jonnyswamp

Good write up. Made me chuckle with "guru ghillie" 🤣

No work booked in this week due to being on a training course from Tues to Fri, so kept Mon free just in case......
Didn't make any plans, so didn't ask anyone else, just got up Mon morning and decided to go
Grabbed some dirty squid from the bait freezer, bought some rag on the way down (along with some food) and got to the boat around 10am hoping to get the 10.30 lock out
Had to wait a few extra minutes in the lock for another boat to  join us and was out the other side not long after, ready to make the short steam to a mark wide of the Coral
With only an hour or so before low slack, I decided on anchoring in a position that would sit me over a hole on the flood, expecting the fishing until the turn of the tide to be dire as this ground looked to be featureless. I decided this as, being on my own, I didn't want the faff of retrieving and resetting the anchor too many times
2 downtide rods out baited with just Squid, then 2 uptiders with Rag/squid heads on each
Not expecting much yet, I put the kettle on
The last uptider to be cast out starting rattling, I wound into it and pulled it in hoping it was a small codling
It wasn't, it was a small strap Conger that broke the surface. So I left it in the tide while I poured my cup of tea (the effing kettle was going like a 70's factory hooter and making sauna of the cabin) then T barred it off to enjoy my cuppa and a rocky bar (chocolate type not caramel)
Next to go was one of the downtiders with another strap, this one a bit better at around 12/14lb. Didn't have chance to Tbar this one, as soon as he/she saw me, it/they turned into a Tasmanian devil and snapped me off. Happily though, both my hooks were left on the swim platform
Not long after I had a small Thornie on the other uptider, quickly followed by a very sizeable dog (though on reflection it may have been a Huss pup)
Pretty much bang on low water the last virgin rod (2nd downtider) made a couple of nods, on bringing this in I was expecting another small strap due to the state of the tide and was pleasantly surprised to see the head of a Codling appear through coffee coloured water
He went 4 and a quarter lb and put a bit of a smile on my face
It also had another baited hook in it's mouth, which looked like a fairly fresh peeler crab that must have come from one of the 3 other boats that were all quite close (I was first out of the locks and everyone followed me to my mark, obviously aware that I know of the guru ghillie that is Jonc and that some of his wisdom has rubbed off on me)
A celebratory cup of tea and another Rocky bar kept me busy until the tide turned and I was now over the honey hole
Now I'll see some action !!!
Loaded all the traces with the various baits and sent them all out and waited
Retrieved, rebaited, cast out and waited
Rinse and repeat x 4
And waited again until 2.45 when I reeled in the untouched baits again, pulled anchor and got the 3.15pm lock back in
What an anticlimax after a good start, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we can't always expect an Aussie jon day
 

No work booked in this week due to being on a training course from Tues to Fri, so kept Mon free just in case......
Didn't make any plans, so didn't ask anyone else, just got up Mon morning and decided to go
Grabbed some dirty squid from the bait freezer, bought some rag on the way down (along with some food) and got to the boat around 10am hoping to get the 10.30 lock out
Had to wait a few extra minutes in the lock for another boat to  join us and was out the other side not long after, ready to make the short steam to a mark wide of the Coral
With only an hour or so before low slack, I decided on anchoring in a position that would sit me over a hole on the flood, expecting the fishing until the turn of the tide to be dire as this ground looked to be featureless. I decided this as, being on my own, I didn't want the faff of retrieving and resetting the anchor too many times
2 downtide rods out baited with just Squid, then 2 uptiders with Rag/squid heads on each
Not expecting much yet, I put the kettle on
The last uptider to be cast out starting rattling, I wound into it and pulled it in hoping it was a small codling
It wasn't, it was a small strap Conger that broke the surface. So I left it in the tide while I poured my cup of tea (the effing kettle was going like a 70's factory hooter and making sauna of the cabin) then T barred it off to enjoy my cuppa and a rocky bar (chocolate type not caramel)
Next to go was one of the downtiders with another strap, this one a bit better at around 12/14lb. Didn't have chance to Tbar this one, as soon as he/she saw me, it/they turned into a Tasmanian devil and snapped me off. Happily though, both my hooks were left on the swim platform
Not long after I had a small Thornie on the other uptider, quickly followed by a very sizeable dog (though on reflection it may have been a Huss pup)
Pretty much bang on low water the last virgin rod (2nd downtider) made a couple of nods, on bringing this in I was expecting another small strap due to the state of the tide and was pleasantly surprised to see the head of a Codling appear through coffee coloured water
He went 4 and a quarter lb and put a bit of a smile on my face
It also had another baited hook in it's mouth, which looked like a fairly fresh peeler crab that must have come from one of the 3 other boats that were all quite close (I was first out of the locks and everyone followed me to my mark, obviously aware that I know of the guru ghillie that is Jonc and that some of his wisdom has rubbed off on me)
A celebratory cup of tea and another Rocky bar kept me busy until the tide turned and I was now over the honey hole
Now I'll see some action !!!
Loaded all the traces with the various baits and sent them all out and waited
Retrieved, rebaited, cast out and waited
Rinse and repeat x 4
And waited again until 2.45 when I reeled in the untouched baits again, pulled anchor and got the 3.15pm lock back in
What an anticlimax after a good start, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we can't always expect an Aussie jon day
 

