Jump to content

GPSguru

Member
  • Posts

    2,813
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    97

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Saintly Fish in Yesterday   
    Well done for braving the cold.
    It might not be what you want, but its not a blank, which is ok in my book 👍
    was that salt water ice, or did it have a fresh water content ?
  2. Agree
    GPSguru reacted to Saintly Fish in Yesterday   
    Yeah, was still better than not going!!
  3. Like
    GPSguru reacted to Saintly Fish in Yesterday   
    It's mainly a salt water river. Some brackish water. But what you see there I think was the tops of wet floating rafts of weed. 
  4. Haha
    GPSguru reacted to Geoff in White skate   
    Getting old means getting slow (but possibly more sensible?) - don't ask how I know. Geoff.
     
  5. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from JDP in White skate   
    On your YT account, upload the video and then tick it as ‘unlisted’
    Then only folk with the link can view it, as it won’t be listed on the YT site. If anybody views your channel, the video will not been seen by them as it is effectively hidden.
    🤣 @Andy135 beat me to it, for some reason I didn't see his post on my phone.🙄
     
     
     
  6. Like
    GPSguru reacted to Saintly Fish in Yesterday   
    It was cold, it was a lovely sunny calm day, I got a new speed record of 25.4kts. I caught 3 dogs and a small huss. The end. 
     

     
     

     

     

     

     

     

  7. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from thejollysinker in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    After the demise of my 5 year old Gopro 7 Black, which, like most other Gopro's had been unreliable from the start, but produced excellent video, I have replaced it with a DJI Action 4, which is the main competitor to the Gopro 12.
    So a short test Video that was shot in 4K30, processed over bluetooth on my phone using 'Light Cut' and the output to Youtube at 1080p. Doing this retains the sharpness a colour depth of 4K video. It was shot in Rock Steady mode, which retains the motion of the boat.
    I am sat there looking like a spare part as my rods are on the A frame slightly behind the camera, and we have 60 secs of Kyle landing a Whiting whilst we are at anchor.
     
  8. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Geoff in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    After the demise of my 5 year old Gopro 7 Black, which, like most other Gopro's had been unreliable from the start, but produced excellent video, I have replaced it with a DJI Action 4, which is the main competitor to the Gopro 12.
    So a short test Video that was shot in 4K30, processed over bluetooth on my phone using 'Light Cut' and the output to Youtube at 1080p. Doing this retains the sharpness a colour depth of 4K video. It was shot in Rock Steady mode, which retains the motion of the boat.
    I am sat there looking like a spare part as my rods are on the A frame slightly behind the camera, and we have 60 secs of Kyle landing a Whiting whilst we are at anchor.
     
  9. Like
    GPSguru reacted to JDP in White skate   
    The young lad who fishes with me much of the time jumped ship to fish with my daughter. Ive tried numerous was to post the short video on here without luck, so given up and just grabbed a few screen shots. Its hard to tell from these though its size, which they estimated to be around the 60-70kg which is about average on them. They are considered a pest, as like many of the ray family, put up very little action in a fight. They were chasing hounds which we eat here and managed a few of these smaller ones, however the target was to get one over 25kg.

    Out searching for marlin tomorrow if the weather allows.
     


     

     

     
  10. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Saintly Fish in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    After the demise of my 5 year old Gopro 7 Black, which, like most other Gopro's had been unreliable from the start, but produced excellent video, I have replaced it with a DJI Action 4, which is the main competitor to the Gopro 12.
    So a short test Video that was shot in 4K30, processed over bluetooth on my phone using 'Light Cut' and the output to Youtube at 1080p. Doing this retains the sharpness a colour depth of 4K video. It was shot in Rock Steady mode, which retains the motion of the boat.
    I am sat there looking like a spare part as my rods are on the A frame slightly behind the camera, and we have 60 secs of Kyle landing a Whiting whilst we are at anchor.
     
