duncan

really pppretty - hope you have it well trrained and can get it again next SUnday?

well Billy I have been advised that there is an excellent run of Marlin and Sailfish currently so the best thing I can do is troll large surface lures around Poole Bay at 8knots alternatively if you just want the kudos of winning the competition then the winning specimen is likely to come from (1) red mullet (2) pouting (3) doggy (4) whiting (5) wrasse (6) bass with a ray being an outsider but not to be ignored! otherwise just enjoy the day fishing for cod..........and taking what comes the pool, being for the largest fish rather than specimen as I now understand it (?) , should be snaffled by a conger (round) and a turbot/brill/plaice (flat) - if the sea is dead calm - or flounder ('cos so many will be fishing for them) if not. All very boring and predictable really............

no doubt x marks the spot Trev! Don't be surprised if you have a string of boats following you out next week! What sort of size was this beast?

Adam - Xray is interesting, and the scale of the ground features not disimilar to 'the gully' (not the Ledge one - the other one). Key message being that big features don't always mean fish holding. The specific nature of the ground and the surrounding terrain seem to have a big impact as, for inshore marks must the currents (I suspect xray may be a current thing given it's position......?). Good examples of that are small features in otherwise (large) flat areas. Next time I am over that way I will run some patterns.

Thanks Mike - great idea; and a good explanation earlier. Have to admit that we don't have anything handy in the cockpit for this purpose at all and it's obviously a shortfall I will resolve.

Charlie - I think you will find that below 10hp and/or a certain design speed you don't need qualifications on the continent - but there are variations in different countries as you would expect! I will be honest and say that I don't support the general premise that everyone should be qualified to a certain level who takes a craft out on the water - basically because with a modicum of education you can get out and start experiencing and really learning but people capable of passing their Yachtmaster Exam can't know it all and will still be learning. IN other words you are never 'fully qualified' but can be extremely quickly 'basically safe'. IN this I accept that we might be agreeing when we bottom out 'modicum of education'. Taking a boat out is a state of mind (not ZEN!) around consideration of various factors.

I know it can't be that easy - but have you tried putting them into fresh water? I am sure someone somewhere told me they simple abandon home. You only need to pop a few at a time to a bucket of freash as you require them too so you don't end up with a bucket of homeless hermits doing battle!

OK first - I think you will find that the NS is the constant relationship between degrees and minutes with Nautical miles. For EW as you approach the poles each Degree will represent a decreased distance............any chart will give you the relationship at our Lattitude (but I don't have one here at work!) With the increasingly hightech equipement we all seem to be carrying the actual interpretation of the image is rather critical first step to where to fish, how, when and then moving on to where you what to position the boat and finallly where the anchor needs to hit the dirt! This makes fishing and anchoring a wreck seem easy (as it has less steps!). I will look further into the colours for you too Bob. I will let you know more about that area to the left of the origional picture on the evening of the 28th 'cos that's where I plan to fish (weather permitting!) Is there a non secret relatively small feature near Poole Harbour entrance that members would like 'sonar mapped' for more detailed discussion? Lobster Rock for example or the area at the end of Christchurch Ledge (bit big really)?

great post and a whole load of info. Shows the difference between regulation and advisory very clearly though - no half measures in the regulated environment! In our case I don't think I comply with 9 (but don't understand it!) and have only 1 space blanket on board :0( .

seems reasonable Bob - gives that pinacle / bank a base of around 25ft and therefore a seriously steep slope! As suggested by Martin this particular bit would probably fish better by drifting for fish holed up in the shelter than any expectation of bottom feeders 'hanging' to it? Looking at it this way I would look to put my baits further left. On the ebb however I would have thought the flat area (to the right on screen) a reasonable holding / feeding ground. The calculation you refer to can of course enable the calculation of where to have the anchor to get the boat where you want the bait.......... something the professionals seems to know instinctively but always seems to much hassle for the occassional to bother with!

no waves - we ran back in at 30 plus knots! colours are Lowrance standards so the info from the sea angler articles on the LCX range will be relevant (LCX used for data) but I can up or down the colour map so without a reference. here is the same sample but in the origional colour format as best I can - had to use a .jpg sample so it's a bit bigger. Also havew give a couple of reference points for those that want (can) work out the scale - ie how wide is that pinacle - 10 ft or 100ft!

I liked the way he was equally happy to chuck it 40 yds down tide/accross/whatever - it worked though.............

