Andy135

The forum upgrade took place today. Let me know if you see anything strange or out of place and I'll look into it. For those of us who stay logged in you won't automatically be prompted about web-based push notifications, so you can activate them manually in the Notifications settings under Account/Account Settings/Notification Settings then scroll down to find the Notification Types Available options, and select Push.

Sounds like a good day. Well dangled 👍

You just had to slip that in, didn't you 🤣🤣

Indeed, very sad. A unique charter vessel. I remember because she was a well known charter in Dartmouth, where my parents live, and I'd spoken to the skipper in the past to arrange a family charter trip that got blown out in the end.

Didn't she burn down a while ago? The original wood hulled boat? Or am I mis-remembering?

It's to stop the braid rotating on the spool under tension. If you put a bed of mono onto the bare spool first it helps the braid to grip the spool. It also reduces the amount of braid (and therefore cost) needed to fill the spool. I use a different method, which is to bed the spool with a few turns of electrical tape before winding on the braid. The braid beds into the tape and won't rotate, plus I know that I have a full spool of braid, just in case that one big fish tries to spool me... I can live in hope, right?? 🤣

Love that first photo! Very nice. Sounds like a good session. Well dangled 👍

Top effort Tony. Sometimes the trip just doesn't go your way, but good on you for getting out there. Got to be in it to win it. Good on you for sharing a blank post too. Bet there are many of us that blank and don't post about it, so kudos to you. 👍

Welcome Peter. Good to have you with us. Glad to see another Berkshire boater too. I'm based near Newbury and we have some other members from Berkshire and Oxfordshire too, so living near the sea is definitely not a pre-requisite for boat owning 😉👍 Looking forward to seeing how you all get on in your next charter session. Don't forget to share a catch report 🎣🎣

Good plan 😉👍

Level winds themselves are not a problem, it's more to do with the level wind mechanisms at the cheaper end of the market. For example, the Warfare level wind is noticeably less well designed/engineered than the Fathom, and it's clear to see that the Fathom is the premium reel in Penn's UK line-up. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

A 20-30lb Ugly Stik is my go-to all round rod these days. Strong enough for 1.5lb of lead in the Solent but still sensitive enough to pick out delicate bites. Until you talk to the skipper it's hard to say what gear will be best but if you had to hedge your bets a couple of 12-20's and 20-30's will cover most bases, paired with Penn Fathoms or Shimano TLD reels. Brands of braid are down to personal preference. I like Daiwa J-Braid but others swear by chinese Spectra braid found on eBay. I've used this stuff in the past and it's certainly adequate, but not as thin, pound for pound of B.S. as the quality (and more expensive) japanese braids. The big advantage of braid is the small diameters, so to save money on thick braid rather undermines one of its selling points in my view.

Agree with this. A cheap rod can still give excellent service but a cheap reel is often a liability. Edited to say I have a Warfare a few years old and it's been fine for me, but it doesn't get that much use.

Hi Peter, The Ugly Stik boat rods get a lot of good feedback. I have a couple myself and for the price you'd be hard to beat them. https://www.veals.co.uk/acatalog/shakespeare-ugly-stick-gx2-12-20-3735.html Penn reels are good, either the Warfare or Fathom, but Shimano TLD's or Charter Specials are also well thought of. Every reel these days can handle braid. As for braid itself, you'll need to match the breaking strain of the braid with the line class on the rods, so a 12-20lb rod is designed to work best with a braid of between 12 and 20lb B.S. I use 20lb braid on my 12-20 rods. It will also depend on where you're fishing, what strength of tides etc. Generally you'll want to use heavier leads to hold bottom in stronger tides, and for this you'll need heavier rods that can handle the heavier leads. No point using a pound of lead on a 6-12lb rod, for example. So, match your braid to your rods and your rods to the weight you'll need to hold bottom. Braid is definitely the way to go over mono as you need less weight to hold bottom with braid as it has a thinner profile than the same B.S. of mono, so catches less tide. What are the charters you've booked in August? Wrecking, reefing, general species etc? To a degree your tackle should be determined by the type of fishing you're planning. If you're breaming on reefs you could use light 6-12lb rods & braid, but you'd need at least 12-20 or maybe 20-30 gear for wrecking. Horses for courses but if you can tell us what fishing you have planned we can give more insightful responses. Hope this helps.

I'm not quick tempered... I just don't suffer fools 😘

They probably do take stinky bait but as bycatch intended for sea species. I've not heard of anyone deliberately targeting sea trout with bait. Bear in mind that if you intend to catch sea trout (vs catching one as bycatch when targeting other species) you will need a salmon & sea trout licence. https://linesonthewater.anglingtrust.net/2018/12/04/what-sort-of-fishing-licence-do-i-need/comment-page-1/ https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/types-of-licences-and-rod-limits

Flying C lures or flies tend to be the go-to methods. Neither are technically stinky bait.

The bright specks over the top of the wreck itself could be fish, but more likely to be the hard returns made by the hull itself, perhaps covered by marine growth (weed, sponges, anemones etc). The specks to the left of the wreck mass are more likely to be fish sitting in front of the wreck as the tide started turning. The very small specks at the top of the image and in the water column are likely to be weed and other detritus.

My route to St Cats took me right past the Highland Brigade this weekend so I stopped to take a few sonar images of her. She's a long wreck, and wouldn't fit on a single sidescan sonar page. In the first pic below her bow is offset due to a bit of swell rocking the boat as I was drifting her. And here's how she looks with Downscan sonar. The tide had started to flood at this point, so the image below is from a drift diagonally across her, rather than lengthwise like the two sidescan images above.

I knew it!! I just knew it! I should have put money on one of you two making a ginger joke 🖕🤣

Cracking plaice and cracking photos! Well done all three of you, and a mention in despatches for skipper Kyle. Some very nice fish there. 👍

I've had a few bass from the Pinnacles in the past, and the 70m hole further east near Ventnor. Yesterday I was drifting the reef system to the west but no luck.

Didn't @Saintly Fish beat him to them all (again)??

Sounds like a proper decent session. Good work 👍. Potential new cod mark sounds like a bonus too 🎣

Honestly it was like the dry stack team were playing sardines with the boats on the holding pontoon in the morning 🤣. But yes, no boats bumped = a win. Especially as coming back in there were boats moored either side of the holding bay area, so it was a bit like threading a Jersey Girl-shaped needle to get to the eastern corner 😬. I'm forming the opinion that St Cat's is overrated. I've been there maybe 6 times now over the last two or three seasons and I've only caught there twice. Too much fuel burned for too little return. Sandown numbers would be great - thank you. 👍