great white

Hi Billy In the species comps that are fished with the best 4 results from 5 to count there are 1st 2nd and third trophies and a trophy for the best junior. Now there are more juniors getting out on these competitions the incentive to keep trying will grow. We do not usualy give out the results, but top junior 2004 does not live in Poole and top senior needs a new boat for his new engine. We have had a new trophy donated to the juniors and have decided to make it for the best specimen, so there is more to fish for yet. Charlie

Just passed the Seagull and under the small cloud

As they say Duncan "Every day is a fishing day, but not every day is a catching day" I am sure it will happen next time. Charlie

Duncan I am afraid that the above sounds as if in fact Dave was giving the fish to much Teddy [Your words] and had the clutch far to tight. The boys and I only fish 30lb class gear and 30lb braid on the heavy rods so the Clutches are set fairly light. while this can cost fish on wrecks it does not tend to on open ground. Several of the eels on Sunday got their heads down and swam away a few times, but with a heavy trace of 90lb mono and pennel 6/0 hooks I was confident that they would come to the boat eventually. The only breakage we had was a new softwood gaff handle [1 Day old] that snapped as the boys lifted the largest eel in for me. a bit of whittling and thumping on the deck and its good as new but 18" shorter. A few of the Royal Marines I used to fish with were always prone to overtighten their drags and use the fishing as some form of exercise in speed winding, but it cost them a few big fish when hooks pulled out or lines parted. My boys do not have the muscle for that style of fishing, but a slower retrieve and a bit of calm coaching usualy gets their fish to the net. 3 of my eels on Sunday were caught on my uptider and 20lb mono, they were obviously not bullied up on that gear. all three had taken a pout or whiting that had taken the smaller bait. The trace was still 60lb test and the uptide hook 4/0 size just in case. I did lose 1 eel, it spat out a whiting of about a pound 1/2 way up. the hook was down the thoat of the whiting and had not actually been in the conger. the fish had been well chewed. I wonder if a circle hook would have lip hooked the whiting and therefore been in a better place to hook the eel? The strangest thing on the day was that I had 8 eels on my two rods and the boys using two rods each did not even get one. they were getting a bit fed up by the end. On another day I would have let them play the fish but I am trying to make them fish properly and be more independant of me now they are bigger. Charlie

Hi all I use 9" of single strand stainless wire[about 60 lb test] to 4ft 60lb test mono on my tope traces with Virivas 6/0 Big Mouth extra hooks. The nylon is only that thick to combat their abrasive skin if they get wrapped up. A charter skipper showed me these many years ago and his thoughts were that the wire went between their teeth so was very hard to bite through. I have had one or two get through the nylon but none through the wire. and we used to get a lot of 30lb + fish. I also use these for conger and have never lost one to an open water fish, lost a few to wrecks and Dorset though. Charlie

Firstly Apologise to Sam for me Billy I missed the pout, and you missed the fact that if you get 4 of a species you get the equivilant of that fishes score as a bonus. therfore its Sam 85 [and second highest score of the day] Billy 81 That may make the juniors very tight this year, as sea sickness and bad weather has cut down the amount of fishing done by juniors in this season series of comps. Thanks Duncan It was no problem helping out, as we have said before thats what the Club is about. I had simular problems last week [i also use soltron] which is why I asked Frank to do the Tow. Glad to hear that its sorted now. James the eel weighed in at 46lb on the fuel barge [ before it was cut up] Its a shame that it was not the monster as reported on the VHF, my boys were very keen to see a big one weighed in. But with so many out there a few monsters must be lurking. A lot of good anglers are reporting losing fish or being snapped up, so perhaps there are some really big ones about. Tight lines Charlie

Hi Billy with mini species not counting I make your score 81 and your Sam's 74. A good effort on a day where you had to stay inshore due to no adult [sober] crew. If you disagree please come back to me and I will fill out a score sheet to check that the quick sums during lunchtime are correct. I am sure with you for a coach and fishing more of the comps Sam will be a contender for the junior trophy next season , please let him know that he now has my two worried. Charlie

