Species Comp

[Paul D]

Nice early start 6 AM and off to Weymouth.

At slipway meet up with Blue Warrior, Dawn Raider,Sammy and Maverick ( Enticer had already gone I think ).

 

Parked car and a lovely flat sea to steam out. Headed for an inshore wreck to learn from Gordon how to drift for Pollock. Maverick came over to try out some of the action. After around 10 drifts were both got into fish at the same time. Two pollock onboard.

Further drifts produced nothing though, so headed for "Lulworth" to fish some banks where Enticer was fishing.

Anchored up on a bank next to Enticer and Gordon had a doggie first drop. Then all was quiet for what seemed an age. Gordon then had a Cuckoo Wrasse and I tweaked out a doggie. ( Even dogfish hard to find )

Sat it out through the remainder of the flood and then headed back for the wreck.

 

This time anchored the wreck and had a pout. Was hoping for some eels, but nothing showing.

 

It then starts getting really interesting. Enticer comes over for some drifts and while they are present this large MCA Survey vessel ( Confidante registered in Kirkwell ) steams over straight at us. They then proceed to drift right in front of my boat and are fishing from the back of the boat.

What is even more astounding is they just carried on fishing whilst drifting straight over toward my boat - I had to manoueuvre the boat whilst at anchor in order to avoid being hit by the idiot.

 

One of the guys fishing then decides he had better go up front and tell the "captain" that he needs to move as he has almost hit us.

 

MCA are supposed to be responsible for safety at sea - unbelievable - I shall be filing a complaint for sure. ( and Mark B and Rich witnessed the whole thing - even sounding their air horn as well - I broke mine in the panic to take action ).

 

After this sorry event, had no more fish, so belted back to the Hood ( 21 knots as I kept telling Gordon ). Few drifts of the Hood, lost my gear, so stopped fishing then.

 

Raced Blue Warrior, Dawn Raider and Enticer back across Portland harbour. 23.5 knots flat out. Trim tabs working well now and boat nicely balanced.

 

Fun ( if eventful ) day - it had everything ( my first wreck Pollock, speeding around in flat conditions and a little bit of terror thrown in ! )

[alun j.]

Well done Paul !

 

My 'terrors' yesterday were more of a watery sort *; you clearly had a very different sort of day weather - wise............ but fishing sounded similar !

 

* [ but no real terrors ............ just lots of aches today !! ].

 

Would have loved to join you today ...... but had some decorating to do , and emergency Brownie points to earn [ not too sure of the score yet, though !!].

 

How's your score on the Species comp. league table ??

 

Alun.

[Newboy]

Paul, did you have an anchor buoy (black ball shaped thingy) up? Think it was BFM last or maybe the one before suggested if you are anchored without an anchor buoy you might be deemed to be the one who's at fault.

 

P.S. I'm just quoting what the mag said.

[Swainiac]

Kam, the idiot was so close, he could have counted the twists in the warp from cleat to water, it was a diabolically stupid act, considering the badge that the vessel was carrying. I know that I dont hold any certificates in seamanship, but to allow your vessel to drift within twenty feet of an anchored small boat, who maybe not showing the black ball, but who's anchor bouy is clearing visible to crew fishing off the back of the boat, is pure dangerous folly. The ship steamed straight at Enticer as we were drifting, and I remarked to Mark, just how close he came, before altering course.

 

I believe that Gordon took photos, which could of course be used as primary documentary evidence, should the Coastguard Agency wish to follow this incident up, and Mark and I were close enough to witness the entire incident, and recognise both crewmen fishing.

 

On a personal note, one thing that we should actually be doing, as a club which promotes safety at sea, is encourage proper use of of maritime sigmnals in compliance with regulations, then, there is no recourse from Agencies such as the MCA, but still no excuse for blatant bad protocol from this skipper. Food for thought.

 

Rich.............Trainee Anchor Monkey, Proffesional Tea Maker, Cuckoo Hauler, and generally all round good egg.

