Seamouse

Most trailer set-ups will allow single-handed launch. Run the winch strap down under the axle and back up to the eyebolt and winch the thing off. It will benefit from the addition of a strategically placed roller. Failing that, if you've chesties then you can wade out on shallower mark and plant the anchor, tie off on the stern cleat and drive the trailer out from under the boat. Steve

Hi Mike, The 20 footer is still on the cards then? Did you get a look at the new 165? I'm off on Sunday to look over it, be interested in your opinion. Steve

Hi Adam, Go talk to Paul at the Show. They are often willing to haggle at the Shows, or if you go early in the week you might even get a chance at the demonstrator which is usually even cheaper Steve

Hi Adam, Eastney is probably the best launch point. Steepish slip, can be gravelly as Dave pointed out but plenty of parking. Harbour and launch dues are

Hi folks, Three IAC boats were out on the Nab West banks in a lovely flat calm. No cod or conger, although Tamar Lady had a nice pollock. On Lookfar, it was wall to wall whiting. Matt and I had 44 between us, all of a good size up to 2lb, plus a handful of dogs and pout and a near 3lb spotted ray. All of the whiting were stuffed with large sprat and there were shoals of fish showing on the sounder. Maybe the cod are missing this year or maybe they are just obsessed with sprat! Steve

Interesting point, my crewman pointed out a couple of shoals of 'something' about 30ft up from a 140ft bottom on Tuesday. I put them down as scad but maybe there are a few sprat around up east? The cod that John had didn't have any sprat in it, just two large pout Steve

Ho folks, A couple of us got out from Eastney on Tuesday. Rather than the usual Spoils or Nab marks, we tried slightly east. Inshore at the height of the tide was dead but offshore in 140ft at a summer tope mark we were picking up pout and dogs steadily. The other boat (not mine, dammit ) also got a couple of whiting and a cracking 22lb cod. We came back in to Bullocks as the tide picked back up and they promptly rubbed salt in my wounds with a 9lb thornback. Lovely day to be out though, so completely calm that when the tide stopped the breeze wasn't enough to swing us and our warp floated up around us (the downside of cheap polyprop ropes but hey, I'm a scrooge). Steve

Hi Adam, I looked hard at the 175 last year. Had a test drive with Paul at the S'oton Show and had a good nosey round them at the factory too. They are a lot bigger on the water than you'd think given the specs, loads of extra room. The biggest plus from my point of view was the ride. We were running at nearly 30 knots through very jumbled chop from all the boats flying about and it was incredibly smooth compared to the hammering you'd have got from a 165 under the same conditions. On the other hand, with that raised deck it is a very long stretch down to the water, though I guess if you've been on Maverick you'll know about that. It is also a very much heavier boat on the road and when pushing it around on the drive. Not good news when my car and my back, respectively, are already nearing their limits. Plus there's two sets of brakes to look after (I think. Do twin axle trailers have twin sets of brakes or just one?). Didn't meet my needs then, but I'd be very confident to take one 20 miles out and if reach and weight are not issues for you, damn fine (and damn expensive) boat. For a test drive, why not ring Paul and see if he can put you onto a local owner?? Steve

Tom, The 'only lip-hooked' isn't true, it should be 'mainly lip-hooked'. I've lost several circle hooks to greedy dogfish, I wonder if there's something (gill bars??) in a dogfish throat that catches up on circles. Otherwise, they do work well enough on their target species and hook-up rates seem similar to J-hooks. There are a couple of negative aspects: early ones designed for longlining were ludicrously heavy gauge and wrecked presentation of light squid baits for bream, they can be awkward to T-bar off and bait presentation is trickier, with threading worms almost an impossibility. What really worries me though is whether a narrow gape circle hook would engage in the rounded scissors of a larger fish, such as a big cod. Maybe Sam's tale of the 40lb tope answers that but it is certainly a worry using circles for whiting when you are always aware that a cod could well have a go at your little baits. Steve

Hi Dave, They'd need very deep, very tidal waters, rarely fished or trawled with plenty of food fish. I can think of somewhere not five miles from the IoW that fits that description Steve was that plain enough or should I mention eagle rays?? By the way, good luck on Sunday. Was hoping to be out on Moby (Lookfar's still crook) but domestic needs and weather prospects were both against me

The hassle factor is why I go for pre-frozen clip-on blocks. Dead quick, no stink, no labouring head-down in a heaving boat. The bag on the anchor trick I'm no great fan of, especially in deeper water. It just draws fish well uptide of all your baits and if there's a decent crosswind, they won't even be sitting in the scent trail either. Frozen blocks will stay attached on a 130ft drop, though you do have to put up with extra weight on the rig. The really difficult bit is persuading the Domestic Tyrant to let you keep them in the freezer Steve

Hi Jack, You just might find yourself swamped in doggies...... I've tried it off and on in winter. On one notable day, the only 4 heavy fish came in a short sharp patch soon after we put down rubby-dubby, and at least one of them appeared to have taken the bait block itself rather than the hookbait. It definitely livens up the whiting and pout though, so use in conjunction with a livebait rod is a thought. Delivery isn't too much of a problem. Freeze some of Wedger's magic mix in polystyrene cups with a loop of line sticking out. Keep 'em in the cups at sea (stay frozen longer). Tear off the cup, clip onto the boom beside the lead and down she goes. There's a couple of minor tweaks though. You change the lead for one several ounces heavier for that drop, to get the stuff down faster. On 'chum-free' drops, work the lead a little downtide to make sure you are getting the baits back into your new scent trail. Alternatively, keep the bait rods seperate and send the chum block down from the bows on a dedicated rod carrying LOTS of extra weight to make sure it touches down uptide. Steve

