daio web

It was one of those days, everybody doing more or less the same thing, so thought I'd try a jelly on a 6/0  just to be different, whether it "worked" or not I can't say, but it didn't deter the fish which means I will be more likely to try it again. Not something used in our area much. Will get more chance to experiment when my own boat is in the water
 

First one of the year today, out on High Flyer 2.
Plan was to get out after some maccy, then on to some bass and tope....... The weather had other ideas. We arrived to a 14mph SW wind, so we headed to some bass marks to hopefully pick up some mac. However, we were getting the crap kicked out of us and no fish showing. We headed in a bit to try some marks that were showing fish, however, the wind was pushing us off the drift and the fish were having none of it. We ended up coming in right close, to a hole that has saved many days out. With the tide falling away, we were hitting a steady stream of doggies and one smoothie boated. The tide eventually turned and ran hard enough to stop the boat swinging, and the digs pretty much disappeared, but more whiting. I decided to try a jelly worm tipped with mack and had my pb smoothie, prob only around 4lb, but only ever had pups before now. The doggies returned, a seal poked his head in to watch and some idiot was seen paddling in from well the wrong side of scroby sands on a kayak..... He eventually made it in against the switching wind, god only knows where he had been.....
That was pretty much the day, we got wind burn, sun burn, salt burn, drenched in rain and sea spray and everything in between. Even the seagulls passed up the day to remain in town outside the chippy.......
Out again in a couple of weeks weather permitting

Looks yum!!

A quick dry brine mix of 1 part salt 2 parts soft brown sugar. Slice the tuna and cover in the mix and leave in the fridge for 30-40 mins. 
 



 


Rince off the mix and pat dry with paper towelling and leave in the fridge for another 30+ mins to form a dry sticky surface. If the surface isn’t tacky it won’t form a decent coating and rather steam in the smoker. Grind some black pepper on some for those who like that. 
Start the bbq charcoal, I  use an electric fire starter, which has the charcoal burning well in about 1 min. 
close the lid and get the temp under control for a 90-100’c smoke. Place a couple of chunks of apple or cherry wood among the charcoals ( not coals ).


 
I use diffusing filters very much like pizza stones over the flame and have the tune placed on a wire rack higher in the bbq. 
leave for around 35mins then remove and allow to cool. I find vacuum sealing a few steaks seems to increase the flavour. 
Only issue was I didn’t have enough tuna, so need to head out and get more.

the pics on my old camera where too big        the pics on my new camera seem to be ok    and down load on here no problem    just tried   down loading a few old pics   from years ago      all these fish where caught in the ( sound of Jura )      the pic with the kayak lads is me towing them back in after fishing 4 miles   down the loch     ive no idea why   i can down load  pics now      but ive thousands of them     tight lines Alain 
 
 

John   with his fish 
 

It took me quite a while to get my first bream, Andy was the first with success so I had pressure to perform. Turned out that I had nothing to worry about though with a final tally of 2 - 8 in my favour😎. Although his first was the biggest 
 
Even the boys fished for themselves this time, baited up and everything!! 
 

 
A great bbq was had that evening, we only had butter and lime on the boat, but the fish was delicious!! 
 

great write up mate  theres always next time boys looked like they had fun thats all that matters 👍

great write up mate  theres always next time boys looked like they had fun thats all that matters 👍

great write up mate  theres always next time boys looked like they had fun thats all that matters 👍

The plan was to hit the same mark we'd had good success on a few weeks ago for stingrays and smoothounds. We had the boys along chauffeuring us to the mark.

Lovely conditions gave a smooth ride out. 

We dropped the hook in less than 3m of water, and with clear vis we could make out rocks, cables, abandoned anchors and even starfish on the sea floor.
What we could not spot however, was fish. No stingrays, no smoothounds, no nothing. Neil had a decent run, typically on a scratching rig, which snapped him off after a couple of minutes. But other than that it was a desert. We moved into slightly deeper water where we rustled up a few bream.

Unfortunately we had a rather negative experience next. Not far from our mark, what seemed like the entire Solent population of WAFI's were having their annual Teddy Bear's picnic, and decided to use Tarlach Too as a marker buoy to see which of them could pass the closest to us. We must have been buzzed by over 10 yachts at least. I lost a rig to their idiocy and several bouts of fruity language was deployed as they passed within a gnat's whisker of us. Truly disappointed by their navigational behaviour.
We decided to head back in, somewhat salvaging the day by a high speed blast back that saw the boys reliving their antics from when they were a good few years younger.



Amazing to see how much they've grown since they first met on board TT, and no matter that they're now almost "too cool for school" they still enjoy a faceful of sea spray on the way back home 😀.
Despite the lack of target fish and poor form from the yachts we still managed a good few giggles and some lively worm-related banter with the boys. Thanks as always to @Saintly Fish for hosting us 👍.

@JDP I just had a quick look and prices here in the UK are running at approx £70 per 300m. Maybe it's taking a while for the news to travel this far!! 

