Adam F

Rach and I are planning to come along. We will launch from Baiter and call you up when we are out - where are you planning to go?

If you loose a bit more weight - you might get 20 knots!!!! Well done on the bass - Im up at the ungodly hour to try a again - report later.

Just heard the first report of the first whiting of the year caught in the Eastern Solent!! - Whats going on, I had only just started the summer species! Cod in a few weeks? Last year it was second week in October.

Same here - nothing heard from there website - trying ringing them it provokes a better response!

Just underneath the mouth there is a thinnish membrane with no muscle, here is the safest place - but if youre not confident then go for the net everytime.

Kam, Most skippers these days carry a big net for eels - yes they make the net a little slimey, but if the fish is half decent ask the skipper - it would be unusual for any of them to refuse you a photo. They used to gaff them, but unless you are proficiant with a gaff (i.e able to neatly gaff it under the chin causing the fish little damage) then they are beastly tools which can easily kill an eel. The reason most are T-barred off if that it is the kindest to the fish causing it least stress. On BW - we T-bar most of them off at the side. If they are a decent size up to 40lb we net them, if they are over this then they are gaffed very carefully. Adam

HMmmm - this happned last year....about the time of the Ray comp if I remember correctly - bit fuzzy, but didnt a few boats get caught out at Kimmeridge when the back end of the storm reached UK shores??>...... Ill be staying home that weekend!

Mike is right - keeping th cost down is tricky for this type of item. Flexicovers in Poole are worth a try. www.flexicovers.co.uk AF

Nope, mine is with Haven Knox Johnston via Porthcawl.

James got them from a commercial skipper friend - the were dragged poole rag, but perfect sole baits - all about 2/3" long. We used 4 hook flowing rigs with size 6 fine wire aberdeens. A small 1oz ball weight to roll around in the tide completes the set up. 700 was excessive, but when they are

Standard practise in the insurance industry im afraid....mine was the same - BUT, a quick shop around and then a call to Porthcawl dropped it back down to similar rates again - as always, cheapest isnt always best - Porthcawl have a good name, so value for money needs to be considered also. Adam

Boat: Oberon Skipper: John Keggie - nice chap - have fun!

Yep! Making the most of the summer - off out again Friday - Bassing from Weymouth, and then again on Sunday!

First proper sole trip of the year last night with Jimbo on the good ship Dawn Raider. Settled in just before dark on a dropping wind and a flat sea. We had over 700 worms so it was going to be a long night! Slow to start, but a good sign really as the hoards of pesky bass and bream were no eveident, meaning longer for Mr Sole to find the bait! First blood to James and the best fish of the night at 1lb 4oz (I think?) we then had a steady run of fish for a few hours ending at two fish a piece - all peas in a pod at 1lb mark - 6 fish in total. Other species - smoothounds, doggies, bass and scad. Home asleep at 2am, so a late night but enjoyable all the same and made a nice change to skippering - cheers James. Suffering today though, up at 6.30am for work!

After being so windy all week - I had written off a trip this weekend, but to my surprise on Friday eve the forecast looked up at little, and had dropped to a SW2/3 on Sat. We had a slightly later start and Maverick and BW slipped away from Wick at about 7.30am - on leaving the run the sea was pretty smooth with a slight residual swell from the weeks strong winds - 20 mins and we were at the IOW. Mackeral were hard to find at first but with half a dozen in the tank we fished the last 1/2 hour of the ebb on the bridge. The tide was a little too slow though under 1.5 knots which seems to be the magic number and we had almost given up when I snagged a decent fish at only 0.9 knots! As has been the case so often this year, the first fish has been the best of the day and today was no exception - a cracking far 7lber came to the net. The last drift here also produced a fish - felt like a real heavyweight, but after about 30 seconds of struggling to gain any line the hook pulled - the hook has spun into the bait, giving me a poor hookhold - felt like a real biggy as well - but dont they always!! We then headed offshore to some banks - mackerel were a little more plentiful and were a bass anglers dream - every mackerel we had was under 6" - perfect bait size. The banks failed to produce for BW at anchor hoping for a tope or a blonde - but Maverick faired a little better taking a few of each. The tide then began to run slowly again so it was another move and after 30 mins we arrived at a previously unfished set of banks (for me) they looked fishy from the outset - and proved right - Dean and I taking a fish on the first 3 drifts! This is how it conitinued for the next few hours - either a fish, a take or a lost fish most drifts between the two boats, the wind was a mere breath and the sun shone down from blue skies! A long run back home - but well worth it! Thanks for the company Martin and Dean - will have to do it again shortly! AF

