GPSguru

Good effort though 👍 Yes, but you were out there giving it the effort, and that is what pays dividends in the long run. I didn't go out this morning as the fog was forecast late last night, and although the boat was ready on the trailer for a 6:30 departure, I gave it a miss. The forecast was right and even at 11:00am the visibility was only 200yrd or so. I will probably go out again on Friday morning, and try for some more wreck Cod.

Lot of strange things happening this year. we get Mack all year but only on certain marks and not in the quantity that you found. Also I would class a bream as unusual in Feb. The squid are still hanging around, and they should have disappeared over a month ago. Also we have got Cod on the wrecks and we don't usually see them until early May. The Bass will return from the spawning grounds in late feb / early March.

No chance, it is going to turn colder during the week, but decent settled weather due to the High pressure.

I think it is related to electrical gremlins due to water ingress. If you remember, this time last year I had a similar issue which was causing the rear wiper to operate with a N/S indicator, and it turned out to be under carpet water ingess into a connector. I also made myself ill by tasting the water to see if it was sea water from my waders, or a rainwater leak. Well, it has been Ok all summer, and since the autumn rain, the driver's side carpet is soaking wet again. I have found the leak, it was loose self tappers on the secondary door seal rubber fixing that goes down the outside of the 'A' pillar. The windscreen fitter didn't tighten the screws when they fitted a new screen some 2 years ago. Unfortunately, there is a large wiring loom recessed in the driver's floor plan, and I am guessing there are some issues in the loom. The stored codes are saying that the 4 wheel drive select ID switch is faulty, and it doesn't know if it is in 2 or 4 wheel drive, and the second code says the gear select push/pull switch is faulty, and the drivetrain module doesn't know what gear it is in. The wiring for both of those switches will be in that loom. This time I am not going to taste the water, as that was 7 weeks of antibiotics ! I know both the switches are working, as I get the correct dashboard indications, so I am guessing it will be a bad earth, or a partially broken wire, or a cross contact between 2 wires due to the water ingress, I am thinking the latter.

On Saturday, the weather forecast was good, and the sea forecast was accurate, so it was going to be a morning solo trip out the inshore wrecks, as I had other stuff to do in the afternoon. Also it was a good chance to try out the Temple Reef SPJ rod, with its new rig fitted. The day didn’t start well, with the Jeep engine management light on as I went to Tesco to fill the boat. A quick investigation (ign on/off 3 times in quick succession) revealed 3 stored codes, and they were all autobox and 4 wheel drive selector related. I decided it would drive OK (in autobox default mode), so carried on. Launched at 7:30 and decided to try a wreck at 9 miles, 20 mins later I was on the wreck and fishing. Unfortunately, it was Pout city, and I lost count / got fed up with counting at 11. The next wreck of interest was 4 miles away at 12 miles out, and the sea was flat calm, so I made good time. The first couple of drifts produced Pout, lots of nuisance Pout ! I decided to drift on past the very broken wreck to a small patch that I believe to be wreckage from the wreck, but has formed a tiny reef, I have it marked, and I have had good results there in the past. The area is about 75 yards from the main wreck. As I passed the area, I had a good take but it didn’t stick. Next drift was the same result, so I decided to change from the a 150g Boss slow jig to a less active Hart Cyborg Edition 180g jig. These jigs respond well to just a flick of the wrist to let the SPJ rod ‘flip’ the jig. Next drift, as I hit the mark, it was fish on. In my head I called Bass as it was nodding and fighting quite well. To my surprise it was a Codling of a little over 4lb, which was very welcome, but very unusual, as we don’t expect to see Cod on the wrecks until late April / early May. The next few drifts saw me land another 5 Codling, all about the same size, the biggest was an ounce or two over 4lb and the smallest was a tad under 4lb. I decided to call it a day, and on the way in, do a drift or two on another wreck that was 2 miles away. Here I found Whiting, a good size, but not what I want, so they went back. All in all, not a bad morning, 6 Codling to 4lb, probably 25 Pout (Uck), and a couple of decent whiting. Total trip distance was 32nm, and I was back on the Slip at 12:45. The Dreaded Pout, on a Hart Jig 4lb Codling

Looks like an old SIB ? You did the right thing, and let us hope they learnt from it 🙄 Good job on the codling, there seems to be a few about, I will put up my Saturday report later.

There are those above who are saying flick it on at probably a loss and invest the money into another engine, personally I don't think that is the way forward. If you have the engine at a reputable dealer, that you trust, then I think the £2K could be a very wise investment. If, and only if, the dealer thinks the engine is perfectly serviceable, then getting this fixed will give you a good engine for maybe years to come, and the dealer is going to give you some warranty on their work (I would ask for 6 months, but you will probably get 3 months. If you flick it on, and get another motor, the high risk of exactly what you are buying is still there. A good few years ago, I bought a Johnson VRO, and it ran perfectly. Unbeknown to me, this engine had suffered water damage and after a few hours of running it threw a conrod out the side of the block. I managed at the time to get a known good 'short' powerhead (block complete with crank and pistons) for £600 and did the rebuild myself. Although that was a few years ago, that engine is still in use today.

