Latest Fishing Reports: East
-
05/2021
Fishing Report by Mark Peters
on DAWN TIDE II (Wallasea Island, Essex)
May 2021 by Mark Peters
Report on-board DAWN TIDE II
Its good to be back!!
Quick report
Fishing is good Plenty of thornbacks as always This time of year biggest 15lb so far
We have had several double figure hounds already this week 15lb 6oz biggest so far,
The bass showing most trips now had them to 5lb this week Numbers will massively increase in the coming weeks
There is a Nice spurdog run at the moment good to see them in promising numbers had them to just under 18lb hopefully they stay around a bit longer
The main Tope Run will hopefully start mid may but several reported already
Don't forget you will need fresh crab Bait for hounds And fresh Worm baits for the bass.
Diary is very busy thank you to all my new and returning customers i appreciate the support!
looking forward to a busy fish-full season ahead
Even the spurdogs are happy we are back at it as you can see pictured !!! Lol
View Boats Page
-
04/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
on Galloper (Brightlingsea, Essex)
Apr 2021 by Scott Belbin
Report on-board Galloper
Although I am pretty sure I know the answer I thought I would play ‘name that species’ with this one.
I say it’s a spotted ray, Sam had it the other day and its only the 2nd one we’ve had on Galloper and the 3rd one I’ve heard of within the thames area.
The spots don’t reach the edge of the wings and this male is clearly sexually mature despite being quite a small fish so I don’t believe it to be a blonde. Please give me you’re answers on a post card.
These may be uncommon around here but there have been plenty of thorn-backs, a few smooth-hounds and some early bass showing the last couple of weeks.
NEXT SPACES
I have plenty of midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.
Weekend spaces as follows
25/04/21-1 space @ £70pp max 6 anglers
03/05/21-1 spaces @ £70pp max 6 anglers
30/05/21-5 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
31/05/21-4 spaces @ £70pp (poss offshore trip at extra cost) max 6 anglers
27/06/21-4 spaces @ £70pp max 6 anglers
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Stacey is still operating the ‘lady grace’ on a bookings only basis both mid-week and weekends at the
Moment but and is likely to fall under the same restrictions as me. so please call her on 07791859624
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077 View Boats Page
UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Galloper
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 08/02/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp offshore tripView details Sat 22/02/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 08/03/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 15/03/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details Sat 22/03/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 05/04/2025 2 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 19/04/2025 2 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 03/05/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 10/05/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details Sat 17/05/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details -
18/04/2021
Fishing Report by Richard Green
on Bluedawn (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk)
18 Apr 2021 by Richard Green
Report on-board Bluedawn
Great day yesterday with an abundance of fish, very nice sized Thornback Rays, few smoothounds and good sized whiting kept everyone onboard busy throughout the day dispite the cold North Easterly winds, fished the flood tide throughout the day which kept the sea state down, best bait squid & mackeral, don't forget to book your place on Bluedawn, to enjoy this lovely time ater such a long time in lockdown, looking forward to seeing and hearing from you all once again, Tight Lines Richard.
