Sundays Comp

"Awol" will be out with Dean Burt, Bob Horne and Me as crew

Martin

Mike Fox phoned me to book in along with Carol and George

Martin

Simon on Cimmera is booked in as well

good luck to you guys who are fishing tomorrow.

Carl and Alun Murray ( Jnr ) on Overdraft are booked in

Where to go ..........................THAT is the question?????????

Coddy

I'll be out as well

Is the result in yet? Who won?

Where to go ..........................THAT is the question?????????

 

Coddy

Well we found out one place you went

Mad Mike

PS any stories of huge fish after we left will be deemed as you jus' bein' bitchy

Mad Mike

Only 3 boats so far have fish recorded for the Specimen Comp.

Frontrunner is Martin Burt with what is amost a club record Undulate Ray

Next comp we will need at least 6 boats booked in as it is a BFM comp.

Sorry, but nothing of any note to record on Overdraft, just small Bream, LSD, & Wrasse, but we enjoyed our day.

Carl.

Carl,

No problem - we had the same to record on Neo ( one bream of 2lb 5oz )

Well, that was an eventful day...

What started as a lovely relaxing day on the a calm sea turned into a marathan trial.

Decided against fish the ledge and fished Xray instead. Got the target bream but only small, and countless dogfish.

Little Rob managed to snatch a Starry Smothound which sent him a merry dance for a while, but again, only small.

So, upped anchor and header a further 6 miles out to the wrecks. Manged to snag some congers but all were small.

Then things changed...

Left that wreck and went in search of another close by. Couldn't find the wreck and whilst circling the steering suddenly broke...oh blast!!!

Couldn't repair it at sea so, had to devise a way to navigate back to the Ledge where I would meet up with Paul D for a tow home if needed.

Through great team work with little Rob navigating at the front and controlling the throttle, and me sitting by the transom seat and manually steering the boat with my legs and feet!!!, we managed to get back to the ledge. Even got to planning speed.

Stopped at the ledge with Paul D to wait for sufficient water to enter Xchurch. Paul offered to tow me in but the steering team work had worked so well I thought we could handle the challenge easier on our own, with Neo in close formation in case we got into difficulty. Even with a tow I would still need to manually steer Splash-Out, and because we were going in at low water I was concerned that towing Splash-Out would have causing Neo to sit lower at her transom and so bottom out in the shallows.

Anyway, long story short, we managed to "steer" Splash-Out back to Wick under our own steam, and recover the boat without incident. But, it was a hard slog. Steering a boat manually at full trim is one thing, but slow manouvering with the engine trimmed up is another. It's gut busting.

So, what could we have done differently?

1 - Tied up along side Neo (or another larger boat) rather than being towed behind.

2 - Beached the boat at Mudeford and then get a lift back to Wick to pick up the trailer (would have saved the most gruely part of the trip up the river).

Could've done those things but didn't...instead little Rob has a memory he will recall with fond memories...some brilliant navigation from Rob and quality time with his Dad. He was dead chuffed that we found a way to get back from 10 miles out at sea...and #1, at no time do you panic!!!

Catch report

4 Bream each to 2lb 2oz

Dozens of LSD to 2lb 4oz

Smoothound

Pout

Conger

Knackered and off to bed.

BF

Well done Bob ! ... Master Mariner.... perfect example of keeping a 'cool head' and realising there are several equally practical ways out !!

Cimarra had a much less eventful day............

.....as early a start as was possible, but still a queue on the slip; then off to the Ledge where MANY boats were parked............. and many more joined us [ I counted 25 by 11am.]

We weren't doing as well as hoped for...........so plan A was resurrected .......and Simon whizzed us west at 35+ mph and we soon reached Anvil Pt., where we joined a couple of others for the last of the ebb.......and got into a few bream and decent wrasse..........but this died with the tide and didn't restart with the flood.

En route back to Mudeford , we stopped where I found a big bream last week, near the W. edge of the Ledge but today it was just pout.

A slow crawl back up a very shallow harbour [how did you manage Bob??]......reminded me why I use Mudeford rather than Wick.

Alun.