[Maverick Martin]

Maverick went out from Weymouth with Peter Senior, Tony D and myself onboard, I suppose this mad us the committee boat

 

Started on some inshore wrecks which were shall we say not fishing well. Went onto the Shambles bank where Peter got his Christmas tree rig out with Tony and myself opting to fish conventional flowing traces with obligatory beads mini spoons and other shinny bits. Well we should have gone to the Christmas store as Peter was the only one on Maverick to land a plaice in fact on one drift he had a double shot. He then went on to land another followed by a dogfish whilst Tony and I scratched our rear quarters. Ended up zooming back to the hood and had a group hug with all the other club boats drifting it where I broke my duck and caught a small but beautifully formed wrasse and Tony and Peter did the business with small Pollack.

 

Not the best of day

[Adam F]

A slow day also for BW and DR.

 

With the small tides, we opted to head offshore and find some deeper water and a little tide. To be honest having a decent day's fishing took priority over the club comp.

 

At first wreck started well and showed promise....James bagged a pout first drift and we all had tugs and plucks...another few drifts of the same and I hooked into a small cod of 6lb. Hopes high we continued to drift, but alas no more fish. We headed out further trying each new wreck as we went - all looked very fishy, but failed to produce the goods. Was a great day to be at sea though - even BW could have steamed to Alderney it was that flat!

 

We also had a near miss with a tanker - this one was doing about 15/18 knots and appeared out of the gloom about 1/4 mile off our stern whilst drifting one of the wrecks - he was headed dead at us. As I was drifting I wasnt too concerned, just kept the engine running. He would have hit us, had I not moved. We saw a a chap on the bridge, who could quite clearly have seen us! I nudged BW about 50 yards forward and the boat steamed past - crazy!

 

Anway, we anchored a wreck at slack for eels, but even they didnt want to play. Tried a couple of slow drifts on the shambles, but again not a sausage. The water was so clear the bottom could be seen at 40'!

 

So to end the day we ended up back on the hook where we scored a few pollock and wrasse.

 

That's it on BW now until mid may! Next week - Alderney!

[JIMBOB]

Dawn raider headed out from weymouth with the inshore wrecks the target.

I tagged along with Adam and Bob on BW and we tryed several wrecks and ended up a fair way offshore! with nothing to show Well 1 jumbo pout .

anchored on the slack for 1 dog.

We spent the last couple of hours on the shambles, all seemed perfect,flat calm seas nice slow drift speed strat of a fresh tide but nothing!

well 1 launce.Did note how clear the water was you could clearly see the bottom even in nearly 40 feet. Maybe thats why the plaice arnt on the bank in numbers?there black/brown bodys would stand out on all that white sand?

 

Tight lines

 

James

 

[Mike Fox]

"Frisky Fox" stayed fairly close to Poole following a poor practice session on Saturday, with new members Carol and George (wife and son of 11).

 

Managed to scratch out 49 fish of 7 species (though suspect the poor cod and black goby maybe disqualified in the comp as mini-species), with 16 or 17 fish apiece.

 

We drew blanks in the Swash for bass and plaice; had wrasse on the Poole Patches with small pollack and a bonus garfish (saw one yesterday and thought it worth targetting them for a while!); drew blanks on our previously successful gurnard/whiting marks from last week at two spots near the piers, and had 3 bream, a few nice pout and too many poor cod (plus more pollack/wrasse) later - for mark see Members-Only section. No dogs, smoothies or rays there despite whole squid fished hard on at slack tide.

 

George wondered about claiming a new club record for Black Goby, but at under an ounce (it wouldn't have registered on my scales) this might prove difficult to substantiate! Still, it swam off happily.

 

Mike

[Bob F]

Well done "Frisky Fox". You were my secret tip for the day with all the rest of us going off to further marks.

 

BF

[duncan]

Sounds like they took it seriously!

