jonnyswamp

Our last trip of the year (down west) started with an uneventful 2hrs odd drive to Milford, where we were all fairly glad to find the toilet block open and free to use
Boarded Lady Gail at 8.30am and got through the lock a short while later, to the sound of Fen (skipper) asking what bait we had
Lures and feathers we happily replied, why didn't you bring bait, should've brought bait he said
With a wall of concerned expressions looking at me, I explained to Fen that his booking agent (mate on another boat, long story) assured me that we would be fishing the islands and reefs as we had the last few trips
Mutiny avoided we headed out of the Haven and with the islands in view, turned left away from them (they don't fish too good this time of year apparently)
Stopped on a reef just outside the mouth and picked up a couple of small Pollock around the 2lb mark on first drift, then nothing
Move a bit further east for similar rewards and this was pretty much how it panned out for the remainder of the day
Probably tried 8-10 different areas, doing 2/3 drifts in each, but no rich pickings today
We did have a couple of drifts where the fish were around 5lb (and I managed a couple of brace) but then seemed to disappear, leaving the smaller ones on the feed
Back through the lock and tied up around 5.15 ish and on the road by just after 5.30
A very enjoyable day with great company and plenty of piss taking (especially our mate who blanked)
If any of you fancy a trip next summer, I can't recommend this area or skipper highly enough
Not brilliant this time of year, but June to Sept it's phenomenal, absolutely non-stop
 
 

Luckily got an invite on a friends boat Saturday,  with the massive tides we opted to have a tester at inner Nab.  There were some reports of Unicorns (cod) in the solent but we stuck to the plan expecting the solent to be weedy and a struggle with the size of tide. 
 
Quite lumpy when we got to the mark and if the tides were smaller would have run to the solent but hey ho nothing ventured nothing gained. 
 
Not much to report really a constant stream of straps, dogs and whiting with a double figure undulate showing on a live whiting being the best fish of the day. 
 
Counted over 20 boats out there with a few moving about so guessing the cod did not read the plan. Did hear of a couple appearing in the solent so maybe we made the wrong decision but thats easy to say with hindsight. 
Didn't bother with pictures mainly because I didn't want to drop the phone in the drink but more importantly we didn't get anything we deemed worthy of a picture, the Ray was released alongside so not bloated and weighed. 
Calmed nicely just after lunch with a bit of sun coming through but the bites dried up so we sacked it and headed in around 3pm 

Zooks gone all foreign
Didn't understand any of them there words

I only picked her up the week before last so won't get launched until next spring.
I'll miss my old Reiver, it's done me well over the last 28 years

Welcome, I like the orkneys
Get a few pics up on the show us your boat thread

Have fished since about the age of 7/8 with my Grandfather on the local canal
He never had a clue about fishing, so I never had much of a chance in the early years
I can't remember ever catching anything, but at least it taught me to be patient
Progressed to the local river up to the age of about 14 then discovered alcohol and girls (that discovery is up there with penicillin to me)
Started back up in my early 20's when my father and his mates were going regularly, sea fishing never appealed to me as I thought it was all big stiff rods (ooer) massive hooks and lacked any finesse, but after my first trip with them I was converted
We formed a small club and went on charters once a month out of Penarth and from then on, always said me and the old man would get a boat between us
That never happened and after he died in 2006 I though fk it, I'll buy one
For various reasons it took me 5 years to get a 20ft Wilson Flyer which I sold on a few yrs later and got a 23ft Bayliner, which I sold last year to get my current (and probably last) boat
Still do a bit of fly fishing when a gang of us fish a memorial day for the old man, which involves fishing til 12 (usually on a localish stock pond) back to the pub for a presentation, barbecue and a good swig
As for fishing or boating first, used to be fishing but may be swaying towards boating

Yeah, and I turned it off for Pete 🤫

I was out on Sunday blanking at St Cats Deep, and on the way I stopped at a couple of wrecks to continue refining the transducer set up on Jersey Girl. I need to tweak the angle of the Active Imaging transducer as it loses bottom over about 10 kts. But it works fine below this. Below is the Camswan again - best image clarity yet.

Conditions were pretty calm so there is minimal disruption of the image due to wave action.
I also buzzed over the Highland Brigade - below is what she looks like at 18kts. For those that don't know, she's quite a large wreck - I found it interesting that she's relegated to a relatively small blob of structure at speed (image is a function of speed/time on fishfinders) - she'd be easy to miss, so it's always worth scouting an area at slow speed to pick up the wreck/reef/feature more clearly on the finder.

 

Not really fitted too many baxis, only one Ive done was in a cheap rental. Can’t remember the model but it was a condenser that only used a switch live, no perm live or pump overrun.
it’s worked well for the past 5 years. 

