Tope Fishing the upper reaches
Morecabme Bay Aboard Blue Mink
Red letter days, when they come along, have a habit of sneaking up and taking you completely by surprise. Often they will come on days when you feel you either really shouldn't, or can't be bothered going afloat because it simply doesn't seem worth the effort, or in some cases even the risk. Then out of the blue they surpass all expectation. 'Stolen days' also fall into this category. The odds are stacked against the trip going ahead, but like a real trooper you soldier on hoping to grind out any sort of a result and unexpectedly hit the jackpot. As per the pattern of the past few years, the summer of 2008 provided plenty of potential opportunities in all of the above categories. One in particular was a trip I had been wanting to fish aboard Blue Mink skippered by Andy Bradbury out from Fleetwood marina. I knew Andy when he was a dinghy fanatic and a member of the Fylde Boat Angling Club. But the funny thing is that in the five years or so since he turned full time professional charter skipper, though I'd seen the boat out there on many occasions, I'd never actually set foot on board it. So I decided I would remedy that this summer – weather of course permitting.
There are many reasons why anglers might want to spend a day afloat aboard Blue Mink. I'll come to the actual fishing in a few moments. But first I want to say a few words about a side of Andy Bradbury I hadn't seen before, simply because I'd never fished with him while he has been wearing his charter skippers hat. For some reason, a lot of people who themselves don't fish regularly, seem to think that charter skippering would be the ideal job for people like me who have a boat. To be honest, I can't think of anything I'd less rather do. Trying to eek out a living dogged by marginal weather reports or parties that let you down, and having to be nice to anglers who unrealistically expect the earth or constantly get right up your nose is beyond my temperament. In addition to that, at times tearing your hair out wondering where to go to find some fish when they are thin on the ground. It's little wonder so many charter skippers are bald. It takes a special kind of person to be good at that sort of public relations job, at times under extremely testing circumstances, and in that regard, from what I have seen, Andy Brad is most definitely the right man for the job, just as I am most definitely not. And into the bargain, he can also find fish too.
The day I spent with Andy fitted very much into the stolen day category. From what I could see of the forecast the night before it was a complete no hoper. So you can imagine my surprise when he told me to be at the marina gate for 6.30 'cos we were sailing. What's more, we were going across to Walney Island. It seems that while trawling through the forecasts, he'd spotted a potential quiet spell while the wind was swinging around from south westerly to north westerly, which meant that even if it did start blowing later in the day, heading back across we would at least have it on our tail. I on the other hand was wavering unable to decide whether I should go or not. With things back-logging up by July due to the crap weather earlier I was desperate to get afloat. But with rain also forecast, I didn't want to be limited to grabbing a few snaps here and there between the showers. So it was decision time. In the end I decided what the hell, I'd give it a go, which with hind sight was one of my better decisions. But I still had my doubts as we boarded the boat with rain dimpling the surface of the marina and wind rattling the rigging of the yachts moored up nearby. The dubious start wasn't exactly helped either by the fact that I was later to find that my butties were still in the fridge at home when feeding time came around.
The boat had been chartered by a group of lads who work together at British Aerospace in Lancashire. They particularly wanted to go over to the Cumbrian side of the bay to fish for anything and everything, which you can usually find in abundance a couple of miles off the west side of Walney Island over the summer months. Cod and pollack can often be relied upon. Black bream have also started showing with increasing regularity, though never in any sort of meaningful numbers. Coalfish, gurnards and flatties can also usually be picked up steadily over the course of the day, along with a good sprinkling of other stuff, depending on where exactly you are of course, as the ground can be quite mixed ranging from cleaner patches right through to full rough. In 2007 Blue Mink played host to an impressive total of 37 different species, and 2008 had been shaping up to follow a similar pattern until the 'summer' came along. So the starting plan was to drift with mono droppers above the lead baited either with fresh black lug, or fresh mackerel which thankfully were about in good numbers. Then, if any one area showed a bit more promise than the rest, we could either concentrate on drifting it specifically, or put the anchor down.
