What actually happens when you book a fishing charter — and how much do you need to know before stepping aboard?
This week, Jake, Avian and Sam head to sea. Or, more accurately, Jake heads to Suffolk Yacht Harbour to meet charter skipper Garry Wicks, while Avian and Sam contribute varying degrees of useful knowledge from dry land.
Garry has spent a lifetime around boats and fishing the waters off the Suffolk coast. From his boat Dawn Raider, he explains what a charter skipper actually does, why local knowledge can matter more than a fish finder, what complete beginners should expect, and how tides, wrecks and changing fish populations shape a day at sea.
They also get into bass, spurdog, conger eels, smoothhounds and tuna; why fishing further offshore doesn’t necessarily mean catching more fish; the realities of seasickness; what you should bring on your first charter; and why the skipper knowing a particular patch of sea is a large part of what you’re paying for.
Back in the studio, Avian recalls catching a 50lb conger eel off Cornwall, Sam reveals his surprisingly successful history as a mackerel fisherman, and Jake attempts to divide marine life into the scientifically rigorous categories of bitey fish and sucky fish.
And then there are the important maritime questions: should you tip the skipper, why should you never take a banana on a fishing boat, and exactly what has the rabbit done wrong?
Featuring Jake Woolf, Avian Sandercock and Sam Turner, with special guest Garry Wicks of Dawn Raider Charters.
Part of the SideCountry network.