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06/08/2011 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

6 Aug 2011 by Scott Belbin

i thought i'd put in a quick update on how the summers going from west mersea so far. to be honest the tope fishing throughout june and july was near enough non-existant but i few fish showed to remind us what great sport fish they are.however the bass fishing this year has more than made up for it. After a good start in the spring we have seen good numbers of bass on many days this summer. our general fishing has been better than last summer with good numbers of thornbacks in places and some numbers of bigger smoothounds starting to show over the past few weeks. as with the rest of the country we have suffered from the poor weather this summer. although we can often find shelter, it often means we cant get off to where the fish are on that day. with a break in the weather last weekend we managed to get a days bass fishing in offshore.despite conditions not being perfect it was a pleasure to be out as the last couple of offshore trips had to be changed to inshore trips due to the wind. as usual we fished the last of the ebb with three bass around the 2-3lbs mark to show for our efforts before the tide died. we then re-psitioned the boat ready for the flood. there was a fair breeze blowing which held us off the bank for the first 45minutes but once the tide got up we were on the mark and saw our first couple of bass for the flood. we fished here untill about 12.30 when after a busy hour we had totalled 18 bass to with most in the 2-4lbs range and a couple of undersized fish. the fishing slowed so we moved to our next mark which was 6-7 miles closer to home. here we anchored with the hope of a mixed bag including some bigger bass and we werent disapionted. the first fish was another bass which was just under size and it wasnt long before we had our first thornback of the day. we fished here for another couple of hours before we had to head for home. by the time we had finished we had a nice mixed bag to add to the 18 bass, dogfish and weaver fish we had caught in the morning. the lads had managed 10 thornbacks with a couple pushing doubles, 12 more bass around the same stamp as earlyer. we had a smooth-hound about 5lbs and a sole and of course several dogfish too. we also managed 2 codling shortly before we left which was good to see. several other boats have caught some too over the last week. thats a great sign for the coming cod season! after last years poor show it seems that those little ones we were catching in the spring are returning with a bit of added wieght.
over the next month or so we should see good numbers of smooth-hounds, bass should be good especially if we can get offshore for another crack at them the thornbacks will start to move back inshore in a few weeks time and sometime in september we should see the first run of codling. keep an eye on the 'last minute bookings' as we get the odd drop out although we are fully booked untill october at the minute. for more information,available dates and a weekly fishing update please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk or phone 07956411528
27/05/2011 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

27 May 2011 by Scott Belbin

The fishing from Mersea has been great over the past few weeks. At first we had a good run of bass which we are still catching. These fish were schoolie sized fish and most falling to worm baits. The first trip we saw them we had 16 bass with a lot of keepers and the biggest falling to lee Johnson with a fish of 7.2lbs. the next week saw a fair bit of wind and we only got out on the Friday and could venture too far. However we still found a few thornbacks. We totalled 13 for the day with a couple of doubles and plenty of dogs to keep us busy. The next three days were too windy so we weren’t out. The next week the tides were just right for the bass so we tried again with 54 bass to 5lbs on the first day and 53 on the second. We have also seen a few soles mixed in where we are using worm baits. However this is only occasionally but they must be pretty hungry to take a 4/0 hook!
The next week saw another low pressure and more wind, however this time it was in the west so we had loads of shelter. We had hire rods out each day and managed 15 thornbacks on the Saturday and 11 on the Sunday with a few other odds and sods mixed in too. The next week we had some fine weather again, we were in search of a mixed bag with the hopes of the first double figure hound of the season. We didn’t find the big hound and had just 7 up to 5-6lbs. We did find a few bass in the morning which kept us busy for a couple of hours. We had around 50-60 schoolies up to about 2.8lbs with most of them under sized. It was great fun though with the feathers taking 3 at a time and red gills pulling them out too.
the next few weeks we will turn our attension to the tope on some trips and on others we should find good numbers of thornbacks and smoothounds aswell as bass mixed in here and there.
For more information, available dates and a weekly fishing update visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk or phone 07956411528
27/03/2011 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

27 Mar 2011 by Scott Belbin

today we had 7 individuals out with us and quite a varried crew. paul,steve and bart are well seasoned anglers and kev,greg and john are just getting into it and then ed who normally beach fishes and was out on his first boat fishing trip today. we headed out into a fair swell left over from yesterday but it was forecast to drop through the day. we started in search of some thornbacks and were catching from the first cast. by low water we had managed 10 thornbacks a few whiting and an under sized cod. it was much calmer now and we had a move over slack water in search of some cod on the flood. as we arrived the first trickle of flood was starting and the lads were getting bites from the first chuck. it wasnt long before we started to catch some codling and by the end of the day we had managed 15 codling with nine of them being sizable fish and the rest thrown back. we also saw lots of whiting, a few dogs and a couple of pout. on the last nockings we saw another thornback too which put the final tally at 11 thornback,15cod and lots of bits and pieces. it was also a pleasure to finish the day in sunshine, it wont be long before were catching summer species. for more information available dates and a weekly fishing update please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk
19/03/2011 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

