Waltham Abbey Sea Angling Club

Chairman: Mr E.Catherall      Secretary: Mr S.Dieppe                                                             Est. 1992

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12 February, 2020

April 12th - 14th 2016.

Valkyrie Charters - Hayling Island

Eight members present who all travelled down on the 11th and checked in at the “Bear Hotel” Havant which  is on the mainland just north of the Island.

Woke up to a heavy mist over the whole area so no idea what the weather held in store for us. After a good breakfast we made our way down to the boat which is moored in Northney Marina on the north east corner of the island. Skipper Glen Cairns was waiting for us and after topping up with fuel started on our way for the first day of wrecking. After about an hour the sun started to burn off the mist and it looked as though the weather was going to be really good, no wind and flat calm sea. We reached the first wreck after about two and a half hours steaming and using simple 6-8 ft traces on boom rigs started to drift fish across the wreck with a variety of lures to attract the fish. This wreck and the next produced a few fish but not the amount the skipper was hoping for, so he decided to steam even further across the channel to a third wreck, this putting us a good 45 miles from port and nearer France than the UK. Within a few minutes of drifting this wreck the fish started to come aboard and by the end of the day we had a box full of Pollock.

The second day again the weather was holding up and sunshine and calm seas were the order of the day. The plan was to fish for some flat fish on this trip and we headed out to a sand bank for the day, however despite various moves to different marks we did not find many fish. It seemed it was not just us but various other boats were all reporting in with poor catches. The end result was a couple of nice Skate, a few Pollock and Dog Fish.

The third and final day was to be some mixed fishing, anchored on some rough ground, a few inshore wrecks and possible sand bank again. Whilst the weather once again was being kind to us with calm seas and brilliant sunshine regrettably the fishing once again was quite poor. The skipper tried very hard to find fish but again they were very scarce. A few flat fish, Spur dog and a number of Pollock was the total catch.

Despite the poor catches on the second and third day a very enjoyable trip was had by all, excellent boat and skipper and very good accommodation at the “Bear Hotel”, also found a good selection of eating places on the island.

Below is a selection of pictures from the trip, click on thumbnail for larger image.

May 9th - 11th 2017.

Valkyrie Charters - Hayling Island

Once again the club was of to Hayling Islaqnd for the now annual fishing trip. This time it was to be two days of inshore fishing and one day going out mid channel to fish the wrecks. Some of the members travelled down on the Monday and received the bad news from the skipper that due to the easterly winds the proposed fishing would have to be modified due to sea conditions.

On the Tuesday morning the winds had not improved and we travelled out just a couple of miles to fish on the reefs and sand banks. A few nice Smooth Hounds were caught but aside from this the fishing was very poor and the only other fish landed were a Garfish, a small Plaice, a Black Bream and a very small whiting, all in all a very poor days catch.

On the second day we were greeted with lovely sunshine but still the strong Easterly wind was blowing and again it was to be inshore fishing.

May 27 - 28th  Penarth Wales

Two days of general bottom fishing, good selection of rays, flatfish, codling and eels were caught.