great white

Good luck with the sale of the Boat Kim and the purchase in portugal, Nice country but I am not a fan of Lisbon. I hope that the lagoon holds a few big Flounders Charlie

Hi guys Thanks for all the offers of encouragement and help. I will be expecting a few volunteers to crew when she is finished and of course anyone that has helped will be made very welcome. I am sure you know us well enough to know there will be plenty of various trips on her, including some that Wendy will no doubt be leaving to us and friends. I have cleared some space in my mailbox so if you have tried to send a PM please try again Cheers Charlie

Jack I am sure at some stage during the build me and the boys will need to stratch ourselves in the fresh air and bend a rod so if you would like a bit on company and a few tips about wrecking just ask us along. Charlie

Hi all Thanks for the nice comments, you are correct the boys and I are more than chuffed and realise that a lot of work will be involved. The cabin is overlength at the moment and some will be coming off once the internal layout is finalised [one of the first jobs] and a fair chunk of the roof overhang is also coming off. Tom you are spot on as she is there is 12ft of cockpit, whicjh we may increase a bit but want to have inside seating for the whole crew and bunks for the whole family shower, galley etc. Plans are for some long range fishing and Holidays so unlike the current boat she will not be focused just on angling and needs a few comforts Paul I hope we can continue your success rate matey, not to hard to beat really Charlie

Clean and safely blocked off charlie

After a short flight, which seemed to rattle Wendy's nerves, touchdown some time spent setting her up see's her into position in the front Garden ready for work to commence. Ist job get the wash and polish out to remove the road grime, can't have her looking grubby when people pop round for a look. After aa long and trying day she is at last ready for my part of the fitting out to start. one very Happy Charlie and Boys

At last over an hour late the very apologetic crane driver arrives. More Tea to calm the nerves as we get the strops on and the crane ready Then we find out why the small trees were not bothering the crane driver, when he lifted her right over the to of them and the neighbours nice Car on her drive. She may be months away from sea trials but she flies well. Charllie

Well the big days arrived 0700 woken by a call from Cornwall moaning that the boat transport had not shown up. A call to the drivers mobile, found him leaving a layby with a new Tachograph that allowed him to complete the journey. he soon pasified an irate Manager and the Boats up on the crane to be loaded. A reply from the Driver at 0915 informed me that all is well and he is about to set off. A visit to Dans school , haircut, several cup of Tea and some decorating were esential to fill in the hours it took to bring her 150 miles to home. a last minute reminder to the neighbours that they would be blocked in by two HGV's saw a few ladies hastily moving cars just as the rig turned up. At last one 30ft kit boat arrives safe and sound but far from white after 4 hours on the road. A couple of coffees with the Driver some time spent unloading the loose equipment bought from the boatbuilder and still no crane. better move to let the ladies back in and have another brew

Glad the trip went well and a few Eels played ball Its a nice big wreck to practise on and hold many good fish However in teh Summer it is a divers wreck so best left to them Charlie

Nice one Paul and how fast were you running in the new motor mate? Charlie

Hi again The choice is quite endless but after haveing many new fisherman onboard and teaching two sons the joys of landing decent fish I would advise as Adam did to go for solid reliable gear from the onset. I say solid and reliabe not top of the range on purpose. While I love to use my kevlar rods they are expensive and brittle if not used carfully, and my Shimano and ABU reels are treated carefully and washed every trip to prevent corrosion. The boys both have Ugli stick gold rods yes the rings look cheap but the blanks are very strong [unbreakable] and 30lb class will tackle all that you or I are likely to catch locally. Reels however are Shimano TLD's one choses the TLD20 and the other a TLD 15 the quality of gearing and clutches are worth paying for. I would rather have a good second hand shimano than a cheap import. The same advice extends to the lighter tackle although our spinning kit tends to be at the cheap "fun" end of the range. They are still treated quite well. Try and decide what fishing you are likely to want to do, how many rods will you use at a time and get reliable kit. IMHO its better to have two good outfits ie one uptider and one 30lb class with matching reels than loads of cheaper outfits to give you matched pairs of each type How many can you use at one time? Don;t answer that one James, or Adam, or Gary or the rest of the GW crew Charlie

