Steve S

As I write this, all the days look rubbish but with the forecasts changing a lot and a lot of disparity between the different forecasting models there is still hope, probably will be a late decision. Whether the comp should be run if turns out for instance it was only ok on the morning of one of days and only a couple of boats made it out is a different question. Oh and Happy Christmas and New Year everyone [emoji2], weather wise it can only improve surely...

Tigerfish is aiming to give it a go with Steve and Alun on board, no idea of the date as yet

For whiting size to take home, I put any possible takers in the livewell and then decide which ones to keep at the end of day. That way if I get quite a lot of big ones the smaller ones which on another day I might have kept get returned. There is only so many whiting you need IMO.

There have been some small trawlers around locally, I heard from one of the charter skippers they have had some cod in the nets so some are around.

Sunrise over Dan Bran pontoon, Lymington

Good one Trev. Try it with just holes first or make it a big pipe or it will block! On mine I just have holes on both sides that drain out over back of the gunnels onto the swim platform. A quick hose down along with the rest of boat does the job (except on an oxidised cover over a manual bilge pump that stains). I've never had a problem with blow back onto the deck.

Oh boo

This time of year anchoring and getting a good scent trail going is the usual method. Cod are very thin on the ground so don't get your hopes up too much even if you do everything right.

Cod / Whiting comp - Steve, Alun - we will be texting our results in with photos.

Yes it was a great day afloat. The bust ups with tuna, dolphins, diving gannets and all manner of sea birds are spectacular, think Blue Planet. Many are at a distance but some were right by the boat. It was a slow day for strikes, none the less a great day. Steve and his crew could not have worked harder to get among the fish, no wonder he has had 119 this year! The 'young boys' drove both ways on the day, too much for me I stayed over night and drove back on the day (4 hours) that was a long enough!

Starlings on lobster pots Mudeford Quay

Wow, great fish well done Dave.

Alun and I had a very similar day to the others, lots of bass but nothing big. Made an early start to catch the tide before Christchurch Harbour completely emptied. Some jumbo mackerel put in a welcome appearance. The best bass 3lb 9oz to Steve. Great day to be out on the water.

Great photo skills Diane [emoji846]

Gastronaught: Alun, Steve on Sunday

Nice one Steve, bit of a struggle, well done.

4lb 9oz, it was a bit windy so tried my luck off the mooring. This was the best of them, in superb condition it put up a hell of fight on light gear.

Yay, very close! [emoji2]

Graham 8lb 1oz Thornback Steve 10lb 8oz Thornback It was hard work but we managed to get 8 or so mackerel at the start of the flood, after that it was head to a ray mark. We had 6 thornies in all and a bonus couple of bass along with a black bream and a few dogs but fortunately not the whole kennels. What was probably going to be the biggest ray Graham could not persuade off the bottom he'd gain a little line only for it to slam to the bottom again, eventually the hook pulled, suspect it was foul hooked. I hooked what I thought for all the world was a big bass only to see a thorny of around 8lb surface! First ray of the day, 8-14 thornback Graham's best ray 8lb 1oz Best of the ray 10lb 8oz, weighted on the pontoon to get an accurate weight.

Kingfisher - Chris, Mal, Stuie - Fishing Saturday My Babby- Norman, Dave, Brian - Fishing Saturday Tigerfish - Steve, Graham Shurvell - Probably Saturday based on the forecast

Thanks Dave, some of these sizes are shamefully small eg 18cm for Ballan Wrasse, huh!

That's a shame but inevitable, hope no hospitalisations result. At least that haven't panicked and raised the drawbridge.

It's an issue the world has not yet woken up to and it's going to make many more incidents that have currently occured to make government stick their hands in the pockets to spend the big money to do something about it. Even if the UK had a system like eLoran in operation that's not going to help ships coming in from overseas until they get here and of course the ships need to have it installed. It's a worldwide problem, there are multiple bad actors. GPS is so brilliant and easy to use traditional navigational skills pale in comparison, I'm sure most boating people are very out of practice (including me) if indeed they ever were skilled at it.

A biggun, looks in prime condition, well done