Adam F

Happy Birthday mate - many happy returns! Have a good one.

Is that pieces of James' prop I can see sticking out of the mud??

Hope you all had a good day? Please post your catches up here: 1) Ian Jones - Cod 10lb

Maybe I'll offer my services! 2 Million sea anglers at a

Maybe the AT should be run more like a business - the main aim to make money, helping anglers as a second.... not because we take 2nd place, but because what I took from last night is that they need money in order to fight. If they had a commission based salesman whose job it was to sell membership, it wouldnt cost the AT any wages and surely it would be an easy sell? I was in the dark until last night, but Mark cant visit all anglers in the UK. I've now joined - and watch in anticipation.

I'll be out with new member Ian Jones as crew. Wont be fishing the comp - too restricting, want to be out at 7.30, not in a queue! Dont forget it is the PBSBAC cod comp too!

me and Bob too.

I'll be out, and probably stealing your new member Paul...

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!