great white

Better stop playing with your rod and the forum and get back to your studies then Sam

Interesting post guys I would say that the fish is a Spotted But that is after viewing the photo as it expands slowly while it enlarges, the spots do not appear to go to the edges of the wings. and other features are not distinct unfortunatly the fish is not posing well for its photo so it is hard to tell. definatly 5 points though It does bring to mind why the subject of fish ID is so important when looking at the species comps, If we can not tell the rays apart 100% how are we to be sure that "big LSD" are not "small Huss" and even those among us that are good at catching mullet [Not me by the way] struggle to be 100% on the differance between thick lipped and thin lipped mullet. I had to ask for more opinions on a large red gurnard or small tub last year so these comments are not meant to run down anyone elses lack of skills on this subject. just to highlight the problems if we expand the list of species for our competitions. How many know the differance between poor cod and small pout??? Other than Rich and Billy who probably have to be hot on species ID for there bigger comps, How confident are the other Members????? that no mistake will be made. I am not 100% sure myself and I have been fishing for over 40 years. More food for thought /comment I hope Charlie

Hi All Thanks for your support Sam is keen to make this as good as possible, for both his school project and for the Club. If anyone has a lot of info [Adam and Paul] can you burn to a disc and pass to me next Thursday. I have plenty of photo's, but the more the merrier alternativly can you email them rather than attaching to the forum as they will be better quality. I am sure that Sam will also appreciate any other ideas on what Members think should go into a promotional leaflet. Thanks again Charlie

Hi Mark Sad to hear that the boat had to be sold but I expect we will see her again if she has joined the Burnham fleet. If you have the time for fishing with a new house to sort, out I know John Manser was struggling for crew on his warrior. His regular crew is no longer available. I am sure you will get many offers, and if you can stand the slower passage time you are welcome on GW. Charlie

Great Colin I have never seen a sun fish, but I know that they are impressive. Shame that the drift fishing was quiet, how far did you go? and were you targeting the Tope? Can you PM me your results from Sunday as I have all but yours Nicks and Paul J's and I need to send to the BFM Charlie

Simon if you or the crew have hold of the trace the fish counts If not there is no way of getting them off without bringing them onboard, which we only usually do so that they can be tagged and the data recorded. any that are to small for tagging are t-barred off. as are most congers dogfish etc Please send another score sheet Charlie

Hi All Well the Great White and her young crew headed out early to try and pick up a few fish and score some points. The forecast and the actual weather seemed to be well apart, but we carried on anyway. The mackeral were very obliging and even on two hook feather rigs we soon had 4 each, then we anchored by peverill ledge Daniel started to feel a bit sick so we up anchored and set off west to try and escape some of the rough water and wind. To do so we finished up around at Dancing ledges We anchored and before long were into Dogfish and wrasse. [Well Sam, was into Dogfish while we watched.] after he had about six I had my first bite Thinking it was my first dog i casualy picked the rod up then all hell broke loose. My ABU 7000 started to give up line at an alarming rate and the uptider was well bent. With a fair number of impressive runs and some head shaking I anticipated a reasonable size tope or if I was lucky a very good bass. What eventually came into view through the clear water was a tope of large proportions. As I was using a Circle hook and 40lb trace, [the hook was in the scissors as advertised] I was very concerned that any rolling in the net would see the line bitten through, I decided that the only way was to tail the fish. Sam was volunteered for the Job [Good job he is big for just turned 15] a few more runs to tire the fish, some tips from Dad and a cleared deck and its time to get the fish onboard. As the fish came alongside, Sam leaned over grabbed the tail in two hands and heaved it in. As it came in it turned its head with its mouth open. after a few words about its teeth Sam had the fish on the deck and held it while I passed my rod to Daniel and grabbed a T Bar. Great Job Sam 12 months ago he could not hold one for a photo, now he wrestles congers for photo's and tope into the boat. After a few photo's the 40lb Male was returned to swim happily away. What was interesting was a new mark on its side that looked like a bite, but may have been from a net or longline. it can be seen in the photo's. The rest of the day was spent chasing points and species, we had 8 in total with some of the ones we hoped for being absent. Charlie 92 Daniel 90 Sam 82 Perhaps I need a lesson Gordon in how to get those mullet. I hope everyone that went out enjoyed a good day, the weather was nice later on as forecast which was much more pleasant. Charlie

