2020 has definitely got to be the year most memorable for all the wrong reasons.
As the year draws to a close we thought it’s the right time to have a recap at how the year unfolded and how we have managed to survive as a small business to hopefully see many more years to come.
January to mid February fishing in the Mersey was in full swing, catch up to 56 cod per trip to 9lb but most where 2.5lb to 3lb, Rays to 10lb, Whiting, Flounder and Dabs.
We only done a few wrecking trips during this time due to the very bad weather, when we did get out we where catching 60+ Pollack to 12lb 8oz and a few Cod.
This was the first time we have ever caught Pollack in Liverpool Bay with roe in during the winter months, this bolds well for a future winter Pollack fishery like on the south coast.
End of February to March seen us move to Scotland for the Giant Skate, because we had commitments to do a hosted fishing holiday abroad later in March we could only do two weeks in Scotland.
So we took the opportunity to hire Buoy Alba a 30ft Evo owed by a good friend Davie, the boat is excellent and more than capable for what we needed.
Sadly we only managed to get less than half the charters on due to the constant SW gales, the trips we did manage to get in where excellent, John Frayne managed the biggest Skate of 225lb a cracking fish.
The Norwegian lads done the best they managed 41 Skate for a total weight of 7211lb over the few days they fished with us, there biggest Skate was 208lb and all four of them landed Skate over 200lb!!
We treated the Norwegian lads to big night out playing bingo at the local pub, we actually had a great time and they will be our friends forever.
Mid March seen us head to Rodrigues island for a hosted fishing holiday just as COVID-19 started to take its grip on the world.
The fishing was good plenty of fish to 50lb and the lads where happy until we got the call to leave the island before they went into full lockdown.
At the time of the call on the skippers satellite phone where where over 100 miles from shore on a live aboard charter.
So we had to head back and cut the holiday very short, when we arrived back at Rodrigues island we had to pack and go straight to the airport, we managed to get on the last flight out of Rodrigues to Mauritius.
As we got off the plane in Mauritius it was like something from a film, there was police and army everywhere, Mauritius was in full lockdown you could not leave the airport.
There was people in the airport who had been sleeping there for days and there was only a few flights available to Europe before the airport closed in a few days time.
After lots of phone calls and panicking because our bank cards would not work in Mauritius for some reason, our good friend Davie in Glasgow managed to get two of us on the last flight to Glasgow and the other three lads on the last flight to Newcastle.
What a fiasco and something that would definitely put you off going abroad every again.
As we got home we where all glad to see our family and friends, but then things went from bad to worst case scenario, the UK went into full lockdown.
For us as a small business this was extremely bad because we where fully booked in Plymouth from April to October and the boat was still in Liverpool.
As the Lockdown went on things where looking very bad especially with no help at the time from the government because we did not pay business council tax rates.
As we got to the end of April we decided to cancel all charters in Plymouth for 2020 and move who we could to 2021, this was a very bitter pill to swallow and we where thinking how the hell are we going to get through this.
As we moved into May there was some good news on the horizon, Plymouth City Council helped out the charter boats and the government started the furlough scheme and back dated it.
As the government relaxed the lockdown in mid May, we where allowed to operate with only one other person on the boat, now not everyone can afford a whole boat charter so this ment it was time to get our scouse thinking cap on and we came up with the Size Matters commemorative swivel free prize draw.
This was an instant hit with our anglers and after a few weeks we managed to finally get our prop turning so we started earning thank god.
Throughout June and July when we could get out due to the constant NW, W, SW winds we managed to show case just what the fishing can be like from Liverpool during the summer.
Our best day on a 12 hour wrecking trip was the lads from Layland and District S.A.C who managed to catch 155 Pollack, Cod, Coalfish and Ling between 8 of them.
On out best day on a 23 hour wrecking trip the lads known as Team Poland managed to catch 230 Pollack, Cod, Coalfish and Ling between 8 of them.
The Tope fishing was excellent especially on the first and only Isle of Man trip we managed to get on this year due to the weather, the four boat pikey’s we had onboard managed to catch 64 Tope to 30lb in the first five hours of fishing!!
Our best day from Liverpool for Tope was 14 boated to 42lb and 8 losted, on other days there was Huss to 14lb and rays to 12lb they where so think on the ground your bait was not lasting 5 minutes, on one trip I remember counting over 70 Huss being caught on the one trip!
Sadly our biggest Tope of the year was only 47lb, In years gone by Tope to well over 60lb are caught each year in Liverpool Bay.
