Adam F

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.

With the small tides - had thought about giving the Tope a bash round to the West - anyone know if they are still around? I had considered the island but the tides look very small - and in previous experinace the small tides needs live eels to catch? Martin, I still may come along - if you havent used Wick before it may be helpful to have a familar boat to follow out. Ill have a look at the weather on Friday and then make a decision. AF

Should I carry a spare anchor?? - probably. To be honest it is the one thing that I couldnt store away, is big and bulky and heavy. I have an emergancy anchor which came with the boat - it has about 50 feet of rope a small amount of chain and a small bottle anchor - my guess is that this wouldnt do too much to hold BW anyway, so I never carry it. I have only been close to loosing my anchor once in 2 years (touch wood) and if I had have done - would have just come in - or drift fished the rest of the day. I suppose if I lost my engine useage, then lost my anchor it would be helpful - but you would have to be extremely unlucky and where does one draw the line? Ideally, space and weight permitting I would carry an exact replacement for the main gear, but until this time arrises I personally feel that my stance on this is OK? I am probably wrong and would be interested to hear others comments though!

Slack tide on Sunday - hot fresh tea and bacon rolls! Mmmm!! Got the idea from Martin. I have a gas cooker with a big footprint that stops it falling over - its ideal in anything but a really angry sea - then you have to hold the kettle on the stove!

Have a look in last months BFM.

Good thread Dave - Im sure all of us are guilty of this! If I emptied BW from full after a fishing trip, this is what I would have. I have looked at the long and hard - and only take what I consider a balance between essential and handy. The Warriors ahve a fair bit of space, but not loads and I have managed to optimise this by fitting most of this kit into lockers or corners. 1 x anchor and warp, 2 x mooring warps - both stored in the front anchor well. 1 x throw line, 1 x bailer, 1 x diving knife, 2 x 1st Aid Kits, cable ties, wd40, basic tool kit in a tool roll (takes us less space) spares (fuses, bulbs, wire, tape etc) 1 pair of H/D rigger gloves - this all fits in the front locker under the port berth. Spare battery, butt pad, tbars, big scissors, cap, glasses, suncream, Admiralty charts in tube, grab bag with offshore flares - all go in instrument locker. Electronics, cooker, gas, lifejackets and spare clothing go in a holdall on the starboard berth bench. As does a cool box with food and cooking implements. I carry 2 x 5 gallon tanks both of which sit neatly in the bilge well - on long trips I have another same sized tank which sits under the starboard transom, but in 2 years of owning the boat I have only done this twice - on the Ripps trip. 50 ltrs gives me about 60 miles range. I carry a round fish box which sits on the deck - inside this is another tub holding my adlerney buoy, spare chopping board. On the top of the fish box is a round ply lid - my cutting board, table and seat! Net, gaff, boat hook and deck brush all store on a rack on the port gunwhale. Leads - I keep at home and have 3 buckets - 1 with uptide grip leads, 1 with 2-10oz leads and another with 12-2lb leads. Depending on where/what Im fishing I chop and change to keep the weight down. Fenders - I only take when I need to moor the boat after launching - ie. Weymouth. Fianlly I now have a transom rail with 4 rod holders to keep spare rods off the deck. Quite a bit of gear also - but takes up very little room, and seldom do I wish for anything extra whilst alfloat. AF

Another...

The first two bass on Sunday. Best went 6lb. All very fat fish as you can see - all stuffed to the gills on Sea Anenomeous(?) Every fish I have had from Portland this year has been like this, never seen it anywhere before?

The first Weymouth trail away of the year went well Im pleased to report. We had five club boats turn in which was reasonable considering the time of year, holidays and other commitments etc.. Maverick with Dean and Mark B, Dawn Raider with Rich Jaw, Blue Warrior with Paul J, Neo with Sam C and Fat Chance with Terry and Tony. We met at 7am and the weather looked to be spot on - with the huge tides expectations were high for the bass to feed. With us all launched we headed out in convoy - alas we couldnt make contact with Eddy the Eel, and the tide was already running which meant we couldnt feather any - plan C was to head around the back of the Bill to feather some joeys. The tides today were as fierce as I have ever seen them - I think most of the boats used twice as much fuel as normal! At one point just of the Bill I was sat at 3500rpm just to keep the boat stationary in the 7 knot tide! Drifts happened in a blink of the eye and we used 12oz of lead most of the day to keep on the bottom! We were all expecting to fish the race, but when we arrived a veritable car park had formed on the West Buoy - charter boats, commercial rod and line bass boats and pleasure craft all crowded the drift line. The fish seemed to be everywhere as every boat you looked at seemed to netting a fish. BW took just 2 drifts to snag the first fish - the best of the day at 6lb. It was hard work though and just when you though you had it sussed you would draw a few blank drifts. As the tide slackend the boats began to disperse to ther marks and to find tide in the eddy that creates here. The first tide of the morning had been hard work to say the least but a respectable amount of Bass had been taken and the majority returned alive. The slack was very brief due to the tide size - barely enough time to have lunch and clean the catch and we were back off again. BW tried the race but it was serious stuff - too much for us, so we headed back to the first mark. Maverick had managed to buy about 50 eels from eddy and martin very kindly donated a handful to BW - this seemed to do the trick with a fish every drift - although noticable was the size of the bass on the eels - pretty small. Whilst the joeys to fewer fish - they were a much better stamp. We called it a day at about 4pm and headed back to the slip for a wash down and a quick pint in the Spyglass. All in all another enjoyable day in Weymouth. Adam