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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 10, 2015 21:01:45 GMT 1
Never went down today
Too much going on at home, plus I had to prepare myself for the game, how did we fail to score with Australia down to 13 men? Good game though & I think Australia wanted it more than we did (I think my missus wanted it more than that useless prat Cuthbert). I will go down tomorrow if its dry I want to put a coat of paint over the repair I did to the facia, to make it waterproof until I get chance to fibreglass it over. I have posted Thursday & Friday as possible trips & if I get enough anglers I will do both days, but hopefully I can get a few on Friday (which seems to be the best forecast day). Apparently there are whiting being caught at Porthcawl so there should be a few on the Green Grounds, I must dig out my muppet traces for them, they like the old luminous muppets with a big oval bead in the head, & a small slice of mackerel, unfortunately the growlers love it as well, but I don't mind a few dogs for a feed of plump whiting. I am going to change the anchor rope round again, now that the position & angle of the bow roller has been changed, the softer thicker rope might come onto the drum easier than the thin one? I will only get it right by experimenting, at the moment the winch is not bringing the anchor in as it should, the rope is forming loops under itself & I have to unwind by hand its a pain!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 11, 2015 16:58:49 GMT 1
Put a coat of paint
Over the repair that I did, & swapped the anchor ropes over, put the 13mm rope as a spare, & put the 19mm nylon on as the main. It might be a bit short its only 34m but there is another 40ft of chain on so it should be ok. If there is any problem I have a 100m 16mm abseiling rope in the front locker as well as a "spare spare" (don't let Steve Bryant know though lol). I made up a couple of 2 up 1 down "muppet traces" to try on Friday I find that whiting love them, & if they are there you tend to pick out the bigger ones. I am not sure they are around yet, but I don't think Langland is worth fishing this late, & its a long way down to St Christophers Knoll only to find that it was trawled 4 hrs before & there is nothing there! So with the shortening days we will have to scratch around in the bay until the whiting & codling come to us. We have always had a few big dabs on the Green Grounds so hopefully we will pick up a few of them too, we wont know until Friday lets just hope its not growler after growler after growler!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 12, 2015 17:11:37 GMT 1
I need a MUM!
Since I cut the rotten plywood & the fibreglass that was covering it, from the facia, I now have "BLES BELLE" left, so as I said I need a MUM! I will go to Wickes or B&Q for some stick on letters, its bad luck to change the name of a boat, so it must be completed by Friday when we are next out. I was down again today as I was not happy with only 34mts of anchor rope, so I removed it & replaces it with a much longer 16mm soft nylon rope that I had "lying about in the shed", lets hope this one does the job, it has been a pain in the arse trying to work out why the winch is throwing loops under itself? It should be simply take 2 turns around the drum, & coil it into the locker as it comes aboard, but with this one I have moved the position of the bow roller so that the centre of the roller is exactly in line with the outside of the winch drum. Adjusted the height of the bow roller so it isn't coming onto the drum too low & running on the flare on the bottom of the drum, changed the anchor rope several time to see if a different rope works better with the new modification, all to no avail! I still have to stand to the side of the winch taking the rope off at 90 degrees so it doesn't coil under itself, & when its choppy, that puts my arse too close to the water on the starboard bow I think maybe the winch speed is too fast but it isn't adjustable, & before you can do anything about it the coil gets caught up in the drum & you have to unwind it to get it to work again, its a pain. It also means that the winch is only doing half the job because I cant get a full turn on the drum without it tangling, which means that I am still doing 50% of the lifting! Which is better than 100%, but not what we had in mind when we fitted it, there has to be a solution & believe me I will find out what it is eventually . There are still only 3 (including me) for Friday, so if you want to go either contact me or fill in the booking form
