great white

Hi Mike Great to hear that you are on the mend mate. If you need a trip to shake the cobwebs off, we could try a bream trip one evening when you are up to it. I am sure that the members with warriors will give you an owners view of the boats but most reports seem good. looking forward to your witty contributions again. Charlie

Hi All Martin beat me too this one Please support the Clubs competitions and join us in this years events If you can not open the sheet from Martins report email me and I will send you one by reply email. I have installed a new answer machine on my home phone so if I am out leave a message to say who is fishing and the boat name. Please leave a contact phone No in case there is a need for me to get back to you if the comps are cancelled Tight lines for 2005 Charlie

Glad that you have crew Paul Sam is very keen to show Dad how it is done again, but did not want you to not get afloat. CU out there somewhere Tight lines Charlie

Hi all She stands proud of the bottom and shows up well on the sounder. but is only 190ft long so your search patterns need to be fairly tight You are looking for a distinct lump rather than gradual change of depth. I suggest zooming in your sounder and running tight search pattern from your waypoint/numbers for the wreck using track lines on your plotter. search slowly and systematically and you will get there. I put in an event as soon as something shows and then run a search around the object looking for a better/bigger picture on the sounder. if you are new to it, practise on a well known inshore wreck like Kyarra. at slack water the dive boats will show you where she is. or I could come out and give you a few pointers one evening. Charlie

Nice one Matt I will await Simon's Call. Steph is more than welcome to join the other lady Members, I am sure that they would enjoy the competition. Charlie

We get most of ours at work from New Forest Motor Factors They are good at looking up the equivelant to a lot of the Marine filters and of course their prices are much kinder. They are at Cabot lane Poole. charlie

Well done all Sounds like you had a great trip Can someone call or PM me the catch reports so that the members onboard get their fish recorded. My answer machine has been replaced ready for the season so you can now leave messages again if you wish Cheers Charlie

Paul what type of Chart are they? If they ae admiralty charts you can get a list of numbers Duncan Paul just check that they are using the correct Datum, before plotting numbers from them. If you need a hand plotting from the chart give me a call some time Charlie

No you are not son

Hi Paul I am not collecting bait untill 5pm Sat As long as I tell Alex prior to him getting them out of the tanks [Mid PM] it will not be a problem, and no charge incurred. His worms may not all be monsters at this time of year, but his costs, very flexible opening hours, selection of baits and the ability to cancel orders on the afternoon before is worth supporting him IMHO. but then again he is only a mile from my house Charlie

Hi Paul, As we have discussed before the decision is yours, with guidance from the other skippers who know the area and boats like yours. You know Neo and her sea keeping far better than others would, and as you say it is about enjoying your day afloat and fishing properly and safely, Not just about avoiding being sick. Don't let Sams youthfull enthusiasm sway your decision, he will get out again soon enough . Charlie

Kam Cuttles certainly do eat their share. We have had problems when using live mackeral for offshore bass on the drift. Had several baits killed and trashed by cuttles Charlie

Thats because you get bored and nag Dad into chasing bigger fish son. Charlie

Hi all It looks like a well supported traill away this Sunday I hope that the sport is good I have just ordered bait for Sam and Paul from Alex, he has some big orderes in so if anyone else is thinking of using him I suggest that you ought to call him today and place an order. Tight lines Charlie

Ow much was out yesterday Had a quiet time on teh banks so moved for slack Humprey landed a nice 25lb Blonde then Neal lost a good fish when his line parted and another that bit his hook off. They were on the western banks so maybe an early Tope?>?? Nice to hear that a few fish are about Charlie

Sam You could come down the Yard and help with the boat again. Charlie

At the moment the Club do not own a verified set of scales We have agreed to purchase a set for our competitions, so if anyone can suggest a supplier I would be interested to know Thanks Charlie

