Hooky

Er , yes it's all mine ! I tell thee , hooks for me !!!!!'mmm

First dibs always wins !!!!!! I don't suppose Barto has got a warrior 175 hidden away as well ?

They really don't need sorting !!!!!! Gimme the lot laddie !

All the lures as well .

Will pay cash on collection , pm please

Yup, charter special for me .

How many times have I heard that statement ? What went wrong ? Was it the bait, the rig etc etc. I think it was simple, no plaice on the bank due to the very cold water and strong tides . This day was 24 hours before the eclipse , the wind was northerly , the radio told us the sea was slight, it was a Spring tide alright it was huge the actual sea state was a mass of confusion , swirling around coming from every angle. Pete is the proud ownner of this super boat ( Redfin) it's a superb bit of kit , combine this with years of experience you feel totally safe . Portland Marina, a first for me, I wanted to have a poke around and enquire about over nigh berths and check out the slipway as I will be spending a few weekends here on Hobit in the summer. No bridges , no hassle, straight out put us on the shambles bank within 30 minutes, the idea was to drift with the tide using simple rigs baited with ragworm finished with squid strip or prawn , we also switched around various colours of spoons and beads. First issue, the drifts were far to fast, over 3 knots , no good , in a ideal world under 1 knot ish ? Pete tried everything he could to find some water around this area including the muscle beds. We would only get two drifts under 1.3 knots , the tide only slackened off for 30 minutes ! First blood to me, one little whiting this was then followed by a pouting ! Hard to put into words the effort that got put in for this sad result , Pete decided it was all my fault as usual , it was now just cold , windy and near on impossible, hardly surprising the charter boats had stayed in the dock ! I can't thank Pete enough for this day, I was buzzing for hours later , you just wait til next week , the quest continues

Yes Peter very good chance for Thursday , I have not fished my own boat on the shambles so It would be very welcome Can you give me a pm with details please .

Once again a lunchtime start from Baiter on the Hobit : Today was not so much about catching fish, just as well as we only managed one tiny whiting ! I have wanted to try out Downrigging for a while, I wanted to have a go at putting my favourite lure at a precise depth on a small feature, not the easiest thing to do especially with a strong tide on a windy day. I also wanted to use a Downrigger because I really don't like using heavy weights, heavy rods etc so today we achived this task Bought from eBay of course it was £72.00 including the all important release clip , the shaped 4 lb weight was ordered from the USA , £ 44.00 ( ouch) but it needs to be the correct shape and incorporate metal flash tape . You can spend far more on these riggers but I didn't want to waste the cash if I didn't like it. I have had difficult in the past finding small marks on my finder in conjunction with Navionics , they never seemed to match up with the sounder ( ipad version) . It has always seemed true that fish like structure, ( species that I'm interested I'm) so today I have also been experimenting with the Bad Elf gps plug In for the ipad v my iPhone without the dedicated gps ( without getting technical and boring a dedicated gps is accurate to 2ft and without depending on distance from shore is around 25 ft ) So here ( I hope ) shows the Downrigger ball ( trailing a Fiish black minnow) on a precise mark from the ipad on a flat bottom just outside Brownsea castle it's shown as a thin blue line 1ft from the seabed Spot on ! , I also did this on a very small gulley , again perfect ! I'm going to mess about when I have more time but I'm pleased you can present a bait even when anchored on the sweet spot ! Off we went to out to sea for a few drifts for Plaice using normal methods , time and tide was not in our favour so yet anchor blank ! There's always next time .

You won't have to go very far to find some very good marks , it all depends what you want to do. Sole , best at night drifting along Southbourne area. September ish Plaice, just inside the jetty, anchored fine, daytime,. Thing it's never that easy ! It's not where you fish it's about using the correct method at the correct time. There is of course very special little areas, see detailed catch reports for club members, take you time and read every report, it will give you a very good start. Keep a eye on other boats, see what they are doing, it's a massive learning curve, be patient and the fish will come.

Thank you all so much for the good wishes , it has been a a difficult week , getting out on my boat has once again been lost , however > On that note. This evening the wife printed off a ticket, she has booked a harbour side cottage down in East Looe Cornwall , along with that cottage comes a charter boat, yep, I'm going big fish hunting with one of this country's top skippers , four days ' should' give me a chance for a Big Beagle or Thresher , what a fantastic thought , the wife really is I diamond , I've just got in from my favourite curry house with my mad relatives , it has been a superb day , 50? Just a number that means you still misbehave and blame it on the millions of brain cells that no longer function !