Well as promised the weather was good today, it did not appear to be as good as the forecast said but it allowed us to get out to the deeper marks. We had a productive day, and decided that as the competition overall results were out of reach we would stick it out and give the inshore fish a miss. results on Great White Charlie 7 Conger, 4 Pout, 4Whiting, 3 Dogs, 1 Bass, 1 Blonde Ray Biggest Conger 31lb, several came up with a whiting or pout in their mouths Bass 3lb Sam 1 Ray, 1 Smoothound, 1 dogfish, 4pout, 3 whiting Daniel 1 Mackerel, 3 whiting, 4 pout, 2 dogs. Nice to see so many boats out, shame that no one had a Cod to my knowledge but there did seem to be a lot of conger landed or lost. on a wide variety of marks. It was strange on my boat that I had all the eels, the boys fishing identical tackle and bait did not even get one. just my turn I suppose. I will look forward to seeing the rest of the results Charlie

The boys and I will be out tomorrow I will look forward to all the score sheets Billy the fishing is a single seven hour period between the times of 0730 and 1630. So you can start when you like to suit tides or getting the crew up. PS I have just this second registered to go on ntl broadband, at the moment I believe the old email address is OK. If you can not get through send it to wendys wchapman212@ntlworld.com Tight lines all Charlie

Colin, Alans tackle and bait tips appear spot on. Big worm/squid baits on the uptide and downtide gear, In that area I would use the 7000 on the uptider and something the next size up with braid on the downtider Fresh or Ammo Mackeral for the slack water fish, the majority of rays are thornbacks with small eyed and spotted as well. The place used to be littered with dogfish so I would take plenty of bait. The tides run pretty fast in the channel so take a good selection of weights, its better to take to many in a robust bucket than not have enough if you are fishing one of the rough patches and start to lose some gear. There may still be a few late tope about if you are lucky. Have a good trip, tight lines Charlie

My main concerns are that the limited time I now have for fishing I enjoy the chance of a few decent fish. If mini species were included we would all be around the harbour and sewer outfalls for them on tiny hooks and maggots. I am afraid that would not interest me and I think I would just not compete in the species comps. The second point would be that some of us have difficulty being sure which Rays are which, if you start sub dividing species and counting mini fish how sure are we that the fish would be correctly identified? I am not. Charlie

Lets all pray for that OH AND FOR FRIDAY FOR JAMES AS WELL TIGHT LINES MATE Charlie

Hi just to clarify the bonus points are 10 per species from three upwards so the more you get the better. It is not capped at 60, but as it is rare then the paperwork did not warrent the extra lines, although last year I think we had anglers getting 11 species =90 points. It has been asked before about "Other" species, or more specifically about sub deviding various fish Ie wrasse and mullet I think that we would need to clarify the species this would not cover and the points they are worth. I have never been a fan of counting "Mini Species" but if the membership wanted to count them under a single heading I and the committee are open to discussion. Please give us an idea on your views Thanks Charlie

Great trip out today and kept hold of the browny points, we took Wendy with us on a lovely day and kept the trip down to just 8 hours. then via the chippy on the way home so there is no cooking to be done. [she can cook the fish tomorrow] Charlie

Hi Alun as usual an entertaining report. We went out today to enjoy the fantastic weather, such a shame that the window is so short. Wendy the boys and I started on the banks at slack water and were rapidly into fish. lots of Dogs and whiting then as the boat turned we had a couple of blonde rays to 11lb for Daniel and a pollack of 5 1/2lb to Sam bit of a muddle when the anchor tripped and the engine stalled just after we steemed it up, [ the fuel system is still getting air from somewhere, so even more of it will need to be stripped before we go out again] venting the system got us running again so lifted the hook to reset for the now ebbing tide. Lots more fish steadily through the ebbing tide, we finished with 7 species. 4 Blonde rays, one conger, one Gurnard, one pollack, two bass, and to many dogs and whiting to count. about 20 dogs and well over 30 whiting. while we bought 1 bass the pollack and three whiting of about 1lb 8oz ashore a lot of fish were returned for another day. The highlight of the day was a tope following a whiting to the surface, then being tempted when I lowered it back down a few feet and reducing a 1 lb fish to just a head in one clean bite without more than a slight nod on the rod tip. the whiting had taken a cod bait but the tope missed both hooks. Tope size about 20lb. We also saw the Navy on manoeuvers, good to see them practicing in the bay. Glad we were not to close. Great Day to be out, shame there were no Cod about, we did see a 11 1/2 lb bass that one of the boats had caught by the chain ferry, lovely fish. Shame it was not on one of the Club boats. Hope this weather returns soon Charlie

Yes Duncan I think we are all in the same boat. Even the garage doors are painted so perhaps Wendy will pass me out the mobile next time it rings. I hope to sneak out tomorrow as I have taken a week off and the rest of it looks very poor. Everything is crossed, I will let you know how we get on Charlie

