alun j.

Well done Paul !! Makes up for last weekend by loads!! We're all dead envious..... as we unhooked dog after dog. A few conger and some big pout for some variety........ and one solitary whiting, and that was a bit small! My hols. start Wed......... and weather looks promising for getting out. Cheers and Christmas Greetings, Alun.

Ditto me ! Not sure of my fishing arrangements yet........ other than I will be fishing. Happy to crew or be crewed! Can I get some juicy worms?? Sat's tide doesn't look set to go out far , but rising atmospheric pressure may help. Omens don't look good........ small tide......ebbing for much of the fishing time; but should be nice weather, if a bit chilly. Alun.

No Gordon!!.........I will not confirm; not ineptness, just lack of enough bait in the water! See you out there........ somewhere! Alun.

Mike, There might have been a bit of squid left on the hook........ but dwarfed by my Poole 'Snakeworms'. Alun.

Well done !

As I lay in bed at 5am listening to the woeful forecasts, I wondered how long PJ and I would be able to stay out....if at all. With the frost washed off the car, we headed to Lymington and first light showed the ominous red sky...... but a beautiful calm morning. LW at the slip but still enough water to launch. I had a plan but was wondering what the charters were planning [ I thought they would have cancelled with that forecast!]... as they set off for the Needles. Flat calm on the Solent so opened Gastronaught's little throttle. Loaded up with lots of big leads , bait and lots of rods, we still got up to 23 kts. and nearly overshot my mark ! ........ because someone has taken away the nice big buoy I had been using. The little wreck isn't quite where it says on the chart but found it in a few spiraling circles and anchored well uptide. PJ had his bait in the water within seconds and was soon into bites........good old LSD everywhere. My first bite was much more substantial, with a hefty line-taking pull that was no doggy; too much 'spark' for a cod, up comes a nice bass..... just a whisker under 4 lb. The next good bite, tearing line off the uptider, had us both thinking of 'lunker' bass as it banged and ran with and across the tide. Even leaning into it a bit more than normal with the heavier tackle for me, this fish took a good 10 mins to get back to the boat......... and up comes a conger , not my favourite fish, but I was impressed how well this one of about 15 lb ?? scrapped! The wind was starting to freshen by 11 but the fishing went quieter, save for the doggies. A switch to using up some big fat rag.......brought another screaming bite; bass or cod ??.......no!....... another conger!, bit smaller than the first. By 1 pm most of the waves were getting white tops so a careful trip back across the Solent with the dodger up and we kept dry . Some of the swells were pretty roly-poly; I wouldn't have fancied the trip later when the ebb would run into the gale! Thanks PJ for the company, skill with the T bar and crewing; lets hope for a whiting trip over the hols. Alun. PS On the slip, charters were just returning...... no cod, just a couple of conger behind the Needles..... it must have been very bumpy out there!

Not much to report from a trip up the Solent to W.Lepe, where we were part of a group of about 8 boats near the buoy. Big tide pushing through requiring up to 2 lbs lead on the bottom and a fair bit of anchor dragging [ it seems to be a stony bottom] Dogfish from the off , fighting like cod in the tide ....... but little else until HW slack, when Adam has a fish on that he's convinced is a cod [ esp. as we'd just seen Fugazi boat one !! Well done Gordon, makes up for last week !!] Bumping and pumping to the net, avoiding tangles with other lines........ then the disappopintment of seeing a ray; nevertheless..... a nice little spotted about 3lb.8. After another hour of dogged action.........a change to use some of my hard dug snakes....... looking for flounders in shallower water. Lots of action here....... from a seemingly healthy stock of school bass. All fighting fit and returned to , hopefully, move down to that bass mark in a few years time..... but no flounder. Thanks for the company Adam; sorry about lack of onboard catering, I thought we'd have been a bit busier on the fishy action. Never mind, nice weather and great day out! Hope to do it all again tomorrow! Alun.

Jason, You'll have to be more specific; what sort of fishing do you want to enjoy?; do you want to trail ?; how many do you want to go fishing with ?? ............ etc. etc. The more you specify, the more focused we can be. Alun.

Terry, Wouldn't you rather go fishing ?? Boat reviews for days you can't ! Tight lines, Alun.

I think I've had too many glasses of wine.......... I'm losing the thread in terms of English here !! Rather talk about fishing and weather !! Alun.

Just the Force 6 forecast for Friday !! Have fun ! A.

Just a quick note before going out for the evening; Today turned out much better weather-wise than any forecast foretold...... a lovely calm and mild start at Baiter at 7.30 ish. and a smooth ride up the Wareham Channel at 20 + kts. I was expecting bites from the 'off' as we fished the top of the tide ....... but it was slow; bites were few and far apart and very tentative. The water was very brown and the pondweed floating by prompted me to taste-test .... no salt at all !! Crabs were present, so it must be a bit more saline on the bottom. After a couple of hours, just one flounder to me and a few bass [ schoolie ??] bites. Gorgeous warm sun and flat calm made up for slow fishing. Further down the harbour was a bit better with a couple more flounders and several bass up to a few inches short of sizeable. Thanks for the company Gordon........ pity I couldn't put you on any of the fish! I think you need to use more bait!! Cheers, Alun.

That's why I'm having to get out tomorrow. AJ.

