Paul D

Adam, What is the score re: Sandeels ?

Dan, Not sure on the cost of the slipway but it depends if the guy collecting the fees is up early in the morning Do you want to follow me down there ( I will be going via Broadstone as will have to pick up Sam en-route - or may try to get Charlie to drop him off somewhere nearby ? ) Let me know and will arrange to meet you at end of my road - prob something like 6 AM I guess

I tried through the upper and lower jaw, through the top jaw only but now I have started to use PJ's method of through the nostrels I have actually started to catch fish ( having caught one bass in 2 years previously using joeys !?! ). Using the "nostrel" method the fish seems to stay alive for ages. and just as importantly the bass seem to be well hooked when they hit the fish. Nostrels for me !

Rich, Nice to see you had some of those mullet. I also found the red bladed spinner seemed to be the one that they prefer. Gordon is becoming a bit of a master showing others how to catch them ;-) I went out on Great White to watch them catch eels and Sam also had a nice pollock. Had one eel on myself for a short while but then it bit through the trace Nice evening to be out though.

Here is some details re: rectifier that you will find useful....

Jack, Did they have teeth ? ( as in visible teeth ) ?

Paul, Could be the rectifier but could be the alternator itself. Not au-fait with marine engine dynamo/alternators though but if you can see the input side of the rectifier you could try measuring the ac voltage ( although might be tricky as I would guess the voltmeter is expecting 50 HZ ), however any increase in voltage this side of the rectifier will show the alternator is working at least. Would be more than happy to pop down and have a look if you like.

Adam, Awful weekend true, but forecast for next week looks superb though ( on Windguru at least ). Bridge here we come ....

Jack, The smoothies we catch in the solent usually head off like a steam train ! Could be because we are fishing in around 16ft of water I guess but Gordon caught one out on X-Ray and that took a while to bring up as well. How heavy was the tackle / weights you were using ?

Dan, No probs, I will be happy to buddy up with you if you want as well once we get there.

Paul, I will need to have a good hunt around but I did have a voltmeter somewhere indoors. Will let you know if I find it.

Nice one Dan, glad to hear that we managed to put you on some fish. My best thornback from there is a mere 9lb I hope you remember where the mark is as it sounds better than the one I gave you PS: Glad to see the thornback go back to fight another day ( or be trawled up by the inshore trawler )

I did show you how to get 4 bass in around 15 mins though

Yes quite - should't you be shredding conifers ?

Had a good day on Neo ( but still can't manage to keep up with James ). 4 Mackeral 1 Dogfish 4 Pollack 4 Bream 2 Mullet 1 Tope 4 Bass 8 species 155 points.

OK try now Video link

Bull Huss

who cares ! - 4 points each either way tomorrow

Picture of Sam Chapman with Mullet from the harbour ( not bonefish but mullet ).

Took a quick video of Manatee fishing on Friday Manatee - at distance

Nah this is a dog - easy to spot the difference ( sorry couldnt resist )

All the best Dave.

I use ( and Adam and James also use ) a small bilge pump. However, I have had one die on me so far so I am not so sure they are fully up to being operated continuously.

Took Sam out for a trip from Christchurch to teach him how to catch the mullet ( having had Gordon teach me ). Wind was blowing strong westerly so decided to leave Manatee to venture out and "test the water" whilst we fished the harbour for a couple of hours. Caught a mullet and Sam got his first mullet on spinner although the fish weren't exactloy jumping on the hook. Tried drifting further up the harbour to check out what species could be had ( practising for Sunday ) and had a small bass/mullet which fell off before it reached the boat. Called up Manatee and the report was "not too bad although some swell over the ledge". So headed out - up to the ledge the water was almost flat calm but going over the ledge the swell was well impressive, so we plodded over to the "xrayish" mark that I had fished so well with Paul J last week and dropped anchor. Manatee came over and anchored close by and fishing commenced...... Mackeral were jumping on the hook so no need for a live bait tank, we were sitting on a huge live bait tank Feathered up a joey and attached him to a big hook on a long trace ( nice expensive fluorocarbon ) - less than one minute later the rod bent over and a 3 lb bass was onboard. I have never seen Sam put a live joey on so fast Superb start, even Les and Paul J hadn't caught one yet. Sam then hooked into a fish so I was thinking "who needs to go to the bridge eh ! ". However, that was the last bass we had onboard. For what seemed an eternity we sat and watched Paul J haul in fish after fish not 10 yards from us. Even a move for us right by where he was catching didn't help. Still, could have been worst - the weather meant fishing wasn't too pleasant and given we spent 80% of our time trying for fish on live joeys I am sure we sould have got more if we had bottom fished at the same time. ( Sam lost a good ray right near the surface as it wore through his 40 lb trace ). Finished the day with a tope on the last drop and had a last bash in the harbour where we both caught a few more mullet before returning to Wick. PS: The sun fish was spotted on Manatee after moving to the "xrayish" mark but that too decided to avoid swimming anywhere near Neo

It certainly was Paul J's day - even that fish decided to avoid swimming past Neo