mike farrants

of course Malc - i'm happiest when i'm afloat!

Met up with Tim and his mate Marcus for a trip to the adamant - the Adamant bank can be hit or miss - red letter day or dog city - for me it was barely either. I wasn't to have a good day. Hit the entrances for fresh bait - mackerel feathers and Squid jigs - i had nothing in an hour - the others got 3 decent sized mackerel that was it. i had plenty of frozen so we headed for the adamant. we were spoilt by the conditions - mirror calm and the dolphins wanted to play! Marcus wanted some bream for the table so we stopped at our usual mark on the way to bag up a couple of decent bream. the bream were slow to come but Tim and Marcus managed a couple each. I got a dogfish on my bream rig, and brought it onto the boat to unhook - save him smashing up the rig or snapping off - however in doing so I must have somehow broken the tip of my 6-12 rod. sad times. but can repair by shortening it slightly. Off to the adamant - targeting rays - my day didn't get any better - only one more dog fish - but Tim had a run of Tope, and a Spotted and Blonde ray, Marcus managed a tope and a cuttlefish. Saturday was a disappointment and conditions remained good so Sunday afternoon i took my boat out for a couple of hours to drift around the bay in search of gurnards, Garfish, plaice anything really. I had 3 rods out - one float with a sandeel for the gar, one plaice rig for anything on the bottom, and a set of feathers over the side I managed a nice tub gurnard on the plaice rig and a mackerel on the feathers. I was lucky enough to be out when the Waverly did a lap of the bay - I was too far away for any decent photos - but it was a lovely sight to see. Not the best of fishing but some lovely time spent afloat! I consoled myself with some turbot fillets out of the freezer!

I have a Mk1 colvic 20 with a 2 banger diesel, and my mate has the bigger seaworker. Pros - cheap as chips to run - can run all day on a couple of litres of diesel - i use about 50ltrs a season! Very basic so easy and cheap to service and maintain. very good seakeeping, easy to handle and manoeuvre. Classic - so gets a lot of attention from passers by. Cons - SLOW - being full displacement it will do 6knots max and I mean max, its fine if you are happy pottering - but it is restrictive - i wont go too far out as a) it takes a long time to get far out, and b) tides can be very strong out here and i don't want to be caught out. Luckily i buddy up with a mate who has a bigger and faster boat for those trips. Also - although its a good sea keeping boat - they roll a lot at anchor - rounded hull despite bilge keels still rolls a lot. If budget allowed i would upgrade to something faster - not necessarily bigger - something like an Arvor/quicksilver. the Mk2 Colvics are semi displacement - so a fair bit faster.

its important to have a tight anchor........ how's andy's boat shopping coming on?

heathen........ serve with a glass of Marborough Sauvignon Blanc, and an arty photo taken in your sauna please!

Hi Paul, Welcome! this lot here will happily spend your boat budget for you they love boat shopping! - give us an idea what you are after and they will double the size and power for you!!

Nice one! Lovely Bass!

yeah id go oven baked, with butter and herbs, or lemon and garlic. if you want to be a bit fancy you can get a Mediterranean vegetable selection (corguette, red onion and peppers) and add some cherry toms, and lay them on a baking dish, sprinkle with olive oil and italian herbs and garlick, then lay the fish over the top season and add butter and bake both together - i did this with bream and it was lovely.

We saw Colin with 2 out on Sunday! Looks a nice boat! Sounds good too!

was lovely and calm this weekend - great that you did sunrise to sunset - that's a long day indeed! well done on the smoothies - i love a good scrap with a feisty smoothie! and good to get some bait for future trips too!

