We were steaming past the Exmouth seafront, well muffled up and a hot cup of tea in hand. I was sat out of the wind smiling quietly to myself, at last it had finally happened, I was on the Rose Ann and going fishing with Mike Baker!!!

0615. Tuesday 10^th October 2006.

We were steaming past the Exmouth seafront, well muffled up and a hot cup of tea in hand. I was sat out of the wind smiling quietly to myself, at last it had finally happened, I was on the Rose Ann and going fishing with Mike Baker!!!

It must be at least five years ago that we had plotted and planned this trip and ever since, on every good tide in October the weather had blasted us off the water. Maybe it was because this was a relatively small tide for Bassing on the Lyme Bay wrecks that the we had taken Thor and his hammer by surprise!!

Contemplating the relatively smooth sea, I was still in Victor Meldrew mode when Mike shouted that we were five minutes from the first wreck. This could not be I thought, as we laughed and joshed one another in a mild state of panic to get rigged and twigged in time for the first drift. Some of us wanted live mackerel but shout came from the cabin that there would be plenty over the wreck.

Big John Hall rides a custom built Harley Davidson and runs his own 25 foot Arvor out of Exmouth and does that guy love his fishing. As well as being something of a local legend, he really does know what he is doing. He rigged a 10 foot leader from a long wire boom in much the same way as we do further West for wreck fishing in much deeper water. Pearl and blue backed shads were rigged at the sharp end and away they went. Tap the bottom and reel at a moderate speed to halfway up before letting the rig down again.

What we had not realised was that the tide in Lyme Bay was not as fierce as we would have expected on our own patch, a bigger tide would have most likely concentrated the fish more than they were on the day, because the fish were spread all over the wreck. Fish were caught on the start of the drift and another might be caught on the tail end of the drift, the fish were moving around hunting out bait fish and were not focussed in a shoal as they would be on a bigger tide. So it was a day of working hard on every drift to tempt the fish into taking an artificial instead of the natural bait fish and it was strange because the shads actually did better on the day than the natural baits which a couple of us presented to them.

 Andy Pym from Exeter is an angler who evidently fishes with Mike Baker on a regular basis. Andy took the first fish of the day on a Storm Shad which was an amazing replica of a Joey Mackerel… when he took the second fish on the same lure it was very clear that that is what the fish wanted. Fortunately, I just happened to have a bagful of them hiding away in my tackle wallet and did they do the job… highly recommended!!

So much so that there were a lot of false bites on these storming lures. Then John Hall showed me his lure which had a number of significant nicks along the bottom where the Squid and Cuttlefish had grabbed the lures and had a beakful out of the belly bit of the lure…  ‘bet that gave ‘em constipation!!!

These jelly shads have reached new heights of realism and it is not until you see something like those belly nicks that you realise just how enticing these lures have become. This is the second time this year that I have seen these artificial’s outfish a natural bait to a significant extent. Even so, it has to be said that good though these lures are, they cannot just be dumped in the water in the expectation that fish are going to be attracted to them. It is all about putting the lure where fish can expect to find natural baits and then moving the lure to tempt the fish. I suspect the

 temptation comes because the lure will always move in a predictable manner, which natural baitfish will never do if they are being hunted by a hungry predator. What I am saying is that predator will always find the lure easier to catch than a frightened and highly elusive natural bait, such as a scared and speedy mackerel! Our job as anglers is to put the lure where the fish can find it and make it look like a half wit natural, then it will get hammered… its natures way!

This was a day when we caught fish, but had to work for them. Skipper Mike Baker showed his well practiced expertise by moving us from wreck to wreck as the tide changed, always looking for fish. He would fetch up on a wreck, spin the wheel, handful of reverse and we would be ready to drift. I enjoy watching someone who is good at his job, perhaps it is an appreciation of skill that has taken time and heartache to learn. But don’t expect a new age plastic Skipper, because as John Hall said “he is in a bad mood if he doesn’t abuse his anglers”. All part of the fun, all part of the great traditions of going to sea.

Contact:

B&G Charters. www.rose-ann.co.uk

Tel: (evenings) 01392 209414

Tel: (boat)         07752879170

Tel: (daytime)   01793 520827