Adam F

Just thought I'd pop a little piccie up for why we use 'The Franklin Flyer'.... It's not a pennel - they are too bulky and impeed the bait's presentation. It's not rocket science, but a few years back after dropping alot of turbot, I decided to hair rig a size 12 carp hook... it worked! about 30% of the fish caught last week came in on the small hook - would have been dropped on a single hook.

Nige - what plotter do you have and what size? Can you network with that? If not I'm more than pleased with my Lowrance - stunning performance for the budget.

Quote of the week for me.... Adam: " Rob - what's your best tope?" Rob: "About 7lb... do they go big here? Do they go to 20lb?" Adam: "Nah... not 20lb mate..... about 30 is the smallest!" ..... que a big smile and then 5 mins alter Rob hooks a 47lber! Awesome!

Tom had his SLR with him so we arranged a few 'fly-by' photo shoots...

Nice one Charlie - superb report!

You'll be eating Tubot for the next year how well you did!

For those golfers of you, you'll recall the famous, Gary Player quote: "The more I practise, the luckier I get" .... that pretty much sums up this years first trip to Alderney for JV. If you havent guessed, I flippin LOVE Alderney, the trip is the highlight of the year for me. After getting blown out early May, we were mega keen last thurs to get cracking, so before 1st light last thurs Alun, Rob Francis and I edged out of them Marina, and hooked up with Yelo, Alfesco, Quest II, Abode and Wight Magic for 4 days in the channels islands. I'll spare you every detail as it has been covered before, but I'll pick up a few highlights! This time Plans A,B,C, D and E all worked, hence the quote at the top of the report. We had a box of prime pollock on the trip over on Thurs, before fueling and going out for a crack at the Alderney Tope... we fished for 2 hours and had a dozen fast and furious tope, biggest 47lb, smallest 30lb - amazing! Friday saw no wind, and sunshine and a long day on the Shoale bank. 9 turbot to about 7lb was a cracking day. Rob 'honest I saw that bite' Francis was top rod, and seemed to have a knack of just picking up the rod with a turbo attached! We didnt take the mick.... much! Sat was a suprise, we expected to be land bound, but whilst it blew it was fishable, so we took the bull by the horns and headed to the Shoale again. We fished long and hard with a F5 E wind over tide all day.... lumpy.... and managed another 9 fish. Alun got his nickname of 'First and Last' today as the same as Fri, he caught the fist and last turbo of the day.... he fished damn hard for them! Sun... home time. We had a delayed start as 6am saw 50m visability due to dense fog and a string F5... should we stay another day or go home? An educatated decision based on the forecast and help from Steve Porter a few miles ahead of us saw the whole foltila leaving at 10am, headed North for Poole. We fished a few wrecks on the way back and ended up with some more lovely pollock and a few plump cod. Back into the marina at 6pm, we had covered 241 miles for 277 litres of fuel used. Tired but happy! A few nigles over the weekend.. a poorly VHF which needs some 'Bob' attention, an engine fault alarm which popped up 15 miles of Durlston on the way home, and on cleaning the boat today a cracked stringer on the hull which will need a repair (I suspect a tankers wash, and 20 knots on a flat sea with 3 up in the wheelhouse was the blame) Anyway, a great laugh and a superb weekend! The bad news is we are back in reality... the good news is we are going again in 3 weeks! A few photos for you:

OK - give me 10 min.

Me!! I cut my biggest into Troncons (steaks) and have them in the oven with homemade hollendaise, jerseys royals, asparagus and a bottle of cold white! MMmmmmmmm!!!

Nice one Tom - it was an excellent few days wasnt it! Your fish equals the club record of 5olb from 2000 - shame you didnt have any bigger scales. We did the same too - Rob's first fish pretty much bottomed mine out so I bought a 100lb set from Mark the next day....

WERE OFF!! See you in 4 days ... 'Gone Fishing'........

OK, OK - so we havent even left for the first trip of the year yet... but I'm planning on getting over (and have the brownie pass to prove it!) for the 48hr comp.... weather permitting. So!! Who fancies 3 days in the 'Islands' from 18th June to the 20th?? 1.) JV - Adam, Alun and Ian

Just spoke with Mark, at AA. My current plan based on the forecast is to head straight to the Shoale tomorrow morning... I can fish mid channel anytime, and I want to make the most of the good weather. I'll then do the same on Friday, and wait and see what Sat / Sun brings. Ideally I'll batten down the hatched and plug on back Sun if we dont get much more than a F4 E - if we do and it's not sensible, then leave Monday morning is a secure back-up. The pontoon for tenders has just gone in today, but Mark's not sure how usable it is. The water taxi starts running at 8am. As it stands I'm not planning on taking my little outboard - if anyone needs it for a tender give me or Alun a shout today.