knowing the squid were in early and conditions looked perfect i had to get out - i was tempted by Thursday evening but the rain put me off, Friday looked just as good so i went for it. I know how finicky they can be, requiring high tide at or after dusk, calm winds/sea state for days before, clear water, and preferably clear skies. As a result it can be a short window if the rest of the season is blown off. so you have to take your chances when you can and boy did it pay off! at 6pm I got to a new mark I wanted to try and found it too shallow - so headed to the pier with the rest of the UKs squid fisher people. one pier was closed so the other one was rammed - people were catching from the off, and all around me but not me. boats were also drifting close in to the pier to get in on the action. I was casting a variety of jigs (cheap amazon ones, Yamashitas and DTDs) and leaving one under a float - but no joy in 2 hours - the pier got busier and busier as the evening moved on and it simple wasn't fun for me getting tangled with others casting over me from a mere arms length away - it was pretty much shoulder to shoulder. Id had enough and went back to my original mark to find only one other person there and plenty of water. First cast at dusk got a take on the DTD under a float but I lost it - never mind, within a few minutes i'm on again on the casting jig from CWeights- and then proceeded to catch squid after squid. i favoured the Cweights jig as it was working - but others were catching on a variety on styles and colours More turned up including a grandad and grandson and a few first timers - great to see them getting in on the action. You could see the squid follow the jig and if you slowed down you could watch the 'take' - even if you dropped one close in you could catch it again. when I got to 9 I was keen to get my double figures, but it had gone quiet, others had left and it was just me and one other - i didn't want to leave without my 10th - but luckily they came back - and i got another 4 - ending on 13 - and just under 4kg of fresh squid! brilliant fun and at 10.30pm I called it a night. Bait freezer nicely stocked up now - we get mackerel all year round here and the chance to bag up on squid in the autumn - apart from worms i don't spend any money on bait anymore! happy days!

Met at Tims boat for 7.30 and away by 7.45am Met with Flat calm conditions - eerily quiet with no wave noise! 1st entrance for bait - targeting mackerel and Squid. We'd had 2 good sized (20cm) squid and 6 decent mackerel within the hour - so off to the mark earlier than usual. We get to our mixed ground mark and drop the hook and start fishing - both on 2 rods - i'm on a 3 hook flapper with fresh squid strips for small stuff and one big rod with mackerel flapper for rays - Tim has gone with 2x big baits. Bream from the off for me - to the point i couldn't get my 2nd rod rigged and in for about 30 mins! and stayed like that all day - seriously constant. also getting poor cod, mackerel and small straps on the rig too - at one point i had a triple shot - poor cod on the bottom hook, Bream on the middle hook, and a mackerel took the top hook on the way up - certainly livened things up!! the big rod eventually got a look in, with a few bigger conger coming to the boat, then i sent a mackerel head down - usually deadly for a ray, huss or conger. wasn't long before something started to play with the bait - as I pulled into it I though I was snagged - but no, it was a fish, not much fight so i assumed Huss - but to my surprise a lovely Undulate came to the surface - quickly netted and in. she went to 56cm - any one know the weight conversion for a ray? then followed more action from the bream, conger Eels, mackerel and Scad. even had the smallest mackerel ive ever seen! Tim had congers all morning - and then switched to the bream. i must have had in excess of 25 bream and Tim got into double figures too - they are ferocious eaters, stripping baits like piranhas and great fun on light gear! the wind and tide couldn't make up their mind which was stronger so we called it at 3pm rather than swing around getting snagged and tangled. A great days fishing!

what charter were you on? we were out on sunday and had non stop bream all day (also using small yellow beads) but to be fair in Weymouth if the bream are there they become a nuisance! sounds like you had a good day though! apart from the weather!

yeah we were tucked in under redcliffe/ringstead so not far from you - we saw it come along the coast!

Met Tim at his boat at the usual 7.30am - off the pontoon before 8am. plans had to change due the fresh easterly as it was lumpier than expected - we went to Portlands 1st entrance in search of fresh mackerel and to try for the squid - seeing as id had some off the pier. wasnt long before we hit a shoal of scad, and as I was dealing with my scad tim spotted my squid rod going so pulled in a squid for me, few mackies on the next drift and my squid rod went again - this time a Cuttle that I lost on the surface. Tim literally mentioned we'd never had a cuttle on his boat as his rod went.... cuttle again - he managed to get the cuttle in the boat - happy days. I also manged a lovely Tub: due to the wind we chose to spend more time than usual gathering bait and ended up with 4 cuttle 2 each - (and 2 more lost on the surface), we had a squid each, a few scad, one Tub, and a bucket load of mackerel. the wind stayed up and time was pushing on so we decided to drift a couple of inshore wrecks & reefs the other side of the bay in the lee of the coast which produced a few pout to keep us entertained. not long into the afternoon the forecasted storms started to roll in from the channel - and once we saw flashes of lightening we called it a day around 2pm. soaking wet we split the proceeds - half the mackerel each and I took the cuttle for the bait freezer - Tim took the squid for his. not quite the plan, but nice to fill the bait freezer!

