Adam F

9 days late, as most of you know this is traditionally the New Years day posting! The last few years the trips have dwindled a little as most of us that go know what we are doing and tend to go in smaller groups now. The logistics is easier with only a couple of boats, but it's good fun with a group and gives those who haven't been before a chance of safety in numbers. Personally I'll be looking to go around early May time and then again in Aug for Alderney week as it was such great fun last time! So there you go - a trip to brighten the mood amidst all this wind and rain.... dreaming of blue skies, flat seas and big fat flatties!

Took the wind out of me yesterday to hear the sad news. RIP Chris, and condolences to his wife and family. Such as shame his retirement was all too short. Will / can the club send flowers or similar to his wife? ------- I first met Chris in 1999 when I returned to Sea fishing after a number of years course fishing. He was the first charter skipper I ever booked, and still to this day the best. I stayed in contact fishing from Tiger Lily on an infrequent basis until I started the clubs Annual Alderney trip, and once again we used Chris for several years. As Chris E says, I too have very fond memories of him shouting from the wheelhouse door ' you're all fishing like lesbians!' People like Chris don't come around very often. Gone but never forgotten.

Would be nice to see the winning fish from each comp? I've a few of Reub which I'll upload later this week.

Alfresco- Jayden Wald, Jacob Givans, Jack Allen Marlin - Bradley Toms Madness - Daniel Burt MegaByte - Tom Boyle, Kate Osborne JV - Reuben Franklin

Jv will be out inshore on sat with the kids. Then all night sole fishing sat night, then bass fishing sun morning. See you out there or on ch6

Can we organise a club trip?

I wished I could have gone - would have loved to have seen them being built!

Tony - are they Separ filters? If so I have spares at home as I've moved away from Separ. Let me know if you need them.

Despite the iffy forecast, Al, rob and Bob F, and I decided to have a crack out West today for bass. I left home in stair rod rain, yet at the marina was calm and still, yet dark and grey. Macks were no issue in Swanage bay, yet the wind was more than the 8 knots forecast so we decided to fish Peverel instead of St Albans.... Within 5 mins the sky was black, lightening and thunder clapped all around, the rain was so torrential vis. Reduced to less than 20m and we all ended up sheltering in the wheelhouse.... Back to the fishing once it had cleared, Al snagged a bass as the ebb died, and we decide to head to St Albans on the slack. Was slighted bumpier with no shelter but again, first drift and rob had a nice bass.... But that was it... The clouds cleared, the sun came out and the wind picked up! We then moved 3 different Ray marks to get out of the wind and slop, and ended up at Ballard on my secret Ray mark for lunch and the last few hours. Bob and Alun taking top honours with 2 small eyed Ray to 7lb each. Home for 5pm. Not the worst day, but I've had better and the weather had a big part to play in what we were and weren't able to do.

Sounds like when mine went Nige. Any smoke or debris in the engine room? Basically it will drive until the coupling can't hold it anymore and then gives way? Could well be wrong but spookily like the issue I had.

Before they go on Ebay: 2no. Shimano TLD15 Reels - very little use and in good condition. £50 each 2no. Shimano TLD20 Reels - Even less use - £60 each 2no Abu Conolon 30lb Class - well used but plenty of life in them £30 each 2no Abu Conolon 50lb Class - little used, good condition - £50 each. If anyone takes a package I'll include the braid on the reels. Adam

All sorted. Worth the effort as in the end rope was around both props. The port side had It just hanging loosely around the shaft, the starboard side was tightly wound and needed cutting off. Saved Martin a lift out. If any other members need a similar help, give me a shout. I'm less keen on diving anchors due to the time involved but nipping under a boat isn't an issue, provided you can work around my time. Adam

