Have I got sea legs?
Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex, UK
Charter boat - Blue Fin
I had a few days off during the week and after phoning an old friend and keen fisherman Craig, we had decided that we wanted to do something a bit different, boat fishing!?!. This terrified me at first, due to the fact that every boat trip before hand that I had ever been on made me sick, from sailing boats in the great barrier reef, ice breakers in Iceland and fishing boats in Greece, they had all made me vomit and very ill. But the lure of catching bigger fish, and different species that I couldn't catch off the beach, and my sheer passion for fishing was why this was a too exciting opportunity to miss. And it was a great chance to bag my first cod!
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| Ginger, good for sea sickness |
In preparation for the sea sickness, I got a bit of help from google! I had purchased some sea sickness tablets, several roots of ginger, porridge and ginger biscuits. I had taken two tablets the night before, with two to take in the morning, from the ginger I made a tea, I drank one cup the night before and left the rest for the morning of the trip, I had the porridge for breakfast as I thought this would be easy to vomit, and took the biscuits to eat during the trip. Now this may seem a bit extreme, but if it helped then it would be worth it! and if it did then I would have to do it every boat trip
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| Blue Fin, charter boat, Shoreham by Sea |
We had booked the charter boat Blue Fin from Shoreham by Sea harbour, and was required to be abroad at 7.30am. Once there we meet the captain Mark and the 5 other fisherman It was at this point I realised how out of place I looked and felt, not knowing anything about boat fishing, and for the first time fishing, all I could do was watch and listen as I didn't have an opinion of my own. We had hired the rods, tackle and bait from the skipper, and was pleasantly surprise at the quality of the gear, a 7' boat rod with a multiplier reel, the bait was whole baby cuttlefish and a few boxes of squid.
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| Running ledger rig |
We set off out into the open ocean from Shoreham harbour, the talk on the boat was predominately from Craig, but was interesting listening to all the old fishing tales being told. We ventured out towards a wreck, but due to the sea being very rough, the skipper decided to go to a different location. Once anchored what happened made me laugh out loud, like a frantic spiderman shooting webs all over the place, fishing lines darted all over the place from the back of the boat, all going in different angles, The eagerness of the fishermen to get get the bait in the water was immense and extremely frantic, seven on a small boat all casting at once!. well I wanted too as well, but I was slow out the starting block, and wasn't ready. I looked down and thought where the hell am I going to drop mine without getting caught up!!! I didn't want to be the annoying novice, but after about two minutes everyone had to reel back in because all the lines went under the boat, as it found its resting place in the current. We fished for about an hour, I opted for whole baby cuttlefish whilst other used squid or cuttlefish strips, but no one caught or had a bite, and it wasn't long before we upped the anchor and headed elsewhere.
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| Baby cuttlefish, inky! |
The next place we tried I believed we drifted over flats, I still opted for the whole baby cuttle fish, hoping for a cod! but whilst I had no joy a few had caught some channel whiting and a few dogfish, but I wasn't having much luck, not even a nibble! But at least the skipper kept the teas coming which I drank with my cuttlefish inky black hands, oh yes! now I know why the rubber gloves were on the bait board, and it wasn't for the screamish who didn't want to touch bait.
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| Pouting anyone? |
The bites had dried up, so we set off for our last destination, a couple of rock pinnacles under the sea, it took a few attempts to anchor correctly so we were fishing exactly where the fish were, and credit to the skipper as this detail got us on the fish, Pouting lots of pouting up to 3.5lb, I was still using whole cuttlefish, and was just getting more frustrated as I was getting bites but couldn't hook anything, so I change to small strips of cuttlefish as bait to ensure I had at least one fish to take home, the change of bait worked, I landed four pouting and a 1.5lb whiting literary in the last 30mins of fishing.
Well I didn't catch my first cod! but I did try and used the right bait for them, I had a fantastic time, and for a first I didn't get sick!!! my tablets, ginger tea and biscuits worked!!! now, that's what I will have to do every time I go on a boat from now on, but to be honest, all the time I spent looking out to sea watching my rod tip I felt fine, but I did feel a little queasy when looking at something on the boat, i.e. putting on bait or talking to other people, maybe that's why I didn't get ill on this trip, either way I will find out next time, I'm sure!!
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