petesnr

I have a mate who's looking for something like this. Will contact him and let you know. Pete

It is so typical that the recreational sector is left completely in the dark as to their position when it comes to quotas. In the past we have been included in cod bans and I assumed that this was the case now. Personally I shall be targeting spotted pollack from now on--mind you it's 2 years since I had the last one! Pete

I'm making a rare visit to the ocean with Clive Tyler. Not sure what his boat is called but will try to make contact. Pete

There will be a cod ban in force from 00.01 on 15th February for the channel sector V11d which basically covers our area from the east to just west of Swanage. This ban is due to the under 10m fleet campaigning against a 100kg per month quota of cod. The minister listened and allowed 1 ton per vessel per month and they have caught their annual quota in 6 weeks. As usual commonsense has gone out of the window and us recreational anglers will suffer doubly since the ban also applies to us and the inshore fllet will target other species such as ray and bass for the rest of the year. The squeeze on the under 10m fleet will eventually lead to a reduction in stocks of many recreational species. The only hope is that the fleet will be reduced in size in the long term. Peter

Unfortunately our friend Mr Shaw misses the point entirely as regards recreational angling and the sustainability of bass stocks. No doubt his scientists can prove sustainability at the present level of fishing but this is a bass stock that has already been depleted of many of the mature fish that anglers desire to catch. The total mass of bass might be stable (although I seriously doubt it) but an increasing number of this mass are immature fish of no interest to the recreational sector whatsoever. The other point is that this sustainability is based on a series of good breeding years (this is scientific evidence from Mr Shaw himself). This means that in the event of poor breeding years sustainability is not guaranteed. The bass is a slow growing species and will not recover quickly if this happens. Judging by the ponderous nature of policy change I can't see the ministry responding quickly enough to these natural fluctuations in recruitment. Still look on the bright side with measures to protect tope the majority of sea anglers who we know fish from the shore will be happy in the knowledge that if they can cast at least 3 miles they should be in with a chance of some good sport--if the longliners off the Western Approaches in international waters haven't had them all........ Peter

Having recently burst a blood vessel over the reply supposedly penned by our fishery minister Mr Jonathan Shaw to a letter sent on behalf of the Poole and District Sea Angling Association in which he states that Recreational Anglers views have been taken into consideration when refusing to increase the MLS for bass I can well understand the frustration of the charter skippers locally to Mr Carriers attitude to the 12m byelaw. Mr Carrier has stated in public in the past that he believes that anglers have an effect on stock levels--he obviously has not seen our local beam trawler unloading in one session what recreational anglers in the area combined would take many seasons to kill assuming we did kill everything we caught. The dinosaur status of the SSFC will remain until there is a change in leadership. The only way to get any change at all is to vote for sympathetic politicians who may bring in measures at a higher level. Opposition MPs have realised that Jonathan Shaw is a poor fishery minister and will use his weakness to attack the government. Locally Mrs Annette Brooke MP has stated that the lib dems support an increase in mls for bass and in the House tory MPs have been needling Mr Shaw with questions. We can only hope that he eventually gets better advice or is removed. I will continue to lobby on behalf of PBSBAC and PDSA. Peter

Thanks for your good wishes. Had a walk in the sunshine between Kingston and Kimmeridge--very muddy but being near the sea got the old enthusiasm going. Stuffed myself to the gills with roast duck in the evening at the revamped Willet Arms and am suffering this morning! Cheers! Pete