In terms of the fish the lads were looking for, it started a bit on the slow side. Not necessarily because those species weren't there. They could well have been. More a case of the fact that on the body section chunks of mackerel most were using on at least one of their hooks, they were attracting bucket loads of tope. Hooks and snoods were being bitten off left right and centre, though incredibly a few tope hooked around the edge of the mouth were also being brought to the boat. This prompted a bit more deliberation in the tope interest by switching to bigger hooks and baits on longer flowing traces. But not unfortunately using wire which was at a premium on the day, as tope were not a species most on board had been expecting to target. Again a lot of fish were lost with a handful actually making it on board. Andy passed what wire traces he could muster out amongst the party who then caught quite a few more fish and also lost some, along with the wire, due to some of the drags being over tightened and too much additional pressure being put on the line by thumbing the spool on the uplift stroke. Then, suddenly, as if by magic, a spool of trace wire was found hiding in the bowls of somebodies tackle box, prompting what could have been a lucrative cottage industry in bite proof trace making with wire freely available to all who wanted it.
An abundance of wire traces and the anchor put down led to what can only be described as a tope explosion. It was most definitely tope city down there, and they were in mega-hungry mood. Poor Andy was a very busy man, but a very happy one too with rods bending all around the boat and many of the lads achieving personal bests. But I have to say though that in some cases this was despite the tactics being used. In particular here I am thinking about some of the bait presentations and at times a dogged determination not to part with too much in the way of line from the spool regardless of the pressure put on it. I can honestly say that I don't think I heard the sound of a ratchet sounding off throughout the entire session. On a different day, the masking of hook tips through over complicated bait hook ups could have had more of an impact. But eventually the message got through, particularly when it came to the use of live baits which were pretty much guaranteed not to last too long once they'd touched bottom. A simple nick of the hook through the nostrils is all it takes. Or if you prefer to use a dead bait, then a lightly hooked flapper. These fish were not finicky, and nor were they messing about. They were ravenous and they were having it.
The best tope of the season aboard Blue Mink up to press tipped the scales at 62 pounds from over on the Blackpool side in front of the Norbreck. These Walney fish were nowhere near that calibre. I would put the majority in the 20 to 30 pound bracket with the odd smaller one, along with the odd better fish too that might have edged a bit closer to the 40 pound mark. Individually, nothing spectacular, but plenty of fun to catch with lots of hard fighting individuals determined to give a very good account of themselves. Just exactly how many were brought onto the gunnel's of Blue Mink for disgorging and release is difficult to say as the trip hadn't started off as a deliberate tope epic. Far from it in fact. But a quick role call of who remembered catching what at the close took the final tally up at least 40 fish. And that took no account of the dozens either lost through biting their way free at the start of the day, or getting away later for a variety of other reasons. So it could well have gone to 60 or even 70 tope if everyone had stayed attached. The day produced 9 other species too. What can be said for certain is that there were a lot of tired and happy anglers on board by the end of that day, most of whom had achieved tope PB's, and who should, given a repeat performance, be boating more and losing less tope next time around.
Blue Mink is a 31 foot Mitchell licensed for 12, though probably better fished by 8, with a rain cover that can be rolled out to around half the length of the deck. Being moored in Fleetwood marina is nice, but it can be a bit of a pain at times too, particularly for Andy. Fine where the tides are right for pick-ups at reasonable times, but less good when the loch gates have to open in the middle of the night, particularly in winter. When that happens, Andy has to drop out early onto a river mooring and try to grab a few hours kip before picking up using a ladder from the ferry beach. Yet another example of the kind of dedication required to be a charter skipper. But that aside, given the weather, Fleetwood has more than enough to offer even the most seasoned charter angling enthusiast, and as Andy is full time, no fishable day is missed. In the winter, cod and whiting dominate the thinking, though increasingly Andy finds difficulty drawing a line between the seasons with the so called summer fish, particularly the plaice and thornbacks arriving ever earlier and sticking around for longer. Pollack have also suddenly started featuring quite heavily over certain patches of open heavy ground. Then there's the bass and flatties (including plaice) on the home port side of the bay. The current UK dogfish record is held by the boat as should have been the starry smoothhound record when a specimen in excess of 30 pounds chafed the trace that was holding it on an adjacent anglers braid while Andy was getting the big net.
If any of that lot whets your appetite, give Andy Bradbury a call on 01253 354567. If it doesn't, it would be interesting to know what would.