Get in touch when the time comes, if you're buying a house, insist that the seller gives you a current gas safety certificate 
Preferably one carried out recently, gives you an idea of the boiler condition
 

Our last trip of the year (down west) started with an uneventful 2hrs odd drive to Milford, where we were all fairly glad to find the toilet block open and free to use
Boarded Lady Gail at 8.30am and got through the lock a short while later, to the sound of Fen (skipper) asking what bait we had
Lures and feathers we happily replied, why didn't you bring bait, should've brought bait he said
With a wall of concerned expressions looking at me, I explained to Fen that his booking agent (mate on another boat, long story) assured me that we would be fishing the islands and reefs as we had the last few trips
Mutiny avoided we headed out of the Haven and with the islands in view, turned left away from them (they don't fish too good this time of year apparently)
Stopped on a reef just outside the mouth and picked up a couple of small Pollock around the 2lb mark on first drift, then nothing
Move a bit further east for similar rewards and this was pretty much how it panned out for the remainder of the day
Probably tried 8-10 different areas, doing 2/3 drifts in each, but no rich pickings today
We did have a couple of drifts where the fish were around 5lb (and I managed a couple of brace) but then seemed to disappear, leaving the smaller ones on the feed
Back through the lock and tied up around 5.15 ish and on the road by just after 5.30
A very enjoyable day with great company and plenty of piss taking (especially our mate who blanked)
If any of you fancy a trip next summer, I can't recommend this area or skipper highly enough
Not brilliant this time of year, but June to Sept it's phenomenal, absolutely non-stop
 
 

Just bought a 17ft Wilson Flyer as a first boat with a mate who has had a powerboat before.
Lots of fishing experience but in fresh water not much salt so lots to learn
 
Boat is usable but needs a bit of tiding, I'm happy to look a mess but my boat partner is a bit more fussy on the aesthetics so we'll be doing some tarting up. Expect a lot of newbie questions. 
 
Planning on using the boat on the Thames around Reading/Chertsey area and south coast when its all sorted

Ahhh the old broken boiler excuse, I’ve used it well myself (just to get out the house). 

Nice pics and a lovely boat - well worth your time spent posting. Thank you. Geoff.❤️

With our (Welsh) lockdown starting Friday at 6pm and lasting at least 17 days, I'm going to venture out on Thursday
Have checked with the boss, who's a bit of a twat, and moved a couple of jobs about to make it possible
I can see the locks being quite busy Thursday and Friday
Luckily, I have a good reason to be out of my county, I have to look at a boiler breakdown in an apartment right next to Cardiff Bay 😉

Did what you said and all seems good
U da man 
Cheers zook

I've posted on my thread that I started on ws f, to say that Suzook sorted my problems after I bumped into him on another boating forum
It may pique someones interest

Well done Swampy and well done Zook 👍
Is this our first fix of the new forum site then?

Did what you said and all seems good
U da man 
Cheers zook

Did what you said and all seems good
U da man 
Cheers zook

Good report swampy, even if the fishing was a bit thin on the ground 👍

Our last trip of the year (down west) started with an uneventful 2hrs odd drive to Milford, where we were all fairly glad to find the toilet block open and free to use
Boarded Lady Gail at 8.30am and got through the lock a short while later, to the sound of Fen (skipper) asking what bait we had
Lures and feathers we happily replied, why didn't you bring bait, should've brought bait he said
With a wall of concerned expressions looking at me, I explained to Fen that his booking agent (mate on another boat, long story) assured me that we would be fishing the islands and reefs as we had the last few trips
Mutiny avoided we headed out of the Haven and with the islands in view, turned left away from them (they don't fish too good this time of year apparently)
Stopped on a reef just outside the mouth and picked up a couple of small Pollock around the 2lb mark on first drift, then nothing
Move a bit further east for similar rewards and this was pretty much how it panned out for the remainder of the day
Probably tried 8-10 different areas, doing 2/3 drifts in each, but no rich pickings today
We did have a couple of drifts where the fish were around 5lb (and I managed a couple of brace) but then seemed to disappear, leaving the smaller ones on the feed
Back through the lock and tied up around 5.15 ish and on the road by just after 5.30
A very enjoyable day with great company and plenty of piss taking (especially our mate who blanked)
If any of you fancy a trip next summer, I can't recommend this area or skipper highly enough
Not brilliant this time of year, but June to Sept it's phenomenal, absolutely non-stop
 
 

Our last trip of the year (down west) started with an uneventful 2hrs odd drive to Milford, where we were all fairly glad to find the toilet block open and free to use
Boarded Lady Gail at 8.30am and got through the lock a short while later, to the sound of Fen (skipper) asking what bait we had
Lures and feathers we happily replied, why didn't you bring bait, should've brought bait he said
With a wall of concerned expressions looking at me, I explained to Fen that his booking agent (mate on another boat, long story) assured me that we would be fishing the islands and reefs as we had the last few trips
Mutiny avoided we headed out of the Haven and with the islands in view, turned left away from them (they don't fish too good this time of year apparently)
Stopped on a reef just outside the mouth and picked up a couple of small Pollock around the 2lb mark on first drift, then nothing
Move a bit further east for similar rewards and this was pretty much how it panned out for the remainder of the day
Probably tried 8-10 different areas, doing 2/3 drifts in each, but no rich pickings today
We did have a couple of drifts where the fish were around 5lb (and I managed a couple of brace) but then seemed to disappear, leaving the smaller ones on the feed
Back through the lock and tied up around 5.15 ish and on the road by just after 5.30
A very enjoyable day with great company and plenty of piss taking (especially our mate who blanked)
If any of you fancy a trip next summer, I can't recommend this area or skipper highly enough
Not brilliant this time of year, but June to Sept it's phenomenal, absolutely non-stop