ChrisE

Might see you out there. Currently hummin and hahing re whether the wind plus swell will maker the area a bit too bouncy for my liking. I guess, as ever, we'll see what tomorrow morning brings. Now decided to drown worms in the hope of a very early plaice. Triumph of hope over expectation, who knows?

Might see you out there. Currently hummin and hahing re whether the wind plus swell will maker the area a bit too bouncy for my liking. I guess, as ever, we'll see what tomorrow morning brings.

Anybody else planning to get out?

Nige, That's fine by me, if Dave happy. Chris

I've had a look and it is 7.5kg jobbie. Let me know if of any interest. Chris

I might just have one in my lockup. I'm going down there now. I'll give you a ring if I've remembered aright (I've got 3 or 4 spares, don't ask....) Chris

I'm not sure whether this will work on your Arvor but on a yacht the traditional way to find a troublesome leak is to dry the bilge/floor/sole/etc then put talc down and see where any water tracks lead back to.

Martin, Cetainly will, he's the best skipper I've ever had the pleasure to meet. His morale boosting "you're all fishing like lesbians" is a classic. We've been fishing with Chris for the past 10 years and have trips planned for plaice in April and Alderney in June. Bring it on! Chris

We were out yesterday, mid-channel, wrecking. Had about a dozen pollock to about 10lb, as did my brother. We were out on Tiger Lily with Chris Caines, tho' It was a NE5 and a two metre sea and even the 12m cat was making heavy weather of that. It took us the best part of 4 hours to steam in from 30+miles. Half the guys we were out with were walking wounded, one guy to the extent that he stopped talking and moving, he looked proper ill.

Sounds like a plan. Looking at past reports it looks like worth a go from about March onwards. What does the team think?

Somehow I thought that might be the case....

Do you have her numbers?

Well, I mean rays don't I? Trouble is I'm not quite sure where to start, I've caught quite a few other types of ray when general bottom fishing but haven't really much of a clue when it comes to the specifics. If some kind soul could give me a nudge (I'm not asking for your numbers, altho' a friendly pm never knowingly refused ) some idea of which banks are worth a hit would be great. Thanks Chris

Your post re Northstar prompted me to ring up Navico to find out if my, now-out-of-production, Navman chartplotter (now re-badged as a Northstar m84) is compatible with bb and hd radomes from Navico. To my surpise and delight it is. Just plug it in says the customer support guy. Woo-hoo, that's over a

At the risk of doing this subject to death, if anyone is interested in the pros and cons of bb vs hd radars there is a useful summary at the end of the bb guide from navico on this web page http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/Broadband-Radar/ FWIW, I agree with Nigel's succinct reasoning re bb.

Am I right in saying that HD uses a conventional, higher spec, radome with clever processing to make the images clearer plus enables close target recognition (as opposed to BB that uses solid state technologies)?

Great, all I need now is a good deal on the kit. I'm thinking of toddling up to London to see if there are 'boatshow deals' in the offing. Has anybody been up there and asked?

Duncan, thanks for your comments. I guess the major difference between the usage on yacht v a fishing boat is that we only ever use the radar in active mode rather than standby is in thick fog and then we are motoring, so no drain on batts. I'm not sure I've got the nerve to continue drift fishing anywhere near big ships in a pea souper Any roads up it looks as though the overall power consumption is less (thanks all for the more detailed comparisons) and close range target spotting better so, other than the cost, it looks like a no-brainer. On another point who uses their radar for looking out more than 6-12 miles? The only time we use a range greater than this is when on offshore passages, in the channel we rarely go above 6 miles.

I'm sure that you have all researched this but my understanding of bb radar was that it used about a 10th the power of a conventional radome. The power usage of an LCD screen is negligable. For comparison on my yacht we have a 220 ah battery bank and are very happy to use radar with a conventional radome plus LCD screen for long periods with no appreciable battery drain. I am looking at bb radar for the fishing boat on the understanding that we'll get better target detection and much lower power consumption. We have 150 ah on Hilda Maud. Have I got this right or am I missing something?

Nice idea and I'd get one if my small o/bs weren't so tatty anyway. However, we have determined tea leaves around here, a couple of big (100+ hp) outboards have been stolen by chainsawing the transom off the back of the boat! Someone even prised the cuddy off a Boston Whaler....

Ah we have a trick for tying bloodknots on Hilda Maud. An 8/0 just fits round the grab rails. So we tie knot, lick and spit on it and give mega heave against guard rail. I just push the slack towards the eye and it tightens up a treat!

Well here's another variant. I use a simple rig, 6/0 Owner pennel hook, kept in place by a few turns around the 80lb leader, an 8/0 Big Mouth at the end tied on with a blood knot. Use either half a cuttle or a couple of squids as bait making sure that both hooks are at right angles to the bait. I sometimes use booby beads above the 6/0 but can't say for sure whether they make any difference. Where I seem to differ with most here is that I use a long trace about 4-5' plus up to another 10' or more, using a snap-lok boom. My reasoning for the long trace is that cod are supposed to be active hunters and I've had a few cod in past years when 'dangling' baits at slack water with the leads 6' off the bottom and bait waving about. Must be doing something right, have had 8 this year with none dropped (that's just screwed up the rest of the season...)

That's fine and will suit me. If the weather is good I'm assuming that Neal will go along and I'll go out on Hilda Maud.

John/Nigel, If there's not a waiting list I'm up for a trip. Chris

..the wind looks as though it should be down a bit so I'm planning to go out, assuming the the slight chance of work doesn't intervene. The forecast is a bit chilly but it won't be a very early start, as I'm going for the ebb which starts at roughly 11 ish and stay out until the flood which is about 5-6 or earlier if frozen with no fish..... If anyone fancies coming along, out of Lymington yachthaven, for the Needles + 1 mile or so south, drop me a pm or a call on 07786 063590. Chris