Just a few screenshots from my last time in the water. I did get a little underwater footage of Risso dolphins but the fact they were around 30m away didn’t show them up to well. My daughter missed out filming a good sized tiger shark, thinking she had turned on her head mounted GoPro, while in fact she’d turned it off!!!!!
The blue water is the view looking down into the deep water beyond the continental shelf, staring down watching beams of light makes shapes and colours is extremely relaxing for me.
The other fish on shallow reefs is what most of any shallow structures look like around my area. Often these shallow reefs will have large schools of pelagic species and plenty of sharks feeding on them. 
 
I’m skippering a couple of lads on the weekend for a spearfishing comp, so most likely won’t get chance for a swim myself.
This is a bit of a boredom post, having had a quiet day of doing Bugger all.

 

 

 

 

 

No work booked in this week due to being on a training course from Tues to Fri, so kept Mon free just in case......
Didn't make any plans, so didn't ask anyone else, just got up Mon morning and decided to go
Grabbed some dirty squid from the bait freezer, bought some rag on the way down (along with some food) and got to the boat around 10am hoping to get the 10.30 lock out
Had to wait a few extra minutes in the lock for another boat to  join us and was out the other side not long after, ready to make the short steam to a mark wide of the Coral
With only an hour or so before low slack, I decided on anchoring in a position that would sit me over a hole on the flood, expecting the fishing until the turn of the tide to be dire as this ground looked to be featureless. I decided this as, being on my own, I didn't want the faff of retrieving and resetting the anchor too many times
2 downtide rods out baited with just Squid, then 2 uptiders with Rag/squid heads on each
Not expecting much yet, I put the kettle on
The last uptider to be cast out starting rattling, I wound into it and pulled it in hoping it was a small codling
It wasn't, it was a small strap Conger that broke the surface. So I left it in the tide while I poured my cup of tea (the effing kettle was going like a 70's factory hooter and making sauna of the cabin) then T barred it off to enjoy my cuppa and a rocky bar (chocolate type not caramel)
Next to go was one of the downtiders with another strap, this one a bit better at around 12/14lb. Didn't have chance to Tbar this one, as soon as he/she saw me, it/they turned into a Tasmanian devil and snapped me off. Happily though, both my hooks were left on the swim platform
Not long after I had a small Thornie on the other uptider, quickly followed by a very sizeable dog (though on reflection it may have been a Huss pup)
Pretty much bang on low water the last virgin rod (2nd downtider) made a couple of nods, on bringing this in I was expecting another small strap due to the state of the tide and was pleasantly surprised to see the head of a Codling appear through coffee coloured water
He went 4 and a quarter lb and put a bit of a smile on my face
It also had another baited hook in it's mouth, which looked like a fairly fresh peeler crab that must have come from one of the 3 other boats that were all quite close (I was first out of the locks and everyone followed me to my mark, obviously aware that I know of the guru ghillie that is Jonc and that some of his wisdom has rubbed off on me)
A celebratory cup of tea and another Rocky bar kept me busy until the tide turned and I was now over the honey hole
Now I'll see some action !!!
Loaded all the traces with the various baits and sent them all out and waited
Retrieved, rebaited, cast out and waited
Rinse and repeat x 4
And waited again until 2.45 when I reeled in the untouched baits again, pulled anchor and got the 3.15pm lock back in
What an anticlimax after a good start, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we can't always expect an Aussie jon day
 

Good going Nick, always nice to have a solo last minute trip. And a plumb little old for tea too!! 
I went out solo on Monday as well, but caught nothing worth reporting really. 
 

