TomBettle

It's here and it is just as stunning as Gary Caulfield promised. It really is a beautiful piece of engineering and I cannot wait to give it a go. It will be married up to another lovely new toy. A Penn Waveblaster 20/30 4 piece travel rod which Gary dangled in front of me at the same time. These two are remarably well balanced to each other, depsite the reel being titchy in dimensions. Hey Ho, I now havemy new heavy gear combo and can't wait to bend the rod and slip the drag on a club record Conger, big Porgie or even a Blue Shark when I fish off White Waters in August. Simply stunning! Tom

you are not supposed to use such accurate descriptions in a tackle review m8............. ...........even if it is only the introduction How else could I possibly justify it when a reel of

Well Being the most monumental tackle tart that has ever walked this green and pleasant land I can confirm that I am the first "customer" to be receiving the brand new Penn TRQ200 here in the UK. I have just had a chat with that very nice man at Penn, Gary Caulfield, who is sending down something special for me to play with. Oddly, and unlike me, I have actually paid some money for it and cannot wait to try it at the very first opportunity. At this moment in time, all I can say is it is absolutely stunning and built like an absolute monster, albeit in something that fits in your palm. The trouble with anything that is (alledgedly) the absolute best, it comes at a price and that price ain't a cheap one. RRP is

With you guys on this, although I am not sure why we are having the conversation..... I had a little Quicksilver 430HD inflatable. As far as boats go it weighed nothing. It had a planing hull created by an inflatable keel. It did plane remarkably slowly, but even this was about 8 knots, much faster than 5 or 6....

Really interesting post Jack. I don't know about the answer, but I do think that the bigger fish are quite localised to specific marks. eg: Fish to beyond 4lb regularly showing at mark X with anything over 2lb being considered good at mark Y.

"Borrowed" a used stock boat with my colleague, Martin, yesterday to go and join the gang off to the East of Poole Bay. Very high expectations after hearing lots of good reports and after loading up our gear we headed into a beautiful rising sun. What a balls up we had! 1) Aimed to arrive at the start of the flood, forgot BST and got their an hour early 2) In our excitement to get going I left the car not just unlocked, but the doors wide open (what a muppet) with some VERY expensive sunglasses sitting in the glove box which was also wide open. 3) Forgot the landing net 4) Forgot any safety gear at all (idiot!) Without any real idea of where we were going we arrived in the general vicinity of where we wished to be and steemed passed Aquafresh on our starboard side with our attention fixed firmly on a fishy looking mark showing on the plotter. The fishy looking mark began to look less fishy as I looked beyond Aquafresh to see a plethora of small boats about a mile away in the mist and not a sausage on the mark I was aiming at. Swinging the boat South and passing Aquafresh a couple of hundred metres away I could see that one of the guys looked like he was in to a fish as a healthy bend was in his rod. The main area where all the boats were didn't seem anything special on the plotter. One or two contours of slight interest, but typically somewhere I would have steamed over. Lots of club pennants were proudly flying and so I guessed we must be where the fish are, these guys are all experts. Trying to find a spot not in someone's tide line was easier said than done, but eventually we anchored a likely looking mark about 20 metres to the side of a line of pots. The last of the flood dribbled away and the constant sound of engines as more boats arrived kept us busy being nosey seeing who it was. At the busiest point we counted 28 boats within much less than a square mile! This many boats gave us a quiet sense of confidence that we were at least part way in the right place! Nothing happened over slack apart from several Pout and a tiny corkwing Wrasse and then the tide swung us round so our stern was facing towards Swanage and I mentioned to Martin, "Another 15 minutes". Bang! Fish on! The familiar jag jag jag screamed Bream and the little spinning rod screamed it was a good fish.... it was about now that it dawned on us we had no way of landing these fish and I jokingly shouted over to Dave.S onboard Sammy about borrowing a landing net and I wish we had as a clonking Bream easily pushing 4lb began crash diving back towards the bottom. Once on the surface, Martin did his best to belly the fish out, but the ultra fine wire hooks were having none of it and simply straightened out and an unintentional "catch and release" ensued. Apart from a lack of net, our confidence was boosted even further now and we settled in for all the action. A boat 100m to our left was in constant action and the odd fish could be seen coming to a couple of other boats, but aboard "Miss Daisy" the tumble weed was well and truly rolling along the deck. Even the Pout had had enough and not a single bite was coming our way despite some magic ground bait. It seems we weren't the only ones. A few boats repositioned and several more headed off to pastures green including Aquafresh which roared past half a mile south at what must have been WOT. It was impossible to say where anyone was going as they quickly dissapeared into the sea mist, but it was clear that on the whole, unless you were bang on the numbers you were not going to be overly successful. A quick conflab and we hauled the anchor and headed in the direction of Poole to try and find a spot on the next mark and once again lots of boats signalled we had arrived. Within half an hour the tumble weed rolling down the decks again said we were bumming out. The tinest little bites were coming to worm baits, but not even a Pout or Doggie wanted to play so the third and final choice was down towards Swanage. The same story here. Nothing but a couple of Doggies to the hooks and a facinating 10 minutes spent watching a Cuttle fish swimming in our chum trail. He was clearly excited by al the tit bits floating past as he was constantly changing colour and coming and going to check out a large mackeral bait that Martin had hung over the side of the boat. None to soon (it was a beautiful day, but by now I was bored out of my mind) it was time to head in. An absolutely duff day on the water. Beautiful weather, good company and all the right tactics, but from getting out of the car to the last cast of the day, if it could go wrong it did go wrong. As we ran up the Swash channel Martin opened his lunch box and pulled out two yellow things one was offered in my direction. "Banana?" Tom PS: For those that don't understand the significance, ask Roger Bayzand about bananas on boats!

