great white

Nice to hear from you Fred Well done on all those fish, some good Cod and big eels It just goes to show that out that way it pays to stick with it.

We have all had this problem at some time. It is always a pain when it happens. On some days the damn things do not want to go in, even my 15kg one on occasions. Made worse if the tide is running hard as you attempt to anchor, or usually re anchor after a pull out. Using the engine to slow the boat as you pay out the warp is good advice, it prevents the snatch. Before you upsize the anchor try adding an extra length of heavy chain between the existing chain and warp. This can be rigged/derigged easily on two shackles and only used in deep water and strong tides, so you are not heaving the extra weight when you do not need it. Always ensure that you have enogh rope out, that seems to be where some people get it wrong it should be 3 to 5 times the depth of water, depending on tide and weather. Charlie

Cracking vid Lee Really gets over the true feeling of a winter cod trip except it does not show the red weed and all of the mess that cuttle makes of a white boat. Nice one mate Charlie

Naughty boy

Welcome Peter I am sure your comment was aimed at Honest Al, so I will not take offence mate. Good to have you in the Club. Charlie

Wow what a fish, especially from in Kayak range. I am sure I saw a post somewhere recently that had a picture of the biggest cod caught on a Kayak, landed from the Bristol Channel I am sure that this one is bigger Well worth writing to the mags about, I was given loads of tackle for that ray in Feb Great fishing , well done

I am 100% behind any progress on this topic, wish it could be quicker It is a shame that more progress can not be made to take the soup off of menu's and collape the demand and profit in fin removal. Charlie

Well done Al I would love to know where you guys fish out there to get loads of eels as a by catch while cod fishing, that seems good to me Much better than the doggies we get LOL Still I need to fix the boat first Charlie

great Vid did they cut the bit of you in your Kayak Steve?

Hi Alun Not like you to have such a bad day I spoke to Paul when Imagine returned , but will leave him to post The weather inside Poole Harbour was great all day, we managed to do all of the boats and the preperations for next weeks dredging, and at the end of the day Alfresco came out to have the snapped control cable changed and the gel repair done. Charlie

Afraid not James Will be busy trying to do a weeks boat movements in just one day If it goes very well that may see Alfresco ashore for her repairs. Good luck if you get out over the bar I expect that you could get some fish after this stir up

Can you remember how it works Paul? Oops sorry I will get my coat

Interesting this, thinking back a couple of seasons when the cod were thick on the starfish grounds we had a few shark incidents out there Perhaps we should be using cod as shark bait. Trouble is you have to find some cod first. Perhaps thats why there are so few about, a few big fish are eating them all. Charlie

Thanks Guys The boats will get fixed but my insurance will take a bump upwards. Oh and if the weathers kind I may need a ride at the weekend Here is the winning fish. Well done will

That sounds like me when we first launched Alfresco [5 years ago] We charged around all over the place [Hey we still do] looking for fish to make up for two years of boat building. Enjoy it Graham

Well we had a plan and were fairly determined to stick to it, especially as Sam was onboard and always tells me off for changing my plans to often. Due to the tides we decided to go out early and fish mostly on the gentler flood tide in only 80ft of water. 0800 had us at anchor on the chosen spot and some big baits going down. During the first hour of the flood we were picking red weed off the line and wondering if we were in the right place. But the weed started to improve and we were getting some fish so we stayed. Most of the fish were LSD and whiting until Ben had a better one nodding away. This proved to be a Thornback of about 7lb or so [returned without weighing LOL] Will was in the cabin cooking breakfast when a gentle bite persisted on his rod. Fish on and even better a COD It was weighed at 9lb 10 and placed on ice in the cooler. another large cuttle bait deployed and back to the Galley. the whiting numbers rose for a while but no more proper fish We fished on for an hour after our comp 7 hrs finished to enjoy the weather and land a few more whiting then had a nice run home on a calm sea. Our day went wrong as we turned within the Yacht Haven to approach our winter berth. The drive unit stuck in fdw gear, which gives us constant 4 knots ahead and even after turning the engine off nothing we could do to prevent hitting a Yacht on its berth. A very loud [and expensive ] crash saw two boats [mine and the yacht] damaged Not a good thing as the Marina Manager trying to tell one of my own customers that my boat damaged his. Still no one was hurt and no one was to blame either, so I will try to get her sorted ASAP, and hope that at least Will's fish stands a chance of winning. Charlie

Well done Mal Best way to learn is to be out there doing it, while taking advice from friendly boats nearby. As a rule to get the anchor to hold, you need at least three times as much rope out as the depth of water, plus a length of chain on the anchor that is at least as long as your boat. If there is a strong tide or a bouncy sea, up that ratio to 5 times the depth. Even with that sometimes the damn thing still comes out. Charlie

I am chuffed for you Graham, well done all. When you told me how much fuel you were burning I knew that something was amiss and I am well pleased that you have found out what and corrected it. I expect that we will see you about more often now. Charlie

Sam saw a grey shape follow one of his whiting to the boat yesterday He thought that it looked like a tope, but I doubt that a tope would spool two reels in a day. Sounds like you had a shark around the boat.

Thanks Neal 12 boats is a good turn out, so lets hope there are some of the big Cod about.

1 Court Jester - Neal Sturt and crew TBA 2/Wishin Too-Nigel Allen,Martin Cherrett,Mike Toms 3, Kingfisher - Chris Witheford and crew TBA 4. Alfresco - Charlie, Sam, Ben, Will. 5/ Wight Magic Dave Evans, Jim ( Tiddler ) and Craig White 6. Serenity - Tony , Martin and Terry Bartell 7. Kind of Magic-Allan, Dave S. +possibly one other. 8, Dream Drifter. Alfie, stuart + one 9, Mistress. Graham + one (maybe 2 non members) assuming i get my new prop fitted in time 10, JV. Adam, Alun & Joe 11. Manta Ray, PJ +1, PaulD +1, Tomo, Tubby, Len plus 1 TBA

Or the netting of whole shoals of tuna, then keeping them netted up and feed them 10lb of mackeral for every pound they gain in weight, until they are fat enough to sell at huge profit to the japanese

Try the "VIP" area at the back mate

I believe that this subject has been discussed at Meetings and by Committee many times. We have even tried Sat comps without any increased turnouts Perhaps its time to put up a poll again, to see what Members think. It is a tough one trying to please Members while working with forecasts and changing weather. IMHO it is not one that Neal should have to answer on his own. There are a few other things to consider, the main one being safety. Charlie Fingers crossed to get out again at the weekend.

1 Court Jester - Neal Sturt and crew TBA 2/Wishin Too-Nigel Allen,Martin Cherrett,Mike Toms 3, Kingfisher - Chris Witheford and crew TBA 4. Alfresco - Charlie, Sam, Dan?? Ben plus TBC 5/ Wight Magic Dave Evans, Jim ( Tiddler ) and Craig White 6. Serenity - Tony , Martin and room for one more 7. Kind of Magic-Allan, Dave S. +possibly one other.