Latest Fishing Reports: Deep Blue
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20/03/2024
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
20 Mar 2024 by Simon Logan
Wednesday 20th March:
Day 2 of the Hampshire Police social ��♂️.
We headed out to the sandbanks in the shipping lanes this morning.
The conditions were perfect for it, and it gave the crews on Deep Blue, and Manx Belle a different prospect from yesterday’s inshore trip.
Now, the fabled Turbot & Brill would’ve been a more than welcomed sight, but alas it wasn’t to be. It’s probably still a little bit early for them, but I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground and heading back there to coral some of them into my crews hooks later this spring.
Every whiting in the channel seemed to be on the banks this morning. Every now and then we’d see a greater weaver, or and tub/red gurnard, but the whiting were thick. Lots and lots of birds working the water near us, but not obvious why.
We headed back in to have a look at some wrecks. The water was very clean, with excellent visibility, better than I’ve seen it in a long while. Lots of fish hugging the back end of the first wreck, with a few pollack coming up quick as a flash.
Onto the reefs for slack water saw more fish marking, and again a few pollack for our troubles.
Fishing the last half hour of the day back on the sand where we started yesterday saw plaice, dabs a flounder. There seems to be a good number of plaice this year, which is a vast improvement on the last few years.
A dozen or so species to the boat today, on what was a flat calm, and pretty warm in the sun, trip.
Thanks to John on the Manx Belle for buddying up with me to provide the 16 chaps guiding for their 2 day jolly.
We had Sea Angler magazine onboard today too, so there may well be a little write up in an upcoming issue - cheers Tim.
Last but not least, a big thank you to Shaun Gratton for coming along to assist, and for trying to give me diabetes with all the sweeties ������.
Species:
Dabs
Plaice
Goldsinney Wrasse
Pollack
Flounder
Greater weaver
Red gurnard
Tub gurnard
Mackerel
Dogfish
Pout
Whiting -
21/03/2024
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
21 Mar 2024 by Simon Logan
Thursday 21st March:
First COD(ling) of the year. Our last cod was on the 2nd December, so 3 months and 3 weeks without a rod and line caught cod - and I’m SO GLAD we found this one.
Leaving the harbour and straight onto my new favourite plaice grounds, we got into a good stamp of fish straight away. This was short lived with the tide coming to the end of its flood, so we blitzed out onto the reefs for slack for wrasse, and ready to fish the start of the ebb.
Ballan and Cuckoo wrasse found. Still small tides currently, but they are building in size. The clarity is still improving, with 6m visibility at least at 4miles out.
Moving onto a mark that we fish a lot for multi species over spring and summer, codling and numerous pollack landed on a mixture of lures, including my usual go to Bass lure - the 6” pearl Sidewinder sandeel. More wrasse here too, as well as a small Coalfish - that’s 2 coleys in as many days. Nothing to shout about for some, quite a feat for us this end of the channel.
Back onto the plaice mark as the tide eased and the wind picked up. Wind against tide pinning us to the spot for about an hour, a few fish caught.
We had a very good year with cod last year, even though no fish managed to break the magic proper COD threshold of 10lb, which make them codling to me, we still had a lot of them from March - December. According to some commercial friends, this winter has produced a good number of them, but they have been moving around a lot.
Hopefully this year is as good, if not better than last for this species. Given the number of pollack we’re seeing inshore, the commercial ban along the SW may allow Eastbourne to have a better year than usual on them too. Still no bass, but I can feel it in me bones that they aren’t far away, and you can trust we’ll be right at the front of the queue for them when they do finally arrive. -
22/03/2024
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
22 Mar 2024 by Simon Logan
FRIDAY 22ND MARCH:
Species League UK trip with 15 anglers on 2 boats.
Catch list: 8 anglers on Deep Blue
53 Wrasse (5 different species of kelp donkey)
78 Whiting
47 Lesser spotted catsharks
15 Pouting
6 Dabs
5 Pollack
2 Plaice
1 Smooth-hound
1 Coalfish
Don’t let the number of fish fool you. Today was a struggle. It was pretty lumpy out there, certainly not for the feint hearted, and conditions that would make me cancel 99% of my charter trips. But, the crews on the boats today were made up of very well seasoned species hunters, that have seen it, and been in it all.
No two days are ever the same. Yesterday was flat calm but overcast, with a small crew with differing abilities catching some decent fish. Today, the fish switched off at lunch time and that was that.
Not many photos of actual fish today. I’m always far too busy scoring and netting fish on these trips, and the anglers just want to get back on with fishing.
