Swainiac

Here in Hampshire, we never had the benefit of airborn ops!! Ive done a few nights with the EA boys at redbridge, bagging salmon poachers, stealth and nightsights were the order of the day...not helo and nightsun!!! Still........good to see marine crime higher on the agenda Rich

Trev, have DEFRA published any papers on this?? I know from my work as a WLO in the old bill, thats some studies are available to purchase prnted by HMSO. I may start trolling around car boots for a half decent microscope, I genuinely would like to get into this. Maybe scan ebay?? Speak soon. Rich

Okey dokey.....

Round ..round..get around he gets around!!!! Oh did i mention...i was in california recently!! Give us a job Bob!!!! <ggggg>

I think my dad must have been a polar bear, or at least thats what my fellow mobsters used to say down south, Ive worked in harsh conditions down in the south atlantic, with wind chill of minus 47. Layers are the answer here, in dry weather. When the weather becomes wet, its a different story. The outer layer must be 100% waterproof, then thin layers of NATURAL materials, or pateneted thermal providers. I use silk socks, but i must admit the new sealskinz socks and gloves are second to none. Floatation/survival suits are a must for open boats during winter months. My primary consideration is how long can I survive if I do go overboard. Even if you went in today, sea temperatures being at their possible highest for the year , or just dropping, you will only survive about 20-30 minutes before hypothermia sets in, so in jan or feb, you've got about 10 minutes before you go groggy! Not long to turn a boat around in what could potentially be a building sea, get a throwing line, coil it, throw it, miss, re coil re throw etc. I like a few other members have a Penn flotation two piece. Purely as it was the least pricey, but gave the features I require. As adam says, you can wear the salloppettes alone with a fleece and they also double the insulation around the trunk, while still allowing manoeverabilty. This works for me. Another consideration is the science behind which part of the body loses most heat, the head loses around 20% of total body heat, thighs are another big loser with figures around 30%, so a hat, and decent thermals under ure salloppettes are the answer in extreme cold. Fighter pilots wore stockings under their flying suits during long winter missions, im not advocating cross dressing here, but again, its layers! Hope this helps...Rich

I think this has been covered in a thread by Alun J........I'll eat anything, but I do like huss, doggies, and Ray. Years ago...in the 70's we were given tope spurdog and huss regularly, and they are nice to eat. With the Tope and spurdog under pressure in our waters, I havent eaten one in years........I havent even seen a spurdog since I was 14!!!! Rich

adam, if u need crew, I'm also getting cabin fever!! The wrist is slightly better, maybe Potland Harbour?? Rich

Trevor, way back in 1984...when I was a boy during the war, <gg>, I took part in a study of the Pike population in a three loch system over in N. Ireland, close to Londonderry. We caught, weighed measured, and released Pike from fingerling size, v difficult to catch!! to upper thirties, quite easy. Catches were mapped, in each water, and the results were read by a student at Queens University, for his dissitation. It read very well, the population was ideal, like a pyramid, loads of pike in the 0-7lbs bracket, slightly less in the 10-15lbs bracket......all the way up to one beast of a 37lber. Im sure if club members take scales, bag em, along with maybe a grid where caught, state of tide etc, we can build a usefull study in a very short time. Out of interest, what type of microscope is needed?? Rich

......................Probably, more water inside than out!!!!!!!!<gg> Rich

Go james.......go James.......go James!!!! Giood luck, tight lines, sell me ure boat <gggg> Rich

I shall duck after posting this..........BUT........I regularly eat dogfish, skinned and filletted early after capture, they, along with Bull Huss and skate, are my favorite fish, Bass and beam coming in a close second. Specimen wise, there are still some huge garfish floating about, but conger, bullhuss, a late mackeral, or even a stray bass double will play a winning tune at the prize table. Rich

