RogB

OK - thanks everybody. It very much sounds like a worthwhile policy to take out if you are in the area they operate in. The engine is still under warranty so gets a main dealer service and us owners are pretty good at problem solving and fixing things - but just don't yet have the experience on the water with boats, and our craft is a little small to be hauling a full toolbox around (we do have a basic kit). In previous years while beach fishing i've watched the RNLI tow numerous boats back to Teignmouth on bank holiday weekends in May as people hit the water for the first time of the season and conk out for some reason. We should definately pick up some extra anchor rope as we only have 30m currently.
One thing I would like to do is have some better engine diagnostics as a rev counter and warning lights aren't likely to flag anything until its too late. Probably start a new thread on that topic later.
Cheers
Roger

I only use them In The solent where they are first class. It's something I'll never stop having. 

Some months ago @Andy135 and I (and Leo) were invited by @JonC to join him on Janie to fish the afore mentioned comp. Andy decided he'd rather go to a Frozen themed fancy dress party, so that left just Leo and I. 
we made the long 3 hour drive up to windy Essex coast via a couple of local favourite landmarks. M&S food court and KFC. Leaving Jon to shove down the remainder of his spagbol. 
Arriving at around 8pm Jon swiftly shepherded us away from his house and into his parents weekend flat (they were out btw), he then proceeded to help drink the Heineken before leaving us for bed and an 05.30 morning rise. @ 06.15 prompt Jon arrived and we followed him to the marina. On arrival he declared we probably could have had an extra hour in bed as we were a bit early. I guess that's the military man in him! 

Anyway we made our way out of the marina to gather with some of the participating boats. Then around 08.15 the horn sounded and we steamed off to Jon's chosen mark at a very tidy 18 knot cruise. By this time the false starts of the troublesome engine and the black smoke were a memory only. 
Leo started well outside of the boat cabin..

Where after getting up quickly got into some fish, starting with an 83 cm hound... 
 

And then another just shy of 80cm..

Jon got into a couple around the mid 70's and a couple of small school bass.. 

 
Other photos contained a bit of non sporting blood so I will not post those. All fish returned alive and kicking. 
Bacon rolls were cooked and served then we moved marks. 
No fish, we moved into shallower water (nowhere near the deep water that the other boats were in must add) and no fish. So, we had lunch. 

And Jon sat and contemplated where he'd gone wrong. 

Leo retreated back to his normal position inside with his phone...

And I sat in the sun looking sad because I blanked...

Even though the fishing was slow and hard work, Leo and I had a lovely time and we thank Jon for his hospitality and efforts!! 
Leo decided to show off his "I won the boat" jumper.. 

The end!!
 

headed out at 8am for a 9am start to the comp = Tim had got fresh mackerel the night before so armed with that and frozen squid, and launce we were hopeful. 
Very slow day for me only bagging 4 bream, 1 dog, 1 thornie, 1 Red Gunard, 3 ballan wrasse, 1 corkwing and a pout. 
Tim had a great day bagging up on the bream, dogs, eels, wrasse, pout, a tope, and more - he went on to win most points - well done Tim.   
 

 

 

weather was gorgeous all day!

More blanks for me accross the late May bank holiday. Bass very sparse and have only seen a few small ones caught locally. No mackeral from the beaches at HT either😪
Should get the boat back in the boatyard next week so I can take my blanking to a new level!

More blanks for me accross the late May bank holiday. Bass very sparse and have only seen a few small ones caught locally. No mackeral from the beaches at HT either😪
Should get the boat back in the boatyard next week so I can take my blanking to a new level!

Thanks both, I will take a look at your posts Andy. I've read much of this site and pretty much all of Ian's posts as its all good info for me. We will probably see if we can get out with Matt at some point. I'm off to Croyde for the weekend, pretending to surf, but will pack a rod and some lures. Hope you manage to get out Ian if you decide to go - I look forward to another catch report to glean info from!

