2016, THE YEAR THAT WAS
(A reflection on the 2016 season by Poole based Charter Skipper Steve Porter).
 
How is your season going?  That’s a question that charter skippers are continually asked by our customers.
My response is usually a short one along the lines, “The same as usual, some days good, some days poor with most days somewhere in between” This year however as we progressed through the season, my response was somewhat different.  “It’s been the best year ever, and the worst”.  A strange reply you might think, so perhaps I should explain.
 
The best year ever part of my reply comes from the fact that in terms of trips achieved, I have broken all my previous records.  There are reasons for that and I will explain those further in the article.  The fishing this year has been pretty good too.  Sure, there were seasonal variations that when compared with even 2015 were not so good.  Namely a shortage of mackerel for much of the summer and certainly less mid channel cod. And of course the unfair bass restrictions placed on The Recreational Angling Sector. This year’s season though seems to have been longer.  We were enjoying reasonable fishing from early March with turbot and plaice, the bream showed early and the general inshore fishing remained outstanding right through October and beyond.  Add to this the sudden increase in commonly caught species that we catch locally such as couches bream and grey gurnard and you can see why I think in terms of fishing, it has been a good year.  Our seasons seem to change from year to year, more so now than they used to.  I call it seasonal variations.  Each year brings new challenges.  Whilst one species might prove harder to find, another will be abundant. I enjoy the challenge of putting my anglers on fish without necessarily having to rely on information gained from the previous season.  As anglers we need to be more flexible in our approach and target what is actually about and not what we hoped would be about when we booked the trip twelve months earlier.
 
The worst year ever part of my reply doesn’t come from the weather as you might think.  The weather is an issue every year.  As anglers you might get a different perception to it than those of us at sea everyday.  For instance, coincidently you might lose three or more of your booked trips in a row leading you to think it is a bad year.  The reality however is that in between your trips there will be days when your skipper is working.  The fact is that I lose about one third of booked trips every season.  We cannot change this; it would be lovely if we could.  Like our fishing in recent times, the weather is also becoming less predictable, but if it blows continually one month, then it will be settled in another.  It is “swings and roundabouts” and by the end of each year my total list of trips achieved averages out about the same, plus or minus ten.  Except this year that is, as already mentioned.  By the end of October I had broken all records but this was because of a deliberate act on my part to take less days off and to sacrifice my usual family holiday in August.  In November 2015 I made the decision to replace my boat and commissioned the build of a new outboard engine powered 11m Cheetah Catamaran for delivery at the end of 2016.
Now regardless of your views on changing a Southboat for a Cheetah, unless you have lots of money, changing boats, especially a new-build, is one of the most stressful things you can do.  Far worse I can tell you, than what the press might have you believe is the “so-called” most stressful thing in life, moving house.
 
Many of you readers might not realise that while new boats are being built, substantial stage payments are required throughout.  It is not possible to simply sell your existing boat just prior to taking delivery of the replacement and to turn up at the boat builders with one big fat cheque.  At that point, most of the boat needs to have been paid for.  Selling your existing vessel early to meet the stage payments is also not an option.  Not unless you can survive a year without an income and are prepared to let down the many anglers that booked up prior to the decision to change boats.  So with a dire need to raise funds I knew that I needed an above average year and that was only going to come about through hard work and good fortune.  The hard work side of things I could control, but the good fortune part, well, only time would tell.

An edited version of this article was published in the Jan 17 edition of Saltwater Boat Angling.
This is the original full version.

Steve Porter, Skipper of Trueblue

My Faithful Southcat, Trueblue

Volunteers convert Trueblue to Out the Blue. Left to Right, Young Tony, Andy, Terry, Ken, Gary, Phil and Pete.

Out the Blue departs Poole

TRUEBLUE 4 in build.

And so it was that on the 6th January I did my first trip of the year. A year that would be my tenth and final season in the current boat, although at the time with no buyer on the horizon, I couldn’t be sure that my Southboat catamaran would subsequently be sold.  January ended with 8 trips being achieved.  Not many but about average as the weather and a reduction of catches inshore during January take their toll. February is usually a stand down month.  Fishing locally is at its seasonal low, although anchoring offshore on the small tides is a seasonal high if you enjoy catching blonde rays.  March is when our season really kicks off in Poole although options remain limited.  Excursions to the Shambles Bank off Portland are the most popular trips at this time of the year with pollacking trips offshore a close second.  Both these type of trips are very weather dependant so it is good if there is an inshore option locally to deduce the amount of weather-cancelled days. Thankfully this year, the plaice were obliging from mid March, although the conditions needed to be right to get the big catches. We did initially suffer from poor visibility in the water which is never good for plaice fishing.

