GPSguru

I would have thought Mack would be cheaper than eel at the fish market. Here Mack is not generally an issue, when I go to the skerries on Saturday, I will stop off on the way for fresh mack, and will the crew to expect to catch a dozen or so in 10 - 15 mins, whilst I have a cup of coffee.

Yes, similar but not identical ............

Yes, if you rig with a knotless knot on an out turned eye, and use a very soft hook length, then the hook will turn as the fish spits the bait.

Hmmm, Eagle Claw sent me a load of these to try, I will give them a go on the skerries and see if they outperform the Sakuma Atlantics that we normally use. Normally if I want a hook to rotate then I rig it Carp style, but I'll tie on one of these and see what happens. I normally throw away bent hooks 🤣🤣🤣

If you can't get them, then the new Daiwa Super Kenzaki 6 - 15 (SKZB8015-BU) is a cracking rod.

You also get Tope, IIRC the Uk boat record was caught at Bradwell.......

It should be a good day, albeit a tad windy, Saturday is the better day, and there are also some promising days next week.

Very well done Scott, going out solo is easy once you have sussed out a plan and have everything you might need to hand 👍

We all have, unfortunately several times for most of us ! 🤣👍

TBH unlike the the Shambles, there is not a huge Turbot population, certainly not really worth targeting. Most of the Turbot are found in the overfalls on the start point side of the banks. Launce will more than likely pick up Blonds. We tend to get 2 or 3 turbot a season, and these fall to plaice rigs. Expect to be fishing for Plaice, so a bit of bling and 1/0 aberdeens. There are Bass on the banks but usually schoolies. The charters often fish the eastern side of the banks (Dartmouth) where the Plaice are plentiful. We often set up a ‘mack’ rod with size 4 tinsels and that often produces a few snakes. Most of the Ray fishing is done on the outer edge of the banks at anchor, but small eyed, blonds, and the odd undulate can be found all over the banks, with some of the blonds close to 30lb. If the weather holds we will be there on Saturday, stopping off at hopes ness or berry head for fresh mack. Bait ….. take frozen mack, prawn, squid, and sandeel. Every bait you use needs to be tipped with a long thin strip of squid.

Yes, it can get very hot on a good day, but we rarely anchor, so there is always a slight breeze when drifting. Bimini’s are ok, but fraught with issues, and are also speed limiting.

Thanks for the offer Neil, but at the moment I am sorted. The wife has produced a large pile of long sleeved T shirts that I have never worn.

The fatigue is nothing like I have ever experienced, putting one foot in front of the other to walk is like a huge effort. I didn't do myself any favours as the day before, I had laid 32m of composite decking until late in the evening!

RedGills come with hook protectors fitted, and they can be a PITA to remove sometimes. The error I made has been done by many, and many times !

