Paul D

Nice fish Kam. Shame it was caught on a charter or would be a possible fish of the month I think.

All the best to both of you.

Dan, PM coming your way When are you planning going - I would love to give them a bash as well.

What happened to the cooker Gordon ? We had a similar story with regard to the fish coming to the uptide rod. BTW: How did Fat Chance get on - I didn't hear if they had got into the rays as well. ( If not I have a theory as to why ! )

Added a few more fishy pics to the front page. ( Thanks to Duncan for the "tweaking" ).

Wow - that is really impressive Duncan.

Nice fish for a first ray - well done. I had only caught a few Thornies before I went to Burnham yesterday !

Made the trip 2 years ago without much success. This year though was a whole new ballgame. Neo went Nuclear Left Christchurch at 5:15 AM, met up with the others at Blandford and then off to sunny Burnham. We launched and headed out past Hinkley Point to a bank where OOTB had already arrived with their buddy boat. No soon as we started Bob dropped a fish and then I caught a small conger ( first of many ). Bob then proceeded to catch a succession of thornies all around the 5lb mark. I had just the one ray before the tide slackened. In the meantime I was having trouble finding my car keys before realising that they were in my waders. Bob was repeating "Oh my god, oh my god" as he realised that the keys had been hanging from the pocket of my waders as he washed them down earlier over the side of boat ..... - phew ! As the tide turned it was staring to rough up a bit, so we headed with the local boats to a more sheltered mark close by the power station. Slow start but then the fishing came alive. This time I had a succession of rays ( mostly to the uptide rod ). Bob finished the day with a ray on each rod - accompanied by the "fish horn". Our best fish was much the same with rays of aorund 8lb 8oz ( Bobs was slightly bigger more like 9lb ). I also caught my first ever Bull Huss - they get rather aggressive don't they ! It is great fun being hooked into a fish and not knowing excatly what you have caught until it reaches the surface. Fishing in a sandy soup. Throughout the day we had been playing "Guess the water depth". The mark we were on has 18ft of water to start and when we left there was something like 38 ft of water. We then headed back for the slip with Neo skippered by Bob, who seemed quite impressed with the way the boat handled. Back at the slip even managed to retrieve Neo from the side of the slipway using Honda Civic power instead of tractor power. Fast trip home ( following Fat Chance ) arriving back in Christchurch around 9:45 PM Many thanks to th Burnham guys for an enjoyable day, Adam for arranging it all and to Bob for the good company throughout the day ( might have been different if he had lost my car keys and trailer lock key though )

Change of plan - no need to go to Bob's so Tesco at 6 AM then. Christchurch depart at 5:15 still I think ..... zzzz

Get him to take his boat and he can follow me up as well ( Will leave around 5:00 from Christchurch , should be at Bobs around 5:45 ish ).

Fed up repairing the prop each year, so going down the stainless route now. Upside is :- Should be far less repairs needed. Downside is :- Rich can no longer call me "FatWallet1" !!

So what's the plan with regard to times and route of travel ? Also, if anyone going ( Bob ? ) has a spare wheel could I stick with them in the convoy as I have no spare at the moment.

It is busy this month. In fact I need to buy a new one now

Tom, Try uploading a smaller picture. It is probably timing out during the upload. Also, I find mine fail if I upload the raw jpg from the camera. If I open this in mspaint and then save as a new file ( jpg file ) this uploads OK.

Took a friend from work out this afternoon. Beautiful in the harbour but pretty lumpy outside. Gave him the option to turn back but he was keen so headed for the "car park" on the ledge. No other boats there this time ( we were the only ones mad enough I think ! ). Anchor down and striaght away into fish. Nice 1lb 12oz Pollock to start. Then a few doggies and my friend lost a good fish. Put some groundbait down and results were almost instant. 2lb 4 oz bream onboard, then had a smaller one of around a 1lb. My friend then caught one also of 2lb 4oz ( his first ever bream and he was well happy ). Then I was into a better fish. The solid-c rod was rattling in the rodrest so I grabbed it and it slipped from my grip - almost went over the side but somehow I grabbed it. 2lb 12oz bream onboard. It was starting to chop up worst, so headed back for home. Not bad for 2 hours fishing in lumpy conditions.

You E-Tec owners out there ( Paul J, Gordon ) who have scratched skegs, I have some blue Evinrude XP spray paint and it matches the colour really well. Plenty in the tin, so if you need some let me know.

Was thinking of getting an Express Stainless Steel propellor as made by Turning Point Propellers. ( and sold by Propeller Revolutions ). They make new style hubs from a composite type material and the old style hubs are made from rubber. Old style hub prop is

One to keep an eye out for :- Catagory: Motorboat Make/Model: Orkney 520 Craft Length: 5.2m HIN/Serial No: GB-ORK140951607 Datatag: Date theft reported: 20 Apr 2007 Theft Location: Poole, Dorset Description: White hull & cuddy with grey cover & name 'Francis on cuddy sides.Vessel powered by Yamaha 30hp outboard serial no 69H-L-10063595-J

No glass cubicle, it was done over the phone.

Went pretty well I think. Mentioned what a wonderful club this is, despite having Royal supporters in our midst !! Tried to get in how many members, website address, catches recently, competitions and the safety aspect of the club. Helen listened in and said I could have sounded more enthusiastic - but it was 6:45 AM will be back end of June, the Friday before the 2nd comp which will be the first competition for the BFM, so will mention this.

BTW: How big was it ? - Are you going to fill in a catch report form or remind me of the weight again ( I couldn't remember from the Dinner Dance ) ? cheers Paul

I will be doing a talk on Radio Solent around 6:30 AM ish ( more likely 6:45 ish ). As this is the first time on, not sure what the format will be but it is under their "Salty Sea Dog" section ( or something like that ) ! I think it will revolve around what the benefits of the club is. What the Fish Recorder does, What we have been catching lately ( ie. Bream and Bass showing plus Pollock etc. ). How the winter went ( ie. Good cod to some ). etc. etc. Should be interesting to see how it goes.

You will need to size the photo to the size you want it posted as. ( ie. The one you have posted is sized to that size ). I can make it bigger though in the browser. - Just editing now .....

Dan, You will be legal re: weights, since you have an unbraked trailer and this cannot exceed 750 Kg whatever licence you hold. Your car will be heavier than 750 Kg ( although worth checking what the manufacturers quoye for max unbraked ability )

What bait / tactics etc. are required ? I presume it is the uptiders with Squid / Squid and Mackeral baits ? Any tips gratefully received ( but I am banking on Bob F knowing what he is doing )