Fog in the Solent

Saturday started as a very sunny day, so I took Salar out for a long-overdue fishing trip. Or so I had planned. We left Langstone in bright sunshine and headed to Dean Tail to catch a few mackerel for bait. Within minutes of arriving at the edge of the shipping lane, the Isle of Wight ominously disappeared, followed very quickly by everything more than a few yards away. Very creepy, it all happened in the space of just a few minutes and would have been very scary without my trusty chartplotter.

Fog can cause total disorientation with no landmarks in sight, but the wind was still at least F2 so I had a constant wave direction to give some sense of direction. However the GPS signal was still spot on so I knew exactly where I was, not in the shipping lane but probably a bit too near to be safe. I was a little concerned about the smaller coasters that may have slightly wobbly navigation. The AIS function is a godsend in these circumstances, and I am now a convert to the Class B signals. I used to be very scathing about the class B leisure craft transponders because we see so many bleeping away from marinas where owners had clearly forgotten to turn them off, and I thought that to fill the Solent with bleeps would hide the ones to really worry about, Class A bleeps from the likes of the Queen Victoria.

Anyhow, back to the fog story - I was keeping a very watchful eye on the plotter and the edge of the fog about 100 metres away when I received an AIS alert for a vessel heading straight for me - outside the shipping lane. Time to skedaddle I thought, then I noticed the speed indicated - 4.4 knots. Even a rusty coaster does twice that. It must be a sailing boat, and sure enough I just managed to glimpse a large yacht in the gloom. I pulled out my Plastimo aerosol foghorn (loud enough and cheap) and gave it a good hoot in the general direction, and it glided by at a safe distance. So Class B does have a place - particularly when I'm fishing in the fog!

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)

Cowes Week already...

Skandia Cowes Week (I was wondering what they were doing with my pensions money) runs from Saturday to Saturday 2nd to 9th August, so it will potentially affect two weekends in the Solent. There are full details on their official web site http://www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk/. There will be a lot of racing, and mixing racing yachts and anchored angling boats is likely to end in tears sooner or later as racing yacht crews are highly competitive and may not see a small angling boat anyway. Best to keep well away from the action, which would be made easier if the organisers published courses in advance but instead they make it up on the day based on weather and tide. If you do plan to fish near the racing, please make sure you are not on a course line or anywhere near a buoy they turn around, and remember to rig your black anchor ball signal.

If in doubt keep away or at least keep a good look-out and be prepared to move. Whatever the rights and wrongs of being hit by a racing yacht, it it better not to be and if there is a chance you can avoid it then it would be sensible to be cautious. There is also a strong possibility of skippers of large spectator boats not being their normal alert selves after a few glasses, so it is not just the racing yachts to watch out for!

If that all sounds a bit nanny-like and gloomy, sorry! To end on a cheerful note, in previous years there have been spectacular fireworks on the last night so if you are fishing on the evening of 9th August anywhere in the northern end of the Solent you may see a great show.

March and April Eastern Solent Fishing

I tried to stretch the March fishing reports as far as possible hoping for some more news, but the weather just wasn't playing ball. Weekend after weekend was blowy, but when we did manage to get out most of us only ventured as far as The Blocks. The plaice were there as usual; some days and some tides seemed to produce more than others. It is a good mark if you don't want to travel too far from Langstone Harbour, but you do get better and more consistent catches drifting the banks east of Selsey later in the spring and early summer.


It is now 11th April and I still haven't been out as this windy weather is conspiring against us. However, those lucky enough to go on the many calm mid-week(!) days have started to find bream - hooray! There have been reports of good catches on the western side of the Island. Our usual local marks of Boulder, Bullocks Patch and Hounds should start producing quality fish about now. Here's what we like to see, a prime fish in the net.




Try float-fishing when the tide is not running hard - a sliding float with the hook a foot or two clear of the bottom means you can fish ultra-light, and cover more ground. It is a great way of fishing as the tide is turning when slack water makes float fishing easier and you get fewer fish on static baits.


PS I have been watching the weather forecast very closely over the last couple of days, Sunday might be a chance at last!

Local Notice To Mariners (5/08) MILITARY PARACHUTING EXERCISE OFF LEE POINT 20th APRIL 2008

I'm putting this here because I received it via email subscription: so far (2nd April) it is not posted on the QHM site. It may affect fishing marks in the eastern Solent on 20th April.

QUEENS HARBOUR MASTER PORTSMOUTH
================================

-- LOCAL NOTICE TO MARINERS No 5/08 --

MILITARY PARACHUTING EXERCISE OFF LEE POINT 20th APRIL 2008

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Queen’s Harbour Master Portsmouth that a “Military Parachute Training Exercise” will take place off Lee on Solent, Sunday 20th April 2008.

Submarine Parachute Advisory Group (SPAG) will be parachuting from a C130 Hercules aircraft during daylight hours only, approximately 1000–1500, into the centre of a drop zone position, 50° 47’.2N 001° 12’.4W; 5 cables southwest of Lee Point. The aircraft will make several passes over the drop zone dropping parachutists in groups of up to 6.

An exclusion zone of 1000 metres radius from this point will be enforced whilst the operation is under way.

Safety communications and appropriate warnings on VHF will be conducted during the exercise by the safety vessel on station.

A “Drop Zone” Safety Officer and qualified medical cover will be afloat in a designated vessel within the area. Four Ribs will also be standing by to assist / recover personnel from the water to Lee on the Solent slipway.
Additionally a safety vessel and a Ministry of Defence Police Launch will be in attendance throughout.

Mariners are requested to keep well clear of this area whilst the exercise is under way. Vessels in the area are requested to proceed at slow speed and a good lookout is essential due to the nature of the event.
Cancel this LNTM Mon 21st Apr 2008 (20 days)

Tue 1st Apr 2008
Semaphore Tower
HM Naval Base, Portsmouth

S O Hopper
Commander Royal Navy
Queen's Harbour Master

Exporing the Solent seabed

The Marine Coastguard Agency web site has loads of useful information. I recently came across a part I had not found before: The Civil Hydrography Programme. Needless to say I had not deliberately gone looking for it. This is in fact very useful - it is the result of sea-bed surveys which are published in the form of Google Earth overlays, and shows the sea-bed as if Moses has been by and parted the waters. All you have to do is install Google Earth (if you don't already have it), then go to MCA web site page and download the files covering your area of choice. There are two downloads covering the whole of the western arm of the Solent - just open Google Earth and load the maps from the downloaded files. Enjoy.

Fishing at last

Sunday gave us a welcome window in the weather, westerly F4 and dropping. Tides meant a very early or late start, so I opted for a warm bed and a late start. As I didn't entirely trust the forecast I headed towards the Island to benefit from the shelter, and spent the afternoon on Culver. There were plenty of large pout and dogfish, and a solitary whiting. Other boats further on in Sandown had a few ray, small cod and conger, including a large one. Arron followed me home in Aquaholic, and we took photos of each other in the evening light. Arron took a superb one of Salar.