mike farrants

I went out on Sunday on my friends boat (a very nice bennetau anteres)- tried for fresh mackerel but nothing doing (except for a good pollock on feathers!) so we went to the shambles with frozen mackerel to target turbot, drift was slow, and only produced doggies, and it was uncomfortable and freezing - so we moved to the adamant bank and anchored and I had Blonde ray and a few more doggies, friend had dogs, whiting, and an eel. we then moved further into the bay and anchored again with another friend who had come out on his boat - more dogs for both boats!cracking 10hour day!

since this has been resurrected i'll give my story born and bred on the IOW, no dad to take me fishing, but granny and grandad lived at a marina (island harbour now) and grandad was an ex racing yachtsman - flying fifteens, and so I was presented with a mirror dinghy at an early age and sent off to sea scouts - i grew up sailing and rowing on the river medina with my family - upgraded to a topper, and did a school trip with the ocean youth club from Cowes to weymouth and back (funny how i've ended up in Weymouth now!) got into fishing in my early teens as my mum sent me off with a family friend - river fishing for bass and flounder, and he had a little cuddy boat too, I got into the IOW angling club and competed quite well- fishing the piers, beaches and rivers. soon got into my late teens and found surfing was better respected by the girls in school than fishing and swapped rods for surfboards. Mum re-married a Sailor - ex merchant seamen and then Sargent on the marine police launch Ashburton - patrolling the solent - he later became Harbour master at newtown creek and Commodore of the Cowes Corinthian yacht club - many trips aboard his 28ft yacht "Lonestar" - but not much fishing - except for him spearing mullet in the marina, and netting prawns Where ever he anchored up Sadly he passed away from Cancer 10yrs ago and that's where the boating ended (for a while) I had moved inland for a career and occasionally went on charter trips out of Mudeford or lymington never fishing the IOW despite visiting family many times - still surfing though. I recently moved to Weymouth for a job and got back into fishing in the last 2 years, and now have a boat too (Colvic 20) - mostly for the fishing - but also to explore the local coastline of Weymouth. I think my step dad would have been mightily proud of my achievements, pleased with Pugwash (despite it not having sails) and would have loved to come and show me his old anchorages round the Dorset coast! Its poignant as tomorrow actually marks 10yrs of his passing. RIP John Banks

I'll have vertical rod holders on deck for moving about - its for locked away stowage when not on board - so might be alright - but yes dont want them rocking about. i've emailed them - theres always no more nails type contact adhesive

great price on the cool bags too - might get a couple of them - one for lunch - one for bait - not to be mixed up! do you think the ceiling rod holders will hold on a fibreglass ceiling with double sided tape/3M/command strips?

annoyingly she on the IOW and grew up on the hamble, so would deffo approve!

that could be an option but if its 1st weekend in July that's also Mums birthday weekend (3rd) and having not seen her for so long I expect she will want to come and stay - i'll have to remain as a maybe i'm afraid? unless she comes down the following weekend (and no I cant bring her fishing as her birthday present! ..... or can i....... 🤪)

bit too much of a long chug for me i'm afraid!

id feel drunk or sea sick looking at that 😆 class bit of kit though! shiney!

sounds like a plan - although i may swap the d shackle for a allen key style one so it goes through the alderney ring easier!

even if its at the top end of the chain?

thanks for the input! I agree it is most likely a one off fluke - but I think for peace of mind and to provide a connection thats more streamlined through the alderney ring than a D Shackle I will invest in a swivel, its more for peace of mind in case the danforth was spinning in the tide as I hauled it up! i'll attach it between the chain and rope as I still wish to trip the anchor if needed. it cant hurt to add one surely!

one of these ^? should I use lock tight on the screws? and should it be at the anchor end of the chain or the rope end of the chain? as this is more streamlined than a d shackle surely this will go through the alderney ring easier too?

no swivel joint no, and its a danforth so quite a bit of surface area - I did wonder about a swivel - its attached with a D shackle to a hard eye spliced in the rope. i'll get a swivel before the next trip - any suggestions on type and where to buy?

i have a battery isolator switch that was off - so nothing drawing other then the solar trickle charge, maybe that went wrong?

i would put more pics up but they're all too big in file size?

yeah that's me in the pic and yes i was well chuffed - what a specimen first fish to bring aboard (we t-barred the conger at the side) couldnt say the dog was the target species but happy to catch anything! we anchored in a flowing tide and went astern as we dropped the anchor - it deffo wasn't tied up as it went over the side - so who knows - as long as its not a common occurrence as that was hard work!

ok on to the trip - started at 7am on saturday 28th Feb Weymouth marina, got her warmed up and and sorted out the anchor, buoy and ring. Foredeck was like an ice rink but it was a gorgeous morning! loaded up with gear and supplies and headed off the pontoon at 9am. chugged out for a few miles (about an hour) to a mark my mate showed me - accompanied by a small pod of dolphins - dropped anchor and started fishing the ebb - squid and mackerel on simple ledgers - fishing started brilliantly, with me pulling in a strap conger on the first drop with one rod and then a starry smooth-hound on the first drop of the 2nd rod. My mate had a decent Thornie on his first drop. I had 2 smoothies & 2 congers, and he had 3 thornies - I was using smaller baits and shorter traces than him -- but seemed odd he had his species off one side i had a different species off mine! 🙂 I struggled to hold bottom in the tide with 8oz weights so had to double up for a while (i dont have anything bigger yet - its on the list) things went quiet at slack water then picked up a bit as the flood started - between us we then pulled in pouting, whiting, and one Dog. pulled up the anchor at 3.30pm with the alderney method = he drove and i pulled in the rope but twice it pulled back through - so after the 2nd failed attempt we hand balled the anchor up to find the chain had tied a knot or loop in itself that wouldnt go through the alderney ring - very strange as we had let it out slowley when we dropped anchor - only thing I can think is it either piled up on itself after the first failed lift? or perhaps the anchor spun and twisted the chain into a knot? very odd..... We got back to the marina at 5pm and packed up - after a thoroughly brilliant day! learnt so much and got a bit more used to handling the boat.

almost a false start - went to run her up friday night ahead of going out saturday morning and noticed the solar charger display said the battery was 11.9v - she wouldn't start - so a quick trip to Halfords and a new battery on 12.8v and she fired up on first turn of the key - disaster avoided! I replaced like for like battery - However the old one was a leisure battery- I didn't think they should be used for heavy loads like starting engines? I might be wrong though as i haven't a clue- all i know is I have a starter battery and a leisure battery in my Van and they are different - can anyone shed any light?

theres blondes, undulates, spurs, eels all out in the bay! i'll let you know how i get on!

are they fresh or salt water?

got my A2 buoy, alderney ring, 150m nylon rope, flare pack and the guy who sold the boat to me is going to take me out tomorrow and show me it all - plus we might dangle a hook over the side while we are at it! excited is not the word!

im the category manager for "a well know trades retailer" and look after outdoor- inc hoses - so would be good to get your verdict on the hosecoil - who makes it? we do mostly Hozelock, & Fitt Spa hoses - some own brand. ive found the hozelock superhose to be good (when used correctly) and the YoYo stretch hose - both pack away nice and small.

if thats "not fully stocked or merchandised" i dont know what it - looks amazing! would put to shame many a retailer! good work! awesome looking showroom!