Neal

Well done Alun - a very special fish - and well deserved. You may be interested to know - that if it was the charter boat "Beowulf" that plonked itself down next to you - then that was also the boat that won the cod competition. Also, it was another club member that caught that fish too!! Happy new year Alun Neal

Congratulations Alun - a well deserved win. As for myself and John.............. Following virtually a complete week of entertaining and being entertained, I was totally knackered. John was off the other side of Dorchester collecting xmas Turkeys whilst I was walking the dog. We finally got to Cobbs at about 10.30 and the smells wafting from the clubhouse kitchen proved too much - so a nice cooked breakfast in the sunshine was enjoyed. We finally left the marina berth and 3 minutes later anchored up.......... As usuall John has the first fish - not bad as it turned out later - equalling one of the second largest fish on the day. Around 2.00 pm I finally got one - but obviously much smaller. Dropped another one - even smaller, but really enjoyed the warm sunshine. kept hearing the occasional bit of news on the VHF. Packed up fishing at 3.20pm and was in, cleaned up, and back to baiter within 30 minutes!!!! I was reminded once more of the joys of slipping a boat at Baiter at low spring tides - thank God thats no - more. Anyway a lovely relaxing day and a bit of fishing as well - now I had better go out and start my xmas shopping or I will be in trouble. Best wishes to all and have a very happy christmas - see you all on the 30th for the cod comp. Neal

I have also fished it for the last few years - but on charter boats. This year I have a cunning plan......... my secret weapon - I have invited my mate with the golden balls - the jammy sod who won last year to join me. He used his own boat - and all his crew got seasick last year in the very lumpy conditions - so he came back in to the end of the swash. He went to sleep in the cabin leaving his crew to recover and carry on fishing for a couple of hours. On waking up, declared OK boys one last chuck and in we go. I'm never doing this again moan moan moan - baited up and dropped down. Threw all the rest of the bait over the side and started cleaning up the boat. Bang ........ Cod on (his first ever) and competition won and

Fladen Fishing Poole Species Hunt Date June 6th 2008 Cost

I have fished the Fladen? Sponsored Poole Species hunt for the last few years. This is a charter boat only competition, where each boat has 2 teams of four people competing to catch the largest number of species on the day. This does include mini species and the winning teams often get around 20 different species - limited to a range of 8 miles of the harbour entrance. Winning team get usually over

Well done Rob and everyone else who managed to win prizes. - and enveryone else that either helped organise or just went out and gave it a go in less than ideal conditions. Hindsight is a wonderful thing........... it was fairly obvious that the sensible thing to do was to fish for flounders in the harbour But - having planned to go out - go out we did. We followed True Blue out through the Swash and his wake flattened off a lot of the waves. Mindful of the passengers on board, I wanted to just see if we could fish off Ballard somewhere. It was better at anchor than expected considering the conditions, so decided to give it a go offshore a bit further......... see Mikes report above. A very interesting day - very windy - very cold and couldn't find the target species of Dogfish - normally plentifull, Pout - only 1 sizeable of the 3 caught - and no Congers. Mike caught a nice Cod, which bodes well for the Christmas Cod comp. - but not big enough to get him amongst the prizes. I had a regular stream if Whiting up to 2lb - again not big enough to count for prizes - but fantastic to eat. The trip back in was the worst part of the day - the wind and waves causing the boat to tip and slew rather violently at times, with no way to avoid it other than try and ride the waves and slow the boat using the throttle. Getting back in to a flat calm harbour made me wonder if the battering and bruising was worth it ............well...... yes it was, we were probably at the limit of what was fishable given the wind over tide conditions - and the fact it was easterlies but I am glad we gave it a go and had a very enjoyable day. Flounders next weekend................................ Neal

Following Tom's kind invitatation to join him fishing for Cod from the Needles area - A slight change of plan, with the offer of Fred joining us and taking us in his huge boat. After the last few days (weeks) bad weather I expected a fairly big residual swell - but flat calm seas and a slight NE wind was the order of the day. Within seconds of putting our multiple squid baits down we were plagued by dogfish - they have obviously been missing their squid of late. As the tide dropped away Fred was the first to latch into something other than a dogfish - a nice 13lb cod - complete with a whole live crab still in its mouth. Once the tide turned the dogfish came back on the feed with a vengeance - at most times all 6 rods were dancing to the tune of the hungry dogfish - we must have caught well over 100 during the day. I was beginning to fear that once again my trip to the car park was in vain - but at last a bite that was obviously not a dog - and hopefully not a conger either. (We had caught a few by this time!!!) It certainly felt more like a cod and after doing its best to tangle with every other line out of the back of the boat - another nice 13lb fish was brought aboard. Having fished the same area on at least ten previous occasions at last I have a Needles Cod - Oh to do the same in one of the competitions Anyway thanks to Fred and to Tom for a great day out - and now looking forward to the club comp on Sunday. Neal

Thanks guys, I,m stuck at work today - although not achieving a great deal. In all honesty after the crap weather over the last few weekends I can't admit to be very highly motivated either............ However, I am looking forward to a days fishing tomorrow with Tom. Probably my best and last, opportunity to (hopefully) reduce the cod population off the Isle of Wight for this year. At least the weather for the Competition on Sunday is looking favourable (for my boat anyway) - a forecast of force 3 -4 Notheasterly. Neal

Quite a worthwhile read - greed and self interest seems to be overiding message from this lengthy debate. Perhaps all future correspondence to complain to Government via local representatives should be sent to Bill Wiggins instead . He seems to be the one elected official that is is championing the RSA causes. Which seems strange for someone representing the constituents of Leominster - which last time I visited was not that close to any coastline. Shame he wouldn't actually commit himself or his party to specifics - but hey what do you expect - flying pigs........... I just want to go fishing now and catch all these wall to wall cod that the commercial fishing fleet say are there. Neal

Whilst we are all in Competition Mode Castaways Annual Open Boat Flounder Competition Date :- January 13th 2008 Cost

and again Officially weighed at the time as 13lb - a PB - Well done!

