Seamouse

Oops, somehow managed to send the last mail early. Premature communication Mine's fitted to port side, Garmin instructions said nothing about a starboard restriction and I have no problems with loss of signal at speed etc. Guess I'm simply positioned sufficiently clear of the prop for it not to matter. With respect to Paul's point about the transducer cable run, port side seemd better for two reasons. It meant the transducer wasn't same side as the Z step, so not getting regularly kicked, and it avoided the power feeds from the engine/main battery forward, which route down the stbd side. Running 16ft of transducer cable tight alongside the main power feeds seemed to me to be asking for trouble?? Steve

Hi folks, Anyone thinking to sell a Garmin 128 with antenna in the next few weeks? Alternatively, anyone got a Garmin-compatible antenna? I'm looking at

Hi Adam, Lookfar is out, I'm afraid. Domestic duties, I have to attend an 18th party and refusal wasn't an option Maybe I'll catch up with you guys if you come east. Steve

Just a minor picky point, wouldn't a short rod actually have LESS leverage on the fish? Long rods are harder to work because the fish applies more leverage on the angler i.e it is applying the same force to the end of a longer lever. Steve actually, thinking as I type....it is the term 'leverage' that's the problem. You can apply more force to the line down a short rod, and that's because it is a shorter lever. Too heavy for a monday morning

Oh dear. I thought they said they wanted to see my Mum! I thought they left a bit quick when I said they'd have to talk to the new bloke as my Dad wasn't in the picture any more!! Steve

Hi Alun, Not Poole Bay I'm afraid, but the other side of the Island. South east of the Nab Tower from a Langstone launch, same place as Coddy was talking about (I was on the buddy boat). We were seeing scattered shoals all over the place travelling but out on the 36M hole it was one constant band on the sounder. >Could the echos be shoals of sprats ?? That's the million dollar question. Was it shoals of small sprat being hit by herring, or herring being stalked by something even larger?? The 'big' signals under the main band looked too big to be an 8oz herring IMO. The one thing I should have tried and didn't was a storm-eye shad. That might have done something?? Steve

Hi Bob, Nope, I think its single beam (185S) but seems to take the same spec transducer if the Garmin parts numbers are anything to go by. I'll double-check that but I think maybe the 250 and 160C are/can be single beam? Still hung on BW vs colour then. It'd be nice to have the 250C but that's a whopping

Don't forget those herring, Dave! Over on Moby, we were watching a solid band on the sounder all day, everywhere we went. Maybe 6ft broad and varying between 15ft and 50ft down. Under the main spread were regular bigger signals, which looked like tight shoals of 2-3 large fish rather than one monster. We tried with jumbo Hokkais off and on and in the end foul-hooked a herring! Various shapes and sizes of shrimp rigs, sabikis etc couldn't get a take though. Question is, were the herrings the little signals or the big ones?? Either way, it amounted to a huge number of fish out there Steve

Hi Charlie, I do. It isn't much use, except to tell me that the annual service is being done at about 1/3rd of the recommended hours. I need to go fishing more often Mine I inherited, might find one at a car boot sale or through something like a tool suppliers, though most will be 240V not 12V? Steve FWIW, the e-tec engines have an inbuilt hour meter.

Hi Bob, Looking a little closer at e-bay, it seems that there are standard and marine antenna. The marine are more expensive and will need a pole mount as well, all are coming out of America so postage is high. Gilsson cost more than unbranded and all are amplified to 32dB. I'll get off my lazy butt and ring Garmin UK or JG Tech, see what the genuine article will cost. Then I can sit and watch e-bay for a while and see what happens. I've got several months before the thing is possibly needed Thanks for the advice, much appreciated and clarified things no end. While we're on.....fishfinders! The Garmin 160c and 250 cost the same. One's colour but lower resolution (160x160), the other's high res B&W (320x320). I've never used a colour FF. Which way would you go? p.s has to be Garmin as the transducer is also compatible with my plotter/sounder. Steve

Hi Adam, It isn't a warranty issue, I may not own my existing aerial much longer as it will be going with the GPS128. Steve

Hi folks, Appreciate any input on this. I may need a new antenna soon for a Garmin GPSMap185. Currently it uses the same standard Garmin remote mount white 'mushroom' as a GPS128 but if the price in the States is anything to go by, one of these will hurt the wallet badly. On the Net, I can get little black flush mount jobs for under