  11. Thanks
    GPSguru reacted to Andy135 in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Lovely conditions to be afloat. Video seems good quality. 👍
  12. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Dicky in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    After the demise of my 5 year old Gopro 7 Black, which, like most other Gopro's had been unreliable from the start, but produced excellent video, I have replaced it with a DJI Action 4, which is the main competitor to the Gopro 12.
    So a short test Video that was shot in 4K30, processed over bluetooth on my phone using 'Light Cut' and the output to Youtube at 1080p. Doing this retains the sharpness a colour depth of 4K video. It was shot in Rock Steady mode, which retains the motion of the boat.
    I am sat there looking like a spare part as my rods are on the A frame slightly behind the camera, and we have 60 secs of Kyle landing a Whiting whilst we are at anchor.
     
  13. Like
    GPSguru reacted to Sevans in west wales   
    Starting to get go grips with the new (to me) boat.
    fished a couple of reef marks looking for decent tide rips, not to difficult on the big springs.
    using portland rigs and soft plastics I managed plenty of small pollack along with a codling coalfish and a decent pollack.
    the finder was alive with bait fish which after downsizing the hooks proved to be herring.
    also navigated the renowned Jack Sound for the first time, not as bad as I anticipated, especially with the aid of navionics relief shading. 





  14. Haha
    GPSguru reacted to Saintly Fish in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Not a bad day in the cold Ian, Andy and I had such a bad day he's failed to put up a report!  
  15. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from jonnyswamp in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Cold, but it looked doable, so Kyle and I launched in the dark at 0700. Launching was easy on the top of the spring flood, with the water almost to the top of the slip. Temp was 2C so not too bad.
    One of the big issues with an open boat is that there is nowhere to hide !, so we were both wrapped up in multi layers to ensure we retained some temperature.
    First stop (still dark) was the Orestone for some fresh Mack. We only had about 30 mins to spare as I needed to get the correct drift pattern on the Skerries.
    We could see plenty of activity on the sounder but no takers, also the drifts were fast as it was the top of the spring tides. Kyle managed a couple of small whiting before we moved on.
    Sea was flat calm, but I kept the speed down to 26kts in order that we minimized wind chill.
    30min later we were on the banks, but still needed to motor right down to Start point and the tide rips as our plan was to drift for a winter turbot. Once at the chosen mark, the tide was ripping through and the sea was quite rough in the designated tide rip / overfalls area, but at no time did we feel unsafe.
    Unfortunately the drift speed was way too high, so after another 45mins we decided to move back to a Plaice mark, however, Kyle did get a dogfish, which luckily was the only one of the day.
    3.5Nm took us back to our Plaice mark on the inner edge of the banks, it was mirror flat and the sun was beginning to peep through, adding a little warmth. The Plaice baits went down and were almost immediately taken by Whiting, but the stamp of these fish was 1 ½  to 2lb, so good sport on Plaice gear, with the biggest going a little over 2lb.
    At 11:45 it was time to move to our Ray mark and drop the pin as the tide was beginning to pick up after slack. Although it was mirror flat the spring tide was racing through the banks, so I dropped the pick in 55ft and then l let out 70m (200ft), which not only made sure the pick would hold, but it also put us fishing in 90ft.
    For bait, we had frozen mack, frozen cuttle, squid, and Prawn. Cocktail baits went down of cuttle head and mack fillet. Within a minute or two the rods were nodding with whiting trying to demolish the baits. Kyle had the first proper bite, and it came off on the surface near the stern, and we both assumed it was a smallish smoothound. 15 minutes later and Kyle was in again and this time it came to the net OK, and was a Spurdog of about 4lb. I mentioned to Kyle that we should go to 100lb hook lengths as the Spurs will bite off, and that is exactly what happened on the next fish. That is pretty much the way it went for the rest of the session, with the pack hunting Spurs picking up the Ray baits, and we didn't lose any more with 100lb snoods.
    At 2:00pm it was time to pull the pick, and I could feel the strain when we motored around the pick with the strong tide bowing the warp, but it pulled OK, and we were soon motoring back.
    We landed back at the all tide sand slip at 3:00pm, and we didn't run aground 🤣, low tide was 2:47pm, and it was very low at 0.6m. The sand slip was muddy with the tide that low, and I had to be careful of the dropoff with the trailer. The boat loaded easily and a bunch of gig rowers were taking bets as to whether we would tow out OK, little did they know that I am Land Rover trained and also hold a BORDA off road training certificate. Kyle was well impressed as I selected 4 low in the Jeep (Select track transmission), and just tickled the auto box to pull us straight up the slip without any wheel spin from the all terrain tyres, as they moved us through 3" of soft estuary mud
    So, not a great day, but an OK day, with 24 Whiting to a little over 2lb and 7 Spurs to 7lb. Kyle took 4 of the whiting for eating and the rest went back. A long day, and a round trip of almost 50Nm.
    Kyle with one of the spurs

