GPSguru

We get both here. The common lesser weever and the much larger greater weever. I got stung on the skerries a couple of years ago, unpleasant for an hour or two, but not too bad. I didn't have any hot water, so poured hot coffee on it from the flask. The number seem to stay fairly constant, however, we are seeing a lot more dragonets this year.

Yep, that is a 2017 5th generation ipad with the 9.7 screen, and wifi only. you need to get a bluetooth gps puck, plenty on amazon. No need to go to the sort of price that bad elf want, unless you find a cheap used ( probably £40 ish). some of the chinky clones work just fine.

Generally, only iPads that have a cellular connection have built in GPS, so if your iPad doesn't connect to the network, then it probably does not have an inbuilt gps receiver. Easy to fix, just get a bluetooth GPS device and connect it to the ipad. Usually the branded names work well, like Garmin, and Bad Elf. If you post the model number (it is on the back of the case), it is easy enough to look up.

He was try to ‘bags’ your rods 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes, I know that area well. You are very close to the Marais Pontevin, locally known as little Venice. I have fished the Niortaise, and there are some exceptional river carp in there, mostly fully scaled commons with a good number of 50lb plus fish. A nice long lazy day is hiring a boat and making your way slowly along the tranquil tree canopied canals, stopping at canal side restaurants for lunch etc. We didn't go this year due to other 'stuff' getting in the way.

Yes, definitely a tub, but I couldn't see that in the original pic, although it looked like a tub. Tub and Grey are most common, followed closely by the Red, much less common is the streaked.

Excellent, what part ? , le Sables, or st Gilles ? maybe in little Venice ( the canals near Rochelle). we go there a lot because the vendee is renowned for its temperate micro climate, snd it can get very hot there.

Actually, you are not far off the money, as mid August is spider bonanza time. Look for a big male, they had much bigger claws and more meat.

Yes, it really is the best tasting crab, but not popular here in the uk as compared to browns, spiders are hard work to process. The frogs and the Portuguese love them. A meal we used to have regular in the Vendee was langoustine with a spider salad (french dressed).

I think they are both grey. The top is deffo a grey, but the bottom looks more like a tub, but I see no blue outline on the pecks, so I will go with grey. We catch a lot of grunters here, with tubs going to 4lb.

Very much worth all the hard work, as the meat is beautifully soft and sweet, my favourite crab meat TBH Not much in the body, 90% is in the legs and claws

The sewer buoy, correctly known as the 'special purpose buoy' was one of the marks that failed miserably, the mack came from the Orestone, Outer Livermeads, Long Quarry, and the Parson & Clerk.

Last night the wife asked about sea state and tides for today, as she decided, with it being the hottest day this summer, that it would be nice to get out. So, I asked where she wanted to go, wrecks, Skerries, or something else, and she wanted to go Mackerel fishing, and, TBF she is bloody good at it. I was happy with that, but warned her that we would be having to work hard for just a few, as they are a bit thin on the ground. Due to some medical issues this was her first time out this year, we launched at 08:30 and made our way out to some of my 'banker' mackerel marks. Soon we were beginning to catch, only ones and twos but they were very decent sized fish. TBH, it was very hot today, calm mirror sea, almost no wind, so that made the fishing a bit harder. I went to 5 marks, and we ended up with 34 Mackerel, so not too shabby, and she also managed a Pollock of about 3lb off a rock mark. Most have gone in the bait freezer, but 4 were jumbo sized and are in the fridge for eating. Came back in at 4pm, the temp here in Lyme Bay was 29C, so quite warm ! A decent trip of 25 miles, but it was great to be out there again, and I quite enjoyed our maccy bashing session. I did fit in a visit to one wreck, but it was netted 🙄 No pics, coz we all know what the average mack looks like 🙄

Definitely, if you ever want that info then just drop me a pm 👍

Yes, a few clouds but they were very high, and generally over the land mass.

Solo trip and early start due to a major rowing race taking place and all the gigs use the slipway 🙄 Absolutely flat sea and arrived on the skerries at 08:00. Straight down with my Plaice bait, and I also put down tinsels for snake / mack, and a large fish bait for Turbot. The first away was the mack tinsels, with a steady stream of single fish, but a good size. The next bit is for @jonnyswamp who was told the fish were small. I fished from 08:00 to 13:30 and had 9 plaice, with 3 keepers. The MLS is 27cm, but I don't keep under 35cm. I measured all the fish (just out of interest) and the keepers were just over 35, the rest were 27 - 30. I don't use worm, only fish baits, usually whole king prawn tipped with squid, or mack strip tipped with squid. I was getting a lot of bites that didn't connect, and that could have been postage stamp fish as I tend to use a 1/0 instead of the size 2 that a lot of folk use. Also in the mix was loads of finger sized pout on the tinsels, and 4 good sized grey gurnard on the plaice rod. My Turbot baits went untouched all day, not even a dog. Got back onto the slip at 1:45 pm, a loverly day, not a cloud in the sky and quite warm., but the sea was great so an easy 50 miles. We had the plaice for evening meal, and it was excellent. Just one pic, coz we have all seen plaice before 🙄

Yes, small bait fish, but the one toward the top of the screen could be mack, they have a habit as showing as small bait fish. Not keen on your colour profile. I prefer a white background.