How about 'Fridge', as in fridge raider Or Lost Ark?? IGMC..... Steve

Charlie, All down to personal taste, but I like seperate chartplotter and fishfinder. You'll often want both functions up at once and suddenly your nice big, clear screen is cut in half. My current set-up has some redundancy built in. I started with Garmin GPS and fishfinder units, then added a second-hand plotter/sounder. The plotter will accept the feed off the transducer for the stand-alone FF if I chose to do that (same connector and spec). It means whichever unit fails at sea, one of the others can take on the role. The given wisdom on dual frequency FF would seem to be that for 'our' needs it just isn't necessary. I'm no expert there, so quite happy to be shot down by the wise and great Steve

A word of warning on the Suverans. Fantastic rods, especially with braid, but they have single leg rings that really don't go well with the rough and tumble of life in a small boat. Several of mine have had to be carefully bent back into shape - I expect to snap one off anytime now. Until you are a bit more sorted, I'd aim at something a touch less fragile. Other things worth having are the biggest net you can lay hands on, a T bar disgorger, a boathook and some lanyards to strap down rods that are not being held. Plenty of tope and smoothhounds in the Poole area, they'll have an unattended rod over the side in seconds. Happily, when my favourite rod went over it floated long enough to overcast it with the feathers I was working at the time. Deecent rod holders are a better alternative, but if you must prop rods against rails then wrap the rails with pipe lagging to protect the rings. Steve

Adam, Is there a limit on numbers of boats the Burnham Club can accomodate? I'd quite like to tag along if life, wife, weather and work don't conspire against me. I'd join the club first (fair's fair) but I don't want to edge out an existing club member if numbers are limited. Steve

Adam, I'd have thought that a DIY keel shoe carries the risk of generating considerable amounts of drag and trashing your hydrodynamics (if that's the right term for the flow characteristics the hull was (hopefully) designed to achieve). I did my own keel band and it really isn't that much of a task. IIRC the main band was 5cmx3mm. Offer it up and as the keel narrows mark in a profile with a marker pen. Then attack the band with an angle grinder. Noisy but quick (due care with the dust-goggles and filter mask). You don't really need to come up that far onto the narrower section of the bow as that doesn't generally hit anything, though I did it for neatness. True that the sections either side of the keel also take a bashing but it is the flat base that takes the brunt, especially if you go anywhere near concrete slipways. Steve

If it's got "Robin of Locksley" carved by the handle, it might be worth a few pennies Either way, they ain't cheap (I did a bit as a poor student and couldn't even afford the entry-level plastic ones) and should sell on Ebay. Try Googling Longbow on UK only sites and see if you can ID it first? Steve It'd make a very good flare launcher

Kam, When you get down to the bronze whalers, PM me for details. I know some folk out there who run guided trips after bronzies, Kob, Stenbras, hounds etc. They've got a new Tigerfish hotspot sorted as well and they can put you onto tarpon at certain times of year. Steve

I don't care what YOU think, the GPS says this is the right spot

On Lookfar we use John C's method as well, just drop the line across the rear cleat to keep it clear of the prop. Since it is under tension at the time, watch those fingers! We also dump the warp on the deck if we're short-hopping to another mark but a big warning on this one - don't drop the anchor over the side when you are stood inside a coil of warp Both potentially dangerous practices but done with care. Be nice to have a rope barrel but deck space is at a premium. Steve

An extra little tweak to Adam's grapnel - fill it with concrete. The extra weight will help with staying put and concrete is also cheap Steve

Hi Tom, I tried to look for you on Sunday (wife wanted me to blag her a free coffee ) but I'd forgotten which stand you were on! After wandering around the Sealine stand staring at all the name badges and making the poor guys nervous, I gave it up as an impossible task. Re the Pro Angler, they've taken 4 inches of deck space away to give a LOT more storage, changed the interior to a gel coat and Treadmaster finish, altered the way its built and changed a few minor details, including transom mods to allow for the bulky hoods of current 4stroke OBs. We spent several hours climbing in and out of both that and the standard 165 and its really a case of swings and roundabouts. Anyone who has need to fish 4, or regularly has three aboard, will prefer the stock 165. I tend to mainly be 2-up these days and if the money's right I'm very tempted to give the Pro Angler a go but it is a very close-run thing. Steve

Everyone's taste differs, so its always worth giving something a try even if it does generally get a bad press. One marine myth I've yet to test is whether scad really are as impossibly bony as they are said to be. Still waiting to get one big enough to be worth investigating The most controversial fish in culinary terms has to be the doggie, though. Views are pretty polarised, people seem to either love or hate them. Steve