GPSguru

I use Spectra braid from ebay. It is made in the same factory as Shimano power pro, it looks identical and behaves identical. also it is cheap enough to replace more frequently, which for me is every 2 years or so. TBH, I am a lot more fussy about mono leaders, rig bodies, and snoods. Mono (co-polymer) does vary a lot and usually ‘cheap’ is rubbish.

Totally agree, luckily we don't get big seas here very often, but it felt OK to be out in a 15 -20ft (5m) swell fishing the wrecks last autumn. We have been plagued this year with a 'short sea', meaning the time between the swells / waves is often less than 3 secs, and that just makes for uncomfortable fishing, so I give it a miss. I am generally looking for 4 secs plus, and if the big Atlantic swells are forecast, then 7 t0 10 secs.

The weather has improved so a solo trip to the wrecks with Bass as the target. launched at 7ish into a flat sea and hauled my arse out to a wreck at 15 miles in 200ft that normally holds bass. There was already a rod line/ potter commercial on the wreck, but also very friendly which is good. Surprisingly it was at least a fish a drift, pout, coalfish, scad, pollock, and Bass. I had a few bass and was playing ‘change the bucket’ to keep them alive to select the biggest and I kept 2 at 53 / 54cm. Annoyingly, I hooked and lost (after a decent fight) what I suspect to be a largish bass, experience suggests 8lb plus, but the hook pulled. The fish were only taking small 115mm lures, so small 2/0 hooks. spent 3 hours on the wreck, then I noticed the swell was increasing and shortening, so time to come back in. A very pleasant morning ………..and it was nice to see a coalfish, even though only 2lb ish couple of pics A 53cm Bass A tiddler Pollock

If you want people to give meaningful answers, then pointless, stupid insults are not the way forward.🙄 Count me out on this thread. I will ensure Daio has all the info he needs.

So, are you going to answer the question, or it is beyond your pay scale ?

Yes the trip info is readily available on your 7410 plotter, however, the fuel used info will require an input from the engine (I use a Mercury CAN bus to NMEA black box), but generally I red this infor diect from the mercury smartcraft gauges. When we are moving, I have the smartcraft set to show me fuel burn per hour and litres used since last fill up. But the trip distance, odometer, time moving, avg speed, max speed etc is all in the plotter. RTFM 🤣 ........... page 114

Mid springs, nice weather, flat sea forecast, what is not to like. It was a hard call, due to the usual slipway spring tide limitations it was to be either a morning wrecking session getting back at 13:30, or a full day on the skerries getting back at 16:00. The call was easier as fishing the skerries on a spring is hard work and often not productive, so it was out to the wrecks. Launched at 07:30 with kyle as crew and headed to a wreck at 18 miles. Wind over tude was an issue on the trip out with a short sea coming from all directions, but managed at steady 22knts being careful not to stuff the bow. There was a commercial from Dartmouth fishing the wreck and we saw he was catching bass using one rod with hookais, and 2 handlines with multiple lures. The stamp of bass looked to be 3lb ish. We kept 4 fish that were 48 / 49 cm. we made a few drifts and had a good few bass on small lures, however, there was a large quantity of monster pout on the wreck and we had a few of those as well. We did try a wrecking rig with mack flapper over slack, but it only produced pout. Once slack came the sea quietened down, so it was a cracking morning to be out there. The trip in was quick on a flat sea, and we caught the tide ok by being back on the slip at 1 pm. @Josh Here is a pic of the trip off the plotter 😉

About 45 - 47knts, depending on tide and wind, but that is arse clenching speed, everything happens quickly, and you need eyes everywhere ! Rarely do I go over 35kts

30knts, which is 4000rpm. On a longish offshore trip probably 28 ish

Normally they don't lie, as all RH are calibrated at the factory. The digital scales are best on the boat. I carry both the specimen dial scales and the digitals.

Well done Mike, excellent session.👍 Although I have caught 1000’s of bass, the magic double still fails me, plenty of 9’s, but no double !

