ChrisE

I agree with the others have said and would add that I had similar problems last year and the year before and this year my hit rate is much nearer to being perfect. I'm sure that this is what everybody else does but no one else has mentioned it so here goes. I've changed three things that seem to have a made a difference. Firstly I make sure that the top hook of the pennel is just nicked into the top of the bait, ie it is clear of the bait 'mound' and secondly, I no longer 'top up' a bait that has been chewed by doggies and pout. It is a completely fresh bait every time, I lost too many fish when the hook came back buried in the mound of bits of bait. Lastly, I now bind the tail hook so that is at right angles to the bait and just above the end of the bait. I use a Varvivas big mouth 8/0 as the main hook and an Owner or Varvivas 5/0 as the pennel, as others ahave said these new range hooks are so much sharper than the old style.

Best of luck, the weather was absolute cr*p. I watched the charter boats come in this evening as I was walking the dog. "Weather's awful Grommit". I hope that tomorrow brings better weather and fishing to match.

Me as well.

Just as well we all live close to the coast and can take a view on the day. I'm currently optimistic about getting out Mon or Tues. The longer term forecast ie 5+ days out is looking more stable with a high pressure system looking to come in. Knowing our luck that'll bring in thick fog!

You are right, of course, and I, too, trust Simon for the offshore stuff. However, I'll keep looking at the seaweed and hoping for the promised northerlies which make for a relatively quiet time off the IoW and we can be back in harbour in less time than it takes to say 'severe gale imminent'

Sorry for the confusion, I should have said LSAC Cod open on Sunday.

Today's forecast on Windfinder looks reasonable for the weekend but even better on Monday and Tuesday and nice small tides as well. The weekend is busy for me so I'll be aiming to have another crack off the IoW early next week. Could all change tomorrow, though.... PS there could be quite a few out there on Sunday it is the Lymington Cod Comp. Do they do multi storey parking out there?

Belated thanks to Tony for the heater, a bargain at

Still a bit touch and go as to whether we get out of the Solent but at the moment, fingers crossed to be off the Needles on Sunday otherwise we'll be racing Paul to a Solent mark.

7:30 for 8pm start Martin Thanks, see you there. Chris

Apologies for the delay in replyiing, I was away for the weekend (and fishing on Monday, I was probably the only person off the IoW who didn't catch a cod....) and thanks all for the replies. Tony yes I would be interested in seeing your heater. By sheer coincidence I'm coming along to my first meeting on Thursday. I look forward to meeting a few of you there. Is it a 7:30 start?

After last year's freeze up I promised myself to buy a 12v screen heater for Hilda Maud to plug into the cigar socket so that we can keep the screen free of condensation and (eek) ice. There seem to be a lot of them out there for lorries, etc. Any pros and cons or recommendations? Thanks Chris

Yes, the weed in The Solent can be a right pain but you can reduce/ avoid it. I've found that the weed is usually worse on the ebb because, I believe, the ebb takes roughly 5 hours and the flood 7 so with roughly the same amount of water to shift the tidal flows are less and weed is pulled up from the bottom so much. I won't promise no weed after the blows of the last few days and I'm away this weekend but if I was going fishing I'd think about somewhere around the Lepe buoys on the flood. Not a brilliant place to set a hook but the tides are relatively small and with a SW wind, the wind will be with tide so should be ok for most. If it is too rough, you could always try dropping your hook in Lymington river or outside of the mouth of Keyhaven, there's still a few spikeys about and a soft crab might do the trick.

Monday looking increasingly promising (sorry guys that have to work ). Hilda Maud is itching to go!

I'm glad you posted this, I've got a load of them on the boat which I bought in fit of frenzy and have only used them a couple of times with no success. Now, they'll be going for a swim next year!

Nice mullet and glad you caught some bass, I've been on holiday for a week and expected to come back to tales of cod. With the mild forecast I might well hedge my bets at the w/e and have a little dabble for Mr Spikey as well as ol' bucket mouth.

Dave, The ones I've got were crap finish as well, I've had to open up the holes to make them slide. so 10/10 for idea, 2/10 for manufacture. Still a small price to pay for a wossit that I needed. Chris

They've just arrived from tacklebargains and are just what I was thinking bout, again many thanks. Chris

Dave, Many thanks, just the job. Chris

I'm sure that you are right but it niggles me that the rods, which I keep made up in the back of the Landrover, are made up either with a zippy behind the snap shackle or not. Invariably, I find myself using the rod/reel set that has the zippy on that I don't need or no zippy that I do. I'm sure that there used to be a slider with lugs that faced up and down (relative to the snap shackle to attach the lead) that enabled you to 'weave' the slider onto the line. Might just be old age playing tricks on the memory tho'

AA man, Thanks for this. I already do something like this but was looking for an 'infinite' slide to enable me to feed line to fussy fish. I'm thinking of just making a narrow cut in a zippy along the 'bottom' next to the snap link and then slotting the line through that. Chris

Thanks, both. The French booms are ok but it is a detachable slider that I'm after. It is beginning to look as if I'll have to fabricate one. Chris

Am I imagining this or does somebody make sliding booms that you put on/ take off the line without having to re-thread? I seem to recall seeing them yonks ago but I'm blowed if I can find them on Google and such. I'd be grateful if someone could either give the name of the product or tell me that I'm imagining the whole thing. Thanks in advance. Chris

Well, it was too rough to go where I'd planned. So spent the day tidying up the boat and replacing and re-making traces. Threw two carrier bags of junk off the boat and cleaned the mould off the inside of the cabin and re-arranged the stuff on the deck, Hilda Maud looks like a new boat! Who's a smug beggar now then? Seriously, I was pleasantly surprised how with a bit of thought and re-arrangement how much clearer you can make the deck.

Done my bit. As you say, it takes a bit of time but if we don't take the effort then we can't expect our voice to be heard. Thanks for bringing it up. Chris