Neal

Thanks Rich - the pleasure was (apart from Bridge incident!!!)) all mine. A pleasure to have Calum on-board. A very polite, pleasant young lad who does you credit, even if you do not see him that often. It is always great to see someone catch their first fish. I still remember mine and the thrill it gave me - plus an enthusiasm that so-far has not faded - although I am still not much better at it. It is surprising what can be picked up in the harbour just simply making tying up to a buoy and trying to catch what passes by. How ofter do we steam off to the horizon and probably not do as well as we did yesterday. It is amazing as well that you can almost predict what you will catch and at what states of tides if you fish the harbour often enough. We didn't target any wrasse but these could easily have been added as well as Gurnards and baby smoothhounds. The plaice and Guilthead bream were exactly where predicted and at the state of tide predicted - it was me this time that picked up the 2 1/2 lb plaice - instead of watching someone else. Neal

Well done Tom!!!!!!! Well, we have all seen the fantastic documentaries on the Discovery Channel with famous people venturing into the water in incredibly expensive, lightweight, high strength steel cages with the latest scuba and camera gear.......... Now, with that Great British "Eddie the Eagle" spirit - we launch Tom into the briney amongst the sharks in a ..................glorified shopping trolley. Well done lads, lets show those Jacques Cousteaux boys that we know how to live. I feel a Channel 4 documentary being scheduled.........at least then no-one will see it. Neal

I am going out that way on Sunday - so if you want to change days! If not, I would be interested to know if the fish are still present. They were definately thinning out when I went two weeks ago and I haven't heard or read about anyone else heading out that way since. I would like at least one more visit before they go. Someone mentioned fishing was better to the east of the general location - does anyone have some more specific numbers or is it just a case of heading east until you find the next group of boats? Neal

I will be out on Court Jester with Simon and Rich Neal

Hi Simon, I am looking for crew on Court Jester this Sunday - so welccome aboard ! I will pm you later in the week to sort out meeting, where when etc Still room for at least one more if anyone else interested. I have plenty of spare fishing gear so I am more than happy to lend you what you need - try before you buy. Neal

Trevor was in the fertilised egg business. He had several hundred young pullets and eight or ten roosters, whose job was to fertilise the eggs. The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so Trevor could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells. The farmer's favourite rooster was old Gordon, and a very fine specimen he was too. But on this particular morning Trevor noticed old Gordon's bell hadn't rung at all! Trevor went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. But to farmer Trevor's amazement, Gordon had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. Trevor was so proud of Gordon; he entered him in the Hertfordshire County Fair and Gordon became an overnight sensation among the judges. The result. The judges not only awarded Gordon the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well. Clearly Gordon was a pullitician in the making: Who else but a pullitician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention. Do you know a Pullitician called Gordon?

I can't imagine why it would be there at all? I do remember the oil companies exploring th bay and across to the Isle of Wight to determine the extent of the Wytch Farm deposit. All using jack-up rigs - I don't remember any semi-submersible types. - anyway once an area has been explored they jack the legs up and float off to another location. Far too expensive to leave any of it behind! Neal

Thanks Charlie and Dan for the day out on Alfresco - she's a beauty, you must be really proud - and so you should be. Thanks Gordon for the Bacon and Egg butties - just the thing for the diet I am supposed to be on! It's a real shame that the tope had gone! Thanks for not mentioning the one that got away............... Small bite - lifted into it and rod immediately bent double.... heaving the "monster from the deep" inches at at time - it shook it's head, it kept diving back to the bottom - gaining a few inches of line, only to see it disappear back back off the reel. Inch by inch it came towards the boat.... diving left then right..... Gordon wiping the sweat from my brow (with the mackeral towel - nice touch!! ) Arms burning, back aching - thank god for the butt pad - should have brought the harness. Charlie where's the fighting chair??? Wishing now we weren't fishing in 260ft of water What seems like hours later the leader knot appears - can't see colour yet - must be a big ray of some sort - foul hooked? - line wrapped round it's tail? - perhaps a monster eel - questions asked by all. Need help - can't pass the rod over, need to keep going, it's a specimen competition a certain winner - all agree. Everyone peering into the gloomy depths ...... what's it going to be? how much will it weigh! At last it appears on the surface...................the trace is touched it's mine Competition over, a certain winner............ Yes indeed - the biggest bloody rock you ever did see ............ Once aboard it was tenderly unhooked and sent plummeting back to the depths to live and fight another day As one everyone (very kindly) turned their backs and sniggered, I sank into a heap of jelly in the corner muttering expletives. B*ll*ks to this fishing lark - it was much easier when I used to fish for "fun" Neal