     
    The stamp of the Whiting, this one is about 1½ lb

  16. Like
    GPSguru reacted to daio web in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    great report bud thanks for sharing 🐳
  17. Informative
    GPSguru reacted to mike farrants in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Nice one - I do love whiting in panko crumb - delicious! 
     
     
  18. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Geoff in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Cold, but it looked doable, so Kyle and I launched in the dark at 0700. Launching was easy on the top of the spring flood, with the water almost to the top of the slip. Temp was 2C so not too bad.
    One of the big issues with an open boat is that there is nowhere to hide !, so we were both wrapped up in multi layers to ensure we retained some temperature.
    First stop (still dark) was the Orestone for some fresh Mack. We only had about 30 mins to spare as I needed to get the correct drift pattern on the Skerries.
    We could see plenty of activity on the sounder but no takers, also the drifts were fast as it was the top of the spring tides. Kyle managed a couple of small whiting before we moved on.
    Sea was flat calm, but I kept the speed down to 26kts in order that we minimized wind chill.
    30min later we were on the banks, but still needed to motor right down to Start point and the tide rips as our plan was to drift for a winter turbot. Once at the chosen mark, the tide was ripping through and the sea was quite rough in the designated tide rip / overfalls area, but at no time did we feel unsafe.
    Unfortunately the drift speed was way too high, so after another 45mins we decided to move back to a Plaice mark, however, Kyle did get a dogfish, which luckily was the only one of the day.
    3.5Nm took us back to our Plaice mark on the inner edge of the banks, it was mirror flat and the sun was beginning to peep through, adding a little warmth. The Plaice baits went down and were almost immediately taken by Whiting, but the stamp of these fish was 1 ½  to 2lb, so good sport on Plaice gear, with the biggest going a little over 2lb.
    At 11:45 it was time to move to our Ray mark and drop the pin as the tide was beginning to pick up after slack. Although it was mirror flat the spring tide was racing through the banks, so I dropped the pick in 55ft and then l let out 70m (200ft), which not only made sure the pick would hold, but it also put us fishing in 90ft.
    For bait, we had frozen mack, frozen cuttle, squid, and Prawn. Cocktail baits went down of cuttle head and mack fillet. Within a minute or two the rods were nodding with whiting trying to demolish the baits. Kyle had the first proper bite, and it came off on the surface near the stern, and we both assumed it was a smallish smoothound. 15 minutes later and Kyle was in again and this time it came to the net OK, and was a Spurdog of about 4lb. I mentioned to Kyle that we should go to 100lb hook lengths as the Spurs will bite off, and that is exactly what happened on the next fish. That is pretty much the way it went for the rest of the session, with the pack hunting Spurs picking up the Ray baits, and we didn't lose any more with 100lb snoods.
    At 2:00pm it was time to pull the pick, and I could feel the strain when we motored around the pick with the strong tide bowing the warp, but it pulled OK, and we were soon motoring back.
    We landed back at the all tide sand slip at 3:00pm, and we didn't run aground 🤣, low tide was 2:47pm, and it was very low at 0.6m. The sand slip was muddy with the tide that low, and I had to be careful of the dropoff with the trailer. The boat loaded easily and a bunch of gig rowers were taking bets as to whether we would tow out OK, little did they know that I am Land Rover trained and also hold a BORDA off road training certificate. Kyle was well impressed as I selected 4 low in the Jeep (Select track transmission), and just tickled the auto box to pull us straight up the slip without any wheel spin from the all terrain tyres, as they moved us through 3" of soft estuary mud
    So, not a great day, but an OK day, with 24 Whiting to a little over 2lb and 7 Spurs to 7lb. Kyle took 4 of the whiting for eating and the rest went back. A long day, and a round trip of almost 50Nm.
    Kyle with one of the spurs

