Mid-Channel Wrecking - Shogun

A day out mid channel today for a bit of cod hopping aboard the fabulous Shogun, skippered by Rob Thompson (link in side bar). Originally booked as a cod hopping only trip on the brittle star beds, we were in for a lot more than that as we sat chatting in the wheelhouse.
Rob had a few plans up his sleeve involving a mix of shading for bass, some hopping on the brittle stars and then a look further a field at some wrecks. Luckily the crew shared my enthusiasm and it was agreed....nothing beats a bit of variety and I couldn't wait to wet a line!
As the boat slowed and the roar of the engines quietened we were all waiting, shad in hand for the first drift. Bass were the target here and to play it safe, you are usually best fishing with something blue.
Lines down as we started the first drift and it wasn't long before five out of the ten rods fishing were bucking around with lively bass on them.

We had a dozen or so drifts until the fishing tailed off here, taking around 2 dozen fish. I think everybody managed at least one. No biggies, all between 2 and 5lb but great fun none the less.

I got a screamer of a run here that had me thinking 'big bass' but the initial run felt a bit too pollack like. Sure enough it was a bloody pollack!, still you can't be disappointed when the fish are of this quality.

On to the brittle stars next and to say the fishing was slow, was an understatement. With just 2 cod to the boat in an hour and a half, Rob announced his disapproval and plans to head to a few wrecks. The engines fired up once again and we left the other boats already fishing to their own devices. Time to knock back a bit of lunch and slap on a bit of sun cream then. The sun was really getting warm and with a gentle breeze it doesn't take long to burn when you're afloat!
An hour or so later the engines started to slow up once more and Rob took his time circling the wreck, sussing how it was lying and angle of drift etc...
"There's a few fish marking on this one boys - lines down and lets have a look"
First drift through and a rod a the back kicked into action with a nice cod of around 12lb. Second drift 3 rods slammed over and the third, 5 rods were bucking around with fish on. With each drift it just got better and better, I can only describe it as mental!!

We were getting hit by pollack as well as the cod and on one drift I had a double shot of double figure pollack, followed by another double shot consisting of a 15lb cod and a 12lb pollack. On 12lb gear, it feels like you have been hit by a train!

We filled our boots here until the tide died away. The next part of the plan then was to head back a little earlier than planned, allow everyone to rest their arms and fillet their fish before having an hour or so float fishing for bass around the needles light to finish the day - something everybody was happy with!!

We ended up with half a dozen bass on live mackerel deployed on the float gear which really rounded off a perfect day.

The icing on the cake though came in the form of £5 from each person as I took the sweep for the day with the biggest cod!

Thanks Rob for a great day - Awesome skipper!