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 13, 2015 15:49:35 GMT 1
We might have to revert to "Plan B"
Just read a report on WSF, by Paul (Deep Purple) who went up to Sker yesterday after cod, using "cart", & lug/squid cocktails, & although they had a good selection of fish (huss, rays, conger) they had mostly dogs, & not even a mention of any whiting! So if they aren't over at Sker the chances of them being off the Green Grounds are pretty slim! So I will take a "Chinese Parliament" on Friday morning & see what you want to do, either take a chance on Green Grounds, or take the longer run down to either St Christophers Knoll, or Oxwich moorings, or we fish the "Strombus" or the "Blin Hole" staying in the bay? Of course if the weather isn't good we wont have an option, but be aware that the Green Grounds will probably turn into a "Dogfest"
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 14, 2015 13:43:19 GMT 1
Seems like we need a parliament on Friday morning
With the report of there being no whiting of any size about, & the prospect of summer species such as bream being scarce, what do we do? Do we drift the ebb from the Outer Fairway Buoys for plaice (like Dereck has been doing), do we then move onto the Strombus (if we can get near it for pots), or do we head straight for Oxwich, using quite a big ebb, & a following wind, to help us? However that following wind will be over the tide on the way back, & might throw up some snotty conditions, & last time we fished St Christophers Knoll on a big tide we didn't do very well, we didn't have the run of water we expected. So have a think about what you want to do, taking into consideration that it is a big tide, & there is a bracing NE wind blowing, so nowhere is going to be a walk in the park! I tramped all over town looking for white stick on letters to replace MUM, B&Q, Wickes, Sparesworld, Halfords, Maplin, nowhere had any white self adhesive letters, so I have had to order them from E-Bay, lets hope they are here before Friday or we will set sail in BLES BELLE unless I make a MUM out of white tape to stop us sailing with a changed name, which is deemed to be unlucky Stop Press Steve (The Ghost) Bryant has put his name down for the trip on Friday He must be coming to see if we actually GO to Oxwich, or just say we do, & hide around Mumbles Head, one more & we will have a full compliment for the first time in ages, if we don't catch any fish at least we will make a profit on the day!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 15, 2015 18:13:19 GMT 1
The letters never arrived
So I made a temporary MUM with white insulation tape (which has probably come off by now) but at least I restored the name & if it comes off now its an "Act of God" & therefore we are covered! I spoke to the guy 2 berths up from Belle & he had just come back from White Oyster, & he said when he went out it was flat calm, & when he came back it was little more than a ripple, & the bay looked quite flat, so with a similar forecast tomorrow we should have good weather if nothing else! It will still be a parliament before we leave, & the final vote can be taken just before we hit the Cherry Stones, we either continue on to Oxwich or turn around & run around the bay all day. Saying that if the NE wind is too fresh the question wont be asked, & we will be running around in the bay anyway, but with 5 on board all catching growlers, I can imagine a mutiny afoot before 1pm . Hopefully we will be ok for Oxwich & we can avoid Oystercat who is apparently also heading that way, so if they are in the moorings we will go to the Knoll, & if they are on Knoll we will have the option of either. We have bacon for sandwiches, & I will call into CK's at Cwmbwrla for some of their freshly baked sausage rolls for "Naafi Break", as long as the weather behaves we should have a few fish, well I hope we do my freezer is almost empty I could do with a bucket of dabs to replenish it. Time for a shower & shave & an evening down Mumbles Rugby Club, lets hope there are a few more members there than last Thursday otherwise we wont have enough for a Solo school, let alone Poker school!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 16, 2015 20:07:27 GMT 1
Pretty poor day for most of us!
