Andy135

F@#k me! You're even more of a blanker than @Saintly Fish 🤣 Gotta love your perseverance though. Fair play to you. Fingers crossed your luck changes. Keep it up 👍👍

Just heard from the same charter skipper that boulder and teardrop have bream to 2lb at present. Good luck with the tope. Utopia then the Overfalls I'm guessing for you?

No. Just pointing out that the Biggest Dogfish comp has barely begun and already you're trying to bend the rules. No weight, no fish. 🐶🐟

Well done the pair of you. A couple of nice fish for Leo. As for your doggie... if it's not weighed it doesn't count. ⚖. Rules are clear. 😜

Good write up Scott. Sounds like it was a hard day but at least there were a few fish to reward your efforts 👍 I heard of one decent bream taken on a charter today, but that's all. Reckon they're not quite here yet - maybe another few weeks before they arrive in earnest.

It's more than the lip though, as after I flap-wheeled the drums I could get them part way on. Wonder if I can rig the drum up to a drill in a vice and use some coarse sandpaper to wear down the faces.

You, me and most other normal angers yes. But take a look inside the saloon on Tarlach Too. It puts Abramovich to shame. Candy stripe sofa cushions are the order of the day on her, and @Saintly Fish insists it's all his wife's work, not his... 🤔🤣 Mind you, they are very comfy after a hard days blanking.

Who knew reels were like buses eh? Well done 👍

Yes, I've already tried that. I took my drill and a flap wheel for that exact reason. Also took a wire wheel but all it did was burnish the rust scale. It's a pain because 2 minutes on a lathe would have it cleaned up beautifully... but I don't have a lathe 🤷‍♂️. There's an engineering company in Newbury that I'll call on Monday and get a quote. Got to be cheaper than two replacements.

Thanks Steve. If you were closer I'd take you up on that 👍.

The drums on the axle I have are load bearing. They have the wheel bearing pressed into them and hold the wheels onto the axle shaft. As such they have masses of meat on them, and a pair of replacements are almost the same price as a whole new axle, complete with drums, shoes, adjusters etc. So I'll try skimming them and if that doesn't work I'll throw money at the problem by buying a new axle and be done with it.

Not yet. Lockdown got in the way of me doing all the little jobs that add value, and in the way of any viewings to be fair. Need to get her advertised properly and get her sold.

Well done on the bass. Nice size. Also well done for the early exit from work - you'd won before you'd even wet a line in my book 👍. Plus your little mate popped up again. Good way to start the weekend

Fellow wanker eh? Is it a team sport these days then? 💦 🤣

Yeah? And?? 🤣👍

I know you didn't 😉

I wish. Sadly I'd blanked plenty before that session. Still do as it happens.

Yep. Covers more ground that way. I was fishing Bullocks at anchor a couple of seasons back and a large wooden boat drifted between me and the next boat. He was prospecting for bream. We blanked. He didn't.

The bream marks round here range from 5-6m up to 20m, so I don't think depth makes too much difference. Look for rocky, gravelly ground and drift about until you find the fish.

I use a two hook flapper, with the snoods about 12-18 inches of 10lb fluoro and size 4 or 6 hooks with pencil width strips of squid. I've heard some anglers use a bead or pop up on the snood. Bream like smooth rocky ground with a light covering of gravel to make their nests. On side scan sonar it's possible to pick up nesting sites - you'll see a series of shallow circular depressions a bit like the surface of the moon. If you find a nesting site go easy. One or two for the pot is ok but fishing out a whole site is clearly not ideal for future fish stocks. Good luck in your search. Keep us posted 👍

Why'd you thing I'm putting brakes on the bloody thing?!!

Ha! Would you f#*king believe it?!?! The drums no longer fit over the shoes. The faces of the drums have corroded and now there's not enough space to slide them onto the hubs with fresh brake linings. Looks like I'll have to get them skimmed to fit. 🤬

Whoever invented trailer brakes that use spring cover plates hidden away behind the axle needs to be shot. I'd need fingers 12 inches long and half an inch diameter to fit them. Managed in the end by using axle grease to stick then to the head of a screwdriver, then the same grease holds them in place while the spring clips in from the other side of the back plate. What a faff! Still, both axles done now.

She looks great. Very smart indeed. And she looks a LOT nicer than the 461 next to my boat.

Welcome Andy. 👍