ChrisE

Sunday looking lush, it would be a shame not to indulge

I thought that when I logged on to the forum today the place would be littered with photos of giant sea pigs. Judging by the number of boats on the car park I felt sure that they'd be a few. We opted for a last fling at the bass on a local reef and caught 31 for our troubles, nothing huge, other than two lost,but a very nice morning out. We kept a couple for the table; the rest are still out there and if the temps keep up they might be looking at our lures again soon.

As a yacht and fishing boat owner I agree with Duncan. Not sure tho' Mrs E would allow much fishing off the yacht (dirty smelly bait, etc) although I'm allowed to fish lures and troll off the yacht

Nig, I've sent you a PM,

Se you're up and running even without a boat.

Now let me think ....

Aha, the Codfather returns. I see that a few are being picked up in The Solent ...

Well may be not for English rugby or Bournemouth but the fishing was good, as was the weather. Went of bass fishing with my brother, started off at reef one, first drop and the lure must gone straight down the mouth of 5lber. Couple drifts later same again. Caught a couple of smaller ones them off to The Ledge for same bait fishing which my brother likes. An hour of catching one pout and a couple of good knocks, the YC called for a couple of pints and a bacon butty for lunch. Just squeezed out of Keyhaven harbour on a fast falling big ebb and back to reef one. Another five bass plus at least as many lost there and a couple of wrasse for good measure and off to reef two. Reef two is an interesting mark where we first caught bass last November and comprises a 100m slope leading to a sharp ridge and drop off. Almost all of the fish are caught at on top of the this ridge plus there's only a very narrow part of the ridge where first seem to sit, a few yards either way and you'll catch nothing, drift over the sweet spot and if the fish are there it's a fish a drift. First drift, about 15m to the right of the sweet spot, produced nothing. On the second which was right on the money, both of us are in and have hooked fish that were taking line, always a good sign. Martin's fish came up first, a fat 6lber mine next, a fatter 8lber. First time that we've had two good fish in the boat at the same time. Another hour's worth of drifts brought us a further seven fish up to about 5lb and it was time to go home. All the fish caught on Fiiish minnows, goodness me they're a deadly lure, and with a hidden hook perfect for bouncing over snaggy reefs. In five hours fishing we lost two lures one stuck on the bottom and the other when a heavy fish charged in some reef cutting me up. So, in total, 18 bass all returned and a very nice day out in the sun. Here's a piccie of the two fish, not the best of composure, we wanted to get them back asap.

I'm sure if you take up the offer from the nigerian who is offering half of £10m if you send him your bank details you'll have sufficient funds to pay whatever the fine is

Like, I'm sure others, we fished regularly with Chris both in Weymouth and Alderney. Charming bloke, full of the joys of life. My fondest memory of him was his appearance at the cabin door on a tough day to announce that "you're all fishing like lesbians". They threw away the mould after he'd been born. Sad day, indeed, our thoughts with Hilary and the family. Chris

Male chicken! It's a bugger when the boat goes tits up. Hope you're soon out there. The Needles cod must be just around the corner ....

i'm afraid that they'd just shoot their nets right next to the boats, seen that a few times, plus having to up anchor nippishly as trawler bears down on me.

Re foreign trawlers, I don't think that they are on The Shambles. They are sub 12m home grown as far as I'm aware.

Nice

Grown men reduced to tears

Good fishing. These barrel sized jellies are scaring the bejesus out of me as they float under the boat whilst on the drift, I keep on thinking that I'm about to ground on some new reef ....

Went out for a couple of hours lure fishing on Monday. Fished a reef off the IoW for the first hour of the flood and caught 4 wrasse up to about 3lb and the first bass of the year, albeit about 1lb. Then tried another reef and it was fish a chuck for the next hour, ended up with about a dozen, nothing special, the best about 3lb but nice to get a bend back in the rod and get the lure working again. It was interesting fishing as well, the reef is quite small and the drift lasts about a couple of mins. At the start when the tide was running about 1.5 knots the fish were on the uptide slope of the reef and as the tide increased to nearly 3 knots they migrated behind the ridge at the top of the reef. They were caught by freespoooling as you went over the ridge letting the lure drop behind the ridge. You just had to close the bailarm after a couple of seconds and usually there was a fish waiting to be reeled in. And got back to the YC for a pint and a bacon sarnie plus watched England beat NZ in the afternoon. Bloody marvellous!

Hilda Maud, we had five to about 1.5 lbs plus a nice bonus 6lb bass

Hilda Maud - Chris & Martin Enstone( non member)

Thanks for this very informative piece. It is nice to read that we are slowly moving in the right direction for hopefully all recreational angling. Chris

John Barnes, bloody hell! Matt doesn't look that old ....

I like the notation on the table Watford(P) Chris (born in Vicarage Road hospital)

Reading these posts makes me feel as if I've been refitting. Well done, nearly there!

Here's a link to a Defra page that identifies a few more http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-5164 Note that it includes smelt, which I believe are viewed as bait by some.

Tee hee