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BLACK BREAM CHARTER TO
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You can read elsewhere on this web site about the two consecutive four day charter trips I enjoyed in late June and early July to Guernsey, aboard Lloyd Saunder's Dartmouth based charter boat, "Saltwind of Dart". Those of you who know Patsy and I, will already know that she too enjoys her fishing, so we decided to join a party on another long weekend trip to the Channel Islands. On the way across, it would provide her first experience of wreck fishing. On my previous trips, I had particularly enjoyed the scrapping fights I experienced with the feisty "Black Bream" around the Islands. I wanted more of this and I got it! On Friday 8th, together with my angling buddy Tim Bird, we joined Fred; Paul; and fellow Paignton S.A. member, Chris Doidge aboard "Saltwind". Our excellent crew for the trip was another Paignton S.A. member, Keith Nathan. Day 1 - by 7 am, we were heading out between the twin Castles which flank the entrance to Dartmouth Harbour. As we passed the green Castle Ledge Buoy, a further ½ mile out, Lloyd opened the throttle and "Saltwind" powered smoothly into the English Channel. The sea was calm, with a hot settled weather forecast; it promised to be all that we could hope for. About 5 or 6 miles out, we stopped briefly to feather up Mackerel for bait. They were there in abundance and it only took a few minutes to fill a fish box. We resumed our voyage and headed out to the Hurd Deep. The trip took a little over 2 hours. Lloyd suggested we should use Hokai feather lure rigs with 3 good quality strong but small hooks as our terminal tackle and complete the set-up with a weight on the end. I chose a 9 oz lead, which appeared about right to get my tackle down to the bottom in almost 360 feet of water on my 20 lb braid. We carefully filleted Mackerel and cut the flesh into long narrow strips. perhaps anything up to 4" long by 1" wide. We baited our feathers with the Mackerel strips and carefully lowered them down to a huge wreck directly below where we remained at slack water. The sharp tugs of biting fish were almost immediate. Patsy was the first to convert the bite into a hook-up. Patsy pumped the fish up towards the surface by lifting her rod tip and winding line on to the reel as she lowered it again. She made her rod work as a spring to cushion the sudden tugs of the fighting fish. I encouraged her to check that the clutch on her Abu 7000 reel was sensibly set to reduce the risk of a big fish snapping her off. If the fish dived, she waited and only retrieved when it was not trying to take line. Lloyd stood alongside her, offering constant advice and encouragement. He ensured she was was aware of the need to keep the fish out of the rusting metal plates of the wreck. On occasions Patsy found she needed to further control the spool of the reel by judicious use of lightly applied thumb pressure. This was quite different to our usual inshore Plaice and Bass fishing! She did everything correctly and a Ling of about 12 lbs was lifted aboard with a minimum of fuss. Had it not have had such sharp teeth, I swear she would have kissed it! We all caught Ling, lots of them! They really do offer a good scrap and make excellent eating too. Chris caught a really fit specimen approaching 20 lbs.
Then it was my turn again, but the bite felt different. It was a quick pluck. I struck and all hell broke loose. I knew that feeling bouncing on my braid line. Lloyd looked casually at the tip of my rod and said, "That's a Bream". I knew he was right. I cautiously played my fish to the surface, being careful to do all the right things. As I looked down into the water I could see colour. It looked like a silver dinner plate - no it didn't, it looked like the large platter on which you serve the Sunday roast joint! As Lloyd carefully netted my Black Bream, I could see that it was a specimen, the like of which I had never caught before. I saw a "Mermaid's Nipple", a closed sea anemone, of the kind which cover old ship wrecks, on one of my other hooks. I knew I had been fishing well in amongst the fabric of the wreck. I carefully unhooked my Bream and weighed it on-board on my Salter Abbey digital scales. It went a little over 5 lbs. That was a new PB for me. I was "chuffed". Lloyd casually remarked that he had previously taken anglers to this wreck and on occasions they had caught particularly large Black Bream there. I never doubted Lloyd for even a split second. I know him well and trust him completely.
I re-baited my rig and lowered it again to the waiting wreck. Within seconds I felt that same unmistakable bite. I struck again and called out to Lloyd, "Bream on." I repeated the procedure and could sense by the way it fought that this too was a good fish. Lloyd smiled as he lifted my 2nd Black Bream aboard in the landing net. This one was a little smaller; almost exactly 4 lbs. In the absence of my earlier fish, that too would have beaten my previous PB for Black Bream.
