Bob F

Great report Fred. It made me chuckle anyway. BF

Welcome Joe. Happy New Year. What boat do you have? cheers Bob F

Gordon, Mark B was looking for crew on Enticer. BF

I gotta hangover...

Nice one Alun. Two nice fish. BF

Yep, 20-30ft off the bottom is where we were seeing the shoals of something. BF

Duncan, are you suggesting Paul J hasn't washed for a while????

Nice to have that confirmed KK. I wonder if the same thing is happening in Poole Bay? Does anyone know if the trawlers are catchin cod in the Bay? BF

Encouraging to hear there is the odd cod out there. Cheer Steve. Bob F

Mike...cheeky Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. Here's to an even more successful year for PBSBAC. Bob F

No, but it must've been a laugh.

I was talking to a guy at my golf club today and got onto the subject of fishing. He's a competition angler (mostly freshwater) and an avid Cod fan. He said it's fairly well known in the Bristol Channel area that when there are shoals of sprats or herring around, the Cod fishing is very poor because everyone is fishing on the bottom, but the cod are higher in the water gorging on the sprat shoals. Fishing with Shads has not been a successful technique in the Bristol Channel area, but live or dead baits do occassionlly pick up a cod. He recons that Shads, dead or live baits should work better in the IOW area because of the clearer water, IF you can find the sprat shoals. I've gotta give it a go.

I suspect that I wouldn't have a home to come back to if I went fishing on Boxing Day. ThinkI'll give it a miss. BF

So it was a recent photo, Fred. Well done mate, and nice report. BF

Excellent!! Thanks Terry. BF

I take it that isn't a recent photo, Fred???? BF

Has anyone used this Salt-X stuff that is being advertized in the mags recently?? Wondering if it is any good at protecting trailer parts, reels, boat parts, etc. BF

I have a Suzuki 70Hp Four Stroke and would definitely recomend them. Very powerful, fuel comsumption seems to be the same as any other models, always starts first time, and it's whisper quiet. I was amused by Coddy's comment when I came along side him on Sunday. After a qucik chat Dave noticed the tell-tale shooting out of the engine and said 'Bloody 'ell, I didn't realize your engine was on!!' However, I appear to have been one of the rare unlucky ones, because the engine did develop an oil leak during the warranty and had to have an oil seal replaced. The Suzuki dealer had trouble replacing the seal because they had never replaced one before. They called Suzuki UK and they said this was the first time this seal had ever needed replacing in the UK. In fact, the Suzuki dealer mentioned that they have a bit of a challenge with the Suzuki outboards - they never go wrong so it is difficult for their engineers to build up experience on anything other than standard servicing. Suzuki UK have now opened a center of excellence in Milton Keynes to train their dealers and to provide a UK expert knowledge base for ANY problems that arise with their engines (I bet they are first rate at playing computer games then ). BF

I think it's worth mentioning that Overdraft had 16 flounders in all. A great result for Kim and Carl. So, there were flounder out there. On Splash-Out we had two bites and one flounder. The bite that ended with the flounder took a frustrating 25 mins before the bugger was hooked. Well done Kim. Flounders have been very fruitful for you this year. Bob F

If you are down to a choice between Honda and Yamaha, my advice would be to go with the one that has the best local service shop. Do they have a good reputation? What has your personal experience been with them, or with someone you know well. What do they charge for the service and parts? How many services do you need during the warranty period? To keep the warranty you have to have the engine serviced by a recognised shop. There can be big differences in these cost, so check them out thoroughly. BF

That's a coincidence. I got out my old BSAC Diving Manual the other day and started reading it. Shame you didn't tell us about the Try-Dive, Karen and I would've been up for it. How much is the Summer coarse? BF

Matt, very tempting, but it's the club's Xmas Flounder comp on Sunday, so I'll be fishing that. Cheers BF

Who would care what you caught if she had hold of your rod Crabs????? I'll get me coat...

Rich, Paul, if you're up for a bit of experimenting we'll give it a go. I'll let you know when I'm going out again. Some time over Xmas hopefully. BF

Rich and I are planning to be there on Splash-Out. BF