Good fun as always, but the fishing was tough.
Also worth noting, only myself and the Manx Belle were brave (stupid) enough to go out in these conditions. This kind of weather is no place for small recreational boats and amateur anglers.
The photos and videos don’t show the true scale of the big rolling waves and howling winds that were swirling around us. -
30/03/2024
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
30 Mar 2024 by Simon Logan
Saturday 30th March:
Bank holiday weekend started off with a windy Good Friday, and the outlook for Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday isn’t looking all that fishable either.....
So, with a little weather window today we headed out to see what’s what with 8 willing crew. Some say - that fishing is good after storm. I say BO***CKS. Especially after having the dredger in the harbour for the last week kicking up a load of silt into the inshore marks.
As expected, the water was murky, even several miles out. Anchor fishing with baits hasn't been all that good this winter, so that wasn't plan A. The plaice have all buggered off (for a now at least) with the dredger's presence too. Drifting the reefs was sloooooow during the flood tide, with only a handful of fish being seen.
Anchoring (plan �� produced more fish, just not the ones we were after. So, a tough days fishing, until the tide turned this afternoon and the wrasse started to play. Lots of these toothy beasts landed in the last hour.
Species:
Pollack
Ballan wrasse
Goldsinney wrasse
Smooth-hound
Bass
Dogs, whiting etc etc... -
25/06/2023
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
25 Jun 2023 by Simon Logan
��TODAY: Sunday 25th June��
COD! COD! COD! (CODLING)
Wow, well that wasn’t expected in all honesty. After yesterdays tricky trip (which was fish filled, just not the most desirable type) I had everything crossed for an improved trip today.
The flood tide has made for some tough fishing recently, so I was pretty glad to get the chance to fish the ebbing tide for a couple of hours this morning.
Mackerel was first on the list as usual, and we found them straight away.
Black Bream were next up, getting to the anchor spot in time before the tide started to drop being crucial, and bream were found in some good numbers.
COD! Being not a million miles away from my cod mark when the tide finally switched off was also stage 3 on the list…… And we most definitely found them. All but one angler landed cod, with most of them landing more than one, and most of them losing BIGGER fish too.
Today was definitely the most prolific day on the cod we’ve had. The tide widow for them is small, so being in the right place at the right time is key.
Species today - Cod, Mackerel, Smooth-hound, Ballan & Cuckoo Wrasse, Pollack.
Great day out on the sea.
I even had a little dip cutting some braid off my port engine, it was quite refreshing ��
Sidewinder Lures
PENN Fishing
Navionics UK
XTRATUF
Carhartt
#sidewinderlures
#pennfishing
#navionics
#xtratuf
#carharttwip
�� Full boat available this Thursday 29th June & individual spaces available this Friday 30th June ��
https://deepbluecharters.co.uk/availability -
16/04/2023
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
16 Apr 2023 by Simon Logan
��Today: Sunday 16th April��
Flat calm, no wind, short tides - still not t-shirt weather yet.
A leisurely start this morning. Heading out at slack water, which felt like it took forever to start to gain momentum.
We headed to a bass mark, with the tide still not doing anything, the fish were slow to start biting.
A quick change of location and our fortunes picked up straight away, with plenty of good codling and pollack being caught on soft plastics.
As the tide started to run I decided to revert back to PLAN A.
On approach to the mark, birds were working and the Bass were feeding, breaching the surface of the water in numerous places.
We must’ve had well over 100 bass in a couple of hours. Including a couple of stonkers.
It’s so nice to see more and more kids and teenagers on the boat this year. They are the future of the sport, and should be encouraged to get involved as often as allows.
I’ve been very busy today, and that’s just the way I like it.
We go again tomorrow ����
Navionics UK
Sidewinder Lures
PENN Fishing
RAILBLAZA -
09/04/2023
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
9 Apr 2023 by Simon Logan
Well that’s a wrap!!!
The impending foul weather brings the Easter Bank holiday weekend’s fishing to an abrupt close. It’s been a great weekend to be fair, and getting out for 3/4 of the time is pretty lucky going off tales from years gone by.
Today, Easter Sunday saw a family group book the boat for a mixed fishing day. Only the grandad had ever properly fished before, and that was only on lakes in Moldova, so being single handed I thought I could be in for a busy day. I was.
The day started off slowly, which came as a massive shock considering the marks my sounder was picking up.
