Mal Thomas

To make the Day a little less lonely give members a shout on CH6, I am always listening and we were out there. See it as a security blanket that you used whilst your arm was in a sling.😊

I think he had 006 on his cabin.

There was also a huge green modern Tug / Trawler looking boat out there, he was waiting for the Rnli at one point, then restarted trawling something behind him 100yrds or so I heard on the radio, I couldn't tell what he was doing, it may be a modern form of dredging hopefully rather than fishing. If he was fishing were in real trouble. From the front it looked like a Jeremy Clarkson posh tractor, I can't recall seeing it before. He was working South side of the Fairway Buoy close to the Needles approaches. He left for Saint Catherine's point later in the afternoon South of the Island.

Another time

Early starts are getting harder as I get older, on the boat for 6.30am with a good weather window for the day and small tides. The birds were working off the NCI station, so I had a quick detour to pick up some hopefully easy fresh bait. I tracked them down and a Bass, only for a brand new set of feathers bottom knot failure, lost slow jig and Bass, Ouch. Bait acquired in short time and then decisions to make, spurred on by fresh baits, I decided to go off shore in 100ft of water. With slow flows I anchored it well and was in prime position and excited for what was instore. A big Blonde was my target, I managed to hook one and got it close to the boat and on the surface for yet another tackle failure. The fish was just a double. I had a Shark rig out all day just in case I had a visitor of the big toothy variety, no luck, but nice to see the big reel out. The bites were not developing as I expected with a good bait trail of fresh Mackerel, what's going on, everything is perfect but no fish. Then a few small bass to 4lb on the baits and a small spotted ray. No Congers pestering me, only a few dogfish and the bait was lasting far too long with 3 rods out and know need to get the frozen out, slow, slow and even slower. I dropped another 75 ft of rope back to change my area to just behind another bank, a few bites but no fish. What is going on, Am I imagining it or I have I experienced slow Augusts before? I could have caught Bass all day and likely filled my freezer with Mackerel but that is not my Quarry, I would rather have one big specimen that I have planned and fished for. Unfortunately I did spot two Trawlers working, one off shore covering outside the lines the other Trawler normally works and further in but now in Christchurch bay SM75 working the Sole areas and dodging the netters gear close in, dam that boat it is so disheartening. A lovely day at sea with no incidents and a beautiful day, just a disappointing result.

Drop me a pm or reply, I am going out from Christchurch 7.30 ish.

Soon we will have a printed record of fish caught over the years, I think we will all clearly see the trends. Very worrying.

A long standing retired member Nigel Allen excepted an invite out on Kingfisher whilst on holiday from work. We set out from Cobbs on Sunday for a mixed fishing day. Mal got their a little early as most of you will know and set up Kingfisher for the trip, kettle on and raring to go. The day started looking for the elusive Mackerel, which I think ended up as 2 individually caught by NA and one joey later by MT. Many hours with 2 rods and lazy lines over the side, how ridiculous. As you can imagine that started the I remember when stories, you only had to go outside Swanage and drop some feathers and you had bait for the day. Those days are long gone along with other species. With big tides we managed our time in deeper waters, after a few bream and one small undulate we made our move out towards some banks for a drift. Bass first drop and then 3 on a line of feathers with a slow jig, only two made it into the net. Good size for eating so we took some for the plate and returned the rest for another day. The banter was wicked as always, nothing was missed and everything got a cheeky comment followed by a chuckle which often ends in a coughing session with us old gits. Just enough fish to keep us entertained, later in the afternoon the white tops made a show beam on and bumpy, as always Kingfisher just keeps pushing on through it and is so reassuring. By the afternoon a beer was calling before we needed a knap before bedtime. Great day with old buddies, such a joy to have Niggle the "Cod father" back out fishing.

