Steve S

I have one of these, I think they are great. The Max Cart that is!

Tigerfish - Alun & Steve - Monday

Dire straights call for desperate measures!

I'm using MGDuff and Tecnoseal Aluminium Anodes, boat goes back in the water on Monday 25th March. The expectation is they will last a lot longer, we shall see. Happily I can check 6 of the 8 anodes and if necessary change them without taking the boat out. There certainly is a lot of crap anodes out there, it's taking a risk using them, not something I'm prepared to do. One thing I always do is check the bonding of the anodes to the boat by using a resistance meter (should be near 0 ohm) , doesn't take long and at least you know they are properly attached. If they are electrically isolated they can't do their job. I buy the anodes from Anode Outlet, been doing that for a few years now, their website has got better and better.

Well I will probably find out! It should not be an issue as they won't be bonded together unlike the anodes on one boat Some clear info here on Zinc and Aluminium pros and cons. https://www.anodeoutlet.co.uk/aluminium-versus-zinc-anodes/

Thanks for your comments, seems I may be the first one to use Aluminium anodes. I've ordered Aluminium anodes now to replace all the zinc ones (all knackered) on the boat. so time will tell. I'll let you know the result at next years haul out, if not before...

Yes aluminium anodes are a different from the aluminium alloy used in the legs.

I'm planning to switch Tigerfish to using aluminium anodes this year from zinc ones. I've read they are a suitable for salt water with occasional fresh water use and they are now markedly lower cost than zinc ones. Has anyone any experience of using aluminium anodes?

Boats that have shown interest: Tigerfish - Confirmed - Crew - Steve, Terry, Alun. Reel Magic - Confirmed - Crew - Dave ? Alfresco - Confirmed - Crew - Charlie, Ian? Kingfisher - Confirmed - Crew - Chris, Mal Madness - Confirmed - Crew - Martin, Dean Sweet Chariot - Possible Joint Venture - Possible

I use digital weighting scales (kept in a sealed bag, works for me) but the big problem I find with them is getting them to lock on a reading when weighting at sea (fish to be returned), the heavier the fish the harder to get a lock. The rocking sea is the problem of course but with digital scales numbers flickering all over the place it's hard to work out reasonable average reading if they won't lock. Now if there was some digital scales out there which would display an averaged reading I'd buy them. Surly I can't be the only one to have this problem. Currently I try to get on a lock on the digitals if no luck I switch to the traditional analogue scales where it's much easier to get reasonable read on fish weight with the needle moving. I go to for middle of the two extremes and take a bit off.

There were few enough cod around last Summer, I'm not optimistic this one will any better if lack of suitable food for the cod fry is the problem.

Swimming with a huge Great White No not swimming with Charlie... it's a real thing and it's feeding on whale meat as well. Amazing but i think rather foolish, one casual bite to see if you are food and that's it, game over.

Good luck guys, hope there are at least some to weigh in 🙄

I will be berthing in Alderney, to save cost for the crew and less distance to cover also the B&B's are very understanding about cancelling. No pre- booking in Guernsey I think, you are not likely to need it in May, a call to the harbour master before you leave should put your mind at rest about berth availability.

Good to see many of the usual guys planning to go and Loobie IV, good stuff Jerry. Oli, Diane and I spent a few days on Tigerfish in Guernsey last summer we stayed in the inner harbour of St Peter Port. Nice place to stay but the tidal issues getting over the sill does not make it very practical for going out fishing every day. The harbour master shared with me some quite amusing stories about boats not getting in right when crossing the sill, all the while showing me scars on the sill recalling how they occured... The outside pontoons are mostly walk ashore now, these should be fine and early season there should be space. When we were there everything was busy and we were advised to use the inner harbour as it would be A calmer and B we would not be woken up at 4:00 in the morning as a flotilla of yacht's was leaving, there was also very little available space outside anyway. For a place to stay well loads of choice, nothing is low cost. Lots of nice places to eat. Diesel is slightly lower cost than Alderney and accessible at more states of the tide, the chandery there is good too.

Yup, It's January, now Christmas is out of the way time to think about visiting Alderney to sample it's fishing. Last year the fishing wasn't great there but that's not going to stop me having another try this year, and as anyone who has been there know's it's not all about the fishing. Tide wise the weekends round the 11/12 May and 25/26 May look favourite, ie neap tides. I'm going to plan to go around the weekend of the 11/12 May with the 25/26 as a backup, so the 10th to the 13th May with some possible flex round that. The tides on the 11/12 and the following Monday and Tuesday are not that small, but I'm starting to think a really small tide doesn't really switch the predatory fish on and certainly a bit of tide over the wrecks is helpful in getting the fish feeding. Another possible weekend is around the 27/28 April, I can't do that date. The bank holiday is on the 6th May, and it's right smack in the springs! Who's up for going? Jerry?....

Thanks for the heads up on that.

Well the AMO effect could explain the lack of cod in the channel.

Tigerfish: few whiting, some jumbo pout, 1 blond ray, 1 thornback ray, 1 bass, masses of snakes up to around 30lb, Zippo cod

Tigerfish: Steve and Alun will give it a go.

Well good, at last. The start date is 1st December 2018, so applies to fish caught this month.

The price difference between diesel and petrol increases every winter and reduces every summer. There is more demand for diesel in the cold weather for heating and the law of supply and demand applies. What gets my goat is the prices charged by Motorway services, a complete and utter rip off. I plan my journey to avoid using them.

For swell info https://magicseaweed.com/North-Atlantic-Surf-Chart/2/?type=period

There is always the Solent! need to get there first...

Agreed Alun, looks more than a breeze, also a massive swell in due to hit us over the weekend.