RogB

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)

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)

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)

Out with @Saintly Fish, Leo and my daughter Emily this morning on Tarlach Too. This was Em's first boat fishing session and we were hopeful of a catch or two to keep her interest levels up.
Skipper delivered us to the mark and bites began from the off. Before long the first fish came to the boat, courtesy of Em's rod - a lovely late season bream.

Leo was into a fish next, a conger of reasonable proportions.

Swiftly followed by one for his dad...

Em was up next with another nice bream.

And before you ask... yes, I managed a dogfish or two on the sly in between baiting up and unhooking for her 😁
We moved out into the channel proper to practice our MOB drills with @Saintly Fish's anchor buoy when it decided that it would prefer to jump ship and bob off downtide. A sticky snap-shackle seemed to be the culprit.
The tide was pulling hard by now, but we did manage to boat a few more fish, including a nice little smoothound for Em.
Headed back home about mid-afternoon and saw a Spitfire flying over us just before we left. More drama as we retrieved anchor - the windlass was clearly straining this time and the reason why quickly became apparent. The anchor had picked up an old pot rope which gave Neil some grief until a sharp knife was found to cut it free.
All home safe and sound though and massive thanks to Neil and Leo for helping to make Em's session such a success. 👍👍

It was a real fun day, so glad Emily had such a positive experience, and you now know how it feels for your kid to out fish you 🤣!! 

 

Sunday was forecast for light winds off the the land, so had to get out - took the other half out on pugwash in search of some squid.
She really doesn't like fish or fishing, but was willing to spend a few hours afloat as long as she didn't have to do anything!
11am start and we were off out the harbour in glorious sunshine, as we approached Portland's north entrance i chucked the Squid jigs down feeling hopeful, 
being restless the mackerel feathers soon went over the side too  - i had an old set that were busted up and now only 2 hooks remained, but i thought with the Mrs on board that would mean less 'flapping' - wasnt long before i was into a 'full string' of 2. happy blank saved.
I switched to a slow jig while we drifted near the wall hoping for a bass/pollock/wrasse but nothing. 
moving slightly inside portland harbour i suddenly saw movement on the squid rod - bang first squid landed - only a small one - but target achieved
  
Almost immediately the feathers went - Tub Gurnard - happy days!


then i had another larger squid, 

the next drift we had company - the guy that runs Chesil bait and tackle was out in his boat - saw him land a few cuttle and i saw him get an inky shot right in the kisser (haha)
I soon was into another squid which was followed right up to the surface by a cuttle - i couldn't get him with the net though. I sent the jigs straight back down and was immediately into another - I thought it might be the cuttle taking them on the drop - but it was a 4th squid.

wasn't long before 2.30pm came around and we headed in as i wanted to watch the rugby at 4pm. 
a great few hours afloat bait freezer topped up (and an excellent game of rugby!)

Given the weather was so calm all weekend and into Monday i decided to give the squid a go off weymouth Stone pier after work
 
as i arrived, people were landing and losing squid so it filled me with confidence - the piers in Weymouth get rammed in squid season - people travel from all over bringing underwater, lights, tents, banter, BBQs and beers, and its a bit crazy to be fair!
I found a spot half way down the pier, and was soon crowded out with people right next to me - one of them had an underwater light which made for some good viewing of the underwater world after dark. amazing how many small pollock, wrasse, pouting etc are drawn in.
I was armed with 2 rods, one set up with a jig below a float that i could leave out and then i worked the other jig on a cast and retrieve method. 
more squid came from the end of the pier, but it wasn't long before they moved down the pier and on our side a shoal appeared and we all hooked up at the same time!
I had one squid in in hour at dusk, and missed a few takes. but then it went quiet. 

the guy next to me was using live prawns and he heard of a bass chasing someone elses squid jig, so he moved across the pier and within 2 mins (after nearly losing his rod) he hooked into a decent keeper bass - seems live prawn is like crack to a hungry bass. 
 
a lovely sunset, more bait for the freezer and my squid account open for the season!!

Took my twin son from Cheltenham out Sunday for his first trip in over a year. He’s had a tough time this summer with a medical issue but he’s making a great recovery and he’s still working on it. With that in mind I decided a trip out to the last place I went on the reefs by the Ore Stone would be best.
we were out early and shot over at full tilt and were there and fishing in no time. Feathers and jigs deployed we were soon into mackerel and scad. The mackerel were nice and chunky and we loaded up the cool box with them and a load of the scad for bait.

