Gummage

Two Gordon’s and Andy on Isabella out of Burravoe Cod! Haddock (preferred target), mackerel, wrasse and dogfish and maybe ling. Nobody buys fish on Yell.

Sometimes I m my own boss and sometimes I’m told I’m not. We have a farm standards inspection looming and that is derailing my fishing aspirations a bit. so martin , it may not be soon but I’d love to Be a guest on madness in due course.

Thanks for the interest. Offer noted Mal . You are right Greg . Going on other boats as a guest is a great education . Hopefully it’s good craic as well. Shallow baiter versus steep Ridge? Baiter is what Baiter is . I often go there . I think the hazards are straightforward and easy to understand. Doing long belays amongst the general public requires care and don’t let your trailer go off to the side. But I’ve never had any serious issues there. (It helps if you put the bungs in). The max length you can launch at ridge is 6 metre. Mine is six meter. High tides are 1 hour after the Poole quay tide.Its best if you can use them. I launched with a lunking great merc 90 on my boat we took water over the transom. with the benefit of hindsight I should have instructed my assistant to pull me straight out. In the heat of the moment , once it was uncoupled I used a blip of throttle to heave it off the trailer nd level the vessel up with its cargo of salt water. Later that day my merc exploded in a fireball (see post “It went with a bang”). The bottom carburettor had malfunctioned and dripped petrol . Was it the launch that damaged it ? I’ll never really know. My new motor is smaller and lighter and I always unload all the petrol cans to lighten it more before launching . water can still come into the well past your steering cable grommets etc and onto the deck. Hope you were impressed withtheperformance of my new deck pump the other day Graham. So I. Agree with you Graham Ridge is tricky.

Doh! I was out there. Should have run a squid rig😞

I said to Mal last autumn that I sensed a long lazy Indian Summer was coming . So that didn’t happen but it’s happening now and I abandoned the silage fields for yet another three day dose of Dorset Madness. I towed the boat to a secret location near Wareham where I could safely abandon it to attend the meeting. Great meeting and thanks everyone for making us feel so welcome. The talk was fascinating but I don’t think international fishy fame is part of my destiny. At the meeting Rob helped me form a plan for Wednesdays tidal expectations. Plaice drift on the rise. Visit the patches and get pouting over slack Ebb starts at 2.00pm , drift round old Harry using live bait. what ‘appended waz; plaice drifting but I got distracted by the possibility of a bass from the training bank. What do you know ! I caught one with a rusty metal mackerel but only because he was too young to have good taste. The patches refused to yield bait fish although I persisted tried different spots and stayed too long. on my belated way to old Harry I had a brainwave. Squid ! Colin taught me how to catch squid last week . It only took me two hours . I might get really lucky this time. So I arrived at old Harry with only lures to play with at 3.30. I worked that rusty metal mackerel like fury until the tide turned and rocks might be a concern. These Bass had too much panache about them and dined else how .Sorry Rob, I screwed that plan. A bait robbing baby bream fell to my last chuck plaice rig on the way in Today , after sleeping on the boat again I motored across the bay to the Christchurch ledge. Most others chose plaice fishing off Bournemouth beach. I wanted to try for bream and then whilst it was a big spring tide it had a double high which meant a long period of slack water. Ideal for plaice jigging I thought. The tides did what it said on the tin but the bass didn’t . I had one bite all afternoon and that was off in a flash. The plaice drifters did quite well I believe. Let us know Colin. I needed to beat the falling tide to get the boat out or else have to wait till eight. I stopped a few times as I came back across the bay to try and find a mackerel or two but they are scarce. So it was a blank for me today. But it was two days of solo boating . I beat the tide and got the boat out at baiter slip single handed. That was my win from this trip. Special thanks to Dan Barnes for accommodating E3 and Colin for company, logistical support( worms etc) and tutoring on the solo launch and retrieve.

I only pressed insert on one photo. Don’t know why it published them all again. I don’t believe I can edit them back,sorry.

So ok , I’ve been on the same mud that Graham got stuck on , but Ididit on a rising tide😊. IMG_9563.mov IMG_9574.mov

Ah Graham, a pleasant encounter. You should have had a mention . Don’t you dare publish that screen shot that I sent you a while back.Dont you dare😉.

