GPSguru

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.

So I arrived home from Turkey last night
with an incredible forecast Sunday questioning do I ? don’t I ?… I should stay at home prepare for the week ahead ect…
so anyway
1am came and I was on the road by 25past
heading for itchneor slip

lauched by 3.55 and heading through the harbour I was gunning for the slack at the Outer Owers to try for some bass and I was up against it time wise with a 15mile run from the harbour. So I stopped once and was lucky enough to pick up a small scad and one mackerel great some live baits. Then was disciplined enough not to stop again untill arriving at the mark.
I actually got there before the slack had started so time wise I got more than I needed.
fish wise not so good .. live bait down and feeding the float back on one rod and Dexter wedge off the bottom with another.
no takes first drift
second drift the floats gone down great! Wer on !
nope Wer off !
so I dropped the float back without checking the bait and bang I just picked the other rod up and the float was down again! Okay yes fish is ON….
well all went light float came up the bass even had the audacity to follow the the mackerel to the boat.assuming it was the same fish..
i forgot to say when I arrived and set up I put the tiny scad on which would of been perfect and as I threw it over it came off so that’s why the mackerel went on… heinsight I recon I should of sized my hook up a bit..
anyway back round and seeing a few more individual surface splashes now casting at them
rubbers and dexters but no joy.
by this point the mackerel was stiff so I flapped it set it out then & float went down again and I was properly on … however it wasn’t a bass it was a conger of about 8lb . So I was heart pounding for the net untill I saw it. 
after than I started following the birds and there were fish with them but no joy for me. A lot of baitfish under boat in areas. Not sure what it was I couldn’t pick them up maybe very mini sandeels.


with a short day planned I shot into a tope mark  that Iv had some incredible action in the past that’s pretty reliable and that was very quiet too. A small black bream  and a few dogs .
Amazing forecast saw some monster mullet in the harbour biggest Iv ever seen. So just sunsets & sounders today 
not even a poorly cooked sausage 

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
 

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.

Club comp tomorrow from Burnham On Sea

what a grate day you had , you could not arsk for moore.andy must have lost his blankty blank check book.🤣

The mark we fished is known for them up to 40lb, so ours were relative babies, however mine was dramatically older than Andy's !
It was nice to see both of them with their tails intact too, the commercials round here like to lop them off if caught. 

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

Midweek I get a sneaky message from. @Saintly Fish sending me an XC forecast and asking if I could be available on Friday. With my work schedule looking relatively clear I move a couple of meetings and get the ok to skip off work for the day.
A 4.45am wake-up wasn't the nicest but boy was it worth it. Out of the marina by just after 6am. Mint conditions as soon as we hit the water, and we were on our mark by 7.30am.

The target was stingrays. By 7.37am Neil nails a thumping bite to boat a beautiful 10lb smoothound, taken on ragworm.

20 minutes later he does the same with another lovely smoothie, this one nudging 12lb.

Feeling the pressure a little at this point I'm glad to see my rod tip give a good rattle then bend nicely. After a lively scrap we see our target coming to the surface.

My first ever stingray, about 4lb and very welcome. I also managed a couple of out-of-season congers too, on both my rods at the same time. Very surprised to see them in summer.
The next 30 mins or so were quiet, with nothing bothering our baits. Neil rustled up a stingray of his own as the top of the tide neared.

Slack water arrived and with the wind building a little we settle in for the start of the next tide. All of a sudden our rods go nuts! With bending rods and drags singing we each have decent fish on. After a bit of Laurel & Hardy shenanigans with the net we boat two lovely smoothies.

Really chunky ones at 14lb and 12lb and a new PB for me.
Another few fish follow, sending the rods over in typical smoothound smash & grab style.


At this point we'd lost count of the number of hounds to the boat, but we're fairly certain we had 7 double-figure hounds by the time we ran out of bait and headed in, plus two stingrays, two congers and two PB's for me. We ended the day with a well-earned beer in glorious sunshine back at the marina.
Big, big thanks to @Saintly Fish for hosting, skippering and putting us on the fish 💪👍.

Havnt posted in a while so a quick recap.
Great few days out of Milford Haven, weather was kind and the range had a few days off so could venture to new areas.
The bass fishing was phenomenal with birds hitting the water all over the place and bass busting out!
The pollack was also great when you could find them, along with huss to 14lb tope estimated around 40lb, gurnards dabs weavers and dogs.
Also some nice lobsters and spider crabs In my pot 🙂

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

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

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.

 

Had a similar experience, 6" muppets and half mackerel fillets and a half pound whiting neatly hooked on an 8/0 meat hook!

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
 

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.

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
 

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.

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
 

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
 

Can't remember the last time I fished from my own boat, it's been that long
Decided on a short trip West to target the Smoothhounds
In the 7.30 lock was just ourselves and another (ex) CBYC boat, they were heading further West to Nash and we were staying closer to home just West of Barry
We got the pick down by about 8.15 and waited, I was first in with a small blonde after 30 mins or so, closely followed by a dog
That was pretty much it for the first 90 mins, so we moved out wider. A small tide meant we could fish and anchor comfortably in just over 50ft at slack low
I was first in again with a small hound of around 6/7lb, with crewman will boating its sibling pretty much straight after
This was the story for the next few hours, with hounds coming in 3's and 4's of similar size periodically, and the odd few just making double figures
We also had quite a few dogs and Rays (Blonde and Thornies) which were mostly juvenile and pretty unexciting
We moved when the anchor starting slipping in 70 odd ft and had the last hour on the Coral, near Penarth
On a plus note, my bit of stainless tacked to the "prong" on the windlass, worked a treat
Had my normal "windlass man" up front on first anchor retrieval just in case, and he wasn't needed
The 2nd and 3rd retrievals were both done from the cabin
Also both the new temp guage and new oil pressure switch work spot on
No pictures of inferior fish today, but did get a couple of this old girl on the way in, parked up on the end of Penarth pier
 
The Waverley, doing a bit of a tour around parts of Britain 

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.