 I decided to drop a rig down with squid jigs on and within ten minutes was into my first of the day, result! We tried drifting all over the reef with varying results and on one drift a cuttlefish came up but by the time we sorted out the net he’d dropped off. I made up for it later by bagging a bigger one 👌


with the tides being so small we had to wait ages for some run to anchor in and even then it was pitiful. We persevered and dropped some big baits down in exactly the same spot where I’d done well two weeks ago but the bites were mainly from doggies ripping off the baits. I did manage a small huss and Tom hooked into a much bigger fish, only to lose it 3/4 of the way up….😕 I reeled up a massive spider which Tom wanted to keep but the reality of dealing with it later on would have been too much so we gave it a squid bait and sent him back 😅

when we packed up I used the advice given about the Alderney ring retrieval with the buoy way up front and it worked a treat, no dramas at all and confidence restored 😊
Tom had an absolute blast, a real boost for him although I could tell he was cream crackered bless him. Got home safely and dealt with all the fish in good time, couple of beers, shower and bed! Great day out, no big fish this time but we weren’t bothered 😊

37cd13e4-7987-4518-9f8d-36720ce3b922.mp4

Well done Ian 👏
I very nearly went to the Skerries on Sunday but Tom (my son with the medical issue) was down for a trip and it would have been too much for him….so we fished the same place I did two weeks ago.
Report to come but we did manage to land one cuttlefish and six squiddlies 😊

Excellent stuff. I have only once taken a cuttle for eating - as revenge as it headshotted me while I tried to net it from my kayak. Luckily I had my sunglasses on otherwise I would have had ink in my eyes but my nice bright high vis hat (so the throbbers on jetski's don't run me over) and yellow kayak were never the same again. I don't think it was an accidental shot either....🤯 

Excellent stuff. I have only once taken a cuttle for eating - as revenge as it headshotted me while I tried to net it from my kayak. Luckily I had my sunglasses on otherwise I would have had ink in my eyes but my nice bright high vis hat (so the throbbers on jetski's don't run me over) and yellow kayak were never the same again. I don't think it was an accidental shot either....🤯 

Sunday was a cracker of a day so an early start for the skerries, stopping on the way for fresh Mack.
We spent an hour on the Mack, and whilst kyle and the wife were busy with the feathers, I got the squid jigs out and found a couple of cuttle and 3 fresh squid.
Then a decent run to the skerries ( stopping to play with the Dolphins) where we drifted for plaice and soon bagged up, but only retained 6 decent keepers. Once the tide changed and started to pick up I dropped the pin and down went the big Ray baits.
We were soon into the Blonds and boated  11 with the biggest at 13lb. Also we had 2 dogs and a decent Grey that went almost 3lb. All too soon it was time to pull the anchor and head back. There was a shoal of BFT busting a bait ball just off the banks.

 
Monday was to be a bait gathering session, just the wife and I, as we had the school run in the afternoon.
The wife was on tinsel duty, and I set up a squid jig pat to target the cuttle. We were pretty successful with 20+ Mack and 17 cuttle. The biggest cuttle went almost 5lb and was taking line ! Cuttle are annoying as you only land about 1 in 5, as they grab and let go the jigs.
Also in the mix on the tinsels were Scad (lost count) and small tubs.
@thejollysinker is going to be fuming, as he fishes right over the cuttle, but unless you actively target them, you would never know they are there.

 

 
Cuttle are dirty bastids, so cleaning the boat was a jet wash job, but keeping the deck wet helps a lot. They probably emit 5 times more ink than squid. All in the freezer now as cuttle will out fish all other baits in the winter. The quantity and quality of the cuttle would cost about £250 -£300 to buy as frozen bait, so well pleased.
2 days and 120nm, tired but happy.
 

Got my first one last night at Princess pier, first bloody cast 🤣

after losing three last week in the peeing down rain this was most welcome. Hooked a couple more but they came off. Tricky business without barbs and jets of water flying around 🤷‍♂️ all in all some good fun and hope to get more as the season progresses 🤞

heard reports of squid showing up so thought we would do a dawn raid.....
5am alarm and down on Tims boat for 5.30 - His new spot lights were great for lighting up his foredeck and rails - not so good for spotting pot bouys (😜)  - so we used the plotter to take a wide berth out of the harbour - no issues and we were on the mark before first light  - glowing squid jigs went down and after an hour we only managed the one - still target acquired - guessing the water is still very dirty from the storms earlier in the week.
off out to anchor up and due to the massive tides and strong SSW wind we opted for an inshore mark - 3Nm off on mixed ground known to show up allsorts. we weren't disappointed!
between us we had a steady stream of fish all day.... 
Mackerel, Loads of red gurnards, loads of black bream, conger, dogfish, smoothounds, Scad, Tope, 

I do love a red gurnard!

