jonnyswamp

We went out just after low and were in 27ft IIRC on a small rising tide I prefer to fish in 20 - 50 ft for uptiding, anything more and you can have trouble holding the leads When we moved out wide, we were anchored in around 40 ft with the stern over a drop off of another 20 odd foot, only really doable on a small tide Have also anchored in 5/6ft a bit further up the channel on a sand bank and caught Bass on a small rising tide as well My arse was getting a bit twitchy before I dropped the anchor though on that day

Just Mark as crew today as my old stalwart has arthritis in his knees and sadly had to miss today Through the 7.30 lock with a few other boats for company and out onto this Just the slightest bit of wind and a flat sea, perfect Decided on Clevedon area on the way down to the boat and soon had Penarth disappearing in the distance Decided on Ladye Bay as first stop, then if no good, had plenty of marks to chose from all within 10 mins or so which would be fishable on this small tide 6 rods out between us with Blow lug, rag, squid, prawn just producing the one bite Bit of a runt, but still a Cod(ling) of around 2lb It would've gone back (honest) but my mainline had wrapped around some rough ground and the bite didn't really register and by the time I'd brought it in, it was practically dead With that being the only fish, we moved out a bit wider and positioned the stern just over a drop off More action here, with some double figure conger, rays and dogs coming in very regularly I then had that distinctive nod and brought in another small codling a bit bigger than the first at around 3 ish No pics sorry as I gutted it pretty much straight away to see what was in it's gut Not long after and about an hour before high, Nipper pulled this into the net Not a monster, but at a shade under 8lb, a decent Cod at last Stayed until high catching more dogs, then used the tide to get back down around Penarth where we had more dogs Called it a day at 3.45 and got the 4.15 lock back in A boat along side us had two 11lbers and one 3lb, while the other 2 boats had no cod, only dogs/rays/conger Lots of what I assume to be sprats showing on the sounder and water temp showing 8.5*c (it was still 14 a few weeks ago) All fish stuffed with prawn/shrimp and one or 2 sprats

Nice one @Abozzy I'm hoping to get out Monday if the weather holds

Belter of a day by the looks of it Similar to our club comp yesterday 🤣

I've always looked a bit beyond my years 🤣

Cracking day I use o'shaunessy 6/0 for most of my fishing up here out of Cardiff, never had one of these straighten and they keep their point very well But have had a few cheap 4/0 top hooks snap, will be binning the ones I have (le peucher 4/0 crab hooks with the bent eye) and getting something decent

This was how I felt today, not my actual age I'm a mere nipper at 52 😁

I heard about the rows at the weigh in, but I wasn't there so couldn't say it wasn't bullshit A lot of shit on Facebook yesterday, but that's to be expected on there Due to the locks debacle, I think the weigh in should've been extended, at least it would've pacified some Although when there's that much money at stake, there's nowt as queer as folk

Yeah, the committee have taken a slating judging by some facebook posts I have been sent They always had a policy of catering for the small boat when deciding if the comp should go ahead, don't think they did today Heard there was a few dummies spat out at the weigh in as it was slightly extended, then closed with still dozens of boats stuck in or waiting outside the locks

74 today 😲

This will be very brief Caught the 7am lock out and joined the armada gathered around the end of Penarth pier to wait for the 8am starting hooter That sounded and the wacky races started with boats going in all directions We headed down around the Sully area and anchored about a mile uptide of Odyssey (looked like his boat, it had a pair of Yam 50's on the back I think) First over the gunnels (or rather T barred off at the side) was a conger around 14/16lb mark, I then hooked a slug but didn't count the beards so don't know which one it was I think that's Luke in the background A few rays, dogs and more straps came off this mark, before we moved out into deeper water Not for long as we couldn't hold anchor, so a short move up channel and it held fine More dogs and rays here until slack low when we had a move up to Cardiff foreshore through a very unhappy Rannie with wind against tide The strong Northerly had been with the tide until the turn and was doable, it was now against it and kept us side on and was beginning to be not doable for my elderly crew (av age 73) Pulled the pin at 3.30 as there was a queue for the one lock that was open of around 30 boats Couldn't open the others as they were silted up and didn't have enough water to be usable until around 4.30 In all fairness they've only had a bloody year to prepare We got in the lock at around 5 with boats as far as I could see queued up behind us Think I spotted Odyssey side on just out side the outer harbour at one point 🙄 Dropped the crew off and tied up on pontoon by 6 The weigh in deadline was 6.15 and this was all that was caught up to 6 oclock The committee were very strict on times at the last comp, but with the fiasco of the locks, I don't know if there were any concessions Did hear of an 18lb cod caught down Aberthaw way by a Cardiff charter (didn't see it, so can't be sure) Hope you all had more luck than me and my crew

Nice haul there jonc 🙄🤣

At least you got back in under your own steam. Saw a few under tow Yeah, rannie was choppy on way back up The locks were a joke though, they've had months to prepare for this and couldn't manage to dredge the locks so that all could be used The queues were horrendous, boats stacked up out side the wrach channel

Any cod on anyone's decks ? We're wide off sully hospital and only conger and a rockling up to know Looks like Odyssey has moved close in after being about a mile down channel of us

Not looking promising for Sunday🙄

Unlucky mate, very patchy at the moment Good effort though 👍

That's what I have Originally I had 1 house and 1 starter, added a third and wired it in parralel with the house I want to be able to separate the house batteries from each other, just in case one goes bad and brings the other down with it So can another controller be wired in to the existing panel ?

I've got a 100w solar panel with a dual mppt controller, this has been fine for 2 batteries, but I've recently added a third Can 2 controllers (I can't find any that have 3 battery outputs, only dual) be connected to one panel and will this be enough to keep 3 batteries topped up (110 ah start and 2 x 90ah house) Or should I just get another kit and use 1 panel for starting and 1 for house batteries ?

Result 👍 I have the opposite problem, mine shows too high Quite common on arvors apparently

Excellent couple of trips, glad that you're back out and catching 👍 I WILL get to use my spj gear on a wreck......

Where did you fish yesterday (Sunday) and did you get out today (Monday) BTW, welcome 👍

I may go down round the corner until low, then come back up on the flood and squeeze in on the coral/rannie for the last couple of hours Or, as you say, use a fivers worth of fuel and stay local all day When fish are few and far between (cod) I tend to get itchy feet and don't like staying in one place

The coral was like a marina yesterday 🤣

Liked the joke (first time around) but the bloke telling it is annoying 4.5