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Post by pilgrim17 on Sept 30, 2014 18:48:56 GMT 1
It looks like
Saturday's forecast is positive, with the wind W/NW which will give shelter in the Bay, Sunday it is forecast S/SW which is not so favourable, so I have ruled out Sunday I'm sorry, but better to do it now than wait & wait & wait, then cancel at the 11th hour. The tide is quite small at 10.3m at 0250am so we will have to go earlier than "Gentlemans Time" we will have to get the 8am lock to avoid putting the wheels down when we get outside the lock! So the cunning plan is 0730am Saturday for an 8am lock out, & if the plan works back in at 4.30pm with a few plaice in the bag.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 7, 2014 20:54:39 GMT 1
Next Sunday 12th
Tide means its a gentlemans lock out at 9am, not sure where to go first, will depend on the wind & sea state but plaice will be the main target as its a biggish tide we don't want to be using a brick to hold bottom so somewhere in the bay will do us for both ebb & flood, we are built for comfort not speed, & certainly not hardship lol
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 10, 2014 14:48:58 GMT 1
DONT FORGET!
S Wales Boat Jumble at Margam Park next Sunday 19th October for all those things you "need" for your boat I am going to look for a swivel pedestal boat seat for Mumbles Belle, seeing as it takes half an hour to do 20 mins, my back kills me after a while, so I want a swivelling seat to rest my bum on those long trips out & back. It has to be swivelling, because there is no room in the wheelhouse to have one that is fixed, you wouldn't be able to get into it! (well Richie might because he is skinny) but there is no chance of me getting into it from the side! I will sit in it & swivel around like Captain Kirk on the Starship Enterprise, well I have to have some comforts in my old age, & if they can have one on the cat, I want one on Belle!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 11, 2014 17:16:47 GMT 1
A CUNNING PLAN!
Like Baldrick I also had a cunning plan, looking at the available room in the wheelhouse it became obvious that even a swivel seat would not work on Belle, it would mean there would be no room to move to make tea & hot dogs etc ( not acceptable with winter coming). So I did some thinking & some measuring, & came up with "Plan A" & knocked this up in my shed this afternoon. The cabinets are set at the same distance apart as the lockers on Belle, & with this frame sat across it gives a solid base for a seat. Guess what I will use as a seat? my padded top tackle box seat which gives a perfect height for my bum to rest on, then when we get where we are going the frame gets stashed & my box goes outside with me, I will try it out tomorrow & let you know how it works!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 12, 2014 19:42:56 GMT 1
There is some good news & some bad news
Bad news first, today I lost an anchor & the chain, & some of the anchor warp as well! It's ok committee don't panic it was all mine anyway, it just means I have an excuse to go to the boat jumble next week to replace them (at a sensible price!) not at chandlers rates! The good news? Today we found a spot where the dabs were coming up 2 at a time, but unfortunately a lot were too small, but we had some nice ones too & Ken had a nice bag of dabs to take home. Also the seat worked a treat, not the most attractive set up I agree, but even an ugly sit down, is better than a pretty stand up! To finish off an expensive day out, I get home to find that some toerag has pinched my scooter from the side of the house, cut through the lock with a bolt cutters, you cant do much about it when people are prepared to go out carrying a bolt cutters. Keep your eyes peeled its a Piaggio NRG MP3, it has been painted black (badly) over yellow, the reg no is KW04PFK. So as you can see it has not been a good day for me, but as Monty Python said "Always look on the bright side of life" I could have been sat on it when it was pinched!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 15, 2014 17:24:56 GMT 1
UPDATE
Well the plot thickens on the Plotter/VHF sat on the berth they read very close to each other (but they should be identical readings) & from what I can determine from reading the online Garmin Bluechart the positions that they are showing are accurate to within a second or two. The only way to find out if I have sorted the problem will be to go out & compare the Plotter/VHF reading to chart datum, whenever the weather allows maybe myself & my trust companion Richie will go & test it out before I take any more anglers out! Regarding my scooter, the police have informed me that they have found it, but that it is undriveable? (probably can be got into a Tesco bag) I have to wait now until they have finished with it, to see if it is repairable or written off, see I told you to look on the bright side of life!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 19, 2014 13:14:46 GMT 1
Margam Boat Jumble
Went to Margam Boat Jumble this morning with Richie, to find that it was about half as big as it was in previous years, & like most other things, the stuff was more expensive! I managed to find some suitable anchor chain, & managed to negotiate a sensible price with the guy (it is the last jumble of the season) so I managed to get him to sell me 10m of 8mm short link galv chain for £40 inc shackles, & a new ring, (which is about 60% of what they charge on E-Bay), & apparently there is an undersized (for the cat) Bruce anchor on the cat, which should fit the bill for Belle. I would have liked to replace the fisherman anchor that I lost, but there wasn't one big enough, & the ones that were there were expensive! The only one that MIGHT have done the job was far too expensive, so I will make do with the Bruce from the cat, until a suitable fisherman turns up. It looks as if the weather is going to be nasty for the next week at least, so its admin time, a modification to the interior seat so the tackle box sits firmly on it is next on the cards, & of course sort out the wrong positions being given on the plotter & VHF! I am finding it most inconvenient to be without my scooter, it was easy to nip down when that was here, I will be glad when the police & insurance sort it out so I can look for something else! If anybody has a scooter or moped in their garage that they no longer use, then sell it to me please, I would like to paint the inside of the boat it is starting to look a bit shabby, & a mini roller & paint tray would make short work of it, so getting wheels is my first priority, so I can do things as they cross my mind, because my mind is getting to the stage where if I don't do it quickly, I forget it!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 20, 2014 14:41:57 GMT 1
It's like Aladdins Cave on there!