     
    The stamp of the Whiting, this one is about 1½ lb

  19. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from jonnyswamp in Heading 90 degrees out   
    It looks like you might need to think about an electronics rewire, as it seems to me that bits and pieces have been added ad hoc in the past and although it works, it may not have been the best way to do it.
  20. Haha
    GPSguru reacted to Andy135 in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    A good day afloat. Well done the pair of you. 👍
    Shame you only managed the one dogfish though 😉
  21. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Andy135 in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Cold, but it looked doable, so Kyle and I launched in the dark at 0700. Launching was easy on the top of the spring flood, with the water almost to the top of the slip. Temp was 2C so not too bad.
    One of the big issues with an open boat is that there is nowhere to hide !, so we were both wrapped up in multi layers to ensure we retained some temperature.
    First stop (still dark) was the Orestone for some fresh Mack. We only had about 30 mins to spare as I needed to get the correct drift pattern on the Skerries.
    We could see plenty of activity on the sounder but no takers, also the drifts were fast as it was the top of the spring tides. Kyle managed a couple of small whiting before we moved on.
    Sea was flat calm, but I kept the speed down to 26kts in order that we minimized wind chill.
    30min later we were on the banks, but still needed to motor right down to Start point and the tide rips as our plan was to drift for a winter turbot. Once at the chosen mark, the tide was ripping through and the sea was quite rough in the designated tide rip / overfalls area, but at no time did we feel unsafe.
    Unfortunately the drift speed was way too high, so after another 45mins we decided to move back to a Plaice mark, however, Kyle did get a dogfish, which luckily was the only one of the day.
    3.5Nm took us back to our Plaice mark on the inner edge of the banks, it was mirror flat and the sun was beginning to peep through, adding a little warmth. The Plaice baits went down and were almost immediately taken by Whiting, but the stamp of these fish was 1 ½  to 2lb, so good sport on Plaice gear, with the biggest going a little over 2lb.
    At 11:45 it was time to move to our Ray mark and drop the pin as the tide was beginning to pick up after slack. Although it was mirror flat the spring tide was racing through the banks, so I dropped the pick in 55ft and then l let out 70m (200ft), which not only made sure the pick would hold, but it also put us fishing in 90ft.
    For bait, we had frozen mack, frozen cuttle, squid, and Prawn. Cocktail baits went down of cuttle head and mack fillet. Within a minute or two the rods were nodding with whiting trying to demolish the baits. Kyle had the first proper bite, and it came off on the surface near the stern, and we both assumed it was a smallish smoothound. 15 minutes later and Kyle was in again and this time it came to the net OK, and was a Spurdog of about 4lb. I mentioned to Kyle that we should go to 100lb hook lengths as the Spurs will bite off, and that is exactly what happened on the next fish. That is pretty much the way it went for the rest of the session, with the pack hunting Spurs picking up the Ray baits, and we didn't lose any more with 100lb snoods.
    At 2:00pm it was time to pull the pick, and I could feel the strain when we motored around the pick with the strong tide bowing the warp, but it pulled OK, and we were soon motoring back.
    We landed back at the all tide sand slip at 3:00pm, and we didn't run aground 🤣, low tide was 2:47pm, and it was very low at 0.6m. The sand slip was muddy with the tide that low, and I had to be careful of the dropoff with the trailer. The boat loaded easily and a bunch of gig rowers were taking bets as to whether we would tow out OK, little did they know that I am Land Rover trained and also hold a BORDA off road training certificate. Kyle was well impressed as I selected 4 low in the Jeep (Select track transmission), and just tickled the auto box to pull us straight up the slip without any wheel spin from the all terrain tyres, as they moved us through 3" of soft estuary mud
    So, not a great day, but an OK day, with 24 Whiting to a little over 2lb and 7 Spurs to 7lb. Kyle took 4 of the whiting for eating and the rest went back. A long day, and a round trip of almost 50Nm.
    Kyle with one of the spurs

