BigMac

Above is Paul with 3lb 14oz male and here's me with 4lb female. Both new pbs and all fish returned

Left the mooring at 8.30 this morning and headed for the ledge, to see if we could repeat sundays success. The sea is oily smooth and we steam to the ledge at 34mph.

Paul, a long time friend, is crewing for the first time on "Aquafresh"

We arrived on the mark in double quick time and the flood was just starting to die. Rather than have to set the anchor twice, I decided to drift around the mark for an hour to see if anything was about and wait for the start of the ebb. 2 small wrasse was all we could summon up in that hour.

The tide started to ebb and we set the pick in 34ft of water. Bag and lead method sent the groundbait to the bottom and we both waited for it to do its magic. 15 minutes later and its first bite to me resulting in a lovely female of exactly 4 lb

5 minutes later and Pauls in, eventually bringing to the boat a beautiful male of 3lb 14oz!!!!!

Another bag of groundbait and within 30 seconds Pauls got another of 3lb 8oz while I'm playing one that goes 3lb 10oz. All goes quiet until I drop another bag of groundbait and it takes 15 minutes this time before I have 3 dogfish on the trot followed by a small pollack then a pout, While Paul has another bream of about a pound and follows it up with of knocking 3lb.

We've got to leave at 12.15 and put the last bag of bait down. 15 minutes and I have one of a pound followed by another of 3lb 4oz. Paul has one of 2lb 8oz and loses one on the last drop and I manage a last drop fish of 2lb 12oz.

So in total 10 bream to 4lb, 2 wrasse, 3 dogfish, 1 pout and a pollack in 4 hrs fishing.

Excellent!!!

Allan

Found it thanks ,Tom.

Waiting for one of the guys to ring me back,

chers

Al

Do you have a number for them, please Tom?

Is anyone familiar with a JRC FF30 colour fishfinder?

Last night, when putting the electronics on the boat, I inadvertantly unscrewed the locking knob too far out and the nut on the inside of the finder (on the other end of the locking knob) has dropped off and I can hear it rolling around inside the casing

I thought it would be as easy as dropping off the front screen and tipping the nut out. When I undid the four screws, that appeared to hold the front panel to the casing, the front doesn't want to come off and I don't really want to apply force.

The back of the unit looks like it needs to be removed through the front of the unit, so thats not an option.

Anyone know what to do?

Anyone that can put me in touch with someone more competent than myself (not hard) that could sort it for me?

HELP!!!!!!!

Cheers

Al

Duncan,

printed off and stuck to the computer desk.

Thanks very much

Al

How did you do that????

Martin, as you can see I messed that up. See boarfish at Branksome!!!!

When you get the second message board come up asking for web page title, what do you type in there?

Is the web page title not included in the http:// thing?

Sorry to appear thick

Al

Just been looking at this link http://www.glaucus.org.uk/News2006.htm on another web site showing a boar fish washed up on the beach at Branksome. It was returned to the sea, cant imagine a marauding bass would be able to resist it!!

It also shows a pug nosed bass caught of the channel islands.

Hope the link works

Al

Oh......as easy as that

Hi All,

Could someone please tell me (in words of three syllables or less) how to put a live link from another web site onto a reply in the forum?

Thanks in advance,

Al

Tom,

I haven't sussed out how to put a live link up yet, but try looking at http://www.boat-angling.co.uk/

Its a web site for eastern solent boat anglers and shows most of the marks on that side of the island, Utopia, Pullar bank etc. These are areas rather than specific spots,

Hope that helps

Al

Newboy,

sorry meant 50 not 51,

Allan

Tom,

pm

Allan

Newboy,

you have a pm

Enjoy

Allan

Ruperts first go for bream, he always rated bream as an acceptable bass bait if small enough or a shark bait if its too big for bass

I think we have a convertee, he aint stopped talking about his 4lber!!!

Allan

Saturday

Set out 7.30 from Christchurch, with Cam as crew, heading for the banks south of the island to sort out the blonde rays. There was a vicious easterly blowing and 8 hours fishing on four different marks produces 1 blonde ray of 19lb, 3 dogfish and one missed bite. The sea was very dark and a horrible dead algae was building up on the line on every drop and it was tough to pick it off the line.

May black water!!

Spoke to Rupert on the way in and decide to have a go at the solent smuts and the ledge bream tomorrow based on todays result and he and wife and 2 small Morrals are plundering the stocks of hardback on Mudeford quay as I come in through the run at 5.30.

Sunday

Myself, Rupert and 10 yr old Aaron leave the mooring at 7.30, exit the run and head for the mid solent, with a large bucket of hardbacks, on an oily flat sea at 30mph against the tide. God I love this boat For some reson the plotter loses its fix not long after we go past Hurst castle and then only works inter... intermitt.... inter..... now and again!!

We get to our mark and chuck out crabs in various forms and sit back for the action to start. Rupert gets the first bite after half an hour, strikes and thrusts the bucking rod into Aarons hands and he lands a beautiful little starry about 3lbs, another 2 almost identical size follow in the hour and then things go dead. Still a bit early for here yet, another 2 or 3 weeks and they'll be crawling up the rods

We use slack water to travel back to the ledge to target bream for the afternoon. A quick feathering stop on route produces 2 garfish and 8 mackerel. Drop the pick on the ledge at 1.30 and put out a bit of groundbait as soon as we settle on the rope with the trusted bag and lead method. (We've got one of those "The Edge" droppers but they are nigh on impossible to wind up after use!!)