Great report Jonny

No work booked in this week due to being on a training course from Tues to Fri, so kept Mon free just in case......
Didn't make any plans, so didn't ask anyone else, just got up Mon morning and decided to go
Grabbed some dirty squid from the bait freezer, bought some rag on the way down (along with some food) and got to the boat around 10am hoping to get the 10.30 lock out
Had to wait a few extra minutes in the lock for another boat to  join us and was out the other side not long after, ready to make the short steam to a mark wide of the Coral
With only an hour or so before low slack, I decided on anchoring in a position that would sit me over a hole on the flood, expecting the fishing until the turn of the tide to be dire as this ground looked to be featureless. I decided this as, being on my own, I didn't want the faff of retrieving and resetting the anchor too many times
2 downtide rods out baited with just Squid, then 2 uptiders with Rag/squid heads on each
Not expecting much yet, I put the kettle on
The last uptider to be cast out starting rattling, I wound into it and pulled it in hoping it was a small codling
It wasn't, it was a small strap Conger that broke the surface. So I left it in the tide while I poured my cup of tea (the effing kettle was going like a 70's factory hooter and making sauna of the cabin) then T barred it off to enjoy my cuppa and a rocky bar (chocolate type not caramel)
Next to go was one of the downtiders with another strap, this one a bit better at around 12/14lb. Didn't have chance to Tbar this one, as soon as he/she saw me, it/they turned into a Tasmanian devil and snapped me off. Happily though, both my hooks were left on the swim platform
Not long after I had a small Thornie on the other uptider, quickly followed by a very sizeable dog (though on reflection it may have been a Huss pup)
Pretty much bang on low water the last virgin rod (2nd downtider) made a couple of nods, on bringing this in I was expecting another small strap due to the state of the tide and was pleasantly surprised to see the head of a Codling appear through coffee coloured water
He went 4 and a quarter lb and put a bit of a smile on my face
It also had another baited hook in it's mouth, which looked like a fairly fresh peeler crab that must have come from one of the 3 other boats that were all quite close (I was first out of the locks and everyone followed me to my mark, obviously aware that I know of the guru ghillie that is Jonc and that some of his wisdom has rubbed off on me)
A celebratory cup of tea and another Rocky bar kept me busy until the tide turned and I was now over the honey hole
Now I'll see some action !!!
Loaded all the traces with the various baits and sent them all out and waited
Retrieved, rebaited, cast out and waited
Rinse and repeat x 4
And waited again until 2.45 when I reeled in the untouched baits again, pulled anchor and got the 3.15pm lock back in
What an anticlimax after a good start, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we can't always expect an Aussie jon day
 

No work booked in this week due to being on a training course from Tues to Fri, so kept Mon free just in case......
Didn't make any plans, so didn't ask anyone else, just got up Mon morning and decided to go
Grabbed some dirty squid from the bait freezer, bought some rag on the way down (along with some food) and got to the boat around 10am hoping to get the 10.30 lock out
Had to wait a few extra minutes in the lock for another boat to  join us and was out the other side not long after, ready to make the short steam to a mark wide of the Coral
With only an hour or so before low slack, I decided on anchoring in a position that would sit me over a hole on the flood, expecting the fishing until the turn of the tide to be dire as this ground looked to be featureless. I decided this as, being on my own, I didn't want the faff of retrieving and resetting the anchor too many times
2 downtide rods out baited with just Squid, then 2 uptiders with Rag/squid heads on each
Not expecting much yet, I put the kettle on
The last uptider to be cast out starting rattling, I wound into it and pulled it in hoping it was a small codling
It wasn't, it was a small strap Conger that broke the surface. So I left it in the tide while I poured my cup of tea (the effing kettle was going like a 70's factory hooter and making sauna of the cabin) then T barred it off to enjoy my cuppa and a rocky bar (chocolate type not caramel)
Next to go was one of the downtiders with another strap, this one a bit better at around 12/14lb. Didn't have chance to Tbar this one, as soon as he/she saw me, it/they turned into a Tasmanian devil and snapped me off. Happily though, both my hooks were left on the swim platform
Not long after I had a small Thornie on the other uptider, quickly followed by a very sizeable dog (though on reflection it may have been a Huss pup)
Pretty much bang on low water the last virgin rod (2nd downtider) made a couple of nods, on bringing this in I was expecting another small strap due to the state of the tide and was pleasantly surprised to see the head of a Codling appear through coffee coloured water
He went 4 and a quarter lb and put a bit of a smile on my face
It also had another baited hook in it's mouth, which looked like a fairly fresh peeler crab that must have come from one of the 3 other boats that were all quite close (I was first out of the locks and everyone followed me to my mark, obviously aware that I know of the guru ghillie that is Jonc and that some of his wisdom has rubbed off on me)
A celebratory cup of tea and another Rocky bar kept me busy until the tide turned and I was now over the honey hole
Now I'll see some action !!!
Loaded all the traces with the various baits and sent them all out and waited
Retrieved, rebaited, cast out and waited
Rinse and repeat x 4
And waited again until 2.45 when I reeled in the untouched baits again, pulled anchor and got the 3.15pm lock back in
What an anticlimax after a good start, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we can't always expect an Aussie jon day
 