It was during March that myself and fellow skipper, Ivan Wellington, (Top Cat, Weymouth) took a trip over to Alderney to be assessed for the issue of a local license.  The rules in Alderney allow UK based skippers to take their anglers to the island, but only anglers that a skipper takes there can then be allowed to board from the island to go fishing.  This affectively makes it illegal to take people fishing that may have chosen to fly to Alderney instead of enduring a cross channel boat trip.  It also means that UK charter boats cannot take locals off the island to fish.  With no local charter boats currently operating out of Alderney it meant that local anglers are pretty much confined to shore angling unless they had their own boat. With this in mind, the very proactive Mark Harding of Alderney Angling brokered a deal with the States of Alderney Government that would allow UK skippers the opportunity to gain a local qualification.  Ivan and I were the first to take advantage of this opportunity and so on the 21st March completed a record time crossing from Poole to the Island in just 3.5 hours.  There were three factors contributing to our speedy crossing.  A lovely flat sea, a tide in our favour and a lack of anglers equipment and baggage that often resembles that of a group going on a year long world cruise.  Ivan’s overnight kit was a shining example to us all, a simple toiletries bag.

Ivan Wellington models the ideal overnight bag for anyone going to Alderney

With April, along came the bream. Nice and early too with the first being landed by Trueblue regular Matt Todd on the 8th.  More seasonal species began to show including the first of the offshore cod, which was landed on the 18th.  Our season well and truly kicked off and I ended the month with an above average number of trips achieved.  All good so far.
May and June are when I seem to spend more time in Alderney than I do in Poole.  The reason for this is simple, I love it there.  Thankfully so do my anglers.  If you have never been to Alderney, then you really should give it a go.  Many of the South coasts ports from Portsmouth to Brixham have charter boats that go there so look one up.  Go with an open mind though; it’s not just about the fishing, which like anywhere else can be outstanding one day and not so good on another.  Alderney will transport you back to an earlier time when much of the land was unspoilt and when folk were friendly and had time to stop and chat. From April through to September, most boats will be targeting turbot and brill on the many banks around the island but other species can also be prolific.  Large tope, bass, pollack and from July lots of black bream to name just a few, can all be caught.  Transiting to Alderney will often provide the opportunity to fish wrecks and marks far out into the English Channel, many to far from the English coast to be targeted on a normal one day trip. Alderney is outside the EU and offers duty free shopping, including an outstanding tackle shop, Alderney Angling, which is situated close to the harbour.

It was on one of my Alderney trips in June that I had the pleasure of welcoming on board my most travelled angler ever.  Penny Markham flew in from America to join the trip and flew back again the very next day.

Penny Markham who travelled from America to join us on an Alderney trip.

With just one trip to Alderney planned in July, most of my fishing was back on the mainland side of the channel, operating out of Poole.  Usually in July I would be spending the bigger tides targeting bass but this year, in view of the current regulations on bass I decided to reduce the number of days targeting them.  I have many views on the state of the current bass fishing and regulations.  Too many to fully outline here but in summary I would ask you to consider the following.  Some kind of bass conservation measures have been needed for sometime and indeed calls for these had been voiced by the Angling Trust over recent years. The measures imposed this year however were greatly unfair to The Recreational Sea Angling Sector. Proposals for next year are much improved and these have come about partly through the hard work and campaigning by several organisations and groups, including The Angling Trust and The Professional Boatman’s Association, both of which have been supported by this magazine. I mention this because it amazes me how many individuals who these organisations represent, fail to join them.  Charter boat skippers that are not members of the PBA and anglers who are not members of the AT.  The effectiveness of any organisation is proportionate to the percentage numbers of the body it represents.  By that I mean that if the PBA represented one hundred percent of all charter boat operators, it would have more clout than being the voice of just thirty or so percent.  The same applies to the Angling Trust.  It is easy to sit back and do nothing, or bury our heads in the sand when things are not going our way. But, by not joining organisations that fight our causes, we are not just doing nothing, we are detrimental to the cause.
On the bass measures issue I have just one more point.  The current measures restrict the amount of bass that we can retain.  They don’t restrict what we can catch and so if you are a true angler, then it is business as usual and your regular charter boat is still ready to take you fishing.

Alan Painter, like all true anglers, is still enjoying his bass fishing.

This July was also the start of Trueblue’s annual species competition. A series of twelve events where the top angler of each day qualifies for a “Free of Charge” place in the final, which this year took place on the 22nd October.  These trips are usually light line days.  Simple outfits, mainly fixed spools and light rods to target a variety of local species.  A typical day will see between twenty and thirty species come to the boat.
 
