plaicemat

Well, they say impulse buys are always the most satisfying. I am now the proud owner of a Warrior 165 type 2 complete with a Mariner 60hp bigfoot. I bought it through Boats and Outboards and it turns out to be from a member of Burnham on Sea club, who has upgraded to a Quicksilver. Hopefully I can collect it Thursday so, look out Poole Bay next weekend, weather permitting. Next I need showing how to get the best from it.

No, Martin, not yet. But I am looking at a couple of Warrior 165's this week and hopefully may have some good news to post ere long. You realise my wife blames you for this change of boat! Thanks for the advise, Coddy. That was exactly what I was looking for. It should be somewhat less thirsty than my 90's mariner 50 on the Micro-Plus. Also the extra space will be much appreciated.

o/k, one more point before I go chasing round the country looking at some, what time range would 2 x 25ltr tanks give with a 60hp mariner elpto bigfoot?

Can any of you Warrior pilots out there tell me if the 165 has integral fuel tanks (like the 195) or portable ones?

Respect, Charlie. Those are both clever and funny; well chosen.

I could certainly use them. Would you say

This site is quite interesting http://www.guidebc.com As far as gear is concerned, I took fly gear with me as I like my own stuff. For sea fishing, all gear is supplied. For river fishing, it is best to use a guide (very reasonable) as a boat is almost essential. They will normally supply all the gear you need. However, if you're feeling flush, fishing gear is very good value in Canada. When I was there, the conversion rate was $2.47 to the

Alun, I was there for 3 weeks last year and enjoyed some fabulous salmon fishing on the Fraser River. When is it you're going? If August, the king salmon will be running and they are awesome, 1st one I caught was 27lb! Biggest I saw, 56lb. Also sturgeon fishing on the fraser, they go up to about 700lbs fairly regularly and a max of about 1300lb. Never quantity but when you get stuck into one, the power is incredible. Let me have details.

Sorry we missed you too. It's Fredor. How's the fly fishing progressing?

Launched with Pete from Baiter where Bob was sat as official observer. Well, in fact launched twice! I'm sure I'm not the only person to forget the bung! Had a problem booking in on the radio; either a technical fault or a personal one. Whichever, this should be put right when I do my radio course next month. Whisper upbraided me when I made contact so we're probably not registered for the match. No problem. Tried drifting the Swash first but nothing doing and a lot of weed about. Tried another couple of spots before arriving at the bream grounds, along with everybody else. First cast, Pete had what I think is the biggest garfish either of us has ever seen. I believe he was considering having it stuffed and mounted but decided to put it back to grow bigger, always the optimist. We next both contacted at the same time, me with a very respectable mackerel (nice to see them turning up) and Pete with a bream about 2lb. Needless to say, they became tangled up but after some technical un-knitting, both were landed. Things then went quiet so we decidided to finish with a drift (as we were going that way) and Pete managed a small pollock. After that, it was plain sailing back to baiter with a recovery that we were very proud of. Almost like proper boaters do. Two things impressed us on the day. 1) Using the alderney ring retrieval method for the first time on my boat which was a great success (thanx to Martin) and 2) circle and half circle hooks. The really do hook around the lips every time. We used size 2 semi circle for bream; about right? A good day, despite the dull weather and slightly lumpy sea. We're looking forward to the next one.

As newboys to this competition thing, can I ask: 1)no need to book in, just go and do your thing and record it 2)07.30 is the START FISHING time not leaving the slip. Myself and solent hushpuppy are looking forward to this new experience, although I don't think anyone need panic about us threatening their chances!

I will be giving Fredor an airing with Pete (solent hushpuppy) doing the honours as crew. Also possibly my son, Guy.

Thanks for the advise. Also good news as it appears they may be repairing the damage below the water line.

Can I just add to all this good advice. When you are practising without a fly, tie a piece of wool onto the leader to save fraying and to make the roll over more realistic.

Having worked in outdoor education for years, I cannot understand how these people get away with it or how they get their licence. If we had carried on like that, working with young people, we would have been hung out to dry. And they were paying for the privelege. I wonder what their team sprit is like now?

O/k Paul, I'll make a note to bring one or two down with me on the Sunday.

Thanks for all that, chaps. The disc sounds a good idea, I've got 2 or 3 laying about the workshop. Paul, if you want a weight that size, let me know and I'll bring one down.

Looking forward to the Weymouth trip to the Shambles, I would value some advice. I have seen posts regarding weights for slowing the drift and, having never fished this area, or indeed this style of fishing, I would like to know the sort of weight required. I have an old scales weight, with useful handle incorporated, which weighs 26lb (11.8kg). Would this be sufficient if attached directly to a 10mm warp? This would be on a 16ft boat.

Is it a flying fish or a fish hawk?

Try ropeseller on ebay. I recently bought 600ft 10mm for, I believe,

When we were fishing xray, we were catching whiting off the bottom, with our g'bait in their mouths. Enough must have got down to hold the fish, surely. It may be that my inexperience has caused over enthusiasm, but I'm willing to give it a try. Being an optimist, I have trouble seeing the negative side of things before trying them.

Well, I don't know, Martin, and I'm hoping not. When I fished xray, I was hand feeding groundbait and I know it worked as the fish had it in their mouths. I therefore assume it would work similarly for bream, but I could be wrong. This is similar, I believe, to the method they use in Australia and New Zealand. Obviously, a method that put the bait about 10-12 feet off the bottom would probably be ideal, but I think this could work. Watch this space!

I've tried Alec and made arrangements with him. However, he mentioned somebody with a shop in xchurch called Tony but did'nt have any details. Any ideas?

To further elucidate, the sausage is pushed out of the clear plastic tube straight into the other tube on the stern. It is only used to freeze the magnet into a useable shape.

Not quite, Adam. The tube on the stern, say 3in white drainpipe (looks better than grey) has a couple of metal or plastic rods across the bottom to stop the long sausage of magnet from falling through. This allows it to slowly break up with the action of the waves and disperse slowly. When the sausage is used, replace with another.