Working on information received that there was a Bruce type anchor on Oystercat that was too small for it, I did a quick raid this morning to see if it was suitable for Belle. I looked in the forward locker, & it was like Aladdins Cave under there, anchors, chains, ropes you name it, they have it, but no sign of any Bruce type anchor, but there was a very nice homemade fisherman anchor in there, which was quickly liberated & spirited away to Belle, to be attached to the chain we bought yesterday, the frayed rope cut back to undamaged, shackles fitted, cable tie trip fitted, new Alderney Ring fitted, ready to go again now, all we need is some tidy weather!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 21, 2014 20:46:19 GMT 1
Nothing to do with boats!
Well it might be connected, because without it I cant get down to the marina! I have bought another bike, this time a Honda C90 Cub which is more "steerable" than the scooter (which had a mind of its own on tarmac joints), I am picking it up on Thursday morning from Bristol, (Richie is coming with me as navigator & rigger). So with the weather looking good for Sunday, its business as usual with a "gentleman's" launch time of 9am, that's if I can get any anglers. Do I go back to where we were catching the dabs last time out? Do I risk another anchor & chain? Or do I play it safe & head for where I know we have a good bottom with lots of dogfish around? Decisions, decisions
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 24, 2014 20:27:19 GMT 1
SYSAC COD COMP 2015
SYSAC have announced their Cod Comp for 2015 will take place on JAN 4TH 2015 from 0830 until 1630 with provisional alternative dates of 18th Jan or 8th Feb, I don't know how places are allocated on the boats, but I have already had firm bookings from Ken Davison, & Richie Pearce, to be anglers on Mumbles Belle, with me taking up the 3rd place, that leaves only 3 places left on Belle. As far as I know, it works on a first come, first served basis, so if you want your butt on the Belle, get your name down asap. There are often too many anglers subscribed on the boats for events like this, & barring a "names out of the hat", first come, first served, seems the best way of doing it.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 26, 2014 19:13:59 GMT 1
Is this weather?
Ever going to give over? Winds forecast until after NEXT weekend now, by the time the winds drop the lock will be closed!!!! Well at least I should be able to go back down the boat to potter about after 10am tomorrow, the "new" wheels go for an MOT then, & provided it passes, I will take it for its maiden spin down to the marina, to make sure the automatic bilge pump has been working properly! My son asked me if I was taking up a job as a pizza delivery boy when he saw my new bike, I care not, it will do 120mpg & I don't pay to park anywhere, only thing is I need to carry a Taliban IED with me to stop it getting nicked! I still haven't had the other one back yet, in fact I still haven't seen what is left of it, between the police & the insurance company they seem to be keeping me away from it? Anyway here is the new "Fartbox" (as Hugh calls it)
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 28, 2014 17:32:58 GMT 1
I "jumped ship" this morning
To help John & Richie fuel up "The Pallet", & remove the anchor running mechanism which is badly worn, out of the "Last of the Summer Wine", I was the only one who could crawl into the crawl space under the anchor winch, to get at the nuts that held the idler roller on (Richie having fell off a ladder at home whilst painting & has a grapefruit size swelling on his wrist {serve your right for painting at home}) . From the amount of wear in the bushes of both rollers, there needs to be a rethink on the metal to metal system currently in use, either some grease nipples in the pins, or sacrificial roller material to stop it happening again, I am sure somebody will come up with a better idea than what we currently have. Whilst emptying the forward anchor locker to get in there, I uncovered spare ropes, spare fully rigged anchors, fenders, buoys, its like a chandlers under there, I also found an unattached length of chain, which I spirited across to Belle, to replace the light chain on the spare anchor (which came off my small boat) this one is much heavier & will make the spare anchor much more effective, if it ever has to be used. Then with the threat of rain on the horizon it was home to experiment with some "cart" (having just bought a cart making kit) basically you mix up all the old bait you have in the freezer ( I had frozen lug, old squid, mackerel, sprats, stinking razorfish) & I threw in 2 tins of sardines, & a tin of mackerel fillets I bought by mistake, added a bag of brown crumb, & poured a bottle of pilchard oil into it for good measure! This "cart" maker produces sausage sized baits in a gauze bag, which look exactly like a sausage (or a turd) & according to my wife it smells mortifying, her favourite expression for anything to do with bait, luckily I have sinusitis so I cant smell anything, but she is whingeing big time about the smell in the shed (she doesn't know yet, that the cart "sausages" are in ice cream containers in the outside freezer) All in all a productive day.