Bob F

I've tried with and without them on my 70hp fitted to SO (Alaska 500). I love em! She definitely gets up on the plane quicker, especially noticed when the boat is fully loaded. But best of all, I have much more adjustment on the engine trim which gives a better ride. They probably work on my set up because a 70hp is a fairly big (heavy) engine for an Alaska 500. I have lost about 4knots on the top end, but this is no big deal. How often can you do 32kts anyway. Don't know if it's affected the fuel economy, because as Rich says, each time you go out the sea conditions are different. My gut feel is that it is slightly better on fuel economy. BF

Don't ask silly questions, Dan.

Wow!!!

On the Navionics charts they show the underswater rock symbol, though its not immediately obvious. Thanks for sharing the experience, Paul. Let's hope we all learn from it. BF

Good to hear there's a few about, Brian.

Sounds like a great holiday. Always fancied giving the Algarve a go. Got some good golf courses too, I hear.

Go get em James!! Take no prisoners! Good luck BF

Up the Royals!!

Sounds good, Matt. Where do we meet? Fishermans Quay, Poole?? Do we need to bring any bait. I've got plenty of Cuttle in the freezer and a little squid. Also a big box full of various shads and jellies if we are drifting. cheers BF

Matt, I could be available. When and where? Bob F

Great job, Paul. I assume that is the value of the prizes and not cash? BF

Woopeee!!! BF

Happy Birthday Mr D!! BF

Gordon, When you say "shield wires", specifically which cables are you referring to? BF

Cray cude??? Is this fresh water crayfish?? Are they the pesky foreign crays that have been killing all our native crays? BF

Welcome Paul. BF

so that's downtiding sorted. How would you anchor a bank if you intended to uptide it? Do any of you fish uptide style on banks? BF

Absolutely, Gordon!!! That'll be it. Well done matey!!

Doesn't she look great!!

Wedger, I really liked the CP175C. Very nearly bought it myself. I found the jopystick much easier to use for navigating around the screen and selecting stuff. Very nice! I found the screen was probably the brightest of all the ones I looked at. And if you are one of those that take their equipment off the boat after each session (dont we all???), then the CP175C has the quickest and easiest disconnect feaure available. Very, very nice. (note that the larger CP1000 does not have this. So why didn't I buy it? 1 - The fishing finder is an add-on unit, and at the time, it had just been released on the market and I was not able to see it demo'd anywhere. 2 - I preferred the detail on the Navionics charts compared to the C-Map charts. 3 - the resolution of the display is not as high and the Lowrance/Eagle. Having said that, I wouldn't let any of these 3 points put you off buying the CP175C. I thought it was a super piece of kit and would recommend it. I'd want to see the FF working, though. The Raymarine E-80 display is in another league. A serious piece of kit. But I suspect that what Pete is offering is just the display(???). You would need to add the GPS unit and FF units, which are not cheap, but are the dogs do-dars. Proably have to add interface cabling, too. If you want the B&O equivalent in TV's then the Raymarine E series is the top of the range for boating. cheers BF

Good to have you back Rich. I'd forgotten about the red tide. It bl@@dy stunk didn't it?? Fortunately, we were lodged on the bay side of the islands, so we didn't suffer from it. The guys that were shacked up in the expensive hotels on the ocean side were really p****d off at the stench from the algae and not being able to use the beaches. I didn't see the numbers of dead fish that you saw, but there again I didn't go wading in the stinking stuff. Once out to see the numbers of fish seemed to be ok, at least where we were snorkling, anyway. Still can't get over the sights of those shoals of big Tarpon, and the big Permit on the reef. Awesome!! cheers BF

Belated happy birthday, JimBob!!

Taken from our Blonde Ray article, with input from local charter skippers... "The Blonde is a very powerful fish, and uses this power to remain active across the whole range of the tide. Unlike other rays, it does not seek shelter from the tide, so do not confine your fishing just to the down-tide side of a bank. The larger females are often caught on the uptide side of the bank in the direct tidal flow." My approach on a new bank would be to anchor uptide of the bank and then drop the bait down and slowly creep the weight across the bank (by lifting and dropping), until you locate the rays. Once found, send the bait back to the same area. The problem I was having on Sunday was holding the damn botton at all!!! Little Rob just left his where it was and caught spotted's!! BF

BF (a man of few words)

Very interesting read. BF