GPSguru

There is some confusion here over company names.
Navico is owned by the Brunswick Group and have the Simrad and Lowrance brands.
Navionics, who were the marine chart folk, is owned by Garmin, who also own the Fusion brand. Garmin bought Navionics in 2017.

Similar here, I use 2 x 9 inch displays, with Livescope and twin transducers. Also, AIS800 (B+), all Garmin.
I run the two plotters on their own internal GPS, but I feed the AIS with a GPS Puck mounted on top of the centre console.
The whole system is networked via a GMS10 network Port Expander, so the 2 plotters can share charts, waypoints, transducers etc.
Also networked into the Garmin setup is the Fusion BB100 audio / domestic radio, and the Mercury engine data, both of which appear on both plotters.
 
 

Similar here, I use 2 x 9 inch displays, with Livescope and twin transducers. Also, AIS800 (B+), all Garmin.
I run the two plotters on their own internal GPS, but I feed the AIS with a GPS Puck mounted on top of the centre console.
The whole system is networked via a GMS10 network Port Expander, so the 2 plotters can share charts, waypoints, transducers etc.
Also networked into the Garmin setup is the Fusion BB100 audio / domestic radio, and the Mercury engine data, both of which appear on both plotters.
 
 

didnt know you were into skateboarding Ian.......
  

I have 6 of the 12's, 2 of the 16's, and 2 of the 2 speed 2011's, which I pair with Kenzaki 30 - 50's for conger, shark, and Ray.
The only issue I have had is the pinion bearing on one on the 12's, just a tiny spot of water got into the reel and whilst unused for 3 weeks the bearing locked up solid (just one tiny spot of rust on it). Once stripped it was easy to free off, but for your info, the bearing size is common to that which is used in skateboard wheels, so the standard bearing is cheap as chips (about £5 for 10 !), however, I went for the skateboarders upgrade and used a bearing with ceramic balls and a stainless (316) bearing case (£5 ish each), so hopefully it will never happen again. I stayed away from a fully ceramic as the case can shatter and removing all the bits from the reel would be a world of pain.
 

All the smaller reels use a sprag bearing (one way bearing), so yes, you can remove the safety pawl and spring. I also remove the brake sleeves as I like a fast thumb controlled drop from the boat.
However, the 2 speed 2011 (also 3011 and 4011) has 2 of the pawls (which create more of a high pitched whine). I removed both and to my horror, the reel has a standard bearing, so then I had no anti reverse, I guess that is why they fitted 2 of them for safety.
I gave both pawls a very good dose of CV grease (molybdenum disulphide grease) and it quietens them down a huge amount, making using the reel OK, not quite silent, but also not annoying.

I think mercury do it as an option on all their later engines that share the same platform (60 - 225). Above 225, it is standard.
I thought about it with my 150, but was advised against it, unless it is tied into the joystick option, which was mega expensive back on 2019 ( about £3k).

Apart from a snatched couple of hours out 6/8 weeks ago, I hadn't took the boat through the locks in what felt like 6 months or more
Made a few phone calls, fulfilled a few promises and 5 of us boarded at 7am this morning, ready for the 7.30 outbound lock
Forecast had changed overnight from next to no winds all day, to gusts of up to 20 odd mph North Easterlies until 10 ish
On an ebbing tide in the Bristol Channel this is doable, so wasn't particularly worried as low water coincided with the winds dropping and a 3-4mph wind against a floodiing tide wouldn't present much of an issue (even on a small tide of around 10m)
Plan was to go straight out to a large sand bank a mile or so out of the locks and fish the remaining ebb until low water which was  around 11, the gusty winds would have been directly with the tide and should have been comfortable enough. It wasn't
Got somewhere near the mark and it was clear that mother nature was menopausal and was being a bit of a twat
Plan B implemented and we headed East for calmer waters just off Sully Island and after dragging anchor (very slowly) for half an hour or so, pulled it back in to find a rock the size of an odd shaped basket ball wedged between the flukes and the stem (?) so no surprised it didn't hold
We did pick up a few strap congers and ray or 2 here
Plan C next, so we moved into Sully Bay hoping for some bigger Blondes and while we didn't boat any monsters, we had a steady stream over the gunwales through slack low until mid dayish, just the one small dog, a dozen or more eels to 10-12lb, 5/6 Blondes to low single figures, a couple of Thornies of around the same stamp, a Smoothy of 7/8lb and a small whiting
This was my mates fathers first fish in 25 plus yrs, also his first boat trip in 25 yrs as well
 
 
And he only chucked up once
Final move of the day was back up to Cardiff to have a go tight in to the Foreshore looking for a lost Codling or 2
They may have been lost, but we didn't find them
A bit more of the same, fish wise up here, but the wind was slewing us back and forth tangling lines etc, so we pulled the pick and made the 5 min steam into the 2.15pm inbound lock and was back on the mooring by 2.45
Would have been quicker, but I drop the oldies off (and everyone else) at the fuel pontoon with the all the gear, so it isn't so far to carry (pull the trolley) to the van
Not a red letter day and only the one photo, but still enjoyable none the less
 
 
 
 
 

I’ll have a look but I suspect it’ll break my budget…. I’m a poor skipper who has endless trips blown off due to weather…. 😞 

So perhaps the title is a bit click-baity, but what was supposed to be a two day sharking trip on Odyssey, with @Odyssey to celebrate @Saintly Fish's birthday got blown out and turned into a Dad's & Lads reefing session, with Neil and I keen to get some proper use out of our SPJ gear.


