Adam F

Dan, Go 2nd hand IMHO unless you really are have have help from a reasonably skilled engineer. The cost of the material, the planning in getting the angles and dimensions correct and the overall durability of the unit (unless as stated the whole lot is hot dipped) wont add up. Keep your eye out and save your pennies. If you do build one see if you can borrow one to copy whilst you build as opposed to making it up! Good luck Adam

Good bass tide then? Which is just as well, as our Bass comp is on the 22nd....

Dave, I use a pair of 3oz Shimano spinning rods - great fun for bream and bass when leads lighter than 3oz can be used. Most of the time a 12lb class rod is an over kill. Also check out the lighter Solid C rods. Adam

Have a look at the 6lb class AWA SHIMA Ugly rods they have in Wessex Angling. A true 6lb class rod and wont break the bank at 39.99 - unlike anything you traditionaly would buy made for UK waters.

No problem Gordon - I had that noted. It was the guys that usually fish, that didnt I was interested in.

Well, the results are in! Many thanks to the 26 anglers who entered the comp giving us a prize pool of

Jim, As far as I know we have loads of 165's (which dont help you) but only 175 (Claret N Blue - drop him a PM, are grab him at a meeting?) I dont know of any 150's or the other boats. If it were me, I'd advertise for the 165's only to start with - that way you know the design and will capture 95% of the Warrior market. Adam

It was mentioned tongue in cheek.... however sometimes conger get a rough time due to what is considered a low 100% specimen size @ 40lb. Still a 67lb conger is equal to a 16lb bass, 42lb cod or a 32lb turbot. Does make you think about PJ's comments about specimen sizes though? Dont at all want to take away from Tom's superb catch (really mean that - well dont Mr but I'd wager a 67lb conger is easier to catch than a 32lb turbot!!

I like Veals for 'branded' stuff - like Storm shads, Ammnesia line and Varivas hooks etc.... http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/ Tackle bargins is worth a look for braid. http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/ All my bits and bobs (zip sliders, swivels etc) come from Jims.org http://www.jims.org.uk/

The last post should be used - that way it remains fresh.... anyway bar one of two we nearly have a full set so, I'll chase the last few and gets results up asap. 1) Adam F - Bass - 9lb 12oz 2) Alun J - nothing weighed 3) Paul Jennings - nothing wieghed 4) Charlie Chapman 35lb Conger 5) Dan Chapman 30lb Conger 6) Colin Francis - Bream - 2lb 2oz 7) Bobi Francis - Garfish - 1lb 8) Terry Bartell - nothing weighed 9) Dean - nothing weighed 10) Martin - Bull Huss - 10lb 8oz 11) Paul F 12) Paul D - Conger Eel - 34lb 13) Dave Evans - Ling - 22lb 14) Peter Senior - Bream - 3lb 8oz 15) Duncan Mackie - Bass 5lb 16) Neal Sturt - Spotted Ray 4lb 17)Craig/Gas Bass 3lb 1oz 18) andy garrett - bass- 7llb8oz 19)Will Summerell Bream 2lb 20)Stuart Summerell Thornback Ray 14 lb 21)Helen D ( Webmistress )- Bream - 1lb 13oz 22) Allan Mac Bass 8lb 4oz 23)Rupe Morrall Bass 7lb 12oz 24)Carl Hurren Bream 3lb11oz 25)Aaron Murray Lsd 2lb5oz 26) Tom Bettle - Conger Eel - 67lb

1) Adam F - Bass - 9lb 12oz 2) Alun J 3) Paul Jennings - nothing wieghed, tope circa 35lb 4) Charlie Chapman 5) Dan Chapman 6) Colin Francis - Bream - 2lb 2oz 7) Bobi Francis - Garfish - 1lb 8) Terry Bartell 9) Dean 10) Martin 11) Paul F 12) Paul D - Conger Eel - 34lb 13) Dave Evans - Ling - 22lb 14) Peter Senior - Bream - 3lb 8oz 15) Duncan Mackie - Bass 5lb (gutted) 16) Neal Sturt - Spotted Ray 4lb 17)Craig/Gas 18) andy garrett - bass- 7llb8oz 19)Will Summerell 20)Stuart Summerell 21)Helen D ( Webmistress )- Bream - 1lb 13oz 22) Allan Mac 23)Rupe Morrall 24)Carl Hurren Bream 3lb11oz 25)Aaron Murray Lsd 2lb5oz 26) Tom Bettle - Conger Eel - 67lb

