duncan

Do log it as Charlie says.

I spole to Rockly this morning and they had not been advised of 'activity' although they usually are - ie it's worth logging it.

Sorry to hear this Mark

Unfortunately people do drive into boatyards and hitch up boats - no one will think twice.

I was pleased to see the barrier in use over the weekend - I had to drop some spanners back late Saturday and parked outside to avoid the hassle. However if there was a camera anywhere it should be recording pasage through this point - and I don't think it does.

Glad you still have her

the absolutely critical first thing to do is check your watch and note the time whilst shouting to the guy overbord to 'go with the flow and don't fight it - you will now be able to work out where he should be at any time in the future. Knowing how long he has been in combined with the mob position of where he went in and the established tidal drift (from GPS after you cut anchor line) will let you work out where you expect him to be as you proceed down the drift line (once established). Equally providing that info to the coastguard will enable them to do the maths and tell you where to find him if you don't connect first time - remember to tell them what your watch reads now when you call to provide a reference point.

At night you should have a handheld searchlight in the cockpit ready (for the eels!) lifejackets on and whistles on the jackets. Anything else is a bonus and shouldn't be planned around in my opinion.

don't think there are an awful lot of electronics outlets on Alderney...?

Wonder away!

You will find that we can get Penn here cheaper than the US but Lowrance are the opposite despite being apparantly similar in brand values!

Both companies have both high value (Lowrance & Penn) brands and good value (Eagle & Jarvis Walker).

Penn seem to have taken the view that low prices secure distribution whilst Lowrance have select high margins to maintain theirs. Whilst you can't blame them for the failure of Simpson Lawrance (?) it realy does look as if Penn got it right over the last 10 years.

Can I suggest you look at the opportunities the Lowrance pricing gives you - I flew all the way to Miami to buy my LCX - 15mt and my equation looked like this:

2 flights to Miami with BA (a deal) 400

1 Lowrance lcx15mt 400

5 star hotel on water(4 nights) 0

(marriott points - they actually take them over there)

food etc - as at home

total 800

uk price (fixed) 860

net profit = millions of brownie points (she spent the 60 but what the hell!)

how's that for win win

yep Paul that's the one that attracted my attention - one of us will have a sample for Friday then!

Do we get a discount on the published prices? and earn the club a percentage? I must have missed something........again!

heres a good site for braid specs - 30lb Whiplash looks to be a real good allrounder to me.....I might not be able to even see any of the lighter strengths!

leslies braids

tacklebargains (who have a link on the ftont page of this site) have some bulk braid that they aren't naming but reckon is good. They weren't able to give line dia but have offered to send me samples of the 17 adn 25lb which I should have in time to bring down for Friday evening. Being a floating braid I suspect it was designed for the carp market but worth a look. It's priced at 46 for 1000yds (28 for 600) and some smaller sizes.

the tacklebargins link on the club site lead me to some quite interesting opportunities; especially in the thicker braids area (28lb at .33 'ish).

Still can't find Antares anywhere yet!

btw Why would I need more than 30lb breaking strain for anything?

anyone tried the new Shimano Antares Braids? THey look very well priced and offer a 600 size which is great for 3 reels. I tend to put a 300 on intact so 'waste'

quite a bit.. I suspect they are in the Fireline camp re diameter - ie a little thicker but significantly thinner than mono.

I am not to worried about diameter as I don't go heavier than 35lb on the grounds that even at 80% for knots it is still stronger than the pressure I can put on it with a rod!

I would love to be able to compare Fireline, Ron Thompson Dynacable, Whiplash and the Antares in 20-25lb strain, but few tackle shops seem to stock them all!

thick braid? Only joking - I know what you mean. I have some 35lb Suffix bulk braid (green coating over white braid) which is pretty thick and I don't enjoy using it anything like as much as Fireline. The Ron Thompson braid looks nice - thin, round and 'tight' but I can't find it under 30 a pop for 300. Looks like more Fireline at around 24 unless anyone has any other suggestions?

