TomBettle

For a fiver it looks absolutely spot on

Thanks Mike Tom PS: The lead was yours, but you were too slow off the mark! You gotta be quick in this game... PPS: I am up north handing a boat over until Thursday, but the kettle will be on from Thursday onwards (ask Martin he knows about the permanently steaming kettle)

Rich That is looking well favourite at the moment although we won't have any electronics onboard so it will be 100% guesswork. I have to say I have just seen the beach at Branksome Chine and it is a millpond right now, albeit very damp. I'll check the met forecast at 19:00 and take a view. Haven't got your number here so can you call me at home tonight on 01202 760711. Tom PS: If it is looking much better than was previously forecast can we still BB to join us out from Weymouth at short notice....? Lets take a view later.

Mike Always welcome to receive something like that with me as we have to take kids out often and I am always looking for spares for when my little girl decides to bring her fiends along. Gratefully received if still available. Tom

I am flying to Glasgow Prestwick on Monday for a boat handover. Flying from Bournemouth with Ryan Air for less than

Geoff you daft old wotsit, you are supposed to sign in first!

Yep Please

Following weekend is no good for me, not to mention I hate dragging weights about over the shambles. May "accidentally" borrow a work boat and have a little play. If anyone is desparate to have a go and try and find a plaice in the Swash or tight in somewhere out of the weather on Sunday 26th then please call on 07780687795 Tom

.....so if anyone wants to have bash on Sunday (their boat) and want some crew... ..I'll pay for the worms!

I have to agree that this guy is probably more bullsh@t than good, but there is something in what he said. It has only happened once on Quest II, but when we went to Alderney last August we were fishing a wreck in the hurds deeps in a little over 330 feet of water. After a few drifts and a few small Pollock we headed in and almost immediately (the wreck was still clearly tracking along the screen of the fish finder) a very large (approx 10 foot) and very solid reading was seen about 30 feet above the bottom. At this time we were running at about 14 knots and approx 100 yards downtide of the wreck. Chris, myself and Lewis the Fish all looked at each other and said "Shark". At that depth and the location we were in it is unlikely to have been anything else. Tom In fact we could even see the tell tale flecks of fish hanging out of it's mouth where it had just had a good feed of Pollock. Judging by the spacing of the pecks from the dorsal and the shape of the teeth I would say it was a short fin Mako of around 327lb 7oz in weight.

26th is off with SW5 gusting 7 it would be very uncomfortable out on the exposed Shambles bank. I need a fishing fix even if I don't catch anything (I am used to that). On a SW5 is the swash at all sheltered (nice small tides and all)? If so.... does anyone fancy drowning a few worms to see if any Plaice are around? I won't have a boat to use in Poole, so I would need to crew. Anyone interested? Tom

Kam I have just decided that Quest II is in need of maintenance over the week 2nd to 5th May and won't be able to go over.....

Zat vos goot, yah!

Two things Duncan 1) I have heard that you like playing around with yours , do you mind keeping this sort of info to yourself. PS: We are NOT sharing a room in Alderney! 2) This is probably the first time we have agreed on anything!!!!! Tom

The way the yank wrote his piece was certainly condicending and distinctley annoying. It doesn't bare an awful lot of relevance to the type of fishing we do here, but I have to say I did agree with the principals. Without my fishfinder I would be completely scuppered (and am from time to time as it has an intermittent software fault). On my open boat, the fish finder is simply there to help find features and larger shoals as it is fairly basic, however on Quest II we have a high spec jobby which really does show you everything. When we started using it I was gobsmacked by the difference between a basic unit and a high spec one. It is so detailed you can easily see your lines dropping up and down as you drift a wreck and it does easily pick out smallish individual fish (even down to 350 feet)once you start to understand how to use it and interpret the information. Understanding the readings has helped produce better catches for me (only sometimes as I am still in the 90% who rarely succeed), mainly by helping to decide whether or not to stay drifting a particular wreck or move to the next... ...the principal being if I can see fish over the wreck I am fairly sure they will feed at some point of the tide. Also not every part of the wreck holds fish, and by using the sounder effectively I can establish which sections of metal they are hanging around by. By using the sounder effectively it is possible to work out the bottom structure, a rough idea of the size of fish or the size of the shoal, whether there is a net or loads of weed around the wreck (when we started we thought these were huge shoals of fish, but the signals are fairly weak and by hooking into the substance we established that it was either a bit of net or weed). It will even show up turbulence and small particles in the water. Having a good sounder hasn't necessarily boosted my catches much as I don't think I am a good enough angler or skipper yet with luck playing as much a part, but it certainly has helped understand more about what is going on down there. Tom