View Boats Page
-
14/04/2021
Fishing Report by Colin De Block
on Lead Us (Lowestoft, Suffolk)
14 Apr 2021 by Colin De Block
Report on-board Lead Us
Lead Us charters, Lowestoft fishing trips
14 April at 10:18 ·
Mission accomplished eventually
After a 20 mile steam to the grounds that had been producing some nice Spurdogs we settled into fishing which was hard going due to the strength of the tide, at slack water with only a few spotties and whiting being landed we upped sticks and headed to a mark that was producing by this time with the ebb running hard and wind picking up making fishing really difficult, as tide tide eased Kevin Southey landed a lovely fish of 18lb and a new PB for him shortly followed by another of 14lb. After a short time I was into a good fish another Spurdog approx 12lb which was unfortunately lost at the net. A hard day on Lead Us but some nice fish in the end View Boats Page
UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Lead Us
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 08/02/2025 6 Spaces 8 Hours £60.00pp View details -
04/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
on Galloper (Brightlingsea, Essex)
Apr 2021 by Scott Belbin
Report on-board Galloper
Like many charter boats throughout England we have enjoyed a busy (if belated) start to the season since the easing of lockdown. Fortunately we were welcomed back to sea with glorious weather, favourable tides and a few fish too. Our first trip produced plenty of thorn-back rays (roker), dogfish whiting and even a small codling for Frank. Both the weather and the fishing have been a bit hit and miss since then. However we are lucky enough to have some great sheltered marks that produce good fish at this time of year. Barry Wood caught 21 rays including this nicely marked fish to make up one of his best days on rays. Most of the other five regulars on board that day had similar numbers of rays which kept me busy in between the banter. There have been a few hounds showing too in places, our best day last week saw 13 hounds and 42 rays along with heaps of dogfish and whiting in between. These northerlies have knocked the water temperature down at the moment so they have pushed a little further off for the time being but will be back soon enough. In the mean time there are plenty of rays to keep us busy and the same northerlies that have pushed the hounds further off should help to keep the rays inshore for a while yet. They are showing all over the place so we can find sheltered fishing in most conditions at the moment if you are keen to get afloat.
Over the coming weeks I would expect to see plenty more rays while the hounds and bass increase in numbers. I am pretty well booked for weekends but will list what dates I have spaces. If you wish to book the boat mid-week then please contact me for availability as I may be able to help you out.
COVID-19 UPDATE
We have now had confirmation that the large deck area on Galloper we have some good news. we are able to accommodate up to 6 anglers plus the skipper as of 29/03/21. I will honour existing bookings as they are unless you wish to change them. If you are booked as an individual and would rather book on a trip with 6 @ £70pp then please get in touch.
I understand this could be due to change after 17th of May but I am not willing to take bookings for larger groups until the rules have actually been relaxed on this.
That means that until further notice I will taking bookings on the basis of groups of up to 6 people.
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Stacey is still operating the ‘lady grace’ on a bookings only basis both mid-week and weekends at the
Moment but and is likely to fall under the same restrictions as me. so please call her on 07791859624
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077
View Boats Page
UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Galloper
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 08/02/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp offshore tripView details Sat 22/02/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 08/03/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 15/03/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details Sat 22/03/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 05/04/2025 2 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 19/04/2025 2 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 03/05/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 10/05/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details Sat 17/05/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details -
04/04/2021
Fishing Report by Colin De Block
on Lead Us (Lowestoft, Suffolk)
4 Apr 2021 by Colin De Block
Report on-board Lead Us
A great start back this week for Lead Us 05-04-2021, with plenty of fish on all three days . The first two days lots of Doggies , Whiting and Dabs keeping the crews busy all day . And yesterday 4th topping all three with 5 species, Doggies, Whiting , Bass , Codling and Thornback Ray
View Boats Page
UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Lead Us
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 08/02/2025 6 Spaces 8 Hours £60.00pp View details -
03/2021
Fishing Report by Richard Green
on Bluedawn (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk)
Mar 2021 by Richard Green
Report on-board Bluedawn
Now we are all hopefully coming out of lockdown, Bluedawn is ready to welcome you all back and it will be great to see some good fishing again, we currently ground fishing, and we are taking bookings now and for the summer fishing, don't forget to book, we are expecting a busy season of good fishing.
View Boats Page
-
01/2021
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
on Galloper (Brightlingsea, Essex)
Jan 2021 by Scott Belbin
Report on-board Galloper
Unfortunately we ended 2020 in tier 4 here in mersea so like much of the year we were unable to take out our planned bookings and forced to cancel due to the latest covid guidelines.
I know I am not the first to observe it was a strange year and not what any of us anticipated at all. If you had told me how the year would pan out I wouldn’t have believed you, not even until a week or so before the march lockdown.
I am sure most of you understand how awkward it has been to try and run a charter business within the ever changing rules this year. It was painful to see a healthy diary full of bookings melt away through the first lockdown and even once the lockdown was eased and limitations on group numbers meant more bookings were cancelled.