Deans Bass

Thanks guys, It was a pleasure - shame none of us caught the elusive cod - but Toms Bass and particularly Dean's Bass were superb catches. Tom and Alun were on the winning boat - "shogun" skippered by Rob Thompson with Dave Barham- editor of BFM on board (if only they had known!!!) I will be more than happy to arrange the same for next year and add anyone else that fancies Mikes odds of winning a few grand. If anyone fishes other "away" competitions - or fancies doing so, let me know and I am more than willing to help or get involved eg the Garmin sponsored Plymouth festival this year looked good fun. Cheers all and good luck in the open. Pictures of Deans Bass to follow......... Neal

Alun, great fishing - well done! Repeat that tomorrow or Thurday and you could easily net yourself

A group of five are now booked into the British Cod Championships Alun Jones Dean Burt Neal Sturt Tom Smith John Young unfortuately they can only accommodate a maximum team size of 4 people, so we have been split into a three and a two. First result is from the boat draw. approx 170 anglers on 20 Boats Both groups have been placed on big new catamarans. "shogun" Skippered by Rob Thompson. Who appears regularly in BFM "Jo-Dan" Skippered by Phil Hunt - another well known charter skipper from the Solent area. So now we are almost weather proof as these big cats sit well in most seas - all that now remains - Bring on the COD Neal

Last chance folks - the applications need to be sent on Monday So far, I have 4 to represent the club. Let me know if you want to be included. Neal

Tom, If you need any help with your bags, fishing etc on the maiden voyage - I would be more than happy to volunteer my services. Neal

Hi Duncan, The prizes awarded in The Lymington Open Boat Comp. are not just limited to Cod. Whilst the Cod take preference, other fish count in the absence of Cod. Last year myself and a colleague both caught Pollock large enough to give us 5th and 7th places. I am not certain whether this was calculated against overall weight or % of specimen size. Due to the scarecity of Cod last year people were bringing back Dogfish to the scales and winning prizes - Whilst I don't advocate killing fish for the sake of winning prizes - a good sized conger may put you into the prizes! Hopefully the weather will be good and lots of Cod will be around! Neal

The format is:- all anglers fish from charter boats A week or so before the competition - A draw is made to determine which boat you fish on. If we apply together - we can ask to fish together in either pairs or groups of 4 (possibly more, as some of the big Cats hold up to 12 people). The more people that enter the more boats they call in - ie from Poole Charter Fleet, Langstone etc. For the last couple of years they have had 170(plus) anglers out for the 2 days. People normally meet at Lymington (check with me if you need transport too and from) and are then ferried across to Yarmouth - sort out their boat and all set off at the same time. Fishing starts around 10.00am when the last/slowest boat gets on station and lines up at 4.00pm - back to Yarmouth to weigh in your

I, along with my mate John will be fishing the 2007 British Cod Championships on 14th and 15th November. I would like to make up at least one team of four people representing PBSBAC, or more if anyone else is interested. I have fished this Competition for the last 4 years and it is generally a good fun couple of days. Biggest Cod on each day wins

Court Jester Report Decided to go to a patch of mixed ground offshore and work my way back in to Poole Harbour. Results as follows :- Neal 4 mackerel 4 Dogfish 1 Bream 1Garfish 3 Pout 4 Wrasse Total Points 73 John Young 1 Dogfish 3 Mackerel 1 Pollock 3 Pout Total Points 33

Whilst on holiday a friend of mine who is mad keen on wind surfing and kite surfing - introduced me to a website called http://www.windfinder.com To look at a wind forecast click on the part of the world you want info for and then go to forecast. I was very impressed with the accuracy of the information compared to the numerous other websites that I normally use. chect it out and see for yourself. Apparently it is put together from live weather station feeds from all over the world. Does anyone else use this site or have any experience of its relative accuracy / inaccuracy ? yet another one to add to my favourites. Neal made link live, Martin

I have several of the ABU 7000 Big game reels - Basically loaded with a variety of different breaking strain Braids and Monos - I have been using them for the majority of my fishing for the last couple of years and rate them very highly. They are easy to use - have a nice easy retrieve, the drag is very smooth and can be used in most types of everyday fishing. I draw the line at deep water wrecking, where more specialised reels are required. I have had screws shear on 2 of the reels but this has not impaired their function so far. From the other comments, it is obviously a design fault, but at the current price - I will live with it. I used to use Penn reels but was forever replacing the worm drives on the level- winds. So far the Abu reels have not had this problem. If looked after carefully I expect them to last several years - which realistically is all you expect from anything in this 'throw away' age and at a price of

Back from hols.... will be out with John Young on Court Jester Neal

Done and passed on to many, many others who hopefully will do likewise! Neal