great white

Happy Birthday John Have a good one and take it easy at your age old chap Charlie

They are quite impressive when charging about Not so good in a force 11 in the Falklands though, when the engines struggle because of water in the fuel. and the beer gets spilt. and you would not like the fuel bill. From memory about 4 tons per hour, thats about 4500 ltrs or very roughly 150 ltrs per mile. Bit more than an Offshore Pro Charter at the same speed. Charlie

Hi Dom Can not make you feel worse than us we were casting distance away and they got the cod Mind you a few years ago in the open we did the reverse to them when Dan had a cod of 23lb 6oz Charlie

Not sure why, but they seem to have that effect on most of us. They are so scarce and unpredictable, yet we all spend hours/days fishing with box after box of food quality squid in the hope of landing one. If it were food we were after, we would surly target whiting and bass If it were a bend in the rod then congers seem to be everywhere, and are likely to be heavier. But no, its COD we want and ones like this we dream about Charlie

Thanks guys When the boat was lifted after 20 days afloat the anodes were worn more than expected. Kev checked the circuits for me and there was a differance when the calorifier electrical heater earth was disconnected. [i could simply disconnect the 240 volt and earth to the calorifier] he is looking for the correct tester to check. the anode errosion could be because of adjacent boats or the position in the Haven so we want to check that as well. If I can not source one I will disconnect the calorifier so I can reconnect shore power. I have already connected an additional large anode that is hung over the stern while the boat is in the Marina, its connected to the earthing wire for the transom shield so should help. with the shore power off the anodes appear not to be fizzing away. Charlie

Nice to have an action shot, Thanks can you email me the originals full size will be fine the broadband should cope Charlie

Yes Does anyone know if galvanic isolators are worth fitting and where to source a good inexpensive one. My anodes were dissapearing so fast I have dissconnected shore power. unfortunatly my mate the marine electrician has misplaced his test probe So if anyone has access to one of those I would love to borrow it. We think the problem is the earth to the calorifier connecting through the heating water to the engine. but I need to test that theory. Thanks Charlie

Well done Dom Nice to have you back look forward to the reports again Charlie

If there is enough interest I could sound out the Club, or it may be better if a Member approached them instead of me just to talk over the idea. hint hint I suppose if we make sure that all drinks come from the Club bar at least they can see some potential income. A Friendly fishing session followed by the demo and Fish BBQ sounds interesting. Charlie

Hi The skip was filled on Sat so I had a late pass to go out, a quick check on wind Guru and a call to Dave to see if he wanted to join us and we had a plan established. The forecast seemed to rule out a run to the Car Park so we decided on more general fishing closer inshore, in an area known to have Whiting, Rays, Conger and maybe even the ellusive Cod. Just as we were leaving Adam called me to ask if we would guide him out as his electronics were at home. which we were more than happy to. It show the sense of leaving the essential kit ready as we had VHF and mobile contact with him. On a fl;at calm sea we cruised out at 21knots to the chosen area to find several boats already there. we anchoed up at slack water and started with light gear that rapidly started indicating the whiting were feeding. As the tide increased my anchor slipped and we prepared to reset as I am sure Adam would not want us any closer, It was then that a whole mackeral Flapper that Dan had decided to use to get a conger did just that. after a brief fight and a swift netting a very stroppy eel was onboard and refusing all attempts to keep it in the net, so eventually I put it in the big hold out of the way. To be safe we then picked up the anchor, to find that like Adam I had left something at home, [My big scales] a quick call to Adam and a carfull manoever alongside saw us pinching Adams scales to weigh the eel in the net at 44lb [inc the net at 2lb wet weight] Another specimen for Dan and the biggest to date onboard at 42lb. I am sure it took longer to start catching specimen congers on Great White We then reanchored a bit more uptide of the mark and steadily filled the box with a few good whiting, we were only keeping the best fish and were releasing the rest, but Coddy showed us a new trick with one of the better fish releasing itself by jumping out of the fish box bouncing over the side and swimming away strongly. I then had a conger of 30lb in the full run of the ebb tide, which was hard work. By this time there were about a dozen boats in the area and it was reported that a couple of Cod had been landed. The nearest boat to us looked to have a good fish on that I thought was another eel but proved to be an excellent cod When weighed on the boat it took the scales to 31lb At least it proved the theory that we were in a good area The weather was starting to make fishing more difficult so before slack water added to the problem I took the decision that a slightly early finish was in order. We managed to run in at a reasonable speed and were soon home cleaning the tackle and the fish. Thanks for joining us at short notice Dave and Adam for the use of your scales, [How can I get them back to you?] It beats the hell out of loading a skip Charlie

