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Family over from South Africa and nephews desperate to fish, the weather window slotted in a treat. Wind direction was well out from some apps, but trusty XC unfortunately correct, first spot produced nothing, so a move found the fish with a dozen+ Bream to just over 2lbs, lsd, Whiting and whips kept them busy for a couple of hours. "don't be disappointed if you miss a few bites lads as they can be finnicky!!!!!" They hit the baits as if they had never eaten before!! So great success and hook ups, i explained about the males, females, eggs breeding etc so one fish each taken for tea. Incredibly small tides killed off the chance of a Plaice at the end of the day however the sun came out and we headed in after a really fun day.

I am having a few issues on the boat, Tiger fish could not hear me transmitting on CH 6, tried it later on 65 and I was loud and clear, tried it with a local boat and they heard me loud and clear. What's going on !!! East winds seemed to be causing me anchoring issues on the flood, just keep tumbling the anchor. Wasted quite a bit of time on a very slow slip, not happy. Re anchored 3 times and kept dragging, then moved and the Ebb was easier. I could see the target but could not anchor accurately. Moved to a softer bottom for an easier anchor grip, caught another 35 dogfish, 1 Thornback ray and 10 bream to 1.5lb and 6 straps Exhausted after a day of managing 4 rods.

I was asked to crew Kodiak back from the Hamble to her home at NHYC Poole, forecast looked 'ok', wind and swell behind us. I chucked in a old rod with fixed spool to try for an early mackerel off the Shingles.......Adam didn't bother. Well, whilst I feathered, Adam cleaned the cabin. I moved us off back towards Poole and the Xchurch Ledge, and no sooner had I said "keep an eye out for birds....." Than Adam spotted some...... We headed over, it was like a tuna bust-up. I would say we ended up with 1000+ gulls and a line of them that stretched 1/2 mile or more. Started off on feathers....a decent bass followed them to the boat... Found a reasonably heavy lure and got close, couple of hits on first cast, then fish hooked on second. That is how we spent the next 60 minutes.....we caught loads, many just under size, but managed a few sizeable ones for the coolbox. Yes, I let him borrow my boat rod to cast with! And I even caught a couple on a lure tied to a spool of line by hand. Not bad for a non-fishing trip! Lovely cruise back, on to mooring and a glass of wine in the sun by the clubhouse. One of this year's upgrades was sonar with a thru-hull , which needed an extension to a step in the hull ..... It worked beautifully! There was always noise on the display at speed, where we believe air was below the shallow hull. R

We have a greys rubber mesh net, extending handle and will take any rays you throw at it and have had big hounds in it but may struggle with 30lb plus tope. Good if you lure fish though as hooks don't stick in the mesh.

Auto pilot fixed using the Wizard, the wrong direction answer was selected by the engineer when resetting it up after upgrades.