Day 4: Last day.... After another fantastic full English at Alderney Angling B&B, a small fortune spent at AA, with now even more rods, reels and tackle coming back over the channel! We missed the tide to fuel up on Tues morning, but one of the advantages of the new boat is the 400l tank which meant no great shakes and we had plenty to return back. We cast away from Braye at 10am, and fished 5 wrecks across the channel with conditions improving each mile travelled. Strangely the wrecks improved the nearer we got to Poole, with the last 2 wrecks the best.... As the ebb died we found bass high up in the water upside of the wreck but only snared a couple before the tide fell slack. Just in time for the last hot lunch of the trip, hot meat ball and 3 bean stew from Ian, with, if you haven't yet guessed, a cold beer! The last wreck produced cod every drift until at 5pm, after 3 'one last drift' we called it a day and smashed back home at 22 knots, a big grin on all outer faces, and another superb Alderney trip under our belt. What a trip...... Great fishing, great boat, great weather and great memories.

Day 3: By now job roles had been assigned.... rob was Entertainments Officer, and in charge of team clothing... Day 3 plan was to hit the Shoale Bank for the morning and then the South a bank in the afternoon. Tigerfish has left us at this point and Redfin had arrived, and joined us in Monday. Again fishing was tough but as we plugged away the box filled. We also returned a good number of fish, a lot more than usual, again, fishing to the voluntary increased 45cm limit. Monday lunch was a superb fish pie from Al, once we worked out how to stop it sliding out of the oven! I think something like 17 flats onboard for the day. Dinner Mon was at the Georgian House, with Peter and Matt, and was superb. Approx £40 per head for a 3 course meal with cheese and wine. Our last night.... Gone all too fast and tomorrow was home time....

Day 2: The reports from Mark at AA, were that fishing was thinning out, but a few massive brill were showing, and the flats were still about. Of the 3 banks to choose from the South Bank is one of my least favourite, mainly due to previous catches, although it's closest to the Island and often throws up bass more than the other banks. Mark suggested here was worth a shot, so it was here we headed on Sun morning. JV was running so sweet, and my nervous feelings had started to drift away as confidence built. She is now what I consider the perfect 4 man boat, buckets of room in the wheelhouse and on deck, a great well appointed galley, and my 2 favourite new toys... The Autohelm, and the air suspension Kab seat..... Both making life as a skipper a relaxed as they can be.... You can't put a cost on these two bits of kit. The Raymarine unit in particular deserves particular mention. It wiped the board with industry awards a few years back, but in summary this is an intelligent Autopilot, that after giving it a few basic bits of information, simply gets on with the job and 'learns' as it goes... So the more you use it, the better it gets. And it works. Highly recommended and how I have managed without one to now I'm not sure!? Back to the fishing.... Slow to start, but we kept on and slowly the flatties began to come aboard. We landed enough fish to keep interest but it was far from easy. Today, again, I'm seemed to have the golden balls and racked up 7 flats in total. About mid afternoon I hooked into what felt from a decent fish from the initial hookup, I played it gingerly, knowing how easy these fish fall off, after a few mins colour appeared and it looked as though I had snared a decent turbot, only on surfacing did it appear that it wasn't a turbo, but a bloody massive brill! Just as Mark had suggested..... Banging the scales round to 9lb 8oz this was a fish of a lifetime! Boy was I chuffed! Of also mention is the amount of gurnard this year, we had dozens of them, the best being a cracker of a tub just shy of the club record at 3lb 9oz. Today's lunch was pigeon pitta breads with red onion, lettuce and tomato relish.... Again with a cold beer.... We fished late on the Sunday as we didn't have any food booked so finished off in the time honoured fashion on the Nannels reef, with the wind dropped, the sun shining and setting to the West, the tunes pumping from the stereo, a cold beer in hand and smashing hard fighting pollock on super light spinning rods. Does it get any better? I don't think so......