Within minutes, Rupert has the first bream bite and strikes into a turbo charged male that after a tremendous scrap goes 4lb 2oz and a new pb Just the start of a couple great hours fishing that produced 15 fish that were all over 2lb with 6 over 3lb, including a new pb of 3lb 14oz to me and the 4lber for Rupe. Kept 6 males between us and returned all others.

Three happy crew after a smashing day out and back on the mooring at 6.00pm

Allan

Never in the right place at the right time

Tom

your more than welcome to tag along anytime. A tide of less than 1.7m at Lymington and the banks fish well. Give it another 6 weeks or so and there's a chance of that big tope you talked about!!!!

Great fishing down that way cause the charter boats can give most of their crews a reasonable days fishing by burning half the amount of diesel and traveling half the distance. We nearly always have it to ourselves

We'll keep in contact and set it up.

cheers

Allan

Left the mooring Saturday at 7.45 and out across the bar at Mudeford with prop intact at 8.05. Rupert opens up the throttle and we're on our way to the banks 9 mile south of Atherfield.

40 minutes later and we arrive at our first mark, a bank in 35m of water rising to 28m. We haven't fished this bank for 2 years and despite spending half an hour doing an extensive grid search, we fail to find it Does anyone else experience disappearing banks? This is 4 banks that we fished last year or the year before that are now flat ground!!

On to the next one, about 6 miles east and we're on it first time The bank has a steep face on the eastern side and a gradual slope on the western side, lending itself to fish better on the ebb than the flood for the Blonde rays we're targeting. We drop the pick and she bites first time, (new 15kg bruce anchor and chain, great advice, thanks guys) leaving us sitting nicely, 70m from the face of the bar.

Its a race to get baits to the bottom, one with the good old faithful launce/squid wrap and the other with a mackerel head flapper ( had a 12lb bass last time out this way on a flapper) both on 6/0 pennels on 80lb trace and a pound and a half keeps it on the bottom.

The mackerel is off within 10 minutes and I,m playing a heavy fish that is definetly a round fish rather than a ray and it's not an eel. Never will know, it hung on for two or three minutes and the hook pulls Felt like a big bass to me

Ruperts away next with a blonde that goes 17lb on the uptider and follows it 20 minutes later with another of 12lb. I seem to have dogfish attractors on and try to keep them away from Rupe's bait as much as possible so that he can catch the proper fish. He catches a pout and then I hook a ray at last, and its a blonde barely out of the egg sack at about 4lb. Still a blonde is a blonde.

The tide dies, and we resign ouselves to fish one rod a piece under the boat durring slack water. Rupe's squid and eel picked up by a fish that gives a great account of itself and a bass hits the surface to be scooped up in the net before it knows whats happening. 5 months since Rupe's eaten bass. and a 5lber will do nicely The wind keeps us in place pretty well and then I hook a lively fish that turns out to be a nice little smut about 5lb followed 10 minutes later with another of 8lb before the kennel descends on us, for an hour, before we pull the pick and anchor on the west side of the bank for the flood.

The dogs stay with us on the flood, apart from a small eyed of about 7lb, and we decide to call it a day, at 4.00, and head home. Leaving the uptider till last, when I pick it up a ray has hung itself and it turns out to be the best blonde of the day at 19lb

Back on the mooring for 5.15, and another great day out on "Aquafresh"

Allan

Mr Bayzand always used to swear by a strip of manky mackerel on the hook as the top bait

I've lost a couple of anchors on the ledge, but had one retrieved by a mate with scuba gear.

When he went down he found that the chain and anchor were lying in a heap and the rope had lassooed a large rock making it impossible for us to pull the anchor, which wasn't even stuck!!!

This had happened because we let the anchor and chain to freefall through the water, as we got to the uptide limit of where we wanted to anchor,(rather than backing off as it dropped)and then take up the slack as the boat drifted downtide by which time a couple of loops of the anchor rope had got itself around the rock.

Haven't lost one on the ledge since we started lowering the anchor to the bottom by hand and then paying out the anchor rope under tension.

We would of just presumed the anchor was stuck if our mate hadn't retrieved it and not realised that it was our inept way of anchoring that had really nearly cost us our second anchor.

Another day older, another day wiser

Allan

Tom,

sounds like a better day than most of us. I personally didn't have a bite over the whole weekend drifting Barton and Highcliffe.......... so much for that great theory

How did your newly fitted tabs perform?

Allan

I sat behind some guys on Sanibel Island once that were flying mullet livebaits out to pods of Tarpon off the beach. Seemed to work really well and they managed to get the mullet at least 200 yards off the beach. They use mullet in the same size range as we use mackerel.

I bought one last year while in the States but still haven't got round to trying it in a real fishing situation. Very easy to fly in slight breeze

I have no doubt it will work in the right place at the right time.

Thanks everyone,

taken all that information on board. 12.5 kg Bruce being delivered friday, got the chain and we're going to use our rubbish rope for this year and change it next.

Will let you know after the weekend how we get on.

Allan