Fair play you put the hrs/miles in
We can't always have an Aussie Jon day
😘

Fair play you put the hrs/miles in
We can't always have an Aussie Jon day
😘

It was the 1st comp in a series run by Weymouth Boat angling society and we were aboard Tims Boat seadog. over 30 anglers took part across about 10 boats
How it works - One rod each, max 3 hooks, min 2 competitors on a boat so you cant cheat. 
Leave the harbour at 8am, fishing commences 9am - 3.30 - last bag back at the club before 5pm.
theres a list of the usual species (not inc mackerel) theres no min size - fish recorded and returned, and you score as follows
30 points for the 1st,
15 second,
15 third and
40 points for the 4th fish of a species
then 1 point each up to a max of 10 for each species.  (eg 1 doggie = 30 points, 4 doggies = 100 points, 10 doggies = 106 points)
seemed to work well - it Encourages variety and pushes you to get that 4th fish.
the kitty is split 4 ways - with Prizes for most points, most fish & most species, plus there's also a nominated species revealed on the day with the biggest fish also taking a share of the prize money - this month it was Thornback ray. 
we set off to our usual mark over mixed ground - i deployed a novel rig that i think stood me in good stead - a 2 up flapper for small fish & 1 down rig - big bait on the bottom. 
I had a glow weight, pop up lumi beads, the lot and i hoped the big fish bait would not only get me a big fish, but act as a bit of chum to draw in the smaller fish and stopped me changing rigs all the time - it worked well as i had a good run of bream/pout/dogs/rays and conger all on the same rig. 
Baits were Rag, Squid, Mackerel, and Gar. 
with a few hours to go we moved location to go and try for pin whiting, small pollock and Wrasse - as that seemed a good tactic to bag more points - but we really stuggled and should have stayed put for more rays
I got 3 thornies - biggest 21inches across the wings but didn't win, 2 pout, 7 bream inc a PB at 2.25lb, 7 doggies and a conger
I ended on 335 points and didn't win - but Tim did win most species with 8 as he also had a poor cod, Bull Huss & Ballan Wrasse - a nice £64 for the day!

 


great fun!

Got the boat out Friday for a 8 hour trip. Early start to avoid the traffic gave us time for a breakfast in the town with a few club members. Launching has been made easy now as we have a new club tractor. 3 boats launched at 10 and we had a short steam to the first mark and a try for a bass. Slow start until the tide started to ease then a dog and a few thornies showed. Different bite and fight and knew it was a bass so bro got the net ready and sure enough a bar of silver broke surface. Quick rebait with whole squid and back down only for a repeat with an identical bass so 2 in 10 minutes. Few more rays followed than I had my biggest of the day at 4lb 4oz. We gave it another half hour or so then moved down channel to another bank hoping for a codling or early hound. Neither showed but we did have plenty of rays, some straps, a few dogs and a whiting. One more move closer to home on another bank looking for bass. We started off in 2 feet of water and didn’t get a bite until we had around 6 feet then it was non stop thornbacks. Must of had at least 20 in around 45 minutes. Back on the beach at 6 then down the club for a cheeky pint and some sausages and roasties, happy days 

I would like to put a like on that, but the start of the post makes it inappropriate....
 