1) Adam F - Bass - 9lb 12oz 2) Alun J 3) Paul Jennings - nothing wieghed, tope circa 35lb 4) Charlie Chapman 5) Dan Chapman 6) Jon Parker (Soleman) 7) Colin Francis 8) Bobi Francis 9) Gordon Holt 10) Terry Bartell 11) Dean 12) Martin 13) Paul F 14) Paul D 15) Dave Evans - Ling - 22lb 16) Peter Senior 17) Duncan Mackie 18) Neal Sturt 19)Craig/Gas 20) andy garrett 21)Will Summerell 22)Stuart Summerell 23)Helen D ( Webmistress ) 24) Allan Mac 25)Rupe Morrall 26)Carl Hurren 27)Aaron Murray 28) Tom Bettle - Conger Eel - 67lb

Yep - for the 48 hr comp only best fish per person to be logged. Also - other members need not be put off by big fish from offshore - I know some greafish were caught inshore, and dont forget prizes are for 1st, 2nd and 3rd - plus I want to know what everyone caught this weekend!

Herring are listed as a mini species and thus are not on the comp calender. I'll doubler check this. PS: All fish need to be looged in on the usual form, but I'd appreciate the best results being posted here so I can keep a log of them.

Day 3 I woke at 3pm for the usual middle of the night duties as I was the only one staying onboard (as well as Craig and Duncan on Phaeton) I stood doing the task as a steady F4 blew from the N and the harbour wall wasnt in sight due to a dense, cold and wet fog, it all looked a bit grim for the morning, so I beat a hasty retreat to my bed and fell fast asleep..... ...only to awake at 5am to deep blue skies, blazing sunshine and an oily sea Funny how easily you wake when things are like this and as I sat on the wheelhouse roof at 5.30am with a steaming coffee I notice the skipper and crew on the South Cat - Patient Pursuit fishing from the stern. 'What a great idea' I thought so rigged a freelined launce on my 8oz spinning rod and tossed it out into the tap water like water - yes it was so clear than in the 40' we were moored in you could see the bottom! Anyway as I sat in the glorious conditions I had forgettern about fishing.... until the rod made an exacpe for freedom and I grabbed the butt before it shot overboard Craig was now awake, and looked on keenly with the waiting net as what was clearly a cracking bass flought deep, long and hard - as it neared the net beaten it was clearly a double.... only for the hook to spring free in a final head shaking moment........ I'm surprised the boys in the B&B didnt hear my expleatives!! I recast and made breaky and Duncan was now up as I recalled the fight step by step! 15 mins later repeat action and once again I'm attached to an angrey bass who is now 100 yds off the stern at great speed. Within seconds it is under JV and heading towards the mooring bouy as I feel the sickennig feeling on braid against rope.... time for some nifty manourvering!! Under the tender, up to JV's bow - under the bow line, onto Wight Magic, under the bow line, twice around the mooring bouy and the fish is free, but heading under Phaeton - finally she is beatan and a cracking 9ln 12oz bass lies in the morning sun!! What a start to the day!! Phew!! Anyway - crew onboard, fuelled up and we head off into flat seas and warm sun only to be confronted by a text from a club member informing us that the Ripps hadnt really fished over the weekend, and also by a dense fog bank - que the rader (thank god!) and a change of plans to fish the wrecks to the West. With Wight Magic and Phaeton close behind and all in regular VHF contact on Ch6 the benefits of the club where massively evident - good friends yes, but aside the channel in fog 60 miles from home can be a lonely and scarey place - but in this case I felt at ease. Wreck 1 fished moderately, but not great. Wreck 2 was a HUGE lump but didnt really work. Wreck 3 ditto and wreck 4...... so the plan to be home at 4pm was out of thw window as the cod and pollock clearly wearnt awareof the plan! Finally the final wreck came good as the tide died and a steady stream of fish came aboard with the triumph being a few welcome cod and a stunning 22lb Ling aboard Wight Magic to Dave - this was weighed but as we though the cliub record was cira 27lb he took a quick weight at 22lb with it bouncing up to 23lb....only to find out that the record was 22lb 2oz!! Anyway - a treuly cracking fish. We pulled stumps at 4pm and headed home at 20 knots with tide and wind behind us. A cold stella summed up the trip only to be topped by bow riding dolphins as we rounded the Old Harry Race at 20 knots...... just doesnt get any better! Thanks to Al and PJ - a pleasure to have you onboard. Sorry to Bob that you couldnt make it this time. Thanks to Dave on Wight Magic and also to Terry and Phil - same to Duncan and Pheaton and Craig who crewed. Phew!!! What a trip - just glad after an uplanned 13 hour day at work tha Ive got the rest of the week of!! 210 Miles Covered 275 Ltrs Fuel Used