Arrrgh don't mention anything that has a 5 or 0 today, I'm in denial !!!!! Thanks chaps ( shuffles slowly out to my man cave to keep my mind off rust and wrinkles )

Missed it by a few hours but Merry Christmas Bazza ! ( have you got a bleeding phone sorted out yet - pm me )

Any advice on this forum must be taken , one damn fine looking fella as I'm sure you,would agree.

I try my best to help but the information I give is usually totally wrong , (2015 has already produced three blanks !!!!) I need a slap or two or a damn good word with one of our other new members ( he's a vicar ya know) so has a direct line 'upstairs' . I'm going to take him out ASAP ( he will of course have to put with the disgusting language ,etc !!!!') I welcome anyone out whatsoever , especially a nice lady around the age of 25 who looks great in a bikini , has a mechanical ability , can cook and has a large bank balance to pay for fuel and bait .. That means I'm going be taking member 'Topher' out for the next 20 years or so.

Good post, as long as humans continue to live on this planet things will only get worse, you can't stop greed and stupidity , we are a flawed species , sad isn't it .

I find it hard to believe anyone would be cheating ! You could however get every yak checked over (as well as boxes and packs) on launching, bit like scrutinnering at a race event. I would be more than happy to play as long as I'm out on the water.

Mine arrived yesterday , superb for the money , I got them for the hideous snow and ice that we will get at the end of this month. ( it WILL happen coz I have booked a week off and planned to get out fishing !!!!! )

Superb, that's all ! Just a footnote, I also found Cams departure very upsetting , my last trip out on the yak he once again made the effort to launch In attempt to help me with my sea trout hunt ( failed again !) makes me realise how lucky I am to beat this terrible disease and how hard it is to stay positive no matter how hard staying above ground can get at times. Hope you don't mind Lofty, just found this old piccy of Cam on that very special day No hijack intended , just missing the old git !

Well done all, as usual ( ,,,,!!!!!,,,) I was due to launch the boat from Baiter for the canceled boat competition . Sunday morning looked stunning if a little windy, truth is simply I was sooo knackered from work on the Saturday. Out with the beach gear we decided to watch you efforts from the shore ( bottom of the fishermans steps ) . Tent up, kettle on, best rigs and bait in action resulted in one Flounder just over the pound for my mate Nutty. Me ???? Sat down in the warmest floatation suit ever made ( Sunridge) and fell fast asleep ! Still enjoyed watching you lot out for a while !

Hooky (hobbit ) + nutty

Me three, abandoned a couple of all- nighters before it's time to get started back working in London ( I detest London !!) looks like that that will be it until new year , such a shame as I really wanted to give this Downrigging thing a try for the piggies.

Once again a big thank you to Graham for the offer of his Downrigger . The Wife ( bless her ! ) had already ordered me one for Xmas ! It arrived yesterday ( she does read this forum as is starting to take a interest in this hobby ) . I am playing about with this combined weigh / bait dropper idea today, so far it looks like it will be a milk container half filled with ultra hard , rapid set concrete with a fixed wire insets . No way am I going to buy the lead / plastic ones @ £ 40.00 a pop , I'm sure I can make some sort of effective mould , these will be disposable due to the areas I'm going to attempt trolling. I did this type of fishing in Vancouver with huge success , I will of course do a honest full report to let you all know what happens. It is possible I might be out on Fisheagle with Alan soon and because my Downrigger is fully transferable ( gunnel clamp fixing ) I want to try it in stronger tides from the car park area (ish) and Alan has brought back some very interest new toys back form France that may be just the ticket.

Keep hold of these things Bazza, bring them with you next week, deep trolling with Savage Gear sandeels, just the job ! ( we stil won't catch fa as usual though )

Yes Rob , my thoughts exactly. I was having a look through some old youpube stuff on cod fishing , it was a a Norwegian deep water film. Static fishing, 100 ft of water with a down rigger using pink muppets ( light rod ) Vs huge pirks .. Interesting attachment to the Downrigger , it was similar to a bait dropper stuffed full of smelly old hard backed crabs etc. The muppets were only about 20 ft from the rigger, . Other interest was the way the line was attached to the wire line, paperclip with elastic band. No pulling up and down on the rigger, just clip it on and let it sink down . Their is probably a good reason that I have only ever noticed anyone trying this in the uk, it's massive in many other parts of the world ...?... Nothing ventured I suppose