BigMac

Thanks everyone for your very kind words. As all of you know fishing can be a lottery, for example yesterday, Paul D and Paul J on "Neo" and Les L and his mate on "Manatee" were drifting exactly the same line as we were and caught fish 9 fish to about 5lb. In the same time we caught 19 fish to 13lb odd. Does that make us better anglers? Definitely not!!!!! I think we're just a lot more confident in the rig than most and always go out with a huge amount of confidence, expecting to catch fish whatever. Thats not trying to sound big, thats just the way we are. I know that Paul D would have been fishing exactly the same way as we were because I sent him a PM, with everything that we do, in detail. The only difference I can see is something that harks back to the freshwater scene. We're both great believers in getting "in tune" with the method and the venue that you are fishing. Quite hard to explain, but you get a "feel" for what your doing. The float going under is not always a bite and with time you almost get a 6th sense about what your float and fingertips are telling you. We've spent nearly 4 full seasons on this mark and theres not much of it we haven't covered several hundred times. We know what is about to appear on the sounder, dependant on which line we take, and can make the adjustments neccessary in presentation to give us maximum time in the best area. We waypoint nearly every bass we catch and when you have plotted say 100 captured fish, your plotter will tell you the areas that are worth fishing and the areas that aint!! Rich, in answer to your questions, I use a 12ft Fox Barbel plus rod, with a Shimano baitrunner 8010, loaded with 30lb hi viz power pro. I tie my stop knots with a length of the braid that I cut off after attaching my leader. I dont have a problem with the knot catching in the rings on the way out but I do have the occaisional problem with the long, limp tags of my stop knot tangling around my bead that is between float and stop knot that can be a bit of a pain at times. Rupe on the other hand prefers a 9ft Shimano Esox 2 1/4lb test spinning rod with an Ambassedeur 4500 loaded with 30lb braid. He ties his stop knot with 24lb power gum and has to work his stop knot out through the rod rings a little bit more than I do. He doesn't seem to have any problems with retrieving unless he puts on too long a leader. I cant say that theres much difference in the way we both fish cause if there was a difference I would be fishing identically to Rupe or he would be fishing identically to me, neither of us are slow on the uptake Al Ps Rupes grundies will be on evidence much more as he has now become a celery munching t%$t and is losing weight at an awesome rate. Thinking of calling him "Rupe the pant puller" as none of his tracky bottoms fit him any more

Here she is 13lb 6oz,

Saturday Up with the birds again on Saturday and "Aquafresh" left the mooring at 5.00am. Rupe and myself had on board, as a guest, Carl Bagshot, who used to run "Blackjack" out of Mudeford before selling her to the present owner. In a way returning a favour, the last time we both fished on Carls boat, last May, Rupe had a 300lb lemon shark!!!! (Florida) He had never caught any real amount of bass as a charter skipper, mainly because his crews of the day always wanted to fish mid-channel. Most of the bass he had caught had been on wrecking or deep water gear.We've been telling him for a couple of years about the fun of float fishing for them and he was as eager as you like to give it a go. The mackerel, when we found them, duly obliged and we set up for the first drift at exactly 6.00am. The wind was from the south east and was holding us back slightly in the tide which helped to make all 3 floats work perfectly with the baits just tripping bottom in 10m of water. Rupert was away first and a bullish 8lber was in the net on the 2nd drift. The next drift produces a double header to Carl and me, a 6lber for Carl and a 5lber for me, hit the net at the same time. By 7.30 we have added a further 3 fish, all in the 3-4lb range, then things go quiet. Its a full hour before anymore action, then Rupe bends into a good 'un. It gives an excellent account of itself, but is soon in the folds of the net. 9lb 6oz. Nice one By 10 the livelies have run out and we head south east to replenish stocks. The sky is darkening and the distant sound of thunder reaches us from the east. We're on our way to the usual bait spot when Rupe points to an acre of mackerel busting up the surface. 3 minutes later we have 30 baits in the well. Back on the drift we catch another 5 fish between us over the next 2 hours giving us a total of 12 for the boat but we can see the weather front coming from the south and decide to have a few drifts on the ledge before heading for home. On the way there the surface was alive with mackerel, aint seen that much surface activity for years. The front approaches and we run for home. The rain and lightning reached us just as we got within the first channel markers to the run, at the time the visibility was down to about 30 yards and lightning was hitting the surface less than 100 yards away. Sunday An hour later than yesterday, 6.00am, we slip the mooring and head out for some bait. 30 livebaits and 30 for cutting up as chervey are procured in double quick time on the same grounds as we saw them busting out yesterday afternoon. The plan is to anchor a shallow water wreck and trot livebaits back to the structure, hoping to induce feeding with small cubes of mackerel dropped over the transom. When we get to the wreck, the long lazy swell of about 6ft will keep tripping our grappel anchor, and plan B is brought into play. Nothing complicated....... same as yesterday Its not long before the first fish is on board, a plump 7lber. A couple of smaller ones follow before a good fish takes my bait. The fish stays deep and its a good 4 or 5 minutes and a good 200 yards from where it was hooked before we get a first glimpse and can see its a good fish. Rupert does the honours with the net, looks at the fish in the net and offers a hand of congrats. Nicely hooked in the corner of the jaw a couple of quick photos and she swims of strongly. 10lb 8oz Rupe adds 2 more of 4 and 5 lb before another solid take on mine. "This has got some weight about it" I say to Rupe. This ones different to the last and comes virrtually to the surface to thrash it out. Rupe gets a glance and states "its bloody enormous" No real dramas and Rupe gets it in the net first time. As the netsman your nearly always the first one to see the fish properly and he turns to shake my hand for the second time of the day!!!! Its a huge fish in immaculate condition and on the scales goes 13lb 6oz Its weird how you notice different things about different fish, but on this one I couldn't help but notice how big its eyes were! What a predator!!!! We carried on catching fish regularly if not quickly and when we counted the releases and captures for the morning we had had 19 fish in total including my first ever brace of doubles in a day Does fishing get any better than this??????? Cheers Rupe, another fantastic couple of mornings on the bass, Al

