mike farrants

sad news - she was really helpful to me when I was looking for a boat - wishing her a speedy recovery!

i do mine with mango- red onion, orange pepper, and mango - goes very well with fish i'll try water melon next time!

i think its more that that last cast never actually comes until we have caught something - then we can finish on a high!!

great report and a great fish! cant return them all, but if we all returned what we didn't absolutely need we'd be in a good place!

or perhaps hang them with eyes and bungees?

could use a series of long storage hooks bent to fit I picked up an undercounter freezer 2nd hand last night for £10 - perfect for bait.

hi clinker 👋 lovely looking boat!

yes power and mains water tap

in a couple of weeks ill be joining my mate on the drying grid in the marina for a bit of low tide scrubbing/jet washing. the grid has a couple of piles on each side and room for 2 boats - my plan is to get on with a few feet of tide under me still, run a loose loop around the wooden piles and drop a fender or two sideways to protect the hull, then sit and wait (adjusting as she drops) for her to dry out. then with a ladder on board already, get off and get scrubbing/pressure washing the hull - before climbing back on board to wait for the tide again. I will have with me - ladder, water proofs, wellies, Tea and snacks, scrubbing brush, hose, extension lead, pressure washer Having never done this id like to know any pointers? what gear to have with me, what to look for and what to do - any advice welcomed - I'm a complete novice to boat maintenance. Here she is before I owned her out of the water. - thanks!

welcome!

great write up and some lovely tope!

good fishing a bit of luck with you on the return journey - lucky you called time when you did! stay safe.

what i love about this place is the variety of fishing - turbot on the shambles, Rays on the adamant shoal, bream on lulworth ledges, smoothies, conger, tope, spurdogs in open water etc but the best bit is there are very decent fish very close in! was a great days fishing!

I wasn't too far from Portland harbour - so wondered if they came out from there to feed in the open ground? either way its my go to conger ground now!

thanks Chaps! landing net wasn't big enough for this one, and he wouldn't stay in the flexi tub! i'll look into a boga grip!!

Phil with my 2nd conger!

Saturday 19th June looked like a bit of a short trip out as 10-12mph East/SE winds were forecast from lunchtime which usually makes Weymouth bay a little uncomfortable, but as the wind was non existent first thing we thought we would at least head out and try for some fresh mackerel for the BBQ. We left the marina at 7.45 to near perfect conditions, and headed to Portlands north entrance, i had a mackie on the first drop, but it was slow going, the charter boats werent exactly hauling them in either, - Phil got a full sting of keepers and also got a lovely grey gurnard - all on sabikis - i had a few more on my daylights - in an hour we had enough for the BBQ, and some for bait, the weather was looking fine so we decided to anchor up close in so we could head back if needed. we settled for a mark off Portlands east entrance, where we had had conger before. Phil immediately started pulling in dogs, so at least we were catching! I had no luck on mackerel strip so thought i would bung a fresh mackerel head down and set the ratchet, while I set up a bream rig on another rod with small hooks and squid strip. wasn't long before the ratchet started clicking, and bang - my PB Conger - put up a great fight and was a right grumpy sod in the boat - couldn't weigh it so lets call it 20lb+ - was knackered so went back down with half a squid instead - hoping for a smoothie. before long the bream rod rattled and up came my first ever red gurnard - a nice surprise! then the other rod went and bang - target achieved - a nice smoothie! the bream rod then went nuts, and snap - off came the bottom hook - i assumed conger as the snood was roughed up - re-hooked and back down. then my main rod went and up came another lovely (greedy) grunty 1lb Red Gurnard new PB! then the bream rod again, and snapped off the bottom hook again. (still no Dogs for me) - Phil was laughing at the chaos - as no sooner had i put a fish back the other rod went! Next up for me was another conger, not so big - this one spat out my distinctive yellow hook from the bream rig - confirmed my assumptions. things then calmed down, midday came with no wind so we checked in with our "Heads of Fun & Finance" to see if we could stay out longer - permission granted - so we decided to stick out to high water at 2pm (which is when the wind picked up) I then had 2 dogs and another decent conger, - phil had a quiet time - payback for when he out fished me the other week! on returning to Weymouth we heard a mayday in newtons cove - less than 1/2 mile form our position - lad with his ankle stuck in prop - seeing a string of ribs & fast boats make their way and knowing it would take us longer to get there than the lifeboat we continued our journey in. Casualty was recovered and transferred to ambulance by a training rib on scene. cracking day with mixed results - and the mackerel was delicious!

complete surprise on this trip - had my first ever red gurnard on saturday - only a small one, but it was followed quickly by my 2nd and biggest at 1lb both on squid strip stunning fish (although a bit grunty)

will do a catch report - but this beast fell to fresh mackerel head, over clean ground in weymouth bay! It put up a good fight in the water and an even better one in the boat! didn't weigh it as it wouldn't stay in the flexi-tub - not sure how best to weigh a conger ? thoughts on weight? got to be over 20lbs right?

interesting choice of float 😆

but you werent catching doggies? 🤪

nice fish - great kayak set up! where were you fishing>?

for me its for the shock of actually catching a fish? 😆 yes sorry - im still 70% shore fisherman - still quite new to boat fishing!!

yes backing the spool is just pre loading the spool with some cheaper mono - couple of reasons 1 - braid is so much thinner, you'll need a lot more of it to fill the spool and 2/3rds of that wont even get wet - saves money 2 - if you didnt pre fill the spool and just put less braid on - the rolling diameter of the spool will be smaller than a full spool and retreive will be slower 3 - Braid can slip on the spool - a good bed of mono gives it somethign to bite into. you will also need a shock leader. as an example - i fish in around 100ft of water max, i bought 300ft of 50lb braid and put half on each reel, after loading the spool 3/4 of the way with mono. I think have 2x rod lengths of 30lb mono for a leader also make sure you load your braid on under tension - a damp towel, finger grip, any thing will do - just dont load it on loose as it will bite and bury on the spool when you have a fish - a good idea the first time you use it is to drop down with a heavy weight and reel back in a few times to settle it in. others may offer different advice, this is just what i've done.