Afishionado

Quote..I will try to release my bigger fish ( got to catch them first) This is an interesting development in sport fishing. Fancy actualy releasing the fish BEFORE WE CATCH THEM ! Therefore I claim the club record for a 26lb bass which I have released BUT NOT YET CAUGHT..... I really like this system and I guess there must be other records up for grabs too. I bet some miserable begger comes along with some piffeling argument why it wont work......... Mike

I agree an excelent report. Very informative without being too much of a personal opinion. And most importantly not influanced by the prospect of advertising revinue as so many magazine 'editorials' are. Mike

Erm, but don't go in with your uptide rod in the rod holder ! It's just a bit too high and you look a total prune! Been there done that!! Mike

I'm no expert but I would run your outfit at about 40/45 psi. Lower on a long trip due to heat build up increasing the pressure anyway. Mike

Well the forcast was spot on weather wise and I am once again not ready for the spring. I am in the middle of converting my boat from a short shaft transom to a long shaft one (extra 5 inches, and no funny comments please). So the nicest day so far this year and no fishing for me!!! However how did you guys do? Give me all the details of monsterous fish and epic battles as that's as near as I'll get to fishing this Easter Mike

What if it isn't low enough? it's already a longshaft..... Hang on a min' . If it is fitted to the transom along side the main engine which I believe you said is a long shaft, then it must be long enough OR the aux' engine is a short shaft. If the main engine is a short shaft then the aux' will be too long if it is a long shaft. Or is your transom sorta ---

were pink/orangey......... Pink or angry? Well I guess you'd be blooming angry and pink if some begger had just dug you out of your living room!! Mike

Basicly speaking as you have had the engine for 24 months you will be deemed to have accepted it. However you might have recourse against the service agent due to his ineptitude. Your course of action would be to diarise what has already happened in a consise to the point manner, send this to the agent with an explination that he has had more than enough time to make good the repairs and that you hold him responsible for his own inefficiency. Other points to raise are that #1 studs/bolts do not shear easily on marine engines of 2 years old except by bad engineering practice, and #2 Any dismanteling of an engine will require new gaskets. It is gross ineficiency not to have them to hand on an engine strip down.#3 The weather should not be a variable for a professional outfit. Give him a fixed (reasonable) time span to repair the engine and tell him that for every week you are denied the use of your engine after that date you will expect financial recompence of

Nice one Mike

Always with the drift. IMO the ideal drift is one with wind with tide so one is just slower than the flow is taking you, but still going with the tide, I have never had success drifting against the flow. . I use a running ledger with the spoon about 3ft lower than the swivel at the top end of the trace ( the lead is stopped by a bead at the swivel/trace connection). The trace runs down to a snap swivel (so I can change spoon size/ colour quickly) and the bait is on a sort of mini trace about 2" below the lower edge of the spoon. Lower down 'till the lead bottoms and then wind up so the spoon is just a'flutter over the bottom. Copper colour, brass colour, silver, and white spoons all have their day. Once you have seen a 'Langstone' spoon they are easy enough to copy-ish with cutlery spoon heads. Mike

Dat's der Bunny!! As I said they are relativly bullet proof, and produce enough thrust to push a heavy boat albeit at a slow speed. Mike

I've just been looking at the 5 day forcast......... Friday is forcast to be warmer and sunny with a very gentle northely wind and 1023mb of pressure which has been rising steadily for the previous three days. I would venture to sugest that a drift or two along the Branksome to/from Boscombe line should produce a plaice or three. By the way I always use one of those fluttering 'Langstone' spoons baited with rag and find it very effective. mike

RIGHT THAT'S IT !!!!!!!!! How about the bloke who sees a fish whilst standing on the dock, casts a bait for it which the fish takes. As the angler strikes HE TRIPS UP and falls IN TO THE BOAT. However at the point the fish was hooked the fisherman WAS IN MID AIR !!!!. He breaks his leg and an ambulance is called, whilst being lifted into THE AMBULANCE the fish is draged along into THE BACK OF THE VEHICLE. Now is that fish caught from a boat, mid air, the dock or a motor vehicle???? How d'ya like dem potatoes?!?! Mike

what's wrong with dog fish? I caught lots of the bugger last time I went out. Around about LSD #28 the fun sorta starts goin' out of it. By the time LSD# 36 is wraping it' self round your wrist and taking off a layer of skin you start to feel a trifle miffed. Then when your buddy sitting next to you lands a 10lb bass just after a 17lb cod which he caught juat after the 14lb undulate ray all on the same bit of scanky frozen mackerel whilst you've been wasting prime peeler on LS bloody D's. Let me tell you it aint fun catching LSD's all the time. Mike