We locked out at dawn but as we left the shelter of Milford Haven it became obvious that the conditions hadn't yet improved like they were supposed to... I blame Michael Fish for that 😖.
So plan B was quickly formulated to visit the inshore islands for some drifting for pollack followed by downtiding at anchor to see what was home while the weather settled. The short answer was... not a lot. Some small pollack and poor cod on the drift and at anchor just a solitary dogfish to the skipper (#welljell!) and an inquisitive squid that followed my baited feathers to the surface but didn't commit himself to the bait.
As the conditions eased we motored out to a series of reefs - the plan was to drift for some better pollack. Neil and I were to experiment with our SPJ gear over slack water and we didn't have to wait long for the fish. Lots of hits and lots of table sized pollack over the gunnels in short order. They were hitting the jigs consistently, just off the bottom. Any colour would do, as long as it was about two turns up from the sea floor.

Other species also fell to the jigs. Neil had a scad if I remember correctly, and Leo had a PB which I'll leave to Neil to share the details of 👍.
It didn't take long for the fish box to fill up and we called it a day after one of our crew nearly vomited himself overboard... #somepeoplearejustnotcutoutforboating

So, a great day's fishing snatched from the jaws of defeat. JAWS will have to wait until next season however.
A big thank you to @Odyssey for hosting and skippering 👍.

Its more 'how' than 'where', also the cuttle window is relatively small compared to squid that hang around right into January. Fortunately, I live in cuttle central, and the Brixham commercials refer to the season as 'black gold'. A couple of years ago one of the local smaller trawlers broke the landing record for cuttle after just a mornings fishing, his landing fetched £250k at the Brixham fish market, not bad for a mornings work !
Almost 100% of the UK cuttle goes to Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France.
They make a superb bait, and many charter skippers will tell you that cuttle will outfish any other bait for Cod, Conger, Bass, and Rays, but anglers don't use them that much as they retail between £8 -£10 per kilo, especially for XL,and XXL cuttle. Most of what I caught would be XXL.
If you know of a mark where you can catch squid, that also has a soft sand or mud bottom, then it will most likely produce cuttle.
Whereas you tend to catch squid in the first third of the water column off the bottom, for cuttle your jigs need to be just a few inches off the bottom. Rigging a paternoster and flicking it a little way from the boat is the easiest method, but a flying collar (wrecking boom) with a short trace works just as well as long as to work the jig as you would with feathers (but slower). They are aggressive gits, so any jig will do.
Once you feel the rod 'load up' then give it some low tension line (not slack line) for a few seconds, then a steady slow reel to the surface. Often they let go before the surface, but you need to have the net ready as many will 'throw' the jig at the surface, or pull away quickly to break off their grabbing tentacle. TBH, the landing rate is poor, about 1 in 5 hits will get to the boat. Yesterday I was getting bites within a few minutes of hitting the bottom.
Cuttle are masters of cammo, and tend to lay in hollows on the bottom ready to attack any prey, they will quite happily eat stuff the size of a joey.
Once in the net, then dump it straight into a bucket, where it will blow out a ton of ink. If you keep your deck wet, any ink will clean up ok. The white gel coat (inside the boat) needs to be regularly wiped down with a sponge. When the dirty bastids grunt the ink, it often goes every feck'in where, so keep the bucket covered with a cloth that can be binned (it will be black !). Also, wear sunglasses, as the gits will shoot water and ink at your face, and it rarely misses.
Yesterday I had 4 buckets of cuttle, as you can only fill them 3 parts full, due to the volume of ink.
 

Sunday was a cracker of a day so an early start for the skerries, stopping on the way for fresh Mack.
We spent an hour on the Mack, and whilst kyle and the wife were busy with the feathers, I got the squid jigs out and found a couple of cuttle and 3 fresh squid.
Then a decent run to the skerries ( stopping to play with the Dolphins) where we drifted for plaice and soon bagged up, but only retained 6 decent keepers. Once the tide changed and started to pick up I dropped the pin and down went the big Ray baits.
We were soon into the Blonds and boated  11 with the biggest at 13lb. Also we had 2 dogs and a decent Grey that went almost 3lb. All too soon it was time to pull the anchor and head back. There was a shoal of BFT busting a bait ball just off the banks.

 
Monday was to be a bait gathering session, just the wife and I, as we had the school run in the afternoon.
The wife was on tinsel duty, and I set up a squid jig pat to target the cuttle. We were pretty successful with 20+ Mack and 17 cuttle. The biggest cuttle went almost 5lb and was taking line ! Cuttle are annoying as you only land about 1 in 5, as they grab and let go the jigs.
Also in the mix on the tinsels were Scad (lost count) and small tubs.
@thejollysinker is going to be fuming, as he fishes right over the cuttle, but unless you actively target them, you would never know they are there.

