Adam F

Come on them Tom! Did you get one? Any hook ups? Any takes?? We are all waiting in suspense!

So - for the 6th year running Im going to try and get out after a Porgie sometime during Aug / Sept. As usual (and the past 5 years the weather has scuppered plans) dates will be around weather and tides. I'm going regardless, but I'll be after a crewman and many boats that want to join in the drift line. Rough plan is to head 15-25 miles out set up a drift with a load of chum and drift with the ebb and back with the flood. Anyone fancy it?

Ironic really Charlie that you used to get that from Great White, and we now have bigger faster boats capable of 30 knots plus yet the speeds above are typical of what I have had to cross the channel at the last 2 trips!! On a more serous note Graham whislt JV tops out at 32 knots Ive never used it other than for a smile factor once a year up the harbour in winter! The serious side is that having the extra HP allows me to run a 3600rpm WOT at just 2800rpm and cruise at 18 knots.

@ Rob - yes 12lb Kenzaki's used for 90% of the fishing. Avets performed flawelessly - between us both we now have enough to full JV's rod rack! I found the 12lb Kenzaki great for playing fish but a little lacking when I really had to lift a fish hard out of the wrecks, and a couple of times I was simply out-gunned and we lost a few quality fish back into the wreck. On comparison my 12lb conolons would lift a tank, but lack the finesse so it's swings and see-saws... @ James - well I'd love to tell you I skillfully angled the monster bream on a delicate rig loaded with squid dropped with precision behind the wreck but alas the beast had eyes biggeer than it's belly and slammed a 300gm pirk!!

Only you can make the call Graham - Coddy is right, you always want bigger... but it isnt always best! Your current boat will do and go 95% of the places I'd take mine, so you do need to weigh up the costs etc. I went bigger after a Warrior 165 and 175 because I wanted to cross the channel and sleep on board. However as a balance I now rarely fish inshore and miss alot of fishing as a result, many of my trips now cost upwards of

With such an aweful year weather wise it was doubful whether this trip would even go a head. Having cancelled the first date due to wind we were mega keen to get a trip to Cherbourg before the summer wrecking fizzled out, and with a perfect forecast seeming to hold last week hopes were high - however the usual pattern played out and Friday afternoon saw dozens of phone calls zooming around between skippers and crew - can we / cant we etc! However a late call on Friday at 7pm proved to be the right decision as the weather improved marginally enough to make the trip safe and it was agreed - Bon Voyage!! As is custom on these trips, a silly early start was agreed and at 5am on Sat JV with me and Alun steamed over the chains with Wight Magic with Dave, Mick (skipper of Marichelle) and Kev (skipper of Yelo) alongside us. The wind was fresh F4 but from the NW so it gave us a push south and made for a speedy trip, albeit, the sea got larger the further offshore we went. The first target wreck was some 35 miles from Poole and hopes were high, but alas all this produced were small 3-5lb pollok - not what we came for - so off another 7 miles or so to the next rusty hulk. This one has produced well for us in previous years but it was hard going with only a few fish, so again for to look at more wrecks. We spent most of the morning fishing and finding new wrecks on the french side of the channel with fairly slow results and with a target of getting back into Cherbourg to have a bit of and explore and see the culture... (Ok mountains of food and lashings of beer and wine!!) we needed to get away mid afternoon so time was pressing on. It all came good on the last 2 wrecks some 50 miles from Poole, when the flood tide kicked in. Some of the best wrecking Ive had - not just for numbers of fish but also size and variety. Both boats landed some super cod, massive pollok and quality ling. The tactic of the day was good old-school pirks, which seemed to work for all species. The best fish on JV were an 16lb cod, 16lb ling and a 13lb 8oz pollok. The suprise catches were a 3lb tub gurnard to me and the fish of the trip was a 4lb 6oz Black Bream which I took as the tide fell away. We also returned alot of fish and found that a steady slow retreave had the fish in much better shape to be returned. I think we put back around 20 pollok over the 2 days. So at 3pm, fish boxes full, the wind now down to a F2 and the sea slight, the sun was out and we cracked open a cold beer and pushed on south and into new territiores for both boats - France! New areas are always a little daunting but with plenty of help and advice from friends and local charter skippers we found the whole experiance easy and enjoyable. Chantereyne Marina was very busy and easy to work out and we were guided to raft alongside a 35' Sealine from Portsmouth for the night. Into the Captiniere's office and paid our 15/20 euros, got mugged on the fuel berth at 1.45E for Gazoil (diesel) and then left the crew to depart all of 500 yds to the hotel whilst dave and I used the marina facilities. Time was creaping on and after stocking up on a few boxes of wine from the Carrefore we finally found ourselves slumped in a little resturant alongside the marina with aching backs, leg and arms where several pints of cold larger, crisp Muscadet and plates of Moules Frites, Poission Soup, and Steak au Piovre were devoured whilst we compared notes from the days fishing. As you might have guess we all slept like the dead that night! Sunday morning greeted us bright and calm so a lovely lazy start, bacon rolls and coffee on the boat for Dave and I, and we met the crew and pushed of at around 9am. The forecast was for F4 15knots Westerly and as the sun slipped under a heavy blanket of cloud less than 3 miles out of the harbour shorts and shades were replaced by boots and jackets. Day 2 was harder going - possibly as we were a little tired from the day before, the sea was sloppy and progress a little slower but again we all managed some qualiity fish. I choose to fish a little more targetted to avoid loading up with unwanted pollok and managed a cracking ling on a drifted mackeral flapper. Kev on Wight Magic had a super cod at 19lb. Before we knew, it was 3pm and we had 35 miles to run home so a slow but steady 14 knots saw us coming back up the harbour and tied up by 5pm. What a memorable trip. Alwasy great to buddy with Dave as many of us know, and we stayed together and fished the wrecks as a buddy pair for the whole trip. It's really great to know you have assistance if required - 50 miles from Poole in the middle of the channel can be a lonely place! Throughly recommend the trip and it will definatly figure in my line up for 2012! Salute!

