TomBettle

Very cool! I checked out Gizoogle and you can translate the homepage of any website. Doesn't go in to the site, but quite funny. Have just done Worldseafishing.com and the results can be seen in the General Sea Fishing Forum. Just the first line of Mike Thrussel's bit on Mullet makes you wet yourself. Tom Paul... How on earth do you find this stuff!?

Wat da hell iz dat!

Hoping to get out, ideally after Ling on Monday. Want to hit the Shambles, but reports are not great with a whole day being spent for a few vey small fish leaves me thinking better to do what I know and head offshore. I'm itching to hear Adam's final tally for the day. I chatted with him earlier and it seems the Shambles was proving distinctly lumpy and hard work, but he does have a surprise or two. Fingers crossed he will post shortly. Tom

Took Quest II back to Weymouth today with Abbie. Pretty chuffed with tabs. No dramatic effect, but a more than noticeable change in ride and somewhat softer in a head sea. Nice run round, lttle lumpy here and there with the usual fun and games straight through the middle of th race at Anvil Point and St Alban's. Subject to weather I will be hitting the mid channel wrecks (Adam, the same marks I gave you) on Monday in search of lunker Ling and Pollock. Tom

Wedger Contact Sea Ventures in Lymington. They still sell Rigiflex which the Aqua Peche is part of the range. I am supposed to, but we don't bother and so don't know enough about them. Sea Ventures will probably help with repair kit. Tom

Thanks Martin Mudhopper! Bahhhh Humbug!

Up yer Bum Mike!

I had the pleasure in spending some of today with Mark Bennett, a relatively new club member. Mark took delivery of his new boat today from my colleague Martin and she was handed over at Salterns during the course of the day. Slightly chaotic day, with a few mini glitches here and there, but overall Mark is the proud owner of a spanking new 605 that should do everything he wants. As the only guy working for Southern Motorboats that has any idea of Poole Harbour I offered to help take Mark's new boat round to Mitchells... ...now I have been in to Parkstone and Lathams on a number of occasions, but never round to Mitchells. Rounding the "sticks" towards Lathams, Mark and I completly lost sight of the channel in, and I had perhaps the most embarrassing moment of my boating career when I managed to stick Mark's new boat firmly on the mud!!!! B@gger! After getting our bearings we could see we were no more than 2m from where we needed to be so after a quick consulation Mark and his mate went and hung right over the bow. The boats transom raised enough inches to allow a quick squirt of power to push us back on track. The only saving grace was watching the Latham's launch also manage to "scrape" bottom as we tied up his new boat on the pontoon. Mark: Have a quick check of your prop when she goes on her trailer. Anything untoward, let me know and I'll sort it!!!! All should be fine as Mark's boat has a very good lump of metal acting as prop protection beneath the boat, but how embarrassing!!!! Good luck with the new boat Mark and if you need anything at all, just ask. Tom

Adam You will be welcome along. Dates are fairly flexible. So far I have Duncan, Coddy and Adam who may be able to come along. Two boats to bring round. Checking out insurance as I may be able to let Duncan helm the Leader with "A N Other" onboard and I'll take the Merry Fisher with anyone else. Keep an open mind over dates guys. Cheers Tom

Just to remind anyone who fancies a trip. I still have to bring a Leader 805 sports cruiser and a Merry Fisher 655 around from Southampton at some point in the very near future if anyone fancies a run around. A bit of flexibility over cars would be great as we will need to drive to our S'ton head office at Universal Marina on the Hamble, collect a boat and then use "AN Other" car to go and get the first afterwards. Dates are fairly flexible, but will probably need to be during a week day or early evening before dark. Tom

Gordon It was a pleasure having you onboard for the run round. Lovely evening, still a slight chill in the air, but near perfect conditions with a few overfalls around St Albans. Good fun and with the tide behind us we made good headway. Thanks for the company, you are welcome anytime! Tom

Hi Martin Mark has actually got a larger heavier, inboard Merry Fisher 605. The recommended anchor is a 10Kg for his boat. No real reason, but Jeanneau also recommend a Britany anchor. Got to say, mine is top notch and rarely slips. Tom

Welcome onboard Pat See you out there! Tom

Thanks Mark Like I said, 4 gold stars now after just 4 years of work. Frys for me, no more grilling burgers!

