Paul D

If you want an example of a through action rod then the Fladen Solid-C rods bend equally right through their whole length. There is a picture somewhere of a ray hanging on the end of my 12-20lb rated one which shows the action well, I'll see if I can find it.

Gordon H has it spot on I think. If the GPS is showing the movement and it is always in the same direction then you are moving If the direction jumps around all the time ( mine does this ) then it is just the vagaries of wind moving the boat or the noise within the position calculation made by the GPS ( as BlueboatDriver states ) With WAAS on you will get up to 3 m accuracy. With WAAS off you will get something like 24 metre accuracy.

Hard to tell, but the number of visits is well up, which is good news IMHO ( be it existing or new members ).

Seems the site is getting more popular by the day now. See attached.

Only personal opinions here but I would have the home page as the one to start ( as opposed to the obscure one with lots of boat pictures ) I would make the page wider ( as Bob F mentioned ) and rather than having the scrolling details, I would make it the whole height of the page ( using browser to scroll - othersie the scrolling part feels "cramped". Where you have newsletter coming soon - make sure it really is. People will think site is hardly updated if you go back in 6 months and it is still "coming soon" ( made same mistake on our site by setting up a newsletter and then never sending any ! ) When the boats-for-sale.com pages are shown when clicking on the brokerage boats you could consider having the new window maximised ( the user would then have to close it anyway as it has no nav bars ) - but there again I was in two minds about this myself. Your 3 Merry Fisher 530's have differing prices and I can't detect the differences between the one for

Sounds like the file itself is locked for some reason. Try starting the computer in safe mode. Get a command prompt window and then copy the file to another name eg. D:> CD MYDOCS D:\MYDOCS COPY 3qtr05.xls newfile.xls

Charlie, Since looking at the details of your new boat, the site is giving me advertising for loans - Do you think they are trying to tell you something

Fixed that now - I can't believe I didn't notice it as well.

Alun, How much is the postage cost ? - I can get the small sized solid-c rod for

The Feb 2006 Newsletter is now available online at the URL here. I know for some of you it will be a wrench away from the forum but give it a try Feb 2006 Newsletter

LOL Mike, I have just been reading an old sea fishing book with pictures of the boat owners in their trendy shirts with those HUGE collars and loud patterned jumpers and for one awful minute I pictured a younger Mike on his Island Plastics boat dressed likewise

Kam, I know where Alun fishes for them - have amended your post though as we dont want every man and his dog turning up ( Worth reminding that this part of the forum is open to all - members only is best place for specific locations ).

Dave, What a fantastic point regarding the Olympics. There has got to surely be a demand for launching facilities at ports close to Weymouth.

Gordon, Alun J / Sinbad / Jimbob / Adam are the Sole specialists ( I have yet to catch one ). Night time close in to the beach with bunches of ragworm is the technique apparently. Prior to joining the club I had caught bass and mullet and one flounder ( spawned whilst fishing for bass ) and a number of eels. I then bought the boat and caught a beautiful bream first trip out ( more luck than judgement ). Decided to join the fishing club as much for learning boat safety as the angling aspects. Still learning techniques but my catches have improved dramatically over the past 3 years. Bream reliably caught now. Whiting by the bucketload last year ( harder to find this year ), 3 cod last year ( none this year apart from 2 on a trip to the rips with Martin on Maverick ), my first Conger last year, trigger fish, plaice on the shambles trip, sizeable Wrasse, Bass a plenty this year ( only had one the previous year, so must be doing something right ), Small Eyed Ray - Thornback Ray, Spotted Ray and thanks to Duncan my first Blonde Ray. and my favourite Smoothhound from the solent plus a Turbot and Pollock on the Alderney trip a couple of years ago. Not forgetting Mackeral, Scad, Pout and Herring. and I thought I wasn't catching much either !

The launching / easy of launching and "will the family really appreciate having a larger boat" + is the drive big enough for a larger boat was what persuaded me to stick with the same size boat I currently have ( 17 Ft ) . ie. Do I really need a heavier / bigger / less economical boat just so I can push further offshore on rare occasions.

Like the maggot tip Dan. I know exactly where I shall be trying that in the summer ( having witnessed someone pulling out one mullet after another on "tube flies" ).

Launched at 8 AM with Gordon as crew. Steamed over to the Clan McVey - engine trim set and no strong pulling to the right now. Sea was flat so crusing along at 20 knots with ease. Nothing showing on the Mcvey and MarineBoy came over to join in the fun but nothing on marineboy either. Then tried a mark further to the west. 3 pout caught. Steamed back to XRay and Gordon had a doggie. Back up the run for 1 PM ( tide was ebbing fast ) and back home by 2 PM, then straight off to the football. Now knackered zzzzzz

Try this link for weather Poole Weather I go from Christchurch, so the spot I fished is some distance from Poole ( I assume you are launching from there ). But it is dire, I warn you !

That website is linked from three other topics on this forum. It is well worth using the search function and looking for keywords such as "wreck" etc. Also, if anyone has good URL's such as the wreck website, then feel free to submit them using the "web links" link in the modules section. ( This way we can build a useful reference of web links ).

Phil, The fishing was dire today. We had one doggies and two pout. Fished for around 3-4 hours total. You are welcome to the co-ords of the pout mark ( If only I had them to hand )

Launching from Mudeford with Gordon tomorrow - around 8 AM if anyone wants to tag along in their own boat. Probably returning around 1 PM ish.

Charlie, If it is a 4 stroke I have an hourmeter / tacho for sale ( as I have got an etec now ) which is easy to fit close to the engine. ( it has a lead which you wrap around one of the HT leads on the engine and another which you connect to the earth. ) If you have a 2 stroke then it will still work as an hour meter but will show the incorrect RPM ( probably twice the correct rate I think ).

As in 3ft of water at Burnham sort of fast ?

I would recommend a fixed VHF as with a hand held you only have a small aerial and not much height of aerial. VHF transmission is line of sight, so the higher your aerial the better. - Hand held are at somewhat of a disadvantage due to this. It is easy enough to remove a fixed radio at the end of the day ( mine is two plugs and two screws - 30 secs and out ). So fixed is the way to go IMHO. ( Just read Mike's reply ! ).

Paul, That will be great ( hope you will be able to keep up ). Gordon is crewing as well and will probably aim to launch around 8:30 from Mudeford as I want to get back for the football later. cheers Paul