great white

Hi Alex [FishFinger] A belated welcome to the Clubs Forum. I see that you have been chating with Sam, He is as he says himself??? a good fisherman. He tends to use good reels on strong but not overpriced rods. As others have said the best option to get close to your budget without going second hand is to buy cheaper rods and better reels. Rods are after all fairly simple bits of kit, but reels have many working parts. Whatever you get needs to be fairly robust. As the species you are hoping to catch and the size of weights you will need to use due to the strength of the tide will soon get the better of weak tackle. Have you considered using your total budget to buy 1 better set of gear. My boys and I only tend to use 1 set of 30lb test gear each when targetting the bigger species. plus other lighter rods Or is the other for Dad to get him to take you out fishing? The main thing is to keep the reels in full working order and clean the Salt Water off after every trip. A job that Sam and his brother Daniel still leave to me. You may get away with putting course gear away straight after use, but if you do the same after fishing in the sea any rods reels you do get will not last long. Tight lines and good luck with the shopping. Charlie

Hi All Sorry that I missed the meeting last night and the oportunity to discuss this subject. Our poles at work are bolted to the console for strength because when stepping onboard the Members tend to hold on to them. If you wanted a quick stow method they could be made to mount on a stainless VHF ariel bracket, designed to be rapidly relased to allow the ariel to fold. although it would not be as strong and the size may limit how many cables would fit inside. I think that Gary and Peter used two of these when they designed and built the fold away frame on top of Prodigy, so she can get under the Hamworthy bridge. I am sure that you will come up with a good design, to get the best out of all your requirements. Charlie

Hi Wedger I was fortunate to spend a month in New Zealand a couple of years ago after being invited by agood friend and ex Member of the Club who has emigrated out there. They swear by groundbaiting out there and would not even fish from the shore without using it. They package the stuff sold in shops Frozen in polythene tubes, some brands are even in meshing tubes inside the polythene, all you have to do is peel off the plastic attach a line to the mesh bag and put it in the water. Even the small boats out there are rigged for using these groundbait bombs. they have hard plastic tubes fitted to the transom, top is open, bottom is below the water line and is closed with holes around the base to let the groundbait out. You simply buy bombs without the mesh bag, strip off the plastic outer and drop it in the tube to defrost from the bottom. The above info may help you in how to package your groundbait, please contact me if you want to go more in depth. I came back from NZ determined to try more groundbaiting, but have not really tried that much. I would be interested in giving your groundbait a try, especially when the bream arrive, or maybe when the tope do [ I have other methods for use in deep water] where we were using it in NZ a heavy weight was oly 2 ounces, not the 32 ounces we have to use at times. Good luck with your venture Charlie

Hi Colin. A few of the Ribs we have at work are fitted with A Frames, with brackets to hold flare boxes and tubes for boat hooks and Flag poles etc. Not bad as a safety boat for Sailing - Diving. but the all round white light is a pain when looking behind you at night, and the frame would definatly be in the way in a small boat when you are trying to land fish. Our other RIBs and launches are fitted with a stainless pole, with brackets to bolt it to the console and brackets to hold the Nav lights. they are made so that the wiring is inside the tube for protection and have shield plates to stop the light taking away the cockswains night vision. Several advantages Good to hold on to Do not get in the way when fishing undo three bolts and the pole can lie in the boat for storage. Have you considered these aspects? Charlie

Paul it could be worth talking to Amber Austin [Garys wife] about recoverimg those seats. She is doing some boat covers and other bits and pieces. I would phone rather than email. Charlie

Did I blink and miss the first showing of Cod??????? Charlie

Hi Paul Most Ribs use waterproof rocker switches on their consoles. If you can wait untill next week I will photo the whaler in the Mariner for you Paul Charlie

Hi A selection of those type of pins are available from large Chandlers. Get one with a ring in the other end so that it can be attached to the boat or you may buy several a year Charlie

Jack I am glad we were not on your price structure last Thursday. 4k for a days fishing would be hard to explain to FPO. As Humphrey would take nothing for Diesel the only cost was bait about

Hi Adam Yes there is an annual membership fee, I am not sure what it is now but they have a website if you want to look it up. To become a full Member you have to catch an eel above the qualifying weights of: Shore 25lb Reef 30lb Wreck 40lb Its a very good Club with a large Friendly and keen membership, and they have a wonderful set of Trophys. Charlie

As Martin says it may just be that dragging a weight allows more people to fish it for longer and on bigger tides then Peter, and such a Mark must have a limit on how much stock it can hold relative to how many rods are targetting that stock. Shame because it was such a good mark, that said I believe it is still well worth a visit or two. I am sure that the Weymouth boats still do very well out there, and our trailer boats had some nice fish in 2004. Charlie

