Afishionado

Quote...where a 20lb Blonde is still a great fish and probably fought a lot harder than a thornback would, it is only be 87% of the specimen weight. You are spot on about the fight Charlie, it really tore around but sorta in slow motion. Male/female? How do you tell and no funny answers please . Mad Mike

Quote... and they are grumpy buggers too. I'll second that Flexicovers are so far up thier own arse it's unbelievable. Mad Mike

The letter is a fake. As these grants and Set Asides are only given to the French farming industry. Indeed the whole of the French, German, and quite frankly the rest of those leeches over the Channel is based on the misuse of subsidies that some how we Brits appear to pay for. Mad Mike

That wrass is Gavin, we've caught him before, last year same at the same spot! Actualy Marks daughter Laura (12) caught him. Having just picked up the bouy and downed the baits, Laura was heaving at her bent double rod shouting "I got one daddy" Naturally both us experts said "Oh you've just caught the bottom dear" hang on and well sort it out........ "But DADDY it pulling" ..... "Don't make a fuss dear, that's just the waves"....... "DADDY!"(as near tears as a 12 year old can get in nano seconds. At this point Gavin made off towards Wemouth and 'Daddy and I realised that she did indeed have a fish. Poor ignored Laura was justly pleased when dad netted Gavin for her. I now have that bouy in my head as a bloody good spot for clonking wrass if it's a bit naff outside

Being a married man and married at that to a 'powerful' woman, who has said that if she found me with a blond she would kill me ....... Actualy guys where as I can tell a Bass from a Red Herring I am no great shakes on the differences between Ray's, so I bow to you lots better judgement. But it was a ray ? Wasn't it ?????? I do hope that Blonds don't go to 90lb or so and that was just a tiddler 'cos I haven't caught a 'specimen' anything for a long time And thanks for correcting the ID. Mad Mike

Eventualy a picture of the Thornback caught last week...... Mad Mike

Two anglers saved from cliff base Two anglers were rescued from the bottom of 20m-high (66ft) cliffs after being cut off by the incoming tide. The pair had to be winched to safety by the coastguard from the base of the cliffs at Kimmeridge in Dorset. The rescuers were alerted to their plight by a weak and broken radio message sent by a mystery caller on Saturday night. A coastguard spokesman said the rescued men, who were uninjured, were lucky to have survived. Dangerous coastline "If they had not been sighted by the first informant, at the very least they would have spent half the night in this inhospitable area. "At worst they might have lost their lives," he added. "We would warn members of the public about wondering the inhospitable and sometimes dangerous stretches of coastline especially while the tide is coming in and the day drawing to a close. "Even if people in difficulties are spotted rescues are significantly harder in the dark." Rocky waters Portlands Coastguard received a message at 2120 BST which said: "Broad Bench... Not a vessel...At risk...". Nothing more was heard. Broad Bench is a stretch of rocks at Kimmeridge, known as an area of poor radio and mobile phone communication. Coastguard officers were sent to the area where they found the two people surrounded by the sea. Because the shallow, rocky water was too dangerous for the lifeboat to approach, rescuers winched the two to safety. Mad Mike

What a brilliant and beautiful statement Kam Good for you mate Mad Mike

oh by the way can i convert my manual start mercury to elec? The accurate answer to this is yes , but the practical answer is no . If you could source all the parts fine. But the cost is outrageous unless you are lucky enough to find a mechanicaly knaquered electric going cheap. Mad Mike

As I said judging from a picture proves nothing. A far more accurate judgment would be made by holding the fish with ones eyes closed. I know from years of coarse and sea fishing that I am as good a judge of weight as most fisherman once one has 'felt' the weight. It was a bit like being asked to gauge the fuel consumption of a car by looking at a picture of it. So a nice game but 100% inaccurate in gauging ones judgement Mad Mike

Blimey your not asking a lot are you Paul I would say the first one is getting on for 20lb so Iwill guess 18lb and the one in the lower picture a shade less at 15lb. But as I said before it is only a wild guess without actualy holding the fish. Sometimes as a kid in the 50's I would visit my Uncle Morris in Blackpool. Morris had several stalls on Blackpool pleasure beach and was for many years president of the stall holders association. Any way what has this to do with guessing weight? One of his friends had a stand on the beach, and this guy would bet any one at a 100 to 1 odds that he could guess their weight. All he did was put his hands either side of the punters waist and just lift against the the weight without moving the customer. HE WAS ALWAYS SPOT ON!!! In Stones, pounds and ounces! If it was a trick it was one not shared with me. I remebered going all over the tarmac where his stand was looking for a sort of secret weighing pad Mad Mike

quote...Steve had a beautiful Undulate as well. I would guess from the picture it weighed about 12 to 14lb but without holding it up it is difficult to gauge. Some times you get a really thick fish that weighs heavy for it's overall size. What did that one weigh as a matter of interest? The undulate I had, for what it is worth, was a fair bit bigger than the one pictured. Mad Mike

Happy to leave in the book as (est) weights, but I cannot put these forward for prizes, which is a shame, but those are the rules. That sounds very fair Paul. Thank you I can live with that I got them muddled up, the Thornback was easily the larger. Today we bought the boat a digital camera and a set of digital scales. Mark my words not another bloody fish will cross our guwhales for the rest of this year!! By the way is it best to weigh a fish in the landing net and then deduct the weight of the net, or do you guys have special bags like carp anglers? Mad Mike

