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.

How fast an we go on Wednesday (1st oct)?

I didn’t expect an epic answer like that Bob. Glad it’s no lasting damage and an easy fix.

How did your day go bob?

Fantastic! Who wouldn’t want a day like that. Thanks for cutting us in .

I got my Blonds and spotties the wrong ray round especially for you Jim🙄.

Yes , I use WhatsApp . Over fifty names on it now, mostly non members from my other life. All folks who have said, “I might like to come with you one day”. At the push of a button I can invite them all and when they don’t come I can reward them with reports and pictures, sometimes almost live from the action . And so earlier in the week when wives, work and other worries put paid to to any of my contacts dropping the “other life” stuff at hideously short notice ,I once again had no crew for the weather opportunity which was Friday. The good skipper of Looby IV sportingly offered to take me on for the day and plans were made. We went with plan “c”; early trip down 7.30 bridge. Every fishing trip is an adventure . I’ll always associate the Dorset countryside with a sense of excited anticipation and the scene as the dawn broke over Cranbourne Chase seemed to articulate my mood. That’s why I was one minute late Jerry! But not too late for the Bridge The rest of the plan was simple; put the world to rights in the total absence of any political correctness whilst trying to assail the species comp leader board by scoring a bull Huss and/or a thornback dustbin lid. I’ve disguised our secret chosen location by cleverly photo shopping popular local tourist destinations into the background of my trophy shots.😉 suffice to say, with only two of us aboard we didn’t go further than we needed to. We anchored two hours before slack . The tidal run still had spirit for a while. We fished three well weighted ledgers an up tider and two lazy lines. It was fish from the off! (I will one day use that line to head up an Endeavour3 report!) Gurt (Wiltshire term) dustbin lids with spots on. To Jerry l He was pulling another up as the ferry went by. Jerry explained that the reason his lazy line had been out fished by mine was that a tope had eaten all his! Eventually he nearly got to interview it about its crimes as he got it up on light gear but it jumped bail and absconded. The mark produced six species,Rays(Blond or Spotted. I always get them the wrong ray round.) bream , four or five pouting , a couple of mackerel, a couple of troublesome small eels. That’s not six is it.? But there was something else. The wind got up so we went to Swanage and Jerry showed me how to read the ground there. Productivity was down; fish wise I mean. We weren’t short of inappropriate banter. I got far too excited over a two pound conger again and another bream came up The wind got up more. We opted to run round to shelter in the lee of old Harry. It was a popular call and the charter skipper who ran up and anchored just stern of our starboard became the focus of J’s endearments. I tied to calm him as the stag party aboard reached its crescendo. “Just young men having a good time. Like we were once” We stuck it there for a fruitless hour. But you can always pick up tips Like this ; the bucket in the foreground is full of fresh water . All used rigs and lines and ledgers go in there to get rinsed. The bucket in the background is allegedly full of hoodlums😕. Our last hoorah was an east west drift across the Swash and quietly beyond. I was was privileged to witness the first time Jerrys ever done that without Catching a single thing. Seems I did teach him how to do something after all! Four thirty bridge End of play great day. All spic and span again Thanks Looby IV Thanks Jerry Final thought ReWhatsApp. I did a WhatsApp report of little content beyond photos in very few minutes when I got in last night.. very easy and very immediate. This club report took longer, much longer . I struggle with the file handling etc . It’s not such an easy medium. If I had committed these experiences to a club WhatsApp exchange this report would not have been written in this style . You judge. I feel Terry Plaicemat has written the wise words on this. MG

I did put out pbsbac greeting about mid day . Didn’t hear a response so left it . I heard the pan pan but didn’t get the full dialogue i was left wondering if I should try again making sure I was using 25W. I thought a 1W transmission should cover the ledge. Is that right?

Do you remember the first time you rode a bike.Thought daddy was still holding on but he’d let go ages ago. You were on your own ! Scared witless but buzzing with excitement! Do you remember when a year or two later you shot past shouting “look daddy ! No hands” Of course you remember it . It was the year you spent summer holidays with your arm In plaster.🥴 Thats about where I’ve got to with this boating milarky. Today I saw a perfect day but was completely unable to raise a crew from the north. Well many of you think nothing of a solo trip but I would prefer company. But the summer is passing us by 🗓️📆so damn it , I went for a solo trip out of Tucton. I’d heard mackerel were in big time. I’d have a few of those and then use the double high slack water to play shads (or mackerel)for bass. So the fishing went badly as neither trick worked and being overconfident I had no bait. But the boating and navigation was great . Launch and parking on a rising tide was easy except for the wading which flooded my wellies. I elected to get off mid afternoon before the tide dropped. The tricky bit was securing the boat on the falling tide and leaving it to find your trailer double parked. Once I’d overcome that Endeavour3 was rocking like a see saw on her cathedral hull. I managed to bounce her back into the river but there may be a few strands of our fibreglass left on the slip. The stour was running a bit by then but I managed to get the rocket science worked out powered it straight up the carpet bunks from a curved approach . Orbeit it was my fourth try. Got straps etc on . Ringwood to Salisbury was closed and ended up coming home via blandford . But home by seven anyway. Im glad I did that . But id sooner have the company of friends. If your up for a trip on Endeavour3 please apply below. Sorry , no fishy pics😢 .

Looks a bit puffy this week to me. Sorry your plan didn’t come together. I saw it might deteriorate in the afternoon. . I had tried to encourage a moonraker crew to come out at dawn on E3 but they all stayed on the roost.