Day 2 The plan for Sat was to hammer the banks and hunt a specimen flatty, so with enough water in the inner harbour to fuel, at 8.30am Wight Magic and JV fuelled to the brim with lovely cheap Alderney Dieselm and once again headed South on oily seas and a rapidly heating sun for a day on the Shoale Bank. It was hard work today and drift after dridt came back blank - we plugged on though but managed just one turbot to PJ and a Brill to me bringing the total to 9 fish for the trip with one returnhed to fight another day. We called it a day at 3pm and left the bank for another year to head north for a go at some toothy speedsters at a mark where you tuck out of the raging tides either side and target tope which are doing the same..... unfortuantly we missed the tide slight so had to think a little and re-positioned to a area of slack water. The action was fast and frantic - but the tope were a little finky and were dropping baits, evenm small ones easily - anyway we eneded up with everyone landing a fish to just shy of 40lb - all on 12lb gear or lighter and just 5oz leads. Finally we went for a cheaky last plan c and decided to fish on late as the comp was in full flow and stopped inshore for some pollock on lures flung into the snaggy, kelpy rocks - which turned out to be great fun with a hatful of nice pollock to 6 odd lb on uber light spinning gear whilst the roaring Swinge roared away at 6 knots just 100ydds away! We shot back at top speed to the mooring, but had been cheaky and were ruuning late for the quirky food hours of the island and it was circa 9pm before we were ready to eat. Pub after pub had either stopped searving food or were fully booked - but Phill pulled a rabbit out and sweat talked the Harbour Lights into an extra table and order at 9.30pm. What can I say!!! The food was stunning! The highlight being a whole lobster served with Carribean sauce, prawns, crab, mussels and other shellfish - oh and chips - all for 14.99!! A bottle or two of chilled white for Al and I and mussels to start was just a dreamy end for the last night and sleep came all to easily for day 3 and the last day of our great trip......