Tom, Drilling 3mm 316 stainless isn't too bad. Slow drill speed, plenty of oil and keep the pressure steady. I did a DIY keel band on my 165, went through about five or six standard drill bits. Countersinking can be done, with care, simply using a very large HSS drill bit. Presuming that your boat has a substantial wooden keel immediately above the GRP, the plan is to drill the pilot hole through the GRP very slightly oversize so that the screw doesn't 'burst' the GRP and grips into the keel wood. Plenty of Sikaflex will ensure that nothing leaks but degrease with acetone or thinners first. The Warrior keel narrows down quite substantially and I had to profile part of the band with an angle grinder before fitting. Be careful if you need to do that too, stainless steel dust is not something you want to inhale. I notice on Coddy's archive thread, the inference was that my hull problems might have come from the keel band. Wasn't the case, it was the area of hull under and between the cradles that failed, manufacturing error. Warrior rebuilt the beast FOC to the heavier 175 spec and defied me to break it again. I'm still trying Steve

I got my daughter a Coolpix last time I was in the States, worked out about 10% cheaper than UK mail order. If you are quick, might be able to get Coddy to get you a quote or if not, I'm over there early December. First one I got from the shop didn't work, was lucky I checked it before I came home! If you don't already have an adaptor tube for the mike, be careful to price them up first. We were looking at a Leica system a while back and the adaptor tubes were 700 quid!!!! What mountant are you intending to use?? Sellotape is a quick fix working at that scale (sorry) but it does yellow and go brittlewith age, so your library will fall apart eventually. I was thinking you might settle the scales onto a blob of canada balsam? Steve

No problem, I'm sick of it cluttering up the shed. Coddy: remind me to bring it if you come up to Langstone again! Steve

I've an old-fashioned hard plastic ring you can have. Isn't practical on a Warrior 165 I'm up in London, but if you want it I'll chuck it at Coddy next time we fish together. Steve

Can't beat neoprene gloves, and they make handling spiky critters like thornbacks a lot easier as well. I've tried the same chemical type handwarmers as Rich, they do OK. The one I've never had courage to take on the boat is a little cigarette-case style thing, in which you put a strip of lighted charcoal. It puts out a nice amount of heat but I can see myself spontaneously combusting an inconvenient distance from the nearest fire engine Steve

I've heard a number of people complain now of loading new braid that then randomly snaps like cotton. No single make was chief offender, so it looks like quality control can be an issue for the manufacturers? Jack, the other thing to check out when you swap across is your rod ring linings. A hairline crack in a tip ring will eventually wear through mono but the effect on braid is instant. Steve

The Doelfin manufacturers claim they improve fuel consumption, not increase it. Warrior said not to fit them (165 with Mariner Bigfoot) as they didn't help and could make the boat unstable at speed. Conversely, a friend has them on his 150 and swears by them. He likes to run with the bows trimmed well down and they allow that. He doesn't get the annoying slow front-rear po-go at speed on the flat that I do, but he did without the fins fitted. Why not whip 'em off and see what the difference is? Only a couple of bolts. Steve

Same here too, loosened off in the first few seasons. Steve

Hi Rich, Three hives is enough for us, 14 would be hard work and selling the honey a nightmare! We don't get quite the same yields here, maybe 50lb per hive overall and that's mainly clover. Interesting how areas vary - we've had a good year after a late flow from (I think) the blackberry. Too late harvesting though, so half the crop was tainted by Ivy. A shame to get a sharp background to clover honey as its normally so nicely flavoured. I'm allergic to stings too, so we have a "No stings" policy in force. For some reason, the bees don't always toe the line If we cross paths, I'd be keen to swap a few jars. Steve

Wow, another beekeeping fisherman Do you folks always harvest this late down there? We've had the varroa treatment on for three weeks now and were about the last in the club to do it. Paid the penalty too, there was a big ivy crop this year and its not done wonders for the flavour. (back to the fishing ) Steve

contrast it to a forum wrecking report elsewhere I saw recently, 17 bass of up to 13lb between 3 anglers, all kept. That didn't sit comfortably.

For hardbacks, a plastic plant-pot with the end cut off is easily adequate as an entry. I use two entries per pot, pots are just open mesh trays about 8" deep with a lip at the top to stop the crabs climbing out. Work very well, I can get ten or more hardbacks out of Langstone in the time it takes to prepare and launch the boat. I've tried a bigger plant pot entry on the 'proper' pot offshore but it occupies too much space. I've reverted to wire mesh ramps, quite wide ones like letterboxes as I want spider crabs. In the Bristol Channel the bait got cleaned out day after day without any catch. When I got back home, I dropped a hinged plastic closer over each of the two entries and this seems to have done the trick, things now get in but not always back out. When I lose this pot, which eventually I guess I will, then the next generation will be parlour pots with two layers of entry. They'll also be smaller and collapsible, so I can maybe rack them on the cuddy roof out of the way. I'm not bothered about stopping for winter, since my pots are only down while I'm out fishing and the spiders are definitely still around in winter Steve

Adam, I welded up a pot out of an old garden gate and a load of wire mesh left-over from doing guinea-pig runs. Isn't pretty, takes up most of the deck but it has caught a spider crab and a goldsinny on my last two outings. I drop it at the first outbound reef, collect it on the way home. Adds a little extra spice to the day, though my crew roll their eyes a bit There's a guy on e-bay regularly selling the genuine article, they go at about