Yes night fishing can seem very spooky when you first do it. I often have a night session around the area you mention and providing you make the normal sensible plan there is nothing to fear anchoring up there. As a thought to be developed how about arranging a night sesh' one weekend with us as a buddy boat and we can chat on Ch 6 and tell each other ghost stories Actually there are some magical moments that you will never forget when night fishing. A thunderstorm drifting past out to sea like an overture of the gods, a full moon with it's light reflecting back off the white cliffs of Ballard and making it so light that I could almost read the print on the paper wrapping the rag worm, and best of all the sun rising and the first warming rays reaching out to you. Mad Mike

Thanks for your reply's guys and in no way am I bitter about them not being recorded, I had a great time and that is the important thing after all. It's just that my trace of Mr Spocks Vulcan brain gags on the illogicality of the reasoning. Mad Mike

Duncan I see your point but I still think that it (not you) is illogical However they were two clonking great fish and I am well pleased. Particulaly the Thornback which gave a fantastic fight stripping line of in huge ripping lunges several times. Certainly the best fight I have had from a fish for a long time. Mad Mike

Quote.....The fish recorder wouldn't accept my cod brace in December as the weights were only guess weights as i never had scales on board. That is not logical! The whole thing is done on an honour system any way! So how does one prove the fish were weighed, by making up a set of lb & oz? Most of us can judge a weight in round lb's by holding it up, so ok say I had a fish that I reckoned weighed 8lb but no scales yet I report a fish of 7lb 14oz or 8lb 3oz either are a best guess yet a blatant lie (to me only) because I had no scales. Is the club saying that they would therefore have to accept what I claimed because I said I weighed them. What a bloody stupid rule if one is going to apply an honour system. Be honest and say this is what I think the fish weighed give or take a 8 or 10 oz. Or tell a blatant lie that I had scales aboard and make up a set of lb and oz? Realy someone please think about the logic of this. The two rays I caught were considerably larger than the large one on the clubs home page and I am happy that I caught them. If someone wants to be churlish and not write them up in a book that's up to them. This childish attitude about mines bigger than yours is probably the main thing that puts me off competitions. I wish I had not bothered Madder than usual Mike

Hi, having been there done that and own the Tshirt I can offer the following advice. We have trailed a Samurai (Warrior clone) and launched at any state of the tide at Cobbs paying

Sorry we missed you Mike. We were a bit aghast at the sight of a yacht tacking out across the bows of the ferry about 10 foot from the edge of it!! The bloke must have been balmy!! Then having slipped round the back of Bramblebush Bay ourselves we were confronted with three stationary boats playing blind mans buff with a towing line. Mind you with 115 horses on yer bum one has the comforting feeling that you can always stop or go whenever one wants. Fish wise, yes in that vacinity. We started the day feathering for mackerel that were very few and far apart, but by chugging along at 1 or 2 knts feathering as we went it gave me and Mark a chance to really keep an eye on the bottom read out from the sonar. We were further out than I usualy go in that area about 75ft. when Mark spotted a nice convex undulation only about 5 ft high with a little hollow on either side. So we pulled in our lines and after a bit of buggering around we found the area again and anchored up on the highest bit so we would fish into the dip on either side whichever the way the tide ran. Loads of LSD's, a few Bream, and Rays. Mad Mike

Quote from Tom...You may well find that at the typical 20 knot cruising speed you are using somewhat more fuel than someone with a 115 for example. I have to back this up from my own experience on Pride of Morpork. Initialy befor we bought the Jeanneau (115 Suzuki 4 stroke) we had worked on our fuel costs being slightly more than with the prevous boat and its 60hp 2stroke Tohatsu. This estimate was based on the Janneau being twice the size of PoM 1 and the engine being very nearly twice the hp. However now the Suzi' is past her running in stage and has lost the brand spanking new tightness we have been delighted to find that our fuel costs are actually LOWER! than before. The 4 stroke economy is fantastic and as the engine is so well matched to the boat we can cruise at 22knts or more depending on the day, at only 4000rpm. Full throttle takes her up to 30 knots at a bit over 5200rpm but one can almost feel the petrol being sucked out of the tank. Duncan has a very very good point about usage, and one both Mark and I are very conscious, the more we use her the less overall per day/trip/season will cost on the terms of value for money. We see some very flash large cruisers at Cobb that haven't moved at all this season they must be costing a fortune in the terms of cost Vs use. Mad Mike

Not for any other reason than I can't stand the pressure I don't enter the comps'. But some times it leaves me wondering how I would have got on if I had. Therefore I wonder if somone would kindly work out for me where I would have been placed with the two rays I caught on Sunday. First was an Undulate that was caught uptiding on a fresh mackerel head, she was about 18lb as far as I gould measure and I am going on the lower side. The next from the same spot about 2 hours later but on the flood not the ebb was a clonking great Thornback well heavier than the Undulate and weighing somewhat over 20lb. This was caught downtiding with a large mackerel fillet. Both fish fought well but the Thornback was a beast to bring in. Making it's way uptide and stripping line off the reel like mad, it did this three times in all leaving me slightly shattered but happy Both fish were returned. Unfortunately no proper pictures but we got som on the mobile phones camera and Mark is going to try to extract them so I can get them on my PC. Mad Mike

Alan you need to take this up with Saga. I too am with them and they said that they were quite happy for us to do a 20 mile out trip. I spacifically asked about that when I started the policy. However IMO a lot depends on who you talk to at these call centers. Most of the call staff are idiot savants working off a script. Insist on speaking to a manager and explain the situation to them, and by all means quote my experiance with them. Mad Mike

Hope to see some of you out there, and if you smell freshly ground coffee wafting on the summer breeze, feel free to scrounge a cup! Might take you up on that Mike. Mark and I will be out on Pride O' Morpork around that area too. Mad Mike

Hi Alan, The 'Rips' are about 20 miles out from Poole so its an all day jobbie and fine weather too. I have never been there but those that have have had good catches and large fuel bills. Mad Mike