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  • 01/2016 Fishing Report by Ian Dale on Kelley's Hero Charters (Gosport, Hampshire)

    Jan 2016 by Ian Dale

    Report on-board Kelley's Hero Charters

    So first of all i would like to say Happy New Year to you all and i would like to apologise for the lack of posts and updates throughout 2015.

    Here’s what happened on Kelley’s Hero II during 2015……….

    To start the year we had a very busy wrecking season with some very nice Pollock to 19lb, cod to 21lb, and bass to 10lb. It was one of the best wrecking seasons for cod that we have had for a good few years now, with over a hundred cod being caught on most days and only a few taken for the table. This did mean that it wasn’t as easy to get to the Pollock however i don’t think anyone grumbled due to the amount of cod coming aboard. Lets hope 2016’s wrecking season is as productive.

    Once we reached August and the wrecking started to slow down a bit, we were looking for more of a variety on our day trips. What we started with was inshore fishing for Plaice with a little bit of drifting for bass when the tide allowed. These trips proved very popular with the biggest plaice coming aboard weighing over 3lb, and a lot of them, as well as many bass between 3lb and 9lb. We did have a nice surprise run of Brill also with the biggest weighing 6lb. There may have only been one of these trips cancelled due to the run of nice weather we managed to get in August.

    In September, we decided to try something new for Kelley’s Hero and head out Sole fishing in the evenings. The first trip we managed to boat 7 Sole, and 11 red mullet. This wasn’t bad for a first trip with the red mullet being a personal best to every angler and also the boat record. Don’t worry though, if you are interested in catching either of these, we will be doing this trips again this year.

    The we started with our winter cod season, with our first trip heading out on 9th October. We had 3 cod on this trip which was nice to see, we also landed rays, gurnard and the biggest mackerel of the year which was also a new club record. Over the rest of the month we had an average of 4 cod per trip, weighing between 2lb and 15lb. The whiting that were caught were all a very nice size, unlike the year before.
    November saw us cancelling almost every trip and we only managed to get out 5 times, but due to the weather on a few of these we were forced to fish The Solent. The Solent produced some nice healthy cod and a steady flow of whiting along with the normal species of rays, conger and dogfish.
    Unfortunately December was even worse than November meaning that we only got 2 day trips and 1 evening trip in. All three trips produced 2-3 cod per trip along with some nice small eyed rays, undulate rays and some chunky congers.


    One last thing before I go……
    The new Bass law: For those of you who are not aware, for the first 6 months of 2016 there is a 100% catch and release for all recreational bass fisherman. And in the second half of the year there is a 1 fish bag limit per angler. We do hope this won’t affect our customers and that you will still be interested in coming fishing on Kelley’s Hero, especially after the success of the last years plaice/bass trips. Lets turn this situation into a positive and lets add more variety to our trips. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like any more information.

    Until then….

    Tight Lines..

    Ian Dale

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