Adam F

I would be interested - have been thinking of it for a while.

....Thats a funny name for a boat - I can see Solent Coastguard not seeing the funnyside!!!

Did anyone watch that show on Sat night....spell check the nation...or something similar. It had a great section where it showed that Bristol University had proved that it doesnt matter if the word is spelt wrong, as long as the first and last letters are correct - the human brain will still read the word correctly! 'Poole Bay Samll Baot Anlging Culb is baesd in Poole, Dosret and caetrs for mebmers with small baots who wish to fish in the aera'

BW hasnt been near the water for over 3 weeks now, so would like to get out this weekend....whats the weather looking like? Anyone else going out? What / where is worth going....as you can tell my finger has well and truely slipped of the pulse recently! Adam

Not too sure but I think he is an Aquafish 23, blue hull and white topsides...moors up the river. I have seen he out quite a few times (if it is this boat) It always makes me laugh when I see these adverts....'30 knots - 25 knot cruise'....'fastest boat in the fleet - 40 knots' etc, etc..... Not that I have been on loads of charter boats, but enough to know that none of them ever use this speed. I think the best Ive ever seen/got is on the modern cats about 18 knots cruising. Im not knocking the skippers at all, as economical fuel issues etc are more important, but if you arnt/wont use the speed, then why advertise it! Adam

Rich - Id love to buy a jar next time we meet.....Mmmmmmmm honey!!

Coddy, I was a CAC member for 6 years and from what I can remember the rules were such: Club waters end at the bottom of the Clay Pool - this is for both bank and boat, for coarse and sea trout / salmon (you need a licence for the last two) downstream from here the bank is the only place you need a licence or day ticket until you get the the run which is then the beach and therfore free to all. I have fished for 4 years from the boat spinning for mullet below the clay pool and have never been asked for a ticket. PJ may be able to comment more accuratly as he was a member until last season. For a definitive answer Loni's or Davis tackle should know. Adam

I take it that the speed limit is now dropped in the harbour?

Well done mate - congratulations! Another year well fished - you cant argue with results like that.....now go win the Warrior! Adam

Paul, Yes we spend a few days at Burgau - great beach and lovely beach side bar. I was tempted to have a go at the mullet, but didnt take any gear and didnt fancy wasting money on cheap tackle over there. The charter was 400 euros for the day - 67 each, so about the same as the UK, but when you consider he has to pay the same for diesel as the road users do, it makes it cheap in comparison. His english was OK and he moved three times to put us on fish - so I couldnt complain - we took our own lunch, but he did provide it for 8 euros each. Finally - youre right, flying from Hurn is the way to go - and cheap also if you book ahead - we have already put down for next year! Bob - yep, fabulous courses. I didnt take my sticks as no one else in the group played, but you were spoily for choice. We stayed about 2 miles from the Beuna Vista Golf Resort and Pennina was only 1/2 hour alway. Quite dear for a round though, between 50-90 euros. The snorkelling experiances this year in both Spain and the Algarve has also prompted me to take my PADI over the winter to enable us to scuba dive when on holiday. One of the guys we went with did, and it was very reasonable for a days diving - 30/40 euros.

Best fish of the day - Red Snapper 4lb

Just returned from a week in the Algarve, Lagos to be precise. Never been before, and was very impressed....not a single 'brit-abroad'...lovely! We hired a superb brand new villa for the week, and basically the 8 of us just ate and drank to our hearts content, and had a great laugh in the process. Didnt manage a fishing rod in the case, but did take the snorkelling gear which got used most days - colder than the Med, as in the Atlantic, but just as good vis and lots to sea. Biggest result was that I mananged to find at least half a dozen scallops each trip - all of wich were eagerly consumed that night - the last night saw us gather a few fresh mussels, a dozen fat scallops and we bought a kilo of fresh jumbo tiger prawns - for our own Fruit de Mer!! I also hunted down the local charter boat and promptly booked a trip for Weds, and as the others all wanted to try we charted the whole boat - a 38' Aquastar originally from Liverpool - called The Pescamar - Jacko was our skipper. The plan was to go blue water game fishing as he had taken two white marlin and a few dorado the day before - but as the other 5 were all fishing virgins we opted to just do a bit of inshore bottom fishing. We fished 3 hook patternosters with pieces of prawn for bait - tackle was a little dissapointing - 20lb class solid class rods with cheap fixed spools - but after a while it just added to the experiance - they hadnt even heard of braid when I mentioned it to them! Bites came to everyone, every cast for the whole day - and as others have experinaced, the Portugese keep everything the local law deems sizable - unfortunalty this isnt very big - a black bream has to be just 12cms. We protested and put most of the fish back, but still ended up with 3 builders buckets full of fish - we took a few for the BBQ, the rest went to the skipper and crew. Red Snapper, Permit, four types of bream, gurnard, bass, scorpian fish, mackerel, scad, herring and about six types of wrasse kept us busy - plus 3 or 4 fish Ive never seen or heard of! The snapper and permit brushed with olive oil and pepper and salt was some of the best tasting fish I have ever had! To finish it off the five non fishers were all 'hooked' and wanted to try back at home! Finally - we had 7 days of clear blue skies and 29-31 degs everyday - from the looks of things I didnt miss much - good to be back though - and just in time for the cod! Adam

....and you started the thread! Some people!

Speak for yourself Martin....

Over that way - somehwere inbetween St Catherines Point and Portland Bill = Club Waters!.... Ring me and Ill tell ya!

