GPSguru

Hmm ............ and where is your dogfish report ?🙄

The old trick was to place them on the edge of a table with the one you want to remove hanging over the edge. |Then gently tap to holder to be removed using a a small pin punch right at the join on the table edge ............... However, in comparison to the price of the switches, the holders are cheap to replace. You will not find a better switch 👍

Here you go Geoff, they are pushed together and can be quite tight

🤬🤞

Use a watch lead to puff up the sand and a fairly short trace of about 30cm ........... best of luck, and don't forget to give your boat a once over before you go, batteries, engine oil level and colour, steering check, and gearbox in /out of gear check ......... I know it is telling granny how to suck eggs, but no harm in reminding you ! .... best of luck to you bud.........

I rarely use worm for plaice these days. Frozen raw prawn ( or part of a king prawn) tipped with a sliver of squid works really well and finds the better fish. We find that a sliver of mack belly tipped with squid works just fine. we have also used mussels, razors, and clams to good effect. All are soft baits so need to be tipped with a bit of squid.

Your engine is definitely smartcraft enabled, all engines over 40hp have been SC enabled since 2014. For easy functionality you will need a SC1000 rev counter and cables which is about £400. All the connecting is done in the console to the engine loom Junction box. The SC 1000 speedo is a waste of time as you already have GPS speed on the plotter.

I don't know Shaun, but I knew his dad Simon, who was an excellent skipper. I think Shaun mostly fishes the wrecks to the west of Brixham.

I have had a look and active trim is available for any smart craft enabled engine, so that will be 40hp and above ................ once setup it works extremely well, especially when going into a turn as it automatically trims in to go into the turn and then trims out as you come out of the turn. Setting up can be a little confusing as you need to get your head around the 5 major profiles, which each have 5 minor profiles. so once you have set it to the correct major profile, then you end up with the 5 minor profiles on the control panel. Setting up requires getting the boat up to max speed or above 30knts if the max speed is massive, and then cycle through the major profiles until the correct trim is found, which is usually bow up and the boat is just below porpoising. Then hit the buttons to lock in that profile and away you go. Generally RIBS do not require huge amounts of trim. At 20knts yesterday I was showing about 1.9% of trim on a flat sea. At 30kns my trim is somewhere around 2.5%

You should already have the smartcraft SC1000 rev counter with the smartcraft LCD display in the bottom of it for oil pressure/ fuel used / engine temp/ batt voltage etc. different models have differing smartcraft options and I cant remember whether the 60 has a trim option or not. I will have a look later.

Our Joe -L ?

Mercury SmartCraft digital gauge ......... It uses the first 10 percent of movement as trim and the rest is tilt ............. once on the water the 'Mercury active trim' automatically controls the trim until I override it .............

Depends on the wreck. Broken wrecks tend to be tackle graveyards and I would expect to lose a couple, intact wrecks are usually Ok and I wouldn't anticipate losing any, by dropping before the wreck and then coming up 4 or 5 turns. When fishing Subs, it is very unusual to get snagged. Today I was trying to fish almost into the wreck !

Today was very big spring tides and not really a day for heading to the wrecks, but we went anyway. Generally it is best to avoid the wrecks on big springs as the fish tend to congregate very close into the wreck to avoid using energy swimming is the strong currents associated with big tides. Normally I would try and make my trip coincide with slack water, but it is not always that easy. Wrecking is better on neaps and up to mid springs where the fish tend to be spread out over the wreck. The slip I use is at right angles to the estuary flow, so big springs are an issue as the flow is 6knts at right angle to the slip. The crew today was the wife and myself, and we launched at 7:30am which was a couple of hours before high tide. The bottom of the slip looked very angry with water rushing across it, so I took no chances and attached a rope to the slip mooring ring and the boat painter. I have seen many an adult dragged into the water there as the tide flow takes the boat. Once in the water the boat settled on the up tide side of the slip against the flood stones and the rope was drum tight! With the trim set to 6.5% the engine was started and the rope released which allowed the boat to be taken out into the channel by the incoming tide flow, so we were safely away. The sea forecast was 0.3m @ 4secs, but the reality was 0.2m @ 10secs, effectively like glass, however, the met office got the sunshine bit really wrong and visibility was about 500yards to 1 mile. The first wreck was at 9 miles, and we found a Wilson Flyer already fishing the wreck. I tried several drifts but didn’t get a knock, also I noted that the Wilson flyer was also not catching. Drift speed was about 1.2knt with no wind, so not too bad. The next wreck was at 12 miles out, and we joined a Quicksilver 905 that was already fishing the wreck. I pulled up along side and the guy told me it was very slow with nothing to show after a good many drifts. This wreck is very broken so I lined up on the wreck using the panoptix and the traditional sonar. The first drift produced a kingsize pout of about 3lb, but it was very slow going. Later I had a Pollock of a little over 2lb which I was tempted to use for livebait ! A poor pic of the pout ...... as a size comparison that is a 250g jig ! Low tide was the middle of the afternoon and normally I need the tide to be at about 1.2m to safely land on the slip. A normal spring here has a low of about 0.9, but todays monster tide had a forecast low of 0.2m above CD, so my timing was critical ! We left the wreck in the late morning and due to the limited visibility, kept the speed at 20knts for the 12 mile steam. Nothing untoward on the return trip, just the usual tree trunks and other debris floating around up to a mile offshore, which is normal for very high springs. A round trip of 29nm, and although time limited and cold, it was again a pleasure to be out. TBH, I didn’t expect much action on such a high spring, however, the wife was keen to get out so we gave it a go. Today I lost 3 jigs trying to fish tight to the wreck, but those sort of losses were to be expected. The next decent day is Sunday, but being Easter the slipway will attract every feck’in idiot on the planet, so I will give that a miss !

