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Chris with his Bass.

Was this the last trip of the year? Thanks Dave

Thank you Martin (AKA Gummage) for saving the day and joining me on Marlin. Having been not fishing for 5 months this was a must do event. We caught the 07.30 bridge and set off for a drift in the harbour entrance to see if there were any Herring about. There were none!! My second part of the plan was to tie to a buoy in the Witch channel and fish there for a while. So we made are way off to the buoy and I could see Madness in the distance coming down Wills Cut and I had a sneaky suspicion that Madness was heading for the same buoy. This became apparent when I saw him cut across the end of Wills Cut. Unfortunately, we got there first and the look on Chris W's face was a picture 😛. Any after few expletives coming from the Madness crew they buggered off with their tale between their legs. 😂😂 We settled down and had a steady flow of small Bass coming on board, The weather started to settle in and Jerry called us to ask if we were happy to get the 13.30 bridge back in. Fishing conditions were certainly not ideal!!! We were quite happy having our cups of coffee, mince pies and Chicken Fried Rice, but we agreed and all met up in the pub for a few drinks and plenty of Banter. Despite the weather and lack of species it turned out to be a great day. Thanks again Martin for joining me and special thanks to Jerry for organising the event and raffle prizes it was well worth taking part. 👍 And a Very Merry Christmas to Everyone

Loobie 1V had decided on a casual start, not rushing for any particular bridge but try for a mini species in the basin. J2 was first off with a Blenny with orange dorsal then a black dorsal, i joined in with one with a long whispy dorsal! I haven't looked in my book to see if we have discovered a new species!!! but we all decided they were Blennys so one species down. Tony had appeared with a serious amount of Christmas tucker to add to the bacon butties and Malbec so was forgiven for not joining in with the party at this stage. Ro Ro next and we all had multiple Bass best going 4.5lbs to me by complete fluke, then Aunt Betty, got to be a Dab or a Plaice there surely. NO just more Bass. Then Madness came in behind us stealing our drift, saying they had had nothing, yes ok we believe you----------not, only to see Martin balancing on his swim platform netting a fish with no handle on the landing net, must be a Dorset thing. We picked up a buoy and had a few more Bass. At this point moral was begining to flag so a quick call to Greg and Martin and we decided early doors at 1.30 rather than 2.30. A huge tide which didnt really move all morning and water the colour of chocolate, mostly fresh i would, think did not help our cause. Any way i certainly could not take the Turkey home, so a raffle was quickly organised, yep as you know already Golden Goolies Jim won the Turkey. Even though the fishing was to say the least a little slow, we had some good banter and a beer afterwards for an hour. Well done everyone who entered, those who didn't you just don't know what you missed!!!! Happy Christmas everyone and lets hope for less wind and more fish in 2026

I had another trip out on Madness with Martin & Chris W. Some "cheeky beggars" appeared out of nowhere to nick the buoy we were going to tie up on. 😜 So we changed plan and headed for the castle. Guaranteed a fish there we thought. Martin skilfully took us all around the mark but not a single bite. OK off to the swash. Certain to pick something up. Nope! although I did have one bite but missed it. 😪 (That'll be another one that gets bigger every time I tell the story) 😁 It was jolly lumpy out there and with the waves hitting us side on we gave it a couple of hours and then we headed back into the harbour. Greg was still on "our secret mark" Jerry was drifting and after a while tied up to a buoy. We just kept trying different drifts. Chris managed to "winkle out" a Bass which saved the blank. 👍 As said above: Back on the 1:30 bridge and a clean down then into the club house for the "weigh in" 😉 Jerry decided to do a "raffle" for the turkey which some Fat bloke won. Thanks Jerry. 🤣 He had also made sure that everyone got a prize so smile all round and Jackie's pleased with the turkey. ( Winner winner turkey dinner) Thanks all for taking part. Thanks Jerry for organising it. And thanks Martin & Chris for putting up with me again. At the end of the day .. . . . . . It's just a lads' day out. Oh . . . . . . and the days are now getting longer again. Yippppppeeeeeeeee. 😃

I found that I could get away on Sunday. Endeavour 3 is champing at the mooring in the silage clamp, sporting her new tyres but the offer of a place wiith Greg on Marlin seemed too good not to follow up. The milking machine still hadn’t been switched on when I was leaving the downs . Met Greg as planned at seven. Keen as Mustard 7.30 bridge. We had both seen that the weather was set to go downhill and were anxious to make the best of the bright start.🔆 After a couple of drifts by the Brownsea cardinal Greg hit on a cunning plan.💡 You know how annoying it is when just as you are lining up to take your favourite mark some whipper snapper of a boat slips in ahead of you?😫😫😫 Well, that’s how annoyed they all were on Martin Burke’s boat as I clumsily picked up their favourite market buoy and tied Marlin to it. sorry lads I feel so embarrassed about that.🤭🤭🤭 Smack bang next to an old hulk that is obviously so full of species that they will likely film the next series of blue planet there.🐟🐠🐡🍤🎣. The wind and tide were squabbling over Marlin and she didn’t lie a we had hoped . So efforts to harvest the BluePlanet foundered. Lines tightened for a couple of schoolies each and Greg encouraged me with tales of how many flounders he had caught there; in the past! Greg and I were enjoying not trying too hard . Conversation was easy, coffee hot and Greg had prepared an excellent fried rice lunch. Just after midday and the heavy rain was imminent all boats saw sense and slipped under the 1.30 bridge and crews were son in the bar . Jerry can deal with the results but it was convivial. Thanks Jerry for making it happen , Greg for hosting me so well, and the rest of you for your sporting Company👏👏👏

Alun Jones, lone fisherman, watched over by the polar bear