If the weather holds, I will be going there on Sunday. Usually the keepers vs returns works out at about 70 /30 for us, but we don't keep anything under 35cm Those that use worm and small baits tend to get the smaller fish, we use large cocktail fish baits

When the boat was built in 2019, Ribcraft sea trialled it and found the 3 blade prop supplied by Mercury made it 'under propped'. Ribcraft normally supply Suzuki engines, but I had specified a mercury 150, and, Mercury (Barrus in the Uk) were keen to do more business with Ribcraft so they sent down an engineer to the sea trials, and he suggested 19 pitch 4 blade Revolution, which they fitted and found it to be OK. As you know, it is basically a racing prop with exhaust vents that can be opened or closed to fine tune it. I have found the grip the prop gives to be outstanding, with no noticeable slip on a 30kt 'J' turn, and the hole shot is very impressive. The best thing of all, is the prop cost me no extra on the package, however, I tend to look after it as it would be around £800 to replace. The only change I have had to make is I had to upgrade the prop hub to an almost solid hub (I believe it is bushed but has titanium rods running through it) as I was getting some 'prop rattle' (due to its weight and grip) at idle and low revs, the new hub was £150 ish

If you cant get glued heatshrink of the right size, then cover the joint with hot melt glue, then immediately shrink on the heatshrink.

The net was probably 5 or more square metres, way too heavy for me to lift. The bit I kept is the bit that I cut off to free the prop. It is a very heavy duty nylon net. On the boat, I have a divers knife on my belt, so always to hand. It is SS non pointy, locks into its sheath, and has both flat and saw tooth edges, not cheap, but it does the job quickly.

True, but I don't fish for the king size Mack 😉🤣 I was also out with my mate last Sunday on the 35 mile wrecks, and we found large scad on those as well, not hoards of them, but enough to keep you busy.

Went out on the boat today, a morning trip out to the 20mile wrecks. Launched a 7:30am and couldn't see across the harbour, yet the met office were giving the visibility as medium. Once out of the nav channel the visibility was probably a little over half a mile, which I was happy with, however, I decided if it got worse I would head back in. I stopped and checked my AIS was working ok, so ships could at least detect my presence. A steady 24kts soon had me out on the chosen wreck, where I was expecting to catch bass. Each drift kept me busy with Pout, Scad and smallish bass, The stamp of the bass were proper schoolies and I struggled to find one over 50cm, most were around 42cm. However, the scad were monsters. At about 11:00am the mist cleared as the sun burnt through and the wreck was busy, with me and 2 commercials. At 12:00 midday I decided to come back in, but the day had been fruitful, nothing large, but 17 Pout, 9 Scad, and 8 Bass, with 2 keepers at 49 / 50cm. The sea was flat, so 30knts cruising. At 14miles out I just caught a glimpse of something green floating below the surface off my starboard bow, I immediately throttled back, but too late, I heard the noise of the prop and the engine suddenly slow, and I was prop wrapped. I shut down and tilted the engine, the culprit was an old-discarded commercial net. I would think it had been probably snagged on the bottom and broke free. To reach the prop you have to climb on the outboard leg, or use a safety rope off the A frame, however, I was on my own so didn't want the risk of going in the drink. The easy solution was to ty-wrap my rope cutting knife to the boat hook, and I soon cut the net away. My prop hub wasn't damaged, as I use an almost solid hub due to the weight of the 4 blade Mercury Revolution prop. Once free, I had an uneventful trip back in. Now for the next issue. It has been hot today, and I left the boat cleaning until the evening, When I went to clean the boat, I found the starboard side stern tube well deflated (not flat, just well deflated). My initial reaction was a puncture, but the tubes have over pressure valves and close inspection has suggested the valve opened when the tube got hot in the sun (24C here) and didn't close properly, I have cleaned the valve, and reinflated the tube, so will just keep an eye on it. Well, the tube has been fine for the last 24hrs, so I am going with an overpressure valve issue. If it happens again, they are easy enough to get replaced. The scad were big beggars Here is a bit of the net I cut from the prop

Well done Malc, I have been struggling to catch a ling this year. I normally run a wrecking rig ( 150lb rig body, blood looped with a 9/0) baited with either a mack or pout flapper, usually at slack water, but no takers apart from greedy jumbo pout. Sounds like you had a decent day out.

As a tackle dealer, I am in direct contact with the wholesalers, so I get to know when a lot of 'major brand' is made, and some of it would surprise you ! An example would be 2 major hook brands in the uk come from the same factory, same batch runs. We will call them A & B. Some anglers use B because A breaks. Some anglers use B because A bends, yet they are the same hooks 🤷‍♂️