an abandoned trip on Monday and a cancelled trip on Tuesday, it was good to get afloat again. Conditions were sunny for most of the day with a westerly wind of around force 3 to 4. Reasonable conditions and good company were not equaled by the fishing, which sadly was below par all day. It took visits to several wrecks to eventually end up with a few pollock. Interestingly, we met up with Lymington skipper John Skeggs on Tom Cat Two at the first wreck. While we travelled the channel from wreck to wreck looking for fish, John stayed put and eventually ended up with slightly more fish than us, proving that it is not always necessary to go looking. The picture shows Brian Nelson and his crew from Newbury with part of their catch.

Some of my anglers have been telling of days at sea when the ocean was calm. Not sure if getting older is affecting my memory, but such days seem such a distant memory to me. Today was yet another day afloat in conditions that were far from ideal. Easterly winds persisted all day dispite a forecast that claimed they would become variable before backing westerly.
The wind and big tide made fishing difficult but the lads battled on and evenually found enough fish to show a slight improvement on the previous day. All the fish landed were pollock, one or two just making it into double figures but a surprising amount of smaller fish.

Well this was a trip that so nearly got cancelled. The weather forcast for the four days was far from ideal and it looked at one point that we would have to return to Poole early. I was very grateful to the crew for agreeing to go ahead with the trip. As things turned out, the weather was fairly kind and nothing like what had been forcast.

Day one saw us heading across the channel in sunshine and a slight sea. Reasonable numbers of pollock to around 12lb were landed together with the first of the years mackerel and garfish.

For day two it was turbot fishing on one of Alderney's banks. Reports of few fish coming from the banks were not encouraging so we were pleasantly surprised to land a credible 16 turbot. No biggies though, the largest at just 7lb with most returned.

Day three and another go for the turbot. Fishing was slower with only 4 turbot and 1 brill being landed. Our reduced catch rate was probably due to a lack of fresh mackerel, which had been responsible for most of the fish the previous day.

On day four it was back accross the channel to Poole. Our first wreck proved reasonable for ling and pollock but wrecks nearer to home were dissapointing

We added six new species to the 2006 species list and one angler, John Matthews landed 9 different species himself. The company was great, as was the hospitality of Ingrid at the St Annes Guest House.

Great expectations as members of the Blandford SAC boarded the boat for what looked like being a great days wreck fishing and the best weather forecast for ages. Sadly it wasn't to be. The sea state was not as forecast and by the time we reached the mid channel wrecks, we were in the middle of a fresh easterly wind and moderate sea. The conditions were still "do-able" but the fishing was slow and with only a handfull of pollock from four wrecks, the crew decided to move back inshore to try for bream. Conditions inshore were good but the fishing remained poor with just one bream being landed. This was caught by Dave Knapp and was the boats first bream of the year bringing our species count for this year to 23.

With news of our first bream yesterday, the Witchampton boys elected for a bream trip instead of a chance to go wreck fishing. Sadly, loads of groundbait, squid and ragworm failed to temp the bream although we did have one swimming around the boat on the surface for a while. Unusual for a bream we thought. Fishing today was extremely slow but the crew remained in good spirits and it was probably the most fun that I have had with so few fish in a long while. Martin Bennett added a ballan wrasse to our 2006 species total, which now totals 23 species. With great conditions and a small tide, today we probably missed a great opportunity to fish at anchor on the wrecks.

Another go at the first of the bream and another day of great conditions and good company. Sadly, though very few fish. The picture shows Brian Arnold with a nice black bream, (our only one). Brian Henson got his name on the 2006 species list again, with a small thornback ray. We now total 24 species for the year. The list can be viewed by clicking on the link on the home page.

A great start to the day for the "A TEAM" with bream coming aboard fairly consistantly during the first hour of fishing. Sadly the fishing slowed down as the day progressed and even a move to Kimmeridge only produced the odd fish. Total bream landed was 16. Keith Cherry landed our first smoothound of the year bringing our species total to 25. The A TEAM welcome anglers to join them. Check out the link under "Club News" to see a list of their forthcoming dates.

Great conditions and plenty of fish seen on the echo sounder filled us with optimism for some great bream fishing as the boat was positioned for anchoring. Unfortunately hopes were dashed as not a single bream was landed all day. In fact fishing generally was very poor except for a brief period on the drift when good numbers of pollock and mackerel were landed on mackerel feathers. The pollock were in the 1lb to 2 lb size class.

Still below par for late April, but todays bream trip turned out to be the best so far this year. The morning session on Southbourne Rough accounted for 26 bream on the flood tide. The ebb tide failed to produce anymore bream on the Rough but a move to Poole Patch produced one further bream to give the boys a credible 27 for the day. Todays crew added weaver and goldsinney wrasse to the 2006 Tango Bravo species list.