Well the day started off ok with the conditions being good & we had an uneventful run down to St Christopher's Knoll, but after an hour which produced 2 dogfish & a tiny plaice, we decided on a move. Oystercat was where I wanted to be, so we anchored down at the end of a trench that comes in from Oxwich Point towards the moorings, & straight away we were into growlers (well Phil Cryer was) he must have caught 20 while the rest of us caught about 3 between us, he also had a dab, a grey gurnard, & a red gurnard to go with his 20+ growlers, whilst the others watched & I used my time constructively warming up sausage rolls, & making tea (milk no sugar) coffee (with milk & sugar) & cup-a-soup. We decided about 2 hrs before low water to move up the Langland to see if we could catch anything but growlers, & as we moved, so Oystercat moved as well & outrun us to Langland & camped on the outer mark I wanted to go on, so we moved further ahead & anchored just off the reef in a little "bay" in the reef. Again it was mainly growlers with a couple more gurnard, another dab, & Phil caught quite a big smooth hound. By this time the tide had turned & we now had wind over tide & the white horses started to form, so it was time for home. By the time we packed up & got the anchor up it was blowing quite strongly, & there was quite a lot of white water between the outer reef & Mumbles Head, & quick Chinese Parliament about going outside the Mixon Buoy or inside, & Steve Bryant who I had press ganged into driving, whilst I did the anchor, elected to come inside. Oystercat fizzed past us on the inside without so much as a "by your leave", & shot off towards Mumbles, leaving us plodding along in the white horses. With all hands in the stern keeping the prop low in the water we chugged up past a very confused Langland Point, & through some very agitated water on the Cherry Stones, but the good ship Mumbles Belle pushed through it like a Sherman tank into a much flatter Swansea Bay, after an uneventful lock in, & straight through the marina lock, Steve had his first adventure with Mumbles Belle in reverse, & believe me Mumbles Belle in reverse is an adventure when there is ANY wind Well he got us in & I jumped off onto our berth & pulled her in by the stern rope, (we are going to have to try that, "drop a man off on the pontoon & let him walk to the berth & catch a thrown rope & pull us back in") Now any day when you get back safely is a good day, but we would have liked a few more fish Phil Cryer!!!!! But we had tea & coffee & cup-a-soup & hot sausage rolls & bacon sandwiches so it could have been much worse. Roll on the whiting where we don't have to go on safari to find fish. If the weather is good on Sunday I am tempted to go off the Long Arm & see what is about there at least we will get shelter from the easterly winds up there.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 17, 2015 16:00:47 GMT 1
Went down to clean up
Hose down, wash the dishes, refill the water, dip the fuel tank, check the oil & water, grease the propshaft, coil the anchor rope, check the fender ropes (because we lost one yesterday) all the things that need to be done, but nobody ever sees them being done. Luckily Phil Cryer came down (& brought his own detergent) so I did the other jobs while he washed & hosed the boat down, thanks Phil a great help. I am pretty sure that I entered trips for Mumbles Belle on the sheet on Thursday night for tomorrow, & Tuesday, but they are not on the booking form so it looks like it is just myself & Carl Israel in the morning, if anybody else wants to come then show up by about 8.30 I have lug & rag in clean sea water in containers so they should still be fine in the morning, & some guys came in this morning with some fresh mackerel they just caught so we should be fine for worm bait (as long as they stay alive in the seawater). I intend to head east tomorrow to try to keep under the easterly wind, it is forecast to be quite low tomorrow (6-8mph) so around Aberafan & the Long Arm we should be quite sheltered, coming back on the flood with wind over tide might be a bit dirty, but nowhere as bad as the Cherry Stones was yesterday. The hills behind Port Talbot shielded it until it got halfway across the bay, but by the time it got to a line from Singleton seaward, it was blowing like me running for the bus, yesterday should quite gentlemanly tomorrow compared to that lol So if you fancy a trip be down the berth by about 8.30am
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 18, 2015 20:42:18 GMT 1
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