Smile for the camera

Nice fish Jason Its always good to get a good fish especially after being pushed inshore out of the weather Here is our one, caught on a circle hook and 40lb trace. 40lb Male You should have seen Sam hanging on to his tail I did not want to lose it by trying to get it into the net. great job son. Charlie

Well done to all that fished today The weather was a bit fresher than forecast this morning but eased away during the afternoon PLEASE LET ME HAVE YOUR SCORE SHEETS I need to send the results to the mag within 7 days Well done James, true to form he chased around in the best way to secure points and amassed a terrific score. We managed a total of 8 species onboard i will do a longer report tomorrow Charlie

Hi all Peter and I have checked the weather as most of you probably have today The comp is on and open to all Club waters Please phone one of us tonight or post here to register if you are fishing a message on the answer machine will suffice Tight lines Charlie

Nice One Simon A very nice specimen Can I have a catch report for the fish to be entered in the book. And can you get steph to hold the fish for the camera next time Charlie

Nice one about a week to late Charlie

Hi Rich It would be great to get out one evening. I will have to leave it a few weeks though as Friends are due early July from Auckland NZ, they are staying with us for a couple of nights and the bathroom is not yet finished. Her ladyship is starting to lean on me to finish it instead of fishing, so it had better get prioity. I will be fishing Sundays comp weather permitting, but its frustrating in this weather to be decorating. Charlie

On sunday we decided to head west to a wreck to show the boys how we drift a wreck with artificial eel/shads etc Wendy came along to enjoy the weather a provide the hot lunches. Started on a small wreck to get set up and have a couple of practce drifts then moved to the sky. we had 3 small pollack [4lb]and the boys lost a couple Just as the tide eased away and Sam lost his forth shad, we were getting amazed that no diving boats had arrived, I was just starting to think that instead of moving when they arrived,[ as we expected them to for slack LW] we may be able to get the anchor in and have a go at the eels. When a single boat came in site from the East. A fully loaded Swanage dive boat went straight past me to the wreck and put his shot line into the wreck on my drift line. I could see another Fathers day dive boat incident on the cards [was that really 12 months ago?] but decided to revert to the plan and go inshore a bit for the tope fishing. By the time we arrived the 30lb class rods were ready, then a few mackeral obliged very quickly. So it was anchor down and kettle on. We had a couple of dogs at slack water and as the flood started so did the tope. While it was not hectic it was nice to be able to tag a few again, the smallest went 18lb and the best 33lb. We had 5 fish, 4 on my rod for a change, [Fathers Day] Sam says that he was just being good to his Dad, which is why he shook a couple off. I hope that is the start of a late run as its been quite up to now Tight lines Charlie

Martin Did you leave Dean at home so that you had a chance to catch more??? or do you only allow the crew to use short lines in deep water Charlie

Congratulations James and Chris I hope that little Sophie brings you nothing but smiles. Charlie

Happy Birthday lads I hope you all get what you wanted and with Fathers Day tomorrow that must include a weekend fishing pass very tight lines Charlie

Nice one mate It will make the wilson look very small, and GW very slow I stepped up from a wilson like yours to GW 14 years ago and have never regretted it. look forward to seeing you afloat, if there is anything I can help you with give me a bell Tight lines Charlie

Hi all I read with interest what lures were used at the rips and their sizes and colours can I ask how you were fishing them and at what speed of retrieve if they were used flying collar style. I know how to use the traditional ones, but do not use the newer ones often enough to remember the methods for shads, storm shads and storm sandeels. twintails etc is it faster or slower retrieve for the shads or even the hopper method. perhaps someone could start a new topic and educate those of us set in the old ways. I have the lures, but am not confident that I am fishing them correctly. so after a while I usually revert to tried and tested redgills etc Charlie

Hi Kam Record all fish that are on the competition score sheets, the allocated points for that species are awarded regardless of size. Mini species do not count Charlie

Rich What the hell is going on, work interfering with YOUR FISHING!!!!!!!!! I thought that just happened to the rest of us salary types Tight lines Charlie

Rich I suppose its all down to practice and technique I find the one or two I get to be a bit tricky, when I get my next one I will give you a quick call for tips Charlie

Hi and welcome Charlie

Kam Due to the fact that no fish need to be harmed / kept, as they just need to be recorded. There are no minimum sizes for the points competitions. There is no point in catching more than 4 of a species or targetting large fish, but that said scratching for tiddlers is not my type of fishing. Tight lines Charlie