Cherbourg is confirmed, and whilst we have found crew for Dave on Wight Magic I now have a space on JV. Leaving Poole at 5am, hotel booked in Cherbourg, 2 days wrecking. Call me on 07957 829902 if you fancy coming. Adam

Definatly think the next boat will be called 'Fish-On' or 'Fish-Ard'

'Blush' http://www.deepsea.co.uk/boats/tiger_lily/...atest_catch.htm

Well for me anyway! Had a private trip out with Chris on Tiger Lily today - always a real treat, especially when just 4 of us had the whole boat to ourselves! We started with bassing in The Race - tough fishing, they arent really there in numbers yet, but I managed a nice brace of 6lb and 5lb respectively. Then onto the cod for an hour or so where I dropped 2 on the bounce whilst on the phone, but managed the third, a fat plump, super marked summer cod around 7/8lb. The third bream mark threw up a variety of species, red gurnard, bream etc and then it was off to the final mark of the day. First drift alonng the bank and I hooked a nice flatty that christened the new Kenzaki (12lb class) and banged the scales to 9lb 12oz! We eneded up with 12 species for the day and whilst we didnt haul, it was a steady day with a nice variety of fish and relaxed good company. Nice to have someone else drive the boat for a change!

Ben, It was agreed that the club would put up a trophy and prize for this comp. I'll sort the trophy (to be awarded at dinner dance next year) and we can discuss the prize by PM) Adam

Surprised no-one has snapped this offer up? 2 days top class wrecking, a night out in France and a chance to stock up on duty free! Just more room for wine on Wight Magic then Dave!?!! If anyone fancies it we are starting to book B&B's so shout now. Adam

Whenever - 14th Aug is fine. I'll let you run the comp yourselves, just post the info up on here. Not much needed, a list of entries, a call needs to be made re. weather conditions etc

Looks credible to me. Spearfisherman see alot more than all of us lot, even us divers - they are silent and make no noise or disturbance. According to the Crystal Vis website, 5 tuna have been landed the last few days off Portland, even a couple on rod and line. I'm down there on Weds, looks like I could be trolling for Tuna!

JV and Wight Magic are off to France over the weekend. Plan is 2 days wrecking out in the channel, with an overnight in Cherbourg. If any other boats fancy it, shout up here.

This Sunday is the date for the PBSBAC Kayak comp - is this still being fished and supported? I read on here it clashed with another event? Can you chaps let me know, and if any of you are fishing it, I need a list of entries. Thanks Adam

Sorry for the delay in posting these up. Final results for the 48hr comp: 1st Allan G - Red Gurnard 1lb 10.5oz 132.5 2nd Will Summerall - Pollack 17lb 4oz 107.81 3rd Dave Evans - Conger 40lb 100 4th Sam Chapman - Pollack 13lb 81.25 5th Charlie Chapman - Pollack 12lb 13oz 80 6th Tom Bettle - Pollack 11lb 4oz 70.31 7th Graham Nash - Pollack 9lb 56.25 8th Tony Deavin - Black Bream 1lb 15oz 38.75 9th John Wilcox - Ballan Wrasse 1lb 14oz 37.5 JS Place - Plaice 1lb 7oz 31.94

I bet it's amazing Jim - they dont tend to use much sat on the drive do they!?!

Terry, There is a thread somewhere on here, but in summary - I used Lexan Marguard - bought from a supplier on Ebay - in 6mm (I think) This is is the stuff riot shields are made from and is as clear as glass but 200x stronger and is scratch resistant. I took off the old windows as a template, rough cut within 2/3mm with a slow fine jigsaw (to avoid melting the plastic) and then clamped the template to the rough cut and used a laminate trimmer in a router to get an exact cut (it's a little tricky but doubale as you need to ensure the roller sits on the thin old window. I think I also put a 45deg bevel on the ouside edge. Thats the hard bit - I didnt bother bolting the new windows except for a couple on the side windows to ensure they bend slightly around the cuddy, I just bedded them in on a bed of black sikaflex. Hope that helps. Adam

Looks like you need new windows Terry? An easy job and one of the best IMO for the Warriors.

Martin, let me know which day your going, I'm up for a midweek trip?

How soon? Can wait, happy to collect?

Anyone? I need about 1/2 tonne, but dont really want to pay for class A stuff, it's only for a planter.

I'm after one of these - anyone got one or know of one?

Sounds obvious but specific to Xchurch and the Run: Make sure they stick rigidly to the channel through the harbour, it is VERY shallow either side, often even at HW. The channel markers are removed in Winter. The run - itself isnt that bad. I guess the main issue is coming off the power - you dont stop! Make sure they are familiar with the yellow channel markers on the seward side of the fun. Going out or coming in on a flooding tide is always easier than trying to squeeze out on the last of the ebb. Air pressure can have a massive effect of tide times and heights here.