A prime example of the rapidly growing in popularity "Pilot House" design. In this instance the owner has taken it a step further and gone for the "Green House" design which enables him to go to sea without ever taking his sandwiches as he gets his "5 a day" fruit and veg onboard. This is not the latest design from Jeanneau, but I know that Mssrs Garroni and Sale, the famed Jeanneau power boat designers, are watching with interest how the bidding goes with a possible view to buying it as a mould for the top secret new craft that they are developing. The mould will then be sold to one of the popular UK manufacturers who have been struggling for several years to produce their own 21 foot Pilot House. This stunning craft will be launched at Southampton Boat Show 2006 as the new Warrior "Cantelope". Their new model should receive much press coverage after the long awaited release of this little vessel with journalists clamering in their ones and two's to try and get off before it rolls over. .....A work of genious! Tom

Mike Can we hug and dance round a camp fire singing Ging Gang Gooly? I'll let you play the guitar if you want...

Just makes you feel warm and cuddly when someone is so pleased. I was dead chuffed to have got the email.

That'll be four gold stars in just four years. I'll be moved from grilling burgers to putting salt on the frys soon!

SOLD To the very nice man who wrote this email of thanks to my boss. Made me feel warm and glowy inside and the job well worthwhile. We don't often get a thank you, but it's great when it happens! To whom it may concern This is just a short email to let you know that having recently purchased a new boat from your company that I would let you know I was very impressed with the professional service provided by two of your staff based at Salterns Marine, Poole. I know I probably bought one of your "cheapies" but have to admit that the service provided by Tom (Bettle) and Geoff (Mc Gratty), representing Southern Motorboats, was excellent and covered not just the boat itself but provided me with valuable information on marine inspection & insurance. I walked into your offices on Saturday 1st April and the following Thursday was on my way with my new Merry Fisher 580 having had a sea trial and marine hull inspection earlier in the day. Tom also gave me some "hands on" experience, which was confidence building and made me more aware of my new environment Thanks also to Katy (at headquarters) who handled the paper work, a job that rarely gets any thanks. I think if I had spent a million + the service could not have been better ! Well done. Regards Parris Bliss

Allan Personally recommend the following based on the weight of your boat and the fact I have a fractionally lighter (my anchor is a jot down from what I am about to say) set up which has only slipped once since I have been using it. 14Kg Britany Anchor (I have a 12Kg which is rated to 3000Kg yours is rated to 4000Kg) Small shackel or suitable swivel. 21m of 8m chain (anything over 15m should be adequate, but this is from "the book") Spliced to as much 3 strand or multiplait as you can squeeze into your rope locker or bin. That'll sort you out nicely. Tom

Hi Mark Just realised I am working on Saturday, but off Friday, Sunday, Monday. Friday, high water at Swanage is about 09:45 which means a comfy start arriving around 10:00ish and fishing the ebb. This enables me to run back to Weymouth with the tide up my chuff later too!

Not sure yet Mark. Won't be meggar early as the misses needs to make herself look beautiful and she insists on packing enough sandwiches etc for a fortnights holiday. I'll take a peak at the tide table and see if we can get there just after slack of one of the tides. Tom

Mark Kam has it sust. English Braids is a rope manufacturer. Multiplait is simply a term for multiple cords woven together. Octoplait tends to have 8 cords, Multiplait may have twelve. It tends to give a very soft and supple rope that coils easily. On my own boat with a windlass within the rope locker it was the only sensible option for the fisherman requiring greater amount of rope than, say, a cruising boat who anchors in a bay. Standard anchor rope is usally three plait and works fine if manually coiled in a rope locker or bin. Tom

As t'other half is with me I imagin the fishing will be fairly short lived with or without Bream showing. Does anyone know if it is best to drift or anchor, dancing ledge? Either way, you would be welcome to tag along Mark Tom

Duncan I meant on the other forum, who's name will remain unknown, but most of you know it as it claims to be the best fishing mag on the web. It really isn't the fish that bug me, but the photo's of all the dead ones. I guess "having a go at me" is just a wee bit of an over statement, but they are definitely supporting the angler for banging them all on the head and then laying them out for the trophy picture. I have tried directing guys over to here to see what pictures in a decent catch report should look like (the nice ones with a live fish held up for the camera, shining skin, trace out of it's mouth sort of thing. Oh well, it seems that we are the only decent forum on the net where views of all kinds can be exchnaged in friendly banter, but a pile of dead fish won't be tolerated. By all means tell us about your wonderful days fishing, keep your catch if they are sizeable and you are truly giong to enjoy them, but don't photograph the whole pile just to make you feel big. That was the sort of photo that was well eceived 20 years ago, not now. Tom