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Hmm clowns error, I have an isolator switch that stops the windlass from being used. This is very useful when taking the grandchildren out as they cannot hurt themselves upfront by accidentally touching the operating switches. Hmm would help if I remember to turn off the isolate switch when fishing Ooops

Or Memory shorter, as we all age gracefully.

Joined Martin on Tuesday, was my first sea fishing trip for over 30 years, caught a dogfish, lost a bigger one (if you believe that) Martin had a dogfish and a small conger, bought back many memories of days when mackerel was plentiful. Sad to hear the tackle shop in Cobs Quay had had to shut. Thank you Martin for a great day out.

The forecast for Monday was looking good and because we haven’t had many chances to get out lately we sacked off our band rehearsal. I was thinking of the Shambles and when I saw Steve’s post we made the decision to head that way too. We cruised down to the Shambles at a steady 20knts and as we approached we counted 11 boats already there! We set up our first drift a nice long one right down the middle of the bank. On reaching the end of the drift we had a bit of a problem I put the boat in gear and there was no gear. Oh S**T !!!!. Luckily Steve was there and had just gone past to start a new drift. A quick radio call on channel 6 and we came up with a plan to tow us into shallower water and I would then call up Sea Start (only joined last week😂). So while we waited for Steve, Bobi came up with the idea of turning off all the isolators and basically rebooting every thing. Well guess what, yes it worked !everything was working fine. Another quick call to Steve to cancel the tow as we motored back up towards him. After a chat Steve said he would be around if there was any more problems and would let us know when he was heading back. Boat wise everything went OK for the rest of the day. So we set up our second drift lines down and we had sabiki`s out for launce or Mac’s. I was dealing with a rather feisty launce that didn’t want to go in the live bait bong, when Bobi said what’s that noise. It sounded mechanical oh no ! what now. Well we soon realised it was the drag on my rod paying out line she grabbed the rod to stop it disappearing over the side while I put the Sabiki rod down. She said you are stuck in the bottom but as soon as I took the rod I knew it was a fish and not too small. As it came up to the surface we could see it would need the net. It was expertly netted by Bobi and weighed in at 10lb 1oz . We had several more drifts and the tally at lunch time was 5 to me and 1 for Bobi. There was a steady stream of Launce and one very welcome Mackerel. Over the slack things went quiet Steve had called and said they were off to try for something different, I decided to take the risk that nothing else would go wrong with the boat and we would stay for the tide change. Once the tide started running again we were into fish again Bobi managed 2 on one drift. We ended up with 7 Turbot to me and 4 to Bobi. I had a weaver on the sabiki`s.Bobi also managed a small Blonde . As is normal the last drift went longer and we drifted off the bank I called lines up and Bobi finished the day with a nice fat Dab. We had an uneventful trip home at 22knts having auto pilot makes these trips so easy and stress free.

Another Day out on Madness. Left Cobb's for the 08:30 bridge. It was a pleasant morning with a gentle breeze & hazy sunshine. The harbour was quite calm and we made our way to the chain ferry. Once outside it was a different story. It was quite breezy & lumpy. We decided that Ballard would be a good choice so off we went at a gentle pace. We lined up for anchor and found there was a problem with the windlass ( Martin will explain ). We had a go at drifting and I "winkled" out a Pollack. It's too rocky at Ballard for drifting so a change of plan was needed. We headed for the beaches at B/mouth to drift for flatties. On the way Martin sorted the anchor so we then headed for the patch. Anchored on a nice spot but there were only a couple of boats out there (both charters) so we guessed that it had been overfished and not producing much. We were right! Martin had one and put it back. Martin and Phil had a couple of doggies. We all hooked a couple and lost them. I had a Bream as well. Then we moved and had nothing but a wrasse to me and a better Bream to Martin. We decided that the Harbour would be better but just caught Weed. Last few minutes by the Ro Ro and I had another Bream. Back in at 3:30 lift. Thanks Martin & Phil for another great day out. Not many fish but so good to get out. Thank you.

"gracefully" ???? Nah ! 😉

No as Charlie said the memory is getting shorter, you'll soon find out whipper snapper

That list of things to remember is getting longer Martin. 🫣😂😂

Why when your retired why is life so busy?!!!!!! We had arranged last year for my Godson to come down from St Albans for the night and his parents. I couldn’t believe the weather the last three days and I couldn’t get out, we were planning to take Danny and his wife out for dinner after Martin had recommended a restaurant. Then I had a devious thought, how about a picnic on board and we could even wet a line. They managed to get to us just before 4 so we made the 4.30 lift and saw Madness heading in. The Swash was alive with birds and Bass, I had emptied the boat when out of the water and not a lure, shad, feathers, SPJ to be found, what an idiot!! So a quick get the monkey out the boat didn’t happen, arrived at Ballard hook down and the dogfish arrived! However with non anglers on board they proved great amusement, especially to Dans mother who as a staunch vegetarian was keen to know if we could eat it! 40 minutes of LSD was enough so we moved, only 100m and fish showed on the sounder, first drop a two pound Bream followed by two more about 1.5lbs then the dogs came back. So everyone had played and landed a fish and all happy and the sun was still out. We still needed another fish if possible for the family of 4 , nailing a dogfish to a telegraph pole in St Albans to skin it slowed the vegetarian down a bit!!! We moved again a few hundred yards and destroyed the picnic and a few drinks. Getting chilly a slow cruise home for the 20.30 bridge was decided, bringing the rods in, a dull weight on a light lure rod a Small Eyed had attached itself to the rod, the now very excited hunter gatherer vegetarian was straight on the rod. ” Can we eat it” after a short discussion it was thankfully decided Cyril the Small Eyed should go back, so another “And Away” was sent home. Mortimer and Whitehouse fans had all now caught a fish. Great evening a few fish and a lot of laughs.

Sounds like you had a great time Jerry. Well Done. Better put some gear back on the boat mate