My fishing summary for 2011

[Snatcher]

Well thats our caravan in Drummore now "winterised" and us back in sunny Whitley Bay !!! Fishing wise it has been a good year with many happy outings to reflect on. First off I do enjoy coaching younsters,in fact I get a bigger buzz out of seeing them catch fish than catching fish myself. Think my star pupil of the year was Hannah. Check her out with this Mull of Galloway wrasse.

 

 

Had my 2 oldest grandsons spend a few days with us in Drummore. I did not get the chance to take them out fishing but took them onto Drummore beach for their first casting lesson. Check out Wayne casting here.

 

 

And Lewis really going for it.

 

 

Another cracking day I had was when I showed a mate of mine from the caravan site one of my favourite pollack marks. Nick had 5/6 good pollack about this stamp. All carefully returned to fight another day.

 

 

The "Sharkatag 2011" event held in June this year was spoilt by the weather for 2 of the 3 days. I fished with Toonfireman on the first day in his boat Joshua. We did manage to catch/tag/release two tope though. On the day he was the thornback king and check out this beautifully coloured tub gurnard he caught.

 

 

Another memorable day was having my annual "wrasse bash" with Udderman. This guy must have some secret ingredient he rubs on his bait !!!! Lets just say I came a rather poor second to the "master". He even caught this pollack on a bare hook with no bait on and to make matters worse he had borrowed my spare reel as his had buggered up.

 

 

Also had a cracking day out in Luce Bay with Dr Dietrich Burkle. He had kindly invited me out to fish a day with him on board "Onyermarks" skipped by the old sea dog Ian Burrett. The tope had not read the script and we only managed one fish each but the craic was oh so good. Here is Dietrich with his fish.

 

 

Fishing is not without its dangers as you all know but I escaped relatively lightly this year only donating a small amount of DNA to the Mull of Galloway rocks !!!! Mind you nearly lost my mate George into the tide race at Lagvag.

 

 

The majority of my shore fishing involves lure fishing for bass. I do not report on this side of my angling but will say that I have had a very good year fishing venues from the Inner Solway all the way up to the Ayrshire coast.

 

Was kindly given a load of soft plastics this year to try out for the bass. The bass seemed rather keen on this crayfish/lobster imatation. I will have to experiment further with it next year.

 

 

I also took the plunge and invested in a new bass rod. I was pointed in the right direction off a good friend and this is what I went for. I cannot praise it highly enough. Its light,casts a lure a long way and being 12' long is great for controlling fish when close in and avoiding rocks/weed.

 

 

I did enjoy fishing lure vs bait on a west facing storm beach with two mates a short while back. We arrived there at dusk and they had 2 bait rods out each,I persisted with my Sonik spinning rod/controller float/holographic sandeel. I had the only bass of the session,the bait rods only accounting for one dogfish. I put most of my bass back but this one I kept for the pan.

 

 

Well they are some of the highlights of my season. It is a special part of the world. Check out the view of Luce Bay from our caravan veranda,you could not buy a view like that.

 

 

Due to a 3 month return trip to Australia we will not be opening the caravan again until May 2012. On the plus side will hopefully have lots of Australian fishing reports to write up on my return.

 

John

Edited October 12, 2011 by Snatcher

[Phone]

Snatcher,

 

Fine report it is too!

 

You'll have those grandkids using a full pendulum(sp) by next summers end.

 

Phone

[Danny-R]

Thanks for sharing this, great pictures.

[Vagabond]

Hi John

Nice to know you had a good season.

 

Highlight of mine was catching an English charr from Coniston.

 

We too are off to Oz this winter. Might see you there, it's only a small island

 

Nice to see the Toon back where they belong after the board- room hassle of recent years. We Norwich supporters are looking for six easy points

[Snatcher]

Hi John

Nice to know you had a good season.

 

Highlight of mine was catching an English charr from Coniston.

 

We too are off to Oz this winter. Might see you there, it's only a small island

 

Nice to see the Toon back where they belong after the board- room hassle of recent years. We Norwich supporters are looking for six easy points

 

Hi Dave We arrive in Sydney 06 Feb after a 3 night stop-over in Singapore. We leave Sydney on 02 May to head back to the UK. For the most part we plan to stay with our daughter in Freshwater. We have already booked a two week trip over to Perth though,27 Feb till 12 March. I plan to try a reef charter or two when in Perth - any info on this ?

 

I did leave some fishing gear in Sydney after my last trip and have already arranged some fishing trips with some guys off the Sydney Fishing Forum. They are a good bunch of blokes.

 

Will also hire a car at some stage and have a slow drive up the coast to Brisbane,fishing as I go. Would be great to hook up with you if possible when out there. What adventures have you got planned on this trip ?

 

John