We just managed to out run the worst of the weather back to the run. What I did find interesting was that in the hour prior to the rain, thunder, lightning and wind arriving, the surface of the sea, just off the back of the ledge was absolutely alive with mackerel busting the surface, some of the patches were at least an acre in size and you could see 3 or 4 patches at the same time. When we stopped to replenish the livebait well, we just had to lower the rod tip to the surface (without letting out any line) to have a full string of mackerel. The atmosheric pressure must of plummeted in that hour and triggered the feeding frenzy that we witnessed. If only they were that easy to catch all the time Hope that everyone that was out made it in safely, got very nasty out there for a while, Al

Come on, share it You know your almost bursting to tell us

Looks like Rupe might be taking a large order for floats at the next meeting. Tom must be fed up trying to save 2 quid by now surely? Al

Alun, I,m almost sure that those fish would have been small bass. Sometimes the bass there number in their tens of thousands, alas, its almost impossible to catch one that is sizeable but it is good fun to have 30 or 40 bass follow your plug to the boat!!! Al

We can get cigar floats at about 60p a piece (the ones that are

Been waiting for Adam to post a report about the weekend, but he's obviously too embarrassed to admit how much he enjoyed himself. We left the mooring at 4.30 ish, just Adam and myself, and headed straight out to the mackerel and put 30 in the well in about 30 minutes. Out to the mark and we both decide to fish the float. The tide is roaring, the wind is howling from the north-east we're drifting at just over 5mph, a bit fast for this mark because you end up dragging the float and lifting the bait off the bottom too far, the overfall had us hanging on to the grabrails!!!. We stuck at it and the first fish fell to me, about 4lb. After 4 or 5 drifts I can see that Adam wants to change to a portland rig and fish how he knows best. A second fish on the float to me and he sticks with it and is rewarded with a fish of 3 or 4lb on the following drift. A smallish fish on the light tackle and I can see he has a new appreciation of bass. He loved it!!! Catching a 4lb bass on a light carp rod brings a smile to his face and, I'm sure, a new prospective on our gamest species. The action is slow, but with the speed of drift so fast, we soldier on. I take another on the float an hour later and Adam changes to a portland to see if that makes a difference, he immediately hooks a 2lber, on the very next drift he hooks another of the same size. Adams only remark that was with bottom bouncing tactics you could almost reel them straight to the top. Score now 4 on the float and 2 on the lead. As the tide started to slow Adam changed back to a float and soon hooked a fish that was really pulling. He worked it slowly back to the boat and 4 or 5 minutes into the fight the hook pulled out as the fish made a bid for freedom. He's got a dirty mouth when he loses fish, hasn't he? Put it down as a foul hooked 3lber and the loss doesn't seem quite so bad. (I reckon it was a large fish ) 10 minutes later and I hook a fish that takes 40 yards of line in quick order (never had one do that before) and spits the hook!! Must of been a foul hooked 5lber The tide started to flood and we used it to sail east and have a look a couple of places noted in the memory. We fished like pros for a couple of hours which resulted in nothing at all apart from a lot of lost tackle. The first drift over the new mark we drifted a bit close to the overfall and asI tried to motor out of it, we took a wave right over the wheel house for the first time ever!! I shortened our drift from then onwards. Lunchtime finds us back on this mornings ridge and its flat as a pancake. We both stick with the floats and are rewarded, for our hard work, with another fish a piece before calling it a day and heading for home. Adam was quick to tune into the method and had it sussed pretty quick. Its not always the most effective method in a given situation but its almost always the most fun Thanks for your company Adam, really enjoyed myself, Till the next time mate, Al PS. Dont forget to put your lead on your float rig or your bait will swim across the surface, wont it Adam??????

