Greg

I am considering it Charlie as Marlin comes out at the beginning of February til the end of March for it's annual maintenance. The weather looks to good to give a miss !! It will be good to give the boat another blast, plus the unlikely chance of getting a Cod 🤣🤣

She's looking at a Pint of Guinness with a big head on it !!!!

And when was the last time someone from the Solent won it then Nige??????

Marlin hopes to take part, the date depends on what the weather does.

Thanks Steve It's always that dilemma (especially if you do not have a livewell) Do I keep or do I not keep and what would others think is a keeper size especially in the interest of conservation?

I generally judge a Whiting keeper on it's size and what fillet size I would get out of it. The fish I caught illustrated above was just shy of 450mm. I got two reasonable size fillets off of it. Out of curiosity I searched the Southern IFCA minimum conservation reference size for a Whiting and it is 270mm. I think this is quite small and I, personally, would not go for anything less than 380mm. Just my opinion !!

Ditto. I only use frozen Mackerel when fishing for Whiting. Whiting will take squid, but if Mackerel is on offer I believe it is their preferred bait. However, when fishing for Cod, then I have only caught Cod on Squid. I even caught a Cod on an actual frozen whole squid once!!!

Well I finally managed to get out on a beautiful calm sea. I got the 07.30 bridges and managed to arrive at the Spoil ground at around 08.30. The slack water was just ending and it was action from the off. Congers, doggies, pout and small whiting. But, the strong tide soon ended that and I made a hasty retreat to the Sadler Banks. it looked liked everybody else did too. It was then very slow with only doggies for the next 4 hours !!!! I went in further to a slower tide, but that did not show anything either. At 13.30pm I made a last minute decision to go back out the the outer Sadler Banks as the tide slackened. Got the rods back down at 14.00 and then all hell let loose. Once the whiting had got the sent, then bites were coming thick and thin along with the whiting on board. Only a couple were keepers so I have posted a photo of it's size. Being on my own I did not want to stay out too long so I lifted the hook at 14.45 and headed back to Cobbs. As I was on my own I called up the Hengisbury Head NCI and they plotted my positions every time when I called them. Very reassuring. Note to Self, do a bit of homework on the tides before planning a trip. However, it was a great day to be out.

The answer Jim is to jump onto Dave's boat next time Kev ain't stupid 🤣🤣

Ah yes Mick, but just think of all the fines you could hand out. 🤣🤣 Sounds a brilliant job to me !!!

Probably Nige 😒

Great decision Jerry. We stand more of a chance at catching a Cod down at this end in December/January. Greg

We are also on standby for the comp. Marlin - Greg and Rob Samways

Joking aside, I have had a Trigger on the boat caught by Bournemouth Pier. Like all Triggers, they feed mainly in one small area and at a certain time of the tide running. The skill is knowing where and when to fish for them!!!!! To prove this, when I was snorkelling in Barbados, there was a small concrete jetty by the hotel. At the end of the jetty was about 10 feet of water. Amongst other fish there was a Trigger that would visit at certain times of the day and at exactly the same spot. So the answer to all of this is to get your Budgie smugglers on and go hunting, that is if you are that desperate to catch one !!!!!

Hi Trev, My table is mounted similar to yours. The drainage holes are at the back of the table and when at sea I tilt the table downwards away from the boat which allows the blood and ink juices to drain directly into the sea. Therefore, non of the crap comes into the boat.

I suggest you drill some drainage holes, otherwise you could be wearing your bait/fish in choppy weather!!! I speak with experience !!!!!

I also had a potter out on Sunday. Heard someone on Channel 6 saying that they were catching a couple of late Trigger fish at the Pier!!!! Now that is late!!!!!!

Totally the right decision Jerry. Good call. I have been holding off putting our names down for tomorrow due to the uncertainty of the weather. Look forward to the next date. Greg ( instead I will pop out tomorrow in the harbour entrance for a Bass or two!!!)

Hi Mal, Do boats that do not have AIS/Radar come up on your Marine tracking system? Or, is the vessel shown but un-named? Greg

Happy Birthday Stuie, It was great to meet up with you again at the Club Meeting. Hope you have had a great day. Greg

What a great Fish Well done Wendy 👍

Very similar day to Mal, lots of bird activity with the surface bubbling with baitfish and Bass, but, unfortunately could not temp anything on board lager than a 1lb 7 Once Bass to me !!!

Marlin - Greg and Brad Sunday (finally got a weekend off 🙂 !!!)

A very sad sight indeed Mick. Carol and I had left the Air Show early to pick our son up from work. We waved to Tony and Loraine on Serenity on the way out of the anchorage area. Unlike me, we ambled back taking our time as we would be too early for the 16.30 bridges. We had just passed the Shore Road mark when were saw the two Wing Walker Bi-planes pass us. We looked at them for a couple of moments and then Carol commented that one was flying low. I thought it was going to do a Fly Pass by the Haven, instead to our horror we saw it just out of the sky round the corner of the Haven. We did not see it crash but we were soon there and saw the Life boat attending to some persons by the Brownsea pick up point by the Haven. The news since have reported that both the Pilot and the Female Wing Walker were safe and sound and had got away with minor injuries. Apparently, the plane had nose dived and flipped over. The two then popped up and were rescued by a passing Rib. Eye witnesses saw the plane ditch just before the Chain Ferry on the harbour entrance side. This happened just in front of a guy fishing from the Rocks Thankfully, both are alive but really upsetting to watch it go down. Greg

Unfortunately due to Carol falling ill overnight we will have to sit this one out. Good luck everyone Greg