ChrisE

I can't make the meeting either, en toute to Christmas Island for some fishing. Err sorry.

Good news, did you ever find the codfather the arranged the hit?

Sorry to see this Nigel, a real pisser. Hope that the insurance coughs up and you'll be back out there caning them. Are you sure that the cod didn't hire a hit man? Chris

Nice fishing. It looks as though all of The Solent flounders have migrated west, 'cos they're certainly extremely thin on the ground around here.

I meant to add, from memory I recollect that bass don't have good spawning years if we have a cold winter/spring and 2010/11 was fairly chilly. Are we right to be depressed or is it simply rubbish weather to blame? If so, not expecting much from the 2013 cohort. Oh dear, I'm depressed again

Yep, makes depressing reading.

best of luck all

Lovely story, as for its provenance, I've a feeling that was originally a story by northern comedian about 50 years ago ....

There was at least one boat ashore in Keyhaven river yesterday mooring plus a couple of yachts with their headsails blown out. And a load of tress down in the Keyhaven, Brockenhurst area. These people that live miles inland don't know they're born

Will you please stop talking about mid-week weather windows, it's bad enough havng to work without being reminded that I could be out fishing! Hope everyone's boats survived the storm. We had a steady 45 knots gusting to a max of 77 at Hurst this morning ....

I don't think that we need to worry about getting wet on the water for the next few weeks

Word is that The Solent ones are proper jobs.

A little bird tells me that them there cod have been caught in The Solent and the first channels have been caught outside. All we need is a weather window to prove them right

If I've read the charts right in Annex 5, it looks as though there will be no trawling allowed in most of the cod grounds S of the IoW. Goodness me, if that is indeed the case, that's a result.

Very comprehensive, well done.

Be afraid, cod, be afraid.

I'm sure that you will have checked for water in the fuel. We had a similar problem, which we thought was down to engine getting hot, but in fact was due to fuel being bounced around whilst travelling and being sucked into the fuel line.

That's interesting as the 20lb tasline is thinner than 20lb whiplash pro !

Yes, you've probably guessed by now that I'm a tackle tart, here's another website if you are interested in the real breaking strains and thicknesses of braid. They've tested most of the braids on sale in the UK and elsewhere http://www.paulusjustfishing.com/4Tasline.htm I can vouch for their own braid Tasline, which is super thin and supple, not to everyone's taste I'm sure but I now use it exclusively in 12 and 20lb strain for black bream and bass respectively.

In Keyhaven, we have to show proof every year of 3rd party insurance for £3m to keep the boat on a swinging mooring. The reasoning is that if someone, rather than something, gets damaged a claim of £1m+ is not unusual.

I found this the other day and found it quite useful when researching big top end fixed spools. http://www.alanhawk.com/ It's aimed at game fishing but the depth of review is unusual and I found the engineering description of what makes a good or bad reel very illuimnating. Enjoy!

Best of luck, guys. I'm fishing a coarse fishing match on Saturday and won't be back in time. The weather, naturally, is perfect for sea fishing all weekend

In The Times today there is a quarter page piece on the decline of bass stocks and how the UK will have to land a whole load less bass next year. It is headed "Call for fishing restrictions as sea bass stocks hit 20-year low". They are calling for quota drop from 4060 tonnes landed in UK, Channel Islands, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and France last year down to 2307 tonnes next year. They reckon that stocks have fallen by 32% since 2009 when the catch rate was last assessed. Grim reading but good to see that this issue is getting into the mainstream press. C

Must be LSD or pout, well that's what we catch most of .....

Excellent, guess what we'll all be fishing for next year! Good fishing and write up