Bob F

Marvellous imagination in this club. Thanks chaps. BF

Thanks chaps, I'll try the hot bath first and see how it goes. I hadn't thought about the airpump idea, so that will be next. I've never blown up a fuel tank at a petrol station before, so that should be fun. I've got a fairly powerful hand pump at home, so I'll give that a go. cheers BF

Fished the Betsey on Sunday and made some great plotter recordings of the wreck as we drifted over it. Using the Sonar Viewer software on my laptop at home I've being reviewing the recordings and ploting each of the peaks so that a picture of the wreck can be built up to show how the wreck lies on the bottom. She lies SSW to NNE. This is now plotted as a line icons on the plotter to help setting up drifts or anchoring in the future. Also whilst viewing the recording I noticed some pretty big shoals of fish between 10 and 30 ft above and to the side of the wreck. Shame I didn't notice these when we were fishing it. The recording also showed some interesting holes as we motored over to the wreck. so I'll give them a try next time out. Most were in the general area of the Spoil Grounds and 50-50 banks. cheers BF

The air valve on my plastic fuel tank wasn't fully open and caused a vacuum. The tank top and bottom have been sucked in. Any tips on how I can push the top and bottom back out? I thought of hot water but didn't really want to put water in my fuel tank, although I suppose it will dry out if left long enough????? cheers BF

KK The NMEA OUT (pin 3 blue) from the GPS should be connected to the NMEA IN on the VHF. I'm not sure how this is marked on the S15, but could be something like RX+ (for receive +ve). The Ground (pin 2 Black) from the GPS should be connected to the -ve or RX- on the S15. The on the Garmin GPS do the following: 1 - select the COMM tab 2 - select PORT 1 3 - Set the SERIAL DATA FORMAT to NMEA IN/NMEA OUT (or anything that says NMEA OUT) Data rate should be 4800 on both units. On the S15 you need to make sure it is set for NMEA IN. cheers BF

Jack, I know exactly where you picked up the Ray. It's a great small-eyed and spotted Ray mark. One of the few places that fishes well on the ebb. Keep this mark on your plotter!!! BF

..."cut-tied" is standard torture practice in our house for misbehaving kids. However, he's also playing football. Rich will be crewing on Splash-Out. cheers BF

Splash-Out will be there with one other onboard (yet to be decided). Little Rob is cut-tied and so wont be fishing. BF

I'll be yu buddy... No tongues if I catch a cod, though!!! BF

A good decision to call it off today. The wiind really picked up mid morning.

hee, hee, hee...

Pete, Anytime you fancy a bone-shaking, spine-braking ride in a small boat, and launching in freezing cold water upto your wedding tackle, let me know... Bob F

I sense a nice cod for Jack, soon. It's gotta happen. BF

Hi Tom, I'm away all next week, but might be able to take a day off on 23-26th. I'll see how it goes. I've got plenty of marks we can try. cheers Bob F

Have a look here, Matt. http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/diary/p...peelercrab.html By the way, thanks for the Squid. Didn't get a chance to say thanks at the meeting. cheers BF

Jack...you keep complaining about not catching much, but you're already a shark chaser. But there again, it only says "chaser" not "catcher".

Adam, Like others have said, it's most probably your numbers. If you are sure about the Coordinate system (Degrees, Minutes, decimals or Degrees Minutes seconds) and the Datum (usually WSG84 or OSG36), then you should find the wreck if it's a reasonable size. Your plotter should see it easily enough even if not on zoom. Tip: if the last three digits of either the Lat or Long start with a number greater than 599, the numbers must be decimal, rather than seconds. For example. N 50.29.730 must be a decimal number (you can't go above 60 secs if the numbers were in seconds) Tip: You can use your GPS to do the datum conversion for you. If you are not sure which datum the numbers represent, enter the waypoint twice. First, set your GPS datum to WSG84, enter the number as a waypoint and save as "wrk1-84. Then set your GPS datum to OSG36, enter the same number again, and save as a slightly different name (like wrk1-36). Now you can search for the wreck at both waypoints. It will not matter which datum your GPS is set to when you are searching for the wreck because the GPS will convert your numbers to the datum you are using at that time; the wreck should be at one of the two waypoints. If you find the wreck at wrk1-36 you will know that the numbers you were given were in OSG36 format. Tip: You can do the same for the Coordinate system. If you don't know if the numbers are in decimal or seconds, enter them twice; once with the coordinate system set to decimals (usually denoted as just degrees-minutes), and then set the cooridinate system to degrees-minutes-secs and enter the same number again. So, if I have numbers for a mark and don't know which datum or coordinate system they used, I will enter the same numbers 4 times: 1 - WSG84 Degree-minutes-Decimal 2 - OSG36 Degree-minutes-Decimal 3 - WSG84 Degree-minutes-secs 4 - OSG36 Degree-minutes-secs Remember, most numbers will have been taken prior to EGNOS (WAAS) being available, so they will have a error of 15 meters on average, so you will need to do a bit of searching. It works for me anyway.

