Matt

Well i know who to call if i hava a dilapidated boat to sell!

Just like that time you hauled up that big blond ray fishing out of portsmouth?

we had a 14lb blondie from the same spot in similiar tides this time last year on similiar gear (20lb class) and landed it so I reckon it was a bit bigger.(Never know for sure now!) However I suspect in Dads mind its at least 35lbs now, in a few years it will be a 100lb common skate! Annoyingly we had all the heavy gear in the cabin but hadn't bothered to put it up,(I was using two rods for the whiting, dad one pure whiting rod and the slighlty heavier one with a single squid bait in the hope a Bass might pop by).

Yes we did, about two minutes after it was lost!

well we headed out to our chosen whiting mark,at first it was a real kennel with a lot of Dogfish. Then a surprise (and very pissed off) smoothound made off with Dads bait not huge (4-5lb maybe) but put up a scrap on lb class gear Fortunately the Whiting arrived with the tide and bites came all afternoon (with a few more dogs mixed in) About three oclock I looked up and saw Dad with Rod bent double, line running back under the boat, thought oh joy the Anchors slipping and hes snagged on the bottom. However something had grapped his bait and motored up tide like a bloody train. Dad got it off the bottom and from the way it arced back in the tide it was obvious it was a ray, most likely of the blond variety. I then cleared the 3 other lines from the water (Just my luck Dads other rod had a doggy attached for me to deal with) so with deck cleared checked to see how the fights going, not to well the rod was fully locked over and the fish was still taking line even with the clutch ratcheted up as tide as was dared. Virtual stalemate ensured for five minutes or so with very little progress made (dad was starting to look more knackered) Dad tried to get some line back by shuffling backwards and winding as he went back to the back but it was fairly obvious by now that something was going to give and it did, Rod was sudenly straight and a few expletives rang out! I dropped some heavier gear down but all I got was some exercise hauling doggies and 2lb leads up (a game I got bored of surprisingly quickly!) A few more whiting and we headed in at just gone 4 pm. The new trim tabs on the boat work a dream as well so a good start to 2012

3boyz was out i will do a report tommorroe but we connected with something probably better than a 17lb ray!

Freeboyz will be out of weymouth tommorrow, i have several (yes im now a tackle tart!) shiny new rods to blood so i can confidently predict a blank for me!

Seems too be moving fast, time for us to touch wood- we must be owed a window by now

Cant wait

It would be a shame to see it go

A terrible tradgedy, those guys heading Into a sea like that willingly to try and preserve life. Heroes all. I know i wouldnt have the bottle. A life saved is a life saved it doesnt matter how or were, also NOONE should be prepared to die every one should take every precaution to ensure they are able to go out safely. All that attitude leads too is increased risk forneveryone trying to preserve it. We should be prepared to take an acceptable risk once we have taken every effort to minimise it. As the above poster i cant reply to a certain post as i feel as it would be rude

Documentary on bbc 4 now

RIP. They dont just go out on the nice days we have engine problems etc they also go out in absolutely terrible ones. I couldnt do their job so they have my absolute respect (and donation)

Again well done for posting updates. It says a lot when one poster causes most disagreement. I am concerned we will see a crash in the numbers of bass due to the pair trawling.

We hope for the best, thanks for posting all the up dates paul

Happy birthday

Brilliant fish! Congrats

They said they were coming back...

b@&&@cks the bottoms dropped out Or This hats soooo cool

i have pm the origional poster with my email address to send a picture, if he responds ill forward it to someone who knows how to post pictures

You forgot to mention there where 500 aplicants for the wise men and they all failled the audition

Ps by own i mean dad owned-

4 posts all critising warrior boats and citing symptons i never saw in ten years owning a 175. Disagree post some pictures! When we bought our warrior we had to wait six months for delivery because they wont employ sub standard artisans

Well done on the cod!

Verry worrying is that the talk in the tackle shop is the bass season has been poor around the billl, all the commercials are heading offshore apparently