August can be a funny month.  Regular anglers often go off on holiday so routine trips can sometimes be hard to fill.  For this reason, I usually take time out to spend with my own family.  This year however, the need to raise funds for the impending start date for the build of my new boat meant that I needed to work.
The decision to sacrifice my holiday was a fairly late one so I found that my diary for August had a few holes.  I filled them by working for Sea Fishing Poole, which during the summer months mainly caters for families either on holiday or on day trips to Poole.  This was full circle for me.  Most of us charter skippers would have began our careers doing tripper type trips and I was no exception.  To my surprise, I really enjoyed my time with Sea Fishing Poole this year.  Far more enjoyable than how my previous recollections of such trips had prepared me.  I was perhaps lucky with the good fortune that seemed to stay with me throughout 2016 playing a part.  Our local waters that had been void of mackerel all season were suddenly full of them. For a period of around four days the bay was full of them.  So many that it didn’t matter where you fished.  They were everywhere, inshore and offshore.  Anglers say that mackerel have been subject to over fishing but I’m not so sure.  I struggle to remember that amount of mackerel ever.  They appeared from somewhere and then after a few days most moved on.  Like so many of our species, they are subject to seasonal variations.  They follow isotherms; lines that separate areas of differing water temperature and subtle variations will cause them, or the bait fish they are chasing, to be elsewhere. Interestingly, although that major influx of mackerel was short lived, we did continue to catch enough locally for the rest of the season, concluding another influx of small mackerel that moved inshore late October. Unheard of usually.
 
September was to be my penultimate month operating my Southboat, Trueblue as by now well-known Guernsey charter skipper, Richard Seager had expressed genuine interest to buy her in November.  In terms of inshore fishing, September is probably the best month of the year for anglers venturing out from Poole so I tend to concentrate my trips closer to home.  That being said, I did complete two trips to Alderney.  One was a scheduled trip and the other was as an alternative to a weather cancelled trip to Penzance where I had a planned a joint four day charter with local boat, “Bite Adventures” skippered by Chip Chapman. My anglers and I were disappointed to lose that trip having had such a great time with Chip the previous year.  
September was a challenging month as not only did I have to run Trueblue, I was also training for a 155 mile charity cycle ride from Luton to Poole taking place over two days, October 3rd and 4th.  Each year Trueblue is involved with something for charity but it usually takes place on the water and involves fishing.  Way back in September 2015, one of my most regular anglers and subsequently great friend said that he was going to do the ride for Prostate Cancer UK and would anyone like to join him.  Anyone, being the assembled crew on the boat at the time.  Now Pete, Pasty Pete as we used to call him was a very big man.  A very big man indeed and I thought that cycling at Pete’s pace would be a very easy thing to do.  How hard could it be to keep up with someone who was very much overweight? Regular anglers Bruce Markham and Matt Todd clearly thought the same as we all quickly volunteered.  Thoughts of the impending cycle ride were quickly forgotten and any ideas of training were continually put to the bottom of my minds in-tray.  Pete however set out on a fitness regime never before witnessed by mankind.  He joined a local cycle club in Luton, employed the services of a personal trainer and single headedly kept his local health food shop in business.  Pete lost 9 stone in as many months and turned into the kind of cycling racing snake that keeps Sir Bradley Wiggins looking over his shoulder.  By September I was hit by the daunting realisation that I was going to have to keep up with this Adonis of physical prowess for 155 miles in less than a months time.  I started to train whenever possible but it was too little too late.  Bruce was in a similar situation and thought that if he bought a £3k bike he would go faster but that was too little too late as well.

We completed the ride as planned, with a good support team of wives and anglers and a welcoming reception when we arrived back at Poole.  Our efforts raised, through the generosity of friends, family and anglers a staggering £11k.  Now you might think that riding that sort of distance without adequate training would leave you suffering for a few days.  Not so, but what happened next certainly did.
Now in October, my final month operating the current Trueblue and an invite to Team Trueblue to visit Prostate Cancer UK’s headquarters in London.  It seems we had raised the most money for the charity by a small event in 2016.  Our visit was followed by a Team Trueblue meal and a few drinks to celebrate.  I say “a few”, but that only applies if you happen to be a basking shark filtering gallons of water an hour.  What followed was life changing and left me suffering for days.

Team Trueblue plus support outside The Best Little Pub in Hampshire. (The Wonston Arms)

Back to the fishing, October was a great month.  Offshore we enjoyed some fantastic bream fishing, the best I have ever experienced for late Autumn, and some very enjoyable action with porbeagle sharks.
Inshore the plaice fishing picked up a gear with some truly great catches throughout the month. The culmination of this year’s species competition was held in great weather with the usual large variety of species landed.  This year’s final was a close run thing with the lead changing several times during the day.  The eventual winner being Gary Rook who won the title for the second time.
The very last fishing trip on my faithful Southcat took place on the 31st October.  This wasn’t the sad day that I was expecting. It was in fact a day to celebrate ten great years of fishing.  Ten years of meeting some truly wonderful individuals and making so many great friends.  In keeping with most of 2016, lady luck was with us again.  The weather was fantastic, the sun shone, the sea was flat, the temperature warm and the fish very obliging.  Our best plaice fishing day of the season.

Our last trip on Trueblue 3. The crew celebrate ten great years and raise a glass to toast a new adventure on Trueblue 4.

The 2016 Trueblue Species Competition winners and finalists.