Returned alive;

Best of the year for me: 10lb 14oz

With things so busy both with work and social calander I had consigned myself to the fact that my next trip would be mid october for the whiting etc... Then I took a call from a client who cancelled a meeting in London this morning - so what did I do? Go to the office for paperwork, or take a few hours off and squeeze in a last gasp bass trip - in hope of the ellusive double that have evaded me all year.... Needed to get back early as had afternoon appointments, so with Gordon in tow we launched BW in the dark at 5.00am into a rapidly emptying Christchurch harbour. We knew it would be tight to get out as it is still big springs this week, but wernt prepared for the mere 12" that greeted up in the pitch black at the bar.....we were doing 6 knots in neutral, so when we hit the gravel we hopped out expecting to be able to just pull BW over the gravel - we didint expect the tide to still push the boat though - so with both of us hanging ontot he boat we were swept along for 20 yards before it deepened off - sounds more dramatic than it was, but the hull took a few scrapes again! Out at sea the mackerel were proving hard as others had said, then Gordon hooked a full string that was taking line! Up pops a nice 4lb bass! We then moved out to the mark, were thankfully the tide had begun to flood and the mackerel were on the feed, a mixture of joeys and jumbos. It all looked perfect - the tide was big, the drift speed over 2 knots (3.2 max actually) and the wind just a gentle F1 S in the morning air - surely the bass would be crawling up the line?....Nope! After about a dozen drifts without a take and a dozen lost leads and tackle later I contacted a fish....no the bottom....no - a fish!! This felt like a real beast and fought deep and hard from the outset - several times I got the leader to the tip only for it to drive back to the bottom - we drifted 1/4 mile whilst I played her - finally the lead appeared alongside the boat - the fish underneath, and we both peared under to catch the first glimpse of the fish - then out she popped and into the net 1st time - a real beast of a silver bar! I wanted to return her so we took a few snaps then weighed her taking the bottom weight - before slipping her back, where she swam off powerfully. She went 10lb 14oz! Unfortunatly that was it for the morning and that mark - we finished off on another new mark and I took a 2lber on a Wildeye Eel - a 1st for me, then back on the slip for 10am, and back at work by 12! A great morning, well worth missing a meeting for! Adam

I would have to agree with you Duncan - although I did have a similar initial thought to Dan when I first saw the picture. In general I am not a fan of a group of anglers holding masses of fish - far better, a decent framed, good quality picture of an angler holding a fresh, clean fish straight from the sea - bloody, faded fish esp. in numbers do not give the sport a good impression to non anglers. It seems some skippers, sites, anglers, mags etc have caught onto this, and I think decent pictures promoting the sport are more commonplace. Adam

Seems a fair price for a cracking boat - a little out of my league until next year...but Im sure someone will snap it up at that price. AF

Seen them Steve - I like you like tinkering and was trying to think of a way to make my own - the frame looks easy enough it was just the ramps / entry holes I was considering. I have read that the season has pretty much ended on the South coast though and potters dont bother during the winter as the weather is too unpredictable and a ground swell can easily loose your pots... Adam

Went to the Boat Show yesterday with Gordon for a look around. Pretty much same as every other year to be honest, but we had free tickets so it was worth a few hours. Good things: Cheetah Catamarans, had a good 30 mins chat to the guys and were really helpful. A little out of my next price range and slightly more expensive length of length than the usual angling boats, but what a piece of kit. They had the 6.2m std wheelhouse at the show, and the deck was HUGE! With relitively small engines (2x 40hp Suzuki's) he said it still pushed 28 knots! They were also very flexible to build whatever the client wanted. I then spent another half hour on the Pirate stand looking at the Pirate 21 - a cracking boat, again the same willingness to build for the client, and loads of nice touches. Again a little out of my budget, especially as he wouldnt do a part build for home completion - but we will see how things lie next year.... Bad things: Warrior again didnt have the promised wheelhouse boat - it looks as though this will not be coming?.... Osprey Boats (redfinn) as last year were very unhelpful - the two chaps just sat in the wheelhouses of the two boats one reading the paper the other on the phone - great customer attention - not. Adam

Just been browsing the net and found this: http://www.qsl.net/m0pmb/potting/shellfishing.html Been meaning to try it for a few years now - may just get a pot over the winter ready for the spring? Adam

Too busy at the moment to get BW out so she's having a well earned rest, but had a corporate day out on Thurs... With our regular beat of the Test now belonging to the National Trust we have had to look at other venues, so this time it was nice and close to home for me - Rockbourne Trout Fishery. A good start in the immaculate barn Jeff has created with bot tea and bacon rolls! The complex has 6 lakes and about 1/4 mile of chalk stream with wild browns. The who complex is lovely and secluded and very picturesque. To sum up it rained most of the day, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and more importantly so did my clients. Total catch for me was 4 lovely 3lb plus rainbows all taken on a 8' 4 weight rod, 3lb tippet and damsels nympths. One was eaten that night pan fried with Garlic and bacon - a classic recipie. Two were given away to friends and family and the other is sitting in the fridge for a week as Gravad Lax! Mmmmmmm!!!! Adam

Well done guys! It was Rachaels and James birthday this weekend so no fishing for me - sat in the garden doing family stuff today watching my 'wind tree' not moving at all whilst the sun beat down! Martin - welcome to the fun of retreaving at LW at Wick! Its a great slip at HW but anything lower than 1hr plus it is a real sod - thats with BW, I imagine you had real fun with Maverick! AF