It has been suggested that because of the mild winter bass may well have continued to grow throughout the period and so fish that would have been expected to be below the proposed new limit may have 'caught up' and be above it. In the event of the new limit being introduced this would have lessened the effect on the commercial fishermen's pocket and incidentally might even have hastened the introduction of a 45cm limit. It is a bitter blow that the minister has apparently bowed to last minute lobbying by the commercial sector but there are ways around the question of discards. Immature bass are most likely to caught in trawls in waters less than 20metres deep as this is where they are found. These trawlers are mostly targetting flatfish such as sole which can be caught at trawl speeds slow enough to allow bass to evade capture. This is well documented. The problem is that the some commercial fishermen want to make a political point by catching and discarding bass in the 36-40cm size range to back up their case for retaining the old limit. I don't think the game is up yet. The minister will undoubtedly have saved the slaughter of a large number of small bass by a small section of the commercial fleet who would then have had to discard them. Another way around the problem is to ban trawling in areas with a high population of immature bass--this would further antagonise the netters and I think that other strategies will have to be proposed if there is to be a positive way forward for all stakeholders. In conclusion it has to be said again that the power of professional representation has probably been a contributory factor in the success of the commercial campaign and if we fail to support our representatives in every way possible we cannot expect to reap benefits in our own fishing futures.

If you can't write your own letter or need some ideas contact Peter Russell senior who has a standard letter. It can be emailed or posted to you but hurry the deadline is coming. Peter

Richard We would still have to have a procedure for checking that the skippers are abiding by the club rule otherwise we are open to negligence claims if a tragedy ensued. At the very least enforcement would be cumbersome and in reality it would be impossible so the committee/safety officer would still not know if compliance was taking place. I would suggest that strong recommendation is as far as we can go. Crew can always vote with their feet and skippers can refuse to take people they consider as a risk to their own or others safety. Pete

The discussion about whether to make the wearing of lifejackets compulsory within the club has come up before and foundered on a number of points. Firstly, many members myself included wear flotation jackets or suits many of which are rated as buoyancy aids rather than lifejackets. They do have the advantage of retaining a certain amount of body heat and there are documented cases of people surviving much longer than would otherwise have been expected because they were wearing one. Secondly there is the question of enforcement--its no use having a rule if it can't be enforced as we found with safety equipment checks. Thirdly we have decided as a club that individual responsibility is the only practical way forward but I am happy to back any proposal to recommend the wearing of buoyancy--preferably a lifejacket at all times when afloat. Pete

We can rant and rave all we like about the French but we are rapidly heading to a situation where we ourselves will be fishing with smaller and smaller hooks and baits in order to catch what remains out there and it will have nothing to do with the French at all. It will be due to a lack of regulation and a lack of political will in our own country to implement measures to conserve and restore fish stocks. Even the present rules are little known by the majority of anglers and there is minimal manpower put into policing either anglers or commercial fishermen. It is that lack of will and men which will see the end of stocks in our own waters not the French.

We ought to be a little careful in our criticism of the French. Whenever I have been over there I have been impressed by the quality and size of fish in their markets indicating that the stocks are perhaps not quite so overexploited as our own. If you see the pathetic size of 'skate' wings for sale and the tiny flatfish in our shops you know that it is our own stocks that have been hammered by our own fishermen. Incidentally the French have set up a no fish zone for bass off the Brittanny coast during the winter breeding season--as yet I have seen little progress in this country apart from a ban on pair trawling in a small area off the West Country where the majority of breeding bass are not found anyway. I challenged three anglers on the Sandbanks Ferry slipway two nights ago who were keeping undersized bass and we know that certain boats keep undersized fish so lets not not imagine that we have anything to be proud of here. Lets get our house in order before we take issue with the French.

Adam obviously had a deal with the wind gods but the tide was more fierce than anticipated and having slipped off the famed undulate mark twice the chances of winning top honours evaporated. Thanks Adam it was a good day for all. Thanks also to Frank who kept on about the fabulous bream fishing he and Barry were having so much that we went over and drifted past him catching four good bream and a pout in twenty minutes. I didn't clock the numbers--honest!! Pete