These trips are a real bonus and help warrant having a boat in a short season harbour like Christchurch, this is only the second or third I have managed this year 😔. Knowing the wind was likely to rise later I decided it would be a following sea for the trip in. So with thoughts of fresh mackerel and frozen offerings I set out in calm seas and choose to anchor off the end of the ledge, I managed a couple of full strings of Mackerel but very little else, so a move was in order for the flood. Anchored on the Western side this time with some confidence it was a decent area. After the fresh scent trail was established, I had a conger of 20lb, followed by a few smaller ones. For some reason I was still upbeat something else would turn up and It did. A plump 6lb Bass who gave a good scrap, It was returned. Then a rare Thorney turned up which was welcome, shortly followed by a Bull Huss of a similar weight. Another 2 full strings of mackerel, then the wind was building and thoughts of a wash down and good tidy up was entering my mind, whilst the body and mind were weakening. Strong tide and large waves on the way in had me dodging loads of semi submerged net or pot buoys. As often happens once in the wind dropped off and a clean up followed. A good decision to go out, my spirits and thoughts of the boat and the costs with very little use has been weighing on my mind, also with the threat of a large increase in mooring fees in Ribs pond. The engine went well and sounded much better than recent past trips following the new injectors being fitted.

Our logos go well on the Hi Vis

Baiter???

That is a positive response, so we will make it a date, please list below your choice of venue that you believe needs our attention. A beach area the Council does not clean, an area where the tide deposits flotsam or fisherman leave there litter behind, all would be suitable. Please list below an area that always disappoints you, where you see too much litter. Bring along the family and the dog, we will cook up some food for your efforts. What better way than a litter pick to mix with the public and advertise PBSBAC, Our logo's will be worn on the HI Vis and displayed on our banners.

I requested a litter picking pack from them months ago and it arrived today. I will bring them along to the meeting, could we do a walk along the beach and a pop up BBQ for bacon rolls?

I hope the "watch this space nod" I got at the latest meeting was more than this, albeit great news overall for the fish stocks bycatch and seabed. I was hoping for something local to our Bay.

A few You Tubers have been reporting big numbers in their pots, spoiling their potting..

It is with a heavy heart both Jerry and myself feel the coming weekend forecast is not favourable for small boats exiting the swash, Chris has been out today on a smaller wind forecast and said it was very lumpy. Watch for a new date asap.

Small offset circles for me.

Reminds me of Medusa.

The consultation was released today and I have filled it in, doesn't take long. You can find it on the Sifca website under "Live Consultation" The consultation paper is asking for participation, Voluntary code and some questions on bag limits and sizes. Please take the time to read and fill in, if your happy to participate.

I have two you can have

Biggest fish Dale, photo of the fish and weight.

Here is a recent communication from Sifca regarding a drop in Surgery at Swanage AC and a Bass FMP.

Planning started on Friday, bait, invites and scheduling. Purchased bait now I must keep it alive, set fridge to 10 degrees, that should do it. A push off at 6.30am was planned due to a Springs and boy did it come in quickly. A Cuckoo decided he was going to make himself known at 6.30 am, it was beautiful listening for 15 minutes at very close quarters. The Plan was a trip across the Bay for some Plaice. Easy trip across the bay, nice a smooth. Then I saw a bank of fog coming over Old Harry, at it's worst 100 yards visibility, time to engage the radar and it worked well and I could understand what was being plotted, bonus. On our first drift we heard amongst fog horns a channel 6 call from John on Kelly's Heroes, he had made a similar plan and had some early success, nice to hear a call out on Channel 6 for PBSBAC on the VHF. We had a few plaice and gave it a few hours till the weed got underway. Then I moved off and noticed my engine note changed and I hoped I was being a DQ. Dropped the Anchor on the secret ray mark, that had actually turned into a Secret Bream mark, no rays. We had a busy time with double shots of Bream. Then lifted the Anchor for a slow trip back, good job we did because the engine started to run on 3 cylinders and vibrating. Not good and would we get home, the power dropped off and we were limping home with a developing problem. Managed to find a sweet spot in the miss firing mode to get us home. A Long wormy wash down and a look to see if we had a loose spark plug lead, nothing spotted, however the engine did seem to run better at the end, so I am hoping it was fuel contamination. The engine has just had a big service, so I am hoping for a good outcome. I will call the engineers Monday for a diagnostic check. Btw my radio issues did not repeat, so SS on Tiger fish you may have an issue, please check your radio. It was a good weather day at Sea and sharing another day on board with my Bro and bestie doing the same drifts. Thanks Chris for all your support today and I hope you found a few more. A day with a bit of everything.

Just Called Trevor skipper of Rocket, his Calendar has a space for Friday 9th May. This could be a bream comp opportunity for those who don't own or who would like a trip carefree. Drop your name here if it suits you and I await Trevor's response.