Adam, Firstly I don't have a colour sounder! My B&W sounder enables me to record the actual input sonar data, combined with the GPS data, and Lowrance provide a software program to view this. That application works just like the unit settings, even down to sensitivity and surface clutter, but is being driven by a 3Ghz PC and displayed on a 42" plasma screen (or at high res). This particular image is a screen grap to paint then convert to gif (small file) for display on the site. Charlie has the same capability I believe. Because of the way it works you can actually import the file into a spreadsheet application and, if you have enough data, it will spit out a 3d map of the bottom - haven't done this though. Re ground - as Billy hints you need to know the boat speed to really understand what's being shown on the screen - Christchurch ledge at 40knots shows as a pinacle! We all get to relate this on our own unit. I am in Edinburgh right now but will give some positions from which distance can be calculated - for reference however the boat speed was 15knots on the button.

yep that ties in - the 66ft above that pinacle was at high water Sunday last. it was here that we lost 6 fish to breaks on the Sunday of the coloured water, and Charlie had 7 conger, so maybe it's an opportunity for after dark some time? also a 15lb bass taken there at the same time - again those conditions were so different............... just thought it an interesting picture to discuss - the gully looks so boring relatively but...

left/right - the boat is running along the line taken by the tide. having the exact position of everything available means that if you are any good you can actually position the boat very exactly relative to the features by working out the angles and back to where you want the anchor 'in' then add a bit uptide ('cos you can let out more easy enough). Fishing it on the flood (right to left on the screen) at anchor would make it interesting as you dropped the bait back - if you got it wrong it's just going to sit in the face of the bank I presume. On the ebb would you try and fish the scour tight in to the face or ?

...my gratitude! OK you have seen these in mags - and it's always so much theory - so I thought you would all appreciate the option to show your skills. The following is a sonar image recorded running down the tide (West to East) across an area Charlie introduced me too as 'the banks' The overall depth is 83 feet and the highest 'pinacle' comes up a staggering 20ft as you can see. Now, where would you position the boat to fish, how and why? As I have pointed out before I am happy to run these over 'favorite spots' for club members if they wish, and I can direct you to the software that enables you to place your mouse cursor anywhere on the image to get the depth and exact position (lat/lon)............enjoy!

you are going to get one hell of a big knot using this with 50lb line! I find it excellent with light snoods and aberdeens but at 50lb I will be using the round turn &uni, and probably a heavier hook too. Alternatively the palomar.

brilliant Bob - could spend hours looking at this one. seriously powerfull images that bring these knots to life - look forward to expanding to rigs but wonder if some of the plaice gear I have been hearing about might be too much!

He may well be Bob - but I think he popped in to vote in the poll (one more has been registered) and felt like saying Hi

I too struggle to understnad how the knots differ when finished as the initial twists surely pull out? however I do find that these twists help the knot pull up better. For connecting braid I tie it (1) with a round turn and (2) using a doubled over line - ie. in a loop on the end of the line. I got a lot of failures at swivels before this addition.

Got out Sunday for a brief session in the morning..... Scrapped the ice of the screens eventually and headed off into the sun across Poole Harbour - great conditions. As we headed out conditions found us reducing speed from 33knts - 25 - 20 - 15 for the last bit - what happened to the light winds? Wasn't bad but wasn't flat! Fished the area Charlie called the banks and found - dogs, dogs whiting and dogs with a smoothie thrown in for fun Tide just didn't seem as fierce as we had expected with 24oz holding pretty thick braid fine (50lb XDS). Cod didn't seem to be the catch of the day for many. Did a quick survey of the immediate area to understand better where exactly to fish it. Once I have uploaded the file to the PC from the memory card (kids have lost the card reader..... ) if any members want the file and the software to view it please let me know - you can get the exact position (DGPS data), bottom depth and feature depth of any features you wish simply by putting the mouse over the sonar image - I have of course deleted all the fish to protect the innocent!

I think this is an excellent idea and when reporting into BFM we should highlight the issues and hope that more follow. As said closed comps allow the club memebers to put the return of fish above accurate weight in comps - where frankly it should be - but competitors in open comps can reasonably expect 'exactness' and fairness; so the committee have to deliver. Your poll post desn't draw the line anywhere, and therefore excludes LSD and Huss as well as porbeagles, threshers, hopelessly lost blues, tope, spurdog and smoothies............I don't have a problem with any of those but some may suggest Huss and Dogs a step too far! Whatever I think it an excellent solution to a potential problem bought about by the warm water conditions. Once the competition committee agree clarity about the rule is all that is required in a fair implementation and clear communication.

this reminded me of the recent huge conger incident...... the one that didn't get away

Couldn't agree more Charlie - I am fortunate and wouldn't think twice about returning a shark/big tope on the 28th. I can see others that could have a lot more anguish over it! The club wouldn't normally have an issue I suspect - how many tope or sharks have been caught in the clubs November open before? Allowing the angler to be credited with say 75% of the estimate by an independent skipper and returning such a fish rather than weighing it in is the sort of thing that enables the principles of returning fish - again I emphasise I am only raising the issue in respect of large tope and sharks; and definitely not eels!

starting to wonder if the 'take' the Sunday before last that saw a 100lb brand new wire trace 'parting' could have been one of these big brutes? This one in particular stood out as it was a rod in a holder with the drag slackened a bit but not loose, rod just bent over and wham, slack in around a second later with the wire trace cleanly cut ........ Could we consider whether we would have to bring such a beast in on the 28th if 'landed' or whether photographic evidence would be appropriate for certain species with the competition committees decision final on adjudgement of weight. What an earth do you do if you land a 50lb tope at 1000h on the slates? Conger will survive and most of the rest are either pests or food but given the current water temperature shouldn't we set an example here? Maybe getting the skipper of another boat to witness the fish and it's release for specifically tope and sharks?