Rob

It was very fishable and we thought it might be a bit snotty, not at all! Even once the tide changed. Small tides I guess. So usual cruise speeds were maintained. Most boats seemed to think the same, only a few yachts seen in the bay, no anglers at all. R

I was asked to crew Kodiak back from the Hamble to her home at NHYC Poole, forecast looked 'ok', wind and swell behind us. I chucked in a old rod with fixed spool to try for an early mackerel off the Shingles.......Adam didn't bother. Well, whilst I feathered, Adam cleaned the cabin. I moved us off back towards Poole and the Xchurch Ledge, and no sooner had I said "keep an eye out for birds....." Than Adam spotted some...... We headed over, it was like a tuna bust-up. I would say we ended up with 1000+ gulls and a line of them that stretched 1/2 mile or more. Started off on feathers....a decent bass followed them to the boat... Found a reasonably heavy lure and got close, couple of hits on first cast, then fish hooked on second. That is how we spent the next 60 minutes.....we caught loads, many just under size, but managed a few sizeable ones for the coolbox. Yes, I let him borrow my boat rod to cast with! And I even caught a couple on a lure tied to a spool of line by hand. Not bad for a non-fishing trip! Lovely cruise back, on to mooring and a glass of wine in the sun by the clubhouse. One of this year's upgrades was sonar with a thru-hull , which needed an extension to a step in the hull ..... It worked beautifully! There was always noise on the display at speed, where we believe air was below the shallow hull. R

Hmmm, I downloaded the manual, doesn't look good. I remember seeing something before on this forum , where there was a cut price unit that was a standalone unit so didn't have the connectivity of more standard units. Annoying! R

Any modern plotter should have a nmea 0183 output (that's from memory so might not be quite correct). Maybe you need to set the plotter to broadcast this data ? R

Vessel Finder app will show you who is where......if, they have an AIS beacon. Smaller boats tend to have beacons, if you have a receiver too, often your plotter will overlay the data of boats on your chart. You can tap the vessel and get speed and direction. R

Running AIS on mobile or tablet would be good in these situations if you don't have receiver / transponder. R

Top day, well done skipper!

So shiny you can see yourself in her! (I spent a few hours helping out on Kodiak, no, I'm not offering to do anymore!):

Bugger

Has anybody got an old boat seat, folding type? Will pay or swap for venison, as it's for my highseat.... Photo of the type of thing I'm thinking. Cheers, Rob

Adam and I are down on Kodiak for a second visit for the upgrades and tweaks....we feel it calling too!!! R

Lovely, some more great times to come

It's a sh1t job but someone has to do it!

Sold pending collection

Anyone interested in a roe doe, £40 in of out of coat? Head shot, so pristine condition! Can deliver around Bmth/Poole. Rob