Cod Vs The Royal Navy

One of our favourite sheltered cod marks will be in the way of a practice war this weekend...

1. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Queen’s Harbour Master Portsmouth that commencing Saturday 5th December through Thursday 10 December 2009 a Naval Amphibious Exercise involving a major Warship and its associated landing craft will be taking place in the Browndown / Stokes Bay areas of the Central Solent

2. The majority of the Amphibious Exercise will be conducted from the Warship lying at anchor between Spithead Number 10 Anchorage (SW of Gilkicker Point) and the beach at Browndown. The exercise will be conducted by both day and night and will include a number of Landing Craft and other small boats operating between the Warship at anchor and to or from the foreshore at Browndown.

3. Mariners are reminded of the requirement to remain at least 50 metres clear of any Warship at anchor as stipulated in the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth Order 2005 and repeated in LNTM 28/07 (Keep Clear of Warship Berths). For the duration of the exercise, this Exclusion Zone is extended to include all Landing Craft and associated Military Vessels transiting between the vessel at anchor and to or from the shoreline.

4. Extreme care is to be taken when approaching the Area of operations and QHM Harbour Control is to be informed of any immediate concerns

5. For the duration of the amphibious exercise QHM Harbour Control will be kept informed of the area of operations and may be contacted on VHF Ch 11 or by telephoning 02392723689 for the latest information

6. Cancel this Local Notice To Mariners Fri 11th Dec 2009 (9 days)

Garmin Chart Plotter Review and other updates

As you will know from my last blog, Salar is out of action for the moment with a sick engine, so I am confined to shore fishing or prevailing on the generosity of other boat owners. On Friday I went trout fishing for the first time in probably two years, and although the weather and the location at Meon Springs were idyllic, it was all a bit too easy compared to sea fishing. Still, home smoked trout makes a nice change!


Last week I was going to post a review of the new Garmin GPSMAP 4008 Chart Plotter, which was delayed because of Salar's little adventure. I have now completed the review and it is posted on the Boat Angling web site. I won't repeat it all here, but one feature makes it stand out against the competition - it has a true video VGA screen which is much better than the previous generation of chart plotters.


I have also had time to post another couple of updates on the web site: how to make a bailer for nothing; and a downloadable chart of the general marks published on the site. No, none of the detailed, private or secret ones are there I'm afraid!

A fishing blog wouldn't be worthy of the name if I didn't mention catches: I have it on very good authority that Boulder Bank is producing more and better bream than Bullocks Patch or Brackelsham areas. However, the shoals are very localised and the difference between over 100 (true and verified!) bream and just a few fish can be just a few yards. More bream-catching tips from my friend the bream-meister next week...