Adam F

Gordon and I headed out last night - the only free night this week for both of us. The wind was forecast as 3-4 SW and they had got it right. The plan was over to the island for bass until dark and then anchor the ledge for a conger or three. BW behaved impecablly over to the IOW. Despite the strong winds kicking up a swell and a fair chop she sat at 18-knots all the way and never slammed once. The wind off the staboard bow helped as it was a different story when we came back! Mackerel were back and easy to find, so we headed back to the mark. The wind made drifting hard, pushing us across the reef and across the weakish tide. With only 2 drifts left I snagged a decent fish and after a cracking deep powerful fight a nice 6lb 14oz bass was netted. Despite my best attempts at returing her, she didnt want to know, so begrudgingly I kept her. Gordon, alas struggled again - always another day! After a slow bumpy ride into the teeth of the wind to the ledge, we anchored up and prepared the conger gear. A bite straight away to Gordons rod make thinsg look up, but the sneaky begger had the bait off! That was it until 11pm when I had a take, but struck too early, but Gordon didnt and hooked into a lovel 30lb eel - a very thin, but very long fish - about 6'....still a reasonable trip and a first at night for Gordon. An uneventful run back home and in bed by 12.30!

A 6/0 or 7/0 bronzed o'shaunessey with the barb crunched flat. These will rust out within a few days. Recently I have also been using the Varivas Big Mouths in 6/0 for the tope. Again, barb crunched, makes T barrring off a hell of a lot easier and it much better for the fine sporting fish.

Ahh!!! The old 'what would you do' scenario!!! Its a difficult one to answer Geoff - only you (guided by others comments) can make that decision. Those two boats are vastly different. The Warrior (in my own very, very biased opinion) is one of the best 16' day fishing boats you can buy - the numbers sold reflect this. Easy to trail on even a smallish car - fast, very stable in most seas, good fishing area, small cuddy to protect from the rain, seats that swivel whilst you are fishing and driving.... The pilothouses....you can sleep in them, they have a big, dry cuddy many with doors - these equal creature comforts - better for the family, you get more of a 'big boat' feel. My advice? = Have a trip in the MG, go FISHING in one of the club members pilothouses (KAM?) and see how they are in terms of practicailty. Then come out in mine or one of the other 165's and try that. My guess is that the and only then will you be able to make a decision. Good luck!

Fantastic - the innocence of youth!!!

As Kam says, Geoff, once you add an engine - 3.5k min - up to 6k I suspect, and a decent braked trailer - 1.5k - you are looking at

And mine - so maybe that is it??

Im sure we will fit you all in chaps. Come on guys - lets see some new names. Everytime we get the same boats!! Some of the new members? Some of the moored boats in Poole - it only takes an hour to steam round!

Jimbo's been there done that - he has had several UK Catfish...

Hi Geoff, I think you may struggle. These are built out in the Eastern Block - Poland I think and are pretty new to the market. Have you had a look at Parley Boats - on the Parley Traffic lights, Ferndown? They have just opened up and are a distributer of MG boats - I think they have a 530 on the forecourt. They look very similar to several other boats on the market - the Selva Fisherman: http://www.selvamarine.co.uk/infopage.asp?infoid=142 Also Kam's boat (Newboy) is very similar so he may be able to offer a view: http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/memberboat.php?id=21 Personally (and this is only based on what I have seen on the net) - I think they are quite dear for what they seem - and I would go for tried and tested - in this class this would mean an Arvor, Quicksilver, Merry Fisher etc - I guess the best fit would be the small Merry Fisher 530 - shares even the name in common and has been around for years - features and tests on these are commonplace. http://www.freeportmarine.net/Jeanneau_Mer...sher_530_A.html Dave Lewis did one in Sea Angler a few months back - I have the copy if you want a look. Hope this helps. Adam

Also struggling with the description of Exhaust - I think Im right in saying that most outboards have a through propellor exhaust - quietening the noise and emitting it underwater to stop smell and smoke. Most 2 strokes give off a bit of smoke, but yours being 4 stroke should be OK. Is it a brand new engine on the boat? If so I would be most surprised if you had problems already???

Rich, I am sheduled in for a trip Tues eve - was going to have a night conger trip - but could be pursuaded to have a look for a stinger.... Adam

I presume this is the Solid C rod? What model do you have paul? I wouldnt mind having a look....

Landed on 12lb class bream gear and a 40lb hooklink! What a fight!

A little late - but here's the best bass from the trip on the big tides last weekend. 6lb

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap3006c/ They do 3 or 4 large screen combo units...you have to add the black box unit to all of the Garmin combo units as far as Im aware - maybe the very small basic units do a dual purpose, but every other one requires the add on. It is an extra cost - but not massivly expensive.

