great white

While many of us may enjoy the odd can while afloat, being drunk in charge of the boat is madness if you are intending to steam around. I am sure while anchored for an overnight stay common sense has to prevail. I am also sure that if this law stops the idiots in power boats getting tanked up and then driving there boats through the harbour, we should all be pleased Most of these people only have slight idea of what they are doing sober, so add drink and they are an accident waiting to happen. I am sure Frank would agree after last years incident with Sheila Marie and a far from sober powerboat driver. Charlie

Nice one and well done you Tght lines for the giltheads Charlie

Wecome to the Clubs website and forum enjoy Charlie

Hi Zzippy and welcome Enjoy the site and its forum Charlie

Hi I replaced some of my electronics 18 months ago I was shopping for a combined set, garmin colour But after viewing them all at the London show decided that the screen was quite small, and when used split for two modes and navigation info, usable screen sizes were to small. Had I the budget to opt for a 10" screen I may have gone for a combined unit For less money I chose the Lowrance Global Map 5000c a 6" screen and a Lowrance 105Df colour fish finder. they have been fitted for 18 months and I am happy with my choice. Perfect visability from the brightest day to full dark plenty of power and definition in the FF ability to store info on a user card and edit at home operation is easy once you get used to it. Two sets means that I should never really lose both on a fishing trip for an internal problem, therefore I could still find somwhere to fish. A combined unit goes down and you could be going home early I am glad I went to colour, its much easier to pick out the info you are looking for on both sets. Going to the next sets in the lowrance range increases the screen size slightly and doubles the definition and price so its all about budget really. If you would like to see the set up, arrange a good time and I will take them to the boat so you can have a look. I think you can see some detail in the photo Charlie

Duncan Very sorry to hear that you boat has suffered from a visit from the scum that can not work to pay for their tackle. I hope it was reported to the MARINE SECTION OF THE POLICE, they seem to have good knowledge of who commits these sort of break ins and are the only ones who have any success with these matters IMHO 01202 223276 Sounds like your fishing was very good, but can I cast doubt on a 15lb spotted. is it a typo as its well above the british record I really enjoy getting amongst the tope, its nice to hear that a few are about after a slow atart. Charlie

Hi terry over the years I expect all our gear has got lighter with the need to maximise sport from each fish and braid making 3lb plus leads just a bad memory. I like to use uptiders when I can, or even lighter rods, my latest spinning rod is 30gram casting weight and it bends like a trout rod. Lovely but my favorite heavy rod is a well trusted 30lb class kevlar and carbon north western with a good roller tip. its about 8ft long and has a good action. while it does bend well when into a good fish, I am always enjoying myself a lot when I get them. whatever make you or your budget chooses, there probably is no need to go beyond a 30 lb class. IMHO for a lighter downtide rod Sam has just received the ABU conolon he won, which is the one Martin mentioned and is a very nice rod. I hope that helps a bit Charlie

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