We set off on board Anchorman Charter from Hythe Marina at 7am sharp in search of some winter Cod and other species.
My aim was to fill up the Catch Gallery on www.anchormancharter.co.uk with photo’s of good fish so that paying customers can see what they are likely to catch when fishing on this vessel.
I was joined by Lee Woollon, Mike Stimson, Martin Cooper Steve Perry, Vernon Mumford and 3 other anglers all in search of some big winter fish.
We headed round the Solent and made our way around the Needles Lighthouse making our way towards a precise set of coordinates that were pre plotted into Skipper Dave’s navigational equipment.
After spending a while making sure that the anchor was bedded in and the kettle was on we were ready to fish!
We all knew that our target species was Cod and Conger so our rig was fairly simple. A 1/0 swivel with 6’ of 125lb monofilament coupled with a pair of very sharp 8/0 hooks!
The bait used was a mixture of Ammo Squid, Ammo Dirty Squid and Cuttlefish. We each found ways of presenting our baits either by simply attaching 2-3 squid or like me adding 2 squid with a wrap of Cuttlefish skin...Nice!
After a very short time it started to happen. I had just put down my cup of Coffee (courtesy of Skipper Dave) and my rod tip gave a very familiar bounce, I picked up the rod and fed out some line and sure enough whatever it was on the end kept on taking my bait back into the tide. I tightened up the drag and wound down into the fish. It was immediately apparent that I was into a fairly sizeable fish.
After a battle of about 15 minutes my first fish of the day was heading towards the boat, eventually onboard my fish was a Conger Eel of 27lb! Great start!
Next on the list Martin Cooper hit into another fish that felt good, he had a good tussle and finally emerged with a larger Conger of about 30lb.
The bites were coming thick and fast and soon Lee Woollon was bent into another Eel!
The lads all had a couple of Eels each and a few good Whiting, we were all having fun and with a constant supply of Tea, Coffee and Bacon Sandwiches the day was going well.
I could not help but think where were the Cod? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>-<)))’>
Steve had a small knock and he wound down into it but he refused to comment when one of the lads asked ”Conger?”
He kept the pressure on and I realised I was tangled round his line so I just realed in at the same speed as he reeled in at so as not to cut his line.
The Shakespeare Ugly Stick Braid hire rod hooped over and played the fish perfectly.
Soon enough we saw the massive white mouth of a large Cod!
“Thought so” Steve exclaimed.
What a perfect specimen wonderful winter Cod of 19lb.
We all fished hard as soon as Steve had landed that fish, everyone wanted a Cod!
Martin Cooper had another knock and soon he leant back into a serious fish! He tightened the drag on the Abu Garcia 7000i reel that he had hired on board of Anchorman Charter and the fish kicked back and pulled his rod over.
After quite a battle we saw a very wide, very long Conger eel making it’s was towards the boat. Once on the vessel you always know when it’s a good fish when someone has to climb up onto the fish locker to lift it clear of the floor for weighing!
55lb 7ozs, 6’ 8” long...very nice!
Not long after the return of the big Eel, Mike Stimson notified us that he had been getting an enquiry for a few minutes, he had been feeding the line back on a very gentle bite but had now decided to strike. Whack! He was in.
The fight looked slow and lumpy and Mike was sure that this was not and Eel.
He gave the fish some line and it took a few decent lunges, after a while the fish came to the surface and sure enough it was a Cod! Nice fish.
We got it up on deck and weighed it; it turned out to be 14lb 8ozs. A perfect little specimen.
We headed back after a great days fishing and everybody had caught a decent fish. Martin Cooper had the largest fish of the day with his 55lb plus Conger and Steve Perry had the best Cod at 19lb.
Huge thanks to Dave (Chef Mumford) for the trip and we will see you again soon.
