On Saturday Shane Kevin and Tim travelled from Chesterfield to fish in the Whitby Charter skippers spring angling festival and Shane always the optimist could not have imagined how events would turn out,

the day before he gave me a call to check on weather and such and I explained to him as I did my other anglers that the fishing inside was not a realistic option and we would need to be steaming off 18mls or so to a favorite wreck we Whitby skippers use from time to time and a wreck we fished the previous week so I knew there were large Pollock there but this would mean a 2.5 hour journey from the harbour undeterred all the anglers were in agreeance and after a really enjoyable steam we arrived first drop with a baited shad saw Kevin’s rod bend into a fish which produced a 6lb cat, I lost a fish half way up so round again the drift was near perfect with no wind to blow the blow off the mark setting up was a cinch every time and I knew conditions were just right,

after the tide came through we started to get more Pollock takes and I had a knock around 20 winds up, (tip) the trick with Pollock is not to strike just keep winding when the fish starts to take I sometimes slow the wind down a little to encourage the fish on, but once on the hook the fun starts this fish I had on turned out to be around 9lb and the first run was unbelievable stripping line from the reel like you see in big game fishing there power is amazing, (it is really important to set the drag to allow for these runs) after a few more dives it was at the surface then quickly netted in the boat, I explained to the lads the importance of setting the drag on there reels while setting up for the next drift I thought I would get the video camera out and try capture one of the anglers with a fish on Shanes rod bent over so this was my cue, the fish was taking line for fun and instead of slowing the run down with his thumb he was tightening the drag on the reel (un be known to me) later he explained saying he was worried the fish would dive into the wreck still the fish took line until he had wound the drag completely tight I cannot believe he didn’t loose it right then, to cap it off his mate demonstrated how not to net a fish (see the video clip)

which proves my theory if it’s got your name on it nothing will stop you landing it,

once on board I could see it was a fine fish and it weighed well over 12lb and I knew at that moment this fish was a potential winner so into the bait tank it went, I was really pleased for Shane he is so keen and enthusiastic all the time even if he has a poor day nothing deters him but I said don’t get your hopes up too much the fish will loose weight as the day progresses on the long journey home we kept weighing the fish which is almost impossible on a moving deck with the hand on the scales bouncing around and I kept looking at the GPS which was telling me our ETA was tight regards (getting back under the bridge before 5pm rule) and by the time I approached the bell buoy the tide was ripping along taking valuble speed away from the boat which was now flat out trying to make up time, we did make it with 2 mins to spare pheeew,

the race home had taken it out of me and when I got the news the fish missed out taking the festival lead by 0.5oz I felt so sorry for Shane but the sports man that he is he simply said at least I won the day mick and thanks for a great one

a gentelman if ever there was top man I wish I had your resolve I think I would have cried Quote from my site:

shane said,

thanks mick a good days fishing as always! we got close hopefully get it next time.
thanks again