     
    The stamp of the Whiting, this one is about 1½ lb

  22. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from thejollysinker in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Cold, but it looked doable, so Kyle and I launched in the dark at 0700. Launching was easy on the top of the spring flood, with the water almost to the top of the slip. Temp was 2C so not too bad.
    One of the big issues with an open boat is that there is nowhere to hide !, so we were both wrapped up in multi layers to ensure we retained some temperature.
    First stop (still dark) was the Orestone for some fresh Mack. We only had about 30 mins to spare as I needed to get the correct drift pattern on the Skerries.
    We could see plenty of activity on the sounder but no takers, also the drifts were fast as it was the top of the spring tides. Kyle managed a couple of small whiting before we moved on.
    Sea was flat calm, but I kept the speed down to 26kts in order that we minimized wind chill.
    30min later we were on the banks, but still needed to motor right down to Start point and the tide rips as our plan was to drift for a winter turbot. Once at the chosen mark, the tide was ripping through and the sea was quite rough in the designated tide rip / overfalls area, but at no time did we feel unsafe.
    Unfortunately the drift speed was way too high, so after another 45mins we decided to move back to a Plaice mark, however, Kyle did get a dogfish, which luckily was the only one of the day.
    3.5Nm took us back to our Plaice mark on the inner edge of the banks, it was mirror flat and the sun was beginning to peep through, adding a little warmth. The Plaice baits went down and were almost immediately taken by Whiting, but the stamp of these fish was 1 ½  to 2lb, so good sport on Plaice gear, with the biggest going a little over 2lb.
    At 11:45 it was time to move to our Ray mark and drop the pin as the tide was beginning to pick up after slack. Although it was mirror flat the spring tide was racing through the banks, so I dropped the pick in 55ft and then l let out 70m (200ft), which not only made sure the pick would hold, but it also put us fishing in 90ft.
    For bait, we had frozen mack, frozen cuttle, squid, and Prawn. Cocktail baits went down of cuttle head and mack fillet. Within a minute or two the rods were nodding with whiting trying to demolish the baits. Kyle had the first proper bite, and it came off on the surface near the stern, and we both assumed it was a smallish smoothound. 15 minutes later and Kyle was in again and this time it came to the net OK, and was a Spurdog of about 4lb. I mentioned to Kyle that we should go to 100lb hook lengths as the Spurs will bite off, and that is exactly what happened on the next fish. That is pretty much the way it went for the rest of the session, with the pack hunting Spurs picking up the Ray baits, and we didn't lose any more with 100lb snoods.
    At 2:00pm it was time to pull the pick, and I could feel the strain when we motored around the pick with the strong tide bowing the warp, but it pulled OK, and we were soon motoring back.
    We landed back at the all tide sand slip at 3:00pm, and we didn't run aground 🤣, low tide was 2:47pm, and it was very low at 0.6m. The sand slip was muddy with the tide that low, and I had to be careful of the dropoff with the trailer. The boat loaded easily and a bunch of gig rowers were taking bets as to whether we would tow out OK, little did they know that I am Land Rover trained and also hold a BORDA off road training certificate. Kyle was well impressed as I selected 4 low in the Jeep (Select track transmission), and just tickled the auto box to pull us straight up the slip without any wheel spin from the all terrain tyres, as they moved us through 3" of soft estuary mud
    So, not a great day, but an OK day, with 24 Whiting to a little over 2lb and 7 Spurs to 7lb. Kyle took 4 of the whiting for eating and the rest went back. A long day, and a round trip of almost 50Nm.
    Kyle with one of the spurs