There sre also no charter specials and no 8 - 15 kenzakis. Much of the problem is all about shipping and container holdups. If you want a decent jigging reel then look no further than the maxel 25H. Terry @Terry Smith still has a couple in stock but I bought the last RH silver 25H today to match the one I already have. Fantastic slow jigging reels and probably better quality than shimano for the internal components.

@Terry Smith, I have included some other observations that might help folk In the UK we are going to be using lines of PE 1.0, 1.2, and 1.5 The leader will usually be FC and no longer than about 3m, however, I often go down to 1.5m, 20lb FC seems to work fine for most UK fish Tides / wind make a big difference to the rule of thumb of 1g per foot of water. At slack water and either side of slack water you can go with as little as 0.5g per foot A drift rate of between 0.5knt and 1.5knt requires definitely at least 1g per foot A drift of over 1.5knts, then forget SPJ and get the shads out to play ..............

I have been slow jigging since 2015 and my findings are about the same. Being of the older generation I work in feet and fathoms, and my rule of thumb for jig weight is about 1g per foot of depth, based on using lines of 1.2 or 1.5 PE.

You will only end up giving 40% back to the HMRC 🙄

At 60cm that fish will be 8lb -9lb , a stonking fish by any standard.

TBF Neil, March can be an 'all or nothing' time when wreck fishing. The summer residents should all be on the wrecks by mid to late April. However, it was great to be out and putting in the miles .........

Why would you want a separate section for spiky pot bait 🙄

Launched at 07:30 and the sea state was as forecast 0.2m @12secs, so almost flat. The first wreck was 20nm which took us about 45mins, however, we picked up a bit of wind once away from the lee of the land (6miles) so there was a small wind chop on the water. In 200ft of water, straight way we were in to pout, I was fishing slow jigs and kyle was using big baits on 6/0 Gummi Makks. Unfortunately the usual Pollock and Ling were not in residence, or, they were there but not feeding. Generally if a wreck has a good head of pout, then there are Pollock, Ling , and Bass not too far away ! We did several drifts on the wreck from different angles but couldn't connect with anything decent. The pout were all of a good size with the biggest probably going 3lb ish. The next wreck was 3 miles further out, and again it was Pout city. We spent a while on the wreck as it has a reputation for throwing up some big Bass, but contrary to the current Covid regulations, they had all gone on holiday. We then returned to a 12 mile wreck, and first drop with the jig I was into something decent, but unfortunately the hook hold gave out 🙄. By the feel, I suspect it was a near double Pollock, and they often shed the hooks if you hook them in the roof of the mouth which is hard and bony. On this wreck we were at slack water right on the top of the flood, so I was able to sit right over the wreck with zero drift. This wreck produced some very decent Pout, but not any of the target species. Not a bad day, I only lost 2 jigs, and Kyle managed not to get snagged at all. Interestingly, my jigging setup was 1.5PE braid (25lb) and a 20lb FC leader of about 3m. When pulling for a break, both times it broke at the jig knot (improved clinch), this confirms that the leader to FC PR knot is plenty strong ! We headed back in soon after lunch accompanied by a small pod of dolphins. A round trip of 45.6Nm. A most enjoyable day.

I have just finished getting the boat and trailer ready for a 7:30am launch tomorrow. The weather has changed a little, but the sea forecast still looks good, so I will decide where to go once I get on the water.

On wrecks and reefs it is very, very addictive ............ I am not going to reply 4 times though🤣

Thanks, have just replied. BTW, 72 jigs probably weigh about 12 -14kg, which is more than the leads that I carry !