Fugazi

I've dived Poole Bay rock patches for over 30 years and have always found them clean and covered with marine life. The small fry on these rocks need food as well as shelter to develop and grow, which they find in amongst the tube worms, anemones, soft corals, weed, algae and hiding holes. These things are the start of the food chain which ultimately supports the bream, bass and Pollack, so if there is now nearly an inch of silt covering them this sounds like a environmental disaster. Unfortunately as most of the patches are around the 10 metre mark, only tidal flow will have an impact in dispersal and I have no idea how long this will take. A good blow won't change much unless we get wave heights in excess of 5 metres. Gordon H

I'll be glad when the fishing doldrums are over as the symptoms of fishing depravation appear similar to drinking seawater. Anyway, my prawn trap has arrived and the excitement is almost too much to contain as I contemplate the awesome potential fish catching power of live prawn bait. Pass the antifouling tin, it

As you boys seem to like playing with chemicals, try diluted nitric acid (50/50 mix with water) which is also excellent for removing marine growth no matter how long its been building up. Gordon H

It depends, if you need height to see where your going while seated this inevitably means your feet are up on a support at the helm. If you want to swivel round and fish, its like being on a bar stool with your feet dangling off the deck. Therefore, height adjustable seats are essential to both helm and sit and fish in comfort. This thread has just reminded me I need to get out on the boat and modify my pedestals again. Need to drill a hole right through so that I can install a removable drop nose pin when the seat is set at the correct height for helming the boat. That should stop that dreaded sinking feeling associated with adjustable pedestals as I bounce majestically across the oggin. Gordon H

Tesco's share price rose dramatically at the close of trading today based on unconfirmed rumours that they are moving into offshore trading. Fantastic web site this to pick up insider investment and fishing tips, buy, buy, bye Gordon H

Bob, I did try to add a sketch but failed, my competence level on computers is not quite up to that of the average 2 year old. However, Adam's clarification hopefully explained it better than any of my ramblings. Gordon H

Kam, From your to do list of uses for the boat you can immediately eliminate the Dejon 14, it's only suitable for rivers and Poole Park boating lake. My father in law used to have one and as already mentioned, this design has some serious issues with lateral stability. Gordon H

Pedestals, don

I made one from off cuts of UPVC window sill and plastic drain pipe. The only purchase required being a 40p pipe clamp. This gave me a nice white installation matching the boat upper works, can supply a picture FOC for disclosing intellectual property rights. Gordon H

I mentioned it in an earlier post on the subject that it

Talking about dragging them unceremoniously to the surface, when I was in Spain I noticed a good selection of electric powered reels in the local tackle shop. To go with them were small broomstick type rods designed to fit into the boat rod holders. This set up would take all the back breaking work out of big game/conger fishing, but I really couldn

If driving on the right and giving way to traffic on the left in the US reads across to the sea, which I doubt, makes no difference. The coastguard should have done all possible to avoid a collision when clearly he was aware of the danger. I

Hi Andy, Welcome aboard, the club is a great source of information as I've already found out, (with the exception of where/how to catch large flounders). I see you launch from Lymington which is something I want to try in the summer so maybe we can meet up there. Gordon H

When I visited my local chandler on Saturday to purchase a new flare pack and asked if he could dispose of the old ones I was told that no one, except the Coastguard, will now take old flares back. So straight down to the Coastguard office on Poole Quay only to find it shut, but it doesn

Tom, There are a lot of comments that are way over my head and clearly some detailed feed back from people who do this stuff professionally. So from someone who

John, It depends, if you check that the numbers are showing movement in one definite direction i.e. west then you

I suspect that as councils are always strapped for cash, convincing Poole to fund another slipway will be a hard one. What

Blimey, if all this soul bearing is true, the fact that I at least caught a flounder during the comp almost makes me an expert. Talking of sole does anyone specifically target this species which I find particularly tasty? I know where to catch them but what

Phil, Your thread was about inshore wrecks so I looked at some a few miles out, but most of these are quite small. Therefore unless you have a really good GPS position for them it

Phil, I've just had a look at the wreck chart link and it

Jack, You

Charlie, If you've got some chrome cleaner such as Solvol Autosol in your garage, try polishing the scratches out with this. There are also some proprietary polishing creams on the market but I can't remember the names. Gordon H

Jack, I have the GPS co-ordinates for 147 wrecks in club waters (several not charted) so if you can provide any info on how to catch large flounders before next years competition PM me and subject to verification I'm sure I can help you out. Gordon H

Welcome Simon, perhaps now with Dawn Raider, Fugazi and your boat we can start an unofficial Raider owners club? Gordon H

Actually I'm in the market for two new 4HP back up engines. Does anyone know of any good deals on at the moment? PM me if that's more appropriate. Gordon H