Andy135

I too like to make my own traces, tie my own flies and even pour my own soft plastic lures (jelly worms, shad and eel bodies). Good on you for cleaning up your beaches. Not sure what's going on with that lead link. 😬

So who's birthday is it exactly? I always get to go fishing on my birthday... not much of a birthday if the birthday boy doesn't get to choose. #justsaying 🤣

Or find a good used one from an online scrapyard?

Very nice, smooth trip. Looks chilly for sure but a day on the water beats pretty much anything else in my book. Good work. You came, you caught, you conquered a tackle-hungry wreck. Top dangling!

Give her your credit card and send her shopping. It'll be worth it!

Nice work... again! Lovely fish and photos 👍

Very nice! We eat whiting fairly frequently. The kids like them as goujons, or "fish bites" as they call them, and we cook them in pretty much the same way as you, but we do them in seasoned flour, then shallow fried. Might try breadcrumbs next time - did you dip them in egg first to get the crumbs to stick to the fish?

Agreed - feels like the fixtures are too uncertain still to bank on. Still, you should do well nonetheless. As for picking the right captain, I try not to think about all the times I captained the wrong player. Doh! 😬

Well done on the dogs and whiting. Dogs are my favourite (not joking) and whiting are tasty, so you had a good day in my book. Shame about your engine, but very lucky you had help at hand. Check all your connections and even check the wires for breaks underneath the sheathing if you can. Close call but all's well that ends well.

Well, that 14.7 was measured at the head unit, so taking some losses into account the R/R was probably putting out a bit more. Anyways, it's done and replaced now.

Nice work. Throw up a report when you get a chance 👍

Well dangled the pair of you! Shame that @captin slows old outlaw 's crown as Starfish King has now been stolen though 🤣 Nice day on the water - top work 👍

Our tangles were happening between our float rigs and our downtiders, not so much with the float rigs themselves. I like your idea of a slow retrieve. Sounds good for bass.

🤦‍♂️

On our trip to the Spoils yesterday, both @Saintly Fish and I tried float fishing down the tide while anchored. The theory is that using a float to suspend your bait just off the sea bed while trotting it back in the tide presents the bait more naturally drifting in the tide, and covers more ground than a static bait. There is also a theory that it puts hookbaits out of the noise zone of the boat (similar to uptiding). We were using balloons and shark floats to suspend big baits and 1lb leads, allowing them to drift back for 20-30m before holding station. Results were good. I had three conger to the float in three drops. I found that as the tide increased the floats became less effective and harder to keep tangle-free, so probably a technique for an hour either side of slack water. I can't say it out-fished regular downtiding though as our downtiders were also producing fish on every drop as well, but it is something I'll be doing more regularly from now on, particularly if baits under the boat aren't producing. Anyone else used this technique?

One of the boat club locals has made a suggestion. https://www.royalmaritimeclub.co.uk/ I've not been there personally so can't vouch for it, but at least it's a start for you.

An update to close out this issue. I swapped out the old R/R for the new one just before Christmas and had the chance to test it on our run out yesterday. The new unit gives 13.5v at 4k rpm, compared to the old unit giving 14.7v at 2k rpm. So it seems that the old unit is no longer regulating the voltage, must be why it was disconnected.

Oh that. I was leaving that for you to share and gain the kudos.

Although my boat is kept in Pompey I've never actually stayed there overnight. I'll ask around with some members of my old boat club to see if they can recommend anywhere. Where is the reunion taking place? Old Portsmouth?

Expecting a big score from you this game week @mike farrants!

Oh, you mean the dogfish you caught?

Let me guess... it has something to do with tangles??

True... 🤣

Thanks for checking @Yorkie Angler. Appreciated 👍 Maybe I got a duff blank or maybe they have changed the blanks now. I should hear from the manufacturer via the retailer on Tuesday. Let's see...