Just about sums up our day today, with only Carl Israel interested there were only 2 of us on board, but provided as they are "able bodied" I am happy to take single anglers, but I MUCH prefer 2 or 3! We locked out about 9am & because reports from Aberafan & the Long Arm were not good I decided to stay in the bay. Our first spot was the hole between SWIGG & Strombus, & it proved to be a hole full of dogfish, so after a while I said we will move further out onto the Green Grounds & see what we could find, & guess what, we found more dogfish (2 at a time) we did have a couple of tub gurnard (one nice sized one) & I had a single whiting. So I decided that we would come inshore & try drifting, & this proved our best move, we had more gurnard (including another keeper) a couple of nice big fat dabs, Carl caught his first ever plaice (about 1lb 4ozs) & we missed quite a few bites, but after the "dogfest" of the morning it was very enjoyable. Every cloud has a silver lining, & Carl learned how to use a T bar properly after catching his first real "Growlerfest". I am due out again on Tuesday, & if we go I will suggest we drift all day otherwise its going to be dog after dog after dog once you stop moving, at least on the drift there is a bigger & better selection of species to be caught, I don't want to be caught in another "Dogfest" that's for sure!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 19, 2015 13:05:31 GMT 1
I went down early today
Because I never squared away yesterday when we come in, I slipped down this morning to wash up the cups & plates, fill up with fresh water, checked oil, water, greased the propshaft, filled the cooker with spirit & generally tidied up ready for tomorrow. The forecast is good for tomorrow with light NW wind, & I am going to drift up from Mumbles on the flood, then down to Mumbles on the ebb, because the minute you drop the anchor you are plagued by dogfish, if you have a 2 hook trace on, you will catch them 2 at a time, they give nothing else chance to get to your bait, we must have had over 100 of the bloody things yesterday, but as soon as we started drifting we started to get other species. We will be leaving after 8.30am to lock out by about 9am so you have plenty of time to get bait before you go if you want to come along. On my way down I will pick up freshly cooked sausage rolls from the bakery franchise in CKs in Cwmbwrla, along with freshly baked rolls for bacon sandwiches at dinner time. If the prospect of good weather, "gentleman's start time", sausage rolls, bacon sandwiches, & plaice on the drift doesn't tempt you, then maybe you should take up bowls, or golf
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 20, 2015 19:53:35 GMT 1
"High Plaice Drifters"
Need I say more? Phil Cryer decided to join Mal & I for a day of drifting, & it went well for us (despite Phil being stabbed by a Dragonet & bleeding all over the place). A good haul of plaice & dabs, & quite a few went back as they were "borderline", we will have them next year! Also I have arranged to move Mumbles Belle from berth P29 to P18 (right on the end of the pontoon). We can motor in up the main channel turn around in a circle & come straight in onto the berth on out starboard side, facing ready to go out, avoiding the dreaded reversing in any wind. The only problem will be, that the prevailing wind & rain will be blowing into the stern, so I will make some sort of curtain to keep the worst of the weather out, yet ANOTHER project lol.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 21, 2015 14:58:25 GMT 1
We have moved!
From P29 to P18 (right on the end of the pontoon) which enables us to come in, make a 360 turn, and be pointing in the right direction ready to go next time. On reflection I could have cut out the reversing problem by shifting the boat from P29 to P30, which meant I could have gone in bow first & still had the starboard side to the pontoon (for easy boarding), & reversing OUT of the berth is much easier than reversing INTO it. I may yet ask the marina if I can go back to P30 if anybody thinks the extra walk to the end of the pontoon is too much for them? Speak now if you think that before P30 is let to somebody else! Phil Cryer gave me a hand to "move house" but I need somebody to tell me how to get a refund of electricity from the meter back onto the card?? I don't want to give it to somebody else Don't forget if you cant cope with the extra walk let me know asap!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 23, 2015 13:01:17 GMT 1
We have moved back lol!