Fishing from a boat is still a bit of a novelty for me, but watching youtube people slow pitch jigging and reading reports here and elsewhere it look like good fun. I only lure fish and we won't be going miles out on our little boat but I thought I would scratch together a budget set up for light SPJ up to 20m. Only lure fishing means I only have small fixed spool reels and I dont want to invest in a multiplier as I have no idea about them whatsoever. So finding a SPJ rod rung for this had been holding me back but one surfaced on the Veals website https://www.veals.co.uk/product/rapture-deep-fall-slow-pitch-spinning-100gm/. It looks OK for a fraction of the price of the more heavy duty tools.

I have some multicolour j-Braid on order.
I also bought a few jigs, and some smaller casting and or pitching jigs which arrived today from Joker who are local to me and I am hoping work on the local fish! I think they look pretty good. I did email the guy that sells them asking for advice on which ones for more inshore areas but never got a response 😒 so did a bit of guessing on colours 😕.

Anyway I don't suppose we will hit the water until June, but when we do I will update the thread if they work or not, and whether a fixed spool reel just generated wind knots! Might throw the casting ones about a bit before that though.
Anybody else try SPJ in shallower water?
Cheers
Roger
 

Thanks both, I will take a look at your posts Andy. I've read much of this site and pretty much all of Ian's posts as its all good info for me. We will probably see if we can get out with Matt at some point. I'm off to Croyde for the weekend, pretending to surf, but will pack a rod and some lures. Hope you manage to get out Ian if you decide to go - I look forward to another catch report to glean info from!

Thanks both, I will take a look at your posts Andy. I've read much of this site and pretty much all of Ian's posts as its all good info for me. We will probably see if we can get out with Matt at some point. I'm off to Croyde for the weekend, pretending to surf, but will pack a rod and some lures. Hope you manage to get out Ian if you decide to go - I look forward to another catch report to glean info from!

Fishing from a boat is still a bit of a novelty for me, but watching youtube people slow pitch jigging and reading reports here and elsewhere it look like good fun. I only lure fish and we won't be going miles out on our little boat but I thought I would scratch together a budget set up for light SPJ up to 20m. Only lure fishing means I only have small fixed spool reels and I dont want to invest in a multiplier as I have no idea about them whatsoever. So finding a SPJ rod rung for this had been holding me back but one surfaced on the Veals website https://www.veals.co.uk/product/rapture-deep-fall-slow-pitch-spinning-100gm/. It looks OK for a fraction of the price of the more heavy duty tools.

I have some multicolour j-Braid on order.
I also bought a few jigs, and some smaller casting and or pitching jigs which arrived today from Joker who are local to me and I am hoping work on the local fish! I think they look pretty good. I did email the guy that sells them asking for advice on which ones for more inshore areas but never got a response 😒 so did a bit of guessing on colours 😕.

Anyway I don't suppose we will hit the water until June, but when we do I will update the thread if they work or not, and whether a fixed spool reel just generated wind knots! Might throw the casting ones about a bit before that though.
Anybody else try SPJ in shallower water?
Cheers
Roger
 

Fishing from a boat is still a bit of a novelty for me, but watching youtube people slow pitch jigging and reading reports here and elsewhere it look like good fun. I only lure fish and we won't be going miles out on our little boat but I thought I would scratch together a budget set up for light SPJ up to 20m. Only lure fishing means I only have small fixed spool reels and I dont want to invest in a multiplier as I have no idea about them whatsoever. So finding a SPJ rod rung for this had been holding me back but one surfaced on the Veals website https://www.veals.co.uk/product/rapture-deep-fall-slow-pitch-spinning-100gm/. It looks OK for a fraction of the price of the more heavy duty tools.

I have some multicolour j-Braid on order.
I also bought a few jigs, and some smaller casting and or pitching jigs which arrived today from Joker who are local to me and I am hoping work on the local fish! I think they look pretty good. I did email the guy that sells them asking for advice on which ones for more inshore areas but never got a response 😒 so did a bit of guessing on colours 😕.