Hi All, What a great day, it brought back so many memories not only as I was born and learnt to fish just a little further up the Channel but also to be back on a trailered boat for the first time in years with all of the banter, hard work and busyness that is involved while preparing for any competition let alone one so far from home. Thanks to Martin for inviting me on such a wonderfull boat, 36 knots is a little [???] faster than I am now used to. especially in 4ft of water. Needless to say that Martin may fill in more details on that one. But the mudflats and the sea are the same colour up at Burnham. It was nice to fish with Martin and Dean for the first time, we had more than our share of Thornbacks its a shame that most were in the 6lb to 7lb size. My personal tally was 14 and I am sure Martin and Dean had as many so where we were there was no shortage of bites. Well done Dean for Christening your new rod, and with the heaviest fish on the boat yesterday. I can not get over standing on your rod but it will go in for a new eye today Thanks to Paul for picking Sam and I up at the house at 0530 and not only taking one very keen teenager fishing all day but also doing all the driving up and back. If you were tired on Friday I expect you are well knacked today. It was a well organised trip that I am sure would appeal to other Members when it is repeated in the future. Thanks to Adam and the Club at Burnham for the organisation and lets make them as welcome when they return to us in May. Charlie latest [occasional] member of trailer section

Sorry Gordon, That last one was to you not Colin Its early Charlie

Hi Colin What software are you using for your lowrance? I use Map Create 6 which came with my plotter to transfer the info from my user card to a basic map If we were in USA then the background map would be almost chart quality but over here it is very basic. I have emailed Lowrance and they have no intention of changing that, they also confirm that the info on the Navionics card can not be downloaded to the mapcreate. [shame] Even though the background is very basic .I still find it good to transfer the info saved to my user card to the PC. It is quicker to add waypoints via the PC keyboard and then save to the card and load into the plotter. than to add them straight to the plotter. I can also edit some of the info on the user card quicker on the PC. Incidentally I never put the Navionics MMC card into the PC, formatting will wipe its memory and render it scrap. Charlie

Hi Alex Nice one. There are a few of the local ones there, that hold a few fish and some big ones that are worth using to practice finding wrecks and positioning over them. When you get the new boat practice on the bigger inshore ones before venturing to far out. Kyarra and the Sky are two of the most dived wrecks in our area. go there on slack water on a neap tide in summer and the dive RIBs and shot buoys will tell you where they are, then practice when the divers are not there as the tide increases. [ no point fishing when divers are down, its to dangerous for the divers and they spook the fish anyway] Betsy Ann holds a few fish but mainly pout. Clan Mcvey can hold a few fish but mainly small ones Charlie

Hi Rich I tend not to use my 6000's for any of the deeper water stuff, bream and plaice and Club species comps only if drifting I will use the 7000's and also for uptiding due to their casting qualities. But at anchor downtiding then the lever drags are my Favorites. Its only the deepest water that would get the 6/0 back out, or maybe a proper Shark trip for big fish. Charlie

Hi Adam I have treadmaster on my foredeck, it has been on there 13 years and is as good as new. It is much friendlier on the feet in the summer than a gritted deck, we walk on it barefoot all the time when swimming off the boat with the kids. I usually just scrub it off when I finish for the day, but it will take pressure washing as well. If you can find a cheap source it is good gear, but be sure the deck is 100% sound, clean and dry before you put it on. and also check that the adhesive is in date if you get it from a cheap source. It may be worth putting it on in several pieces and leave a gap or two of an inch or so wide front to back to help make it easy for the water to run aft, and easier to clean. Not sure if it would stain if you left anchors and chain on it though. Hope that is some help Charlie

I agree with Pete Its all down to horses for courses. I have reels here that were the normal gear years ago, 6/0 loaded with 50lb Nylon. But they have not been afloat for years. In deep water for conger over wreckage and off of places like Plymouth, Weymouth and the Channel Islands the power to wind big weights from deep water was required. Even if it was just to make refreshing baits less of a chore. Most of the time now, I use no bigger than my TLD 15 or Calcutta 700 even when congering on a wreck or tope fishing in the deep holes. Even the boys use no heavier than 30lb test rods and TLD 15 or 20 The Club record conger was caught on an uptider ABU 7000 and 18lb nylon. So IMHO there is no real need for "Winches" in most of the local areas. Take your time, enjoy the fight let the clutch do what it was designed for and you should get your fish. Tight lines Charlie

So secret even he can not find them. I have heard of that tactic Charlie