duncan

not sure if it's a W; no good reference points in the picture........... however on balance you are probably right

Crazy Fred - hadn't looked at it that way - I was impressed by the way she was thumbing the line neatly onto the spool without even looking at it - lesson for us all there.

whilst I have added this to another existing thread a pitcher of margaritas has convinced me it has more in common with a Happy Christmas than catching common skate in Poole Bay..............

Very Pretty - but a touch confusing! Oh well - HAPPY CHRISTMAS

new club record Kam - or were you on a charter boat?

now come on Jack - everyone knows monks didn't get 'rations'.......... anyway, in the best traditions of this forum and managing the best link I can.......... do you think this would be appropriate tackle for this 'beast of Poole Bay' ?

Fantastically usefull tip Rich - if only someone had given it to me 4 years ago........ Tom, thanks for the offer but I think I have missed your deadlines. As posted above I am without mobile (and currently in Edinburgh.....) but will try and give you a call on your mobile tonight when I get home (before 2100). Appreciate it can't be done actually on the boat - had somewhere in the back of my mind it could be done by a 'mobile workshop' set up and thought I had seen one around over the last couple of years somewhere!

Adam, I haven't seen what they are feeding on this year ( ) but in previous years both cod and whiting were feeding on small sand crabs about the size of a 20p piece and sometimes small 'smelt' about 1-2 inches long - based on what we had to clean up after boating one. Actually put one of the crabs back down on a small hook and got a whiting straight away once.

Thanks Charlie, it can wait that long! Basically a pair of parallel zips run up the back of the cover over the transom door (conger/tope hatch!) - one zip has self distructed the teeth and the other has spilt the actual cloth of the zip all the way along! Cover itself unharmed so it's remove old zips / bits and sew in new ones........... The cover itself just comes off easily in one piece. ps without a phone right now but should be sorted next week.............

the recent winds, and other incidents, haev meant that I need to get 2 zips around 6ft each replaced in my cover. the cover is on the boat and I don't really want to remove it for a few weeks at this time of the year to get the job done......... Any suggestions / contacts ?

great discussion thread! my preference for bait/rig is a small live pout every time - best of both worlds! OK you have to catch the pout but that can be fun too! I have also rigged standard cod traces with both large sonic/vibro spoons and small bar pirks in line about a foot ahead of the bait. The former add quite significanlty to the drag on the retrieve in tide. I haven't used tehm enough to be able to assess any benefits but will certainly be using them when the tides running. Finally glad to hear that there are cod 'round West' - never seem to target them there in winter.

according to Dave they were reasonably common (sry) in the bay - I am sure he will be happy to chat about them at the next club meeting.

'waxing' I believe Mike - and an amazingly smooth link back to your tights..............

we were around! more to the point where were you? what part of the tide? mackerel cuttle or squid?

Mike, I absolutely agree that even quite small changes in the sea conditions quickly turn the science into a complex art form. Large changes can make it almost completely irrelevant! It's only on those rare occassions that we are blessed with a mirror calm sea that there is ever any question of 'what speed should I cruise at?' those oh so rare opportunities....................

Mike, nope - haven't said that, or implied that, anywhere again I have never suggested that there was - my original post started ".....to arrive back at a working definition of cruising speed (as opposed to an actual speed) for most boats" not sure why you are looking for a fight with me - have I upset you in some way?

Coddy ------- Your ideal theoretical cruising speed would probably be 14 knots (12 + 15%) but up to 21 knots would normally be an acceptable cruising speed from a theoretical economical view. Thus you could consider 14 - 21knots as suitable cruising speeds depending on your priorities at any time - 14 will deliver better mpg but 21 gives you more fishing time! (23 would giev you even more fishing time but no money for bait!!!) In practice this of course translates quickly to 21 knots being your cruising speed if conditions allow................