     
    The stamp of the Whiting, this one is about 1½ lb

  23. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Saintly Fish in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Cold, but it looked doable, so Kyle and I launched in the dark at 0700. Launching was easy on the top of the spring flood, with the water almost to the top of the slip. Temp was 2C so not too bad.
    One of the big issues with an open boat is that there is nowhere to hide !, so we were both wrapped up in multi layers to ensure we retained some temperature.
    First stop (still dark) was the Orestone for some fresh Mack. We only had about 30 mins to spare as I needed to get the correct drift pattern on the Skerries.
    We could see plenty of activity on the sounder but no takers, also the drifts were fast as it was the top of the spring tides. Kyle managed a couple of small whiting before we moved on.
    Sea was flat calm, but I kept the speed down to 26kts in order that we minimized wind chill.
    30min later we were on the banks, but still needed to motor right down to Start point and the tide rips as our plan was to drift for a winter turbot. Once at the chosen mark, the tide was ripping through and the sea was quite rough in the designated tide rip / overfalls area, but at no time did we feel unsafe.
    Unfortunately the drift speed was way too high, so after another 45mins we decided to move back to a Plaice mark, however, Kyle did get a dogfish, which luckily was the only one of the day.
    3.5Nm took us back to our Plaice mark on the inner edge of the banks, it was mirror flat and the sun was beginning to peep through, adding a little warmth. The Plaice baits went down and were almost immediately taken by Whiting, but the stamp of these fish was 1 ½  to 2lb, so good sport on Plaice gear, with the biggest going a little over 2lb.
    At 11:45 it was time to move to our Ray mark and drop the pin as the tide was beginning to pick up after slack. Although it was mirror flat the spring tide was racing through the banks, so I dropped the pick in 55ft and then l let out 70m (200ft), which not only made sure the pick would hold, but it also put us fishing in 90ft.
    For bait, we had frozen mack, frozen cuttle, squid, and Prawn. Cocktail baits went down of cuttle head and mack fillet. Within a minute or two the rods were nodding with whiting trying to demolish the baits. Kyle had the first proper bite, and it came off on the surface near the stern, and we both assumed it was a smallish smoothound. 15 minutes later and Kyle was in again and this time it came to the net OK, and was a Spurdog of about 4lb. I mentioned to Kyle that we should go to 100lb hook lengths as the Spurs will bite off, and that is exactly what happened on the next fish. That is pretty much the way it went for the rest of the session, with the pack hunting Spurs picking up the Ray baits, and we didn't lose any more with 100lb snoods.
    At 2:00pm it was time to pull the pick, and I could feel the strain when we motored around the pick with the strong tide bowing the warp, but it pulled OK, and we were soon motoring back.
    We landed back at the all tide sand slip at 3:00pm, and we didn't run aground 🤣, low tide was 2:47pm, and it was very low at 0.6m. The sand slip was muddy with the tide that low, and I had to be careful of the dropoff with the trailer. The boat loaded easily and a bunch of gig rowers were taking bets as to whether we would tow out OK, little did they know that I am Land Rover trained and also hold a BORDA off road training certificate. Kyle was well impressed as I selected 4 low in the Jeep (Select track transmission), and just tickled the auto box to pull us straight up the slip without any wheel spin from the all terrain tyres, as they moved us through 3" of soft estuary mud
    So, not a great day, but an OK day, with 24 Whiting to a little over 2lb and 7 Spurs to 7lb. Kyle took 4 of the whiting for eating and the rest went back. A long day, and a round trip of almost 50Nm.
    Kyle with one of the spurs