Well, the planned launch at 6:30, ended up being at 7:45 as I was finding the enthusiasm difficult to muster !, However, I slowly took the straps off the boat and got it ready for launch, thinking to myself, “I don’t know that this is such a good idea “ Anyway, once launched the sea was flat (as expected) and we steamed through the slowly clearing mist and into bright sunshine (shore radiation fog). I had planned the day around both the tides and sea state. Up until the tide changed at about 1:00pm the sea would be flat, however soon after 1:00pm the tide would start the flood and the wind would have swung SSE, which would result in a wind over tide lumpy sea. The idea was to come back in a 1 -2pm. I headed straight to a favourite wreck at 9 miles, that rarely disappoints, but held the speed back to 22knts as I was feeling very tired and drained. We were the only boat on the wreck so I took my time setting the rods up. The wife can’t be doing with lures and she finds the wind up 10 turns, drop down, etc, etc, much to intense, so she asked me to set up a feather rig. After some discussion we decided to go with Snowbiki tinsels on size 4 hooks and that meant she has a chance of landing any fish that grabbed them. I went for the usual RedGill blue / white. First drift and she had a bite just past the wreck which turned out to be a Redband fish, and she then went of to catch another 11 of them, some were proper snakes. It also triggered the ‘match the hatch’ instinct in my fishing and I dug out a RedGill Bright Orange lure. The next 2 drifts I had really good headshaking bites but couldn’t manage to get the hook to stay connected. A look at the lure and it was woefully apparent as to why, I was so tired and out of it that I hadn’t removed the plastic tube hook guard. We certainly had a good laugh about it ! Early on, after we had been there about an hour, I could see another boat in the distance coming toward us. It was Tim, who is a commercial Rod/Line from Exmouth and I have seen him on the wrecks quite a lot over the years. He pulled up along side and asked how it was going, to which I replied ‘poor’ ! He told us he had been up at first light and this was his 7th wreck for the day and all he had to show for his efforts was one Pollock of about 4lb ! He stayed for a few drifts and then moved on. The tide was now slack, so I changed tactics to see if any Bream were over the wreck at mid water. I went down with a Portland rig and size 1 Chinu with a strip of squid, almost immediately I had a bite which turned out to be a decent sized pout, and went on to have another 3, which avoided a blank. The sea started to get snotty as the tide turned, so we headed in, a nice steady trip at 18 -20 knts, but at one point about 4 miles out, I saw a biggish fish turn on the surface and a wide paddle tail disappear below the surface. I guessed Bass and should have stopped and used the spinning rods, but TBH I couldn’t be arsed, I was just too tired. Interestingly, my mate Alan also went out but didn’t bother to ring me as he thought I was still grounded. He had spoken to the Brixham boats that had told him the inshore wrecks were dead, but the offshore wrecks were producing good numbers. He went to a wreck at 25 miles out and found Pollock to 14lb and Cod to 9lb. If I had been out all day and the sea forecast was good all day, then I would have gone to the same wrecks as I fish them a lot ! All in all, a nice day to be at sea, it was mirror calm and hot sunshine, however, at the moment I have to cover up in the sun and that is going to take some thought as I was way too hot in my Sakuma smock, Eagle claw neck/face Buff, and Trokar cap. A side effect of the drug I am on is extreme fatigue, yes, I know exactly what they mean ! Anyway enough waffle, but only one pic

Agreed, apart from the mango Salsa ! ....... onions and mushrooms mixed with the tom's would be on mine.👍

Yes, I wasn't sorry to leave all that behind, a little over 10 years ago !

I might give it a go, since they pumped me full of the drug to suppress my immune system last Thursday, I have been feeling ropey with the side effects, which is mainly a headache right behind the eyes, and extreme tiredness, but I am told that will disappear in time. The drug can take 2 - 8 weeks to work, however, I am noticing subtle changes already, so fingers crossed that my body does not generate antibodies to defeat it ! Got the boat ready and will make an early start 6:30am and get back in soon after lunch. The wife was worried about me going alone, so she will come as crew. The wrecks are looking favourite right now .......... Pollock or Bass for tea 👍

Well done, that is a seriously good fish, now you just have to break the double barrier, and TBH that would be the fish of a lifetime ! I do fish for both thick lips and thinlips, but I find the thicklips are bloody infuriating 🙂

Very well done Mike, you are certainly firing on all cylinders at the moment 👍 The last time I had a fish too big to weigh (we usually use the landing net) we rigged up a sling using a 10m 4T ratchet strap, it actually works quite well, made into 4 loops to hold the fish.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Very good, I laughed so much I nearly choked on my tea 🤣 Ah, but I reckon for 2 days they will have you running around and working like a whatshisname, I almost wrote something I shouldn't right there !

Uck, but @Maverick seems keen on getting the arse of his chino’s signed 🤣

But whose bitch is he ? 🤣🤣🤣

I did give that a thought, but even with several gallons of water in the bilges the engine should still reach almost max rpm but the prop would slip against the weight.

Ok, it is not the fuel / oil mixture that is questionable, it is whether the engine is running lean at high revs (fuel/air mix on the carbs). If the plug colour is white, then it is lean, if the plug is black the it is too rich. You need to be hitting 5000 rpm at full throttle.