We have had to adapt to suit the guidelines as they have changed and unfortunately this put us out of some peoples price range. I am sorry to those who couldn’t make it this year and hope to see you when things get back to some kind of normality. I am very grateful to those of you that have still been able to come out. I know it has worked out a bit more expensive per person and I appreciate your support. Although it may have worked out more expensive per person I have tried to meet somewhere in the middle with prices so we have taken a hit too.
I think we all owe a lot to both the Angling Trust and the Professional Boatmen’s Association for firstly working hard to make sure angling has been allowed since the first lockdown ended and secondly trying to make sense of the ever changing guidelines for us all. Much of the work carried out by these organisations is on a voluntary basis behind the scenes by people who love the sport and simply wish to give something back so please show them some appreciation.
2020 started well for me aboard the Galloper. January can be a hard month to fill for a charter skipper. The weather and fishing have a reputation for being poor and money can be tight for our anglers post Christmas. Luckily for me there are a few keen anglers who still wish to get out fishing and I have had some great days at the start of the year. We are fortunate enough to have some great fishing within the shelter of the blackwater estuary at times and 2020 started particularly well. There were several thorn-back rays to be found in a few places around the estuary. this meant we could get out and catch decent fish almost regardless of the weather. Our best trip was with over 40 rays and we had some decent fish too into mid-doubles.
When the weather and tides suited I was also able to head a long way offshore in search of some different species. The lads had a few spurdogs and smooth-hounds each time along with rays and other species such as the ever popular dogfish. Shane Ashby got our winter offshore season off to a good start with a nice brace of double figure fish first cast! We headed offshore as often as we could in between the winter storms.
Meanwhile inshore the fishing gradually improved as the water temperature started to increase. As we moved into march things were really starting to pick up and in 4 consecutive trips we had a total of 285 rays (72,40,93,80). As usual the vast majority of the fish were released with just a few males kept for the table. Unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy this sport for long as suddenly the country was put into lockdown. A phrase I had only heard for the first time just a week or two before hand and suddenly it was our reality.
Happily, angling has been one of the activities people are allowed to take part in since the first lockdown ended. Due to this and people seeking outdoor socially distanced activities, the sport has seen a rise in participation. This helped to balance out the bookings we had previously had to cancel and meant we were as busy as we could be.
With all of these people wanting to come fishing it was lucky that there were a few fish to be caught. By the time the lockdown eased in may we caught the tail end of the spring run of thorn-back rays. After such a mild spring it was no surprise that the summer species had arrived in our absence. The first trip I did post-lockdown was just my wife Stacey and I. the weather was spot on and with great tides we headed out for the afternoon and into the evening. We started out with a nice mix of rays, dogfish, smooth-hounds and bass (the bass seemed to be in good numbers and widely spread). We were a little spoiled for choice to be honest and after a couple of months without fishing we were trying to fish for everything at once. We even had some dabs and a tub gurnard before chasing some bass we had seen working for some time. After catching a good few bass we got the anchor down and targeted the hounds. We had a busy couple of hours with plenty of fish into low doubles before heading home. It was a nice way to get back into it after such a long time being stuck at home.
In late may and early June the guidelines meant we could only operate with myself and one other person on board. Fortunately for me the weather and the fishing at that time of year were enough to temp a few single person bookings out. I think people were desperate to get afloat and the lads put the money they had budgeted for trips cancelled trips during lockdown towards hiring the boat on their own. We had some successful trips for smooth-hounds, bass and tope at this time. Stephen Charles had a new personnel best hound of 18.8lbs on an evening trip with me. I was joined early the next morning (and admittedly bleary eyed) by Alec who had a successful trip too. We caught all sorts including bass, rays, whiting and an eel although the smooth-hounds were our main target. We easily had 40-50 with many double figure fish on a glorious sunny morning.
