DREAMS COME TRUE
Andy Webb meets another record holder.
Catching a record-breaking fish is the stuff of dreams for many anglers, but occasionally it becomes a reality. It happened for Teignmouth Sea Angling Society’s Bobby Drew during an angling holiday to the promised land of Norway with his buddy, Stuart Norrish.
I caught up with Bobby and Stuart during a fishing session on the Dorset coastline to target small-eyed rays. It was the ideal time to find out more about that session when he landed a European record shore-caught pollack of 21lb 4oz.
Stuart, from Dawlish, in Devon, is a Norway fanatic, who had been promising to take Bobby to the Bodo area of the country for some time. It provides some of the best shore fishing Norway has to offer.
Although Stuart usually stays with Simon Smith at his apartment in Norway, on this trip there would be four guys renting two apartments at the Arctic Seasport centre.
As it was Bobby’s first trip, he could not wait to get a rod in the water. His aim was to catch a cod weighing more than 20lb from the shore. Upon arriving at Arctic Seasport, the lads soon unpacked their fishing gear in eagerness to start their first session.
“My first session was mind-blowing because I couldn’t see through the falling snow to bait up my rig,” said Bobby, a 25-year-old salesman for a builders’ merchant. That preliminary session yielded many coalfish to 9lb and cod to low double-figure weights.
“It was a good start. Having caught cod to 7lb from Chesil Beach in Dorset, I had already set a new personal best with a double-figure cod,” added Bobby.
OVERWHELMING
The following day they tried a mark called The Red House, which is famous for a record-breaking halibut. The venue is clean ground fishing in a depth of 20 metres.
Bobby added: “The scenery is breathtaking and the temperatures are very cold.” Those sub-zero temperatures were worth it though, for what he described as the “overwhelming excitement of fishing for the unknown”.
The main focus was catching monster cod or halibut, and the session was hectic, with many fish caught, including cod to 14lb and coalfish to 9lb. A good session, but they had not encountered a monster that they had been looking for.
Next day, the lads tried a venue known as Cod Farmers, which is located an hour’s drive from Bodo at a landing jetty with very deep water. Here the fishing is best when the tide is moving, while slack water periods don’t produce as much, so the mid-section of the tide is the key to getting that monster.
Best cod was one of 30lb, taken on a 60g lure and spinning gear, for a friend of Stuart. Bobby was also pleased with a redfish and a mixed bag of coalies and ling. With halibut now firmly on their minds, the lads returned to the Red House venue the following day.
“I missed a very powerful run from a halibut, but managed to catch coalies and cod to 8-10lb,” said Bobby.
All the lads were trying everything to find that one monster fish, but caught cod to low doubles to show from their efforts.
“If you were in England and said to someone that you would get bored with catching doubles, they would think you were mad,” observed Bobby.
SPECIAL MARK
Stuart had been keeping one mark back because the tides were dropping and his choice is hard to fish on the bigger tides. It’s called The Ledge.
“It’s a special mark where Stuart had been spooled by a very big cod, and where he had caught his record, shore-caught haddock from on his first trip in 2013,” said Bobby. “Since then Stuart has caught many cod over 30lb and halibut over 25lb.
“This mark is at the entrance to the mighty Saltstraumen, which has the fastest tidal flow in the world, so you can understand the need to wait for smaller tides. It’s on the northwestern tip and can only be fished comfortably for the ebb and three hours after low as the tide pushes too strongly,” he added.
So, on November 22, 2015, Stuart and Bobby headed for The Ledge, arriving about halfway into the ebb. Bobby set up on the outside and Stuart put himself on the inside closer into the bay. You generally get more fish on the outside, but have a better chance of halibut on the inside.
The lads were using very long pulley rigs baited with herring and sometimes Bluey, with Bobby catching average fish down to low before the action went quiet over slack water.
“About an hour after low water, the force of incoming water starts to overcome the ebb flow, and that is when this mark comes into its own,” said Bobby. “It had just got dark, so conditions were perfect.”
Bobby had the first decent fish, a 19lb cod, so his trip was getting even better. The inside mark into the bay was quiet for Stuart, but the tide was really starting to pick up. Stuart was thinking of calling it a day when Bobby’s rod tip arched over again.
Stuart takes up the big-catch story: “Hitting into the bite, Bobby started to gain line and could feel the weight of something good on the end as it started to come up from the depths. He wasn’t saying much at first, but suddenly started shouting for me to get the gaff as he had a big pollack.
“It can’t be, I said, you don’t get pollack on the bottom here. Bobby was adamant it was a pollack and offered to bet me anything I liked.”
Stuart grabbed the gaff and made his way down to the water’s edge, expecting the fish would be a cod. Halfway down the icy incline, he stopped to put on his headlight and then spotted the biggest pollack that both of them had ever seen.
EXCITEMENT
Stuart gaffed it and brought it back up to the top, and the two lads went wild with delight. On the scales, it weighed 21lb 4oz.
Deciding to conclude the session, they drove back to the digs, glowing from the excitement that catching and witnessing a fish like that has to offer. “It’s something many of us dream of during our angling life,” said Bobby.
It was left to Bobby to check the European records when he got back to Devon. The remainder of the trip passed in a blur, although
Bobby did have a try for a specimen dab on the final day. They caught a few to 1lb, while the other lads returned to the Red House where they caught a 25lb cod, a 25lb halibut and a plaice touching 4lb.
“It was very emotional leaving Norway, as the fishing was outstanding,” said Bobby, who, a few days after returning home, got confirmation from the European Federation of Sea Anglers that his pollack would be a new record and that they would accept all the evidence for his claim. His first trip to the promised land had produced a European record fish.
“Anglers put in many hours in seeking specimen fish back home and can’t guarantee success, but in Norway’s waters you would almost certainly see something amazing to show for your efforts,” he said.
Of course, even though the waters hold massive amounts of fish, it doesn’t mean that you will find the monsters every trip. Bobby has returned to Norway a few times since, and one thing he will say is that “every trip you will have to do your homework to find the better fish.” His repeat visits have produced cod to 38lb, with another six weighing more than 20lb.
“Sea angling is a funny old game,” he said. “At times it can leave you walking away feeling disheartened, and then at other times it can put you on top of the world.” ■