Yes, it is a possibility. I'm still going. I'm going to take the laptop to keen an eye on the weather sites. See you in a few hours Tom

Never a truer word spoken! Even as we speak I'm thinking of heading staright to the banks on Thurs and Fri, and then wrecking Sat and Sun around the weather. We will keep you posted!

Ben, Ive sent you a PM. If you want me B&B space for the 3 nights you are welcome as I'm thinking of staying onboard. Let me know. Adam

I see they are all now giving a fair bit of wind on Sat and Sun. Not enough to stop me going, but plans may have to be fitted around it - I.e limited on Sat and an early start on Sun and back across to break the back of what looks like a ENE F4-5

Ive also made a list of the main eateries as to avoid the usual Ch6 afternoon discussion of who is eating where and them trying to book using 118118 when the indian girl on the other end hasnt even heard of Alderney! Marais Hall - 01481 822683 The Moorings - 01481 422421 The Harbour Lights - 07781 135616 The First & Last - 01481 823162 I think JV crew will eat in the Marais Hall on night 1 as it's traditional... the Harbour Lights as per Terry's booking on Day 2 and leave Day 3 TBC.

What do I think? I think BRING IT ON!!! Ive spoken to most skippers this morning and confirmed a rough passage plan. Ive got a list of skippers mobile numbers here if anyone needs them - drop me a PM with your email address. A link to the tides is here: http://www.alderney.net/documents/Ald%20TT...SinglePages.pdf The Cobbs crew (Adobe, Wight Magic and Yelo) are getting the 05.30 bridge, so will be passing the chains about 5.45-6am I'd guess. The Parkstone crew are aiming to leave the marina around 5.30-5.45 with a rendezvous with the others around the chain ferry. My guess is that once we clear Durlston head we will have a fair idea of the sea conditions and can then shuffle the boat groupings around depending on cruising speed. We have 2 boats without Radar - Yelo and Adobe, so these will need pairing with the others. Seems like most people have a plan to stop mid-channel for a few wrecks I think I'll be taking the Western edge route , with a view to being in Alderney late morning / lunchtime. I'll then fuel up with the HW and then pop out for a few hours tope fishing before an early bath around 3-4pm to get the crew into the B&B and get up the Maris Hall for Pepper Steaks and lashings of beer. Days 2&3 will be the Shoale / Casquets / South Banks with a smattering of Pollok or tope thrown in around the tides and weather. I think I'll also re-fuel on Day 3 for the homeward trip as Day 4 has a morning LW. Day 4 for me will be a slightly later start and then a route out to the East to include a stop on the rips depending on how reports come back from the weekend. Hopefully aim to be tied up back in the marina for 5pm on Sunday, tired but happy with a buldging fishbox!

OOhh!! Me too if the dates and timings work out? Also - noticed the gunnels look very low in the picture - I guess youve got high rails to top them off with?

It's not too bad. Windguru my main site is giving Sat the worst, but Sun back to light NE again. Windfinder and XC seem to agree, with XC showing F5's on Sat for a time. I guess the next 48hrs will tell. We certianly dont want it to get any worse!

As there is such a large number fishing the Bream comp, I need to keep all results in one place as much as possible. Log your catches here please: 1)

Superb turnout!!! Well done you lot. Have a great day, and dont forget I need you catches either logging on here (I'll start a new thread now) or ringing me (number on the club list) Tight lines Adam

Yep, I'll be bringing JV in on Weds eve, loading up with ice and kit ready for an early get away. I'll leave at 6am, but dont want to leave any later. Terry - Cant you come down the nigth before? I'm sure we can find you a bed somewhere? Tom - What are your plans?

Good call Charlie. LW at PBM is 9.00, but I'm aiming to be away alot earlier than that. Probably 5am start to make the most of the day. Happy to buddy with whoever. But Yelo, Wight Magic and Abode are all coming from Cobbs, so I guess a plan is for them to head out initially together, with JV, Quest II and Alfresco paired as we are next door. If the sea state then dicates some boats can run faster than others then we can swap it around, but to be fair as long as we are within sight / radio contact all is well. Adam