Adam - if there is one product that screams for a decent price (club disount!) it has to be bulk braid.

Do you know if he has a source associated with carp / pike fishing already or if he can source at all?

With all the wonderfull new reels that have been discussed on here recently others are no doubt considering the investment for the new season!

you may have to tell the plotter it's sending rather than recieving - will be a menu option somewhere. if it has seperate NMEA in and out wires then you might not.

thanks everyone - got a great picture now.

final question - where to get the sandeels - anyone got an old trawl spare?

yes I say the tuna tubes and had a good laugh - I am sure they would work well with mackerel but they replenish as they fish when we tend to down anchor or drift one rod with a livebait rather than leave the livebait and fish another rod for more bait.

I have got a cloche - stainless inside of a washingmachine - which I had forgotten about! Thanks for reminding me. Looks like cloche inside big tub with aeration and the occasional water change when travelling and over the side when fishing/anchored.

Good aeration gear? Source?

I am fed up trying to keep mackerel and pout alive in a bucket (even a really big one strapped to the bathing platform!) and as I fully intend to get out and fish more this year I want to consider sorting something out. I don't even bother getting sandeels 'cos I don't expecct them to survive lon enough to make it worth while.

How would you go about it and what pump would you use?

My thought so far -

I already have a water pick up in the form of the sea toilet fitting so I sort of thought I could put a Y into that rather than drill more holes in the hull .

Under the helm seat is a large plumbed sink - great for use as a beer cooler with water and ice but not a lot else. Appprox 3 ft x 18inch wide and 18inches deep. Could I plumb water in through the bottom plug hole and then attach the existing drain pipe to an overflow up towards the top? This would then give constant recycling - is that enough? Would this be better than an aeration unit in a 15/20 gallon bucket?

ah well if you are going to get picky Bob - I believe it is techinically an offense to fit a non approved (CE Marked) unit to your boat.

long discussion with ICOM Europe on the www.ybw.com forums about 3-4months ago about exactly this.

the channel things as above and also there is another hardware difference around the DSC as well - doesen't effect basic functionality though.

Suggest a specific search on under the US reference number over all the forums for last 6 months.

personally I would take advantage of the all these people trying to lend money at low rates and get this one instead - different league and not much more money

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/AIN023 - bluntly you could flog of some of the 'extras' for around 1500 if you were pushed (but again I wouldn't)

in both cases the trailer conditions could be a big factor but a decent car will tow either with care.

Sounds like an equipement weekend might be a good idea at some point.

It's only when you can see the gear side by side and working in your normal envionment that you can really decide what's best for you and where you would compromise (in order to get that Calcutta reel!).

Charlie has, in my view, gone for a balanced 'upper middle' value solution which will give him great performance (and lots of pretty colours!). He has also got top prices that will be hard to match.

I believe that the Eagle 320 (same but cheaper than the Lowrance badge) combined sounder plotter fitted with a Navionics gold chart is the next natural step down in price, and as said before the Lowrance X51 sounder and a Garmin 128 GPS both deliver fantastic performance for their price marks.

but they aren't OSGB36 so why would you convert them like that?

What datum is the charting then? Why don't you think it is WGS84?

A quick check has it a long way off OSGB36 (based on an old Imray C4 I have to hand)

Adam

With your "I'm going to Alderney" hat on just look at the banks and features South of the Island, and the wrecks and deep water channels to the NW - you can spend days working out just how you would fish which bit with which tides!

Beware the use of seconds in the Lat Long - if your GPS works that way fine - otherwise beware.

OK - off you go to this site that contains all the detail you could even need when looking for sea bed features etc etc

You simply click on the point you are interested in (to centre map) then zoom zoom zoom

http://mappe.c-marina.com/partners/ucina/portsearch.asp

Moving the cursor around will also give you the Lat and Long of the cursor in the boxes shown - enter them in your little GPS and bingo - that rock or bank will appear on your sounder as if by magic when you head on out.

Now how do you fish that raised bit on the end of the ledge at N50.41.11" W01.42.08"?

Enjoy

what an excellent picture