Anyway I don't suppose we will hit the water until June, but when we do I will update the thread if they work or not, and whether a fixed spool reel just generated wind knots! Might throw the casting ones about a bit before that though.
Anybody else try SPJ in shallower water?
Cheers
Roger
 

I thought after catching my first bass of the year a few weeks ago that things would have livened up by now, but 4 blank sessions for me on the trot in Shaldon over lows, Ness Beach over high. Luckily I broke my run of bad luck over lunchtime low today, with 3 bass, biggest 46cm. Season has started for me proper.

I thought after catching my first bass of the year a few weeks ago that things would have livened up by now, but 4 blank sessions for me on the trot in Shaldon over lows, Ness Beach over high. Luckily I broke my run of bad luck over lunchtime low today, with 3 bass, biggest 46cm. Season has started for me proper.

I thought after catching my first bass of the year a few weeks ago that things would have livened up by now, but 4 blank sessions for me on the trot in Shaldon over lows, Ness Beach over high. Luckily I broke my run of bad luck over lunchtime low today, with 3 bass, biggest 46cm. Season has started for me proper.

well after about 5 weeks of wind we had a very small weather window - of only a few hours. 
Wind was set to die down Saturday morning to single figures and turn horrible again on Sunday morning so we made a plan.
6.45am at the boat and straight out squeaking under the bridge on the top of a 2.2m tide. 
Went in search of mackerel first and was met with more than forecast wind and very cold rain - hoping things would improve - we tried the first entrance, for a few drifts and got nothing, so headed up to the 2nd - where my sabikis found a few fresh mackerel to add to the frozen. 
soon steaming out to the 5 mile mark and got more than halfway when we took the decision to head back inshore= as we got out of the shelter of portland the latent swell from the prior week was big - about 1.5m - but with a cross chop it wouldn't have been comfortable. Swell from the SW, Tide from the NE, and wind chop from the NW - not a good combo.
we got to our inshore mark and while the swell was still there it wasn't anywhere near as bad - so anchored up - proceeded to catch Pout, Whiting, Thornies, Eels and i managed a nice smoothie. 


By lunchtime the swell had calmed down, the wind dropped and the sun was out so we pulled anchor and headed back to our intended 5mile mark. 
for about an hour it was glorious and almost warm. 

We boated more pout, whiting, eels and dogs, plus Bream and a lovely undulate.  steady fish all day. 


I took a bream home for tea and a whiting for freezer fillets. 

delicious - baked on a bed of Mediterranean veg - seasoned with mixed herbs, lemon and chilli
 
So glad to be out!
 

Exages were OK (they are discontinued now) - but the chrome on the bail arm goes flaky and cuts your braid and the anti-reverse  packs in after a year or two. Stradics are good but a bit pricey. I have an Ultegra which is very good for the money and I use on the kayak - its the cheapest Shimano with a one peice bail arm. the C3000 sized one is almost 50% off at £81  https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/shimano-ultegra-fc-reel?queryID=a0d87eb623648f030e58ef2cb228c0b9&objectID=95061&indexName=live_ad_uk_products. I would get that sub £100 but it might be a bit light / small for your heavy rod or a Daiwa Ninja (but they have lots of different models and i can never remeber which one is the good one!).

Exages were OK (they are discontinued now) - but the chrome on the bail arm goes flaky and cuts your braid and the anti-reverse  packs in after a year or two. Stradics are good but a bit pricey. I have an Ultegra which is very good for the money and I use on the kayak - its the cheapest Shimano with a one peice bail arm. the C3000 sized one is almost 50% off at £81  https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/shimano-ultegra-fc-reel?queryID=a0d87eb623648f030e58ef2cb228c0b9&objectID=95061&indexName=live_ad_uk_products. I would get that sub £100 but it might be a bit light / small for your heavy rod or a Daiwa Ninja (but they have lots of different models and i can never remeber which one is the good one!).