Hi again Charlie Nice one mate, soon have it spruced up and looking shiney Fit a few toys and off you go. If the budget is tight for toys can I suggest a priority of safety first VHF Echo sounder GPS/plotter and I believe some Members are upgrading their kit so there may be second hand outfits available. with a good background. Charlie

What a smart looking craft What are her specs Adam? Charlie

Nice one Adam sorry we could not join you out there today but Dan is still Ill and my back has been very bad since lifting a huge TV yesterday at work yesterday. Charlie

Nice one Gordon I recieved the report 12lb in the book Charlie

B Lucky seems to sum up there aproach to the situation, cross fingers and hope may be more appropraite. Glad that nobody got hurt but I would love to hear what the Inshore Lifboat crew thought. Very good work by the experianced locals to help out, and I believe you made the correct decision to stay out of the way and not make it a two boat incident by rushing in to help. Charlie

While I agree 100% that something must be done about the fish stocks and the free for all we all have in catching and retaining fish. I believe that slowly we "Pleasure anglers" are doing our bit by employing catch and release methods for pleasure and competition fishing. The Charter fleets are also now more likely to adapt catch and release than they were in the past which can clearly effect the catches Years ago when Plymouth was a mecca for angling and especially Congering. The skippers supplimented their money [ which was not bad compared to other wrecking ports] by selling catches illegally at the end of the day. At Weymouth the skippers seemed to decide as a group to adopt a catch and release policy where they could As a result of the differance of attitudes I think [iMHO] that it shows why Plymouth is now running a small and tatty charter fleet and Weymouths is booming with new boats being built for several skippers. However we will struggle to get the fish stocks to return if the commercial fishing fleets Foreign and British do not start employing methods that allow imature fish caught as by-catch to survive. [square mesh panals] But I am not sure how many fish would survive to mature. I would be very happy to see a strict quota system applied to commercial fisherman and pleasure fisherman as they do abroad with great success in some areas. I have signed by the way Charlie

As Martin said [He beats me to it most times, thanks Martin] The Club waters are very extensive. and go well south So if you are on a private boat fishing these waters you can log your catch with me. It is then eligable for Club Trophies and to go on the Club Record list For Info ref the Club Trophies We have trophies for the fish of the month obviously 1 for each month and awarded to the best Specimen each month. any fish caught on a private boat from Club Waters is eligable 2005 all 12 were above 100% We also have trophies for the Club competitions and Species trophies for the best fish of most species caught during the calander year. There are plenty of Trophies to be awarded at the Dinner and Dance so please keep me updated as to what is being caught. Charlie

Easy Martin We did not tell Sam It was nice to have a Birthday drink with you and the Family last night we wish you many more. Thats birthdays not drinks please thank veronica again for the wonderful spread . Charlie Wendy Sam and Dan

Hi Terry the bait was the usual fishbaits But the locals were catching quite a few codling last year on worm baits/cocktails The local worm is blowlug Hope that helps Charlie

Hi all The boys and i may venture out to a bit of rust somewhere on sunday to have a dabble. A quick trip before the new hull arrives on Tuesday Charlie

Have a great Birthday Tom Charlie

Not sure Kam will enjoy too many "Chinese" jokes mate Charlie

Hi all A cracking fish Tom and a real fine effort to do that many miles and drift fish for so long in sub zero temps As we discussed last night the fish looks to have been caught outside the line to the west end of Club Waters. when I get a chance I will check, its in the book for now but may yet be excluded Can you PM me to confirm if your mates fish in January was inside or outside the west line [Due south from the bill] Thanks Charlie

Sounds like you will have a good turnout Adam I do not think I will be going unless the boat build is getting to me and Wendy sends me to sea. Or Sam needs a lift Charlie