Steve S

Totally agree with Chris auto pilots are great, you arrive feeling more relaxed with more energy to put into other stuff like fishing. I run mine on auto (set fixed direction) or tracking almost all the time. Obviously still need to keep a good lookout.

So tempting... Should be delivered this week I'll let you know how I get on with it, I may struggle obtaining Mackerel to test it with for a while....

I have just ordered a Freshpack Eiffel Pro, excellent review in the link and at least has a method of water ingress protection. http://www.planetseafishing.com/reviews/read/eiffel-freshpack-pro-vacuum-sealer

I've used that corrosion block works well, big tub lasts a very long time. I use Reelx oil.

Hi Adam. I'm happy to base at Guernsey there is a problem though, B&B is in general much more expensive. They also may not be flexible cancelling when bad weather and let's face it we often cancel.

A late first posting of this favorite annual topic . I've penciled in a trip to Alderney in Tigerfish around the weekend of 6th-7th of May aiming for a 4 day trip the from 4th to the 7th as the best neaps are then. Backup weekend date of the 20th-21st of May with a 4 day trip from the 18th to the 21st or 19th to the 22nd. No crew arranged yet. Anyone else planning on going?

Diane and I were out there as well we arrived somewhat later and left earlier... I thought I did quite well leaving the house at 8:00. All was well until the only heavy trace line I could find was 500lb stuff, so on that went, I know I've got some 200lb line somewhere, the spurs didn't seem to mind, not sure about other species. We had spurdogs conger and pout, the best spur went 19lb. I did hook what I think was a very large ray, had it on for quite a while, it moved up steadily to under the boat I was giving it maximum clutch plus a finger trying to get it off the bottom then the hooks pulled out . Diane got pressed into net duty on a regular basis only I found out it was better she held the rod and I did the business with the net. We had a couple moments with 2 fish on at once which was chaotic didn't know whether to stick or twist. Diane found out that the TV reception was still good all the way out there but she kept missing bits of programmes... . I do think the 100% specimen size for spurdog is a bit ridiculous at only 12lb, just about every spur I caught would have been 12lb plus, I only weighed the 2 biggest at 19 and 15-4lb odd.

That problem is normally due to air in the hydraulic system. Suggest you first bleed the system. If the oil level is low and you haven't been doing any work on it then you may have a leak as once installed the oil level should not really go down.

Tigerfish will be out Sunday with the missus as crew, in the cold, in January , it could only happen with a decent heater! The trouble will be persuading Diane out of the cabin to perform netting duties (hopefully), it's amazing how well sound insulated the cabin is.... Hope to see some of you out there.

Oh the temptation, depends whether on you trust me or not Martin....

A well disguised style of phishing exploit that could really hurt you, very easy to be fooled by this. Take care out there. The link gives details about the attack method and what to check for before you click. https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2017/01/gmail-phishing-data-uri/

Happy and Healthy New Year one and all, hope it will be a great year with big fish all round and no boat trouble.

Tigerfish is out also but we will be fishing over Cowes way so I doubt radio contact will be possible. Tightlines guys

Subscription. They are pretty good, standard has been maintained so far. A Jim Wippy production.

All action this flounder fishing!

Those are the decoy boats Mike. As you can see it wasn't at all gloomy...

Found the document on the EU site about who is allowed to fish for Bass in 2017 and what the limits are: In summary: On 13 December the Council adopted the following measures for 2017: No fishing for sea bass by commercial vessels targeting sea bass, except for long lines, pole and lines who will have a closure of two months in February and March 2017 and a maximum catch limit of 10 tonnes per year; A monthly limit of 250 kg for vessels deploying fixed gillnets and traps to cover unavoidable by-catches; A small by-catch allowance of 3% and a maximum of 400 kg is envisaged for demersal trawlers and seiners. The decision of the Council takes into account that artisanal hooks and line fisheries depend on sea bass to a greater extent and may not have other alternatives to catch. Recreational anglers are asked to practise a catch and release fishery in the first half of the year and to limit their catches to one fish per day in the second half of 2017. So seems like it is rod and line only, but 250kg per month for gill netters as by catch is a lot of by catch. The Recreational angler 'asked' does that mean it is just a request? Here is the full document. QA sea bass Dec 2016.pdf

Classy looking hamper Alun. Just depending on Neal to put us in a good spot

Putin gets hay fever

Neil the weights don't look correct for November

Interesting details on the bite Mike. The two we had on the boat gave the usual few taps on the rod tip and then pulled the rod round, as soon as the rod started to go over we lifted the rod out of the rest gave a little line then leant into them. Most charter skippers say a lot of their punters strike too soon, having seen a few in action I agree with them, rod starts to go over, lunge at the rod, wild strike, met with nothing but fresh air! I guess you made contact pretty quickly, who knows whether it would have moved off bait in mouth in classic fashion or dropped it.

1.5 miles due south of the needles lighthouse! Patience, persistence and luck required.

Yep, nice one Mike, well done.

Nice to see all the Poole boys in my neck of the woods today. Seemed like just Lofty was fishing elsewhere. Alun had one cod of 13lb 4oz Steve had one cod of 11lb 8oz We had a mixed bag, a number of sizeable whiting, a fair few pout, best 2lb 7oz, 1 poor cod, a couple of Thornbacks and numerous conger to 20 to 25lb est not boated. There are a quite a few mini conger around this year it seems. Most of the action was in the morning. One of the conger contrived to eat both our baits and made a right old mess, snip, snip, snip, snip even the braid felt the cut of the scissors. Thanks goodness we had the ebb tide with the easterly wind, had it been the flood fishing would have been a nightmare. We did slip anchor a bit until I let out another 30m, that did the trick. Once again no dogs for me , Alun had them all, I did better with the whiting with my christmas tree rig, other than that it was a ray apiece, a cod apiece and shared the conger. All in all a very pleasant day.

Alun and I had one each, details later.