My first wrecking trip

[Worms]

Well, friday morning dawned as we drove over the mountains to Aberdovey. We pulled into the harbour car park at 07:00 and we were all loaded and on our way by 07:30. The weather was cool, with a force 2 and the sea was as calm as I've seen it in Cardigan Bay this year. There were 4 of us fishing on the boat and a mate's young daughter. One guy had cancelled at the last minute for health reasons. We were heading to a liberty ship wreck 51 miles out in St. Georges Channel.

 

 

By 10:00 we were in position and lures went down, I was using a jelly worm. Fish started coming in almost immediately, except of course for me. My lure remained obstinately fishless so, I changed to a mackerel patterned shad and bang! My first fish was a PB of 13lb, followed by another PB of 14lb. Those were my biggest of the day, but fish of 16lb to Mark and 18.5lb to Andrew were boated as well.

 

This is my 13lber!

 

Mark's 16lber

 

Phil's boat best (and PB) 10lb Coalie

 

I also had a Coalie, my first, of about 3.5lb and, right at the end of the day Mark hooked a nice one that was giving him a bit of "a funny fight". When it, or should I say half of it came to the surface the reason for the "funny fight" was following it in.....................A Porbeagle of about 100lb! I managed to snap off a quick pic in the panic as a shark setup was readied!

 

The fish was hooked and played for about two or three minutes before the hook hold gave out, oh well, plenty more fish in the sea!

 

Overall we all had a great day and we all retired to the pub in the evening with aching arms!

 

I think a new reel is in order, the 624 was just too much hard work in 300 feet of water especially when the tide was running at nearly 3 knots! A Shimano TDL 25 was what I ended up using for most of the day and I started to get used to the handle being on the wrong side!

 

Oh well, South Wales after cod next I think!

[John E Ashford]

Well done on the PB Worms, some good fish.

[Vagabond]

You "wreckon" you are gonna take to this sea fishin lark, then.

 

Some nice fish there. well done.

[Worms]

You "wreckon" you are gonna take to this sea fishin lark, then.

 

Some nice fish there. well done.

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that trip. We boated around 50-60 fish and I reckon only about 20% were under double figures! I've just been invited on a shark trip early next month as well so I'm very tempted!

 

I still can't make up my mind on a reel though (for general boat fishing including wrecking, not shark, I'll borrow that)!

 

Ideally I want a lever drag reel with a line capacity of around 300m 25lb with a line retrieval of at least 30" per wind with a left hand wind that will last. All for less than £100. Unfortunately very few manufacturers list the line retrieval figures, only the gear ratios. It looks like many visits to tackle shops to measure spool diameters and then work it out myself! The closest so far is the Okuma Solterra left hand wind lever drag with 28" at just over the ton.............or a bl@@dy great Alvey 'pin

[Vagabond]

I want a lever drag reel with ...... a line retrieval of at least 30" per wind...... Unfortunately very few manufacturers list the line retrieval figures, only the gear ratios. It looks like many visits to tackle shops to measure spool diameters and then work it out myself!

 

You will have to brush up on your integral calculus then, 'cos the amount of line retreived per wind varies with the amount of line you have on your spool

 

If you do go on that shark trip and hook a big and lively one (as I hope you do), contemplating the depleted spool of your Penn International 50 after a long run, estimating it is only just over half an inch in diameter, and then multiplying that by "pi" and your gear ratio will give a depressing answer - a lot of winding before the effective diameter of the spool becomes meaningful.

 

If the spool gets that depleted, the question of whether you are "gonna get cleaned up" tends to take priority over retrieval rates.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Vagabond

[Worms]

You will have to brush up on your integral calculus then, 'cos the amount of line retreived per wind varies with the amount of line you have on your spool

 

If you do go on that shark trip and hook a big and lively one (as I hope you do), contemplating the depleted spool of your Penn International 50 after a long run, estimating it is only just over half an inch in diameter, and then multiplying that by "pi" and your gear ratio will give a depressing answer - a lot of winding before the effective diameter of the spool becomes meaningful.

 

If the spool gets that depleted, the question of whether you are "gonna get cleaned up" tends to take priority over retrieval rates.

Yes, hence the requirement for at least 30" of line per rotation to start with, at least I get a bit of a chance

 

I was thinking of taking my Allcock's Commodore strapped to my Allcock's Climax boat rod, a 9' rod with an all through action, should be perfect for a 200lb+ blue .........the line capacity of that reel is, well............expensive!

[Brian Carragher]

Good fishing that was and worthy of a few more comments, its good when a plan comes together and some real good fish come over the gunnels, you need to watch it now as you're in real danger of becoming a true all rounder

 

Have a look at the Penn twin speed reels as they're pretty good value and offer a higher retrieve but can drop down a gear when you get a goodun on, mines a gld 30 and that makes for 34/35cms of line when on high speed retrieve, the Penn websites here http://www.pennreels.com/ you need to look for the graphite reel bodies and bob's your uncle

[Brian Carragher]

Make that inch's not cms and you'll be in the right area (you just can't get the staff these days), click on conventional reels and then graphite bodies

[Worms]

Make that inch's not cms and you'll be in the right area (you just can't get the staff these days), click on conventional reels and then graphite bodies

Thanks Brian,

 

I had a look at the Penn site. The only problem is my left hand wind insistence! They don't do one with a lever drag.

 

I have however found this little puppy that may cater for my tastes, the Avet MXL 2 speed. Any ideas or reports (good or bad) on the new Avets? http://www.rokmax.com/product.php?prodid=1...XL+Series+Reels

Although rated as a 20lb class reel in the UK blurb, the US blurb rates them as a 30lb class.......but small. A bit more than I planned to pay, but would possibly cover most of my sea angling requirements.

 

Nick

Edited September 29, 2009 by Worms

[Brian Carragher]

Got to admit it I do prefer a lefty multiplier as they feel much more comfortable to me than the right handers I also have, the right hand wind feels bang handed when I use them and I have to swap hands mid fish when I want to wind in as I hold the rod in my right hand and wind with my left

 

Have a look at the Shimano range not sure if its the Trinidad or the Calcutta but one of those I think is available in a left hand wind and a lever drag, you can also get a Abu 7000 with left hand (7001) the 1 denotes left hand and one of the models has a lever drag

 

Nearly all my inshore reels are 6501's and a pleasure to use but I can't say the same with regard to my 7000, nothing wrong with the reel but the handles on the wrong side