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Nov 1, 2014 20:30:55 GMT 1
Looking at Wednesday 5th Nov
Wind is reasonable (<10mph) & from N/NW direction so I have posted a Belle trip for that day, there has to be whiting & dabs in my favourite spot on the Green Grounds (along with a dog or two). With HW at 0445 we can go for the 9am lock out & still have 2 hrs of water in the river after we lock out, this also allows the anglers to get bait on the day, just in case the wind changes direction nearer the day, so there is no need to be stuck with bait & no trip! I need to push as many trips as are safe, & supported, in order to eat into last years deficit of more than £5,000 suffered by Mumbles Belle Mooring fees, Insurance, fuel, anchor chain etc & other sundries soon mount up unless it is working, so prepare to be severely hassled this financial year as I strive to break even on Belle, & I see the whiting, cod, dab fishing from now until March, to be the period most likely to see her in demand. So get your names down when you see these trips advertised, I need your support to ensure the future of Mumbles Belle!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Nov 2, 2014 18:28:13 GMT 1
Wednesday is filling up fast!
Only 2 places left for Wednesday, & although we can always switch to the cat if we are oversubscribed, I am committed to running Mumbles Belle & I don't like having to divert income from Belle to Oystercat! Because in the final analysis, its £sd that is looked at when the balance sheet is read, & Belle turns in another loss at the end of the financial year! So I need TWO more anglers for a 9am launch on Wednesday 5th November! Boat Full A pleasant note for Wednesday a full boat for a change, weather forecast still holding good at 10mph N/NW which should allow us to go to the outer Green Grounds mark to start with, to see if there are any sizeable whiting or codling about, if not we can try either the Blue or Kidney Banks, or just off the Strombus where there is a good dab mark, & there is always the drift from Mumbles to Singleton to try for a few plaice. I think that a 4.30pm lock in is civilised with plenty of water we may even have a free flow back in, things are looking good, all we need now is for the fish to play ball! Looking increasingly like We are going to have to switch to "Oystercat" with other anglers wanting to go on Wednesday & with Belle full! In which case the lock out will have to go back to 8am for enough water in the river! Watch this post for confirmation, because you will have to get your bait on Tuesday ready for Wednesday (unless the bait shop is open in time to get your bait before we go?) Just checked the Bait Shop opening hours & its 0730 so you wont have time to get bait on the day!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Nov 6, 2014 11:37:02 GMT 1
New Club theme Tune!
"There are nine million dogs in Swansea Bay, I know that, we caught most of them today!" (sang to the tune of "There are 9,000,000 bicycles in Peking") . Aboard "Oysterdog" we had a world record number of growlers on Wednesday Nov 5th, sometimes they came in 3 at a time, from every spot we fished! There were a few bright spots Tommy landed 4 codling (2 keepers), Phil managed to catch 5 uptiding but no keepers, new member Peter Mansell had a 9lb huss & one keeper codling, apart from a small conger all I had was a thousand growlers. Everybody else managed a couple of undersized whiting & another thousand growlers each. We tried in each spot for dabs or plaice but never saw a single flatfish all day, we even had people refuse the sausage sandwiches & the hot dogs (a silver lining for Richie & myself, who made sure they never got wasted) All in all a poor fishing day, but at least we had good weather & we gave ourselves a chance, next time it will be on Belle, maybe the poor fishing was an omen that we left the originally booked boat tied up, & took the "pretender" instead, perhaps it was the curse of the Belle
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