Yes more on the Pollock’s topic and what a day I had yesterday down on the Weymouth wrecks and then back to the famous Shambles banks.

I was down to Weymouth to shoot video with the well known and probably one of the most rated UK skippers Chris Caines and the equally well rated Tiger Lily cat. I have known Chris for many years and have fished with him over a quarter of a century ago, now that is dateist isn’t it ! Chris is still as committed now as he has always been and his boat Tiger Lily shows just that committment too.

So here is how the day went, I arrived early to get some dawn breaking shots and be organised ready for the skipper and crew to arrive. The boat is awesome in its stature and it’s setup for the charter boat fisherman. I won’t go into reams of details here as the video when it goes live will do all that and you can see how the day went too plus some archive footage from Chris and images from his gallery’s.

Chris arrived early with his crewman to prepare the boat ready to go fishing and it was immaculate anyways as it’s cleaned after each trip out so as an angler I know how good it is to arrive to a sparkling spanking clean boat ready to go fishing. The crew of five arrived and it was a special occasion for one member as it was his birthday so he had to do well to celebrate it.

After discussions it was decided to split the day into wrecking for Pollock as they’re showing in good numbers and then move to the Shambles banks drifting for Plaice and perhaps a Turbot or two. Weather forecast was just as fantastic and with sun forecast with little to no wind what more could you ask for.

I was rolling on the camera as we got underway and the guy’s were kitting up ready to hit the fish. Tiger Lily is a fast stable boat and the first wreck was approx 90 minutes away so chance to catch my thoughts on how best to capture the day, Chris in action and the crew fishing and hopefully coming up with the goods and true to form Weymouth the Angling Mecca of the south coast didn’t fail to perform.

Using all the onboard electronics Tiger Lily was accurately placed forward of the wreck and lines went over the side in approx 200ft of crystal clear water. Lures were various with shads, eddystones and sidewinders the favourites. First couple of drifts to get the feel of the wreck and then then the fish started to show.

Pollock usually snatch and then hit the lures and as I watched ready to capture the action you could see just how they where feeding and as the anglers were all experienced the landing net was seeing some good fish being brought aboard.

A move to a second wreck produced some slightly larger Pollock and the usual pesky Pouting but it added to the species list so they were accepted. Chris likes to fish within the bounds of good husbandry and not take more fish than the crew are likely to consume so with each angler having fish to take home it was time to steam back to the Shambles bank and see if the Plaice or Turbot want to play on what was now virtually a hot summers day “In February 2012″

With the guy’s rigged ready with plaice kits that looked like a lady would wear round their knecks in multi coloured beads and bangles which can only be described as “Bling Rigs” the first drift got under way and we had a flat calm oily sea. First drift a good eatable size plaice came aboard and this looked promising. More drifts and more Plaice plus a couple of doggies too, well day wouldn’t be the same without a Woofer or two would it.

The final drift produced two good Plaice to the two anglers next to each other and the two fish landed in one net so it was just pure text-book stuff and I have it all on video WOW! I just wish I was fishing alongside these guy’s as it was a day to remember and reflect back on when I upgrade the video’s in time to come.

So the day has passed and time to head back to Weymouth and every one agreed they couldn’t have asked for anything better than what Chris and Tiger Lily plus fishing off Weymouth could have provided, there were some pies on the boat from a local bakers and if we had candles then the birthday boy would have had a really good party day just needed silly hats too ! but most had those on anyways.

What also impressed me was the energy of the reserve Crewman for the day as the usual guy had injured his hand but the stand-in of which at this time I can’t recall his name but will amend this later when I find it again as he was first class. He was supportive in all ways, prepared and gutted the fish, expertly filleting the catch and finally scrubbing the boat from top stem to stern ready for the next angling party to enjoy, oh and made the tea and coffee too.

So as you can see the day was pure pleasure, you will see the video very soon and enjoy what we all did out with Chris Caines on the Tiger Lily Cat.