suzook12

Ok, I am going to start 3 new project threads. I have a yam 55 that has not been used for several years that will be serviced and recommissioned, a trailer that has been out of use for several years, and a boat that needs recommissioning and all 3 coming together.

Ok, so I have a trailer now, double row bunks, so I guess we will see how that goes. Got some remedial work to do first before attempting to lift a boat on, like correct size wheels with tyres of correct load rating..... New winch required, brakes will need checking/replacing etc.... Once that is home I will get some pics up. Got to order outboard service parts up too......

I said straight away cooling your ball bags in that bucket would end in tears😉

Me and Jon C entered Brightlingsea Boat Comp on Sunday, the tide was awful, the sea conditions were terrible and the weather was crap but despite that Jon C won a £50 chandler voucher with best unusual catch which was an 8lb Stingray, we both enjoyed the 3 hour raffle after as well which meant we missed all the football but we made great use of Jon C’s Willy Wang Air horn abusing Bradwell beach goers as we passed them.

Got out Sunday for a club comp. Best day weather wise for us this year, absolutely flat calm. Started off local looking for a bass but just small thornbacks and dogs. A move down just below Watchet produced even more dogs, thornbacks and some straps but we did find half a dozen hounds or so. Too many dogs here for my liking and the hounds were small so at slack we shot back up channel to a piece of coral. More of the same but a few more hounds and a bigger average size so was a good move. We spent the last hour failing to find a bass again but overall a great day out 

So I arrived home from Turkey last night
with an incredible forecast Sunday questioning do I ? don’t I ?… I should stay at home prepare for the week ahead ect…
so anyway
1am came and I was on the road by 25past
heading for itchneor slip

lauched by 3.55 and heading through the harbour I was gunning for the slack at the Outer Owers to try for some bass and I was up against it time wise with a 15mile run from the harbour. So I stopped once and was lucky enough to pick up a small scad and one mackerel great some live baits. Then was disciplined enough not to stop again untill arriving at the mark.
I actually got there before the slack had started so time wise I got more than I needed.
fish wise not so good .. live bait down and feeding the float back on one rod and Dexter wedge off the bottom with another.
no takes first drift
second drift the floats gone down great! Wer on !
nope Wer off !
so I dropped the float back without checking the bait and bang I just picked the other rod up and the float was down again! Okay yes fish is ON….
well all went light float came up the bass even had the audacity to follow the the mackerel to the boat.assuming it was the same fish..
i forgot to say when I arrived and set up I put the tiny scad on which would of been perfect and as I threw it over it came off so that’s why the mackerel went on… heinsight I recon I should of sized my hook up a bit..
anyway back round and seeing a few more individual surface splashes now casting at them
rubbers and dexters but no joy.
by this point the mackerel was stiff so I flapped it set it out then & float went down again and I was properly on … however it wasn’t a bass it was a conger of about 8lb . So I was heart pounding for the net untill I saw it. 
after than I started following the birds and there were fish with them but no joy for me. A lot of baitfish under boat in areas. Not sure what it was I couldn’t pick them up maybe very mini sandeels.


with a short day planned I shot into a tope mark  that Iv had some incredible action in the past that’s pretty reliable and that was very quiet too. A small black bream  and a few dogs .
Amazing forecast saw some monster mullet in the harbour biggest Iv ever seen. So just sunsets & sounders today 
not even a poorly cooked sausage 

Well done the pair of ya
👍👍

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

Can't beat a good lively tope

Annual trip was written off due to weather conditions but my friends kindly twisted my arm into going over the weekend on the proviso that they got me to the airport or home before my flight to Spain. 
First day was choppy at times and finished flat, but we managed to get some mackerel, scad and launce to bolster our few frozen baits and ended up with a topelet, a similar size smooth, a mid sized huss and a mid sized TBR.
Day two and we headed off for tide and depth. First off was a huss of around 90cm but as the tide strengthened we headed to another spot just to the side of a drop off, the anchor kept pulling out and then stopping us, so a slow drift really. 
On one of the stops my friend had a knock and a slow run so we thought Huss, but on striking it went bananas! It was great to see a good bend in the rod and eventually the fish obliged and headed to the boat and then towards the warp!!!! It was expertly handled back towards us and netted and tailed in one swift move. 

