mike farrants

oh ok - if they just stop it from moving around or getting splashed on then it should be fine as it is - my last battery died over the winter so I wanted to avoid it happening again thinking it could have been exposure to the elements, thanks @Saintly fish - might be keen - if you are at the poole meet i might take you up on 1 if thats ok?

thinking of winter coming - my battery is in the cabin, under a bench, nestled in a wooden crate to spot it moving, but has very little protection from the damp & cold - i've seen plastic battery boxes, and think this would offer some protection - but i've seen them for £15 and £80 - what's the difference, how important are they? can you get insulated ones? my car battery has an insulation sleeve around it. any recommendations? thanks in advance!

go to transfers, click the player you wish to sack, hit remove player, check how much funds you have, then go to player list and select the player you wish to add (within funds) and confirm. you can do 1 free transfer per week, and if you need to make 2 - it will either cost you points, or you can wait a week and get 2 free ones the next week. let me know if you want more info! happy to do a few screen grabs if it helps?

i leave the spool loose in a washing up tub, stand over it, add tension to the line with my finger and thumb and wind on - the spool does its little dance in the tub without rolling around the floor and it seems to untwist itself as it goes!

whichever is the best technique i guess - open to ideas!

what rigs are people using for mullet? - I know they are difficult to catch, but its the perfect pastime while chilling on the boat in the marina on windy days - there's tons of bigguns sat under my boat all day - ive tried free lining bread, and also tried a bubble float - i see others using freshwater stick floats? any tips? other than a spear?

i might try again tomorrow evening after work......

yeah was awesome - and good to see a few more mackerel - they were still being caught off the pier here in October - so hopefully the best is yet to come!

cheers! no both gurnards were a tad small

Sundays plans changed and what was going to be a day of sitting around watching sport turned into a mackerel fest! the in laws went home earlier than expected and the Mrs decided to go watch some local footy (she plays for Weymouth ladies) - leaving me with the afternoon to myself - with +20degs and barely a breath of wind I decided to go out on pugwash solo for some mackerel and I wasn't disappointed! was a lovely day, was out for about 4 hours - did a number of drifts around Portland's north entrance, and managed a total of 2 Gurnard and 17 mackerel - when I got to 9 I was keen to get to double figures, but as a string of 4 came over the gunwales I soon flew past that - didn't quite get to 20! happy days - bait freezer half full now! *edit* I was working one set of The ranges finest fladen disco feathers and also had a string of baited daylights static over the side in a rod holder hoping for a bream - only 2 mackies fell to the baited feathers the rest on the worked feathers.

Looks like an awesome day out - good mixed species! I was out too and actually saw the rebel coming back in - I was close into portland north entrance!

oh im happy to drop anchor alone - i meant retrieving it (alderney ring method) - is much easier with 2 people.

turbot = the finest eating fish in my view! nice write up - any pics?

good luck, know you limits, know what the weather is forcast to do, remember swell isnt always the same strength or direction as the current wind, dont push too hard or too far - a short trip mackereling on the drift would be a good place to start - or stick to an estuary and mooring. i've found that I simply wont anchor alone, only with able crew as its when things are likely to not go to plan. and remember - always better to be on land wishing you were at sea than at sea wishing you were on land. oh and dont forget the bait! 🙂 good luck and have fun!

a decent one fell to a slow jig on a wreck near me yesterday...... saw it posted on facebook by luremaker from portland

even cheaper for me - i work for screwfix!

yeah exactly that - i got into a rhythm after a while as soon as i looked back i lost it again 🤪

no cushions on pugwash - of any variety!

Had my in-laws stay for a week and Phil loves fishing, so i took some time off work and hoped for the weather. Sunday 22nd catch report is up but as a re-cap - we feathered for mackerel outside portland harbour and managed a few - 3 over a 1lb and for the table plus a couple for bait - Phil also got a small gurnard. we were joined by a friend on his boat who also bagged a few mackies before we headed off to anchor - we chose to anchor close in due to the fresh breeze (15mph) but my mate went further out - we had a load of dogs and phil got his thornie, i had a small conger (our friend had a 33lb conger before it got too rough). Steering linkage broke on the way in but i have a tiller so no drama - it was fixed the next day. Wed 25th Aug - wind was fresh and from the east (never good for weymouth) so we cautiously headed out - big swell heading into the bay so we headed inside portland harbour - we tried both entrances for mackerel and managed a few - wind was forecast to drop but the swell wasnt so we choose to anchor inside portland harbour for somethign different. Sat on 40ft of water over flat ground we weren't quite sure what to target - so phil went with big mackerel fillet on the bottom and i went for a bream rig with squid, we also dropped the feathers back over and left them and i rigged up a frozen sandeel under a float hoping for a passing bass. i soon got plagued by pin whiting - but this gave me a live bait to try under the float. phil had his 2nd thornie of the week after a huge take! I gave up on the bream rig and switched to a whole mackerel head hoping to entice a conger out form the wall..... after the excitement of a token mackerel taking the stationary feathers i gave up on the whole head and passed it to phil who promptly slung it down and pulled up a decent conger within minutes - it snapped off as i lifted it out of the water - 2nd hand mackerel head did the trick! we had a very slow day - but it was absolutely gorgeous - feet up kind of day! the trip back was a surprise - in the bay the swell had built and although the wind had dropped it was a solid 1m groundswell on our rear quarter - surfing back in (pugwash is slower than the swell) was tricky - trying to keep in a straight line meant constant movement of the steering wheel - not totally unpleasant - but not conditions i would like again for a while. Friday 27th was due to be the best day and again we managed to get a handfull of mackerel before heading out to a further mark in the main bay - in 80ft of water we hoped for a bit more fish - but was pretty much the same - a thornie each and the usual dogs. cracking couple of days out - lots of new experiences too -all part of the learning! red gloves got a good bit of use too.........

bunting - keeps the seagulls off.......

Awesome day out! looking forward to the pics!

similar system here - we first thought it was the bolt that goes in the green circle - but was in fact the nut circled in red - it had come loose over time and i guess one to check every couple of months - easy fix at sea if it happens again - easy enough access and as long as i have a lookout on board holding the rudder still i could tighten up myself at sea.

headline - steering fixed with relative ease. went down the boat and met my mate who is the previous owner and his son (who is technically minded) - we (his son) looked at the steering box behind/infront of the wheel and noticed a centre nut and bolt was missing - the nut had dropped behind the box - (not the big wheel boss nut and bolt - i would have noticed that), thinking it was that we re-tightened it and hoped for the best - no luck - steering still jamming in centre. perhaps the bolt was just holding the box cover on.... refocussing our (his) attention to the other end of the cable, we (they) noticed a large bolt had come off the threaded bar that joins the rudder and slid down the cable - having tightened this back up it all worked - a small amount of tweaking on the threaded bar to locate the rudder with the same amount of lock in each direction and we (they) were done in less than an hour. Guess i need to go and hide few cans of Thatchers on their boat now! grateful for a friendly helpful boating community!

at least there's keepers on board!