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Latest Fishing Reports: Silver Spray II

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01/2020 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Jan 2020 by Sam Cumming

It’s always nice to get the New Year rolling with a really decent rod bending day out, the first trip of 2020 did not disappoint. We headed to the offshore banks south of Poole about 20 miles and fished comfortably all day with up to 24oz of lead. There was about 15 knots of wind so we would have had a good excuse if the fish hadn’t been playing ball. Luckily that wasn’t the case at all and other than re anchoring at slack water we pretty much had fish on for the entire day. We had a good mix of blonde rays, spurdogs, bull huss, whiting, congers and even tope and smoothound. Top fish of the day went to Darryl Morrell for his 29lb 8oz blonde ray which was one of 5 rays he had. This bodes well for the next couple of months as the height of the season is usually mid March. Elsewhere we were pleased to get out every day between Boxing day and New Years Eve, with the tides being a bit on the big side we stuck to the fishing inshore. We had plenty of whiting in Poole Bay along with small eyed and undulate rays. Pushing slightly further out for the slack produced some better fish and even one small cod but we couldn’t get away from the congers which smashed a lot of the baits that went down. We are looking forward to our first wreck trip of the season in early February and hopefully some better weather at some point.
11/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Nov 2019 by Sam Cumming

As the days get colder it signals the end of all the long range stuff for a month or two until the spurdogs arrive at the end of December. Our last shark trip of the year was a success producing a nice porbeagle of 110lb for Adrian Black. It was caught in fairly shallow water so put up a very energetic scrap. This year we put plenty of time and effort into developing our shark fishing and it paid off well as we averaged over one fish per trip; if you had offered me that at the start of the year I would have bitten your hand off. Biggest porbeagle went 250lb with a nice average of around the 100lb mark. The highlight was seeing the two big thresher sharks both estimated at around 450lb, an absolute adrenaline rush to see these fish jumping around in the water. Inshore we have started our winter fishing at anchor which will be our main focus for a while. We have had our first cod and also pollock and some nice rays. There are rather a lot of congers out on the ground at the moment which does make it difficult to keep bait down for sensible periods of time. Hopefully they will get bored and move on before December. Our trips to Alderney and Guernsey are starting to fill up so make sure to book up soon to avoid disappointment.
09/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Sep 2019 by Sam Cumming

After a brilliant run of weather over the last 4 weeks I’m actually quite glad to have a day off to be writing this and catching up with all the maintenance jobs. As mentioned in the last report we had quite a few shark trips planned for this season. After some success late on in the year last October I really got the bug for this sort of thing and it spurred me on to invest in some new rods reels and tackle and have more of a go this time around. With a decent bit of weather it’s been possible to have a good look around in some new areas. Thankfully they didn’t take much finding and as I write this we haven’t had a blank trip yet. The porbeagle sharks have been up to 250lb which is 7 feet in length. Once alongside the sharks are brought onboard to be unhooked safely and re-oxygenated using the deck hose ensuring they are in the best condition for a quick release. Our circle hooks always hook the fish just in corner of the mouth which means we never have to cut any of them off and leave the metal behind in the sharks. The biggest highlight was getting 2 enormous thresher sharks within a week of each other. The first run you get when they take the bait is breathtaking followed by some brilliant acrobatics as they jump clear out of the water several times. This really is a big game fish and the adrenaline rush from being hooked up to one of these for a couple of hours is awesome. The one we were able to measure was 9 feet long from nose to the fork of the tail, using the size estimate charts this puts it at over 450lb. After catching 3 porbeagles in the morning my angler was well and truly shattered by the end of the day. Only a few individual spaces left for shark fishing this year but 2020 is starting to take shape so get booked up quick. Over the other side of the channel our last two Alderney trips have gone well despite challenging weather conditions. Such seems to be our luck this year as we have just cancelled the final one for the end of September. The bream fishing has been great with both black and couches turning up in good size and numbers. On our trip last week we were pleasantly surprised by a nice hit of brill, all between 4 and 7lb 8oz, a bit of a shocker considering how late in the year it is. In August we were going about our business on the turbot banks when we were treated to thousands of tuna breaking the surface and chasing a bait ball around. An amazing sight which carried on for the entire trip as the massive bluefin tuna kept popping up everywhere we went chasing their prey and crashing around on the surface. I’ll always have be keeping more of an eye on the horizon from now on when fishing around the island as you never know. We are know taking booking for Alderney and Guernsey 2020.
08/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Aug 2019 by Sam Cumming