Well done Jon 👍
As for the allergy, wash all the bedding in undiluted sulphuric acid, spray the cat with accelerated lead particles and the problem should be resolved....
Hope that helps 👍

You should have said! If we'd known we could have organised a charter in good time, complete with complementary bar and strippers, but I suppose you'll just have to make do with a high speed ride on your tickler and maybe a happy finish from a turbot.

Well dangled Steve. It was great to meet you and Mikey finally! I've added in those fish pics of yours. Here's another of the Essex Twins giggling like school-girls round the other side of the boat.

It was great to meet @KennyPowers - quality banter and hilarity, and I'm glad to say no fish were molested on this trip!
It was a great trip out, well done to @Saintly Fish for arranging the charter/bait/Pete's birthday present, well done to @JonC for bringing half a hundredweight in frozen squid. Well done to @captin slows old outlaw for turning 70 and well done to Mikey and Leo for not puking up 🤢🤣.
Oh, and well done to me for finally catching a couple of LDS's. Was worried I was getting out of practice! 
 

So a drive through the night in an attempt for a day on the reefs and wrecks to couple up with a second day on the sharks. We pulled out of second day. Looked too rough. 
Stunning day it really glassed out out there.
not loads of fish but fish at most stops. This was a the best of bunch a nice double will  be filleting up along with the others for the fryer

 

That's a new one on me. We've always been told that braid cuts through the tide better as it's thinner. Surely fatter mono would catch more tide and vibrate more I would have thought, but who knows. Either way, I've now got another excuse to add to my armoury for the next time I blank 😉

That was mono I let go on my uptide reel. But you're correct I did have the same problem on another reel, that one I purposely let the line out as opposed to a mistake on the mono. 

With the foreseeable future weekends being taken up I thought I'd take advantage of a slow builder (job not ready til next week) and pop out for few hrs before the winds and rain came in
Just myself and Nipper got through the 7am lock and headed east to Clevedon, a small flooding tide allowed us to drop anchor on the English side of the shipping channel on a mark that's usually pretty good
I had a small thornie on whole squid on the first drop of the downtide rod, and not a twitch on any of the 6 we had out for the next hour. Didn't want to waste any more time here as high water was around 12 ish and the wind and rain were forecast to increase from late morning onwards, so we would only have comfortable fishing up until high water
A quick move out to the "English and Welsh" where we stayed for an hour, again without any success. Not even a bite
Last move was back to the Welsh side just above the Newport Deeps buoy where I'd caught a nice 14.5lb Cod in Dec 21
A slow start here with the odd thornie coming up, then pretty much bang on high water things went very busy
We ended up with 18-20 Thornbacks and 3 small Codling to 3.5lb, the majority caught around slack high water when it's usually just Congers that show themselves
The wind and rain were still not as forecast, so we stayed until we'd used all our bait
This corresponded with the swell and rain picking up, so we caught the 2.15pm lock back in 
A half decent end to a crap start, but some good sport for a few hrs
No pictures cos Aussie Jon would slightly trump mine (if I actually took any that is)
 

With the foreseeable future weekends being taken up I thought I'd take advantage of a slow builder (job not ready til next week) and pop out for few hrs before the winds and rain came in
Just myself and Nipper got through the 7am lock and headed east to Clevedon, a small flooding tide allowed us to drop anchor on the English side of the shipping channel on a mark that's usually pretty good
I had a small thornie on whole squid on the first drop of the downtide rod, and not a twitch on any of the 6 we had out for the next hour. Didn't want to waste any more time here as high water was around 12 ish and the wind and rain were forecast to increase from late morning onwards, so we would only have comfortable fishing up until high water
A quick move out to the "English and Welsh" where we stayed for an hour, again without any success. Not even a bite
Last move was back to the Welsh side just above the Newport Deeps buoy where I'd caught a nice 14.5lb Cod in Dec 21
A slow start here with the odd thornie coming up, then pretty much bang on high water things went very busy
We ended up with 18-20 Thornbacks and 3 small Codling to 3.5lb, the majority caught around slack high water when it's usually just Congers that show themselves
The wind and rain were still not as forecast, so we stayed until we'd used all our bait
This corresponded with the swell and rain picking up, so we caught the 2.15pm lock back in 
A half decent end to a crap start, but some good sport for a few hrs
No pictures cos Aussie Jon would slightly trump mine (if I actually took any that is)