Adam F

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.

As if you need your appetite whetting.... :-)

I'll be heading down but will free time at a premium, I'll be waiting until a few reports start to filter in. I see a few of the Poole boats are heading down this week. I think they must be there soon, last year we were getting them from mid March?

Too much for me, they are giving a steady 20 knots of southerly all day Sunday, so I won't be out in that. Sorry Rob.

Like most things in life you get what you pay for. I've tried lots of kit over the years and for the past 8 or so years have found Musto be be excellent. True it's expensive.. But spread the cost over the time you've been through a handful of cheaper kit and it's not too bad. I use a BR1 jacket and MPX trousers. As for getting it messy... Just wash it! It truly is awesome kit.

I'm not sure what 2014 holds for me yet, with a new job to start in February, however I'm sure a couple of days off won't be an issue, although I will be restricted to a trip over a weekend to keep leave at a minimum. It's also my daughters birthday in May so if these first dates fall through that will probably be me out. Anyway Ian is keen this year so I'm sure JV will be there regardless! 1. Alfresco, Charlie plus crew tbc 2. AWOL - Martin + crew already sorted 3. Wight Magic Dave +crew already sorted 4. Kingfisher - Chris + Chris A 5. Tigerfish - Steve, Lloyd, rest of crew tbc 6. Freeboys Peter + Matt. ..... 7. Wandering Star - Andrew + crew tbc 8. Manta Ray...Tomo,PJ,Tubby,Paul,Steve + 2 additional crew tbc 9. JV - Adam, Ian and Alun

I'd have thought a failed sea cock would be prime candidate? It would take a far mass of water to push her under, but saying that with all the flooding and weather we have had it also wouldn't surprise me. As Martin said, a bilge pump on battery would only do so much and cope for so long, a bit different if on shore power? But it's still only a small pump against a huge amount of water, mind. As you say, over to the insurance now, in my experience they should be pretty swift. A new engine and leg would be cheaper than a new boat so I'd imagine that is the way they will go with it?

Anyone got a 90deg snap in elbow to suit a par max type pump and to take 19mm / 3/4" hose?

Apologies for the late report. Last Tues a window finally opened in the weather so Alun and myself opted for a few hours out after a box of whiting, with the chance of a cod. It was only a short trip due to tides and daylight hours but pleasant nonetheless. The wind wasn't quite a low as hoped but wasn't uncomfortable. I've been loath the steam all the way to the island his year, I know if does fish slightly better for cod, but it's still hit and miss and I'm not sure it's worth the 2 hour round trip and 50 quid in diesel, so I opted for a favourite ray mark of mine on the spoils. The whiting where there from the off, but sadly as the tide build they stopped biting but we both had a couple for tea, just not a box full as I'd hoped. Al then had a conger around 30lb, before I followed suit with a double hook up within mins of each other of another similarly sized eel, and a lovely 22lb blonde ray. The tide was too much by early afternoon so we retreated back inshore but as has been the way this year so far the fishing was poor closer in. So not a disaster of a day, no cod, and would have been nice to have seen a few more whiting but still nice to be out. Looks like that was the last trip for 2013. Merry Christmas everyone and tight lines for 2014. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I had asked to have JV launched over Xmas to keep options open, but the forecast looks so filthy, I've decided to keep her ashore and wait until the new year for more settled conditions.

I'm out today but short trip Poole end.

I've got a Rule 500 gph as a separate pump for the bait tank, I like it as it's not over powered for this use. That's good enough for me, I'll go for a Par Max 4 this time. As the saying goes, 'buy cheap buy twice' or three times in this case!

What are you chaps using as deck wash pumps? I'm currently on my 4th in 5 years. All have come from Gale Force Marine which specialise in pumps, although they are all copies of the big brands like Par Max. First I had a diaphram unit - it worked well with reasonable pressure and I liked the pressure cut off, meaning you could leave it on all day with it cutting in on demand, however the head of the unit which houses the electrics and diaphram failed for a past time. To be fair to Gale Force they have replaced them without quibble, but ive had 2 of these units and maybe 4 heads. This year I changed and bought a HD pump, with a big brass head and impellor type. This wasnt meant to be heavy duty. It had the pressure but was noisy and didnt have the pressure shut off - anyway after 5 months it's bust - stripped the impellor mount and the gasket is leaking. Gale Force are refunding in full. So what do I get next? I just want something that works! A lot of people seem to use the Par Max 4? Any suggestions?

I posed a question to the guys with me on Sun. Could we be more responsible when we target the winter cod? We know they are in decline, 150 people fished the cod champs the other week, 130 blanked. Yet come Nov we all head out and target them, little else is around so they get fished for hard, and I don't think I've ever heard of one being returned. Yes, I know it's a drop in the ocean when trawlers take so much more but every little helps? They aren't he greatest fighting fish, so if you were going to put them back would you even bother wasting the fuel for them?

A mixed day on JV. Great to be back out though. I had Rob and Al on with me, the weather wasn't quite as if hoped, but it wasn't rough either. I gambled against the IOW and the big tides and stuck to a trusted big ray mark on the spoils. A smattering of whiting kept us busy, rob hooked into a big blonde ray, alas half way up the hooks pulled. I hooked what I think was a small cod, only for it to go slack and then solid and then slack again, on winding in the 80lb leader had been bitten through about a foot up from the pennels? A shark I think? A move inshore out of the tide in the afternoon, proved unfruitful, although I did sneak a 2lb 3oz Spotted Ray for the ray comp. The only downside was a recurrent fault code on the Volvo, 'low fuel pressure' needles further investigation. And then on entrance to the marina at LW I hit some rocks and took a chunk out of a brand new prop :-( Roll on the next weather window!

Book in as usual 1) Court Jester - Neal Alfie, Stuie 2) Kingfisher, Chris, Jim (Tiddler) & Stu (Non member) 3) Fisheagle 4) Serenity 5) Alfresco? 6) Hobit plus 1 non member ( staying in the harbour as first time out with new engine ! ) 7) AWOL Martin & Dean 8) Wight Magic Dave ,Ben , Craig 9) JV Adam, Al plus 1

1) Court Jester plus crew TBA (on each and every day possible!) 2) Kingfisher, Chris, Jim Davies, Stuart. 3) AWOL Martin + Jon 4) Fisheagle plus Allan, Dave (Coddy) and Jan T. 5) Serenity , will need crew any volunteers , Tony + Rich 6) Wight Magic crew tba 7) fillet up crew tba 8) Manta Ray Tomo, Paul D, Nigel,Mal, Charlie C, Dan C, Sam C,PJ.. + non member Mr Shaky Artois.... Tubby. 9) Joint Venture, crew tbc

Worth considering Parkstone Bay Marina. Its where I dry store my Aquafish 23. They dont rack the boats over 20' they store them on launch trailers, so easy access when ashore. Very secure, not many issues with theft. Great new faclities - new posh shower block etc. Close to the entrance - saving you about 15-20 mins over Rockley. They also have a fuel berth onsite which does both petrol and diesel on an account basis and self service. The downside is that you pay a little more for these extras - worth consdiering. Adam

I like toys as much as the next man, but the water we anchor is relatively shallow compared to many pats of the world... What's wrong with the Alderney ring and crew on deck?