When I was younger, we were taught to respect the elderly, but I guess that is never going happen with the mix of a pot noodle munching geriatric hippy, a plumber, and a nerd. I rest my case. ✌️🖕🙄

🖕

Last weekend (28/29) was a complete disaster, the tides were perfect but the weather and sea state didn't play by the forecast. On Saturday the live sea state was lagging the forecast by about 6 hours, and I didn't fancy drifting in a 1.2m @3.8sec swell, when the forecast was 0.4m @ 10secs, which didn't happen until later in the evening. I left the boat all ready to go as Sunday had some promise, with a forecast of flat calm F2/F3 winds from the west, however, it would have been a morning session as the wind was forecast with F5 gusts from 13:00 onwards. When I checked the weather at 6:00am on Sunday morning, the F5 gusts had moved to 09:00, so I binned the idea of going out. To give you an idea of how the wind makes the sea change, at 08:00 the live data was showing 0.19m @14secs, at 09:30 with the wind, it had changed to 0.61m @ 1.7 secs ! This coming Sat, Sun, Mon, & Tues are showing some promise.

Absolutely, and it has been like that for a few years. When Alan got the offshore 25, the waiting list was way too long, so he got them to just mould the hull, cabin, and pod. It was then transported to his garage and took a further 7 months to build.

Being a deep Vee they need a lot of power to get the best from them. As it is quite a heavy boat, I would want to see at least a 225 on the back. The power is required to get them on the plane ( just like mine) as a deep Vee doesn't ‘pop up’ quite so easy. My hole shot is very quick (3secs ish) with the 150 and the RIB weighs about one ton fully loaded. Top speed on a pirate is IIRC 35knt ish 👍

No, not any more, Sakuma used to stock loads of do-it moulds, but they stopped them back in 2020. UK Hooks has been suggested, but IIRC they closed down after Mike passed away in 2021. ShoreCast Solent, do a 6oz inline pear lead, about £20 for 10, it is in their carp fishing section. Inline carp leads are pretty popular now, as that is all a lot of venues allow, the leadclip and tail rubber are not considered fail safe any more. They also do Barrel leads to 4oz, but pierced bullets only go to 2oz I think if it were me, then I would pour a bunch of 6oz cannon balls but without the loop, and then just drill them with a 3mm drill bit.

Yep, I have them half way down in the centre console, and they get wet when I wash the boat after every trip.

Ah OK, IIRC, I think Ratty need some work to bring it up to par ...........

Knowing where you are, is the boat ‘Ratty’ , Steve’s old boat ?

Fusion 👍

Centre Console or cuddy ? seriously good sea keeping boats 👍 My final choice was between the Ribcraft and Pirate.

Still towable ?

Have you found something bigger ?

I have posted this very informative vid before, but this is one of the reasons why I like Temple Reef SPJ rods .................

It always happens, especially on the high pitch, which gives the jig a long drop. Worse in the wind, but I often manage the issue by either short pitch’s for a tumble motion, or moving the rod tip away from the slack line as I bring it down. Not to worry, I hope to have the ring, thread and varnish here tomorrow, and the rod will be as good as new by the weekend 😉

Yes, the garage has been super busy since the pandemic. This was his first time out since late June last year, when we took both boats to the skerries. He usually likes to get out about once a month. Currently they are doing a full nut and bolt restoration on a mk1 mustang amongst many other jobs. The bodyshop and garage are fully booked 2 months in advance, he has 2 mot bays, and 9 repair bays, with a staff of 10.

Alan just doesn't have the time. His business is extremely busy and he is a ‘hands on’ boss. If is difficult enough getting him to answer his phone ! I think he is a very small part of a local closed group on facebook, and that is about all he does on social media.

The first decent weather day for a long while just couldn’t be missed. My mate Alan asked me out on his boat, an offshore 25, for a trip out to the 40 mile wrecks. The crew for the day was Alan, his son Brandon, Darren, and me. The sea state at 6:00am was not great, with a real time swell of 1.2m @4 secs, and I pondered whether we should go or not. Alan and myself discussed the situation and the forecast was for the sea to improve, so we decided to give it a go. We headed out of the river at 08:30 intending to fish a wreck at 23 miles, however, that put us into a head sea and our speed was 13knts, so a decision was made to head to a wreck at 28 miles which would put the sea on the port bow and make for a faster trip. Soon we were back up to 22knts. From about midday the sea was improving all the time, and although ‘sloppy’ it was quite tame compared to earlier in the day. Fishing on the wrecks was steady, with Pollock to 7lb coming from most of them. I was slow jigging for the day and had Tub Gurnard, a few Pollock to 9lb, Mackerel, Whiting, and Pout. The other 3 were fishing traditional flying collar rigs and had Pollock, Pout, and Whiting. On the last wreck of the day at about 30 miles, Alan and Darren had a double Pollock hookup of decent fish. Alan’s went 15lb and Darren's 13lb. On the next drift of the same wreck, I was busy talking and not paying attention when a decent fish hit my jig. Unbeknown to me at the time I was tip wrapped and within seconds of the rod bending there was a loud (very loud) ping as the 20lb braid parted, also taking the 3rd from tip rod guide with it. The Temple Reef blank is undamaged and this week I will whip a new ring into place. Today I called Temple Reef, who were absolutely on the ball, they were able to tell me straight off that the rings were single leg Fuji K series size 6 Alconite KTAG, and to replace it with the later size 6 CCKTAG, or titanium torzite size 6 KTTG. They even offered to repair it if I could send it to them. I have ordered a couple of CCKTAG Alconite guides. Tip wrapping on SPJ rods, even with antiwrap K guides, is a common problem when you slack line on a long pitch, and something that I normally look out for. All too soon the day was over and we headed back in at 5pm with a following sea, making good headway at 26knts. The only boats we saw all day were the freighters out in the shipping lanes. A very pleasant way to use 200L+ of fuel. On our way .............. Alan and Darren, 15lb & 13 lb...............