Paul D

Most of the Stour that you can fish from a boat is only fishable if you are a member of Christchurch Angling club and even then you are not allowed to fish with spinners. Your best bet to fish the harbour from a boat is to get yourself a permit for Stanpit ( ie. The harbour ) which is something like

Noticed that thefts reported on StolenBoats website are on the up. This one from Christchurch Theft of Yamaha 100 Outboard Engine Yamaha 100 Outboard Please click on the link above to view further information. Outboard Serial No. 65W300269 Theft Date: 23-Jun-2006 Theft Location: Christchurch Harbour Description: Yamaha PRO-V 100 Outboard Engine

Over to the island again on Sunday. Trouble finding mackeral at first but eventually found some after 30 mins of looking. Why is it when you want Joeys you catch monster mackeral ! Filled my newly manufacturered bait tank with mackeral and found it cant keep the big ones alive ( dia is too small ). Joeys are fine though. Off to the mark, Joeys ( well big mackeral ) engaged, first drift and Charlie phones, Mark is into something big and it is not a fish....., "must go charlie I say plus some other expletives" That buoy I mentioned we should avoid now has a mackeral attached !! - Steamed back to the buoy to retrieve his float and gave him my rod to reel in ( I had forgot to reel in my rod, so yards of braid was left out and the float was a speck in the distance ). Mark is busy reeling in my float as I watch and I see this "disturbance" on the surface - a bass is chasing the mackeral. I tell Mark to slow the retrieve and the bass attacks the mackeral on the surface. Game on ! 5 mins later Mark's first bass is in the net a nice 5lb 4oz. As it was a scorching day and I was sure there would be others we returned the fish, only to see it roll up to the surface again. Steamed over to the fish with net in hand and as I went to scoop up the fish it swam off / down - one lucky fish ! However, rest of the day was non eventful ( apart from I dropped one fish on the first run ), even the charter boat was getting nothing. Decided to steam over to X-Ray and have a go on the Ebb. Only bream and doggies for us though, plus I then managed to spin my chair around and break my John Wilson Avon Fishing rod Saw PJ and he dropped a bass as we turned up - felt partly responsible - so went and got him some more joeys. ( Joeys everywhere now when I didn't want them anymore - typical )

Graham, There have been other threads on here ( use the search function ) regarding the slipway at Mudeford ( often misspelt as Muddiford ) and at Wick. Mudeford is the slipway by Mudeford Quay and is the nearest to the sea. Costs something like

Nice trip Adam, hovered around X-Ray / Hengistbury head hoping to see you on your return but didn't notice you cruising back in. Tell Gordon I am going to dump his hat. Since he left it in my car I have had nothing but bad luck ( broke my Avon Quivertip rod and fishing has gone downhill, whereas his luck is on the up minus hat !)

I'll second that Adam. Yesterday I was astounded on how far I managed to travel on one tank. Wick out to Hengisbury Head then onto the Needles for around 20 odd drifts and then along Dolphin Bank over to Hengistbury Head again. Up to X-Ray and back to the head before going to X-Ray and back again ( well someone had to get livebait for Paul J ! ) and then back to Wick. Used around 20 litres. Mind you engine reported "low oil" and scared the hell out of me - the alarm is well loud, so topped up the oil back at home.

Out on her royal yacht the queen was enjoying the sea air when she spied a man in the water off the port bow - clearly being menaced by a very large shark. Through her binoculars she could see it was Christian Ronaldo, struggling frantically to free himself from the jaws of a 20 foot shark! The queen ordered the captain to change course to try and save the poor man, but she knew the yachts top speed would never get them there in time. At that exact moment a speedboat containing three men wearing white tops sped into view. One of the men took aim at the shark and fired a harpoon into its ribs, immobilising it instantly. The other two reached out and pulled Ronaldo from the water and, using long clubs, beat the shark to death. They bundled the bleeding, semi-conscious Ronaldo into the speedboat along with the dead shark and prepared for a hasty retreat, when they heard frantic calling ...... It was the Queen calling them to the yacht. On reaching yacht the Queen went into raptures about the rescue and said, "I'll give you a knighthood for your brave actions. I thought the England team would hate Ronaldo after the world cup. But I see that the England team are true heroes and should serve as a model for sportsmanship to other countries." She knighted them and sailed away. As she departed Rooney asked the others, "Who was that?!" "That," Beckham answered, "was our Queen. She rules the Commonwealth and knows everything about our country." "Well," Rooney replied, "she knows F all about shark fishing. How's the bait holding up ?"

