jonnyswamp

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

Theres an app simply called "Tides" on Android by a chap called David Easton which is good as it includes a storm surge correction and also tabs that give wave heights and directions. No weather but the waves are useful and predict a few days in advance
 

I use the actual tide height to enter a tidal offset on my Garmin Quickdraw contours so they have some resemblance to reality in tidal waters (near shore for me)

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

Yeah he did well to haul it up from 150ft

Glad to see you got out Nick!!👍🏻

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

"Tides near me" on my phone and "tides4fishing" on my laptop, never identical but not far away

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

It was a bit snotty steaming between marks, and the Rannie was quite angry today

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

You got out, you caught fish. What's not to like?! Well dangled, and well skippered too. Sounds like you and the crew had to work for your fish. Good effort 👍

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

What was noticeable was that jigs out fished “normal” feathers by a wide margin….
Its certainly got me thinking about SPJ and running dedicated SPJ trips next year….

BTW, did you loose many jigs? those reefs can be very tackle hungry

No one colour that outperformed the others, they were hitting them all. What I did notice however was that I was able to fish for longer on each drop if I used a slimmer, teardrop shaped jig. The flat, butterfly style jigs would catch the tide and head off past the stern more quickly, so I got less fishing time per drop with those ones. Also harder to feel the bottom with them.

There is some tremendous sport to be had in amongst those islands and offshore reefs
Nice one 👍

So perhaps the title is a bit click-baity, but what was supposed to be a two day sharking trip on Odyssey, with @Odyssey to celebrate @Saintly Fish's birthday got blown out and turned into a Dad's & Lads reefing session, with Neil and I keen to get some proper use out of our SPJ gear.


We locked out at dawn but as we left the shelter of Milford Haven it became obvious that the conditions hadn't yet improved like they were supposed to... I blame Michael Fish for that 😖.
So plan B was quickly formulated to visit the inshore islands for some drifting for pollack followed by downtiding at anchor to see what was home while the weather settled. The short answer was... not a lot. Some small pollack and poor cod on the drift and at anchor just a solitary dogfish to the skipper (#welljell!) and an inquisitive squid that followed my baited feathers to the surface but didn't commit himself to the bait.
As the conditions eased we motored out to a series of reefs - the plan was to drift for some better pollack. Neil and I were to experiment with our SPJ gear over slack water and we didn't have to wait long for the fish. Lots of hits and lots of table sized pollack over the gunnels in short order. They were hitting the jigs consistently, just off the bottom. Any colour would do, as long as it was about two turns up from the sea floor.

Other species also fell to the jigs. Neil had a scad if I remember correctly, and Leo had a PB which I'll leave to Neil to share the details of 👍.
It didn't take long for the fish box to fill up and we called it a day after one of our crew nearly vomited himself overboard... #somepeoplearejustnotcutoutforboating

So, a great day's fishing snatched from the jaws of defeat. JAWS will have to wait until next season however.
A big thank you to @Odyssey for hosting and skippering 👍.

Today has been on the cards all week, albeit a little colder, sea conditions looked favourable until mid afternoon, however, with spring tides we needed an early start to be back on the slip for 12:30.
Yes, a lot colder, at 7:00am I cleared the frost off the jeep (2c), picked up Kyle, and we launched at 7:30.
The plan was to go for some more cuttle and squid, which would give us a good bait stock for the winter.
A short steam to our usual mark and we were soon into the cuttle and the odd squid, all of which were a decent size. The sea was NOT as forecast and was a tad lumpy, but very doable.
Kyle also sent down some baited hokkai’s and was rewarded with Grey’s, dogs, scad, and Mackerel.
One of the cuttle got its own back on me, I left it in the net over the side of the boat whilst I unhooked the jig from the mesh, and it got me full in the face with a shed load of ink !
All too soon it was time to head back in, but we had more than met our target with 24 cuttle, 6 squid, dogs, gurnards, scad, and Mack.
The boat took a lot of cleaning as both cuttle and squid are dirty bastids.
The Bait freezer is now completely full, with 41 decent cuttle, 12 large squid, over 200 mackerel and a load of king prawn. This winter we might target winter Cod, a big ask in our location, but I have a couple of marks in mind. Also, Kyle wants a 25 - 30lb winter Blond off the skerries.
Kyle with the smallest dog I have ever seen 🤣
 

 

Cracking report, very informative thread
If by Grey, you mean Grey Gurnard, then the current boat caught record is 2lb 8oz 14dr
So your near 3lber will/would have been a new British record
 

Marina competition and just two of us instead of three on the boat, booked in and off we go into pretty much flat calm. As we were nearing the wreck we had wanted to fish we saw a commercial on it so went to a 2nd option. 
Plenty of snags and 2 whiting, on 8/0's and baited muppets, later we changed our plan and tried inshore and again it was pretty clear that the fish weren't interested in what we had to offer, soft plastic lures, muppets, fine slithers of fresh mackerel...
We too and froed and picked up a trio of fair sized codling and returned a few tiddlers and I even had problems getting 4" sandeel slugs through the mackerel at times so it wasn't easy, even the commercial and pleasure anglers were moving about a lot. 
We returned earlier than expected and were told we were the only ones weighing in so far with 40 minutes to the end of the competition. Things were looking good as the last competition we didn't weigh in 3 fair pollock and a sub 2lb ling won (all gutted weight) which was gutting for us.
5 minutes to go and there was no boats in the lock or the pontoon so we had it, grand slam!
Bottle of beer to celebrate, £100 voucher for marina work and I think £75 cash so it all goes back into the boat!
Played for and got 🍾🎣

I use 25lb straight through if in the Bristol channel, weed can gather on the leader knot and jam up in the top eye. A pita if you have a decent fish on
If reefing or wrecking I always use a rubbing leader similar to GPS's reply 
I have had the mono snap on occasions if there's no real tide and the line gets caught around some coral or rough ground, but that's usually my fault for either letting too much line out or just being lazy and not keeping my eye on the ball
 

We are all very sorry for your loss, and I am 100% certain that @GPSguru would never mean to cause you and your family pain. He would most probably have taken his info from an official statement (whether that was incorrect, he would not have known). 
Please accept our apologies for any offence caused! 🙏🏻