What can I say! - a trip I'll remember for a long time! Just come back from a most memorable 3 days in Alderney, with good fishing, great company, superb weather, stunning food and just a generally spiffing trip! I had to go to work today (on holiday all week) at 5am which kind of bought me to earth with a bump - but forgive my detail here as I'm keen to remember it again. BTW - PJ was chief cameraman and videographer so I have no photos to add - but the video he put together is superb! JV Alderney Video So! An silly early start on Friday The plan was to miss the wrecks on the way over and hit the banks south of Alderney to make the most of the trip given it was to be 3 days not 4. So at 3am the Alarm went and we all dragged out of bed - dreary, but full of boyish enthusiasm for a big fishing trip. 4.30am and PJ, Alun and I are loading 5 - yes 5 trolleys into JV - it was like the tardis - after 10 mins she still looked empty, but all lockers, holds and storage areas were stuffed full and with 200 ltrs of fuel and 40 ltrs of water onboard she really was stuffed to the brim - throttling forward at the chain ferry with Wight Magic alongside she felt sluggish - but on the oily flat sea she easily sat at 18 knots and 2800 rpm as we plotted our course - the famous Shoale Bank - 8 miles south of Alderney and some 60 miles from the chain ferry! A short stop some 30 miles off for coffee, bacon rolls, toilet breaks and oh - of course a sneaky 2 drifts resulted in full bellies, empty bladders and a full fish box as the pollock lined up! The sea stayed flat and with the excited chat we were soon throttling off to start the fisrt dridt across the Shoale......which produced a cracking bite and fish for me - which turned into a doggy on the way up!! Anyway - the first day went well on JV and through the tiredness we managed 6 flatties between us with a 4lb 12oz brill the best fish to me. We crawled into Braye at 4pm and struggled to find a mooring - and then onto the infamous haunt which has become traditional for the 1st night in Alderney - the Maris Hall - for yet again the traditional staple for the 1st night - fishermans soup - peppered steak - and mountains of beer - al good apart from the last.... which didnt feel quite so great at 4am!! Day 2 to follow.....

One word......ok two.... F$

Well we had 28 people booked in by the weekend, so a respectable turnout - thanks to all who made the effort to get out over the weekend in the superb weather. Ive seen Tom B's great report, but havent had a single fish booked in to me despite hearing of some whacking great fish and more than one club record caught over the weekend! If you could all add your best fish to the list below by copying and pasting that would be great - if you cant or dont know how to do that drop me PM / Email / tel call etc and I'll do it for you - if not just post it and I'll pick it up. 1) Adam F 2) Alun J 3) Paul Jennings 4) Charlie Chapman 5) Dan Chapman 6) Jon Parker (Soleman) 7) Colin Francis 8) Bobi Francis 9) Gordon Holt 10) Terry Bartell 11) Dean 12) Martin 13) Paul F 14) Paul D 15) Dave Evans 16) Peter Senior 17) Duncan Mackie 18) Neal Sturt 19)Craig/Gas 20) andy garrett 21)Will Summerell 22)Stuart Summerell 23)Helen D ( Webmistress ) 24) Allan Mac 25)Rupe Morrall 26)Carl Hurren 27)Aaron Murray 28) Tom Bettle

Thanks to all who have booked in. I'm off now (yes - look at the time - 3.45am! ) So have a great comp - stay safe - the forecast looks pretty good for the weekend. Lets see if we can get at least 30 fishing, and I'll look forward to seeing the catch reports coming in over the weekend! Very tight line to you all!

Andre, Agree with everything Tom has said above. I'm sure youve the best intentions, but the best way to get involved with the club isnt a first post asking for numbers for a hot spring mark! The marks arent a massive secret, but members spend alot of time and money fishing and finding these things out - that's why they arent 'freely' available or pastered over the internet. Join the club, come along to a few of our meetings (1st thurs of each month, parkstone trades and labour club) and get to know us, come out fishing etc - info like you ask for above will then also come. ATB Adam

Just because I want to be over the french side early for a day on the banks, I'll be passing the chains about 5am - so will be in Alderney by the time you get mid-channel unless you leave at first light? Have a great day - the forecast looks for this afternoon's breeze to drop giving a smooth day on Friday if a little cloudy? We will be stopping mid channel on the brittles on Sunday afternoon if any club boats are about?

Thanks guys - very helpful. Terry sent me the list Charlie - very comprehensive it is too. Cheers!

Get up early - we will then buddy you.... half way at least! Alternatively come over to Alderney. Forecast looks good enough!

Mike, Join the club and get along to our monthly meetings which are held on the 1st Thurs of each month at parkstone trades and labour club. We usually get about 30 odd members each month and it's a great chance to have a beer and chat to all variety of members with a vast range of boats and experiance. Look forward to seeing you. Adam