Species Fishing Blog: Grey Viking

Thursday 18 August 2011

Grey Viking - Brighton

I was lucky this time with the charter boat as it only cancelled once before I was able to go out, or was I? The night before I got a call that we were going to go out to sea but the forecast didn’t look too good. I got up at about 3:30am and caught the first train to Brighton.

I got on the to the Marina at around 7. On the way out, I realised that I was in for a rough day. 10 Miles out was about as far as we could be able to cope and we dropped anchor. The wind was blowing but we all dropped our lines into the depths. I decided that I wanted a cod, so I baited up with cuttlefish and waited. A few of the fellow angler did get a few mackerel but I persisted only to get a mackerel on the end of my line. After about an hour, I gave in and put on my white feathers. I was into fish within seconds on every drop. I was getting a lot more fish than everyone else. I think it might have been my feathers. Everyone else was using silver and I used white. The other thing was that it was my new Abu 6500 Mag Elite’s maiden voyage and I had loaded it up with 20lb braid as well. It was amazing how sensitive this line was. I could even feel the mackerel taking the hook on the drop.

Atlantic Mackerel - Scomber scombrus

This brittle star was probably the weirdest looking thing that I had ever caught on a hook.

Serpent’s Table Brittlestar - Ophiura albida

I got really rough and we moved closer inshore and a little to the east. The trip was extremely wet and I became really seasick as well. The mark was a sand bank but I wanted to start on feathers as I was still a little too ill to change the rig. My first drop and within 10 seconds, I got the first fish here. After many more I got tired of mackerel and baited up for some bottom fishing. I kept getting some rattling at the end of my line but wasn’t able to hook up. After a few tries and downsized my hooks and ended up with 3 Black Bream.

Black Sea-Bream - Spondyliosoma cantharus

Black Sea-Bream - Spondyliosoma cantharus

This was a horse mackerel that one of the other anglers had caught on feathers.

Atlantic Horse Mackerel - Trachurus trachurus

After the bream, I finally added a new species to my list. A Dab [#129]. It’s easy to tell a dab apart from the other similar species, it has a lateral line that curves around the pectoral fine. That finished off the day and after another very wet trip on the way back to the Marina, I was glad to be on dry land and heading home. I still haven't caught a cod but maybe next time.