You have a pm Neal

Andy, Is this a different Competition to the Annual Cod Competition (normally held between xmas and New Year) that has had flounders added to it for the last two years. Will the Annual Cod Comp still be held Is this a Poole Sea Angling Center comp or a Poole Dolphins comp. More info requested please Neal

Hi Rich, You are more than welcome - you have a pm with details Neal

Can't wait to get out again - so Court Jester with crew should be out. Room for another, if anyone wants to join John and myself for the day. Neal

I have taken rods on a plane many times - so far with no problems - and it shouldn't cost you any extra. Check your luggage weight allowance - and weigh the rod tubes with the rest of the luggage to make sure you don't exceed your allowance. Check in as normal and you will then be asked to take your rod tubes to the "oversized packages" area and the rods will be taken away and loaded separately. The same thing happens at the other end - you collect your luggage from the carousel as normal and then go to find where the oversized stuff comes in. It may take a little bit longer, but not much. Hope that helps and you enjoy your fishing in Spain Neal

Oh the hours I spent preparing the special wrasse and conger stuffing. and they wouldn't even try it............... still, I suppose it leaves more for me. Neal

Yet another "Fly caught" PB A "keeper" I'll bet!!!! Neal

Happy Birthday guys, Alun - I need to join you one of these days to see how this spectacular Bass fishing is really done. You seem to be dissapointed with single digit weight and numbers of fish. Save a few for the rest of us mere mortals. I trust you are somewhere out - bobbing about! Neal

Absolutely spot on Steve, Charlie, Their are at least two "holes" with depths marked at up to 80m. You can only normaly fish at dead slack or on the smallest neap tides. These holes are stuffed full of Tope at the moment - plus huge eels if you can get past the Tope. Their is also the odd shark or two in this area - having latched on to Threshers in the past - and I don't mean the Off- Licence!!! My arms are still bruised and sore from last Friday - I have never before been too tired to put down another bait. We basically had a fish a drop. 26th / 27th July, I am going again - hopefully fully recovered. If you want to give it a go before then and the tides are ok, I would be happy to join you - and then do a spot of Eel fishing - that record shouldn't stand too much longer! Neal

Following on from "my memorable day" tope fishing - see separate report I was asked to take a couple of extra "guests" out to the rips for a spot of cod fishing. I was just too knackered from the previous day to try anywhere else for anything big for the 48 hr comp. Struggled to even get the cod in. (note to self - weight training required before next year) So we all set off and had our fill along with everyone else. Biggest cod of the day about 14lb - not to john or I - we had several 6-8lb as did everyone else. So really nothing to add to the list above other than an enjoyable day out. Thats two trips out for the cod - have to save a few pennies and have a few trips a bit closer to home. Neal