19 Mar 2011 by Scott Belbin

scince december its been hard work fishing around the thames estuary. due to many factors including cold snaps,sprats and general lack of fish! but despite all of that we knew the fish would come back on the feed at some stage as the commercial lads were seeing good numbers of cod. over the last 4-6 weeks the fishing has been slowly building with the odd boat having a noteable day. however last weeks spring tides have seen the fishing improve a vast amount with good numbers of everything. saturday the 19th saw us steaming out on a flat calm day bathed in glorious golden sunshine. we had one of our regular groups aboard and as the lads are fairly laid back and enjoy the day as much as the fishing i planned on a mixed bag targetting thornbacks and cod. the first mark i stopped on was a mid-range mark with hopes for thornbacks and a few better sized cod. as tide got up we had plenty of bites producing lots of whiting and two thornbacks to 10.8lbs but i was hoping for more and we still hadnt seen any cod. i was keeping in contact with the other boats as usual and my father ( stuart on the razorbill 2) kept us up to date. the cod were on the feed in a different area a short steam away so we moved at high water and arrived in time for the ebb.
as the abb started to run we started picking up the codling, these can be frustating as they often bump off the hook but there were plenty there to keep the lads happy. we fished here from 12 untill 15.30 and managed 35 codling over all. about half a douzen were under sized and the lads threw back several sizable fish but still had 19 between 3 ans 5.5lbs to take home. not forgetting countless whiting and a couple of pouting. a good day was had by all.
there are lots of very small codling inshore wich is worth making a note of as these should provide us with a good run of fish over the next few seasons.
we saw our first double figure cod of the year last week so fingers crossed they will hang around like last year when they were still showing into may! not forgetting that there are also good numbers of thornbacks to be caught now too. for a weekly fishing update and available dates please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk or phone scott on 07956411528
02/04/2010 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

2 Apr 2010 by Scott Belbin

just a quick update after the easter weekend. the cod have near enough moved off now and the thornbacks are here in good numbers. we saw 44 thornbacks friday, 35 thornbacks saturday, 29 thornbacks sunday and 36 thornbacks monday. we have started to see some other summer species too with our first smoothounds and dogfish showing aswell as a small plaice! for more information a wqeekly update and available dates please visit our website www.essexseafishing.co.uk
21/03/2010 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

21 Mar 2010 by Scott Belbin

21/03/10
hi, sorry its been a while scince the last reort on cbuk but the fishing has been patchy the past couple of months. however it seems to have perked up the past few weeks and a small run of cod have turned up. last trip we had 20 cod of varying sizes to just under 5lbs which was an improvment. yesterday was another step in the right direction when we managed 19 cod to 7lbs and a couple of roker too and today was great with perfect weather and some nice fish showing. dennis had the biggest cod at 13.8lbs and we had another 5 between 7and 10lbs! lets hope they hang around for a couple of weeks. for more information, a weekly fishing update and available dates visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk or phone 07956411528
11/12/2009 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

11 Dec 2009 by Scott Belbin

after a while fishing inshore due to to bad weather we managed to get offshore today. i had the lads from boat fishing monthly aboard and so we headed for one of my favourite big cod marks as the weather allowed. there was a fair swell running but it was comfortable enough to fish. at first we had a few doggies but soon enough we were into the cod. they came steadily throughout the day and although we only had 20 cod the fish were a great stamp. we had 7 doubles with the biggest just over 16lbs we also had several fish in the 8-10lbs range and a couple of roker aswell. these bigger fish will be around untill just after christmas and with a run of fish this size dont be surprised if we get a 30 pounder! we still have some spaces over christmas and there are still plenty of fish inside if the weather is too rough to get offshore.
08/11/2009 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

8 Nov 2009 by Scott Belbin

the fishing has been good but patchy. yesterday we had a nice run of cod but were pestered by a seal. today we headed back to the same mark in the hope he had gone away. thankfully he had and once the tide was under way we saw some cod coming aboard. we totalled 11 cod and 7 roker. not a missive haul but they were quality fish. the biggest cod went 8.8lbs and a a couple of the roker were around the double figure mark. not bad fishing concidering the drop in the tides. when the sprats turn up the cod will pilke on the pounds so dont missout on decembers fishing. see our website for a weekly fishing update aswell as available dates.
28/10/2009 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

28 Oct 2009 by Scott Belbin

we had the day off today and so stacey and i took out some friends of ours out with us for the day. stacey was at the helm and took us well off shore to one of our favourite big cod marks. on the ebb we only had a couple of cod and a roker aswell as a smoothound. as the tide started to flood we saw a few more cod coming aboard and by the end of the day we had 16 cod and 7 roker. there were loads of dogfish and whiting which kept us busy but i think they stop some of the cod getting to the bait. the cod averaged around 5-7lbs and the biggest was 11.6lbs caught by stacey.
18/10/2009 Fishing Report by Scott Belbin

18 Oct 2009 by Scott Belbin

Well after a short quiet period the past couple of weeks, the fishing is starting to get back on form. Today the lads took the option of quality not quantity and so we headed for one of our close range marks for bigger cod. The fishing wasn't fast but we were catching roker from the first cast and the cod soon followed coming steadily throughout the day. We were lucky having some great autumnal weather with a slight frost this morning and glorious sunshine throughout the day. The lads from Crouch Sea Anglers were very pleased with their catch totalling 18 cod averaging around 5-7lbs and the best around 9.8lbs. There were loads of whiting about and one of the lads even accidently had a cod on a whiting. We had 10 roker with the biggest about 6-7lbs, a load of dogfish and a nice bonus bass of about 3lbs. Not a bad day at all and I'm sure the fishing will only improve over the coming weeks and yes we do have some individual spaces as well as a couple of whole days still free. please see our website for weekly reports and any avialable dates.