epics are good too Tom......... I am going to introduce the concept of a theoretical crusing speed in order to differentiate the comfort/boredom etc factors that apply to man from the physical constraints of the machinery - hopefully to arrive back at a working definition of cruising speed (as opposed to an actual speed) for most boats. Recappingon the factors involved from posts above - 1. hull shape and it's relationship with the water at different speeds 2. engine and it's use of power in relationship with hull speed, and therefore fuel 3. other engine constraints Dealing with 3 first many manufacturers recomend a maximum sustained revs for their engines, and some a 1 hour figure too. In my case they are 3100 and 3300 although the engine is govened at 3650 and will normally manage 3450 even when fully loaded. This immediately indicates that any cruiseing speed that fits with 1 & 2 above will be limited to that which 3100 rpm will deliver. Most OBs no longer have any restriction on them and are happy to run at full revs all day long. Dealing next with No 1 above, and ignoring running at tickover in displacement mode, most planning and SD/SP hulls will run efficiently from about their resistance hump speed +15% upwards if on a drive or OB. Where a shaft installation is fitted then over about 18 knots the drag on the P bracket/rudders will start to increase (exponentially?) and is another factor to be considered (but falls into No 2 above primarily). Thus theoretically most hulls will be equally efficient from this speed up and some (deep vs as an example or those with a transom pad or stepped hulls.......) may even become more efficient as speed increases and the wetted area of the hull reduces thus decreasing drag associated with the hull being in contact with the water (drag actually increases horribly as speed increases but thats in 2 as well!) So we have a hull defined lower cruising speed of R + 15%, or 'just planning' and a potentially restricted upper one based on the engines rated cruise, or maximum otherwise. OK so far? Now for No2 and the spectre of fuel consumption. Within the above operational range a good hull/engine combination will have quite a range of economical operation - a bad one could have a very specific 'point' of economical operation. The latter would normally be considered that crafts 'cruising speed'. SD/SP shaft driven diesel powered boats will tend to have a very wide range of operation for similar 'MPG' as will planning craft with engines at the top of the HP range for the craft. Underpowered 2 stroke OB craft will be in the bad category here! Generally diesel and petrol (inc 4 stroke) exhibit different characteristics here with the former delivering similar fuel consumption in terms of grammes/HP/hour over a wide range of revs where the petrol engine requires an increasing amount of fuel to deliver each HP. Add back in the increasing drag factor on the hull refered to above as speeds through the water increase, which is why we need more HP to go faster, and you will generally see a graph of fuel consumption for a petrol engine as an upward curve and diesel as a lesser one (almost flat for a planning hull). This also explaines why a SD hull, which is always working in a high drag environment, will also have pronunced curve to it's fuel consumption as Tom set out above. Finally most petrol engines are a compromise between normal running and max available HP so the Twin Choke Carb (before FI) was developed. As FI is mapped in a similar way we will deal with the simpler concept. Here the engine runs on a single choke (of each carb) up untill a preset point at which a second one starts to open permitting a significanlty increased flow of air (and fuel) through the engine - and therefore more power. Whilst this gives a lovely feeling of acceleration on the boat the euphoria is short lived for those without money to burn.....Typically this happens over the last 15% of an engines rev range. The more econmoically the engine has been mapped to run at 85% the bigger the hit when the 15% are used. It follows for a petrol planning craft that whilst the MPG will be higher at 85% throttle (quite a bit higher) it is still reasonable to consider such a throttle setting a cruising one on many hull/engine combinations. For a diesel the MPG are similarliy close enough right through to it's limit as set out in No 1 although a SD/SP hull will be on curve but the planning diesel should be almost linear over the range - certainly up to 90% revs. As an example I use 0.95 litres/nm at 14knots (2250rpm)increasing to 1.15l/nm at 28kt (3100) and 1.4l/nm at 35knots(3650rpm). I consider my cruising speed to be between 14 and 28 knots. Conditions will of course have an effect on nearly all of the above - hence the use of the word 'theoretical'.

of what's being caught? Can't find any reference to the Lymington Open fished when ours was - anyone know what happened? Is anyone catching cod at all out there; charter reports via Deepsea etc are strangley missing and Decembers SAN is of course Octobers fishing so that's bloody useless too! If you were heading out this weekend what would you target and why? Or should I stay at home and saute the squid with a little pepper, garlic and chilli instead?

a damm good heater and SWMBO in the stockings is a much better way to go surely..........

thought you had to be a new subscriber for these?.............

doesn't matter to you Tom - the set Quest for QII is to break the records with fish of over 100% of specimen weight!!! as you perceptively observered earlier the current records may not be the real targets you need to aspire to in any event to meet this quest anyway.................

hey Charlie - thread drift is allowed on a fishing forum! it would certainly be nice to have the records up to date I am amazed that they may not be reckon you will have the new boat ready for May?

I certainly expect this unless someone gets in early with a really big fish. Please pm me with dates if you have trips actually 'scheduled' and I will see if I have a chance to buddy up. Not sure what I would do about accomadation though (depending on how many aboard) - still it's nice to have options!

whoops - that is of course 2006....... silly me! Tom, Only fish caught on club boats qualify - ie charter boat caught fish are excluded. The brill, and many other, records would be somewhat different otherwise! Personally I think you will need to keep a weather eye on the B team.........given that at least 2 other club boats popped over to the Islands in 2005 for a reccy and I can't see Great White staying away once Sam relaises that a whole weekends fishing over there will be only