All looks good for runner beans and ashtrays

Sorry if I'm getting bitter, but get to know your terminal tackle!!!!! Save a few pence and catch f^^% all. Wise up and buy some tackle that performs the same, everytime you fish with it, and you'll catch more fish without doubt. If you don't want to spend 3 quid on a piece of terminal tackle that will help you catch more fish, you might as well sell your boat and sit in, in the evenings, moaning at the missus and forget about fishing and having fun. Forget about panda pop bottles and the rest of the rubbish, get something that you can get used to and forget about all those useless alternatives. You all spend loads of money running your boats, why try to spend next to nothing on the tackle you fish with when its the cheapest part of the hobby. Al

Gauntlet has been picked up and the duel will take place on sunday at daybreak Gentlemen, chose your weapons. Al

Just a quick post script, The only limit on depth of water that your able to fish is the length of leader that you can tie on. The lead weight involved is more to "persuade" your livebait to swim closer to the bottom rather than it swim wherever it wants. Once you've fished the method a few times you get to know what your finger tips and float are telling you about the bottom and you can work a variety of depths (within reason) with your float set at the deepest depth you drift over. Takes a bit of practice Al

Gnasher We tried balloons a few years ago on the ledge but were disappointed with them because it was hard to guage how much breath to put in them to fish the livebait properly (e.g. as close to the bottom for as much of the drift as possible but at the same time not creating too much resistance to the taking fish). A good idea but we found (find) it easier to fish a float, or selection of floats, that you know in respect of what size livebait and what size lead it can support. Its interesting to compare me and Rupe and our respective catches. I'm sure Rupe will agree that I probably have a bit more "finesse" about rigs than he does and if he's fishing 3ozs of lead, I'll be fishing 2oz. If Rupes fishing 2lb of lead, I'll be fishing a pound and a half. Over the course of a year there aint a jot of difference in our catches. Confidence in what your doing is the secret!! I would not use balloons again as there is too much guesswork involved and too many superior products on the market. Tom, I really think its about floats that support a healthy mackerel with between 2 and 4ozs of lead. I think that if it requires more lead than 4 oz you would probably be better bottom bouncing. The shape of the float is interesting because I personally prefer a cigar type float and Rupe prefers a pike bung type float. His preferred float will support up to 4 oz and a livebait, whereas my floats keep disappearing if I put 3ozs of lead and a bait on em. Your float is there to suspend your bait at the right depth and not really to indicate a bite, it is there as an indicator to tell you (along with your sense of feel) what your lively is doing down there and when mister bass is scaring the crap of it. I think both shapes of float have their uses and would aim for 2-4oz in both shapes. I look forward to my free sample to field test Al

Hi All, I need to big up one of my mates. Rob Thompson used to run "Electric Blue" out of Lymington. He was respected by those in the know and always tried to put the crew of the day on fish, of whatever species you fancied, and was bloody good at it!!!! I speak from personal experience, he was once a charter skipper to me, but is now a personal friend that has spent many a day afloat with me and Rupe on his boat and ours. He has a huge knowledge of boating, including being one of the youngest people ever to sail across the Atlantic solo, and has a vast knowledge, for a man of his years (nipper) of the inshore and offshore waters that most of us will have fished in the past. He is now about to take control of "Shogun" a huge 38ft Pepe cat presently run by Colin Johnstone out of Chichester, I'm sure some of you will have seen the boat in the Channel Islands, but she will soon be running out of Lymington, September at the latest. The fishing oppurtunities are endless and cover any aspect of fishing that you fancy, if you fancy having a 5 day trip for a possible mako within club waters (just), he'll take you there, if you fancy a day trip to up your bream pb on the ledge, he'll do his best to get you it. He really is one of the up and coming skippers in the country IMHO. All I'm saying is if you fancy a charter trip and cant decide which boat to go on, give Rob a call for a chat and discuss what you want to fish for and he'll try his hardest to accommodate. Listen to what he says though, he's a great angler, and if you want to drown bait and catch "pout and dogs", probably best not ot ring him. You can call Rob on 07725 563562 Al

