Adam F

So my reading of that is that there is an enticing area of high pressure sat south over France but next weekend would see the jetstream over the southern half of the uk bringing wind?

Well this weekend would be the usual traditional date for the trip has the tide allowed.... A shame as the forecast is actually looking quite decent....

Size 4 or 6 is about right, carp hooks work nice as they are short. It's worth learning the knotless knot as it has 100% knot strength and is so simple and quick

The hair is just a continuation of the trace line. Basically you tie the main hook on and leave a long tag and then tie the flyer to that. However the trick is the knotless knot that enables the flyer to sit neatly and in line.

I was starting to get excited but the new job and new boat plans are rather getting in the way at present! All bad timing!

Royalties! You need to be able to tie 'the knotless knot' which is a knot dervied from carp fishing to mount boiles on a hair rig. I adapted it for turbot. It's very easy, but not to explain. If I can get there next week, I'll bring some kit and show you.

Very smart she looked to, at the marina this week. Have you put her on FAFB? (Www.findafishingboat.co.uk) if not, do it, good place to sell. Will the new targa live at Parkstone?

Can't believe anyone on here doesn't want to crew? We usually have too many crew, not enough boats? Looking forward to it now! 3 weeks today and we'll be stuffed to the gills with pepper steak from the Maris!

You should have floored it... Seen if Manta could outrun the chopper with its new hydrofoils! Lol. Well done guys always good to be involved in these things.

4 days is enough, it's pretty full on and I know I come back shattered! I wouldn't really want to do any longer. The other thing is having a weather window that allows you to stay that long! It's usually an ask to get the 4 days!

Sleeping onboard is fine, I've done it many times now. The facilities in Braye are basic but clean, the showers are hot. As Martin says they are all swinging moorings, most of us moor stern on when sleeping onboard to avoid the bow where you sleep taking the slap all night. However after doing this trip for a number of years even the hardcore are staying on land this year. The novelty seems to have worn off, and a warm comfortable bed that doesn't move isn't a bad shout for around £30 a head. Would be good to have you along. Adam

Hello old buddy! I havent a clue about the rod but great to see you on here again. Have a great holiday. Adam

5 weeks to go!! Surely it's time to start looking at weather forecasts!

Also, I think we should open this up to all juniors, regardless of whether they are a member or not. I know a couple of Reuben's friends would be interested?

My oldest is just about at the age where he's starting to take an interest but not enough to warrant a full year or several month long comp. If it was a one off junior comp I'm sure he'd be up for it. Well done anyway, we need to keep the junior side going, it's how I got into it all! Also, JV would be available should a boat be needed to take a few out.

I'd think that would be fine. The plate on the underside will be more important than the bolt size, it's about spreading the load. Put it another way: how do you manage when anchored in a big tide? A swinging mooring shouldn't be any worse.

Hmmm. It's a long run just on the off chance, strange as Portland is usually underway by now, I've had mackerel in April down there before. I've heard that the pollock on the wrecks have been equally poor this year?

Cheers all, sadly was working today but hope to get out Sat.

Any further news from Portland? Next weekend looks do-able, but would be nice to hear of the odd one before making the trip. They should be there by now?

Do you want me to pop in tomorrow and have a quic look? Will be passing your door late morning? Or is she on the river?

Every year I go down around Feb and expect to do just a few odd jobs and always come away with a notebook full! I quite like it in a way though, esp. While the fishing is slow in Feb and March, and it's a nice feeling hitting the water in the spring all ship shape. I'm about 60% complete! I was going to strip and re paint the leg, but I've decided to rub back and go for a new coat of trilux instead. Cheaper and quicker. I don't need it as I'm out of the water but a complete repaint is a major job. A few bits of grp work, replace a few broken bits a full deep clean and polish and I'm there! Charlie, thanks for the heads up on Breaksea. It's a good shout, although I'd suspect they would need the boat as they would have to be moulded to fit. It's one of the reasons I haven't done them this year as I haven't had the time to get the boat back home. I should have moulded them from grp when I built them instead of using ply and gel washing over it. They have lasted well for 5 seasons but are starting to look a bit tired now.

Nearly Rob. Get a fibreglass one, cheap and light. Less than £20.

Now you need to go on eBay and buy a load of different mounts so you can play with boom shots, head cams, rod cam etc... It's loads of fun!

I had a rare hour free today to pop down to JV, didn't think I had much to do, but still managed to come away with a long list, albeit smallish jobs. The main one is replacing the deck lockers which I didn't make properly when I built it... They are survived ok until now, but need cutting out and some proper jobs moulding. It's a job I can do, but ideally I'll need the boat at home.... So might have to wait until next winter.

It won't be the laptop. I can even use my ipad to edit basic video. What software are you using? I use iMovie on the ipad, but it's very basic and limiting. On the PC I use Movie Maker, which is simple to use but you can't do the really fancy stuff Lee does, but it's good enough for me, the only downside is when rendering the video at the end, is prone to crashing if it's more than a few mins of film... You can get it to work ok though. My first time I had to gaff around a fair bit. As Dan and rob says, unless you got a semi pro set up, forget 1080, and just stick with 720.