Hi Stu I can endorse others in recomending joining the Club and fishing talking with the Members You may just want to pick up a few general areas to start with and fish them a few times to get used to fishing and boating techniques. Then add more marks as you go. Dogger be carefull with the plotting of every viewed object, In my experiance you may never get time to revisit them. I would adnise weeding them out [maybe after logging the numbers elseware] if you have not tried them in 6 months or so. Not a lot of good having 100 waypoints showing on the plotter, if you only use a dozen or so. That said some of my best Marks have been gained by revisiting "Interesting" features that I have noted using your method. Have fun and tight lines Charlie

Hi Rob Glad the plotter is as good as it was said to be, the expert in the Club seems to be Bob Fuller, but I am happy to try and help if you have questions. I must try and get Bob out on Alfresco for a teach in. Did you lose an anchor on Sat? Shiela Maria was reporting a buoyed off line from Swanage direction yesterday with the name Jo Jo on it. Charlie

Sounds like a bad connection and corrosion Andy. although its a bit fiddley and time consuming, Follow Robs advice and unbolt the terminals clean them up grease up and bolt them up tight. Try and do all the heavy elec cables including the battery ones and any switches.and all the black earth connectors. Its a faily common cause of Marine Electrical defects Charlie

Andrew The list that you allready have is fairly extensive and the choice of manufactureres good. Apart from light rods and Braid I am sure that you have more than enough. I imagine that you also have light rods from the other fishing you do, just remember to wash the salt off after use. The boats you are looking at are more than able to fish 4 rods but with the two uptiders and two downtiders you have more than enough to get you going. The TLD 20 will cope with all that you get downtiding, Conger Rays Tope Cod, but as others have said I would load with braid. [My TLD's are loaded with 30lb] If once you get going you want to add reels I find TLD15's more than adequate. and tend to use them insted of the 20. I use abu 7000's on my uptiders, for what they are designed for in shallow water and as soft tipped rods for pollacking over wrecks etc. a lot of our end tackle is fairly simple running ledger or patenhoster/baited feather so all is reuired is a selection of hooks, beads,swivels. and leads tend to range from 1oz balls, grip leads for uptiding up to 11/2 lb Bopedo's for downtiding. Talking leads, do not buy at shop prices, at least one Members makes them up at vastly reduced prices, and the Club and several Members own moulds if you are able to make them yourself. Charlie

Happy Birthday Gordon We hope you have a good one Charlie Sam and Dan

After a long day cutting trees and moving blocks into a skip, the skip is full and the Boss has granted more fishing leave We should be leaving the Marina at 0830 and listening channel 6 Tight lines CHARLIE

Thats a big bite better get the spinning rod out again Mike Charlie

Thanks Steve It sounds like an excellent Mark Not to far out if the weather get worse, some excellent fish potential, and not many dogs. Charlie

Welcome Andrew I am sure you will receive a lot of advice regarding warriors as several Members own and fish from them. They are a popular and capable boat. You have without doubt hit on a good source of information and advice so please join in My advice if you are a novice boat owner would be to accept a few offers of crewing to learn the basics, then if you decide to proceed with your own craft get a bit of training with a Powerboat level 2 course. And of course consider joining PBSBAC the best small boat club on this area of the coast. Others have found that joining the Club was the best move they made, when changing to boat angling in the sea. Charlie

Mike with the culprit Nice one, I hope you had a big pan Charlie

and a very pleased Dad Who was very carefully playing a good eel on an ugly stick spin Charlie

A very keen young angler

As usual 1930 in the bar then upstairs for 2000 CU there Tony D if you see this can you bring the reading specs, Cheers Charlie

Hi Paul we saw you coming into the Haven but by the time the clean up and Sea Check were completed you had beaten us to the cars. As you say we had a good day catching some of the target species and will never know what Dan lost. The rough Plan of Congers early then whiting for the table seemed to work. There seem to be plenty of fish when the weather allows and its great to be getting out there again Happy New year Charlie

Not sure I would have been smiling I hope that the repair we discussed last night goes well mate, I will be at the meeting if you need any material let me know Charlie