I think you'll find that the boat is a Donzi. A mate of mine has one in the States, his does 60mph with two 275hps on the back but in this country the fuel cost would be prohibitive. He used $400.00 worth of fuel to go to the Keys and back (150 miles). That boat probably costs a tenner to start!!! Al

Nice one Charlie!! Well done!! Al

It was still dark as Rupe, Tom and myself slipped the mooring and headed down the harbour. Tom had said that his morning had started badly by putting his arm in a pile of puke, left by a late night reveller, at the garage on his way to the boat. He also apologised about his wind problem in advance and hoped it wouldnt cause offense. Sometimes your just glad of a bit of breeze from the west. By 5.00am we had loaded the livebait well with 30 baits and were on our way to our first mark. Tom had prepared his tackle the night before, his rigs looked great and his reel spools were filled beautifully to the lip, a 20m leader on one and a 10m leader on the other. As he tackled up, in readiness for the bass fishing, the wirey mono leader springs off the spool and lands in a tangled heap on the deck!!!!!! No worries, says he "I have another already tied up". The new spool is fitted on to the reel and Tangle Tom does exactly the same thing Much cussing and swearing from Tom and laughter (of the sympatetic kind) and urine extraction from us, he finally sorts himself out as me and Rupe are on the third drift. There wasn't much tide, as expected, but with the wind blowing from the south west we were covering the ground effectively. An hour passes before the first action and Rupe nets a 5lb fish for me. Another half hour without further action and we're thinking of moving. The fish must want us to stay because Rupes rod takes on a healthy bend! Its 2 minutes before he can turn the reel handle, so Me and Tom reel in to give him some room. At one stage the fish even got some line (not easy, I tell you) off of him but without too many dramas the fish is expertly netted by Tom and slipped out of the net on to the deck. "Better weigh that one" says Rupe. On to the scales to reveal a new PB of 11-08 "Might as well stay here for a bit longer then" The next few drifts produce a few more fish in the 3-6lb bracket for me and Rupe but Tom seems to be using a bass repellant mackerel and has not had a sniff. Rupe resets Tom float for him and finally he manages to hook a fish, a nice 5lber. Rupe hits another one next drift that pulls back a bit and 5 minute later another good one hits the net. On to the scales....10lb 4 oz The first time we've had a brace of doubles on the boat in the same day and Rupe caught them both His first 3 doubles ever, in the space of six days, he wont lose that silly grin for a few days yet Well done mate!!!! The tide changed, the sea was building and we ran for some shelter in the Solent. We fished for another two hours and we took fish regularly enough to keep us there until 12.00, when we had to leave to get to the run while there was still enough water for us to get back in. The final tally for the morning was 15 bass ( Rupe-8, Me-6 and Tom-1 ) including two doubles of 11-08 and 10-04 to Rupe. Another lovely mornings fishing in great company. Cheers fellas!! Al

Well done James Cracking fish Al

6ft 3" of very happy person

It was more of the same for us this morning, meet at the boat early and be underway with the rising sun. Today we had Ash from Ringwood tackle on board, a good all round angler but to date, a bass virgin. Hopefully that would change this morning. Glass like sea conditions at 5.15 saw us get to our mackerel spot quickly and then the monotony of feathering when their hard to find. They came in ones and occaisional twos but it took us a full 3/4 of an hour to catch enough mackerel for the three of us to make a start. It was 6.10 by the time we set up for the first drift and 6.12 before rupe and me were both into fish, two 3lbers. Smaller than all of the fish we had yesterday. Ash's float never moved. This carried on for another half an hour with either Rupes or my bait being taken and Ashes being ignored, all the floats were set up identically and all fished within 10m of each other, but we found it hard to come up with an explanation for the lack of intrest in his bait. Ash reckoned it was his personal stench putting them off Rupe hooks a fish and stands with fully compressed rod in hand for a full minute before being able to lower the rod and get some line back. "Feels like a better one" he says and me and Ash wind in to give him an unhindered ballpark. A bit of line back here and a bit taken there, the fish gives him a right old run around until we notice that there is a potmans bouy directly in our line of drift and coming up quickly, so I fire up the engine and reverse the boat back to the fish a bit to avoid any problems with ropes and stuff. Panic over and Rupe has the fish in the net in short order. As I tip it out of the net, onto the deck, I can see that Rupes quest for his first double is finally over and she goes 10lb 12oz on the scales. About bloody time!!!!!!!!! Punching the air and hollering makes it look like he's fairly pleased himself. Well done mate, couldn't be happier for you I suggested that Ash should feel free to join in at any time and not be embarrased about catching fish on our boat but it was still 10.45 before he actually hooked his first bass. A brief encounter as it fell off half way in, 11.00am he loses his virginity on the smallest bass of the day at about 2lb that probably got mugged by the tuna sized mackerel we were using as bait, half an hour later he had another, a pound bigger, to go with it. We called it a day at 12.00pm, happy with our capture of 20 bass,the average size bieing a bit smaller than yesterday, but every bit as much fun. The icing on the cake of the brilliant two mornings fishing, for me, is the look of pleasure on me three fingered mates face (he's from Alderholt, they've all got three fingers out there in the sticks holding that 10lb 12oz beauty SUPERB!!!! Al