By June we were able to operate with a few more people on board which made things slightly more affordable for the lads. Most trips were 5 anglers plus me which would be the new ‘normal’ for the rest of the year there after. We carried on targeting the smooth-hounds when tides suited as well as tope when conditions suited and often catching bass in good numbers all over the place. The best tope fell to Ian Hewett at 47lbs. this was one of 5 we had that day and many we had that season. There were several others over 40lbs including a new PB for Wayne Bennett of 44lbs, a PB for Fred Young of 41lbs and another 44lb fish for Stephen Clarke. Our best trip for tope was somewhat of a mixed trip that was planned as more of a ‘taster’ day for Tom and his group. We started off for bass and found a shed load of fish which we were able to drift through for several hours. As midday was fast approaching and time ran away with us I dragged them away from the bass which were still feeding to try for a tope for the last few hours of the trip. I hoped to see one fish as we had a short session on a mediocre tide on a mark I hadn’t fished for years. we had a run on the first cast which was promptly lost. I thought we had lost our only chance but as it happens we had a good run of fish over the next few hours. We had a run on most casts and ended up boating 8 tope and loosing 5 before we headed home. Most of them were around 30lbs with Mark (a regular who had organised the trip) catching a new PB of 37lbs.
As we moved into July we continued our offshore trips and had a few more tope but our attention turned more towards the bass. There were good numbers all over the place but some of the sport we enjoyed offshore was fantastic. We found some huge shoals in places which were great fun on lures. Although at times they would take anything we threw at them we had particular fun with surface lures at times. Poppers proved to be a fun (if a little frustrating) way to pic out larger fish. When the conditions weren’t good enough for lures we bait fished at anchor and had some impressive catches throughout the summer and well into the autumn. The biggest bass we had all year was at anchor bait fishing and fell to Stephen Clarke. It was a new PB for him at 10.7lbs and was returned after a quick weight and photograph.
Throughout the height of summer our inshore trips continued to prove successful. There were often plenty of bass here too but they were joined by numbers of smooth-hounds and a few thornback rays among many other species. We have been using more rag worm on our general trips over the last few summers. These help for the bass and have also accounted for several stingrays and even a few soles last year. We didn’t have any giants of either species but its nice to see some variety on our trips.
On the subject of variety we have several anglers who like to try for different species than may be expected from an Essex charter boat. Several of these people join me to target spurdogs in the winter. However in the summer we have the potential to catch many more species with suitable anglers if conditions are right.
My father ,Stuart spent a lot of time fishing the offshore wrecks for cod, ling and pollock. He tried for other species too as well as accidentally catching several other species along the way. Naturally he passed this information on to me and I have been able to build upon his knowledge over the years. with the advance in boats, navigation and fish finding technology in the 30 odd years that have passed since he first went off there things have changed a fair bit. We no longer see the big catches of cod and ling but I can confidently head off there and target fish like plaice and bass as well as trying new areas for new species. Last summer I concentrated my efforts on a new area I had fancied for a few years. I had marked it out as ground that could hold turbot and brill which we don’t normally target around here. We managed a few trips to this area and tried new marks each time. We stopped on a few new wrecks and had a few small pollock, coalfish and cod mixed in with heaps of pouting, a few scad and mackerel. We tried drifting the marks I fancied with relative success. On the first trip we tried on our way home for an hour or two. We had the usual whiting and dogfish along with the odd red or tub gurnard as the tide got going. As the tide notched up a little Stephen managed to sneak out a turbot! We should have been heading home by now but to prove it wasn’t a fluke (no pun intended) we had 2 more drifts and this time Stephen Charles had a turbot too.
We were now desperate to get back off there and try out the rest of the marks. Thankfully the weather was kind to us and coincided with decent tides on a few more occasions. Not everywhere was productive or even existed anything like our charts suggested but that’s part of trying new things. We managed some more turbot and brill as well as a couple of blonde rays and a greater weaver (which I was very pleased with). I cant wait to get back off there this summer to further the knowledge we gained last year.
After a heat wave at the end of August the surface temperature in our creek was as high as 23’c. this heatwave ended suddenly and as September arrived northerly winds bought the surface temperature in our creek down by 10’c within a couple of weeks! Although the main stock of hounds and bass moved out we still caught a few here and there for several weeks.