It is great to have Kyle back as crew, now that he has finished his A levels, so we launched at 07:30 into a flat sea, with an intention of getting back to the slip at 15:30. The forecast for the skerries area was fog / mist until 09:00 and then a cloudy but warm day, but the weather guessers got that very wrong. Once we rounded Berry Head, the mist was thick and getting worse, so I dropped the speed to 24knts, however the visibility was 1/2 mile so no real issues. On went the Nav lights and I also double checked that the AIS was fully functional. We arrived at the Skerries at about 08:15 and the visibility was just a few hundred yards, but the sea was mirror calm, and no wind. A few drifts across the banks produced numerous small Plaice and only one keeper (we don't keep anything under 35cm), 4 plump Mackerel, one monster Launce (snake), and numerous Red and Grey Gurnard, so plenty to keep us busy. At the end of slack water (12:15 ish), we motored over to the outer edge of the banks and I dropped the pick. Bite were slow, with kyle getting a doggie and 2 decent blonds (8lb & 10 1/2lb). I was trying out some other ideas and only managed a 3lb spider ! At 14:30 we pulled the pick, the visibility was getting worse at maybe 200 yards, so a gentle trip off the banks at 20kts, but we picked up speed once we reached the Mudstone Ledge. Back on the slip at 15:30, a total trip of 48nm, and a very pleasant day. Just one pic that says it all

We were fishing on the skerries today, and the weather was quite the opposite. Although warm, the visibility was variable from 1/4 mile to 1 mile, it was supposed to burn off, but stayed all day. At lunchtime, I even had the Nav lights on ! AIS seems to work well in the fog / mist as we were called by a tug who was towing, in order we could identify our vessel type and take an agreed action (we stayed on his staboard side). Also we heard the CG calling a continual Pan Pan, for assistance to a 6.3m cabin cruiser that was dead in the water and anchored somewhere off Selsey Bill, so I guess you kept hearing that as well.

Anything over 40lb is a good fish anywhere in the world. I hooked one in the Maroochydore ( Oz, in the land of @JDP) that towed us out to sea in a 20ft boat 😳. The wimin got a bit scared so I cut the braid 🙄

Excellent session, well dangled 👍 I have never caught a stinger in the uk, caught plenty in other destinations, but none here.

No, no, perfectly normal, unlike the flids from the solent 🙄🤣😇

Normally yes, but I knew it was a pout and didn't need the net. Under normal circumstances I never hold the rod on the blank above the handle, as that is a sure way to snap a rod as you change the blank dynamics by the grip position. just before the fish surfaced you can see me levelling the as it was bunching to the left. generally I hold the rod at the reel, usually left hand. That way I have full control and quick access to the lever drag.

No, my vids are unlisted and I just use youtube as a host.

Unfortunately I had changed some settings and inadvertently gone into loop mode, so the Cod footage was recorded over, however, here is a vid of one of the smaller pout (but still large), that tried to take a whole mack flapper and was cleanly hooked on an O'Shaughnessy 9/0

On the larger reels, you can't remove it. |The smaller reels have a sprag bearing, but the larger reels rely on a TWIN pawl for anti reverse, so it is twice as annoying !

Another morning solo trip as I had to do the school run in the afternoon. Launched at 7:45 into a flat sea, so I decided to head out to the same bunch of wrecks as my last trip. At 15 - 20 miles out it was mirror flat, I decided to stay on one largish wreck, and my drift was along the wreck which is unusual. It was pout city on both spj and lures, but I did manage 2 small Cod of about 4lb each. Some of the pout were huge. I had some frozen mack to use up, so I quickly tied a blood loop wrecking rig from 150lb mono, and a 9/0 hook. I loaded the 9/0 with a mack flapper hoping for Ling, but the monster pout were shredding it, and I hooked 4 of them, bloody monsters, probably close to 3lb fish ! I will look at the camera later to see if there are any pics worth using. Just cleaned the boat and I noted the AIS stopped working on the way back in. The AIS 800 has the ‘ready’ and ‘receive only’ lights on, which suggests it has lost its GPS signal, so I suspect the Garmin puck. I will order a new one tonight. Total trip of 38miles and a cracking day to be out there.

On my 30lb and 50lb rods I use the fin Nor Marquesa 2011 (twin speed) On the 6 - 15's, and 12 - 20,s it is mostly Marquesa 12's, and a couple of older 16's

Fixed that Jon 👍

All my rods are Kenzaki super braid ( 4x 12 - 20, 1 x 6 - 15, 2 x 20 - 30, 2 x 30 - 50) nice soft tip and plenty of grunt in the butt section. However, I do have one team diawa 20 - 30, but in comparison to the kenzaki it is like fishing with a broom stick.

Nah, the less competent clowns drop them over the side when grabbing a pickup buoy to moor, and they float off in the tide.