An early start to dash across the New Forest towards Langstone Harbour was nearly scuppered by the closure of the A31 on Friday morning. I just made it in time to meet the members of the Met. Police for a days Tope fishing on Valkyrie - skippered by Glen Cairns. We set off for an area south of the Isle of Wight that is not usually fished because of the strong tides. We had chosen that day because of the small tides and hoped that we could fish all day. We struggled at first to catch any mackeral - but the few we managed were each quickly cut into two baits and as soon as the anchor was in, using 2lb of lead, we dropped our baits down the 260ft to hold bottom. Within minutes rods were bent double as the Tope in a feeding frenzy attacked and devoured our baits. Fish ranging from 25lb to 45lb were brought to the surface one after another all day with often 3 or 4 hook-ups at a time. Some of the bigger tope never even got anywhere near to the surface, snapping 80lb leaders - biting through 200lb mono traces like spaghetti. On one occasion I had to pull in a fish that had more than one line wrapped around it - a task that burned every muscle in both arms and seemed to take hours to get the fish to the boat. that was with two of us winding together. The second time it happened a 40lb fish was foul hooked and it took a good 45 minutes to get the fish to the boat - by this time the fingers on my left hand were all cramped up at funny angles and I could not lift my arms. All the fish were returned to swim away - only a couple were brought aboard for a quick photo and then released. Total - probably somewhere close to 80 Tope for the day - leaving a few extremely tired but very happy anglers. Oh God - I've got to go out again Saturday.................. Neal

It must be ok - I've just passed it on to Martin instead............. Neal

Can't really be certain.... but we had no problem on Saturday. John undid all the terminals cleaned them up replaced them and tightened them. One terminal was "slightly loose" - but I wouldn't have thought that made the difference. Plus I don't know which battery it lead to. I haven't used the windlass yet (coz I broke a bit of it off! and am awaiting a replacement bit) - which was the one thing that drained the battery very, very quickly. So this weekend will be the test. So if it is a problem again I now have a variety of "professional" people to contact to sort it out. Thanks one and all for the help and suggestions - I think that it will happen again, so I now need to invest in a volt meter. Neal

The concept of match fishing is not one that sits confortable with me either - even though I attend / compete in around 10 species competitions each year with members of the constabulary. What I have found is that certain anglers will be able to take almost any location and catch more fish than the rest - Luck! - certainly not. They will change rigs, baits and anything else required to catch whatever can be caught, and this includes specimen fish. If the thought of using small hooks puts you off - I have seen 20lb plus, cod, congers and rays caught on size 2 hooks and it takes some degree of skill on light tackle to bring these fish in. The Poole Species hunt is interesting in that it is both challenging to anglers and skippers alike - the skippers need to know what can be caught where and at what state of tides (skippers from further afield usually struggle in this particular competition due to lack of specific local knowledge). Plus you get taken to all the local marks which produce fish by people who have to make a living from doing so! More local marks provided in one day than you will find in a seasons fishing! It is then down to the individual anglers and working as a team to catch as many different species as possible. This is then set against another team trying to do the same. That is the competion bit - and it is very frustrating for people who are normally very competitive to be thrashed by more skilfull anglers. This is what takes us out of our usual comfort zone, where we just steam off to a mark and sit / drift using pre-determined baits and pre-determined tactics to catch our target species. I have taken one of my match fishing friends out to a blonde ray mark - where he caught his PB blonde of 25lb - once he had done that, rather than "chucking" another chunk of mackerel over the side and waiting for another - he changed tactics and proceeded to catch fish after fish of a variety of different species on the same mark. Whereas I would have pulled up either an untouched or mangled bait and never even known whatelse was down there. I have to confess I would prefer to sit and wait (hopefully)for a specimen fish to appear, than catch any number of mini species. But especially for the bass fishermen amongst you / us, these mini species make excelent bass baits when joey mackeral are scarce - or difficult to get to. This competition is a challenge and it is frustrating and doesn't suit everybody but it represents a massive learning opportunity - and more often than not, you have a good bunch of people out for a good time on a boat - with prizes on offer if you do well. It is not obligatory to take it too seriously either. Neal

Hi Martin, Yes thanks he did get hold of me - but we had already sorted the problem - or appear to have. It wasn't what he thought it might be anyway. But he did remind me to check!!! I will keep his details and contact him again if I need to. I hope you had / are having a good time in Weymouth. Neal

I will be out on Court Jester with John Young (and a couple of guests). Probably Saturday only as I am on a charter trip on Friday and 3 days in a row is pushing it, even for me! Neal

The contact numbers I have are:- Mobile 07810 561520 home? / Work 01202 463476 I hope you manage to get hold of him - I have been trying for the last 2 weeks!!! However, I have solved my problem and don't need him anymore. Neal