LORNA DOONE REBORN
Marking 150 years since the publication of a famous romantic novel set in the beauty of Exmoor, a new charter boat bearing the same name is set to make a name for herself
Spotlight on a new charter boat with a famous name.
To many, ‘Lorna Doone’ is the story by Richard Doddridge Blackmore of a young Exmoor maiden and her outlaw clan who lived in the wilds of Exmoor. Published 150 years ago, it has never been out of print, an impressive record. Bearing the same name as the story’s heroine is a new charter vessel based in Watchet Marina, in Somerset.
Her parent business, called Heritage Charters, is the brainchild of a young man by the name of Tom ‘Tommo’ Wright. He was born in the village of Simonsbath in the heart of Exmoor and from his early childhood has been a keen angler of both freshwater and seawater fish.
Spending much of his youth on the moor watching the wildlife and fishing, Tommo often looked out over the Bristol Channel dreaming that one day he would operate a charter boat out there. Now, with an astute head for business and the help and support of his wife, Emma, that dream has come to fruition.
As a sports coach by career, Tom has managed to incorporate Heritage Charters within his company with a view to running the two enterprises side by side. With his contagious passion for helping people and not being averse to passing on his knowledge, it seems that this strategy will be a formula for his success.
I joined Tom on one of his early charters as a professional skipper, and although he had owned a Pirate 21 for around seven years, his natural flair for this industry seemed obvious to me as someone who is a seasoned charter skipper. If you don’t know, I operate AlyKat, out of Minehead.
WALL TO WALL SUNSHINE
When I arrived at Watchet Marina it was the most perfect day imaginable for some time afloat – flat calm sea and wall to wall sunshine.
The intention was to fish a mark close to the Welsh coast. Joining us were England international John Patten and his fellow England team member James Madsen, Minehead angler James Thomas and beach angling coach Craig ‘The Naked Angler’ Butler, who also runs West Coast Tackle shop in Minehead. This was a formidable angling team, so it was all down to Tommo now to put them on the fish.
As we headed out of the Marina, Tommo opened up the throttles on the pair of mighty 300hp V8 Mercury outboard motors. The boat’s instant response lifted her bows and almost immediately we were purring across the flat calm sea at 35 knots. The three foils fitted between the hulls of the 11.4 metre Swiftcat help provide lateral stability and a smoother ride in rough water, but, more importantly, allow the vessel to remain on the plane at the same speed while the engine revs are dropped, giving amazing economy figures.
Before the kettle had time to sing, Tommo dropped the engine revs and it was time to anchor. We’d covered 10 miles in around 20 minutes, which is impressive. Being very close inshore, this mark offered shelter from a fairly strong spring tide, and it meant light uptide weights were more than adequate.
The ground consisted of patches of sand and mud interspersed with ridges of coral, ideal feeding ground for all sorts of fish, though our target sport were blonde rays, smoothhounds, bull huss and conger eels, with a real chance of a cod or two, for which this area is famous throughout the winter.
WEIGHTY BLONDE RAYS
With a little competition set up between the anglers, there was not only a few bob to be won, but a fair amount of pride too. As Lorna Doone pulled back on her anchor cable, uptide rods were cast in all directions. John had a pair of Shimano rods, while James Madsen preferred his Anyfish Anywhere models. James Thomas has always been an Abu man sporting a pair of Conolons, while Craig stuck with a single Anyfish Anywhere uptider.
Within minutes, the first fish was battling against James Madsen, and in a moderate tide flow his blonde ray made an impressive account of itself. Tommo hardly had time to refill the kettle before the rods of James Thomas and John were arching under the pressure of weighty blonde rays. Mostly double-figure fish, these blondes were certainly providing some cracking sport.
As Tommo predicted, the fish came even faster as the tide began to ease, with all rods taking some great-quality fish, except that is for the single bait offered by Craig. Just to rub salt in, I offered to bait up for him, only for his next cast to result in a fine blonde ray snapping him up. This is how it goes sometimes, no matter what you do, you simply cannot get it right.
Craig’s bad luck was not to last long because just before slack water he joined in with a couple of fine blonde rays.
Over the slack water period, the blondes were replaced by smoothhounds, huss and congers to create non-stop action at its best, much to the delight and relief of Tommo.
POWERFUL RUNS
The plan for the flood tide was to blast Lorna Doone back over to the English side of the Channel in the hope of catching one or two bass. The shallow water to the east of Minehead
had been regularly producing these fish, so it was well worth a try.
As the sun began to drop behind the hills of Exmoor, the rods began to twitch once more. First John bent into a screamer, only to find a pesky conger thrashing around on the surface. Next was James Madsen who had the same problem, followed by Craig and again John. Frustrating as it is, this is how it goes, so you have to stick with it and have a little patience.
Just as Tom was about to call it a day, James Thomas leapt up when he saw signs of a more interesting bite. His fish swam across the tide making several powerful runs. Tommo could not contain a wide grin as he slid his net under a 7lb bass. Mission accomplished on all counts.
One more cast gave James the chance of another silver bar, but this one dropped the hook on the surface. Such is life! This was the perfect end to a perfect day afloat.
As I left the boat, I looked back as Tommo washed down the decks in the most dramatic sunset. Just like Blackmore’s young lady, this Lorna Doone is brash, powerful and beautiful and will, I can assure you, turn heads for many years to come. ■