Her we go . . . !

[Guest CJS2]

Sorry, went wrong!

 

 

Edited April 22, 2006 by CJS2

[Steve Coppolo]

Sorry, went wrong!

 

 

What went wrong Cliff? Come on, don't keep us in suspenders! How did you get on today?

[Sharkbyte]

Come on Cliff, I've been waiting 14 hours now.

[Guest CJS2]

Hay, been watching Nichole Kidman, give me a break!! OK, at my age Fishing is more exciting? We went to the Towers and fished the whole Flood, There was a long swell that belied the forcast, ended up at about 3-4ft. Fish, O'yea, bucket loads of doggies a few pout and 4 Roka to about 7lbs, herring was the bait, I recon we droped half a dozen as well. We could see about a dozen boats , seems they did better in the morning, on the ebb tide, aint it just the way! Of the 4 roka, one was a female and that went back, all the dogies went back as well, despite a handfull that were definatly 'large' and actualy put up some sort of fight!

 

At least I had a chance to try the 'skinning pliers' what a wast of money they were please, have a laugh at my expense Endded up using a pair of standard hardware store type, they worked great, thanks to Wurzel for showing me how it was done a few weeks back.

 

Interesting experiance with the 'Shimano Technium' line. Caught the biggest fish on the lightest outfit, 12lb Suveran, 10lb Technium and the Abu 6500 Rocket, down tide with 4ozs of lead. Again, thanks Wurzel, Technium certainly does seem to have somthing special.

 

[Norfolkdan]

Nice one Cliff.

[sam-cox]

Good report Cliff, did being so far offshore un-nurve you mate?lolololol

[Guest CJS2]

Good report Cliff, did being so far offshore un-nurve you mate?lolololol

 

Still see land, just, from the Towers Sam

 

In a more down to earth note, as you all know, I run a large 10m, 13ton, tub of a boat, very sea worthy but not fast at 7 to 8.5kts, (that 0.5 is important when you only have 8)! Bee'n working on her on and off for 9 months so this was the first trip of any significance.

 

From Shotley Marina to the Rough Towers is 9.5 miles. We locked out at 10.50 arrived at the towers at 12.10. Should have been 12 noon, but the GPS popped as we rounded Langard bouy, what the *!*!** *!*!! is up now!!!! Took a few minuits to track the problem down to a 250ma pannel fuse, probably a very old 250ma fuse. Whilst I would have continued, used to do it all with paper and very 'iffy Decca numbers, the amout of times the 'red' unsafe signal light came on!, its very reasuring to have the solid Garmin GPS as an aid.

 

The point is, marks like the Bawdsey and Whiting banks, Gunfleet Sands, Kings Channel (Swin), Black Deeps, Long Sand Head are all within 1 to 2 hours steam. The Kentish Knock is perhaps 3 hours, Fuel consumption at 5-6 lits ph, and the cost of crude oil now through the roof, and heading for the moon!!!. Over 10 miles and you ARE out of sight of land, which is no problem, but in an 18 to 20 footer?? Speed as a safty factor is dodgy to rely on, if it blows up quick, and it often does, your hi speed skim dish becomes a very pedstrian and vunerable walnut shell?

 

They are great for nipping from mark to mark, we hear it on the VHF all the time, half an hour on mark 'a' 40 minuits on 'b' and so on. Saw it yesterday, a warrior was on the same Towers mark as us, we joined them. Shortly after we arived the Warrior pulled anchour and spead off to the Gully, about 2 miles East. They were back within 2 hours, obviously no fish, not suprised in the small tides, slack water lasted from 12 untill 2pm! All that happened was they burned x amount of fuel. We simply sat it out and took the fish as they came through in waves.

 

Just over the hours seemed like no time at all, 2 hours would be good as well, 3 hours?, a long time but with good company and regular tea brew, it soon passes. All in good weather of course, not so pleaseant if it were to blow up, even so, a large saloon is a nice place to be in bad weather!

 

One has becoming a great believer in 'the Hare and the Tortoise'. Any thoughts?

 

[Sharkbyte]

If we end up buying a bigger boat one day, we'll be going for the best of both worlds.

 

A Hare with a shell.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

They are great for nipping from mark to mark, we hear it on the VHF all the time, half an hour on mark 'a' 40 minuits on 'b' and so on. Saw it yesterday, a warrior was on the same Towers mark as us, we joined them. Shortly after we arived the Warrior pulled anchour and spead off to the Gully, about 2 miles East. They were back within 2 hours, obviously no fish, not suprised in the small tides, slack water lasted from 12 untill 2pm! All that happened was they burned x amount of fuel. We simply sat it out and took the fish as they came through in waves.

 

Just over the hours seemed like no time at all, 2 hours would be good as well, 3 hours?, a long time but with good company and regular tea brew, it soon passes. All in good weather of course, not so pleaseant if it were to blow up, even so, a large saloon is a nice place to be in bad weather!

 

One has becoming a great believer in 'the Hare and the Tortoise'. Any thoughts?

 

I think your right, choose your mark according to the season, tides and weather and stick to your guns.

[Guest CJS2]

If we end up buying a bigger boat one day, we'll be going for the best of both worlds.

 

A Hare with a shell.

 

Best of both worlds is great, the problem will be fuel if you can afford 15-20lts per hour, per engine, or 20-25lts on a single? Even if the EU directive does not come in, marine diesel bought at my marina is currently 60p per liter, and rising!! Thats £12-£15 per hour on a single? The temptation with speed is to run longer and further and have more moves, I would suggest my Towers trip (as per Warrior) would have been a minimum of 3 hours running time = £36-£45 compared with my £9-£10 total diesel bill

 

Far be it for me to put any one down on the speed v economy. In the early days 86-91, I ran a Alaska 500+50hp OB, and for three years recently, an Aquabell 33+ 210hpTD, diesel in 2000 was 28p per lit, I could cruise at 14-16kts for 17-22lits of diesel.

 

I saw the writing on the wall, I would not be able to afford to run the Aquabell or berth it? I re boated down to 8m, a mistake! Diesel bills and speed were reduced but, once used to 10m its not the length, its the beam you miss. We had got the worst of all worlds, but had an almost new boat! Neither of us Hazel or I were happy. So we have re boated to 10m, 12ft beam, a 12ft saloon/walk round wheel house, seperate, sleeping and heads, full galey with hot and cold running water. A floating caravan with 10ft x 10ft of open fishing cockpit.

 

Thats a spec., that suits our requirements, not a pure fishing boat, she can rock and roll a bit, but we have a retreat, especialy in the summer. Hazel loves it in the river, I get to fish for bass, have tea, cakes fed me regularly and I can take my friends out in the summer to the offshore banks when the weather is fine, thats not very often. Diesel bills are low, weekend accomodation bills are zero, I still have to pay 10m berth fees . . . but not the diesel bills. Over all, one sees the situation as positive

 

I have a friend, who has a totaly diferent requirement, he can afford the fuel, does not want a floating caravan, so he is looking for an 8m 'fishing boat' with an enclosd wheel house to seat 2/3. He is single!

 

Your coments on affording fuel?

 

Edited April 23, 2006 by CJS2