Day 1: As is usual with these trips we planned to leave early. The run up to this trip was somewhat unusual in that rather than the standard multiple phone calls and weather watching, the forecast looked great 10 days out and stayed that way, for once the forecasters got it bang on.... Was this Karma for all my hard work? We met at Parkstone at 6am, and after loading the usual mountain of kit into JV, which she swallowed with ease, now having a mountain of stowage onshore, we nudged out of the marina. I didn't say much to Ian, Alun and Rob (crew for the trip) but I was so nervous..... Having had a bad experience with Jv1 a few years back, and embarking on such a big trip with what is basically a new boat that I'd built in my garden, my heart was in my mouth. The sea state was ok, and steadily JV ate up the miles. Our buddy was Tigerfish, but despite numerous tries on the VHF we couldn't raise them, so did the crossing single handled. Clearly the accommodation was up to scratch as Rob and Ian pumped some ZZZZ's The sea state was ok but wasn't smooth, yet she ate the miles up at a super 19 knot cruise and after a short stop mid channel to top up on mackerel, we hit the SW Casquets around 10.30am ready to hit the turbot.... The fishing was a bit below par, but as we are late in the season, was half expected. Again, maybe Karma but I managed 5 flats in the few hours during the afternoon. Lunch today was Yellow Thai curry, rice and nan bread washed down with a cold beer, courtesy of Rob. Into Braye for a drop of fuel and then check in with Mark at Alderney Angling, hot shower and then down to the Maris Hall, for the obligatory pepper steak (bad luck if you don't!!) An extra for this year was the Alderney Week, a week long festival which we had all heard of but never been. What a great spectacle! After dinner we join pretty much every occupant of the island with a 3' flaming torch (yes proper fire!) on a 45 min walk across the island to the main festival site where a stage and band, a beer tent and about a thousand pallets for the bonfire awaited us.... Clearly health and safety on Alderney isn't quite up to English standards! About the best firework display I've ever seen, a great band, several pints of Bailywick Best and a bit of jigging and we were fit to drop after being awake for some 20 hours.... Sleep was easy on Sat night, even Alun's snoring couldn't disturb us......

Prologue: When I built JV1 the drive was to get her over to Alderney, and an ariel picture of the island on the workshop wall was my inspiration. Fast forward 7 years and I was doing it all again... As has been well documented on here in my other thread, 10 months later and 1000 man hours and JV2 was ready for relaunch after a full refit, and yes, once again the first big run was to be Alderney.......

Martin, I'll have a look when I get back if you like, I've been in at Parkstone, the water there too is like mud, but not an issue its enough to see. If it saves you a lift out, happy to help.

Great first day. Jv was a dream on the way over, the new autopilot taking the stress out of driving, the air seat making life comfortable for me and the rest of the crew asleep in the new bunks! Fishing under average but then we have been spolit the past few trips. 8 turbot for the afternoon session. Sat night was the last night of the Alderney festival, so we all enjoyed the party and fireworks last night.

So just to check from a skippers perspective. JV is leaving Poole Sat morning, back Tues afternoon. Tiger fish is also leaving Sat morning from Lymington, but back Monday. Redfin is leaving Portland Sunday, back Tues? Adam

I'm thinking it will get gradually quieter as the weekend progresses anyway. However extra fenders stowed and we too are taking the dingy and outboard. Overnight mooring on the Shoale anyone?

Looking good! Lots to do to get Jv ready, but can't wait!

So with 7 days to go plan A is Alderney sat to tues. plan b is Alderney say to Mon. Plan C is Cherbourg Sat and Sun, plan d is Portland sat and sun. Plan e is go to the pub!

Matt / Peter, I'll drop you a PM. Any other interested parties?

Spent 8 hours on Sat with Dan replacing all of the hydro hoses on the DPH drive. Pig of a job - made worse by the 6 clevis pins that havent moved for 6 years.... cue lots of elbow grease and big hammers. The plus side is that now I know how the leg comes off and how to do most jobs on the leg - will save a fortune in labour going forward. Al also came down and polished the hull for me - top man. Ive rebolted on the radar arch, so now we await next Sat for the shakedown and test runs......