On Tow

It had to happen sooner or later: my Mercuiser diesel hasn't missed a beat for four years. On Sunday morning however, cruising towards The Hounds the engine note suddenly changed, the lights came on and the buzzer screamed. Oo-er. Remembering the drill, I switched off the engine, had a good look round to see if I was in a navigation channel or near some pots: neither, and there was only 25 feet of water so the anchor went down while I worked out what to do next. When I looked under the engine casing a very mucky sight awaited me - about a gallon of black engine oil was spread over everything. Fishing was off then.

I am a member of SeaStart (an AA of the sea, and I recommend them to anyone who goes out in a boat with an engine). Like the AA, they will try and fix the problem but if that is not possible, they will tow you home. I called SeaStart on the mobile as I was only a mile from Chichester Bar, exchanged details, and 20 minutes later they phoned back with an ETA for the rescue boat. Another 20 minutes later and Hayling Rescue, an 8 metre RIB was alongside. Now that's better than the AA. Without another gallon of oil on board there was not a lot he could do, so we had a text-book tow back to Southsea Marina. It was so textbook, I have put that section from "Angling Boats" on the Hints and Tips section of the web site - complete with pictures. Full marks to Seastart, let's hope Scott Doble from 1 Deg. West Marine doesn't mind getting his hands dirty when he goes under the casing - it's not a job I could even contemplate!

This distraction is a great pity, because I wanted to post a review of the fabulous new Garmin GPSMap 4008. It will have to wait. I can tell you though, Peter Gander has a cracking new t-shirt design in the shop - with special appeal for Merry Fisher owners!

Bream from Boulder and other news

The bream are here in numbers - if you hit the right spot. Don't rely on local news to find them - during the week, good catches were reported from Princessa, but on Saturday they were hard to find. One day they are there, the next day they may be gone! I caught my first of the season over in Bracklesham Bay but it was the only one. Next day, Arron was out on Boulder and boated 19, the best 2lb 8oz (pictured). His full story is on the web site catch reports page - well done Arron and thanks for the report.

The other bit of news is that we now have some of Peter Gander's unique fishing cartoons on t-shirts and mugs in the on-line shop. Peter has that rare combination of being a keen fisherman, having great drawing skills and a real sense of humour. You can find out more about Peter on his introduction page. We have also produced some of our standard fishing t-shirt designs on ceramic mugs, and for those who need a shatter-proof mug we have something special in the shop too! If you don't see what you want in the shop we can customise t-shirts, polo shirts, ceramic mugs and shatterproof mugs, so just let us know what you would like. Here are examples of Peter's designs:

Fingers crossed for May, we are looking forward to good sport with smoothound, early tope and bass...

Hot Fuzz at Beaulieu Boat Jumble

Sunday 27th April is the date for the South's biggest boat jumble - almost a one-day boat show in some respects. Although the Beaulieu Boatjumble is a hefty £8 to get in, that does include the rest of the estate so you can blag it as a "family day out" if the FPO objects. I'm not advertising this event, just telling you about it because the Trunk Traders section, which is very like a boot sale, had some fabulous bargains last year. I had my own patch there to sell my book, Fish Seeker diving vanes and a load of boat bits. The photo on the left is nicked from their web site (if they object, sorry, I'll take this free advert off-line!). This year I'll be going to browse, not sell, unless the weather tempts me to go fishing instead.

But I must share with you one of the funniest things I saw all year. While I was quietly tending my stall, I saw two of Hampshire's Finest coming up the field - perfectly cast for the movie Hot Fuzz. One was very ordinary looking, the other - get this - has a black baseball cap; shades; exposed tanned muscly arms; stab vest; every possible piece of police equipment attached to parts of his body, and combat trousers tucked into his boots. This pair were a sight in themselves, but what they were doing topped everything. They were checking tax disks on white vans. Surely this must be considered one of the most dangerous aspects of police work in rural Hampshire.

See you there. My tax disk is bang up to date.

More on Bream

My trip out last Sunday was rubbish, and the less said about it the better. (OK if you insist - stayed out too late the night before, off early to Sandown Bay, nice beamy lumpy sea and your author was feeling bad very quickly. So back to the marina for a kip!) On to better things, the bream are definitely around, and so are smoothound with Utopia producing some good ones. There are three things from last year's reports worth mentioning again for the 2008 bream season.

Firstly, bait: half a squid head (cut longways between the eyes) is a great bait. It stays on the hook better than the traditional strip, allowing the fish to have another go if you miss the first bite.

Secondly, groundbait. Some people swear by elaborate mixes and dump great quantities over the side, some use nothing. I'm convinced that something is better than nothing, and a steady stream will create a trail that will draw then into the fishing zone. At the very least, feed in some finely chopped squid scraps, offcuts and used bait on a little-and-often basis. If the tide is not roaring through, and you are in 50 feet of water or less, I don't think a bait dropper is necessary, it will sink fast enough and the idea is that it should spread out over a long distance downtide anyway. If you have to use a dropper to get the groundbait down, there is a cheap way. Tie a weight to a thin cord (handline cord and a pound lead is fine), then fasten the closed end of a large-sized strong freezer bag to the line by the weight. Full the bag with groundbait, then tie a clove-hitch in the cord at a distance from the lead greater than the length of the bag, and use this to tie the bag closed. Lower the bag over the side and when it reaches the bottom, give the cord a firm jerk. This will pull the knot off the end of the bag and the groundbait will wash out.

Finally, float fishing: this is an ideal way to coax fish into feeding at slack tide. The movement of the float will impart movement on the bait and you can cover more ground, without the risk of tangling as you will with static baits as the tide slackens and turns. Arron told me this tip right at the end of last year's season so I didn't try it, he did well though.

Good luck with the bream and let me know how you get on.

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.

Wet and Windy Easter

It just doesn't get better, does it? Monday was the only remotely fishable day, but it wasn't worth ordering worm. I went down to the marina with a box of squid, and spied the state of the water with a quick drive along the prom. It looked fishable, and there were a few boats by The Blocks already. Salar was waiting patiently, none the worse for the gales and a few weekends of neglect. She started first time and I headed out of the harbour entrance. The initial enthusiasm soon evaporated as it was bitterly cold, the sky and sea were a similar grey and a run down to Bracklesham was not really viable. Salar wasn't pulling with the usual enthusiasm, probably a bit of muck had grown on the blades because of the lack of use. I decided to use the time cleaning the blades instead of fishing, so it was back to the marina for a bit of underwater scrabbling. Reversing into a berth with a brisk crosswind is not easy, and after six attempts (I lost count after five anyway) we made it. I discovered that if you keep your hands under freezing cold water for five minutes it no longer hurts, so the rest of the prop-scraping with an old knife wasn't too bad. Back out to sea with a shiny prop and Salar showed she was capable of anything again. Let's hope next weekend it better!