For anyone who may have read any of my posts over the past few years, I've highly recommended the 131 braid. I've found it to outlast any other braid I've used, which ends up costing far less in the long term as I don't need to replace it often. In fact I've not replaced any in 4 yrs. The reels that I originally put this braid on have handled all sorts of fish, both large and small. Its only downside has been the price. This line casts very well, but like many braids, the accuracy of the strength labelling seems a bit off - expect it to break well above what the rating is.

Apparently Sufix are not making enough out of their premium line and sell far more of the cheaper 832, so are dropping the 131 from manufacture. So tackle stores this side of the pond are now selling it at well bellow the price of jbraid and other budget braids. If I hadn't recently spent so much on my boat and trailer I would be buying a little stock pile given how good the price is, however I have ordered 4 spools of 300m which should cover me well for the next few years.
 
If you have never tried it and considered it too expensive, keep an eye on prices to see if your local tackle store drop the price. Price here equates to around 20 quid for 300m of 10-20-30 and 50lb. 
 
A non related image of my boat in the background just to brighten the page !!!!!.....because I know Jon likes random pic's.

Been off the water with a stuffed back and also my boat trailer with a stuffed back too!!!
I had planned on having my trailer repaired but after pushing my thumb through one spot and two cross members cracked, I decided a trip the dump for that one. 
So a 7hr drive each way to pick up a new aluminium trailer was the go. Did the drive over two days rather than cram it into one, given I had to go over the snowy mountains to get there. Must admit the -2’c overnight temps were a shock, which made packing the roof tent away while covered in ice not so easy. 
 
As you can see all parts of this trailer can easily be replaced by simply bolting on and off. I’ve also upgraded to a heavier max load rating allowing 250kg for carrying items in the boat.
 
Just need to replace the centre rollers and skid's to suit a fibreglass boat, then adjust heights to fit my boat and I will be back out there in a few days wetting a line. Doubt I will be able to do any trips further afield to avoid winter this year now the budgets blown, so local fishing only.
 

 

 

 

Totally agree, luckily we don't get big seas here very often, but it felt OK to be out in a 15 -20ft (5m) swell fishing the wrecks last autumn.
We have been plagued this year with a 'short sea', meaning the time between the swells / waves is often less than 3 secs, and that just makes for uncomfortable fishing, so I give it a miss. I am generally looking for 4 secs plus, and if the big Atlantic swells are forecast, then 7 t0 10 secs.

nice going bud your on them again top dangling 👍

The weather has improved so a solo trip to the wrecks with Bass as the target.
launched at 7ish into a flat sea and hauled my arse out to a wreck at 15 miles in 200ft that normally holds bass. 
There was already a rod line/ potter commercial on the wreck, but also very friendly which is good. Surprisingly it was at least a fish a drift, pout, coalfish, scad, pollock, and Bass.
I had a few bass and was playing ‘change the bucket’ to keep them alive to select the biggest and I kept 2 at 53 / 54cm.
Annoyingly, I hooked and lost (after a decent fight) what I suspect to be a largish bass, experience suggests 8lb plus, but the hook pulled. The fish were only taking small 115mm lures, so small 2/0 hooks.
spent 3 hours on the wreck, then I noticed the swell was increasing and shortening, so time to come back in. 
A very pleasant morning ………..and it was nice to see a coalfish, even though only 2lb ish
couple of pics
A 53cm Bass

A tiddler Pollock

He's no fool. I'm sure he knows what could possibly be ahead on this project. I'd be tempted to remove the pod and try and get the boat back to its original state if it was something to sell on. Ive also been caught out with rotten floors and transoms both here and the UK, the costs to get repairs done well can soon mount up. Ive also put more than the cost of a new boat into the small 15ft I own now after replacing the trailer and engine, so I know how quickly things can get out of hand.

Ah, so you've met my dog then?? 🤣
 

Bet my seats would fit nicely 😁

So, a new project has arrived.......
 

Just a update  om my suzuki DF140    i finally  got to  sea on sunday   and the engine run fine for about 1/2 an hour  then started to misfire on one cylinder   Bugger   throttled back  and it went back onto 4 cylinders   thinking it may be a duff plug     we stayed  inshore  and never went above  4000  RPM     all was fine     on the way in a  gave it some  throttle   and  it  ran great  even at WOT   it never missed a beat     idle speed is   spot on    while  the engine is out of gear and in the water    ( something ) you can.t test on muffs     once home  i checked the water separator & filter  and there was a drop of water in there   thinking this could of been the cause of the misfire     ive fitter a new filter and 4 new plugs   now ill have to wait until the weekend as see what the weathers like   if  ok  ill drag the boat back over to whitby   for another days fishing    we did ok on the inshore ground with cod to 4 lbs   loads of maks   a few  undersized  haddock      so the  £26 /27   I A C valve off a ford  Ka       works as it should  on a DF 140      tight lines Alain 
 

Was a bit lumpy after the Saturday blow but managed to work around it and get some smiles on faces which us what it’s all about really 🙂 
Best fisherman is the one having the most fun 🙂 

Bit of mixed fishing this weekend. Managed Huss, conger, gurnard, ballan and cuckoo wrasse, cod, coalfish, dogfish, weever, mackeral, pouting, bass, launce and pollack. Loads of pollack on offshore reefs. Inshore was a bit slow, so much bait fish in the water I guess?