Mike Fox

Have only caught a few Giltheads over the years, and must admit I do prefer them for the pot than black bream. According to the Salcombe fishermen, a shoal got in there over 10 years ago by accident, and they never left over the shallow bar in the entrance. They have continued growing, and nets have had them over 10lb in weight. Anglers get the odd one or two as well - but my attempts over the years have all drawn blanks. Can't imagine the fight of a 10lb bream! Would be very interested in any marks for Giltheads, as this is one exotic visitor I'd love to catch more of! Mike

Well done Kam - and great picture on other thread too. It was a nice fresh E4-5 occasional 6 yesterday, so am not surprised it was bumpy - even in a big cat. Mike

Good, clear summary Pete. Height of reflector is important, and recommendation of 4m is more for yachts and larger craft with arches etc. For most craft in the club, mounting it on a broom handle or similar would be the most practical way of achieving best height. Mike PS If you fit an octohedral one, it has to be in the "rain catch" position to give the best echo.

Happy Birthday both! Mike

Found this clip on another site, and while not entirely practical for mackerel fishing with a paravane in Poole Bay, it makes you realise that traditional angling boats are looking a bit slow these days... http://www.hydroptere.com/ Might amuse a few... Mike

What a lovely trip! Now that sounds a very civilised sort of fishing trip, and everything returned to fight another day. Brilliant! Mike

Well done on another great trip Charlie. The suggestions regarding leading anchor warp back to the cockpit are all sound, and much safer. Some things like this are better demonstrated rather than explained, I suspect! Good fun this boating bit isn't it! Mike

Brilliant fish Paul - would have smashed my PB. ...and as for Charlie - what a catch from the Patches! Nice one. .......and Tomo - sounds one heck of a session. And there was us playing host (on shore) to friends and no boating...or fishing.... Mike

Grim experience Sam. As Kam says, no point in having the kit if you don't use it properly. Am sure there will be an enquiry into the cause, and the combination of good recent weather and flat conditions will be considered, and may have contributed to his decision not to wear a life jacket for a "routine" trip, but it does make you think. In Ireland, wearing life jackets is now compulsory. In the UK, the RNLI recommends wearing them at all times, but they are not compulsory as yet. Let's be honest, most of us don't wear them all the time (me included), but the inconvenience is minor, and could so easily make a difference to your survival. Think about it chaps, and let's wear them more often - before we wished we had. Mike PS Congrats on passing.

And about your lovely new radar reflector perchance? Touch

We took Frisky out for a spot of fun on Sunday, with one of George's friends, James, on board, who had never tried sea fishing before - but seemed experienced with freshwater fish! Where to take a pair of 12 year olds, who just wanted to catch "something"? Dean had suggested a couple of spots near the end of the Swash - but drifting didn't provide much in the way of fish - and the tide was far too strong for light spinning gear at anchor. So we moved, a couple of times, and eventually got into the slack tide of Swanage Bay, where we thought we might have a chance. We lobbed the hook down in 50' ish, and started catching fish from the off - doggies (like last weekend) but bream too! Some nice pan-sized male fish at first, followed by a stack of females (returned) and more dogs - all to rag and/or squid. The fishing was pretty steady for all of us, and lunch was interrupted by bite after bite! Whole squid baits were being shredded by the bream, that were even taking 5/0 hooks in their aggression, but the other species we had hoped for didn't show. After taking just enough fish for dinner, we tried off Brownsea Castle on the way back in, catching James his first ever pollack, and 3 wrasse for me. A great session, with over 50 fish between us, and while no monsters were recorded (well, having seen Gordon's blushes at the dogfish trophy - none that we might admit to !!!!), and a great time was had by all. Mike, Carol and George

I have managed over 10 knots on said slopes Jack...but it's a bit of a white knuckle ride, and totally unsuitable for fishing when it's like that! There was one time the prop was freewheeling so fast, that I reckoned I might have been able to bump start it....but must admit was too nervous to leave the helm to try to lift the decompression levers to try it. Mike

Thanks chaps! A little far for me for an afternoon then... Apologies for delaying your fueling at Coralls on Friday ! Mike (Frisky) Fox

