Swainiac

Toerag, go onto the walmart web site and see if you can find something on there, failing that Cabbellos, i think it is, if you see something get the serial number, and pm me, I'll see if my mate can get one back when hes long hauling back from florida. Meanwhile, I'll look in my Bass Pro catalogue, see if theres something there. I also have a good friend in the states who is a manager with UPS, so my shipping costs are reasonable. Rich

Is four a crowd?

Who's a mincer????

Duncan, the baby one is the TLD 5, of which I have a sporting pair, fantastic reels for shallow water stuff like Bass and plaice drifting. Rich

Tom, braid coupled wth fixed spool reels ...... excellent combo for inshore stuff, quick retrieve when bringing in for rebaits/unhooking fish, far easier lobbing in cramped occasions......ie trying to get a rod in the water when crewing on Dawn Raider or Blue Warrior!! , even line lay on these newer fixed spools is less hassle than thumbing line on multiliers without level line lays. The only drawback with braid straight through is abrassion on rough ground, but even when drifting ridges etc, you can "feel" the ground far easier with braid v mono. Lever drag reels...........fantastic tools, but how many club members drags are set correctly?? I bet theres a few who still lose fish to far to tighter a drag. I find the lever drag set correctly is a joy to use, far easier than fumbling about with a star drag with numb fingers on a cold day, especially when that one nod of the day results in a hook up......only to lose the fish to a badly set drag, not that I've bagged a winter cod in three winters now!!!!! Richard Seager...............wasn't he in the Silver Bullet Band??? Rich

Simon, if the Sailors Return boozer is open, they do a breakkie for a couple of squid, or take away sarnies from 0700. Failing that, ring BoyBilly, dead early, and ask his missus to bang on the cooker.......he's always good for an early morning breakkie. oooops sorry Billy!!!

Charlie, I for one would find it very usefull to see different steps that you are taking on the new boat, a little like Pete did with Chris' boat. It would be good to see one thread with step by steps on it, like a Haynes manual, it would certainly be a usefull addition to the site for muppets like me who have never worked on boats before. Cracking scaffolding BTW, , and, if you need a hand doing stuff when Sams not about, please give me a nudge, I will be eager to learn from you. Rich

Hi Dave, long time no see, thats a pretty well priced fishery. Are the fish in good nick, or fat and sluggish like most stockies?? Rich

Mikey, where does Pete Russel (Snr) moor his boat?? Thats not a shabby set up, and you can bring the boat alongside the pontoon to stow al the paraphanalia that goes with fishing! Also, Dave Mayne, (Animal, on here) moors his boat a little farther back from petes...........although apparently you have to take a swim from the tenders annually..............sorry Dave!! Rich

Got the pics through from Colin, heres one to wet the appetite for the forthcoming Plaice trip.............

Simon, will gladly crew for you if required. Drop down into weymouth from the main Dorchester road, go straight through to the roundabout by Morrisons or Safeways......cant recall which, I'm usually driving at warp factor ramming sped to get down to the quay!! Take second exit, go round the top of the tpwn, at the next roundabout, you will see the council offices on the right, fire station oposite, take first exit back to go round towards the texaco garage. Next roundabout, third exit along to the old harbour, where all the boats are moored. Slipway is before you reach the little section of road before the lifting bridge. Get there early doors, no slip fees......get there late, lazy attendant is in the hut. Launch said craft, park trailer on trailer park, drive either around to the council offices and park in the slip road by the supermarket for freebie parking, or speak to BB to see if a space is available in the fishing club car park. I dont know where you will be driving from, I will be coming from Southampton, so can maybe meet up on way if application is succesfull!!!!! Tight lines in any case........... Rich

Four fish between ten is better than no fish at all! Nice one mate its always nice to bag a Gurnard, they make excellent eating. last trip we had 34 fish on board with pretty decent anglers, all fish were hard atching, but at the end of the day......thats why its called fishing.........otherwise we'd all be talking about going "Catching!" Rich

