Bob F

No, it's where I took you on Great White. BF

Angle or position??? Obvious, really.

OK from ere too.

I'm always waking up in the morning and "fishing for sex". Where's the door...

Nice one John C.

...oh, and little Rob beat me in the fishing stakes on the day. He caught Pouting, Mackerel, tons of LSD's (one of which was 2lb 6oz which was just out side the prizes), and his first ever Rays, two smalled-eyed that were 5lb and 5lb 2oz. To say he was chuffed would be an understatement. The Rays were caught at my favourite Small-Eyed Ray spot. You know the spot I mean, Charlie. The place where I took you once and which you were not optimistic about (to say the least) but which quickly produced the goods, if you remember... I only caught Pout, Mackerel, LSD and Bream. BF

Nice one!! That's Dave and his crew on Sea Sprite. I was their Buddy Boat for the day. Dave had a interesting day. He caught Bream, LSD, Wrasse, Garfish, but also should have got the prize for the biggest catch of the day...a large boat with a crew of seven that were adrift!!! The engine had cut out and they did not have enough rope for the anchor to hold. Whilst at anchor at Ballard this boat drifted past heading towards the rocks. Luckily, Dave and his crew managed to throw a rope to them and hang onto them. He then tried calling Portland Coastguard for assistance, but couldn't get a reception because they were tucked under the cliff. Luckily, we exchanged mobile phone numbers before we set out, and Dave was able to call me on the mobile and ask for help. I was a couple of miles away at anchor and it would've taken me a while to get there, so I called the Coastguard and asked them to put a call out for any boats in the area to assist. They duely did, and a nice big motor board was kind enough to come to the rescue and towed the boat back to Cobbs. Dave was kind enough to phone me today and thanked me for a great day out and for helping out in a difficult situation. It was not nice having to hang on to big boat with seven very worried and inexperienced crew on board. Panic was starting to set in. I think Dave was a bit shook up by the potential of the incident, but thankfully all was well in the end. BF

Jack, The Storm Sandeels are pretty hot, too. I used them whilst fishing the Portland Race. Adam was using a Storm Shad and I was using the Storm Eel. It was about a 3:1 hook up ratio for the Storm eel. They can shred quite quickly, though. I also used the Portland Rig, which worked really well, but make sure you use a weak link to attach the weight. The tactic in the Race is to bounce the weight on the bottom as you drift with the tide. If you are not on the bottom you will not catch. But you run the risk of snagging the weight, so make sure you bounce it, rather than drag it. If you do get snagged the weak link will snap but you will save the lure. The faster the tide the better the fishing. And fish the down tide side of the ledge. This is where the bass are, waiting for the sandeels to appear out of the tumble drier caused by the tide rushing over the ledge. Note that Paul said IF you are in less than 20ft of water...this doesn't mean that bass will only be caught in less than 20ft, so don't restrict yourself to this. Use a free line rather than a wieght if you are in a location less than 20ft (like around the Kimmeridge Ledges). BF

I think I'll try that tactic tomorrow, then. Fish for Tope but hope to catch a nice Ray. I don't suppose the Burnham boys will be fishing for Rays. They'll probably like to fish for something different. (although, do they get many Blondes in the channel?) BF

Nice to hear you getting into the Rays again Duncan. O for a big Blonde... BF

Kam, I believe we all have to check in and sign up for the comp at Baiter.

How are you going to get to the weigh in at Baiter??? BF

Roll on the 19th then. My birthday on the 18th. BF

Kaptain Kod, Let us know when you intend to come down and where you'd like to fish from (Weymouth, Poole, Christchurch, etc). Most weekends we will have boats going out, and so maybe we can arrange for you to meet with one of our boats, help you launch, and follow the boat out to a fishing mark. Just let us know when you are coming down Bob F

What a tragedy. My thoughts to his family. BF

Jack, Paul D recently got a carbo stick but I can't remember if it was a RT or a Fladden. What ever it was, he rates it very highly. Seach for "carbo" with the Forum search tool to find Paul's old post. BF

Gazza, I don't think there are many spare crew left. You may have to pair up with SophAnna or something. BF

Just a reminder... Don't forget to adjust your insurance value when you renew your boat insurance each year. There's no point in insuring a boat for it's full new price each year because you will not get the new price from the insurance company if you have to make a claim. They will just give you a fair market value based on it's age. So insure it for it's fair market value. I saved

Welcome Kev. Christ, this is like a AA meeting!!! "Hi, my names Bob, and I'm a fisherman!"

Adam had a Red Bream out of Christchurch and Sam had one in Poole Harbour I believe. BF

Splash-out will be there, with little Rob as crew. BF

Ah, so this is where you are posting your replies... My laptop appears to be throwing a wobbly in recent days. I make a post and then can't see the damn thing on the forum, and so post it again. And for some reason my laptop is not picking up new posts in the "view new post" short cut, so I have to search through all the sections manually. Anyway, enough of that... Duncan, Do you have the ICOM 421? I can't see how you apply all the PBSBAC MMSI's to a Group as you suggest. On my 421 when you set up a Group MMSI you have to enter a Group MMSI number, which always starts with a zero. And reading the manual again, it is not clear to me if you can actually send a Poll request or a Position request to a Group. I think all you can do is to send a Group Call. The Group Call then sends a message to all the MMSI numbers in that group which tells them to go to a certain channel. Once you move to the channel, communication is by voice. Am I correct?? BF

I'm the expert on the "not quite so". So if you want any info on NQS, just come to me. Oh, and Mad Mike IS properly certified...honest. BF