Nice shot Martin - thanks Dean....I think Gordon got a few of Maverick also. BW performed lovely yesterday we had 24 knots following Martin at one point in not a flat clam sea - she just bashed on through - great fun! ....but, we both noticed a sqeaking coming from the boat somewhere yesterday - may be nothing but things like that tend to worry - almost sounds like the deck has come away from one of the stringers slightly?? It only happends when we were giving it a bit of welly at hit a largish wave...

Gordon's best fish.....and what a day to be out!

Report to follow later as off out now - but heres two crackers from today. Mine - best of the day - 7lb

Hopefull the F5 will be 5/6pm tonight and 3/4 tomorrow, so may be OK. Gorden and I will also have a look - will be at the slip about 7.30am - see you then

Trev, Just phone Shakespeare direct - they are very helpful and will have spares for this - my guess is that this is all Reel care will do anyway. Sorry - dont have the number. Adam

What do we think then? Met office - F3/4 SW 5 at first?? From what I can see this looks to be the best we are going to get this weekend? Adam

LW - 10.00am HW - 18.30pm I think we will come along Martin. I prefer an early start at Wick, gives you a chance to park the trailer in a space and then put the car on the road, esp on a bank holiday w/end. I should think we will be on the slip for 6.30/7.00am?? Any later and it can start to get busy - also an idea to launch while there is a bit of water in the harbour. Anyone seen the weather yet? I have just looked and Sat is showing F4/5 SW?? Adam

I also agree with Duncan's comments - as there is alot more to this than just fuel economy - just for the record - I would be very confident, in fact I would put alot of money on it - that I could get from Cobbs to the Ledge and back with a bit of moving and drfiting in between on just 1 tank (25 ltrs) SO, camparing the two engine economies that is a saving of

...As Martin says, we need to know the miles you would expect to cover with 10 gallons. BW has a brand new (1 yr old) 60hp EFI 4 stoke Mariner. I also carry 2 x 25l (10 gallon) tanks. It varies depending on the sea conditions, tide and the amount of people / gear we carry - but on average we travel 2 up. I work on just under 1 litre per mile - this gives me a range of 60 miles approx. Very seldom do I need to take another tank - and more often than not 1 tank suffices for the whole day. James gets slightly better than this (65 miles?) - he has a 70hp Suzuki - EFI 4 stroke - I think the benefit he has is not better technology, but the fact he has 10 hp more - meaning he can travel at the same speed as me but at lower revs, if I re-engined BW again I would go for the 70/75hp. Hope this helps Adam

Spare clothes - I always take a few items in my stuff bag for the day, having had pervious experinaces like Steve - I am now covered...usually just a spare jumper and a set of salopettes. Even on a hot day I have the watreproofs in the cabin. Aux. Engine: I have a brand new, never used 4hp Mariner....in the garage! When I had the old unreliable (eventually exploding) engine - I wouldnt venture out without it. Nowadays with the new lump which starts at the turn of the key it hardly ever gets used. If I do a trip on my own or at night I tend to take it. Spare Anchor - I may review this. A spare warp causes no problems - I could easily take another 100 mtrs in the locker and still have plenty of room. The anchor is the issue - but maybe a 3-5kg folding bottle would do the trick? Finally, I tend to gauge what I need by the situation. Going out alone, at night, bad weather, long way offshore - I take more gear. The opposite I tend to review this, ie. a tow by a buddy boat, borrow fuel or share a spare anchor.