Rich, I have made a similar one now, still need to sort out my internal pipe ( ie. downpipe ), however, one thing I found was the 22mm top inlet connector if fitted the "wrong way around" then this leaves enough of the screw thread to connect a hosepipe to water tap connector. This means you can then use a normal hosepipe barrel connector to connect a hose pipe to the tank. Apart from the above very similar to yours ( apart from I am using a smaller barrel ( for now ) )

Hint, hint !

Fantastic fish Al, I heard that Gordon had a good bass today as well. Looking to go out on Sunday once I have dragged my son out of bed !

News Page Friday, 30 June 2006 Marine Fisheries Agency news: Yesterday judges threw out a legal challenge to the management of cod for under 10 metre fishing boats in UK waters. The Court of Appeal rejected claims by two Hastings skippers that the cod catch limits were unworkable and discriminatory. This significant decision reinforces the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) ability to manage cod stocks for the under 10 metre fishing boats. The Court agreed that there was no legal or evidential basis to suggest that it would be disproportionate, as required by Community law, for the under 10 metre fleet to keep some sort of record of the quantity of fish caught and sold. Defra originally successfully prosecuted the Hasting skippers, Mr Paul Joy and Mr Graeme Bossom, in January 2005, at Lewes Crown court. Fines and legal costs totalling

Sam, I would imagine the tides next week not being much good for the bass. ( However, I am far from being an expert ! ). However, I did recall PJ catching some last year when it was a neap tide and whilst fishing on a sandy flat bottom, so anything is possible.

Tried your suggestion Rich and they came and took Sam away Seriously, there was no way I was leaving my trailer unattended amonst them, so parked in the other car park. Called council ( well Helen did ) and they were aware already. After one of them kept asking me if I had anything to throwaway - I suggested he could give me his blue drum as it would make an excellent bait tank. Also told him he was parked in the wrong place blocking the slipway. ( Like they give a sh?t ). Gone now but left all their rubbish behind so we can spend some of our hard earned council tax on clearing up after them.

But there again there was no need for a bigger boat to win the 48 hour competition Initially, I used to think it was not fair having such a distant southerly limit, however, as I managed to prove , you don't need to head off to distant shores to catch a specimen, so I think it is quite fair now

Mike, I will put one aside. Just searching the net for connector / fittings at the moment as I dont want to spend the sort of money PJ did

Thanks for the offer Adam, I have found another supply and much cheaper ( although the barrels are slightly smaller - 30 litres - but I think still big enough ). As they look reasonable and the postage is the same for three barrels as it is for one, I have ordered three of them. Works out at

Fishing on Sunday but all this pleading is getting tempting to fish on Saturday as well

I have tracked down a source of livebait drums ( 60 litre ones or 125 litre ones ) but they involve collection from their yard in Brislington near Bristol. Is anyone around that vicinity at all ? They do uncleaned drums at

Mike, I had the same problem too. Gordon managed to catch them but I couldn't hook into one for love nor money.

Nice fish Rich, what beautiful colourings as well. The ones on XChurch ledge have much plainer markings on them.

Well, fished the species comp on sunday but I would be a liar to say I found it enjoyable. All I could think of were those Bass waiting to be caught ( and I am being serious ). Personally, I fish for fun first and then will have a dabble in the competitions as they are there. My preference is in that order and moving around to try to catch differing species, I don't find much fun. Has it been considered removing the "4 fish" limit so as to allow more points for more fish and getting extra points for multiple species. There again, it is a challenge and some may just love hunting species, but it's not really for me. PS: If we do change it, I won't have to listen to Gordon moaning that he couldn't catch 4 pollock for love nor money

That be the reel that I bought off you I guess

Only managed 5 species. 4 wrasse 4 bream 4 mackeral 4 pollock 1 pout Couldn't catch a dogfish for love nor money, nor any bass or mullet.

Persuaded Helen to go out for the bass today. Set off before low water to be able to fish the flood tide. Steamed to the mark and grabbed some joeys ( managed to catch a mackeral which was all of 2 inches long ). Got into a nice bass of 5lb 8oz and decided to return it as sure we would catchmore and didn't want to keep the fish all day Blue Warrior turned up to enjoy the fun ( apparently they were having trouble catching Joeys ). Set up a few more drifts and dropped a couple of fish. Helen then hooked into a what I thought was the bottom at first. This was a better fish though which had plenty of fight. 10 mins later and an 8lb 4 oz bass is onboard. Few pics and the fish was returned. Yet another fish that beats my PB Continued catching fish throughout the afternoon and a pleasant steam back to the run but didnt quite get there before my fuel ran out. Switched to the spare tank which only had around 5 litres in it and plodded up the harbour. Only had around 1 litre left when we got back - phew ! Thanks again Al, I think I am getting the hang of this bass fishing now ( or at least my wife has )

Tom, May be up for an afternoon / evening trip on Thursday. Will need to check weather / tides etc. and see what time I can sneak off work by