John Keane
Well-known member
Tried out a new charter boat yesterday, recommended by two friends of mine. Mersey Lass sails from Priory Wharf, Birkenhead and the main attraction is that he only fishes the ebb tide (when most cod get caught anyway) and consequently the trips are between 6 - 8hrs and not as gruelling as the 12 hr trips from the Liverpool side of the river. A big plus was only 5 anglers with 3 of us uptiding and 2 downtiding which made for comfortable fishing.
So we sailed at the civilised hour of 08:30 and proceeded upriver and anchored opposite the Harrison’s rod factory. First fish was a good whiting then a thornback ray of around 5lb. This has been a particularly mild winter so far, evidenced by the presence of thornbacks remaining in the river. My first fish was a thorny and the other guys had a few cod and more whiting and thornies.
A move downriver to the narrowest part over mussel beds near the 6-sided clock saw a few more cod and whiting. I hooked my only cod of the day at this location. A move back upriver to our original location saw a bit more action and a couple more cod and 3 thornbacks.
Total for the boat 9 cod, 10 thornbacks and the usual slew of whiting.
Good boat, good skipper, good price, easy boarding and landing and a good trip duration all contributed to a great start to 2020.
So we sailed at the civilised hour of 08:30 and proceeded upriver and anchored opposite the Harrison’s rod factory. First fish was a good whiting then a thornback ray of around 5lb. This has been a particularly mild winter so far, evidenced by the presence of thornbacks remaining in the river. My first fish was a thorny and the other guys had a few cod and more whiting and thornies.
A move downriver to the narrowest part over mussel beds near the 6-sided clock saw a few more cod and whiting. I hooked my only cod of the day at this location. A move back upriver to our original location saw a bit more action and a couple more cod and 3 thornbacks.
Total for the boat 9 cod, 10 thornbacks and the usual slew of whiting.
Good boat, good skipper, good price, easy boarding and landing and a good trip duration all contributed to a great start to 2020.