I have two batteries on my boat, one straight off the engine and the other several feet away in the cabin wired in parallel. Basically it doesn't work as a safety back up for starting the engine as the cables to the second battery are too thin leading to such a voltage drop that the starter motor will not spin fast enough to throw out the worm and engage the fly wheel. Most discussions with outboard dealers have suggest that one good battery is more than enough on a small boat to start the engine and run the electronics however if you spend much time transmitting on the VHF when the engine is not running then you do run the risk of draining it--it may drain 12amps transmitting. If you also have a bait pump running all day you can see that your margin of reserve is diminished even more. If you have different size or length of cable to each battery then one may get more of a charge from the engine than the other. If you then have the batteries connected together the weaker charged battery may take charge from the better charged one when the engine is not running leaving you without enough to start the engine..There are several solutions. A blocking diode or a voltage sensitive resistor may prevent discharge from one battery to another. If either is fitted it needs to be connected correctly. Simpler solutions include using mobile phones or hand held VHF for routine conversations, taking a spare charged battery to power bait wells, switching off plotters and sounders when anchored etc. If you do connect a second battery use seriously thick copper cable!!

Was out with Frank on Sheila Marie last week and witnessed an amazing sight. We were going to the island but for some reason Frank decided to head through the Swash towards Old Harry, as we approached I spotted a dorsal fin and yelled 'Dolphin!' Frank replied that he thought it was a porpoise at which point it became evident that they were there in numbers. The sea was mirror-like and as we watched they came closer and closer in small groups--I counted about a dozen individuals, suddenly two came straight towards us and swept right under the boat at our feet and as they went we could see that these two were dolphins. We were all stunned by the encounter as well as being surprised to see porpoises and dolphins swimming together. I wonder what they were feeding on? Herring? Judging by our catch off the Needles they need training into eating dogfish!

Well I'm gutted, who's going to pull the anchor and net all my fish in the Open? You just can't get the crew these days!! Hope you heal quickly Rich 'cos there's fish just waiting to be caught out there.................... Pete

Hope to get a spot on this trip if one is available. Pete (sen)

Hard luck Adam. If you can afford it go for new everytime especially as you are a regular user and will clock up many hours quickly. I've had two brand new engines, both Mariner 2strokes and mechanically they have never let me down although I wish I'd bought a 4stroke for greater range and economy. There is a place in Brighton that sells engines mail order at least a grand cheaper than buying from a dealer. It's a bit daunting to get the engine delivered to your drive in an unliftable box but fitting one is straight forward with another pair of hands to help you lift it. On the other hand it would be nice to get it fitted and run up by expert!! The sense of security when you hear the purr of your ultra quiet new engine will soon deaden the pain of the bill. You might be lucky with a secondhand unit but you never know what treatment it has received in the past--at least you get the chance to maintain a new engine from scratch and have the backup of a warranty. Incidentally Barrus sent me complimentary boat show hospitality tickets for the first two years! Good luck Pete

Am interested in going if someone has a space. Pete R

As a former teacher I am appalled at the standard of spelling and grammar on the club website but I am prepared to offer my services as ship's tutor to any boat having a spare berth on the Weymouth Trailaway. All replies will be marked and graded! Peter Peter, there is no such word as trailaway it should read trail away, Please consider this post as marked Admin

I discovered an interesting item of tackle in the cabin of my boat when I visited her on Sunday. It had all the appearance of a vacuum flask but inside was a secret bait additive...at least I assumed that's what it was..although I must admit it looked like water..anyway I sent it off to the lab for analysis and lo and behold it contained anabolic steroids. I can only assume that the owner of the flask had intended to use a performance enhancing drug during a club competition...is this the first case of drugs in angling? Or is this the tip of the iceberg? In the interest of fair play I feel I must name and shame although it did cross my mind that the person involved might have needed the additional power to break out 50lb braid..a trifle excessive when fishing in thirty feet of water on a sandy bottom.........Or perhaps it was needed to pull in the anchor...you just can't get the quality of crews these days..(I remember before Alderney rings we used to pull the anchor in a full spring tide using our little fingers.......) Anyway the member involved lives in Southampton and mutilates trees for a living....

Whistler will definitely be out there. I've already started to defrost that old undulate ray!

Beware all undulate rays the Whistler has returned to chase you, relaunched Sat 22/5/04