So what happened on our three day fishing trip bonanza? First of all let’s start wit a spot the birdie competition; my version of where’s Wally There’s loads of prep; light boards ever let me down. Thanks god these work. IMG_9563.mov Gordon valiantly tried to splice an expedition with me onto the end of an overseas break but got delayed ( to fight another day hopefully)…. So proceeded to Ridge Warf near Wareham early on Tuesday. Booked to stop over Tuesday/ Wednesday nights. Intending to cash in on superb weather on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday would be weather dependent . Tuesday on the run out. Almost too quiet Caught up with “ farmer Colin (“ who is a Buckinghamshire (?) farmer who travels down even further than me).. just outside the harbour entrance. I always forget something, I loaded milk , bait ,waders ( for the launch), jack , wheel brace,life jackets, tackle box,rods. Spare radio, torch, change of clothes, towel, toothbrush , nav aids, sleeping bag, luxury half inch thick foam mattress (mattress?), spare wheel, jack, jack handle, spare bearings, hammer , punch, grease, four cans of fuel,change of clothes, £100 cash prize for my crew, vacuum flask of tea , charging cables of the new standard, charging cables of the even newer standard,bait,bait board, bait knife, filleting knives, iced chilly bin and other stuff. But what had I forgot? A box full of goodies and provisions.. that’s what was still on the bench outside my back door. I rafted up with Colin’s boat and and he’d forgotten stuff as well but with combined efforts we produced latte coffees And had a social hour drifting in very light conditions by the training bank lure fishing , lazy lining and dragging plaice gear. I watched the mackerel swimming under the boat but they weren’t feeding. Odd bits were being caught to other boats but Colin and I left them to it . We went to ground further out where he caught squid last year. We kept this up most of the afternoon Colin quickly scored one and I persevered and got my first one ever after a couple of hours. It wasn’t very fruitful. We had three in all. It was a my first and therefor PB for me. We left an hour or so to join the plaice drifters along the shore. Colin caught some quality mackerel there. I had managed a tub gurnard earlier. Left Colin to it and plied my lonely way back to Ridge. I slept over on the boat and got up before seven awaiting the arrival of two guests. Hooky was coming over with supplies and a friend from Pewsey managed to get down. We snacked on the squid before getting on our way. Beautiful glassy still day. Too still Searches around the Hook sands found no fish . I decided to try Peverel ledge where the rough ground might stir some fishy action Mutley was taking it all in . A novice to this job. A steady drift across this interesting ground eventually brought us to Black Bream. With beginners luck Mutley had this beauty . The best of the day We caught over a dozen in the end Beginners luck held and Mutley brought this scrap in Not until I got home and checked the identity did I find out that whilst common in Cornwall it’s very rare in our bay. It’s a Comber. Can’t claim it on the species comp as it’s not on the list yet. A few new species are turning up. It’s great have one on our boat. Other catches; pouting, red gurnard and a string of plump mackerel . Hooky took a head for bait and brought in a Cuttlefish . He used a pouting for bait and it came back macerated by something toothy. No hookup though. We wanted to get our guest back in daylight so sped back at five. Speed limit is relaxed in October so we made good time. Everyone was well happy with that. Sent Mutley home with a couple of bottles of cider to go with his fishes and discovered a flat tyre on the trailer… but I had a spare. Slept on the boat again and dreamt up a plan for Thursday. The falling tide snd the bad weather meant that everything had to be done by 11 am. It gave me very little time to fish but if I got up early changed my trailer wheel and went down the river at 7 o’clock. I could fish at Hamworthy for guilt head bream for an hour or so. That’s what I set to doing But there was quite a thick early morning mist. It seemed thicker on the open water. Anxiety appealed to wisdom urging me to go back. Bravado and a desire to prove that I could handle the conditions said go on . I had instruments after all . The fog would soon lift anyway . It wasn’t on the inshore waters forecast. Turn 30 degrees at the next corner watch the depth sounder watch the garmin and take it steady I passed the post and steered 30 before very long at all I was on mud. Thinking I’d oversteered i steered 20. No improvement then I glanced at the garmin I was way off course in the mudflat then I figured out my mistake I’d made my 30 degree tun one post too soon. I felt very lonely then . There isn’t a higher point in the tide for 24 hrs . I wasn’t in any particular danger but being stuck there would belike bing in the stocks. Adrenalin was high., more embarrassment than panic . I lifted the motor and punished it a bit whilst rocking the boat 1.5 ft depth it took ages but it didn’t stop sliding and eventually I found the gully. That was fun wasn’t it. I was glad I had opted to go up the learning curve but that was enough education for one day and I steered for home. Lovely quiet trip back let’s play spot the birdie again u there he is. uplifting encounter on the cruise home! loaded and away. By 11am who wants to come next time?

If you want to catch one of these…….fladen whites apparently…….both pics ; same brand of feathers!

5 oz😉

Snap…..Peverel wednesday

Well done Duncan . I was out there trying similar tricks . Report to follow.

Cheery news is scarce these days . Thats really great Jim.