I hear whats being said, although bass of double figures tend to be "wooley" in taste, compared to say, a fish of half the size. The large Bass I had, last year, really had me in a quandry, as the trip hadnt been such a success for me, and selfishly, I thought of the table. Looking at the fish, and hearing others thoughts on the boat, then remebering how larger bass have tasted on our table as kids, I decided she would go back, and truthfully, I felt glad when I saw her turn and swim back off to the deeps. On the subject of scale reading, Is it difficult Trevor, or can a mere mortal muppet such as I learn to do this fairly accurately? I'd love to take part in programmes such as the Shark tagging one, or a Bass size/weight/age study, as this really interests me. Is there a specific place/method of where one removes a scale, how does one lift a scale? Maybe, we can start a record sheet, purely for club records, of fish sizes?? We certainly have some good fish recoreded across the area, and seasons, I personally would love to learn this skill, and play a valuable part in bass conservation. Food for thought........not the table<ggg> Rich

Looks like this one floundered a bit Duncan!!

When weighed ashore?? Was this fish killed??If so, shame such a magnificent fish wasnt allowed to swim.... Rich

Best of luck Dave.......I searched the Bass Pro shop in a vain attempt to source exactly these...having seen the quality of the nets Bob F bought home from stateside. I did bring a catalogue home with me, and they did appear in there, although Piemeister currently has it, so I cant give you the cat. no. If needs must, I'll get my net needle out and make some up, if we can source a high quality string to use. A three foot deep net, two foot acroos takes about 3hrs to knit by hand, I still make all my ferreting nets, they outlast any shiop bought one. Rich

How mad are we??

Paul........you've some serious explaining to do!!! I cant read new posts without having a bash at the penquin!!!! ps. still sub 1000 <g>

Jack............another small pointer, bearing in mind that u are filling the spool entirely of braid, I use my braid for one year, remove it, turn it back to front, then respool, hopefully giving you unused braid on the top on the respooling.....far more cost effective than buying braid...using a third of it, then bunging the rest, which is potentially spankers. Rich

Have his fingers healed from the last time he nabbed 'em in the till??

That said.................I only managed a mere 897.0 <ggg>

Sam...................from experience, I know this one will come in handy for that first tour of the South Atlantic.......those falkland winters are cold and long, so a little clubbing goes down well Rich

Trevor.......give Adam a nudge, he organised the one we all did. Rich

Hiya Jack......why go so heavy?? 43lb is hoooooooge! I dont even conger fish with anything more than 40lb, and the majority of fishing is done with 15lb braid, infact, all three inshore reels are loaded as such. I only have 40lb on my 7000ABU, for heavier weights really, not heavier fish! Another point.......be sure to back off the reel correctly, before loading your braid. Braid will dig into mono, with use, so if you back with mono, join the braid and mono....then bind electrical tape or similar around the mono...and wind on your braid.....if you have 150m of braid on the reel.....you wont ever reach this join...then the braid wont dig into ure mono....hope this helps As far as joining a leader to braid, I use the nail knot, to form a loop on the end of the braid, and another hitch...name escapes me, finished witha three turn uni, to secure the mono......it has never failed me. Rich

No,no,no Dave..........Rugby is the Game played by 30 blokes with odd shaped balls!

Dan, speaking from a non boating point of view, I monitor fuel consumption on the company vehicle quite closely, and have yet to return endurance anywhere but inconsistant! I dont drive at warp factor ramming speed.....unless going fishing of course, and find that different runs produce different mileages. I drove back from Derby...and gave a return of over 500 miles for the tank........on similar runs of similar distance, Ive returned far far less, the shortest distance being 265 miles!! It follows that sea conditions are never identical, wind speed, tide speed, boat weight, etc, so I doubt vey much that your fuel consumption will vary drastically unless you are accurately measuring useage in the first instance. New engines tend to run better once worn in, then gradually worsen over the ensuing years of useage, so I doubt whether you'll trully know if the fuel consumption alters to a significant degree, unless you strictly monitor what goes in. Rich