 

What's a size 4 hook look like? Secret suspicion that the barbs on my 16/0 circles would be bigger!

 

Long long time since I saw 49 fish aboard (excluding mackerel and dogs of course) and 7 species was obbviously the return on a lot of hard work - well done.

[TomBettle]

Good on yer Mike.

Well done for sticking to your own plans. It sounds like it paid off.

 

Tom

[Paul J]

Hi Mike,

 

Was that you waving at us from the Sailing Craft?

 

We didn't fair so well with only dogs, Wrasse and a couple of checkers,

 

Lovely DAY AND THE WATER GIN CLEAR

 

pj

[great white]

Hi all glad to see that a few were among the fish

 

I am not sure why but my emails are only arriving from a few people

 

If you have sent score sheets I have not recieved any

 

please send again to wchapman212@ntlworl.com as I believe the problem is with my address not wendys, I will reply to all that i receive

 

if not send as a pm

 

 

Charlie

 

[Paul D]

Charlie,

 

The e-mail address you refer to is :-

 

wchapman212@ntlworld.com

 

 

[Coddy]

Well what can I say except that I am still very much learning to find fish.

 

Launched with the others at Weymouth and after a slightly delayed start, headed out to the Shambles on a nice smooth sea.

 

Drifted a few times and Bill managed to pick up a plaice, small but sizable.

 

We watched a charter boat drift by and go and catch a nice turbot right near us!

 

After a few more drifts of nothing we headed inshore to Portland for wrasse but they seemed elusive as well but did managed to pick up a nice sized edible crab.

 

Went around to the Hood which was empty of boats and tried a few drifts in almost slack water with no takes so we dropped the pick and cast towards the wreck.

I picked up a pout and lost some gear.

 

Bill picked up a tompot blenny but these don't count.

 

Soon all the other boats headed towards us and we watched Bob play with the cable accross the entrance.

 

Headed off towards the slip to recover the boat before everyone else.

 

Nice day to be afloat but shame about the fish not wanting to play. As I say I am still very much learning the area so do not worry about any competition from me.

 

Coddy

(Member of the Jack fishless club)

[Mike Fox]

Paul (and others)

Yes - seems I was spotted too.

 

My attempts at disguising Frisky Fox in "stealth" mode was not entirely successful it seems...but surely everyone knows that sailing boats can't be used for angling...don't they?

 

Could this have been the angling boat you saw earlier?

 

http://pbsbac.co.uk/photoalbum/displayimag...=574&fullsize=1

 

Frisky Fox is a traditional displacement craft of about 6 tons, with around 6 knots capability in a length of 33 feet, and just happens to have plenty of unconventional handholds on deck. Oh, and it can be surpringly economical on diesel.

 

Mike

PS Wasn't it Columbus who achieved thousands of miles to the galleon in a traditional, displacement vessel?

[Paul J]

Well it was good to see you

 

Sorry if i was less than welcoming but i was a bit shocked to find a friendly person who liked fishing aboard such a boat.

 

It was a great sight to see you fishing off the back if not a little strange at first.

 

Paul J

[Bob F]

Charlie,

 

Score sheet resent to Wendy's email this time.

 

BF

 

[Fugazi]

Charlie,

 

Posted mine and Chris's this morning in a quaint little red box thing attached to a telegraph pole. However, if your happy to recieve in electronic format I'll use this method in future.

 

Gordon H

[great white]

So far

 

only results are from

 

Coddy

Bill

Mike F

Carol F

George F

Bob F

Chris G and Gordon H

 

I am afraid that working on the new boat has prevented me looking in to why my emails so bad, and building work at the club is keeping me very busy there as well.

 

I have not recieved a list of those people who booked in with peter so its hard to chase up who has not recorded results

 

If you made the effort to compete, please make sure I know how you got on.

 

Charlie

 

 

[Paul D]

Charlie,

 

You definitely got mine - for what it was worth !! ( I have the reply from you to prove it ).