A few more Ling and as the tide picked up, the mark became almost un-fishable. We headed for St. Peter Port, a further 2½ hours cruising time. On the way, we stopped off at another wreck, where I boated a Cod of about 12 lbs and we all caught some nice Pollack. Once again we all stayed at the Yacht Hotel, which overlooks the Harbour. Those first couple of pints of the locally brewed "Breda" lager never touched the sides as they went down. We showered, changed and went out to dinner. Although it was stifling hot even with all the bedroom windows open, we slept like babes. Day 2 - We all enjoyed a hearty English breakfast and were on board "Saltwind" by 9 am. We headed for a patch of rough ground several miles off the Island of Herm, which we fished "on the drift". We made up simple two hook paternoster rigs from 30 lb mono. I had used these on my previous trips and was by now an "old hand". You simply tie two blood loops about 2 feet apart on a length of mono. Now snip one side of each blood loop, to turn it into a snood, standing perhaps 7 or 8 inches out from the main trace line. Next slip on first a black bead followed by a luminous green bead onto the snood. Lloyd wryly smiled and commented, "Whatever you do, don't get the beads the wrong way around". For a fleeting moment I almost believed him. Next, tie a size 4 or 6 short shank strong hook onto the end. Adding the hook will inevitably slightly shorten the snood. Do the same on the 2nd snood. Now tie a short "rotten bottom" of 15 lb B.S. mono quite close to the lower snood and add a link at the bottom of it on which to attach your lead. I use paper clips for this purpose, they are cheap, expendable and do the job just fine. Attach the top of the 30 lb paternoster to a small swivel and tie it onto the main line of a 12 lb class rod & reel. I would have liked to have used a 6 lb class rod, but it was impractical with the amount of lead required to reach and hold bottom without tangling everyone else fishing from a charter boat. Use a suitable lead weight on the bottom of your rig, depending on tide, depth of water, and diameter of your main line, this might be as little as 3, or as much as 10 ozs. We baited our hooks with a variety of offerings. Shell fish are excellent. Yes, you remove the shells first! Personally I like to use the heads from Calamari Squid. You can also use smallish strips of Mackerel flesh. It's a case of whatever works best on the day. (I'm going to try these rigs when I get home, I reckon they might be excellent for Red Bream and Wrasse, particularly when baited with live prawn). Everyone caught nice quality Black Bream.
Paul was the first to catch the first of several brilliantly coloured Red Gurnard which took our Bream baits. This fish was approaching 2 lbs.
Patsy became completely absorbed by this fast and furious sport. Three times she caught "double headers", two Bream at once.
Chris Doidge caught 18 Black Bream. Patsy and I lost count, but we each must have hooked and landed a similar number. Many of the Black Bream were returned alive to the water to fight another day. Everyone caught Black Bream. I reckon our collective total for the day was probably somewhere between 70 and 80. Yes, we also caught some "Brown Bream" in the excitement - Pouting - just love these baits, on these rigs, on such marks!
Chris spent the heat of the day wearing his "smooth" wrap around sunglasses and it shows! Eyes like "Chi Chi" the Panda. We all enjoyed ourselves so much that in the excitement we even persuaded Lloyd to join in too. He tackled up his own Conoflex "Saltwind" rod and was quickly showing us how it should be done.
In the late afternoon, we cruised back to harbour tired, sunburned but very happy. Day 3 - We boarded "Saltwind at 7 am for the return journey. Due to the early hour of our departure, the Hotel kindly offered to provide us with packed lunches in lieu of breakfast. We motored down Channel and as we did, we saw three Basking Sharks grouped tightly together. Another single Basking Shark, possibly a huge male, over 25 feet in length was lazily swimming approximately 100 yards from the main group. I just get so excited when I catch a glimpse of these gentle giants. We stopped on another of Lloyd's favoured marks where we fished for Pollack and Cod. Again we all caught good fish. Patsy was the Cod catcher, she hooked and landed more than half a dozen. Tim Bird caught several nice Pollack, including this fit summer specimen
Our collective thanks go to Lloyd for his excellent knowledge, guidance and patience. We are all grateful to Keith, who tirelessly gutted and filleted those fish which we kept for the table. Every day, he collected fresh crushed ice and packed our catch in polystyrene foam boxes to preserve its freshness until we returned home. That's three trips to Guernsey I've done aboard "Saltwind" this Summer. I would like to do it again next year. Patsy is restless for a repeat performance. The other guys are already talking about going in 2004. To arrange your own trip aboard, you can visit www.saltwind.co.uk or you can ‘phone Lloyd Saunders on 01803 883003 or 07831 315477. Alternatively you can Email him on lloyd@saltwind.co.uk © Mike Concannon 15th August 2003 |