I am like a marine "Pikey" the consensus was, that P18 was too far from the entrance for the less able amongst us, & also it was too exposed to wind from all directions (& it was) so I have moved it back to P30 instead of the old berth P29, this means that we can come in bow first (eliminating reversing in) it is simple to reverse out, plus we still have all the starboard side to board on. I may have to look at boarding problems for the less able, as the gap in the new handrail is right at the end of the pontoon (because the boat isn't symmetrical) I may have to make some sort of boarding aid nearer the bow, but I will worry about that another day. What did concern me is the fact that the berth next to us (P31) has an "out of service" notice stuck on his electricity point, so he has plugged into our point meaning we don't have an electric supply. After bothering the marina people to change berths, then bothering them to change back again, I feel a bit too embarrassed to complain about it, & really it is his problem not ours, so I will have to ask him to chase the marina up to repair his supply, otherwise Steve Bryant & Nigel wont be able to make coffee! After Tuesdays success I am going to give drifting another try on Sunday, the weather doesn't look too clever but once we get to Mumbles we should get shelter from the forecast SW wind. I don't expect the same success as Tuesday because conditions that day were perfect, but as long as we avoid the growlers that is what matters. I will watch the forecast & if it looks dodgy I will cancel as soon as I can. There is an interesting suggestion on WSF that the current "explosion" of dogfish in this area, is a result of the high level of whelking that is going on in the area, it seems that whelks feed on the "mermaids purses" that the dogfish lays? I know "dog whelks" will drill into a purse with its radula (a horn like organ) & suck out the contents, but I have no idea how many growler eggs they might consume in a lifetime. It has been suggested that we carry out a cull of the dogfish & give them to the whelkers for pot bait, I like the irony of that, the surplus of growlers caused because their purses are not being predated, will be culled to provide bait for their predators, I like that thought!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 24, 2015 11:46:49 GMT 1
Called off tomorrows trip
Although the weather is forecast as marginal, when I went down the marina just now I went down to the observatory to look at the sea conditions & although Belle would have had no problem dealing with the waves going to Mumbles the water conditions would have made it a waste if time. The water was brown which would mean that drifting would be a waste of time, & putting the anchor down would merely mean dogfish after dogfish, so we would be between a rock & a hard place, so we will take advantage of the extra hour in bed, & do those chores that you have been putting off. I need to change the oil in "Hercules" & repair the leg shield so I can do something useful for a change
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Post by pilgrim17 on Oct 26, 2015 13:53:15 GMT 1
Not been down the marina
Since I moved the boat back from P18 to P30 last Saturday, yesterday I gave "Hercules" a well deserved service & oil change, & today its too windy, I would get blown off the bloody thing in High St! I hope Steve has been down to check the bilge pumps are still working Sorry Steve but you cant have coffee the bloke next door has pinched the electric point because his is out of order, I hope he gets that sorted soon because we need the electricity supply for doing maintenance as well as brewing up! The forecast for the week is wet & windy, so it looks like a good time to make up some muppet traces ready for the whiting, we might see a few appear on the next spring tides, if the weather is kind. With the clocks going back & it being dark at 5pm it looks like the "Gentleman's Lock" at 9am will have to be moved back to 8am unless you are all prepared to fish an hour less for your £10? I bought one of those "Finger Grinders" in Aldi on Sunday (no not for grinding my fingernails) but I thought that the jerrycans I "recycled" which wont take the pump pipe, might be usable if I chisel off the breather type pipes inside the necks, & grind them down with this finger grinder, I will give it a try next time the weather looks as if it isn't going to blow me away, or drown me, or both! I used today's day off to make up some 2 up 1 down "muppet" traces for whiting, they proved very productive last year, & I hope that with the boat now being in better shape than last year I can make more frequent trips out to the whiting/cod grounds. Last year the prospect of having to lift the anchor by hand made the prospects of going out short handed a chore, but now with the electric anchor winch, safety rails, floodlights, spare anchors, ropes & chains, we are better equipped to do a lot more winter fishing than last year. I hope we get a few cod this year as well, last year we struggled because most of the cod caught came from over the Sker area, which is out of our reach, but hopefully after Xmas we should get a few in the bay. I expect I will see all the familiar faces at the AGM on Thursday, good excuse for a couple of pints & a slagging for the incoming Commodore no doubt! Welcome Ray, but your new elevated position doesn't mean you can still tell those awful jokes, & it certainly wont stop you tangling everybody up with your 4x3oz weights spinning like helicopter blades!
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