Andy135

Nothing quick about Pugwash...

For that price I would expect it to go fishing for you and bring you the fish on a silver platter.

“What’s for dinner?” the children ask. “I think we’ll have a barbecue, as it is so sunny!” says Mummy. “A barbecue?” the children say “But we are hungry! And Daddy won’t be home for ages! How can we have a barbecue?” “I am going to barbecue!” says Mummy. The children look dubious. Is this possible? A woman as Doctor Who is one thing, but MUMMY barbecuing? This is a strange and new concept. “Yes!” says Mummy “I am perfectly capable of barbecuing, because I am going to let you in on a little secret, my darlings- IT’S JUST COOKING OUTSIDE! There is actually nothing particularly mysterious or complicated about it. “Does Daddy know you are going to barbecue?” asks the Boy Child bravely. “No,” says Mummy “It is nothing to do with him, I don’t need his permission to touch the fucking barbecue, you know!” “Are you sure, Mummy?” says the Girl Child “Daddy says barbecuing is very difficult and complex, and only a Manly Man can barbecue because Fire. And then I think he said something about woolly mammoths, and beer! You are not a Manly Man, Mummy, how will you manage to barbecue without a lady to fetch and carry things while you guard the Fire?” “Pshaw!” says Mummy “ Balls to that, barbecuing is a piece of piss . In fact, the only difficult thing about barbecuing is what a performance your bloody father makes of it!” Mummy lights the barbecue. Mummy cooks the food. Mummy manages to fetch herself top ups of pink sunshine wine, and take the cooked things inside and bring out the next things to go on the barbecue ALL BY HERSELF. Even more astonishingly, the fucking fire was absolutely fine, even though Mummy did not spend the whole time standing over it, refusing to move more than three inches away from the barbecue BECAUSE SHE WAS BARBECUING AND SO COULD NOT STEP AWAY, NOR EVEN LOOK AWAY, as Daddy claims is the case when he is barbecuing. Daddy comes home and says “Something smells yummy! Are the neighbours having a barbecue?” The children say “MUMMY barbecued, Daddy! On YOUR barbecue. Mummy says barbecuing is a piece of piss and you are nothing but a bloody drama queen with the way you carry on and pretend barbecuing is very tricky and can only be done by men!” Daddy turns pale. “MUMMY barbecued?” he cries “But how can this be? Did she even drink beer? How did she light it? Did she know the exact right moment to spread the coals out, that has to be carefully watched for? How would she even know when that moment was? Only a Man can know that, it is part of the Manly Lore, handed down through the generations! My barbecue is sullied now, and TAINTED by her feminine wiles! There is far more to the Noble Art Of Barbecuing than a bag of instant lighting charcoal and a packet of chicken drumsticks, you know.” “There’s really not, actually! Now do shut up and have a burger, you pretentious prick!” snaps Mummy “The game’s up, mate! I’M going to do the barbecuing from now on, and you can be my bitch!” Daddy weeps quietly to himself. He knew no good could come of a lady Doctor. It is giving women Ideas. Mummy has put bunting on his barbecue. He can barely even bring himself to look at it. Poor Daddy. Deep in his soul he knows it is only a matter of time before Mummy paints his shed duck egg blue and hangs jaunty curtains in the windows of his boat and fills it with cushions, for nothing is sacred anymore. Nothing.

Nice result @Malc. Well fished 👍

Hey Josh. Line parted at the spool. @Saintly Fish can confirm the b/s of the braid.

Early onset dementia? #wentfishingwithouthistacklebox

Speaking of which, @JonC's a bit tetchy today cos @JDP called him fat on another thread. 🤣

Friday's plan was a morning session with @Saintly Fish and Leo chasing tope across the Spoils/Utopia/Pullar - the spring flood tide would give us a long drift across all three of these fishing areas, before dropping anchor at Utopia as slack water approached. The early start had clearly befuddled Neil however as he arrived at the marina looking sheepish and bashfully confessed that he'd left his tackle box at home 🤦‍♂️. He's been angling for close to forty years so should really have had a better excuse up his sleeve than "I forgot it". Luckily I had just enough tope traces for us all. We set off into lovely flat conditions at the very bottom of the tide, with only just enough water underneath us as we left the marina and went round to the fuel pontoon. They say a picture paints a thousand words, so I'll just leave it here with this. Moving swiftly on, we left the harbour and feathered for a short while around the Forts but sadly the mackerel were mostly absent, with just one falling to Neil's rod. It would have to be frozen baits for us today then. Off to the start of the drift and the conditions were great. I'd heard of some bigger species being seen and caught in this area recently so I'd brought along a shark rod, which was let out to see what was about... After a short while Leo's rod has a storming take, stripping line at a rate of knots! He winds down into it and just couldn't slow it. In less than 30 seconds his reel was half empty so his father, in his (not so) infinite wisdom turns up the drag until we hear a "ping!". 😬😬 We were all gutted for Leo, and to be fair there was no stopping this take. We reflected afterwards that if the line hadn't snapped, his reel would be empty with still no fish and no more fishing either. We fished on the drift fruitlessly for another few hours until the tide dropped, then anchored up over the deepest part of Utopia. Bites began to show, and a series of eels made their way to the boat. Neil even managed two fish on one hook! We then saw a small pod of dolphins come past, only two or three animals but still lovely to hear and see them. Shortly after, I connected with a nice bass of 48cm/1.47kg that I swapped with my fishmonger today for jumbo squid and scallops for the barbecue tonight. And finally, I was back in the game with my favourite species - my first this season! As the tide turned the wind picked up, so with white caps starting to show we headed home before the conditions got too lumpy. No tope but a monster run and some fun fishing nonetheless. And even better, we all escaped the sun burn - slip, slap and all that. Better safe than sorry 👍

Nice quick trip and a full bait freezer - good result, despite the nets👍

Serious bit of kit that. Guessing the rod stays in the holder during the fight?

Nice work @Minters. The conditions were lovely out there. The tope do seem elusive this year but well done for trying- got to be in it to win it👍

Ok then. PM me your address and I'll see what I can do... 🤣

Yep, I did suspect that might be the case but wanted to extend the invite nonetheless. Next year perhaps 👍

Bump for the 20th Aug. Neil, Leo and Andy so far. Zook and Mikey are possibles. Jon successfully uninvited. If we don't have enough availability I'd be open to finding another date with the skipper, but I'd need to have suggestions. @mike farrants @thejollysinker @fishybuisness @GPSguru @DINOBOY Any takers?

Friday looks good on the south coast. Fingers crossed the weather holds and the mackerel are in... 🤞🤞

Agreed @JonC, it's definitely not a lack of enthusiasm for it, but for me fishing has to take second place to work and family.

I'll never look at a fish the same way again 🤣

Lovely session, and a bonus visit from dolphins! Your catches are consistently good - top dangling that man, and well crewed Kyle 👍

A very nice way to spend an evening. 👍

Good sport and good photos. @mike farrants strikes again! Well done.

Lovely report and great results! Very envious of those pollack - spot on fishing 👍

Hi Sean, I don't have any experience of the gearbox you mention, but generally shafts & props are considered more reliable/less to go wrong/less expensive to maintain than outdrives, so for what it's worth you're probably heading in the right direction.

Bah! You know full well you weren't ditched, the whole trip was kiboshed by work. Not like I went out without you... Bloody well will uninvite you next time 😠

Interesting sliding loop at the top end. How's that meant to work?