The seabed was literally undulating with fish in pockets. Using a mixture of rigs/lures, and with massively differing techniques, my crew of newbies just couldn’t tempt the fish to bite.
When the first fish finally succumbed to a hook if fell to six year old Sebastian. He was so chuffed with his prize, as you can see, and that is what it’s all about.
We started picking up more fish, all of which were under sized. We headed to another mark to drift some different rocks and broken ground (at Sebastian’s request), but after everyone got tangled, and snagged, on the first drift, I suggested that maybe going back to plan A would be wise.
As their experience grew, more and more fish were caught. Considering today was Deep Blue’s first Bass of the season day, and the gazillion tangles, and lost lures, and weights, it was a pretty good da with a group I’m certain will return.
��All the crew were using our newly serviced and fantastic Penn Fathom and Squall reels, and the full carbon Penn Prevail 2 rods.
4” & 6” Sidewinder skerries and sandeels in blues and whites doing the damage.�� -
05/04/2023
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
5 Apr 2023 by Simon Logan
A tale of two halves.
We had a lovely family onboard today who were over on their holidays visiting a family member.
The morning conditions were fantastic. Flat calm and no wind. The wind picked up after lunch and things got a bit choppy.
Morning, fishing the flood at anchor. Big baits, small baits, with a mixture of squid, mackerel and frozen lug (curse those short tides). It was a struggle. Our baits were getting nibbles, but no firm bites.
Afternoon, fishing the slack and ebb on the drift. It couldn’t have been more different from the first half of the trip. After bumping into Muscle Fishing 6 miles out in his little Tuffy, he said that they’d had some mackerel. So we hung around and sure enough, a couple of strings within seconds of each other.
A nice codling and a bigger pollack quickly followed. More mackerel, half a dozen more pollack, some gurnard, one of which was a big’un, and a string of scad rounded off our afternoon nicely.
I also snapped one of my PENN Fishing rods ��♂️
⚫️⚪️ HOWAY THE LADS ⚫️⚪️ -
10/12/2022
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
10 Dec 2022 by Simon Logan
Saturday 10th December 2022:
A day spent on the wrecks.
Leaving the marina to freezing temperatures and flat calm seas. It was the first time I’ve ever had to scrape the ice from a boat.
Car trouble forced a couple of the crew to bail out, so a crew of 5 headed out to some of the deeper wrecks that litter the seabed along the East Sussex coast.
We got to the first wreck right in the middle of the 6.9m tide. With little wind we were still drifting at a canny rate of knots. That didn’t seem to matter to the fish. We had a nice bass (5lb guesstimate) first, followed quickly by a tank of a pollack weighing in at 16lb’s.
Alex, the big fish’s captor, would go on to land a couple more pollack at and around the double figure range. He also had the biggest pollack of the day, I reckon towards 20lb, spit his lure out on the surface, and I just couldn’t stretch any further to get it in the net before it kicked off and swam back to the dark. The one that got away indeed. I could’ve cried.
The other Alex, who landed the bass, had something huge take his lure and snap him off back on the wreck frustratingly. It was great to see these big fish so early on in the winter wreck season.
A couple more smaller bass were caught, and ALL bass were returned back into the sea as per the current bass ban Dec 1st - April 1st.
Quite a few squid about still. The biggest was an absolute lump. Must’ve been heading towards 3lb.
All in all a good day had exploring some old, and some new marks.
This will be the last trip out until after new year, when all things going well, will see this Deep Blue going to a new home, and the launch of my new boat, Deep Blue V2.
This year has been an absolute whirlwind. I’ll do a year recap on here soon, but for now, Deep Blue out.
Sidewinder Lures Navionics UK PENN Fishing Pantaenius Raymarine UK Carhartt Europe Sea Angler -
29/09/2022
Fishing Report by Simon Logan
29 Sep 2022 by Simon Logan
Thursday 29th September 2022 (how is that the end of Sept already???):
A funny old day.
The weather forecast was wrong but in the right way. We had sunshine all day and lovely flat water.
We could only find a single solitary mackerel. The sounder was pretty quiet all day actually. Drifting the end of the ebb/start of the flood didn’t bring us much reward.
We managed to turn that one singular mackerel into a decent sized Conger eel. We didn’t weigh it so feel feee to have a guesstimate on our behalf.
A few bream upto 3lb, Dean’s first ever Smoothhound and some other bits and pieces were also tempted onboard Deep Blue by way of squid and lug worm.
A hard, but enjoyable day.
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❄️ We will be fishing all through the winter so feel free to get in touch and book your spot ❄️
