Mal Thomas

We have camped in Burnbake site on the Rempstone Estate, not much has changed here for centuries and it shows with the bird count for two walks totalling 19 miles. The tally is impressive and a first siting for me. Cross bills. Coal tits. Kestrel. Jackdaws. Curlew. Chaffinch. Wren. Buzzard. Wood pigeon. Greater spotted woodpecker Serin. Robin. Raven. Collar dove. Dartford warbler Goldfinch. Song thrush. Rooks. Tawny owls overnight. Siskin Long tailed tits. Meadow pipits. Crow. Pied wagtails. White throat Blue tits. Chiff chaff. Jay Gold crest. Cormorants Great tits. Green finch. Magpie. Fire crest. Egret The crossbills have eluded me for decades so I was very pleased to see so many. Such beautiful scenery especially up above Corfe on the ridge that runs all the way to Old Harry. Not so good on my Deer’s maybe Sika and Fallow

Good luck with the operation

Due to a full on work week, I have revised my plan and decided to finish of my reports and then take off in the camper with my lovely wife for a chill lax. So I will be fishing with you in spirit, put a rod uptide for me. Don't forget those reports they are a vital piece of our successful club, Stu the Wales International was so impressed with or Club and turnout at the meeting. Tight lines everyone, keep your eyes peeled for that jumping visitor.

Thanks for sharing, we need to talk I think I can provide a day out and an overnight van stop.

I am hoping to get out Friday

My Guess is a Weaver, not sure though

Our day started with a lovely sunrise over the IOW and the a great view of a Peregrine Falcon chasing a pied wagtail. There was plenty of Guillemot's, Razor bills and Gannets about. Our fishing started well with Rays coming soon after the start, a run of Smalleyed and followed by some Blondes. The uptider rod was fishing well. We were gradually losing the ebb and the bites with it, unfortunately we also had the SM 75 the trawler making tracks close by which sealed the deal, we moved out for more tide. With some careful planning using the mobile app from Navionics we positioned the boat for the wind and tide at the time allowing for the move to the East as the tide flow built. This gave us a very good second part of the day with many Rays, Tope, Mackerel and plenty of Black bream of a decent stamp. The Tope gave me the run around and tangled a few lines. We had Martin and crew on Madness close by so some banter between boats and crews was imminent and great fun. Duncan was great company and enjoyed being on Y-Knot and stayed behind for a good cleaned down.

Duncan and I had a red letter day today based on the year so far, 16 rays or one or two more. Nothing bigger than 12lb but plenty of them on two different marks. Our Trawler got close at one point and made us move away further out and it turned out to be a good move. Really tired tonight so this post will developed with some pictures and more stories of the day.

Amazing

Welcome back you kept that stunning holiday under wraps. I hope it was as stunning as i imagine it was. Specially the bird life and nature in general. Would you swap UK for Canada?

Aah you big softy, you've got to watch out being so in touch with your emotions, you will end up as bad as me. Teary eyed at anything remotely touching😏

I was hoping for better conditions, I was down on the boat for 5.15am to be greeted with a heavy Southerly breeze which was enough to put me off a sand bar crossing in the dark, so I went back to bed for a few hours and had another go at 10.0am when the tide had risen back up. It was snotty out there on the ledge and a 10 knot trip to the end of the ledge was enough of that. The thought of the planned crossing over the bay was out of the question in a 4ft swell with the occasional 6 footer on the nose, disappointing. I did take some video, not reviewed it yet. Nearly flat calm on the way in. I was followed out by another boat who didn't seem to no where he wanted to go as he zig zagged across my route. Anchoring in a 4ft swell was interesting and I paid out a lot more rope than usual for the rise and fall of the boat and stayed on station with a secure hold, not a big tide it has to be said but 76ft of water is testing. Bites from the off, bream and doggies kept me busy feeding them off till the congers turned up. Then a very strong run with the reel screaming line, lifted the rod out with the clutch released to allow me to get the rod out of the holder and it was gone. Two hooks and a whole squid returned and untouched, what was that, probably a Tope or was it. More congers, bream and doggies and no rays. The Sea was crystal clear, nothing on the fish finder, no mackerel seen. I heard a few boats from PBSBAC but was so busy I forgot to make time for a message. Early finish to get back for the Ryder Cup, what a final day spoilt by the New Yorkers so called fans, they have no etiquette and foul mouths, they should be ashamed of there behaviour which very nearly changed the result such was the impact from the crowd or so called sporting fans. They soon left in their droves with their tails between their legs as the Cup was retained and then won. The governing bodies needs to get a grip, bringing in Police too late and evicting a good number of the crowd was not enough the damage to the event was done.

We tried to get away from the Bream, so many around off Swanage. Eventually we found some better fish when the tide picked up. A Blonde ray about 7lb and some bigger ones dropped due to line breakages.

I have read your report again and note that a Pan Pan was used, so after questioning they are assuming you are safe and anchored. They upgrade to a RNLI callout when darkness has fallen and no tow has recovered you. What a frustrating and long day, when things go wrong at sea they seem to take much longer than anywhere else.

Bob the timings are wild, glad your safe.

Thanks Terry, good to hear you out there with the PBSBAC presence filling the airwaves.

What a day, after all the wind it was so nice to get out. Christchurch has a remarked channel today, but again the wind looks heavy for another week. it was so nice to be on the radio with so many PBSBAC members listening in on channel 6 and having a brief check of who is doing what. Great club chat and some fish, what more can you ask for. Thanks to Martin for the invite and thanks to everyone out there today contributing, loved it. I managed a Ray yippee.

If Brad wants content I am sure he can film plenty of trips and I would like a lesson on using my camera.

Can someone pick you up?

With the Holiday season drawing to a close, we hope to have a good turn out at this meeting. We have Steve Morgan from the Angling Trust to answer questions. Can I suggest you give some thought to your questions to receive good replies. We very much want to engage more with the AT and hope they recognise us as a good size Fishing Club who works hard for it's members and has a burning desire to keep the Sea fish stocks as healthy as possible. Please make the effort to come along and show our support and interest in our Recreational Stakeholder Participation of Boat Sea Fishing. Chris will be doing the raffle, the more come the bigger the prizes. See you there Tuesday 2nd September Oakdale Club Darby's Lane, gather 7.30pm for an 8.0clock start.

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.