Exages were OK (they are discontinued now) - but the chrome on the bail arm goes flaky and cuts your braid and the anti-reverse  packs in after a year or two. Stradics are good but a bit pricey. I have an Ultegra which is very good for the money and I use on the kayak - its the cheapest Shimano with a one peice bail arm. the C3000 sized one is almost 50% off at £81  https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/shimano-ultegra-fc-reel?queryID=a0d87eb623648f030e58ef2cb228c0b9&objectID=95061&indexName=live_ad_uk_products. I would get that sub £100 but it might be a bit light / small for your heavy rod or a Daiwa Ninja (but they have lots of different models and i can never remeber which one is the good one!).

Not much going on at them moment so i'll share this. 
I took part in the 'Small Boat Sea fishing' groups species hunt and did ok - the rules are simple - small private boat or charter boat (but cant be a mix), no kayaks, the fish are on a list (only fish on the list count), photo the fish with your card to count - no min size)
I ended on 23 species, and came 19th out of over 100 entrants - my prize was a lure bundle from Lureshed UK - soft plastics and jig heads! some very well made lures!

my 23 species were....
Mackerel, Garfish, pouting, conger, Ballan, Corkwing, pollock, poor cod, dogfish, scad, whiting, smoothound, spotted ray, thornback ray, blonde ray, undulate ray, tope, red gurnard, tub gurnard, black bream, cuckoo wrasse, bull huss, thick lipped mullet.
Notable species for me this year were a few firsts - first ever undulate, bull huss and thick lipped mullet - and I always enjoy a cuckoo wrasse


I missed out on a few relatively easy fish that I've had in the prior year - they just eluded me! - Bass, Launce, Turbot, Grey gurnard and small eyed ray - would have seen me on 28 and in 10th! 
I should also be able to get plaice, spurdog, brill. so I must try harder next year!
the winner was Jake Davison from Muscle fishing (youtube channel)  and he had 38 - he was fishing from a tiny Polycraft tuffy and was able to travel the entire country with it on the roof - from Cornwall to Scotland for the Skate. 
thoroughly enjoyable to take part through the year as it makes you try for species you might not normally target, and with a wealth of prizes - over 30 this year - there's a real incentive to keep on it!

I don't think our experience, short days and only launching and retrival around high water from riverside would leave us many opportunities for winter fishing. Probably a good opportunity for boat tinkering - proper transducer mount, some lights and get ready for next summer season. Can always run the kayaks out if the weather is good as launching and retrieval is a bit less tide dependent. Glad to hear you had some fish, we hit the pier in Torquay and managed a couple of squid after successfully parking the boat.

Well our summer season was shortened by some health conditions, mate getting married wrecking two possible weekends of fishing with a stag weekend and then the actual event and finally the terrible autumn weather. We finished off the winch system and it worked well. Cuddy off the Pilot 4 and it fitted smoothly up the drive and into the garage. Now overwintering in the dry with the other toys.....

Love it when a plan actually works
Cheers Roger

Some of the best boat fishing is in the winter months.
We went out on Saturday, -3c when I left home and -1c at Polly Steps.
We went to 5 wrecks, all off Berry Head, and all of them were netted, so a quick dangle inshore at the Mudstone Ledge produced some nice Pollock to 4lb, a Tub of 3lb, 20 Mackerel with 10 keepers, and a couple of decent sized squid.
This weekend is shaping up quite well for a trip to the wrecks off Salcombe and the Skerries.

Well our summer season was shortened by some health conditions, mate getting married wrecking two possible weekends of fishing with a stag weekend and then the actual event and finally the terrible autumn weather. We finished off the winch system and it worked well. Cuddy off the Pilot 4 and it fitted smoothly up the drive and into the garage. Now overwintering in the dry with the other toys.....

Love it when a plan actually works
Cheers Roger

Well our summer season was shortened by some health conditions, mate getting married wrecking two possible weekends of fishing with a stag weekend and then the actual event and finally the terrible autumn weather. We finished off the winch system and it worked well. Cuddy off the Pilot 4 and it fitted smoothly up the drive and into the garage. Now overwintering in the dry with the other toys.....

Love it when a plan actually works
Cheers Roger