A ball shaped radar reflector would probably have a pretty poor radar "echo", which could explain why they don't normally make them that shape. The larger tube shaped echo sounders have internal metal plates to reflect the radar signal back effectively to the source. If you can't mount it permanently, it could be stored with boat hook, gaff etc along the side of the boat (e.g. on a pole) until deployed. The anchor ball shape available in chandlers comes as two flat black plastic disks, with a slot in each. When the two slots are clipped together, it looks ball shaped from all directions. It can be flat packed when not in use, so can minimise space. Weight is negligible for both. Mike

Ling? I used to love catching ling (and eating them). How far off do you find them? Mike

I love this thread. Being constrained to around 6 knots with my 6 tons and 28 h.p. I have nothing but admiration for anyone who can contemplate planing! Still...I do get good miles per galleon.... Mike

Haha! Thanks for that. I've seen Random Harvest out before...and will now look for the buoy with interest. If anyone asks....I can't read! Mike

I've been looking for pollack to that size for ages! Any more information on where and how caught, please? Thanks, Mike

Brilliant Paul - well done. Any chance of an underlined link in the heading of each column to sort in ascending sequence, then another click to sort descending. Wouldn't want you getting bored... Cheers, Mike

Great fish chaps! However, I have this personal theory that the bream are gorging themselves so much on groundbait, that they don't want my bait. Everyone, PLEASE stop groundbaiting immediately to give me a chance. Thank you. "Mildly Miffed" Mike

Welcome Neal, Unless there's two of the same name, the burgundy colour of Court Jester is a bit distinctive! Seen the boat in Cobb's Quay on many occasion, and must admit to being impressed. Am sure you will be made most at home, and there's loads of tips and hints in the Forum. I expect you've passed our boat almost every time you've been out! Mike (Frisky) Fox

I've used a simple running ledger with a "rotton bottom" for most of my fishing for years. You lose the odd bit, but it's very quick to set up, and with care doesn't tangle too badly. I do find that I tend to tackle up for others as well as myself when drifting over rocks for bream though..... "Mildly Miffed" Mike

Might be worth weighing the chain Jason....if it's heavier than your anchor it would be good. Can otherwise imagine you retrieving via the alderney ring, dragging the anchor up to the ring, then the weight of the anchor overcoming the weight of the chain and plummetting once more to the seabed. Still...what do I know! Mike

Andy, Paul D would have been proud of us today. Anchored off the wreck of the Leny, wind against tide, and we were driven over the anchor cable, and managed to get a turn around our keel. Hauling in was out of the question, and reversing just dragged the anchor (guess we were lucky not to snag anything). After deciding to turn the boat slowly clockwise, it all jumped free, and we were able to haul in as per normal. Glad it wasn't our prop! How do others cope with wind against slackish tide? Haul in, drift then re-anchor seems safest! Mike

Frisky Fox left the mooring for the 7.30 lift of Poole Bridge, and trundled out towards Swanage, making our best speed of 6 knots (plus a bit for tide), in time for our 9 a.m. comp start time. Dropped the hook in 50 foot or so at our Spotted Ray spot (cheers Mad Mike!), not realising that it was going to be like Crufts down there. Dog after dog came over the gunnels to George and I on mackerel chunk or squid, but Carol persevered with rag, and was rewarded with a small Spotted Ray of 2lb 11oz on our new digital scales. I also had my first Black Bream of the year...but a small female so it was returned. We also saw AWOL powering past on the way to a distant mark. George got his best doggie of the day here at 1lb 13oz. After convincing ourselves the dogs were just too voracious we moved out to the Whitehouse Grounds, and did a long drift from there to Anvil...but at over 2 knots it was too fast, and our displacement boat took too long to recover ground. We tried another spot in Swanage Bay, hoping to duck some of the now fiercely ebbing tide, where I had my best dogfish of 2lb 1oz. After this, we tried off Ballard for the Bream, the wreck of the Leny for something interesting (but just found pout), and a spot we know inside Poole Harbour for the bass on the way back, seeing as we saw them chasing sandeels. Not being sure of their size, and not being really rigged for bass, we flicked squid strip and rag at them, and managed 5 schoolies of up to about 14" - all returned - before the shoal vanished. Great to see! Overall, 28 fish, total 5 species. Now, how do we go about recording these monsters for the comp again? Mike, Carol and George