Fugazi

Mike, I used to have an Arvor 21 with similar wrap around plexi glass screen which gets scratched in the point of vision where the wipers work. Be prepared to spend quality time polishing the scratches out at frequent intervals to keep a clear view, it

We did stop at Alum Bay for about an hour on our way back to the Solent from endurance fishing at the Cod Park. I never had a bite on my cod bait and all Chris managed to catch was a dogfish while trying to tempt a channel whiting on mackerel, so I dont think you missed much Paul. Then it started to get very uncomfortable yet again, to the point where I couldn

Weather permitting probably launch at Lymington and head for the Needles cod ground with everyone else. Fortunately I have a good supply of anchors and chain so I'll be OK for Thursday, but it means hauling by hand until I can get my brother in law to make up a new one. I lost the last one while steaming in ever decreasing circle trying to retrieve my anchor in a fierce ebbing Solent tide. When the buoy was dragged under water it managed to unclip itself from the ring, re-attach itself to the main warp and slide back up this to the surface. Unbelievable, but as I said it was one of those days! In diving circles a string of events like this culminating in serious problem is known as the incident pit. The important thing is to recognise when you

The day started badly when I forgot the frozen squid this morning so we arrived at Lymington slip with only ragworm and frozen mackerel for bait. Undeterred we headed off for West Lepe buoy and started to get set up, but as I swung the first bait of the day out over the side my 1.5lb lead immediately dropped off before I could even get it into the water. When I checked why it turned out that the plastic slider had broken and at that point I knew it was going to be one of those days. Sure enough before the day was over I had managed to wrap the anchor warp several times around the prop, hook into a wreck so hard I ended up loosing my anchor, chain, 20mtrs of rope and the Alderney lifting ring trying to buoy it out. Add to that the cooker ran out of fuel, we only caught pout and dogfish and ended up stuck on the A31 (which was subsequently closed due to an accident) on the way home. Met Lady Jane and crew at the slip when we got back in, good to see they had a better day out than us. I

The problem was caused by corrosion of the sump casing which compromised the gasket allowing water to track through into the oil. Simple fault, but needed a major strip down to fix it and at the moment I

Excellent result for all the effort you've put in this week Paul. Well Done Gordon H

Yes, it doesn

Subject to senior management approval Fugazi will be out, any cash prize I could win urgently needed to pay for recent engine repair. Gordon H

Mike's observations are not so tongue in cheek as you might think, the company I work for presented its apprentice awards today and the HR director made an interesting comment. Apparently we are no longer permitted to use the term "young" when describing employees such as apprentices as it infringes the new legislation on ageism in the workplace. Gordon H

My only experience of eating trout was about 20 years ago and it involved eating something that tasted very much of mud and so never tried it again. I think my mate Chris had the same views on said cuisine, so when he won second prize in the flounder competition he quickly handed me the smoked trout donated by Wedger and I thought, oh no, what am I going to do with that? Anyway, tried it tonight and what a pleasant surprise, it was absolutely delicious so thanks Trevor for donating such a great prize. I think Chris seriously missed out with only a tin of sweets, its changed my views on trout completely. Gordon H

Fugazi was out again today with Paul D as guest crew and fish finder extraordinaire in search of those elusive cod. Didn

At last, Team Fugazi gets on the PBSBAC leader board with a hard won second place. It took a lot of searching to find the flounders covering marks off Arne, Rockley Park, Pottery Pier, Wych Channel, Brownsea Castle, etc, all without a single flounder bite. Although there was plenty of action with small school bass to keep us amused. Then on the last mark off Salterns Marina we hit the jackpot in the last hour and a half of the day with 5 flounders. Chris the Crew managed to catch 4 and lost a match winner at the surface, but as usual the skipper was blanking big time without a bite. So in desperation I elbowed the crew out of the way and muscled in on his side of the boat which resulted in a small flounder straight away. Incredibly the flounders seemed to be feeding in a much localised area on Chris

Dan, Tom's absolutely right RIB's make fantastic dive boats, don't buy one unless you plan on going diving or undertaking inshore rescue work. Gordon H

Great result for a quick trip out Paul, hope Paul D and I find some tomorrow as well, whats the run like to get through at the moment? Gordon H

Think back to the last fuel protests and how the impact of those made the Chancellor re-think his last proposed big fuel tax increase. We all need to start taking a bit more direct action, like our European neighbours, instead of just rolling over and paying up. Disgruntled tax payer

Gordon, Would love to join you, but I could never meet your acceptance criteria. I have an exceptional knowledge of where not and how not to catch flounders, in fact my ineptness is almost breathtaking as Alun J will confirm. I'm going to fish it anyway providing I can get crew; however, my crew requirements are exactly the same as yours. Gordon H

Adam, I thought you'd been out to the Rips in Blue Warrior, how much further do you want to go? Don

Alun, You

That depends, Diesels are heavy Adam, the sort of boat you

Adam, Why do you want to change, have you inherited great wealth? Let

Priceless, played while our parrot was listening and he's looking real worried right now Gordon H

If I'm getting the hang of it this upload should be better! Removed Avitar which seems to help Gordon H

One last attempt to upload Gordon H

Martin, Dont know why, but have not been able to upload any photos to forum or photo gallery for some time. It used to work OK but now I get a message saying "You annot upload this type of file"? Gordon H

At Thursday nights meeting when Alun J said he was going for a trip out in the Solent on Saturday I thought it sounded a good idea. Unfortunately I couldn