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  • 17/11/2012 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin on Lady Grace (Brightlingsea, Essex)

    17 Nov 2012 by Scott Belbin

    Report on-board Lady Grace

    Today I headed out with 4 beginners who had never been sea fishing before. Today's tide was a big spring tide, we set off a 9am when the tide had turned and had just started flooding, knowing that once we anchored up the tide should be well underway. We anchored on our first spot which after catching a few whiting realised that these 4 guys were very competative. It took a little while for them to get the hang of what a bite looked like with the boat rocking and the tide belting past. But once the first whiting was caught they seemed to be having a 'fish off' to see who could catch the most whiting and they were well away, baiting up and casting out all on their own. The real competition seemed to be between Tom and Colin who were neck and neck all day and wanted to stay out longer than originally booked so I suggested a move for the last couple of hours in the hope of picking up a cod on another mark not far from where we'd first anchored, Dave and Aden didn't seem fussed either way. They were all up for a move as long as they could still catch whiting too and carry on their competition. I did try explaining how whiting have a rattley bite whereas cod are much more fun to catch with their nodding action on the rod and they put up much more of a fight. I also told them if they csught a cod then it would best all those whiting hands down and they would immediately become the winner of the competition. After a very short while at our second mark Aden quietly reeled in the first cod of the day, it was only a small one and was undersized but nether the less it was still a cod and he said he could feel the difference in the resistance the cod had put up compared with the whiting and that meant he was the winner. There weren't as many whiting as this mark so Tom and Colin were eagerly watching their rods so they didn't miss a whiting and let the other catch more than they had. While it was quiter I got my sandwiches out and sure enough this did the trick, Tom was into a decent fish and having great fun playing it in and when it finally surfaced it revealed itself as a nice 5lb 15oz cod. The excitement on the boat was unreal, Aden's victory was stolen from him while the others starred flabergastered. I told them all to get their rods back in the water in the hope of picking up a few more before they had to head in as their wives had been calling and nagging them to see when they would be in. They all baited up and cast out and Dave had his first cod and while we eagerly waited for Colin to catch one so they'd all had one each, Tom snuck another cod into the boat. Unfortunately Colin didn't get his cod before we hand to haul the anchor and head home. Not only did Tom have the biggest cod of the day, not to mention the biggest cod on Lady Grace so far, but he also had the most. We finished with 4 cod and lots of whiting.

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