Adam F

Well after a run of good fishing over xmas and plenty of cod, yesterday was the fish getting their own back.... it was just one of those days! The drive from Shaftesbury was cold, foggy and slippery, the forecast wasnt as said, instead we had a stiff NE wind across tide, making it sloppy, the plotter was playing up, the anchor buff came off (again) and in my haste to recover it ran over one of my rods winding 100 yds of braid around the prop, which required an hour hanging off the dive platform in 5c water and getting soaking wet legs. And to top it all off all Alun and I managed were a few doggies and small whiting. Ah well - you need the bad days to highlight the good ones!

Like Charlie, I considered Copper Coat from new - ideal time to do it.... but wasnt convinced from the research I did, sure the website had good reviews as did a few magazines, but like Charlie, real life experiances were few and not too convincing. In the end we used the traditional route and went with a Blakes fast cruising antifoul and I must say it has been excellent, even with the minimal use JV has had this year her bum has stayed clean.

Dunno mate - since the Armoury shut, Ive stayed at AA once and one the boat the other times..., I'll be on the boat again this time. Drop Alun J a line, he knows the accomidation pretty well.

Oh god dont remind me!!

Flower pots? Cemetary? Sod sleeping on the ground - I'd be on the boat or in a B&B!

Alderney Angling is now full. Harbour lights has been refurbished and is very nice, downside is that they are not flexible, if we arrive a day late / early etc due to weather you still pay - many of the others are flexible around small boats crossing the channel. Some of the other guys will be able to add to the list - good idea though.

Yep! Thats how I do it....

The only crap thing about our cars.... I love mine, but it is absolutely crap in ice and snow, last year it got stuck so many times that I havent moved it off the drive this time Rear wheel drive not for slippery!

Reuben will be still a little small, so Rach and him wont come - I'll go, but it will be a weekend trip only, maybe running down Fri eve and back Sun at the max. I'm keen though. Dont mind staying in the new marina in Portland - it'll be like Alderney all over again - it's nearly an island and the locals are similar! I'll go with whatever.

indeed...although I can't see any one onboard sleeping now the harbour fishing has been experienced I'm also going to carry the tender despite the apparent 'hassle' - the reality is it takes away a huge amount of hassle when over there in either Braye or St PP! Nah - the fishing is crap.... I'll be staying in Alderney for the duration - two reasons, 1) the fishing and 2) My crew will have digs on the island so move to Guernsey isnt really an option - plus it's further still. Personally I slept like a log regardless of the spray - the key was a belly full of beer and a pair of ear plus!

If the anchor is rigged to trip correctly (as Tom suggests) then the cable ties dont usually break in normal use. If yours break EVERYTIME you use this method I'd suggest you either fish very rough ground all the time, or have it rigged slightly wrong. I guess mine go about 30% of the time - unless the anchor is snagged the buoy pull the anchor up and the flukes simply break free.

Thanks Guys. Yep - struggling with this one! We will shadow PSAC's comp - when they fish, so will we. Bloody wind!

Just watching this on BBC2 - Michael Portillo presenting - chatting to a chap call John Pinnigar about fish stocks... This guy john was taking about the lack of cod and the cod wars in Hull..... then went on to say how we need to stop eating Cod and start eating the more plentiful species..... like Bass and John Dory!! Re reckons that in the Channel bass numbers have increased 4 fold in recent years!

I got fed up with WSF so dont use it anymore. Would be interested in a PBSBAC trip - also like the idea the trailer boats can come down too. Someone needs to take charge, organise a date and organise the berthing if possible? I'd suggest either Spring for the flatties or later in the year (July/Aug) for almost anything....

Nov weather was crap and then Dec the Cod arrived!! As I said - Feb and March are the doldrums, so we will do it then. Another anchoring point - like on your fishing reels, the thinner your warp the less resistance, thats why braid scores over mono in big tides. In my opinion for a 16'ish dinghy 10mm rope is perfect, over this up to sat 25'ish then 12mm is ideal - 14mm is really chunky stuff! That said many people prefer how the thicker ropes handles when pulling it in. Food for thought...

Size of the chain is vital - maybe the most important part - from memory I think we have 10mm on JV - it's beastly stuff but it holds the flukes down. Ive seen too many boats with what is almost bicyle chain sized stuff! The Alderney method is very good - I dont know if a better way of working the anhor in our waters. However even the experianced ones of us get it wrong occasionaly! The trick is to know when this is happening and avoid it getting worse - i.e a warp around the prop / leg etc.... We will cover this in Feb/March when we do the club training day. I'm happy to take 4 out on JV to show how.

Started about 2am here in Shaftesbury - still going now at 10.30am - we have just short of 8" so far. All main roads here - A303, A30 and A35 are closed due to impassable conditions or accidents arrising. Didnt even try to go to my meeting in Swindon this morning!

I hope this doesnt sound too condesending, but I have noticed with increasing regularity a few members who are experiancing dragging anchor? Whilst in day to day fishing this isnt much of an issue, (simply re-anchor, or wait until it bites) if you were anchored near to a hazard with a dead engine it might be more serious.... Anyway - just wondered what set-ups you are using to have this happen? Ive seen too often on our boats big anchors and not enough chain which seems to be the main issue - and of course having enough warp out. The rule of thumb for those who dont know is length of chain equal to the length of your vessel as a minimum, and three times the depth of the water you are in for the warp. Anchor size is important, but to emphasise a point, when we launched JV we didnt have an anchor for a few months, so used the one I had on my previous Warriors - a 5kg Bruce - it held fine! But.... we have 8m of heavy (I forget what mm) chain to hold it it. Hope that is useful to some?

Suggest we make rough plans to aim for the 6/7th May. I'll be aiming to do a 4 day trip again to make the most of it. As for the cod mid channel etc, I'm happy to target them seperatly later in the year - for me May is Alderney!! The tides every day are good for refueling late afternoon and also early on the Monday morning for the return leg. So in true forum fasion - lets have a list! 1.) Joint Venture 2.) Alfresco 3.) AWOL 4.) Sweet Chariot 5.) Quest II 6.) Wight Magic 7.) Phaeton

Braye Tides 2010: http://www.alderney.net/documents/Ald%20TT...SinglePages.pdf

Does indeed brighten up the January gloom - looking at the sunny pictures from last May! My catch report here: http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=8757 As for dates - I'm also flexible. Personally I find the flatty fishing better on the big tides, but harder work, equally the smaller tides are easy to fish, but I find dont throw up the numbers?? I'd like something small to medium, but will fit with the consensus. Whilst it would be nice to use the May bank holidays, if we dont then I'm happy just to book it off work. Anyone have a weblink to tides in Braye for May?

Doh!! Seems I have a habit of being down at this time of year! http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=8235

Well it's back to work for me tomorrow - bugger! So!! It's time to look ahead and cheer up! It is only 4 months to our annual club trip over the channel to Alderney! Horrayyyy!! Early days yet of course, but I guess we will be looking at the May bank holiday weekend, leaving Thurs/ Fri and back Sun/ Mon weather dependant. JV will be going again and space for 2/3 crew. Who else fancies it??

Lovely boat. Your not coming to Alderney this year then? Or maybe you will and leave a week before us lot!

Nope! Sorry! Postponed till the 10th to co-inside with PSAC's comp.