Stacey and I managed I holiday (of sorts) in September too. We took the Galloper away to the south coast for just over a week and were joined by several of our regulars throughout the trip. I will report on this separately at some point. We used a couple of weather windows to make our journey each way as comfortable as possible and returned just before the weather turned.
By now there were good numbers of thorn-backs inshore once again to keep us busy. When weather and tides permitted we made our way offshore in search of the bass that shoal up on the banks before migrating. This helps extend our bass season by some time. We had some great trips for bass throughout October and right up until the day before the November lockdown came into effect. The Galloper had to earn her keep in some less than ideal conditions in October. I must admit she took it all in her stride, at times we were comfortably catching bass in conditions I would have endured in many other boats. Numbers of bass were really good and they were still showing well until our last trip when we had over 120 bass!
We only managed a few inshore trips in the late autumn as lockdowns and tier systems meant many trips had to be cancelled. When we got afloat there were still fish to be caught. The whiting were in vast numbers on most trips. The mild conditions meant there were still several dogfish and thorn-backs to be had too. We only managed one try for dabs for a few hours and they seemed in good numbers. We even managed a few codling too, it’s a shame we were stopped as we averaged over 1 per trip which is a vast improvement on the last few years.
Hopefully we are allowed out again in time to try and sneak a few more codling out among the rays, whiting and dogfish that will be present. I also hope we will be able to get some of you offshore in search of spurdogs and other winter offshore species too.
Looking forward to the year ahead we expect good numbers of rays throughout spring. From April onwards we should see a few bass and hounds arrive and numbers pick up as we reach may. June and July we will expect nice mixed fishing including the tail end of the rays with numbers of bass and smooth-hounds inshore. Offshore we will target tope until they more on when our offshore trips will mainly be targeting bass. These should be around until late October if not into November over the last few years.
I also hope to get some more do some more trips offshore for the turbot and other species as well as squeeze in another south coast adventure. All in all we have a busy year planned when we are allowed to get you back out there again.
Once again thanks to those who have been able to get out with us throughout this strange time and apologies to those who couldn’t get out with us. hopefully we will be able to get you all out again soon aboard the Galloper. Tight lines for now.
If you would like to get something in the diary for this year then please call me (Scott) on 07956411528 View Boats Page
UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Galloper
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 08/02/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp offshore tripView details Sat 22/02/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 08/03/2025 3 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 15/03/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details Sat 22/03/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 05/04/2025 2 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 19/04/2025 2 Spaces 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 03/05/2025 1 Space 12 Hours £100.00pp View details Sat 10/05/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details Sat 17/05/2025 9 Spaces 10 Hours £60.00pp View details -
12/2020
Fishing Report by Mark Peters
on DAWN TIDE II (Wallasea Island, Essex)
Dec 2020 by Mark Peters
Report on-board DAWN TIDE II
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to every one !!!
After todays news it looks like my 2020 season has come to an end so my remaining 2020 bookings will have to be cancelled unfortunately due new covid 19 restrictions again!
I promise i will be back in action in 2021 as soon as restrictions get lifted.
I Just want to say a big thank you to all of you who come aboard over the last 10 years and supported me especially in these uncertain times thank you.
We had a fantastic 2020 season as always lots of laughs and lots of fish including many PBs lets hope 2021 is just as good or even better.
My 2021 diary is open and its filling nicely hope to see all new and returning customers next season until then stay safe everyone have a great Christmas regardless.
ps get ready for spring onwards when @dawn_tide_charters will be hitting the fishing hard !!!!! View Boats Page
-
12/2020
Fishing Report by brian poppy
on Cleveland Princess (Lowestoft, Suffolk)
Dec 2020 by brian poppy
Report on-board Cleveland Princess
The fishing has been very good just lately with a run of small Cod to keep us all very happy with fish all between 2lb--4lb iam sure there will be some bigger fish show up very soon iam hoping to get out to the shoal as at this time of year we normally get those fish that we used to get 40 years ago off the beach,have a great xmas all and look forward to seeing you in 2021 to book a trip call 07771926590.
View Boats Page
