If this was a Friends episode it would be called “The One Where The Boat Shits The Bed”, cos that’s exactly what happened!  Having not really enjoyed much joy with the boat up until the middle of July I was looking forward to getting in a solid few months, that was the plan anyway.  The boat (or more precisely the engine) had other ideas.

Finally got a chance to catch up and bring everything up to where we are at the moment, it’s been a chaotic few months with work getting in the way of the good stuff…fishing!  This is how the first half of 2022 has gone, it seems to have been hit and miss with each month but I’ll break it down anyway.

First things first, we did finally get a small break from the Spurdogs, there was a 4-5 week window where they buggered off leaving us to be able to fish in relative peace. On the other hand the gods conspired against me resulting in not a whole lot of fishing getting done but anywhere here how things went August to December 2021. Try and hold back the excitement.

June was terrible weather wise for getting out in the boat so I was restricted to a couple of shore sessions plus a charter trip with Casey J fishing trips from Peel. The weed was a big problem for the Bass but the 1 rock session I had was a success. But like I said in general June was a bit of a right off so I’ll go straight on to July and our heatwave.

It’s been a good start to the year, certainly in weather terms even if the fishing has been a little bit quiet. I’m still playing around with the new boat (how long does it take until you can stop calling it the new boat?) a bit more than I’d like but it is slowly but surely getting there. It’s coming out this week for a quick blast and clean (told I could be losing up to 10 knots of the top end so no way it’s getting left till next year now). The final thing is to try replacing 1 more thermostat and see if we can’t get it running a little bit hotter but other than that no complaints. She rides well and is solid as a rock. Compared to Kirsty it feels like fishing on a ship when there’s a bit of chop about. Anyway, on to the fishing.

Where the hell do I start with this one? Just when I’d thought my summers couldn’t be any more of a mess along came 2020. If you read my last report and then the last post on this website then you’d know I was selling my boat, and it was at that point that the fun and games began!

Apologies for being a little late with an update but it’s been a chaotic few months! There’s been some shore fishing, kayak fishing and a few trips out on the boat to cover. Nothing exceptional thanks to the weather (can we shut down the Chinese factories again and get back to having a summer please?) but there are a lot of fish about, if you know where to find them.

I can’t explain just how good it was to be out fishing again after what seemed like an eternity.  Even if it was just to take the rod for a walk and have an excuse to potter about around the coast it’s all good and I’ll certainly take every chance I get!  England have got all this to look forward to tomorrow. Anyway I thought it would be worth just giving a quick update of what I’m hearing and what is and isn’t being caught.

What a can of worms this all is. How hard can it be to get a straight forward answer to what is a very straight forward question? Are we allowed to go fishing in the sea from the shore (not from a boat or kayak) under the current rules? YES or NO.

Bloody hell what a winter I picked to not fish! For the first time in over 10 years I took the decision to do no fishing at all, take the boat out of the water and catch up with loads of other jobs. Then just as we were hitting spring the weather turned, endless storms up this way, no chance of doing the work on the boat and getting back out to sea. Finally when things are settling down and I’ve arranged for somebody to tidy up the boat all this Covid-19 shit kicks off! The Isle of Man went in to lockdown literally in the week when I was due to get everything sorted and the boat back in the water.