Well, we took a chance and it didnt really pay off....the forecast gave SW 4-5 and as per usual the other weather sites all gave less - mostly 3's. Steaming up the swash was fine, but the further we went west the bigger the sea got. We stopped off of the Anvil and a good 15' swell was present. White horses were begining to appear and the clouds grew even darker. Even the bac-up mark of the Anvil tope grounds were too exposed. In the end we decided to have a fish for a few hours anyway and settled in on a TS mark just off the 20/20 banks. First chuck for me and the rod hoops over - a decent fish making off with the bait...short lived though as whatever it was missed the hook and chomped straight through the whole mackerel - probably tope? Due to the tiny tides I was fishing 12lb class rods and just 8oz of lead in full tide. Second chuck and a repeat of the first, but this time I hooked it. An amazing fight on 12lb class gear lasting over 20 mins had me thinking a huge blonde was the culprit - but no, a nice 38lb conger was though!! That was it really - the normal dogs and a flurry of small pack tope to about 8lb and we headed in. Home and clean by 1.30pm I believe Bob stayed out with Rich enjoying the run of pack tope...Im sure he will post what they had. Adam

Les - the MI21 would have a problem fitting into a Warrior - it is a 21' fishing boat! I would look at the Lowrance or the Garmin - Bob F is wrong in that the biggest they do in the Combo unit is 5" - they go way bigger than this at the top end models and basically go head to head with Lowrance, just personel preference really. I also like the look of the Raymarine kit, very proffessional looking and in the way it works. Adam

BW will be launching from Baiter on Sat morning - early....6am ish heading out West to look for sharks if anyone fancies tagging along - tides are too small for bassing, so a chancge of tact this weekend. Adam

Will, See here - has been covred before: http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/forum/index.php?ac...te=portland+rig This isnt a trolling rig though - it is for drifting. Try the ledge (anywhere really) or some of the races around the island. For trolling just a swivel, 12-20' flourocarbon and a hook - almost freelining. Troll the bottom, shallower end of the ledge nearer Hengistrbury Head. Adam

Shallow, busy in summer and quite expensive. Trailer needs unhooking and wading out usually. Plus sides - it is very close to the entrance, so no need to spend half and hour plodding up the harbour at 4 knots. We use muddiford in the winter when its free and Wick in the summer, which although it still gets as busy - if you launch early enough, put the trailer in the park and park the car around the corner it is free - plus its a steep slip so the boat just rolls off.

Well, After a few week break, due to hectic club schedules - it now seems to have quietend down a little - so its time for another club trail-away. Weymouth this time, and a choice of dates: Sunday 14th August or 21st I guess this will be dependant on tides? Can someone check and advise. The format will be as usual - Meet at the town quay slip at 7.00am. Fishing will be likely for the bass on the race - so we will need to source eels either here in Poole or down in Weymouth. It would be great to get a few of the newer members, Weymouth guys and the moored boats in Poole around to boost the numbers this time. Post here if you want in - more info to follow. Adam

Did my eyes mistaken me - or did I see Wedger - aka Trevor Wyatt on South Today tonight - taking about sterile fish?? FAMOUS!

What a difference a few days make.... Saturday, we fished the same state of tide (albeit a little bigger) and the mackerel were aplenty and the bass were crawling up the rods. Today - a complete reversal. As Bob said the mackerel were hard to find - I have never known them that bad - 2 hours without a single fish, and then when we did find them we only had a couple of full strings - then they went again. The bassing was also hard, but Bob came through with a splendid effort of 3 fish. I had to be content with just netting and skippering - I'm sticking with my line that I only took Bob out to catch fish!! Anyway - I suppose thats what keeps us coming back!

Took Rach out today for a drive and headed west as she has never been to West Bay, Bridport, Charmouth and Lyme Regis. Most inetresting day, but the real centre of attraction for me (and the secret reason behind the trip) was the new slipway at West Bay. Very nice - I must say. The new arm has changed the aspect of the slipway and harbour entrance from SW to ESE. It was a good SW 5-6 today, and yet only a gentle swell entered the harbour - fine for launching - just - but not too nice a day for being out at sea. It is a large (20-30' wide) solid, well constructed concrete slip about, on similar par to Weymouth, both in construction and in gradient. The wooden sleeprs that thay had first put there along the edges and that greated a 'whirpool' at the bottom, have been removed and replaced by small steel and timber bars to let the receding water escape. Definatly worth a trail-away on a decent forecast. All we need is a few numbers worth heading for - any ideas? Forgot the camera, so only managed to get piccies on the phone, but this site shows the work that has been done: http://www.stacey.peak-media.co.uk/WestBay...WestBay2004.htm And this picture gives a decent idea of the new slip:

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