Chieftain

[mr motorola]

To be honest Charlie , i haven't. When we were fishing with JB they were in abundance but no , they do appear to have gone. Don't take my word as written though , it could have simply been that when i was out fishing that the sand-eelers were in a different location to us.

I'll ask George on weds , he'll know better than me.

 

Take care and very tight lines mate.

Carl.

[mr motorola]

All set for tomorrow and raring to go.

 

George has rung saying that the fishing is phenomenal at the moment and i'm rather happy with that too.

 

Report pending................... watch this space.

 

Mr M

[mr motorola]

Just got back from a 70hour trip on chieftain , report to follow.....................and what a report it is!!!!!!!

[Deepseacodmaster]

Just got back from a 70hour trip on chieftain , report to follow.....................and what a report it is!!!!!!!

 

Urry Up with it !!!!!

 

[barry luxton]

Urry Up with it !!!!!

 

 

Yer your've now had more than four hours, let's be havin it. Foto's.

[mr motorola]

The trip started as usual at 1pm for a 70 hour trip although a phonecall from the skipper asking for us to be there earlier fell through when George (skipper) found some unforeseen problems onboard.

 

Sat around on the boat waiting to leave a particular person walked by who shouted out "aye aye Carl..." Stu Johnson , retired skipper of the Sea Trek and also the man who helped land the national Cod record. A long and reminiscent chat with Stu brought back a lot of really good memories of his boat and the times and memories of fish and friends i've encountered on that boat i can tell you.

 

Anyhoo , 1pm it was and away we left , holding up all of Whitby with a double sided bridge opening.

 

The weather reports of every resource George had looked brilliant , although quite a strong sea breeze due to the heat of the area created some rather nice 'white horses' for the first 30 of the impending 160 miles that the boat was destined for.

 

 

The banter was awesome between the lads (9 of us in total) and all together knowing each other.

 

Around 4-5 hours into the long trek out to the back of beyond , one of our lads spotted some splashing in the water about a ¼ mile off the port-side. Intuition grew the better of us and we watched with starry eyes as a small group of dolphin came over to greet and swim with us for a good 50 minutes or so. A nice experience for some of the lads who had never witnessed the animals with their bare eyes.

 

A nice portion of pie and peas supplied by Joyce went down nicely , along with a couple of drinks put the lads at ease and off they all went to their bunks.

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

July 3 , day 1 of fishing , err somewhere in the middle of the north sea, (i know where but sworn to secrecy)

 

5AM came and the bleary eyed anglers were perched up on their seats ready for George to give the 'right o lads'. It came, and down we all went.....60 feet of water if that , hit the bottom and take back the slack , thumb on spool and jig...............nope!!!!! No jigging required because it was stuffed to the hilt with cod. It was merely a case of getting to the bottom and just winding back , literally!!!!

 

Youtube Video ->

 

 

The weather was ridiculously calm , a mill pond if you like , no wind and flat calm seas along with clear blue skies made it a holiday equivalent to being abroad.

 

Having 3 or 4 drops before we had shot over the wreck and had to re-set made it even better too.

 

If my memory serves me correctly it took us 2-3 hour over the first of the wrecks before it started to flatten out and George decided to move on to the next. The second was just as good , needing the same amount of time and effort to flatten that one out. The third wreck was a whole different animal , the fish coming up were a lot better stamp to the first two wrecks we had fished (albeit they were 5-8lb) the 3^rd wreck was producing an average stamp of 10lb , now that would be nice i hear you say and it was but not when you're going down with 2-3-4 hooks on and the wreck is stuffed with fish (rod pumping And back breaking work after 4 or 5 drops at it i can tell you!!!!!

 

Youtube Video ->

 

 

Not wanting to give too much away , this set up went on all day with not a single wreck letting us down ( i really must comment Georges choice of wrecks) every wreck that George thought might be 'on the money' ....WAS!! 5AM start – 8PM finish. Every man on the boat very happy and extremely knackered at what they has just encountered / endured!?!

 

 

 

Biggest fish of the day 16lb 6oz

 

Chapter 3

 

July 03, day 2 of fishing.

 

5AM start again , the lads wishing / hoping for something similar to what happened yesterday but not holding the breath (it couldn't be that good again could it?)

 

The weather never altered , no wind , mirror seas and blue skies, you couldn't ask for any better.

 

George gave the OK and down we went...................yup , you guessed it , bang bang bang bang bang.... every single rod doubled over , nodding all the way ; first wreck of the day , first drop of the day.

 

After the 2^nd wreck had been and gone , i noticed a rather foreboding sign on the horizon. PaddyW asked me on AN not too long ago if i had seen any sandeel boats recently and i hadn't seen any for a year or two but alas , they are back again IN FORCE , raping the sea literally of everything in their ENORMOUS nets.

 

Nevertheless , we fished on , surrounded by the foreign boats and continued to lift very good quality fish aboard. Am i sounding like a parrot? Sorry but it was like it on every AND I MEAN EVERY wreck we hit , so much so that George gave the call at 3PM on the 2^nd afternoon that if you catch anymore fish that it was strictly catch and release because the chiller was full to bursting and couldn't take anymore fish. This has been one of two truely fantastic fishing trips that i have ever experienced on this boat , every trip on it is enjoyable but there are trips that really stick in your mind as fantastic and as i say this is one of them.

 

 

George reckoned that we had lifted over 3 ton of fish (on the bone) and worked out that there was almost 190 stone of fillet in the chiller. He also added himself that it ranked in the top 3 of his fishing days aboard the boat.

 

 

Thanks to all the crew for a really unbelievable trip and special thanks to Eddie the filleting man for keeping our catch on ice and in immaculate condition.

 

Youtube Video ->

 

 

Biggest fish of day 2. Dave Easton 23lb.

 

Mr M , absolutely knackered , worn out , fingers tired due to filleting but.............enjoying the memories for a long long time.

 

 

 

 

 

P.S Ivan Bell , you missed a beauty. Never mind.

Edited July 5, 2009 by mr motorola

[iggy]

ok if ya got 300 quid to spare, that would get us a hol in benidorm for week, no fishing is worth that much just my opinon

[mr motorola]

No problem with that Iggy , some people like holidays some people like fishing. I choose to do both wherever i can.

[iggy]

No problem with that Iggy , some people like holidays some people like fishing. I choose to do both wherever i can.

best way m8 just wish i had same trip

[Deepseacodmaster]

P.S Ivan Bell , you missed a beauty. Never mind.

 

Yes Carl I had to miss a beauty.

 

But your excellent report with photos and vids made up for it.

 

You and your pals brought back many happy memories of past trips and hopefully more trips with you in the future.

 

At the moment the inshore NE cod fishing is patchy (30 miles) but the 30 to 60 mile wrecks are more consistent.

 

However I did recognise some of the marks you were on from your photos and vids and it seems to prove the 100 mile plus wrecks are doing the business

 

I had not seen any sand eelers for a couple of years but it looks like they are back so the puffins and cod will suffer.

 

However I have seen a wreck netter operating out of Whitby so some of the local wreck fishing will suffer.

 

Roll on my 94 hr trip in August and thanks again for the report.