Whilst the UK seemed to have unbelievable conditions all the way through August for sea fishing us poor buggers on the Isle of Man were left feeding on the weather scraps. Moaning about the weather again? Yes I bloody will, August was a total wash out, managed 4 trips out, 3 of which ended in me smashing through large waves to get home. I’d also promised to get some people out looking for Whales and Dolphins and in the entire month there wasn’t even 1 single day where that was possible. It was sunny some days, it was warm on plenty on them, but an endless chain of weather systems bringing westerly winds killed my fishing. BUT when I did get out I caught.
The month actually started OK..ish. Just a north easterly force 4 to contend with later on, but I headed north anyway and managed to bag a couple of nice Bass. And when I say bag I mean throw back, no matter what people say I prefer to eat Callig over Bass so unless I get a special request for one they’ll always go back. After a fairly rocky few hours the wind changed again giving me a head wind to plough in to on the way home. With the weather still reasonable I took the chance to go out again the following day, this time with the wind from the south I headed that way so at least it would be behind me if it got any worse for the way home, famous last words.
The second trip brought about loads of nice Pollack (Callig) within a few miles of Peel, plenty of fish up to around 5-6lb but nothing huge and no Cod which was the main target. I know last year was very fickle for Cod and it seems like this year could be the same. It’s not a water temperature thing as we’ve caught plenty in years where the sea was as warm or warmer, probably just movement patterns? Anyway it was only a couple of hour session, around 40 fish boated and released and then a swing in the wind direction to north east meant an absolute kicking on the way home (again).
The next trip out a week later was over a lovely evening tide and the weather was perfect. Not even a ripple. I decided to try a new area of relatively deep water and just drift around with baited feathers. With loads of decent sized Mackerel about getting bait wasn’t an issue and whilst the actual fishing fishing started slow I was eventually bringing up nice numbers of Whiting and all species of Gurnard (still hoping for that Cod!) Unfortunately the session was cut short by an SOS. My mum was out and couldn’t catch anything so I had to move inshore and put them on a few fish. With only a 4 hour tidal window in Peel that was pretty much it. Caught lots of nice Callig again including a couple kept for the pot but still no Cod. It was just nice to be out in the boat and not getting bounced around all over the place, the run back to Peel was spot on in fading light. And that was it for several weeks.
Right at the end of the month there was an opportunity for a full say session (morning and evening high waters). The only issue was the weather forecast which was for almost no wind all day, but then getting up quite severely for what would be the last 2 hours before I could get back in the marina. Was it worth the gamble? Maybe the wind would hold off? Maybe the forecast direction would be wrong? There was also the small matter of fog all day. Starved of fishing I decided to go for it. Initially a wrecking day (nothing but Mackerel), turned in to a 5 hour drift for a shark (no luck) and eventually ended up inshore lure fishing for whatever I could catch. This happened to include my new personal best Bass and even a small Codling! It made the whole day worth the effort, including the 2 and a half hour run home in the type of sea any planing boat hates. The next 2 days were spent repairing everything that had been shook lose. Bastard weather.
Overall then it was a month that started and ended with Bass. I’ll never complain about that. The middle bit was a bit wobbly with the fishing being nothing great even with such large numbers of Mackerel around. I’ve heard so many big catches of Tope that I could have targeted them again but I had my mind set on a Cod and besides I’d had my fill of Tope in July. Other than that everything seems to be as expected. All our piers are fishing really well, the east coast mixed fishing is on fire, Manx Boat Fishing festival report is available here. I’d really like to do the festival one year but it needs the weather to fit with the west coast, from a competitive point of view there’s no point me getting involved in a species competition by bringing my boat around the island to fish grounds I don’t know against boats fishing there all year round. One year the weather will sit right (or I’ll get FOMO because to be fair it does look a good craic)!
The only other thing is I got asked the other week if I was still kayak fishing. I’d love to (especially with weather like August) but the truth is my balance isn’t quite up to it at the moment. 2 years ago something went all shitty with one ear and it’s left me half deaf in it and with a fairly messed up balance, when it goes it really goes! Only about another 18 months till I get to see an ENT at the hospital and until then the only days I’d feel comfortable on the kayak would be flat calm, the same sort of days where I’m happier on the boat. The other one was about shore fishing, I do get out a bit but prefer to get of the beaten track a bit which results in very hit and miss catches, I’ve never been one for sitting on a breakwater. Just like any other angler, there are blanks, plenty of them. But if anybody has any rougher spots down the east coast they want to share I’ll definitely give them a go? It would be nice to have a back up plan for when it’s not fit on the other side of the island.