Terry, Those Lowrance symptoms sound similar to the first unit I had; it kept turning itself on, flashing and beeping [and not working] . After about 4 disconnect and reconnect tries, it died completely. The next unit kept losing its fix and wasn't sorted , even with a new antenna. So, after many frustrating hours at the dealers, I took the offer of a swap to a Garmin. Although the screen is not so big nor as clear, it's much easier to use, quicker to get going and seems to work well but hasn't had much use yet with this weather ! Looks like Sat will be the better day ...... but not sorted yet. Alun.

Hi Terry, Well done on getting out; first report in ages and a couple of nice fish. Could the 'nose-dive' be anything to do with those trim tabs? If they were down too much or pressing too hard, then they'd lift the stern and push the nose down. Are you fishing over the weekend; weather will determine my plans ...... but I will get out somewhere!! Alun.

....or special seaweed?? Withdrawal symptoms might set in if I can't get out this weekend [again!] Forecasts keep changing but Sat. looks better.......but still a bit bumpy to venture out. Are there any whiting in the bay? Has anyone tried for flatties in the harbour yet [ with any success] ?? Alun.

Not where I am, in Christchurch.......... all fuzzy and in the dark !

Rich, Is there a bunch of flowers as well ??; that would impress the other half... esp. if it was tasteful yellow roses. See you there...... Alun.

Terry, Prayers not working ......... having to abandon any plans , as :- i)...... wind seems set to stick in the SW for Sun. morning ii) ..... I'd forgotten to check calender and found there's a family event based around Sunday lunch .......... so I'll save some Brownie points and await a nice big anticyclone to calm down this weather Simon, As you are getting good at coping with bouncing about.......... hope you get a good day; let me know how you get on if you try that 'anchor-grabbing' mark. Gordon, You're on....... if the weather machine is off. Alun.

Hi Simon, Thought you'd be busy , packing shorts and sunglasses! Let's see what the weather gets up to ........ if someone else fancies a trip, we can buddy - boat ; I fancy that mark in the Solent may hold a few cod and whiting as well as bass, ray and inevitable doggies and pout. Tides look good, with a 'gentle neap' flooding all morning after a 7 am low.; no probs. with launch / retrieve any time.

I really look forward to getting out this time of year but am finding the weather always trying to stop me . Last w.end started fine but soon turned stormy [ again] despite forecasts. This coming one is forecast to be rough ...... so let's hope for the reverse. Already Metcheck is flagging Sunday as being better and BBC is all over the place! If winds are in the South and not too bad, I might try to get out of Lymington and fish the Solent on the neap tides [ so might be able to use less than 1 lb. leads]. Anyone like to join me on Gastronaught ?...... subject of course to the better weather arriving. Alun.

Hi Gordon, With the weather as disturbed as your power supply I think anyone will be lucky to get out this month. I'm as keen as mustard to get out any weekend I can manage; you are welcome to join me anytime you fancy a trip in more confined / exposed conditions. I will definitely be getting out somewhere on the w.end of Dec. 9 / 10 as Debs. wil be out in Spain ......... I might do both days !! Alun.

Simon, Hope you've had a good day and enjoy the rest of it ! If I don't see you before............ have a good trip to sunny Florida, catching lots of rays and finny things !! All the best, Alun & Deb.

When I woke at 5.30 to see the stars in a clear sky, as I made a cuppa, I guessed there'd be a frost on the car and gloves and wooly hat might be needed for a daybreak launch. -1 C at Mudeford but loads of 'warm' river water pouring down put the harbour at 7 C so generating a thin misty fog wafting out to sea on a gentle Land breeze. The Yamaha 30 suffers none of the quirks of the 15 and jumped into life unaffected by the cold; super smooth whizz out through the Run [ full of water]. No probs with the new Garmin unit, clear display and easy to use......but it didn't tell me where the whiting might be. Weather forecast was not good, so decided against trip to 'cod park' near the Needles; at best this was going to be a short trip, and didn't fancy a long , bumpy ride back. First stop......... Dolphin Sands, near the 'Table Top' ; not a touch, from anything. The tide was non-existent and the wind was already picking up from the SW. After an hour of this, time for a change.......... a short hop over to the 'Clan........'. With no marks on new plotter, I circled around but didn't find much sticking up; a few buried lumps showed on the sounder, so I practiced anchoring up tide/wind and let out warp to get on the spot. Still no tide [ a long stand of water] but pout soon evident; then something much more substantial [definitely not whiting !]...... could it be cod, bass or ray?? ....NO..... up comes a smallish conger about 10 - 15 lbs.; then another two.....each managing to tangle up the other rods into lovely braid nests !! Now the tide started running east into that further freshening wind ...... too uncomfortable !! An hour on X-ray to finish the morning.....I've found it fishes well on the ebb in the past. Found a small bank and used the the bucket technique to pull the stern round with the tide, bumpy but more fishable . Inevitable doggies but the bonus was a very spikey thornback.........who'd been taking lessons from congers; it kited across the tide, used its thorns to pick up the other braid lines, found a big lump of passing weed and knotted the whole lot together.....AGAIN ! By the time I got sorted it was time to get back before the Run emptied; impressive breakers over the Ledge required some careful boat handling to get an appropriate speed. Quite twitchy but Orkney always feel a safe boat. So........ no sign of any whiting for me. A friend was further out towards the Needles and found two sizeable ones in an even shorter session. If / when the weather relents........ I'll be looking forward to trying over that way. Looks like squid for dinner, Alun.

Last minute change of plan due to weather; Spare seat on Gastronaught for a morning after whiting. 7.30 from Mudeford , back for lunch about 12.30. Alun.