Adam your fish is in the book. I see you are not letting a small thing like a force 10 stop you fishing then. and we call mike Mad???????????? Charlie

Hi all. I have checked both sides on the TV forcasts for this Sunday and they are much worse than they looked earlier today when I checked the websites. Due to the safety aspects and so that we have a chance to get outside the Harbour and chase a bigger variety of fish. Peter and I have agreed to postpone the last of the species competitions, It will now be fished on Sunday 31st October. If you know of other Members who would have fished but do not use the forum please pass this message on. I decided to take the decision to postpone early due to the number of people that have other commitments and need an early decision. and to help those that have yet to book or collect bait. I am hoping that this spell of weather will blow out, and we can all get out after the winter species very soon. Tight lines Stay Safe Charlie

Hi all. I have checked both sides on the TV forcasts for this Sunday and they are much worse than they looked earlier today when I checked the websites. Due to the safety aspects and so that we have a chance to get outside the Harbour and chase a bigger variety of fish. Peter and I have agreed to postpone the last of the species competitions, It will now be fished on Sunday 31st October. If you know of other Members who would have fished but do not use the forum please pass this message on. I decided to take the decision to postpone early due to the number of people that have other commitments and need an early decision. and to help those that have yet to book or collect bait. I am hoping that this spell of weather will blow out, and we can all get out after the winter species very soon. Tight lines Stay Safe Charlie

Good points above It seems to be that we are all carrying lifejackets but not many are using them. I include myself in that generalisation. I recently replaced the junior lifejackets that were passed it with two new adult ones for the kids [ Sam at 14 is now 5'11", so a junior one would never fit] but they have only been worn twice even though they go on the boat every trip. I think I will adopt the principal of using them on all but the calmest of days, that way the boys will get used to wearing them. They always wear them on the Dinghy or if they are on the boat on her mooring without me. The worst culprit is me, so I have slapped my own wrist and will take it to heart and wear mine. [Like I do at work] By the way does anyone have a light fitted [ Pref a salt water light] for night time use? if so where did you get it from? Charlie

If the weather is good enough the Comp will be on and I hope to be fishing it with the boys. If the weather is marginal and the boys do not fancy it I may need crew. Please be aware that this competition will be postponed if the weather forecast is still showing strong winds. We hope that that will not be necessary but if it is postponed I will post on the Forum with as much notice as possible., Regards Charlie

Billy The Comp on Sunday will be to the usual rules and timings. I will email forms to you from my work PC At this time i am very concerned that the weather may well blow it off, but who knows with the current trends in forecasting being so inaccurate. Keep an eye on the Forum for any last minute notices As for the Poole address if you need a daytime one you could drop it off at the Yacht Club to me if you wish, but not next week as I am having a week off to decorate and fish. Call me if thats what you would like to do. Charlie

I think you have mine Salterns Marina Mitchells Boatyard Pete Trew Golden Arrow Marine But did you want me to talk to Simon at Wessex Angling? Charlie Come on Guys the better we can make the prize table the better the competition will be.

James I don't know what you would usually use in our comps but a one up one down rig would give the best of both worlds in a species chase from a charter boat IMHO. whiting , pout scad bream etc seem to like to bait just off the bottom and Rays Dogs Bull huss Congers Cod etc on a flowing trace on the bottom I would even consider using a baited hokia or feather on the top hook to about 2/0 and a larger hook [or pennel if allowed as one hook] on the bottom When I used to fish more comps around the country I tended to tie these as seperate parts joined with links so that both parts could be changed quickly and thus change trace lengths and hook sizes. We also used to double Pat [spare rig ready and baited onboard] if we were speed fishing. It saved time wasted after winding in to check bait and if you get tangled up with other lines as you often do on charter boats its quicker to cut the trace off, drop it on the deck, tie on the spare baited trace then start fishing prior to sorting out the tangle. I would also advise carrying a good supply and selection of weights as you do not know what position on the boat youi will be fishing, but with only 5 per boat tangles should not be to big a problem. I presume you will be fishing our comp on Sunday for a bit of practice Tight lines and good luck with the weather and the fishing Charlie

Nice fish Rach, Now just get Adam to fill out your membership form and pay your Subs and I can start adding them to the book. I am sure Helen would welcome some more female competition, although I am not so sure that the rest of us will. You girls always seem to get amongst the fish Well done Charlie PS nice to see that you have adopted the lifejacket rule. I have started taking two of mine home now so I have them for the tender as well as GW. Next step is to start wearing them more often.