Wednesday 11th January what a start to 2012 with a trip out on The Rocket and thanks to Trevor the skipper and much pressure from me (sorry trev !!) the trip happened. Due to the high winds the previous week the lighting and radio mast were damaged and repairs were started.

With all the rewiring needed the work hadn’t been completed by Monday 9th and when I spoke to the skipper there was a good chance it not may be done by Weds 11th. “It Has Got To Be Ready” I shouted down the phone it’s the best forecast for months and there was no way we can miss it “Suppose I better Get it Done Then” Trevor wailed back to me.

Well he did pull all the stops out and by Tuesday night The Rocket was ready to ship and we had a trip on but with a later start 0830hrs as there was some tidying up left to be done on the boat. No problem with the later start it gave us an extra hour in bed and time for a full english at the Quay pub/restaurant (Highly recommended their breakfast !!) and so reasonable in price too.

The drive down was busier than normal but we hit Poole just as the sun was rising and with just a slight puff of wind, for a January day it was like a summers morning and the days weather was incredible. Blue sky with sun on your face All Day, seas slight just a small ripple where we fished over the banks and the sunset closed down a really good day.

With plenty of room on the boat we could all fish two rods so one was setup with big squid baits and ledger rig for Cod and one light rig for whiting. One of the crew used an uptide rig with two fliers baited with frozen Mackerel and hit fish from the start and fished steady all day as we all did.

Plenty of doggies too and we keep those as a friend and his wife know how to skin and prepare them, an art in itself and they use my Vacuum Packing methods as they love to eat them and they are a tastie fish too plus most give a return of a good portion size.

So a good start to the year and as we sat on the sea front eating would you believe Cod and Chips ! from what has to be the best fish and chip shop in the UK and all cooked fresh for you we reflected on the day and started planning the next trip as the large Pollock are showing on the wrecks and there is still plenty of Cod about.