Andy135

When I used to do a lot of luring for bass I could tell the same sort of thing by using a Fiiish Black Minnow on light braid. The difference between rock, gravel and sand/mud is quite noticeable thanks to the light braid, and to a lesser degree, a light rod.

Sea floor composition is indicated by letters on charts, like the ones I circled above. Are you referrring to bottom hardness colours on sonar images? If so, then the colours will be different between makes of sounder and also dependent upon whatever colour palette the user has chosen. Generally the brighter/closer to white a bottom return is, the harder it is e.g. rock, boulders, and the darker the colour the softer it will be (mud, fine sand etc). Bottom hardness won't tell you specifically what the bottom composition is but you can use it to make an educated guess when combined with a little local knowledge. Here's an example from Doctor Sonar. Yellow = harder bottom, dark orange/magenta = softer.

I'm with you on the brown sauce. Ketchup has no place on my plate whatsoever.

4 MFD's with inbuilt GPS here, plus a standalone GPS/electronic compass, plus a regular ships compass. And as it happens I too have a perpetually hungry spaniel... 🐶

Agreed - unit failure could also cause issues, which is why GPS's point above about redundancy is worthwhile i.e. have more than one plotter, so that if one should fail you can still navigate home on the other.

Great session and a good write up! Agree, the weather makes all the difference - blanking is ok if it's sunny & flat, but it's even better when there are fish on the deck. Feisty-looking tope that 😬👍

Thanks Gary. Do you have side-scan sonar on your boat? If so you could try searching for new marks by looking for nesting sites. They're easy to spot if they're there. Bream like a rocky bottom with a thin covering of shingle or gravel. Start your search by checking the charts in your area for locations showing a rock and/or gravelly bottom composition - on Navionics this is indicated by a capital R for Rock, and G for Gravel. Here's an example in your neck of the woods where I'd start looking.

Agree. Have full fuse sets on Jersey Girl and also had them on Apache.

A total power loss would be exceedingly unlikely between my 3 batteries, but assuming the worst did occur I'd give a verbal description like they teach you in the VHF course - "My position is 1 mile south of the Needles, drifting east into Freshwater Bay with the flooding tide." And before you ask, I would be communicating on the handheld VHF that is clipped to my lifejacket, given that the total power loss would render my fixed unit unusable.

You make a good point here about in-built redundancy. How many of us rely on a single plotter/sounder combo to get us out and safely back? And what would the back-up be if it fails or blows a fuse? And how many of us carry spare fuses in all the sizes used on board?

Do you really carry all that? Kudos if so - impressive.

I'd swap bream for the Skerries. A legendary mark that I've still yet to fish. 👍

I reckon it really sets off his complexion 😉👍🤣

Yes, guilty as charged. I'll fess up and say I've never used a paper chart. In the Solent and east Wight where I fish there are enough landmarks to enable navigation by eye should the need arise, but I know this doesn't help at night or in fog. I should probably get a paper chart and work out how to use it - can't hurt and could be a saviour in a sticky situation.

Yes, I think I'd take plaice over bream too - better eating in my opinion. The bream is still nice though, and puts up a really good fight for their size. Proper scrappers on appropriately sized gear. I was using a 9ft Rovex Plugger spinning rod and a small f/s reel. Lovely to feel a genuine bend in the rod.

That clip was taken at 21-22kts. I've had her up to 38kts previously. The manufacturer says she'll do 40 but I reckon that must be with a following wind & tide and with nearly empty tanks.

Thanks Daio, it was a cracking day to be out. Was great to get back on the boat and give her a blast.

That's an outbuilding currently being used to store garden stuff. I have a vaguely formed idea to turn it into an outdoor kitchen or perhaps a detached guest bedroom. Either way it's a long-term project.

Top day out for all of you! Well dangled, and glad to see the SPJ was outperforming the rest on species count 👍 Some great fish there - well done to the captors.

Are you there yet??

Yess!! A good day out with countless dogfish - sounds like my kind of day 👍🤣 In all seriousness well done. Good fishing 🎣👍

@KennyPowers, Jon's a chancer eh? 🤣 Sounds like you had a good day out nonetheless. Good write-up and quality banter. 👍 PS, I could swear I've seen that bream somewhere before... 🤔

Pepperoni and chilli. The only combination 👍

An early start this morning saw me up with larks at 5am. Let the dog out for a wee and and took a quick pic of the sunrise before hitting the road. After a smooth run south I arrived at the marina where I bumped into @Scotch_Egg2012 who was off to the French Bank after bass on lures. I boarded Jersey Girl and headed out of the harbour in beautiful weather. The last time I'd taken her out was January, so it felt great to be back on board and blowing the cobwebs away. A swift blast round to the Isle of Wight saw me arriving in Sandown Bay in a mere 20 minutes. I headed over to a mark that had produced good bream last season... but would it still perform? Upon arrival I was greeted with a beautiful flat calm bay... ... and the sight of at least 10 small boats all at anchor already fishing - today might be a tough one if they've nabbed all the best spots. Faced with a crowd, I turned on my side-scan and prospected for some likely looking ground. When targeting bream it's often possible to pick up their nesting sites on side-scan sonar... they look like a patch of circular, honeycomb-esque craters on the sea floor, as can be seen on the right hand side of this sonar pass. As soon as I spotted the nests I circled back around and sent a line down. I was using a two hook flapper with pennelled snoods and a single floating bead above the first hook, baited with squid strip. First drop and what a result! This fine specimen graced the net. A lovely male, not quite worthy of the pan, so back he went. He was swiftly followed by a few more. Including a couple of keepers that I meant to take pics of after getting them home but forgot to before they found their way to the freezer. Before long it was time to head for home - this was just a morning session and I had to be back to help out with family commitments. I turned on the GoPro on the way back - here's a quick snippet of the return journey. Back at home and with the bream safely ensconced in the freezer, kids suitably tired out after an afternoon in the park, it was time to fire up the pizza oven and pour a beer. Happy days!

🤣🤣 What a tool! What sort of person feels entitled enough to ask a stranger to stop what they're doing just to please oneself?!? 🤦‍♂️