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01/2023
Fishing Report by Scott Belbin
on Galloper (Brightlingsea, Essex)
Jan 2023 by Scott Belbin
Report on-board Galloper
Last year (2022) we had such a busy summer we struggled to find time to head off to the land of no fish (some of the marks a long way offshore) but we did manage a couple of days when weather, tides and people made it possible to go exploring. We had been busy bass fishing on a lot of the suitable tides and this had been prolific. Even when we did manage to get off to the land of no fish we were distracted by bass. We passed loads working on the steam in and out but chose to ignore them or we wouldn’t have time for everything. On the first day we headed in one direction with a plan for mixed fishing on wrecks, drifting for flatties ect and some bass on the way home. We started on the drift and the lads sent various rigs to the bottom trying to entice a plaice. Most of the lads were new to this so rigs and set ups took a little refining through the day. I got some feathers out to try and add some fresh bait to the table. It soon became clear there was no shortage of bass around as the first fish to come up on feathers and baits were bass. We picked a few mackerel up along with the odd gurnard, launce and horse mackerel. We decided to steam a little further and try some other marks we had drifted towards in the hope of some more mackerel and other species. We had some pouting, whiting and scad before setting another drift up for flatties. The tide was just coming right for the plaice but as we drifted down I could see a mass of birds working. We may not have been here for bass but the lads didn’t need asking twice if they wanted to go and catch some more. I set the boat up for the first drift on a blisteringly hot, flat calm sunny day. we drifted towards the boiling mass of fish and the lads sent their lures towards them. they were all into fish immediately of course and as they played them to the boat the mass of bass followed the exited fish towards us. the water visibility was at least 10ft that day and as we looked beneath the hooked fish the water was thick with countless bass under them. most fish were 4-7lbs but there were several doubles amongst them. it was like gazing down into a koi pond teaming with bass and the shoal was huge, stretching as far as I could see! what was the funniest thing though was the lads reaction. I often say that fishing seems to turn a 60 year old man into an excited schoolboy again but on this occasion some middle aged men were screaming at me like over excited girls. ‘I’ve got one skip’ was the first cry then ‘ I’ve hooked a cracking bass off the surface skip’ which turned into everybody going ‘look at them, there’s bass everywhere! Look at them look at all those bass!’ As if I don’t have eyes myself of course. It was amazing to see and the stuff of a bass anglers dreams. suddenly I found myself needing 6 landing nets all at once. We had a series of drifts through these over the next couple of hours we had several more drifts and lots more bass, a few mackerel and some scad. The bass were finicky at times and it seemed they were switched on to small bats that matched the whitebait they were feeding on. Several of the lads had great success on strings of mini sand eels with a slow pitch jig on the bottom. This would often result in 4 chunky bass over 4-5lbs coming in at a time though! The other lads persevered with surface lures and caught on all manor of lures. Although the fish were still feeding I did remind the lads that we had spent over 2 hours chasing these bass and if they wanted a shot at something else we should probably make a move. Although it was hard to drag ourselves away we did just that and I set up a drift for flatties again. The lads added dogfish to the list of species and shortly after some plaice too along with more gurnards and several pesky lesser weaver fish. as the tide got going we tried a few drifts on another mark on the way home. This produced more bass before we made tracks for the day. the bass had somewhat taken over our trip but they had been great fun, we had seen well in excess of 100 of them through the day and some cracking fish too. Of course the lads only kept their 2 per person and on days like this the bag limit is both a blessing and a curse. Some may say it is pointless catching so many without keeping them but to me that isn’t what angling is about. It’s best to fish for what’s there and the bass were there on that day for sure.
The next day were headed back offshore to the land of no fish again. This time I wanted to try and avoid the bass so headed so an area 10-15 miles away from the previous day. the weather was spot on again as we steamed out past yet another mass of birds working over bass. We ignored them in order to save time as we had even further to steam today. Plenty of yarns were shared and tea was downed to pass the time as the lads tackled up. I planned to fish an area we have caught several turbot, brill and blonde ray from but try fishing at anchor today. I was hoping this might allow us more time with our baits where the fish are as well as improving the chance of more rays. We had some mackerel left from the day before to start off but Fresh mackerel were plentiful here anyway so I could top up the bait as the lads got fishing. unsurprisingly the first fish to come out on our fresh mackerel baits were some dogfish and whiting. While feathering for mackerel myself and Alex also had horse mackerel, launce and Alex had a greater weaver! This is only the second one I have seen from the Essex coast. Alex’s dad Steve wasn’t left out either as he caught a small blonde ray. There were also a few tub gurnard caught before the tide began to ease.
We decided to take a run to a wreck over slack tide. we had 3 nice slow drifts of the wreck which produced several species. Near the surface there were still plenty of mackerel, as they neared the wreck there were lots of pouting and a few horse mackerel mixed in. the lads were mostly fishing baited feathers and a couple fished sidewinders. Steve Canham had a little codling while Alex had a pollock, uncle steve had another pollock as well as himself and dad managing to find a black bream each among the barrage of pouting. As the tide seemed to have turned we decided to drift another mark a few times before we had to head home. Aside from a few bites and small fish we didn’t get any turbot or brill which was a shame. All too soon we had to head home, unfortunately that long steam limits our fishing time. There were some bass feeding on the way home but they were a bit out of our way and it had already been a long enough day so we had to ignore them. It hadn’t been an electric day but it had been fun .it’s always nice to see different species, it’s just a shame that there weren’t a few more of them and a bit bigger size.
We had a few more runs to the land of no fish in 2023 but were mostly distracted by bass each time. They were generally a great stamp and numerous in places. We also had some more scad, pouting, mackerel, gurnard and pollock. The biggest going 5.8lbs.
I have individual spaces and possibility of full boat bookings over the coming months if you want to get out.
Please be advised that a steady trickle of dates are filling up for 2023 so please get in touch asap if you require a specific date.
Remember it is often worth giving me a shout if you are cancelled else where and still wish to get out, as we have lots of sheltered fishing available and a big catamaran which makes it even more comfortable.
Spaces as follows
05/02-individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490
12/02- individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490 possible offshore trip upon request
18/02- individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490
19/02- individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490
25/02- individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490 possible offshore trip upon request
26/02- individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490
05/03- individual spaces £60pp or full boat bookings from £490
Not all dates advertised, other spaces available for full boat bookings upon request
For regular updates, availability and more information please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk find us on social media or call Scott on 07956411528
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