151cm iirc.
Short while later I had a couple of sharp pulls and then a run, I gave it a count of 3 and tightened and she was off! I thought I would lose her as the tide was raging and she was using it to good effect, however I managed to get some line back before a couple of short runs, and started to pump her back in towards the boat but she wasn't heading up just keeping deep until under the boat and then she headed up...
Then well before we saw the leader she saw the boat and I just held on as she shot off downtide, when she slowed I turned her and started again. She surfaced 15m downtide and managed to turn and run a few yards and then wrap herself on the leader! However after really testing the tackle she came alongside and unwound and was lifted in by my friends!

mid 150's in French inches. 
I was cream crackered on the plane after 2 eight hour days in choppy conditions and just 2 hours kip but I have recovered sufficiently and am off to the pool to wallow and slumber! 
HAPPY DAYS!

A boost gauge is an invaluable piece of equipment in such cases.

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!

Stops you getting splinters lad 🤣
 

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!!
 

Yes & no. 
 
RIB’ s have very little freeboard and you are always aware of that fact, however, the tubes are also very wide ( 500mm diameter). So,  much wider than the average gunnel, so you tend to fall on them rather than over them.
It is a fast boat, with a low freeboard, so the wearing of lifejackets is a given.
 

Just a solo morning session and the weather liars were forecasting a good sea and wind conditions. Launched at 07:30 into a flat, calm sea, but that didn't last long 🙄
I had decided to go to a wreck, and then inshore for some Mackerel, and this was a 'food' trip, I had my instructions, Bass, Cod or Ling, and a Mack or two for the granddaughter. My lot are not keen on Pollock !
My destination wreck was the 'Meatboat' and I am pretty sure @Dickyasked about that wreck some time ago. It is in 190ft and about a 15mile steam. The flat sea was great, and nice to be cruising at 30kts, but once I got to about 6 miles out the NW wind picked up and was producing quite a significant swell with a short sea (1.8secs !). By the time I got to the wreck, I was down to 18kts and the wind was causing a lot of spray from the waves. Drifting the wreck was not easy as there were 2 crab pots on the outer edge of the wreck, but I found a drift line that worked.
First drops on the wreck were with SPJ and that was producing a Pout on every drop, decent sized, but hey, they are still Pout. Last time I fished this wreck I remembered sidewinders were effective, so I went down with a Skerries eel, After a few plucks down on the wreck (pout) at 31 turns up I had a decent take and knew it would be a bass. Sure enough a bass it was, not huge but a keeper of 50cm (3lb or so). The next drop produced the same result, so I was happy with a bag limit of 2 keepers and decided that the washing machine sea was getting worse, so time to head inshore.
The first 5 miles coming off the wreck I was down to 16 - 18kt into a NW very short head sea, luckily the RIB is a dry boat and I didn't take any waves over the bow. Once I got to the 6 mile from land, I picked up speed as the sea was much better being in the lee of the land.
Next stop was the Orestone, where I struggled for Mack, but managed to find a decent whopper Mack in amongst the continual Scad and Gurnards. So, at 12:00 midday, with the shopping basket full, it was time to head in ready for the school run.
Apart from the weather liars, it was good to be out there, with a trip distance of 38nm, 2 keeper bass, a decent Mack, plus a load of other dross like Pout (lost count), Scad, and small Grey Gurnard.
We had the Bass for evening meal and the granddaughter munched on the mackerel (she doesn't like spiky)
I had the DJI Action 4 camera on, so I could take off stills, but the cam is reasonable, so a little vid instead. I didn't bother with the Pout footage !
 
 
 
 

A boost gauge is an invaluable piece of equipment in such cases.

Must have been your thoughts I picked up on......

Too busy looking after you.

So, what's yours? 

It's his best excuse. Fixing disguises his lack of catching. 😱🤣

Went to see the pacific yesterday. Absolute shed!! Dodgy repair in the hull, floor was shot, big chunk of glass cut out to fit the steering wheel despite being a structural part! movement in the transom and the fact its had a hull repair (at least one) and the floor is shot, suggests the bearers and stringers are too...... For some reason the trim and tilt controls were in the splash well?? Oh, and the trailer was a badly converted caravan chassis with no plate on it, no mudguards yada yada.....
 
So I bought it!!
 
 
No, not really. I would say I walked away, but ran was nearer the truth
 
 

Went to see the pacific yesterday. Absolute shed!! Dodgy repair in the hull, floor was shot, big chunk of glass cut out to fit the steering wheel despite being a structural part! movement in the transom and the fact its had a hull repair (at least one) and the floor is shot, suggests the bearers and stringers are too...... For some reason the trim and tilt controls were in the splash well?? Oh, and the trailer was a badly converted caravan chassis with no plate on it, no mudguards yada yada.....
 
So I bought it!!
 
 
No, not really. I would say I walked away, but ran was nearer the truth