awesome!

amazing! well done!

yes they are very early and in numbers! being caught all along the south coast!

yeah i know the drop off - but you don't need to go that far - they can be caught right off the harbour entrances! we fish inside Portlands north entrance and get some decent size and volume! i was out sunday too and we had squid and cuttle inside. then the thunder came lol

yeah i'm with SF - this is Paul Weller tribute and MOD cuts not Oasis fans i am loving all these memes that are coming out though!

Weymouth is full of good charter skippers - Ryan on Meerkat, Luke on Snapper, Jamie on offshore rebel, Dave on Annalil etc etc bit further to drive but you get good turbot and bream fishing here, plus plenty of wrecks

new packs of feathers on the card backing are the worst - i attach a small lead to keep it taut, then undo one hook at a time - if someone takes all the hooks off at the same time that's their problem! i find winders are good for multi hook rigs, and use them on the boat but tend to use a wallet from the shore as you say malc, due to space in the tackle box

So i've seen quite a few reports of the squid being in early across the south coast - and despite failing form the boat on Tuesday, Thursday evening looked good for a spot of squidding form the shore. I got back from the office around 6.30 and was on the pier by 7pm - i was the only squidder amongst lost of other fisher men mostly targeting mackerel and it was very quiet for the 1st hour. I was using one jig under a float drifting in the breeze and a variety of casting jigs, switching colours every 20 mins or so. i use a variety of £15 yamashitas, mid range DTD, and cheap Chinese 50p jigs - all work equally on their day. as the sun set the pier started to empty so i moved to the end where the rock changes to sand and seagrass and the water gets a bit deeper - I spotted a couple of ink stains on the pier next to me ..... i was more hopeful now wasn't long before the float started moving against the wind - a tell tale sign - as Squid don't pull the float down - and bang - first squid of the season landed. on a mid range DTD Jig. i cast straight back out and let the float drift - on retrieving, i saw a quid on the surface following the lure so i stopped my retrieve and watched the squid attack the lure on the drop - bang off the float went back out.... bang 2nd squid in. despite trying again that was it - 2 squid within 5 mins during the 2hrs i was there and both were just as the sun dipped. A young lad next to me just lost a mackerel and a lure, then had a squid chase his 2nd lure, so I donated a squid jig to him to have a go - i have no idea if he got one or not as i left him with it. fingers crossed he got one! Home at 9.30pm and pan on for fresh squid rings! the other one in the bait freezer! a lovely evening!

Following the constant wind on my week off and the typical flat calm on my 1st day back - i though sod this - im going out after work - working from home and being 2 mins from the marina meant i can be off the pontoon shortly after 5pm. the plan was to drift the inshore sand for plaice, and tow a float for anything else as it was such a lovely evening my other half Kate wanted to join - this usually means keeping the bait and fish away from her as she 'hates' fish and just wants to bask in the peace.... however after seeing me catch a couple of mackerel on the float (it was her that spotted the float go under too) she asked if she could have a go at feathering - as long as i helped her. I was fishing 3 rods - one spinning rod for the float off the back for mackerel/gar, one plaice rig with rag in the off chance, and i chucked the squid jigs over for an even slimmer chance of an early squid in the sea grass. I had managed 2x mackerel in the first 2 drifts when Kate said she wanted a go - so i rigged up a 4th rod for her with tinsels. and bang - shortly after dropping down she reeled in a small pollock, followed by another, then a pout, then 3 mackerel, then another pollock and i think lost a pout at the surface...... (trust me she isn't holding them at arms length to make them look bigger - she did not learn that from me - that's just to get them as far away form her as possible!!!) in between unhooking her fish i was playing with a cuttle fish - it followed my jigs up so back down i went, and it was on, dropped at the surface so i grabbed the net, it then let go at the surface another 3 times before it gave up. never mind. 5 mackerel for the bait freezer, and full bragging rights to the newbee......... happy for her to overcome her fear and get to see the Buzz around landing a fish! cracking evening

this weeks been glorious now im back in the office!