Will be there with Maestro and Tom, on board the good ship Quest.........just to see what Toms doing wrong re Plaice!!!! I'm also up for crewing the following weekend Terry, if you require crew, I'm sure we can buddy James if he's out that way. Looking forward to it......with the chance of a fat Halibut to boot!!! Rich

She must have felt like one of the family Charlie, I did enjoy the evening trips for conger/tope..............although I am sure that the new lady will provide a platform for countless hours of pleasure for you and the family. Still, just think of the good old girl each time you fire up the new engine on that beast sat on your lawn!!! We'll have to keep an eye out for her in the magazines. Rich

Many Happy Returns Dean. Rich

Dom, if its a Garmin one, send it over to me, I'll nip into the Garmin (Europe) offices near me, and they will prob replace it F.O.C. They are superb at replacements. Rich

Mike, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that Bream laid eggs in rocks, and rocky areas held the breeding shoals giving better protection for the hatchlings. If the sea bed silts up too much, A it hides many crevices discouraging the breeding shoal, B the build up of silt may take years to disperse, leaving the area barren of bream for many seasons. Maybe the researchers didnt reasearch hard enough! Rich

Dan......don't be an old shirtlifter. Whack a bucketfull of poly bags round it, and get competant crew, and come fishing. Theres enough hands on shore to recover the boat, and Dom can drive you down. Back in the old days when men were men and women were glad of it, a small prob like a bruised ankle wouldnt keep a good angler ashore No, seriously, hope it heals well for you, and that we all have a great day, eat a huge fat boy breakfast, manage to keep it down if the going gets rough, catch enourmouse fish, win huge cash prizes, and generaly have a fantastic time fishing with our friends from B-O-S. I heard that Marks boat can now give Martins a run for his money across the briny, can't wait to crew it. Rich

Good luck and tight lines Tom..........don't drift out of club waters.....we didnt get the flatties where you said in your PM to me. Stay E of the lights They also took small baits, single rag, two inch strip of squid, so massive baits may not be needed. Both fish were stuffed to the gunwhals with bivalves......so anchoring anywhere near the beds should do. Green beads were the common denominator. Rich

Kam, if you do eat them, save the shells and drop them over board next time you're out at sea.......the horrid demise of the hermit crab is due to the smashing of whelk shells after fish extraction........they used to be slung back. Also, check each shell for worms....they often hide in the very tip of the shell!! Rich

If the environmentalists have stopped us using creosote or railway sleepers heavilly painted with creosote /tar mix, or even tannelised timbers near water courses, I'm sure there would be an issue if folk used this chemical without some form of control. Health and safety guidelines may apply to the use of this stuff, but not being a Health and Safety guru, I cant quote. Rich

Tom, pay great heed to the correct presentation of Blow Lug if you are fishing the Burnham comp!!! Rich

Went out on "Flamer", with the Friday Fishers, our monthly species hunt out of weymouth. Fantastic weather, the sun even shone for us. Started drifting the beds for plaice, no show unfortunatley. A change of mark, and rigs, began to produce fish from the of. Being on the back of the boat, I was able to bounce back, with lighter weights, and managed to sqeak out my first plaice, on the dropper. Not huge, but at 4lbs, and fattening up, it was a table fish. All in all, nine species were boated, by eight anglers, 34 fish boated. Pout, poor cod, plaice, bull huss, LSD, whiting, pollack, blonde ray and conger. Best plaice was mine at 4lbs, best blonde went 24lb to Billy Short, no other huge fish, but a great day had by all. Heres to the trip at the end of the month. Rich

Bob, ex barbers chairs aren't a good bet, and dentist chairs tend to leave the deck a tad top heavy Rich

Not a fantastic day, but we did bag a Pike, well, golden balls did!!! I'm just glad James managed to make it this afternoon! We had some cracking Brownies, my biggest went five pounds, Alun had some lovely Grayling, and the Dace and Chub poked in an appearance too. Lovely weather, and good company, good fishing. Heres to next year. Rich