August seen us getting some refunds for family holidays and fishing holidays that never happened due to Covid-19, so this give us the opportunity to do something that has always been on our list of things to do with Size Matters.
It was time to hit the continental shelf off the west coast of Ireland some 400 miles from Liverpool, to do a trip like this you need to be one of two things, have an unhealthy interest in fishing or you are mentally insane, but we are way past both of them.
Myself and the crew had a trip of a lifetime not just for fishing but for the adventure as well, fishing in over 3500ft of water in the Atlantic ocean flat calm with the sun beating down on us drinking a beer and eating fresh Albacore tuna, believe me this is what life it’s self is all about.
We learnt so much on this trip, we caught our first Albacore Tuna, first Stone Bass but it was tickled into the boat not on rod and line, we had our first encounter with a Mako shark in UK waters, we thought know one would believe us after it rolled in the line but only a few weeks later a very big Mako was caught by a boat from Wales only a few miles from where we where fishing.
We had our first Blue Fin Tuna over 500lb according to the measurement charts 92inch to 94inch estimated in the water, it was caught on a wire trace while sharking with a 4lb Cod as bait.
We also caught lots of Blue Sharks now know as Blue Dogfish because they where a pest, we had a few Porgies over 100lb, just the one small Six Gill Shark about 80lb, Cod, Pollack, Ling, Coalfish, Squid and Blue Whiting.
The real star of the trip was a shark called a Leafscaled Gulper Shark, we all caught them from 20lb to 30lb, at the time we just thought they where a deep water Spurdog species that smelt of urine and thought nothing of it.
After we returned and done some research we found out they have never been caught on rod and line before in Ireland or the UK and the ones we caught could of potentially been not only Irish records but world records because there is so little known about the species.
From the end of August to end of September the Bass fish took off and we managed to fine tune our approach when targeting them, on our best day the lads caught and released bang on 100 Bass, all on very light spinning gear, on an average day we where catching 40 to 60 Bass with the biggest going 7lb 12oz thats pretty good going for Liverpool.
We also had an Isle of Man trip cancelled so I offered the lads the chance to head south where the weather forecast was ment to be much better, they all jumped at the chance.
We caught Blue Fine Tuna to 470lb 88inch estimated in the water while shark fishing, Porgies to 140lb and lost one over 200lb after it bit through the wire trace and Blue Dogfish to 104lb.
Then the weather turned for the worst and it was time to head home on a very long steam back to scouse land.
October November and December the UK went into the dreaded tire system and regional lockdowns, there was no way we where tying up the boat if we could legally operate, after lots of calls to different authorities emails and legal advice giving us all the same answers we decided to carry on as normal using the lockdown legislation as our guide to make sure we stayed on the right side of the law.
Thankfully we did with no issues what so ever, this just goes to show there are Associations and Trusts out there giving advice to stay in port when some charter businesses are fully legally entitled to operate depending how there business is set up.
The fishing during these months was and still is very good the wrecks are producing 60 to 80 Pollack per trip to 10lb and again we are seeing roe in them.
The Mersey has been full of Rays to 10lb that can be a pain at times, upto 19 Cod per trip to 11lb with the average being 6lb to 7lb, (we have never seen Cod in the Mersey average this size in the lads 25 years), odd Conger to 14lb, Whiting, Dabs and Flounder.
The plan for 2021 is to stay in Liverpool until the end of January then head to Scotland to fish for Giant Skate until mid May, we are in contact with the Scottish transport minister’s office and the local authorities in the area.
So far it looks good but due to different laws and legislation in Scotland this could change at any time so we are keeping a very close eye on it.
Sadly we will not be going to Plymouth in 2021 due to the tire system in place 95% of our anglers need accommodation in Plymouth because they travel from all over the UK and Ireland to fish with us for 1 to 5 days at a time.
If Plymouth was to go into tire 3 and all accommodation was closed we would lose all charters and that’s not a risk we want to take, hopefully in the future we will be back in Plymouth for the summer months.
This now means we will be in Liverpool from May 2021 for the forcible future, good news is we are fully booked till October 2021.
There is four groups of anglers booked on for some amazing trips from Liverpool in 2021 please keep these trips close to your chest and all being well we push the boundaries of UK charter fishing even further than ever before!!
We would like to thank our sponsors Shimano UK for there support and amazing quality fishing tackle that’s helped us land all our fish mentioned over the last three years and long may it continue.
The biggest thank you of all is to everyone who has fish with us this year from Liverpool in these testing times to say the least with out your continued support we would not be able to do the job we love.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Liverpool)
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