32" long, girth of 17" Al

Our vans met at the roundabout in christchurch, 2 minutes from the boat, a full half hour before our pre-arranged start time. Two full grown men unable to sleep with excitment and anticipation of another mornings bassing, mind you it has been a full 5 days since we last went!!! We slipped the mooring just as the birds were starting their dawn chorus and by the time we were exiting the run, the first golden glow of the sun was peeking above the Island to the east. The mackerel co-operated again and 10 minutes saw enough bait in the well for us to make a start on the proper fishing. Straight over to the "willow tree" (always the "best" swim on a river), on with the good old float rig, set at 9m, and a joey lightly hooked through the nose. As my stop knot reaches the float, it just keeps going and the first bass of the day is hooked at 5.15. A couple of minutes later and Rupe scoops up a lovely 5lber. Second drift, its Rupe's turn and a really spirited 8lber is in the boat, 3rd drift produces a ballistic 7 1/2lber to me and a fish of 6lb to Rupe. All four fish, so far, took the bait in exactly the same place and as the floats pass over it for the 4th time Rupe's hooked up to another 7lber and as I turn it out of the net onto the deck, my float sails away and a good fish at the other end takes 10 yards of line off me. Well, I fish 25lb braid on a baitrunner on a pound and three quarter barbel rod and if a fish takes line at range, I know its a good 'un. The fish comes to boat quite quickly but then spends 4 or 5 minutes just 5 metres below it, refusing to be lifted any higher in the water. My arms are killing me as Rupe, eventually, manages to net the fish on the other side of the boat, he turns with a big grin, offers a hand shake and then swings in the landing net with a huge bass in it. Its head is like a bull terrier and it has length to go with it, but its belly is completely empty. Into the sling and on the scales she goes exactly 13lb With a belly in the autumn she could well go 16 or 17lb quite easy. Hope we cross paths again!!!! The action continued in the same vein with the same stamp of fish for the next 2 hours and when we needed to refill the bait tank at 7.55 we have landed 14 bass between 5lb and 13lb with 3 other 8's and 2 9's. Awesome!!! We picked up some more bait and headed east to check out a couple of areas we had both thought should produce fish. By 11, we,ve discovered lots of interesting things on the bottom but unfortunately no takers for a live mackerel and the pull of the "willow tree" dragged us back for the last hour before we leave for home (and earning of brownie points so we can do the same tomorrow). Not only that, but isn't it today that England fly back from Germany? 5 or 6 drifts produces another 3 fish, two 4's and a 6, and with that we decide to call it a day. A fantastic mornings fishing that we reckon is our best mornings fishing ever!!! I just need to tell everyone what a blinding geezer Rupert is. We have always considered captures on the boat to be a team effort between both of us. When people ask us what we've caught, we always tell them the cumulative boat score sheet before adding who might of caught what. Over the course of a year, Rupe and me catch almost the same amount of fish each and our pbs steadily increase and we have more fun as our experience developes. However the bass dont know this and Rupert is still waiting patiently for his first double, despite catching millions of em. I know its only pounds and ounces but with both of us coming from a fresh water specimen hunting background they're quite important to us and I wish the bass would realise this and give Rupe a lunker. A personal best in the best of company. What more could a man want? Cheers mate, Al

A 12 inch pianist

Good luck Sam, Hope it goes well for you. Fill your boots Al