Stoaty

Hows your head?

Oh No! He's down for a trip in July. I can't have puddle fishers contaminating the boat. I might have to tow him behind in a dinghy.

My mate tells me they are seeing a few at Dover now.

I caught one off St Osyth on ragworm, 25 years ago. It went off the scales at 40lbs. I have been trying ever since to catch another.

I haven't seen any so far this year. There is plenty of the brown slime they like on the mud. but no lip marks as yet.

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory

I have one of these cameras. I bought it from Maplins on a £50 special offer. WARNING : It's very addictive. Many fishing hours have been lost watching all kinds of creatures stealing the bait, from the bit of wire, gaffer taped to the camera. Best £50 I ever spent. Keeps the wife quiet too. Underwater camera

Everything Matt has said about his car is correct. I have seen it. BUT what he has not said is that he bought it from a girlie and the interior is PINK. VERY VERY pink. it's the most girliest car I have ever seen.

What they are saying is if you declare 60/40 you need not keep any paper trail. A declaration should be signed by the purchaser which does not include the vessels name as boat names change often. This has more to do with the retailer being able to prove the percentages than the buyer. The 40% covers not just purpose built heaters, but generators, running the engine to charge domestic batteries and hot water generation. In practice anyone who declares 60/40 should have no problem. Liveaboards who don't move can get upto 100% at the low rate but must keep records and be prepared for a visit. It seems that some retail outlets are saying they will only do 60/40. As this will mean they will have much less work and no problems with HMRC

Things are not quite as bad as it sounds. Here is a copy of a press release from Motorboat Monthly which explains it fairly well.

Yesterday (29.09.08) every square inch of the dock at Gillingham Pier was covered in very large mullet lip marks. Never seen so many lip marks over such a large area. Awesome.

Part of the truth is that charter skippers have big egos. Book one to go fishing for mini species then listen to him squirm when another skipper asks him what's been caught. They all want to be top boat and have the biggest fish. Boat types become fashionable, ever bigger ever faster, always justified like "get to the grounds faster". I remember the rush to get a mitchell and the rush for twin engines and it happens by port. If two or three skippers in a port get cats the others want to follow suit. These cats are not as economical, or fast as often stated. Skippers wouldn't like to let on about any kind of disappointment in their new cat. I went with a friend on his new cat to Alderney we used 600liters crossing and the speed was kept down to 14 knots. That was 400l more than his previous 36 ft boat at 9 knots. If your fishing off a cat you have to pay for the extra fuel. Don't get me wrong they are very nice boats to fish off. loads of room. I think for the charter angling market in this country it's a step to far. It's like mini cabbing in a rolls royce. Fine if all your customers are lords and ladies, but not viable for bob the builder. It will go up again. It will never drop in the long term.

Not really true. Two big engines as their egos all want the fastest boat. This means more fuel, more maintenance and higher costs. More anglers carried means more weight (approx 150kg per angler) that in turn uses more fuel. I know someone with a dive boat that now restricts dive parties to 8 people, down from 12 to save fuel. He reckons divers with their gear weigh 250kg each. The fuel barge in Poole Harbour a month ago was charging 90ppl for red diesel. 200l goes nowhere in these big cats. I reckon a skipper needs £300 per trip as a minimum to just cover the cost of running the boat. When you take into account things like moorings, servicing, insurances, maintaining the boat to standard and depreciation as the boat needs to be paid for somehow. Mull over this. These cats cost £250,000 or more how many trips do you think they have to do to start making a profit? I fear we will lose many charter skippers in the not so distant future.

Don't have a telly. Don't want one.