Hi James Another good trophy from the BCC their Solitair Cup, heaviest eel landed without any assistance. Actually the Club record fish won me that one a couple of years ago, my mate on the boat would go nowhere near it in the water or in the boat. So it was landed weighed and returned without his help. That trophy also stayed in Plymouth, the keepsake is an engraved tankard which has an eel for the handle. You get one for winning any of the annual trophies, I have a few in the loft if you would like to see what you are aiming for Charlie

Its a shame my British Conger Club membership has lapsed. They have a terrific Bronze trophy for the most returned eels in a year. So far this year I have caught and returned 18 I won the trophy in its first year 1989. But they would not let it out of Plymouth, it would be nice to win it again. I would add the photo, but that would open me up for some stick Bit older and greyer now Charlie

To be honest Kam I only sent the photo to Paul so that others could have chance to add some comments So I do not have any problems with any comments Charlie

Paul The tell tail is just an indicator that you are getting a flow through the engine, they regularly get blocked by salt crystals as the water evaporates out of the salt water while the engine cools after use. This also happens inside the block therefore it is very good for the engine cooling system to run the engine in fresh water ASAP after returning from the Sea. The majority of the pumped water from your engine exits through the centre of your prop to prevent cavitation increase thrust and cool the exhaust and leg of your outboard. If your telltail stops try clearing it with some form of wire while the engine is running it should clear easily, if you are not getting cooling your engine will overheat quickly and an alarm should sound in your control box Hope that helps Its probably what your website says Charlie

I like James am yet to be converted to circles I used them a lot in New Zealand where they are very popular. And have read about them a lot. The theory seems to be that they go deep into the fish then as it runs they come out and as they pivot around the scissor in the jaw they then get pulled into the fish. Obviously not all fish are caught by deep hooking and waiting for it to move off. so it explains why they do not always work . and I believe striking is a definate no go area you just wind in and maintain pressure. The other thing about thursday is that eels tend to come in head first and back away or dive rather powering off to the side like a good bass or tope. so perhaps they are not the best hooks for eeling. I had no problem with pennel rigged 6/0 Viravas Big Mouth Extras on thursday but had to cut quite a few traces to prevent damaging the fish, I changed to bigger single hooks to prevent this which cost me a couple of fish that spat the hooks. I chose not to use the Large circle hooks because of the theory about the way eels are caught/fight. Comments please Charlie

Not all my fish are the tiddler sort Sam, I think I had the first, most and biggest on Thursday Charlie

Its not the size that counts 24 ounces of pure muscle. fought all the way to the boat on 30lb gear. [ didn't even know it was on really, thought it was a pout] I told Sam it would get more comments than his 46lb 8oz one. Charlie

Hi James Nice to be out there today and thanks for your company Are you reducing your photo's for the Forum? they seem bigger than mine so am I reducing mine to much? I thought they had to be fairly small, can one of the administrators advise please for future ref. Thanks Charlie

The biggest of 40 landed on Ow Much today. we also lost a lot to the wreck and a few spat the hooks. 46 lb of slippery Eel, just about to go back. Charlie

Adam showing us how its done, well he is about to try and feed Jame's new auxillery bracket to a conger. Over 15 miles from the chain ferry but check out the sea state

another view of James with his new toy at sea. Charlie

Dawn Raider Raiding a Wreck today Charlie

Hi All, What a great day. After a day bouncing around without many fish yesterday, the plan was ether a haul out to the Rips to look for pollack or a trip west to a wreck for the Eels. The Weather and tides were so good for an Eel trip that Humphreys arm was easily twisted into that decision. so with Dawn Raider in Hot pursuit off we went. By the time most of you were finishing your first coffee at work we were anchoring the wreck, but the position was not to our liking so in came the anchor to be moved 50 metres South. [ The hydraulic hauler certainly helps]. By the time James had his anchor in, we had an eel on the way up and in less than an hour we had 10 on the boat. As the tide slackened we were pushed south of the wreck to wait for the flood tide. After moving for the flood the action really started and the size of the fish improved with several over the 30lb mark being lifted in to be weighed. We were fishing one rod each to avoid tangles, and a couple of times had treble hook ups with the other rod out of action due to re-baiting re-tackling or having just landed a fish. It was hectic on Dawn Raider and impresive to watch the lads in action with plenty of double hook ups, and at one time they were both playing fish with one rod and the other rods in James very smart rod holders going mental as another pair of fish waited for some attention. In the end we had a total of 40 eels. before we had a couple of slow drifts over the wreck then a move inshore to try for other species. The best Conger onboard today was 46lb. But it was definatly a Conger Day as we saw James catch another in there as well, with a few Dogs and what may have been a Huss. Great day and nice to be able to offer James and Adam a guide in such lovely weather to a wreck that fished so well. I expect we had over 1000lb of fish onboard today and all went back, most without coming out of the water. I am going to have a sit down with a beer to sooth the bits that ache tonight. tight lines Charlie

Hi Alun I am out tomorrow with the kids so if we catch or hear of anything being caught I will post tommorow evening. Charlie