ChrisE

Calling for 17 foot swell in Freshwater Bay!! Some mistake, surely?

Oh that would explain the number of boats drifting slowly passed us ....

How heavy is your Bruce? Hilda Maud is about the same size as your craft and we use a 7.5kg jobbie plus 10m of 10mm chain and we occassionally have problems slipping around that area. We usually use 100m of rode. I've taken to motoring against the tide as the anchor bites to give the anchor a chance to hold, as the boat can be moving at over 2 knots down tide and this sometimes gets the anchor sledging across the bottom or tripping the cable ties. This seems to work most days

Saturday looks as if it might be slipping away, fingers crossed eh?

I was just thinking the same myself. Satuday currently looking the best of the weekend days (for us wage slaves....)

Gonna need a bigger boat .... I've seen a thresher whilst sailing a couple of miles south of the Needles a few years ago. It surfaced 50m from the boat wagged its tail then resurfaced about 25m from the side. Makes the old blood run a bit quicker.... Seriously, it's great to hear these tales but going out to catch them might make cod fishing look positively action packed.

Best of luck guys, weather looks good but can't join you. Have a great day . Chris

Blimey, I'd guessed it was slow all round judging by the charter boat chit chat on 6 but that's not a lot of cod for that amount of effort. Still if you could guarantee the fish it would be boring, although happy to be bored every now and then

Well, how many boats can you park s of the Needles? Well at least 60! We joined the crowd and anchored where we wanted. Result was loads of doggies, a tiny thornback and a few poutlets. Still the weather was nice. I hope others fared better than we did. Chris

If God meant us to fish at night we would have searchlights built into our foreheads! Seriously, I used to spend many nights fishing for carp and latterly cod and in terms of catches it was worth the effort. However, these days I don't believe the additional effort is worth it. The only fish I'm prepared to spend night hours for is seatrout. Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

And into the weekend as well, if the Met holds up

Nice fish, spare a thought for us chained to our desks....

Charlie, You are right about splices and I'll get onto it. The background to this trip is that haven't anchored for 5 months fishing on the drift for bass, so the knots that I tied this time last year had loosened. I'm reckoning that with our change of luck I'll retrieve my lure from the lost biggie next weekend. Ah, we can but dream....

I'll be chasing you around for the cod.... Chris

Along with most of the boat fishing community on the south coast we rocked up just off the Needles yesterday, 42 boats in all. First down with anchor, tripped straight away so hauled up and reset. All went very slack, a knot had undone leaving anchor, 10m of chain and 50m of rode in 90' of water..... Out with spare anchor, this time holds first time and we start fishing and stay fishing for a couple hours when we get fed up with a. No action and b. too much weed. So haul up anchor, only to find the original rode looped around second anchor! Result! Off with second anchor retie knot (very carefully) and original back into the boat. With luck on our side off to The Bridge and 6 bass to 8lb later (plus a lost biggie...) salvaged a day. The cod can wait. Chris

As my better half was away visiting for the weekend I had a free pass to go fishing on Saturday and Sunday. Spent a couple of hours on Sat and four hours on Sun bassing. Sat started off chasing a flock of diving seabirds on The Shingles. They happened to be diving in 12-15' of water right on top of the bank. Drove to within 30m to a scene of swirling bass everywhere, in an area the size of a football pitch! A couple of casts brought in the first, quickly followed by 3 more. Small fish but fun on light gear. My cautious side was noting at the same time a big swell rolling over the bank, not breaking but close enough for discretion to give way to valour.. Moved over to The Bridge and caught 3 more, best just over 6, all the fish caught on softies. Sunday saw Martin and I on The Bridge for just after first light, pretty parky it was with a fresh ene wind cutting right through you. We had 3 fruitless drifts then Martin latched into something a bit bigger. After 10 mins up popped a 9lb bass. It was a lovely black backed fish which I would have snapped but for the fact that in taking the hook out prior to releasing the fish Martin managed to get both spiked badly and a part of lure lodged in his finger. So fish went back and dug out the plasters to stop the blood which was making a mess of the cockpit! To cut a long story short Martin had another 6 fish up to 6 plus a large number of wrasse to about 4. I was fooling about with different softies and managed a fair sprinkling of wrasse and managed to pull out of a decent bass. Bar a 2lber for tea all of the fish went back. So a profitable weekend. BTW, for those who are interested the car park had about 20 boats anchored on Saturday and about 10 on Sunday, ch6 was very quiet so I assume that not many cod were caught. Chris

Popped out for a couple hours around the back of The Shingles. Well, the wind was at least a force higher than forecast, which threw up up a sloppy sea on all of the rips that I fish for bass. To cut a long story short, I had a load of takes on softies that would usually result in a bass or three but nothing to show for my efforts. I suspect that the takes were off cuttles or squid. However, bumped into one of the last shoals of mackerel and caught 20 in three drops, half smoked, half frozen for the whiting. All in all, a nice couple of hours on the water. Chris

Me too! Let's hope the wind stays a. In the 3-4 range and b. from the NW. Go get um, it has to be better than watching the bloody golf... Although cummon Europe!

No report from me, we had a wedding anniversary to attend Well done, everybody, cracking fish Rob

Can I add another twist? If you are on your own where you have dropped your hook then there's probably a good reason! I learnt the few marks that I know anything about by following the crowd. In the short term you'll be amongst others and can see if they're catching anything which is useful to see if you are alone in catching nothing! In the longer term you can work out what works and what doesn't. Whatever you decide best of luck. Chris

I've been away and I'd not heard about this, what an awful tragedy. My thoughts are with all involved. Chris

Great report. We mirrored your day, fishing wise. That said, had a fantastic day on the water with the sun out. There's always next time for the fish but whether we'll get another lovely day this year.... Chris

Yee hah, this looks like the first calmish weekend since April! It would be rude not to take advantage... S is for sun or summer btw.

Cracking fishing, Grommit Nice fish on light gear.

Well done Lofty, hoping to be out tomorrow to do some fish scaring. Chris