Bryan's Sea Fishing Blog: The Addiction of Sea Fishing

I know it's got nothing to do with fishing, but that's me on the left with my best friend Johnnie back in 1961. They say that if you have the ability to ski - note the longthong bindings of yesteryear - you can also ride horses, sail and fish! Whether you believe that or not ......................... !

The point of this blog, if it has one, is to try and pass on some of my knowledge - and for that matter other people's - and experiences, which as they say have been various and manifold! I will intersperce the monologues with what I hope will be interesting tips, observations, videos and photos, some old some new.

And so to start ............................

There is nothing quite like a successful day game fishing. And nothing quite like coming back in with no flags flying - pretty shaming, really!!

A marlin on the aft deck.

However, we all have fishing stories - what fisherman doesn't? Some you can prove and some you can't. I love the ones you can.

The day's catch: a mahi-mahi and a marlin.

The second days catch - a hammerhead shark.

These three pictures were taken in Mazatlan on the west coast of Mexico, which is opposite the end of the Gulf of California. John Wayne kept his motor cruiser "Gray Goose" moored here and she was there off the Bay when we were there in 1975. Trying to look non-chalant is not my style! It was a great fight and when hauled on board, the boys and my wife were asked to go below in case the spike did damage. The one thing the trip did was introduce the two boys to sea fishing and I am sure it was here that they got the bug. They now regularly go sea fishing, fly fishing and coarse fishing - and still do it with the same amount of enthusiasm that they ever had!

The last time I went sea fishing before then was way back in 1966 off Barbados and caught two very nice King fish. This is certainly one of the game fish that fights above its weight - a twenty pounder will take you 20 minutes and more of good fighting (depending on your weight of tackle) to bring in.

A wahoo in Barbados.

Previously, I had fished in the gulf of Mexico out of Galveston with two cousins of mine from Beaumont, Texas. We small-netted for sea shrimp for bait, kept them in the bait box, which allowed fresh sea water to run through it, and put them on hooks when needed. The shrimp had the horrible habit of 'clicking' which was an escape mechanism. If you didn't hold tight they'd be gone, if not over the side, into the bottom of the boat. We caught about 30 croakers that day.

And so what happened next?

The enthusiasm remained and fishing was central to where we lived. Patience was demonstrated in vast quantities. Strange that, as young people don't often display it - except maybe when fishing! This is the nub of fishing: the ability to let nothing divert you or spoil your concentration when doing it. That can be quite hard for a family man with all the problems that go with that responsibility. I suppose that's why younger fishing folk seem to get so much enjoyment out of it so early on.

The boys fishing the Solent.

I am sure we were lucky when we were living either on the Isle of Wight and later opposite on the mainland. This allowed all of us to go fishing pretty well at the drop of a hat. The boys had friends with boats and also unlimited bait up the River Yar. A thirteen and seventeen pound bass was not that unusual. The method was to go up-tide of Yarmouth and then drift back down over Fiddlers. Mind you, this could be expensive on tackle which could get caught in the rocks on the sea bed. So when you go drifting, bear this in mind and take some extra leads and weights. Shame to have to come back early and spoil a day out for lack of tackle.

Trolling in the Solent.

Then there was the time we all went to Scotland - Loch Guilphead - and fished mackerel with lightweight rods and tackle. Now that's exciting! We discovered that the shoal was making a figure of eight around where we were fishing off a pontoon on the loch. Someone on the hill slightly above us could see the shoal moving and warn when it was coming by again. Mackerel + light tackle + silver spinner ................ what more could you want. It was great fun for all! And of course an absolutely fresh pan-fried supper.

Spinning for mackerel in Loch Guilphead.

Sorry, I can't resist this one! Talk about living dangerously. The fish is a sail fish and the person holding it is the same one fishing in the lock - see above. The fish, caught off the isle of Bequia, was too big to haul over the back of the sailing boat so the only way to look after it was to put the rubber dinghy over the side, grab the wire, de-hook it and let it go.