Feisty tope was a surprise!
brought home one squid and 2x black bream for the table, plus a couple of mackerel for the bait freezer. 
a long but cracking day - and still in shorts in Oct!
 

I've only got this one..... 

Sounds and looks like a fun day out, glad you made it back to post the photos and report!

Sounds and looks like a fun day out, glad you made it back to post the photos and report!

Hi Ralph, from one newbie to another welcome. Might see you out and about in the Teignmouth or Torquay area. Nice video btw!

Hi Ralph, from one newbie to another welcome. Might see you out and about in the Teignmouth or Torquay area. Nice video btw!

Thanks Andy and Mick,
Having successfully completed our Powerboat2 course on Tuesday, Wednesday evening was our first time afloat. The roll over the gunnels worked for boarding and despite a bit of mis communication we managed to get car, trailer and boat off the slip undamaged, each in the desired direction. We only had a short run out as high tide was at dusk so we did about 2hrs just to see how she went. Tide was incoming hard as we made our way out of the estuary at a very genteel pace. Outside we opened up a bit and planed easy enough at 20knot+ with more to come. Not too wobbly when sat fishing which we managed about 40 mins fruitlessly searching for anything. Then all too soon time to get back in and a pub dinner. Looking forward to some more inshore trips and fishing when the weather allows....

Thanks Andy and Mick,
Having successfully completed our Powerboat2 course on Tuesday, Wednesday evening was our first time afloat. The roll over the gunnels worked for boarding and despite a bit of mis communication we managed to get car, trailer and boat off the slip undamaged, each in the desired direction. We only had a short run out as high tide was at dusk so we did about 2hrs just to see how she went. Tide was incoming hard as we made our way out of the estuary at a very genteel pace. Outside we opened up a bit and planed easy enough at 20knot+ with more to come. Not too wobbly when sat fishing which we managed about 40 mins fruitlessly searching for anything. Then all too soon time to get back in and a pub dinner. Looking forward to some more inshore trips and fishing when the weather allows....

Thanks Andy and Mick,
Having successfully completed our Powerboat2 course on Tuesday, Wednesday evening was our first time afloat. The roll over the gunnels worked for boarding and despite a bit of mis communication we managed to get car, trailer and boat off the slip undamaged, each in the desired direction. We only had a short run out as high tide was at dusk so we did about 2hrs just to see how she went. Tide was incoming hard as we made our way out of the estuary at a very genteel pace. Outside we opened up a bit and planed easy enough at 20knot+ with more to come. Not too wobbly when sat fishing which we managed about 40 mins fruitlessly searching for anything. Then all too soon time to get back in and a pub dinner. Looking forward to some more inshore trips and fishing when the weather allows....

Thanks Andy and Mick,
Having successfully completed our Powerboat2 course on Tuesday, Wednesday evening was our first time afloat. The roll over the gunnels worked for boarding and despite a bit of mis communication we managed to get car, trailer and boat off the slip undamaged, each in the desired direction. We only had a short run out as high tide was at dusk so we did about 2hrs just to see how she went. Tide was incoming hard as we made our way out of the estuary at a very genteel pace. Outside we opened up a bit and planed easy enough at 20knot+ with more to come. Not too wobbly when sat fishing which we managed about 40 mins fruitlessly searching for anything. Then all too soon time to get back in and a pub dinner. Looking forward to some more inshore trips and fishing when the weather allows....

Thanks Andy and Mick,
Having successfully completed our Powerboat2 course on Tuesday, Wednesday evening was our first time afloat. The roll over the gunnels worked for boarding and despite a bit of mis communication we managed to get car, trailer and boat off the slip undamaged, each in the desired direction. We only had a short run out as high tide was at dusk so we did about 2hrs just to see how she went. Tide was incoming hard as we made our way out of the estuary at a very genteel pace. Outside we opened up a bit and planed easy enough at 20knot+ with more to come. Not too wobbly when sat fishing which we managed about 40 mins fruitlessly searching for anything. Then all too soon time to get back in and a pub dinner. Looking forward to some more inshore trips and fishing when the weather allows....