Osprey

Got to hand it to you paddlers, you certainly work for your fish. Well done! Martyn

Blimey! I'm knackered just reading about it! Well done for sticking it out and getting some fish. Martyn

Alright I admit it, I caught them by accident! I was after Plaice! Martyn

But Terry, I got 2 Bass on 3 March! so what does that do to the seasons??? Martyn

Sounds like a grand day Paul. Well done. Do you reckon summer's here???? Martyn

I don't know Martin - a good run over to Alderney and back sounds like a pretty good sea trial to me! Hope you can go and have a great time. Martyn

Have a fantastic time everyone! Looking forward to seeing the reports. Martyn

I missed this post somehow. Bad luck Tom. That was a tricky situation. Hope it all gets fixed soon. As you say, some good lessons there, and I have got my list of actions drawn up as a result! With smaller boats, I always had an auxilary and with the bigger boat I have always been slightly uneasy about not having one. But is an outboard a realistic option? I suppose a twin screw set-up is the optimum. As someone else said, there does seem to be a bit of an epidemic with engine problems right now. Martyn

Hope it all goes well Martin. I can understand the frustration. Mine's still not sorted, but that's nothing compared to the problems you've had. Still, a couple of Alderney grand slams will soon get you smiling! Martyn

Welcome! Just in time for a fantastic summer. Martyn

Bad luck Martin. Have they told you it's scrap having established what the problem is, or are they stumped and have just given up without finding the cause? With the engine problems I am having with Osprey, I am wondering if you can trust any of these "experts". Terrible generalisation, I know, but it does make you lose confidence. Hope you get better luck soon Martyn

Terry Tom beat me to it! Apparantly there are some mussel beds in the area that attract the Plaice. Just East of the old submarine defence barrier (big concrete blocks!) that stretches from the fort to the shore. Can't miss it this time of the year - it looks like an over-filled marina! Cheers Martyn

Done Martyn

Martin Martin Having now returned from a week of freezing my tender parts off in a Scottish Salmon river, I can return to the fray! From your email, it looks as if some common sense is seeping through which is good news, although I wonder how charter boats will be treated. I still think we need to press on with the campaign though. Got to keep our guard up! So thanks for the glimmer of a light in the tunnel. Martyn

This is one of the more positive responses I have received from the many emails I have sent out. Dear Mr Wright, Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding Article 47 of the EU Common Fisheries Policy Control Regulation and your specific focus on recreational fishing. I apologise for my delay in getting back to you. I have looked at the Article which unfortunately is not clearly drafted. From what I can understand, the European Commission intends it to apply only where there is a multi-annual (recovery) plan, for stocks outside safe biological limits. As such, this would implicate cod and blue fin tuna and where fishing is done from onboard a vessel. This therefore means that it would not affect most recreational sea fisheries, including any done from onshore, or angling on inland waters. From my reading I understand that the Commission's concern is with the substantial amounts of fish that is caught by some recreational fisheries in relation to the species covered by the multi annual recovery plans. For example, it is estimated that in Italy during 2007, 800 tonnes of blue fin tuna were caught by recreational fishers whilst the national quota is around 4,300 tonnes. The Article is intended to prevent commercial fishing under the guise of recreational fishing. That said, Article 47 sets a precedent of which we should be very wary. Please be assured that this point has already been raised with some force by my colleague, Elspeth Attwooll, during discussions on the subject in the Fisheries Committee. It seems clear that amendments will be made from committee members asking for the Article to be deleted or substantially changed. Finally, I should add that under the current procedures, Parliament can only give an opinion on such matters as the final decision is taken by the Council of Fisheries Ministers. I would therefore also suggest you write to the UK government so that they are directly aware of your views on this issue. The contact address is: The Rt. Hon. Jane Kennedy Defra Nobel House 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR I hope that this provided you with come clarification. Please do not hesitate to contact me again on this or any further matter. With kind regards, Sharon Bowles MEP As you can guess, I have now written to Jane Kennedy. email defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk More letters the better, I think! Martyn

Tom I emailed the Chief Executive of Angling Trust yesterday (Sunday) to find out what they are doing about it and got a very positive response by return. This link shows the relevant news page (unfortunately in the 2008 section as they posted it in December!) http://www.anglingtrust.net/news.asp?section=29

I've signed the petition but can I please make another point. With this type of persecution, and there will be more, we need a professional organisation to fight for us. Now that the Angling Trust has been established we might just have that professionalism. But they will need funds, so I beg everyone to join Angling Trust to get our voice heard in this crazy EU fantasy world. The subscription of

Well done Mike and Neal. Cracking fish! Martyn

Best wishes Dan Get well soon! I suggest you avoid those 30lbers for a bit till the ribs are mended properly. Martyn

Well done! What are you going to call yourself now? Martyn

I won't be there But I'll get treble brownie points Have a great day out there everyone. I look forward to hearing all about it. Martyn

Well done Alun, nice haul. And home in the light as well! This must be one of the best seasons for a long, long time. Wonder how long it will last. Martyn

Well done! Some great fish there. Obviously I must brush up on my Cod catching tactics. Martyn

With an early start, Chris and I were fishing by about 8.00am just South of the Needles, in the same spot as we got the two Cod last week. We were there in time to catch the slack water so, with a couple of big baits down, we concentrated on the light rods with baited feathers for some Whiting. Within seconds of the leads hitting bottom we were into hoards of Pouting, (including some jombos!) with the odd fair sized Whiting to keep us at it. Then something a bit bigger hit my feathers and up came an 8 lb Cod, which gave a pretty good account of itself on the light rod. As the tide picked up, we set out the full armoury with multi squid baits and amongst the usual Doggies we managed two more Cod, 8.5lbs and 5lbs, giving Chris his first ever. Getting a bit more ambitious now, on went a fair sized whole Pout flapper which was duly snaffled by a better fish that Chris played like an old pro! 13lbs! So an excellent day with 4 Cod (photo attached) and about a dozen good Whiting included in a day of non stop action. Also met up with Alfresco and Dawn Raider to say hello which was great. It will be interesting to read their reports but (not to steal his thunder!) I already know that James's will put mine to shame! Oh I see he's already posted - see what I mean! Martyn

Charlie I'm planning to have my anchor down by about 8.00am That means a 5.30am start! I've PMed my mobile no. Martyn