 

 
Cuttle are dirty bastids, so cleaning the boat was a jet wash job, but keeping the deck wet helps a lot. They probably emit 5 times more ink than squid. All in the freezer now as cuttle will out fish all other baits in the winter. The quantity and quality of the cuttle would cost about £250 -£300 to buy as frozen bait, so well pleased.
2 days and 120nm, tired but happy.
 

Correct, this time of the year I use a 2 jig rig. 30lb mono with a blood loop 3” above the lead for the cuttle jig, and another blood loop about 3ft from the lead for the squid. We always get cuttle on the bottom jig and squid on the top jig, so it works a treat.

FTFY Mike. Geoff.  🙂

we get plagued with 30lb cod this time of year. They make a nice shark bait
 

There is a mark about 5nm from me where Cod can be caught during the winter. Mostly fish of 5 - 8lb, but the have been fish of over 20lb caught in the past.

There is a mark about 5nm from me where Cod can be caught during the winter. Mostly fish of 5 - 8lb, but the have been fish of over 20lb caught in the past.

There is a mark about 5nm from me where Cod can be caught during the winter. Mostly fish of 5 - 8lb, but the have been fish of over 20lb caught in the past.

It a good job border force were not out there, you know, black bloke with a beany in a rubber boat 🙄🤣🤣

Agreed, also fresh plaice is high on my eating agenda.

No, local for me is Teignmouth, Brixham, and Torbay.

Finally got the boat out for the first time in about 5 months. Club comp with a decent turnout of 7 boats. Lovely weather though the temp did start to drop around 2pm. Loads of fish from the off but all small, thornbacks, conger and dogs and a topelet. We did have a couple of eels which would have been over the 15lb minimum size but couldn't be arsed to try and keep them alive in a tub so t-barred them off at the side of the boat. Winner had a 26lb conger released alive after the comp. No cod caught and only 1 bass hopefully we will have a decent cod run this winter. No piccys as we didn't catch anything worthy. Hopefully out again this Sunday 

Today has been on the cards all week, albeit a little colder, sea conditions looked favourable until mid afternoon, however, with spring tides we needed an early start to be back on the slip for 12:30.
Yes, a lot colder, at 7:00am I cleared the frost off the jeep (2c), picked up Kyle, and we launched at 7:30.
The plan was to go for some more cuttle and squid, which would give us a good bait stock for the winter.
A short steam to our usual mark and we were soon into the cuttle and the odd squid, all of which were a decent size. The sea was NOT as forecast and was a tad lumpy, but very doable.
Kyle also sent down some baited hokkai’s and was rewarded with Grey’s, dogs, scad, and Mackerel.
One of the cuttle got its own back on me, I left it in the net over the side of the boat whilst I unhooked the jig from the mesh, and it got me full in the face with a shed load of ink !
All too soon it was time to head back in, but we had more than met our target with 24 cuttle, 6 squid, dogs, gurnards, scad, and Mack.
The boat took a lot of cleaning as both cuttle and squid are dirty bastids.
The Bait freezer is now completely full, with 41 decent cuttle, 12 large squid, over 200 mackerel and a load of king prawn. This winter we might target winter Cod, a big ask in our location, but I have a couple of marks in mind. Also, Kyle wants a 25 - 30lb winter Blond off the skerries.
Kyle with the smallest dog I have ever seen 🤣
 

 

Today has been on the cards all week, albeit a little colder, sea conditions looked favourable until mid afternoon, however, with spring tides we needed an early start to be back on the slip for 12:30.
Yes, a lot colder, at 7:00am I cleared the frost off the jeep (2c), picked up Kyle, and we launched at 7:30.
The plan was to go for some more cuttle and squid, which would give us a good bait stock for the winter.
A short steam to our usual mark and we were soon into the cuttle and the odd squid, all of which were a decent size. The sea was NOT as forecast and was a tad lumpy, but very doable.
Kyle also sent down some baited hokkai’s and was rewarded with Grey’s, dogs, scad, and Mackerel.
One of the cuttle got its own back on me, I left it in the net over the side of the boat whilst I unhooked the jig from the mesh, and it got me full in the face with a shed load of ink !
All too soon it was time to head back in, but we had more than met our target with 24 cuttle, 6 squid, dogs, gurnards, scad, and Mack.
The boat took a lot of cleaning as both cuttle and squid are dirty bastids.
The Bait freezer is now completely full, with 41 decent cuttle, 12 large squid, over 200 mackerel and a load of king prawn. This winter we might target winter Cod, a big ask in our location, but I have a couple of marks in mind. Also, Kyle wants a 25 - 30lb winter Blond off the skerries.
Kyle with the smallest dog I have ever seen 🤣
 

 

That works for both herring and sardine, but you need size 4 or 6 hooks.
we use tinsels with size 6 hooks.
However, both are messy gits and you end up with scales everywhere, much worse than mack.