"As one slowly motors off" !!! I've seen ya! If it isn't all merry hell braking loose as the boat spins round in the tide and gets blown sideways in the wind against all the other boats then it is getting progressively more panicky as you try to turn the bow into the wind and end up shooting forwards and backwards at near planning speed until there is the inevitable crunch as your anchor finds your berth neighbours gel-coat! Oh no, that wasn't you! That was new member Geoff during his first session in one of our stock boats!!!! ...sorry Geoff, had to get that one in... ...oh and Martin "Snag Man" has become known as Mangler Mcintyre for his excessive "fender testing" too... ... I never knew that fenders had that much "bounce" in them allowing one to zig zag all of the way down a gap between two rows of boats big enough to get the QM II through.

Weymouth is notorious for the boat in the middle wanting an early start at 03:00 in the morning. If you ever go and find yourselves rafted I would suggest that you make arrangements with you raft mates to allow you to be the outside boat as it never goes down well when everyone needs waking up to help you move.

Back in the olden days when I was a lad working on t'container ships we used to use a throwing line with a monkey's fist to get the main lines to shore or to the tug. Mind you, those little boats were 300 metres long so it might be a tad overkill on Charlie's Shetland...

Simon The next time I see the Sherwood "Not under command", bobbing across Poole harbour all on her own I am not bringing her back for you! I didn't mind the first time, but every day is becomming a bit much. Also, next time, remember to take the keys out and lock the door! Tom

Yep I hate that too. Looks terribly unprofessional having fenders bashing around over the side as a boat steams past. ...mind you, I often forget, usually when I am running a sea trial or similar and trying to act like I know what I am doing!

Sorry to dissapoint you both, but the eye should infact be attached to the cleat on the pontoon / mooring and only "temporarily" attached to the boat with the mooring rope actually living on the pontoon. However, this is not practical in day to day use and normally only reserved for bigger boats and their regular "home" mooring. It is done by some of our older colleagues (grrr Geoff), probably as a ploy to annoy their younger team mates in an effort to slow down departure from the mooring, or to watch whilst hilariously falling around laughing as we untie the wrong end of the boat first (down wind or down tide end) innoncently believing we can slip the line off the other end in a swift slight of hand style movement, then realising our error as the boat swings off the mooring whilst you are stll fumbling around with the damn line. In day to day use, most of us will do what Duncan suggests. Where the cleat ha a solid base, we would tend to hook the eye (a small one) over one end of the cleat and then make it secure with a couple of turns so that it can't fall off. Grrrr, not sure why I replied to this now! I am tired and only came over to turn my pc off. Sorry for completely unrelated, unimportant reply to the post written in a long winded and garbled way... ...but I guess you have come to expect that from me. Tom Ps I haven't even been drinking.

Naaah Mike that won't work. Instead of blocking up your engine with salt crystals it will be pubic hairs!

Hi Kam Cap Ferret is actually the brand name. I believe they are another one of us French manufacturers, certainly European. Not as big a builder as Jeanneau or the like, but make pretty sturdy boats of various styles and sizes. I don't know the 500, but have seen one or two others and they seem good. I've got a feeling the price will rise considerably more befoe the end of the auction. Tom

Slight alteria motive in as much as the seller of this boat is hoping to move to one of our slightly bigger Merry Fisher's. Just thought with all the talk of people buying new boats or down sizing then this might be of interest. Check out Ebay item 4623544834 Almost 16.5 feet long and easily towed / launched. These boats have a good reputation and may make someone a bargain. Not sure what his reserve is, but the boat is currently on Ebay very cheaply, but attracting bids with several days to go. Tom

Mike I would be up for a bit of splicing tuition. 15 uears ago I could do a beautiful job on them all as I had to learn as part of my "seamanship" training for the merchant navy, but like you, lack of practise means I can still splice, but I get a bit lost and although they are solid they aren't very neat. Any expert splicers wanting to do a demo at a club meeting? Tom