Unless you buy through dodgy means then you are liable to customs chargers when importing something from the states. I purchased mine through Rok-Max in Plymouth.

Hydraulic tabs make an enormous difference and in my view are worth the expense if you spend plenty of time on the water. Being readily adjustable you can improve the ride in any sea conditions. The likes of Smart Tabs, fixed tabs and even Dolefins on outboards all have their place, but nothing beats some thatcan be adjusted at the touch of a button.

Really bad luck! What engine do you have?

An update for those of a less silly nature than the master boat builders of our membership. Available from the end of this month (in a customers hands by mid June). The only pricing I have is in Euro's, but inc VAT and hand over at one of our offices we will be looking at a very comfy spec with a 70Hp 4s coming out at about

Oooops! What's her name Charlie? I thought I saw you running out of the East Looe Channel on Sunday morning and doing a couple of loops off Sandbanks beach before heading back. Tom

Well done Adam! If the dodgy numbers were mine again(?), how come they aren't dodgy for me? In any case, I am pleased you had a good day and the fish came out to play. Tom

Don't talk such twoddle Mr Russell!

MY 240l Igloo is long and thin. Most of my fish will fit in without having to bend the fillets. I can't remember how long it is, but it's about 120cm.

Hi All Hope the mods don't mind this, but I have had quite a few people asking about the long awaited Merry Fisher 585 Marlin. I won't go into huge detail on here as it would be more than a blatant ad, but those that have asked, if you would like some more pics (nothing more than pics yet) then please just ask, give me your email addy and I'll send over a few pics with a bit of a brief from what I have gathered. Thanks all Tom ...Bugger it, here is a few bits that I think I can establish from the pictures I have: 1) Full walk around side decks 2) Open wheelhouse (will have a drop down canvas as an option to close off) which gives much more open deck (downside is noise levels will be a little higher than a "patio door" style) 3) Wheelhouse is positioned forward to give as much open space as possible (again don't have exact details yet) whilst maintaining the Pilot House theme 4) Helm seat will reverse to face the cockpit when fishing 5) Co-pilot seat appears to fold flat to keep out of the way when not in use 6) Not sure if the forward section is going to be a very small and cosy cabin with Vee berths or if it will simply be a lockable store, either way it will be a lockable area - does appear to have a fprward porthole according to other photo's 7) Self draining decks 8) Built in fuel tank and small storage under deck 9) Factory engine will be a 70Hp giving +/- 24 knots a 90Hp is likely to give very close to 30 knots 10) A small keel gives superb directional stability Loads more, but I can't think just yet!

Good luck Duncan Would love to hear how you do, but I suspect you will be 2.5 months too early. I hope you prove me wrong! Tom

You'll find that ice cubes aren't as good as ice "flakes", but a very good substitute. I pick mine up for next to nothing from "Weyfish" on the way out of port. Two fish boxes full of ice is about

My 240ltr box off eBay was about

I resent that Tom.......... I think well maybe not - better think about it some more................ OK Duncan, I agree, you are more bonkers than most.

As you can see, they are, in fact, a total bunch of loons The web address should have been www.plaasnc.co.uk Not www.pbsbac.co.uk But the web master typed incorrectly when he registered the domain. Stands for: Poole Lunatic Asylum & Special Needs Centre Not Poole Bay Small Boat Angling Club I asure you that the nearly sane ones have responded so far.... ...wait until you meet the actual nutters. Tom

Hi Adam Nice comments on the Icey Tek and it does look the mutz nutz. I have a HUUUUUUGGGGGEEEEE 240ltr Igloo box that keeps ice a good 5 days. IT does get slushy in this time soI simply leave the drain plug open and let the water escape elaving the remaining ice perfect. Even though it is enormous, one reasonable day on the wrecks will easily fill it between 4 anglers (without any ice). I keep mine bungeed on the bathing platform where it is well out of the way. Tom

Hi Rich Nice to see you over here at PBSBAC. Get to know these guys and it will be a huge boon to you on your visits up to see your Sister. For anyone who doesn't know, Rich is from WSF and has family in Poole. Please make him welcome. Tom

If the water gets a little clearer then you should have a good day. Have fun guys and I hope you get some dustbin lids.

Charlie Do you think if I passed you a tenner and told you it was 6lb then that would help? ...I am sure no one would notice!