Paul D

Rob, Interested as to whether your boat is 13 foot or you have traded in the 13 ft one already for a 16 ft one.

Bob, You made a wise decision, we started at the car park and the swell was big enough to make some of the charter boats comment that they were more like "hospital ships" !! ( My crew member was not so good either ). Only fished in worst conditions than that once before and it was worsening as we sat there, so decided to run for shelter. Probably would have got away with fishing the Solent mind as it wasnt too bad in there at all ( Called Gordon and he said it was "a bit lumpy" - it was more like a millpond compared to around the corner .

2 club members got amongst the prizes, unfortunately, I caught my cod a week too early Gordon Holt on Fugazi and Mark Bessant on Nipper had cod which with only 9 fish weighed in put them amongst the prizes on offer, so an Abu Elite for Mark Bessant and an Abu 7000 for Gordon were well worth fishing for. ( Apologies to anyone else who may have been a winning club member that I havent recognised ). Rich managed to spawn a raffle prize of a fishing Rod which he kinfly gave to Dave who had been fishing with Duncan. I managed to blank and Mike caught a solitary dogfish. Neo's trip started off at Lymington and we headed for the needles "car park" escorted by Nipper. The bridge was "interesting" and dropped anchor on the mark we had waves of around 6 foot ( Nipper anchored nerby kept disappearing ). Fished the start of the flood and nothing showing - wind picked up, so decided to head for the shelter of the solent. 26 knots cruise through the Solent and off to "mark2" where agter a while we met up with Gastronaught, Nipper and Fugazi. 4 attempts to hold anchor, then re-anchored alongside Fugazi where Gordon hauled in a codling almost as soon as we had stopped. Left at 3:20 and retrieved boat, off to home to drop off boat and then a dash to the weigh-in to see if we could have made it ( and we would have ). Excellent spread of prizes available and well worth fishing for ( with unclaimed prizes being raffled off ). Congratulations to Andy Robbins and Poole Sea Angling Centre for a superbly run competition.

The catch reports from Nipper so far is :- 2lb "rod breaking" cod to Mark B plus an eel.

All the best PJ, in fact I think I will call you now to see if you have had a fishy start to your day !

Bournemouth getting a point at Bristol City - and I was there

Nice fish Dan. Took me over a year before I bagged my first cod. The fish on your RHS looks a good size too.

Mike, He is welcome to use it on the 28th - if weather is OK then a conger is a good bet and he couild always haul up a prize winning cod No fishing presents here - I go a nice watch which there is no way I would take fishing !

Gordon, Is the next anchor going to be a Bruce one. No more slipping anchor now hopefully BTW: See you out of Lymo on the 28th then.

Mike, Sounds good to me ( I am tempted to say if we get a fish then we return earlier just to be sure to make the weigh in ). Can you PM me your phone number and can arrange the finer details. cheers Paul

Most enjoyable evening and he only mentioned Reading FC once all night

Paul, The oil you have is the extreme version of the XD100 oil. They introduced this after similar problems regaridng cold weather performance. Had no problems last 3 days despite the cowling having ice over it, although I did notice that the engine was smoking slightly. Economy was awesome though. ( Lymington to West Lepe to "Car Park" and back to Lymington and I only used 11 litres. )

I think the other big reason for the lack of water was the high pressure this week. This will cause the water level to be somewhat lower than normal as well. This was the main reason I chose to go from Lymington. Sorry to hear about the prop Bob, also been there myself ( 3 times ), still keeps Propellor Revolutions in business

Another picture

Mike, Weather willing I will be out, although considering where to launch from etc. ( ie. Is there time to launch from Lymington, return boat en-route and then drive to the weigh-in ? )

Large baits Duncan on a trace which you would be proud of ( not one of these flimsy "christchurch boys ones" ) I was fishing 5 or 6 squid on a two hook pennel on the basis of big baits for big fish.

Paul, 3 days of hunting and I found his sister !

Dan, Why not a Lymington launch ( car park is free at the moment ).

Needles on Tuesday ( misty )

Fished on Monday out of Wick with Gordon H on Fugazi. We tried to emulate Paul J's achievements from the Sunday but to no avail. Had Whiting, Pout and Doggies. It was great to fish on Fugazi and the bacon and eggs were great. Tuesday I fished out of Lymington, navigated our way through the early morning fog to a mark that Gordon had given me. Not a bite after 2 hours and still misty but seemed to be clearing so we decided to go to the "car park". Got around the corner and it was beautiful and sunny. Had a few whiting and dogs and my fishing partner hooked into something big but lost it as he had the clutch set wrong. Today ( Wed ), I needed to find crew so a quick call and Mark Bessant is persuaded fishing is better than work. 11 AM ish and we are launching from a beautiful sunny Lymington. Straight for the Needles for another go at the cod. Mark hooked into a hard fighting fish that turned out to be a conger doing a cod impression. Alun J and Paul F ( Sinbad ) were fishing nearby and I mentioned that they would get whiting around 2 hours before the slack and to clockwork they did. We however only caught the one ( to Mark ). I managed to lose what I can only presume was an eel to my 40 lb leader ( bitten through ), so upped my leaders to 100lb mono. Alun J and Paul headed back but we decided to fish the start of the flood and suddenly I am into a good fish. Mark calls "conger" but I was pleased to see he was wrong as it surfaced. "Wheres the net Mark" - err - stuck around the aux bracket !! Net is freed and fish hauled into the boat and a new boat record for Neo is achieved ( Weighed 21 lb on Marks scaled and 20lb 8oz on mine ) so "mission accomplished" from my 3 days of fishing

Quite early in the morning as well Bob. BTW: Thanks for the wake up call

Dont worry Gordon. I will find his brother

Took my Solid-C with the broken tip ring with me to Christchurch Angling Centre today. The owner fixed the rod while I stood there and only charged me a small amount. Well recommended and I can use the rod on Monday/Tue/Wed to catch a few cod. Result !

I will try to get a search page on there as well, but I found some really good books and if you find some which are not already there, then let me know and I will add them,

So why not post the rumour on the world wide web, surely no-one will find it here