Again I find myself sat in my lounge on a Saturday rather than taking you guys out after the bass or plaice, just seems to be our luck that the wind is always blowing just a little bit too much this year. The fish have definitely been keen to get involved when we have managed to get out. Starting inshore the plaice have been good fun on the spinning rods with fish over the 3lb mark coming every trip, not quite hit 4lb recently but can’t be too far away. This type of drift fishing has been hampered by the weather a lot as a light westerly is best but we seem to always have 15 knots or more to contend with, giving us an unnatural drift speed. Out on the bass grounds the fishing has been brilliant with most of the fish coming to lures. Plenty of small fish in there of about 2lb heading back for next year and a nice one for the table for everyone that wants one. On the smaller tides the tope have provided great sport mixed in with all types of rays, some congers, huss and even the always welcome bonus turbot. I always try to have a shark rod out on a float whilst tope fishing, all the large mackerel flappers going up and down through the tide sets up a pretty handy chum trail. Last Monday it was it was clearly well worth a go when the first conger up to the boat was bitten in half by something with big teeth. After a few hours knocking out the tope the clicker screamed off on the shark rod and the lads were rewarded with a nice porbeagle of about 6 feet in length, good signs for our upcoming shark trips if we can get the weather. Our last wreck trip of the year turned out to be one of the best for cod with one small wreck producing all the fish. Along with ling and congers at anchor I think good fun was had by all. We are looking forward to finally getting over to Alderney next week as we haven’t managed to get over there since May. 2020 bookings are up to date for Alderney and Guernsey trips so get booking now.
Sam Cumming
Silver Spray II
03/08/2019 Fishing Report by Simon Oakland

3 Aug 2019 by Simon Oakland

Fished with Sam on Silver Spray on Saturday 3rd August. Every now and again you have one of those red-letter days, and this was certainly one of them. The day was meant to be a mix of bass fishing, with tope over the slack.
We had a few bass to live baits in the morning, and then the lures started to produce results. At slack water we tried for a bonus turbot or ray, but then the tide turned, and the bass really came on the feed. Every type of lure and every colour seemed to work! By the end of the day we all had our one "keeper" each, but the afternoon session never stopped. I would say we must have been close to 100 bass in total for the day. Great skipper, great boat, good company, and the best days fishing I've had in years. Cheers Sam.
07/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Jul 2019 by Sam Cumming

Where to start with the last 4 weeks? It seems like we have done so many different things, this variety is one of the strengths of fishing from Poole. We will start inshore and the arrival of the mackerel in better numbers seems to have encouraged the rays to come on a bit stronger. Undulates and blondes being the main target with a few other spotties and thornbacks dotted about. One short evening trip saw us land so many undulates we broke the golden rule and moved off the fish, only to be rewarded with even more rays at the next mark. Many of the inshore marks for rays are covered in tiny bream at the moment so you should check your baits frequently as often anglers are just left with skin on the hook after the bream have pecked all the meat off it. Good for the future stocks of one of our main species. On the drift the plaice fishing has been awesome with fish coming to the net regularly to the 3lb plus mark, this type of fishing should continue until October so plenty of time to get booked on if you fancy a crack at them. Last week we had such a frantic day that we fished until we ran out of bait. The plaice fed pretty the whole day long, even when we were drifting at 2 knots. Great fun on the spinning rods and good to see the lads putting so many back for future trips. Bass fishing continues to show signs of improvement this year with plenty of fish still taking the lures on the banks, again good fun on lighter tackle when accompanied with a couple of hours fishing at anchor for the tope with the heavy stuff. Freelining and float fishing has also started well with Tony Methvan landing only his second ever bass at just over 8lb, we will be doing more on the floats and freeline in the coming weeks. The shark fishing is under way for this year and we have a few spaces on trips starting in early August, all our encounters so far have come on tope or conger gear so you’re never guaranteed to get the fish the surface. Hopefully we can hook into one on suitable tackle soon. Tight Lines for the coming weeks!!!
06/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Jun 2019 by Sam Cumming