     
    The stamp of the Whiting, this one is about 1½ lb

  24. Agree
    GPSguru reacted to Andy135 in Heading 90 degrees out   
    @jonnyswamp, the heading sensor will likely be plugged into one of your old MFD's, which then shares the heading data with the network, so turning off that MFD will also cut the flow of heading data.
    Solution will be to either connect the heading sensor directly to the network, or simply don't turn off the MFD.
  25. Like
    GPSguru got a reaction from Dicky in Sunday 14th Jan - Skerries Banks   
    Cold, but it looked doable, so Kyle and I launched in the dark at 0700. Launching was easy on the top of the spring flood, with the water almost to the top of the slip. Temp was 2C so not too bad.
    One of the big issues with an open boat is that there is nowhere to hide !, so we were both wrapped up in multi layers to ensure we retained some temperature.
    First stop (still dark) was the Orestone for some fresh Mack. We only had about 30 mins to spare as I needed to get the correct drift pattern on the Skerries.
    We could see plenty of activity on the sounder but no takers, also the drifts were fast as it was the top of the spring tides. Kyle managed a couple of small whiting before we moved on.
    Sea was flat calm, but I kept the speed down to 26kts in order that we minimized wind chill.
    30min later we were on the banks, but still needed to motor right down to Start point and the tide rips as our plan was to drift for a winter turbot. Once at the chosen mark, the tide was ripping through and the sea was quite rough in the designated tide rip / overfalls area, but at no time did we feel unsafe.
    Unfortunately the drift speed was way too high, so after another 45mins we decided to move back to a Plaice mark, however, Kyle did get a dogfish, which luckily was the only one of the day.
    3.5Nm took us back to our Plaice mark on the inner edge of the banks, it was mirror flat and the sun was beginning to peep through, adding a little warmth. The Plaice baits went down and were almost immediately taken by Whiting, but the stamp of these fish was 1 ½  to 2lb, so good sport on Plaice gear, with the biggest going a little over 2lb.
    At 11:45 it was time to move to our Ray mark and drop the pin as the tide was beginning to pick up after slack. Although it was mirror flat the spring tide was racing through the banks, so I dropped the pick in 55ft and then l let out 70m (200ft), which not only made sure the pick would hold, but it also put us fishing in 90ft.
    For bait, we had frozen mack, frozen cuttle, squid, and Prawn. Cocktail baits went down of cuttle head and mack fillet. Within a minute or two the rods were nodding with whiting trying to demolish the baits. Kyle had the first proper bite, and it came off on the surface near the stern, and we both assumed it was a smallish smoothound. 15 minutes later and Kyle was in again and this time it came to the net OK, and was a Spurdog of about 4lb. I mentioned to Kyle that we should go to 100lb hook lengths as the Spurs will bite off, and that is exactly what happened on the next fish. That is pretty much the way it went for the rest of the session, with the pack hunting Spurs picking up the Ray baits, and we didn't lose any more with 100lb snoods.
    At 2:00pm it was time to pull the pick, and I could feel the strain when we motored around the pick with the strong tide bowing the warp, but it pulled OK, and we were soon motoring back.
    We landed back at the all tide sand slip at 3:00pm, and we didn't run aground 🤣, low tide was 2:47pm, and it was very low at 0.6m. The sand slip was muddy with the tide that low, and I had to be careful of the dropoff with the trailer. The boat loaded easily and a bunch of gig rowers were taking bets as to whether we would tow out OK, little did they know that I am Land Rover trained and also hold a BORDA off road training certificate. Kyle was well impressed as I selected 4 low in the Jeep (Select track transmission), and just tickled the auto box to pull us straight up the slip without any wheel spin from the all terrain tyres, as they moved us through 3" of soft estuary mud
    So, not a great day, but an OK day, with 24 Whiting to a little over 2lb and 7 Spurs to 7lb. Kyle took 4 of the whiting for eating and the rest went back. A long day, and a round trip of almost 50Nm.
    Kyle with one of the spurs

     
    The stamp of the Whiting, this one is about 1½ lb

×
×
  • Create New...