White Maiden - Sports Fishing Charter, Lymington

13/06/2026

After a good maintenance week, last week, where all jobs were completed between bouts of poor weather, the boat then sat on her moorings, moping until today when, although breezy, we had a lovely day at sea with yesterdays crew.

Some nice Bass were caught to lures and dragged baits and because the guys used baits, the Tope found us too.

Here are the best fish of the day with Phil catching the biggest Bass around 6lb on a lure and Woody catching the best Tope, around 25lb on bait.

It would be nice to catch more mackerel but they are still hard to find. Some nice Scad made a show today, too big for live baits but a good feed, starting as a pink fillet they cook through to white and are very tasty.

Tightlines, Les

01/06/2026

Four weeks between lift and scrubs. The sun makes the w**d grow real quick. First pic is before a scrub just four weeks ago. This was a whole winter of fouling. The second pic is before another good Lymington Yacht Haven hull scrub, and look at the state of it. I could feel her slow down between trips during the last few days.

Now for some annual maintenance.

Anyway I can thoroughly recommend Hempels TecCel Hard Racing Anti Foul Paint. Expensive but works well.

Tightlines, Les

30/05/2026

Well our Bassing was tricky last week, with plenty of surface feeders ignoring (laughing) at lures and happily flipping about, all those caught on lures were too small. Luckily the less fussy Black Bream gave themselves up easily. First day was lots of small Bream. Next day found bigger Bream and more Bass with a nice one falling to bait. On Friday it was all Bream with some nice fish amongst them, the best for Vince almost 3lb.

It was nice to see some Bottle Nose Dolphins this week.

Maintenance now for a week, so have a good one,

Tightlines, Les

26/05/2026

That’s it, my final stage of the new obligatory Tuna training, the practical course, is now completed. Today I spent nine hours with some very experienced Tuna skippers trained by Rob Thompson one of the best Tuna Skippers in the U.K. it was nice to meet Nigel and Jack Hodge and share their Tuna stories too. Great as always, to spend a cracking day out with local Tuna skippers Glen and Harrison Tomms.

Exciting times ahead but tomorrow, its feet back on the ground concentrating on the local Bass and Bream.

Very Tightlines Les

26/05/2026

This is a bit special for all you boat owners out there that would like an excellent reminder of the mistress, when you are not actually with her.

Mrs Jones was a bit envious having this reminder in pride of place but after I reminded her that she has paid probably more than half of her over the years became a little more understanding.

If you can afford this you will not regret it!!

Tightlines, Les

This is White Maiden ll, and replica model of a BW- SeaCat, painstakingly hand carved my me from mahogany over a period of 120 hours.She’s made from kiln dr...

24/05/2026

One trip this week and the boys from Bittern area did very well with lots of Tope and Bream plus Rays and a nice 13lb BullHuss for Dave Hillier. Here is a sample of the fish the lads caught. Except for some of the Black Bream and a couple of big Pout for the skipper everything was returned to fight again another day.

All trips are full again next week but for those keen on sharking I do have three midweek dates towards the end of July. Apart from those dates I’m full until October. There will be ad hoc individual spaces filling in for the existing booked crews. There will also be Tuna some dates fitted in at weekends during August and September and in the better weather windows with Portland being our overnight stop.

Looking forward to my Tuna Practical training day on Tuesday and then it’s all systems go, when and if they turn up.

Tightlines and Best Regards
Les

15/05/2026

A Tuesday charter this week found Mackerel, Po***ck, Bream, Whiting, Pout, Bass, Congers, Spurdog, Tope and Dogfish with a regular Police club crew. The bigger fish bit through the light traces at the net as most were setup for the smaller eating fish. Consequently the lads lost the big sharp teethy fish and only boated small eating fish, some with bits missing!

After a few hours of nice fishing the sea turned from gin clear to cloudy as the ‘may bloom’ or ‘dark water’ or ‘may rot’ came through and that killed the fishing pretty much dead.

Ballas below holds up a Po***ck plus a strap conger.

After the wind got up we sheltered for the last half an hour near Black Rock buoy for small Bream and a Conger. In the strong wind were a bit too close to the buoy by the time we set off for home.

RE Blue Fin Tuna, my online training is now complete with a one day practical to come next. My plan for 2026 is firstly to honour all my regular trips and shark bookings. Thats what keeps the business working. Next is to fish for tuna on the weekends when the weather is suitable and head to Portland Bill, stay over and return on the Sunday. I also have accommodation booked at Brixham early September. Again, opportunities for spaces will be last minute, weather and time permitting. With a tuna permit any trip could turn into a tuna session if they are seen and the booked crew vote to have a go. The main issue is that the angler must be fit and we can’t kill and eat them (not the angler!) as all caught BFTs must be, left in the water, recovered (towed at least five minutes) and released.

Best Regards and Tightlines,
Les

08/05/2026

It’s been a good week where catches were just right then tapered off along with the tides. Some nice Bass fishing was to be had until the neap tide killed it. Still a good time was had by one and all.

Piccys of interest are below. It was nice to catch some tasty inshore Po***ck and Mackerel. Other fish caught were Wrasse various, Pout, Hounds, Congers and Dogs.

Best Bass 66cm 7lb by Ed Hall
Best Bream 2lb 8oz 44cm by Bryan Ricketts
Best Po***ck 47cms 3lb 4oz by Simon Marsh

Have a great weekend and Tightlines Les

02/05/2026

Friday was a very silvery fishy sort of day with Bass and Bream making up a good catch for the table as requested by the Dave Wilson crew. Some days go well and very easy and this was one of them. Towards the end of the day we switched to flatfish, on the drift. First drift all looked good and had a big hit but then dirty water washed through and I am sure this is what killed our efforts. Matt won the longest Black Bream competition and took the money with a nice Bream at 41cm.

Forty Eight Bass were measured to 52cm with a dozen good keepers among them, with the guys being fussy. The average of sixty Bream was around 37cms so we had a nice time and an all round good feed. Thanks to Pete for my brace of BBQ Bream, no not a new species!

The following pictures start with Gareth and a nice Bass and lastly Matt collecting his cash prize. The others between are some of the best Bass and Bream on the day.

Oh FYI my 2026 Tuna Permit application has been approved by the MMO, so I have compulsory online training next and then a practical course on ‘Eloise of Ladram’ with Rob Thompson.

Tightlines, Les Jones

26/04/2026

Lily is running the London marathon today for a great cause. Having won a job in Melbourne Australia since applying for the marathon and collecting funds for Crohn’s and Colitis, Lily has flown back specially to run today!! That’s some sacrifice!!

C’mon Lils, we are all with you on this!! ###

FYI - we have watched the London marathon on TV every year since it started and this is the first year we will be watching the runners for real, in and around London, mainly Bermondsey area.

To donate here’s the link:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/lily-fleming-1?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=LFCFRDOUK_PreEvent_100Plus_Guest