I’ll try to stick to the positives rather than moaning on about how poor the weather has been, I’ve probably done enough of that lately. Anglers onboard Silver Spray have managed plenty of top quality fish over the last month. The shorter range trips have been producing good numbers of bass on the right tides, not all monsters like Dave Mynors’ of 9lb 5oz, but still good fun on the light tackle. Bream fishing is going strong with some bigger fish starting to show up to 3lb 4oz the other evening. Our fishing holidays to Guernsey have been tough due to poor conditions but that hasn’t put the guys off, still keen whether its rain, wind or shine. The banks fishing for flatfish has been great compared to the last couple of years with plenty of good brill and turbot. Karston Murray caught a PB turbot of 15lb shortly after a false alarm which turned on to be a blonde ray, not something you usually see on a live sandeel. We have just returned from our first Cherbourg trip of the year which has been a success. There was enough cod and pollack to keep everyone happy along with some good sized bream. On the middle day of the three we explored some new ground and were rewarded with a new boat record in the shape of a 1lb 3oz greater weaver. A truly beautiful fish that fights well above it weight. Notable fish on the wrecks have included an amazing 5lb 9oz tub gurnard for Peter Rae caught on a sidewinder and a 63b conger for Mike White. We are off to Guernsey again tomorrow and hoping for better weather. Fingers crossed.
05/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

May 2019 by Sam Cumming

We have just come back from our first visit to Alderney of the year and I’m pleased to see the weather is nicer on this side of the channel. We battled it out in easterly winds for four days with one day of light winds in the middle proving to be the most productive. Despite conditions it was our best flat fish trip for a few years in terms of numbers. Turbot to 9lb 8oz and brill to 4lb were the top fish; due to the weather we couldn’t really try many other types of fishing. In the Channel the wreck fishing is going well now the may bloom seems to be clearing. Still plenty of good pollock around and the first of this year’s cod, last trip produced 6 which is encouraging for our top month of June. Inshore fishing is going along very nicely with a mix of bass and black bream. The bass have been falling to lures of many varieties as well as slow jigs. Today I am out with Jon and Ben Cannings fishing for bass with LRF gear and it hasn’t disappointed with over 30 fish coming to the boat on 2-8 gram gear. With the right conditions this really is the best way to fish for the inshore bass. Biggest fish so far goes to Dave Mynor with a fine summer fish of 9lb 5oz caught on a skerries eel with a long trace. The bream have been plentiful some days and difficult to hook others as the visibility hasn’t been great in the bay. This should clear up as the month pushes on. Best bream so far is 3lb 8oz caught on a whole squid head by Barry. Looking forward to our first crack at Guernsey next week to target some new grounds, still a few spaces on our trip on 10th June if your interested.
04/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Apr 2019 by Sam Cumming

Our patience in March was rewarded with a week’s worth of good weather to round the month off, and on a nice neap tide no less! It seems like the weather makes a mess of those smaller tides so often these days so it’s nice to get one in. We were treated to 5 straight days of flat calm seas and good fishing. Most days were spent on the wrecks making targetting the big spring pollack with an hour or two spent at anchor on the way in to do some filleting and target the spurdogs and blonde rays. We have been doing well on the regular wrecks for this time of year averaging 30 fish or so a day, still plenty of double figure fish to help boost that personal best. Yesterday we managed the first cod of the year, hopefully the first of many. We used one of the smallest tides of the year to explore some new wrecks with positive results and look forward to getting out there again soon. On the banks the fishing is still nonstop with all different types of rays showing up along with spurs, congers, huss and some early tope. As an angler I love these types of trips at anchor due to the variety of species but it seems this year they have proved harder trips to fill than the long distance wreck stuff. Inshore the spell of warm weather has started to heat the waters back up and we have seen the arrival of the first bream slightly earlier than usual. We are used to seeing the smaller fish arrive first but were pleasantly surprised with half a dozen fish over 2lb in our first session. Elsewhere we have been getting tucked into some decent plaice up to 4lb, hard fighting on the lighter tackle. The turbot are plentiful but nothing monstrous yet so fingers crossed for later in the month. Plenty of spaces for bream fishing over the coming weeks as well as the first of the cod trips.
03/2019 Fishing Report by Sam Cumming

Mar 2019 by Sam Cumming

This year’s wrecking has got off to a solid start with the spring pollack arriving at the end of February in good numbers. Longer traces seem to be working better than regular length and also smaller lures, like the 4 inch redgill evo, have been catching some of the better fish around slack. Biggest fish so far goes to Jed with a fine pollack of 17lb caught on a sidewinder. Due to poor weather conditions and large tides we haven’t done a great deal of anchoring. Last day spent targeting rays and spurdogs was at the end of February and was pretty full on with 28 spurs coming to the net, all returned, along with tope, smoothound, blonde rays, congers and bull huss. A large tope at this time of year is usually a freak occurrence but we have managed 4 in as many trips this year. We aren’t sure what’s brought them on but they are a most welcome bit of sport on the 12lb class gear. Over the next few weeks we should see the first cod of the year, hopefully, and our first trips to target plaice, turbot and brill.
Sam Cumming
Silver Spray II