Does any one know if there is a maximum length that one can have the fuel line from the O/B tank to the engine connection, and which end to have the pre pump bulb (I usualy have it nearest the engine). The reason I ask os that in my little boat there is precious little space in the aft end. I plan to have the tank right up at the bow inside the cuddy where the weight will also help in keeping the bow level whilst on the plane. Mike

Quote.......Doing a jig around the boat in the nude is always worth a try Oh I think it is ESSENTIAL. Not only that but PROOF must be provided either by witness statements from say a priest, policeman or a member of the WVS, or photographic proof published in the local paper. This is the ONLY known way of banishing the bad luck encountered when changeing the name of a boat. Why, I have known cases of an angler NEVER CATCHING ANYTHING BUT 1lb LESSER SPOTTED DOG FISH !!! after changing the name of his boat WITHOUT dancing NICKID AS A BABY 3 times round his boat. Trust me I am not wrong in this A Friend

So Ok what if an angler on the dock side catches a mullet useing a long pole that extends OVER a moored /anchored boat. He lifts the mullet out of the water but then lowers it to the deck of the boat, jumps aboard ahd then unhooks it. Shore or boat caught ??? Not that I wish to be contentious you understand Mike

What a sexy little beauty. She's the sorta thing that could turn a young chaps eye and no mistake. No doubt you'll be spending the night sitting in the cabin with a flask of coffee and a bottle of brandy having a good gloat. I can hear the maniacle laughter from here "MINE ALL MINE HAha haha haaaaa!!" However remember that other fishermen will covert her clean lines and wonderous performance. Will she stay true to you or be tempted by a better tray of king rag than you can supply. She is a wild thing of the sea. Will you ever be able to tame her and make her yours,,,,,,,,,,,, Ooow Er ..... I'm of for a cold shower and a dried frog pill........ I'ts the moon wot does it. Mike

By the way, you turn it off by pressing and holding down the POWER key for a few seconds. Oh I threw the little b****rd against the wall , then jumped up and down on it. That soon put a stop to it I can tell you Mike

Sunday evening would be fine mate. Some when between 5 and 7 ,,,,,,,,, Mike

Gruvell quiver rods ? What on earth is one of these? Is it summat new? Mike

Thank you for your offer Bob, it's realy good of you It's a Garmin GPS76 . ...... I 've just turned it on and now I can't turn it of Ahhhhhg! Can I confo tomorrow PM with Carol. I think she is having a house cleaning frenzy tomorrow and I'll get a bollocking for "Asking some one round with the house like a tip, yaddya yaddya" Normaly if we have someone round we have to get new curtains, a new hall carpet and have all the pets nutered, and she's giving me strange looks these days too.......... Mike PS I'll post a message here re Sat pm, or if you want to 'phone me it's........ 01202 570555

I am a TOTAL dummy when it comes to gadgets. You know the sorta thing , like getting ones son to set the vidio up ......... Any way I bought this Garmin thingy that came with a very comprehensive hand book, so comprehensive in fact that I can't remember stage 12 when I'm at stage 19 . I am sure that this book thingy is trying to tell me far more than I need to know and that I'm confusing myself with irrelavent detail . So here's the thing......... Is there any kind and GPS fluent person out there who could give me an idiots tutorial (IN BABY STEPS!). Idealy the fee would either be a contribution to the RNLI or a couple of pints of beer or even both I 'spose. Mike PS please do not give me GPS co-ordinates on how to find you as that would be too cruel

To answer your question I best try and explain a bit about hydronamics, and before you go cross eyed it's all quite straight forward. A boat floating IN the water has a maximum hull speed of 1.5 X the square root of the water line length. So your boat will not exceed 16 x sq root x 1.5 = about 6knts. If however you have enough power (and thrust) to push your boat ON TOP OF THE WATER (planeing) your speed is only limited by the amount of power you can apply (known in the nautical world as 'kin flying). How does this affect you.......... With the 10hp engine you will not reach the speed needed to plane, therefore you will only get to about 6knts. There are a lot of lighter lower powered engines that will give you this performance too. The slower the engine turns the prop, and the bigger the prop is the better. Because what you want to maintain a steady speed is a high VOLUME of water thrust out by the prop. A small high reving small prop is useless. Basicly the best engine to do this is a Seagull 100 (the big one). They are noisy and thirsty but they are bullet proof and reliable. They don't mind being laid down (Just not upside down), however for safetys sake any aux' engine is best permanently mounted on a bracket. You don't want to be trying to hang an outboard on the transom whilst bobbing about on the briney . Brackets and outboards can be found on e-bay. Mike

I remember reading somewhere (it was one of those semi-scientific books on sea fishing by the sea water equivalent of a Carp fanatic). Any way the point was made that Plaice rarely feed well when the air pressure is lower than 30" (I don't know what that is in euro) and idealy the early days of a high, with pressure slowly risnig to 31" + is the best time of all. Mike