WRECKS
The area from Lizard Point to the Falmouth Approaches is a shipping graveyard, we have wrecks starting 100 yards offshore, in water ranging from 50 to 300 feet deep. Wrecking is where you’re most likely to see the big “eating fish” and is probably the most popular form of fishing in this area.
We have hundreds of wrecks within an hour and a half’s drive of the mooring, even more than that if you’re happy to go further. We have wrecks good for Pollack, some that are more likely too turn up Cod, some we fish for Ling and some for eels, whatever you want really. A good run of Pollack will see fish of 8 to 14lb in the summer with the really big fish turning up in December, January and early Februaury. The boat’s best so far is 22lb.
Although Pollack don’t have the glamour of cod, they tend to be more plentiful in better sizes and fight a lot better with long head-down runs back into the wreck from 80 feet up in the water. We normally fish with jelly worms and shads as they catch well but feel free to bring along your favourate artificials as all the lures seem to have thier day.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the summer seems to be the best time to catch a Cod around here, from April onwards. The last couple of years have seen a real explosion in cod numbers and they are growing. The general run of Cod this year have been between 5lb and 12lb in size and there have been large numbers of them. We have been catching Cod on mackerel trips! In amongst the normal run of Cods, which are great to catch and in fantastic condition, there are the less common really big fish. This year we have had a 25lb and 28lb fish, our two best.
We have first class Ling fishing in our waters. They seem to like the depth and the strong tide and clear water. We normally catch about 10 fish a year over 25lb, we have had a few at about 28/29lb but have yet to break the 30lb mark. A good day Linging will see an average fish size of about 16 or 18lb and plenty of them. We have one wreck in particular that, although its a bit of a drive, can be absolutely lagged in good fish with a few Cod and Pollack in amongst them. Ling are a fine fish to catch as they get big and, unlike an eel, they taste good as well.
We mostly do our Linging on the drift rather than at anchor, and save it for a small tide with light winds. We drift slowly right through the middle of the wreck and look for the bigger fish that don’t always come out when you anchor a wreck. We use baited hokeyes or makerel/pouting flappers and be prepared to lose some gear! Any time of year can be good for a Ling.
Congers are not Dan’s favourite fish to go for as they stink and cover the boat in stink and taste revolting, but they do get big and they do fight well so we do go Congering a bit during the summer and autumn, but only when its a private charter and everyone is particularly keen on eeling. When we fish for eels, we can only fish the small tides or we would need five pound of lead to keep the gear on the bottom. We fish very close to or normally in the edge of the wreck and would expect to see fish pretty soon after getting the gear in so its not a case of sitting there in the same place for hours on end with nothing doing. If we haven’t had a fish within an hour or so then we will probably look at relocating. Luckily, congers are not fished for commercially these day so stocks are good and slow days are rare. PRIVATE CHARTERS, EXPERIENCED CREWS USING YOUR OWN GEAR ONLY FOR CONGERING PLEASE. Fishing for eels with inexperienced crews generally results in Dan having to overhaul 8 rods himself which is not what he wants to be doing all day when he’s got a boat to look after.