crisdafish

I have concerns about the hygroscopic properties when E10 fuel is left for a while onboard in a potentially damp environment.

So. it's in the press this week that we'll have E10 fuel forced on us as from September this year. It's suggested that older cars will have an issue with this amount of ethanol in the petrol Has anyone got a view on the effects of E10 fuel on outboards?

Not me, but I fished next to a guy in a SW Scotland shore comp many years ago and he was using kippers for bait. He was cutting the kippers into 2inch chunks of with scissors and caught doggie after doggie after doggie. There's a moral to this, don't use kippers as bait!

I'd forget worms if you're after turbot. Try a long mackerel strip, sandeel or launce, even a small turbot will take a large bait. A turbot from my boat is a holy grail for me. I can catch small ones from the shore but never had one from my boat.

Sadly not, I had a few codling back in early November but lots of blanks lately, a few blanks were saved by strap eels or thornbacks. The Bristol Channel isn't on form this year, by this time last year my freezer was half full. I'm sort of grounded at the moment, I live in a Tier 2 area and the area that I fish (Severn Bridge to Weston Super Mare) is in Tier 3. I did think about going over to the Welsh side but I don't think they are faring any better. Thanks for the reminder, If i do get anything worth reporting I'll post Chris

I cut the cost of slow jigging losses by buying cheaper lures from China, I expect that's where most come from anyway. Try AliExpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32958208971.html These are decent quality, I've been using these for a while and they work both at home for cod and pollock as well as overseas. One thing I did last year but never got to try was to tie some assists using aberdeen hooks rather than using standard assist hooks which are much stronger. The idea being if you caught the bottom with the hook you stood a chance of bending it out. This tactic works on my rough ground shore rigs but I'm not sure how they would work if bringing a decent fish up vertically, but most of my fishing is done in relatively shallow water so that may not be too much of an issue for me.

Slightly off topic but I like to fish close to teams of crab/lobster pots just after they have been re-baited and shot in the water, sort of acts as groundbait. This can have quite a dramatic effect on what you catch in the vicinity.

Thanks, I may take you up on that sometime. I haven't fished from a boat out of Wales for a while, before I had my own boat I used to use the charter boats out of Swansea. I see quite a few Welsh boats over the English side of the Bristol Channel when I'm shore fishing in the winter

This is my go to recipe for bass https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spanish-roast-fish-broad-beans-chorizo Obviously this recipe was made for farmed bass but works well with a larger fish or filets, just adjust the cooking time of the fish to suit. Also works well with whole bream.

Thanks for the replies, the boat is in SW Scotland now, the winter fishing up there isn't great. Also, my insurance covers 6 months on the mooring and 6 months ashore. No, I won't be trailing the boat, other than from storage to mooring. Towing a boat that size with my car is OK on normal roads but I wouldn't like to do too many launch and recoveries without a 4x4

Boat pic uploaded, yes, it is a fair trek but I've been doing that for nearly 30 years now, I've retired now so I'm able to pick and choose travelling times to suit

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

Hello from Chippenham, I live in Wiltshire but the boat's in Scotland at the Isle of Whithorn. I bought a Reiver Sportsman new in 1992 which I've just replaced with an Orkney PilotHouse 20. Boat fishing is summer only for me, I love my shore fishing for codling in the winter. I'll look forward to a great forum Chris