Hi Rich, Yes, I've got the moulds (thought they were Adams). How do I get them back to you. Meet somewhere? When? cheers BF

As a rough guess I'd estimate the Blonde Ray at 39lb, 2oz 4drm, which just beats the British Record, but who's counting...? A nice Stilton for me, please.

Are you still in Canada, Coddy? BF

Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Fixed the dish washer, though. As much hope of catching a 60lb conger on Betsy as me catching a cod. BF

Managed to get out very early this morning (still dark). It was a bit lumpy but fought my way out to the Betsy and anchored up on slack water. 10 mins later and the first eel was on. 30 mins later and the 55lb beast was at the side of the boat and T-bar'd off. Down went the cuttle bait again (thanks Kam) and 10 mins later another eel is on. This one is a massive beast. 45 mins later, and after severel titanic lunges to the depths, I manage to get the mass of thrashing foam and black muscle to the surface. It's huge. Couldn't get the eel into the boat and had to let her go. Who knows how big she was, but in length she was at least 7ft. The tide started running so up'd the anchor and had an experiemental drift of the wreck using the new shads I'd bought. Blow me down, on the first drift I'm hit by a massive take and line screams off my reel. Somehow managed to keep control and stopped the fish diving into the wreck. A terrific battle ensued but it looks like its my day. 15 mins later I've netted by first double figure bass. Scales bounced between 16lb and 22lb. so I guess I'll have to call it 16lb. I give it a Rex Hunt kiss and see her safely back into the water. I line up Splash-Out for another drift and down goes the shad again. The new Eagle colour plotter is supurb and starts to show the beginning of the wreck with a mass of fish just above it. I reel up the shad slightly to miss the wreck and hopefully pass through the middle of the shoal. Bang!! Another huge take. A much different fight this time. More dogged and very heavy. Could it be my first cod of the season??? The fight is getting harder and I'm struggling to keep control with the Giller Thriller rod. I'm being out-gunned. Somehow I manage to get the fish to the surface. It's a huge Cod. I'm now wishing I'd brought the bigger landing net. I let the fish's tail drift back into the net but the huge head will not go in!! Through a combination of lifting the rod and net at the same time, the cod is pulled into the boat. My scales only go upto 45lb and they bottomed out, but taking the lowest weight she scales 36lb. Another personal best!! What a morning. By now the sea is getting very lumpy, so decided to move inshore. On the way in I passed over Dolphin Sands and saw a very intersting bank on the sounder, so decided to give it a quick try. Looks like a great Blonde Ray mark. Down goes a squid bait. Severel missed bites later I have a fish on and kiting in the tide. It can only be a big ray. The tide is running strong and it's a real struggle to gain line. I'm not sure I'm going to get this one in. Inch by inch I manage to bring the fish up and eventually the fish surfaces about 40m meters from the boat. It's a very big ray, so has to be a Blonde. Slowly, and with my heart in my mouth I manage to ease the fish to the boat. Again, the net is not big enough and I have to lean over the side and make a grab for the tail. I drop the rod in the boat and grab the ray with the other hand and haul her into the boat. I can't beleive it!! It's another huge fish which again can't be weighed on my scales. I'm not going to kill her so I lay out a tape measure beside her and take a couple of photos. Hopefully we can estimate the weight from this. The weather is really taking a turn for the worst now, and I'm being roughly shook by the waves..."Bob, Bob, it's 10 O'Clock!!! Wake up you lazy git. The dish washer has flooded, and the bathroom door doesn't open, and you promised to take me to B&Q to choose the new wallpaper!!!" Ah sod it!!! And I still had a personal best Turbot to catch... BF

of coarse it does...quack, quack...see?

Very sneaky trip Paul. Nice one!