Steve S

We have had a great time thanks Jerry. Today was a bit interesting in the wind it was a good F6 at times. We were made very welcome in the island.

8lb 6oz of Alderney brill. Caught the day BEFORE the flattie comp!

Tigerfish results Ian Jones - brill 3lb 10oz and turbot 5lb Alun Jones - turbot 4lb Steve Scott - turbot 2lb Terry Bartell - turbot 1lb

All 3 boats made it, getting onto the island was a bit of a procedure but we here now having a beer at The Moorings, yay [emoji3] Reasonable number of flatties best a 8-6 brill!

Stainless Steve, I have used him, high quality work, hopeless timekeeping.

I am taking a tender Charlie, it's officially a 2 man job, 3 is possible plus luggage gulp! Thanks for sorting the admin out gents. Right ho, passports required!

I was expecting a wrasse and up this popped! [emoji2]

Nice bass, well done. Those unedibles may have been there for some time... My boat is fitted with a jabsco water puppy. Been going strong since 2006, can be left on running all day and often is. Water fills from the floor and exits from the top. It keeps everything alive. Alderney forecast is looking great, everything crossed it stays that way.

I have had no problems with the NHS app nor the Guernsey tracker. If you are being requested a photo then I don't think you are using the NHS app, it does not request that, you do need your NHS number. If you don't know it your local surgery should have it. The NHS app is quite handy, I was already using it, I can access my medical records, vaccinations going back a very long time, results of tests eg blood and medicines being taken. It took a few weeks for all that to appear as Southampton hospital have to enter the details, for those in Dorset it will be Poole/Bournemouth hospital. To the lucky ones who have absolutely no medical issues at all it would be less useful!

Terry had a 6-8 (I think) brill on Tigerfish last time we were over. I think that would have scooped the prize 😁

Good news for old gits! ok: https://www.visitalderney.com/inspire/coronavirus-covid-19-update/ confirms this. My aged crew are all fully jabbed so I guess it's back on, what a yoyo.

Yep, Weymouth / Portland a good plan B. Not sure about the tides, I thought the Shambles fishing better with a bit more tide, the 3rd July indicates 1.6 knots max. Any views on that?

Alderney trip postponed, sad to say but not surprised. Just seen this: On the 11 June 2021, the Civil Contingencies Authority have announced the opening of the borders with the Common Travel Area (UK, Jersey & Isle of Man), originally planned on the 1st July, is postponed to a later date due to the prevalence levels rising across the UK. https://www.visitalderney.com/inspire/coronavirus-covid-19-update/

Thanks Charlie, that what made us look for the 'good' tides after 1st July, as it happened the 2nd is a good one being as the neap tides are over a weekend. IMO we should be ok unless the Delta variant really takes off with hospital admissions rising and the islanders then get cold feet about having a tourist season this year. I think taking a lateral flow test is ok, any sort of quarantine / waiting more than a few hours to get on the island makes the trip a non starter. Their vaccine program is as advanced as ours.

Tigerfish - results Had a great day out starting with 6 good bass on lures, then Alun and I focused on the bream. Found it tough going for the bigger ones, loads of them, but many were still going to nursery school... the best went: 1-11 to Steve and 1-10 to Alun

So that will be Reel Magic and Tigerfish, two Alderney stalwarts with Charlie another regular hitching a ride on Dave's chariot. You've have done a great job with the accommodation Terry, many thanks. Personally I can't wait to get over there, it will really feel like the world is getting back to normal. I'm kinda curious what sort of reception we will get on the Island. Hopefully nearer the time all we will have to worry about is the weather!

That's great, now all you need is a decent inboard diesel jenny to charge it up!

Loobie 1V Jerry Shutter,Jerry Sumbler, Jim Tiddler!, Dave Wilson, Sunday Tigerfish, Alun, Steve - Saturday

Hopes dashed again 😪. If there is any sort of weather window open for a few hours I'm going to be out for something with fins, dogfish excepting, seems like this month we need to grab every opportunity, who knows when it will end. That poor old donkey has walked a long way this month following that carrot...

Stuie on Tigerfish with a very blue black bream. One of a great many caught on Friday.

I'll be wetting a line on Friday then, may see you out there. 😁

I've booked in my diary and holiday Friday 2nd to Monday 5th July. Fingers very much crossed. After the year we have it will be great to have a fair few boats going over and actually meet some of you again.

Well July 3/4 sounds good, if we get the all clear for then. I can do a midweek one if needs be.

Fingers crossed Alun and I will be fishing. Plenty of bream around at the moment [emoji3] There is shall we say a high degree of uncertainty in the forecasts...

There are 2 different knots both called FG. I use the single mono version ending in 7 or 8 half hitches like Charlie. It's really strong and thin. I'm pretty quick tying it now but if I was wrecking for instance and need to re- rig fast I'd use a double grinner/uni. One thing about braid to leader knots they are subject to wear on the braid and it's not always obvious, particularly when using lures. It pays to cut them off and strip back a metre or two of braid and re-tie fairly regularly. It can seem like a waste of time until that is the braid gives way under surprisingly little pressure. This particularly seems to affect whiplash, probably because it is so thin to start with.