Quiet day off Selsey

[Lookfar]

Hi folks,
Yesterday's forecast wasn't ideal, 3-4 easterlies, but it was then or never. Buddy-boat for the day was Lady Christine and as ever, Mark was on the slip waiting with bait when I arrived. It was pretty calm off the Hayling Slip as the easterly was going straight over our heads. My crewman rolled up on time and we got launched without any fuss. Mark went straight out to Dean Tail in search of mackerel but Simon and I hung back to check whether my new e-tec's failure to rev out was due to the trim tabs.
A full throttle blast down Southsea foreshore saw us airborne a time or two but confirmed top speed as 4200rpm and 28 knots. Next on the agenda was to unbolt the tabs and try again. Rather than pick our way back into Langstone and hold Mark up any further, we opted to put straight in onto Southsea beach. At first, the plan looked good. SeaMouse put her bows onto the shingle with a gentle scrunch and we both dropped over the side, Simon to hold her off the beach and me to wield the spanners. Here it started to go horribly wrong. There was more swell than we'd anticipate and with the boat broadside on to give me access to the stern, she was pushed up onto the beach. Both of us were working hard just to keep her afloat, spanner work was almost impossible and to cap it all, an appalled voice from up near the bow directed my attention to the fact we were sharing the beach with a very large, very tanned and very horribly NAKED woman. Although we'd put in near a fully dressed guy sitting with two (canine!) dogs, a nervous squint up the beach showed that the rest of the population was a uniform brown unbroken by any splash of colour that could even hopefully be taken for a swimming costume. That did it for me, I chucked the spanners in the boat and we lit out for Dean Tail with the tabs still firmly down and the pair of us, in best James Bond tradition, shaken but not stirred. The whole trim tab debate can wait until my nerves have settled
Out on Dean Tail, we had enough mackerel for bait in a few minutes and I led us across to the German Tug so that Mark could aquire the numbers. It was showing very well, a slight lift in the ground covered by a huge ball of baitfish. Feathers down tight in the wreckage sorted out some pout as bait for the lobster pot. This we dropped at Bullocks Patch before running on to join the Lady at a hound and tope mark near Selsey. Progress was bumpy, into the teeth of a 3-4 easterly that even with the tide was putting up a short chop. We anchored to find the last of the ebb was dying back and before long the boat was starting to turn beam on. We were also joined by a Pilothouse style boat. Two Warriors in the middle of nowhere, on a mark with no distinctive features, and he has to park up within 20 yards of Lady C. Not polite. The fishing was slow, with bream massacring our hound baits as fast as we put them down and pack tope taking nips out of the big tope baits as well. A light rod sorted several bream out, of no great size. Eventually, Simon hit a 6lb tope which made his day ("is it a real shark, then?"). With all the crab stolen by breamettes and the prospect of an already lumpy sea going against the wind in the next half hour, Mark and I opted to head inshore to Brake for some shelter. In came the rods, with a teeny little tope pup firmly attached to the mackerel strip on the uptider.
Down at Brake, the reef was giving us lots of shelter and life was a lot more comfortable. We tried drifting with baited feathers and Simon picked up a pair of pollack and a few mackerel but the baits were being murdered by pin bream. I finally got a hook into one of the little swine and they were all of 2" long. Drift speeds had gone up to 2 knots plus and when the anchor went in, we just added weed and heavy leads to our problems. I gave up and decided to troll for bass across the reefs while Mark went off to Chichester South. The reefs were scary, as shallow as 5ft and with a strong headwind very hard to troll in a straight line although Simon DID spot a dolphin . In the end, we just gave up and bashed our way back to Bullocks across a heavy sea. The pot was empty, predictably, so we carried on West to see how Mark was doing. They'd had a few dogs so we left them and came on in as Simon needed to be away promptly to get his son to Rowing Club.
Running back across a big sea reminded me of my other handling problem. In any kind of sea, she lists to port even though I've moved all of the major items to the starboard side. Frustrating and at times a bit scary, and again I'm inclined to suspect the trim tabs.
Recovery was what we've come to expect from the Hayling slip, hell among the jet-bikes. Ignorant Pig of the Year Award goes to the guy on the slip before us, who stopped ON THE SLIP for a ten minute chat with his mate. In the end, I managed to squeeze my trailer down beside his with inches to spare either side and he was still there nattering as we pulled away again. .
Despite that, a lovely day in the sun, a first tope for my crewman and a good chill-out. Nothing for the ABR and with the summer doldrums almost on us, it is maybe time to start thinking about some alternative strategies.

Steve

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Great read mate and shame about the fish but sounds a lovely day

[Davy Holt]

Steve.. at least your getting out on the boat.. I have to wait till the 10th of August at the earliest to get mine floating again

Then it's a megga assault on the ABR :)

[pingu]

great read lookfar

love the assault on the beach, or shoukld that be senses ;-0

[Lookfar]

Originally Posted by Davy Holt

Steve.. at least your getting out on the boat.. I have to wait till the 10th of August at the earliest to get mine floating again

Then it's a megga assault on the ABR :)

Davy,
I hear she's scrubbed up a treat

I'm sure you'll have no problems with adding the species tally. More of a problem for me as I'm not taking SeaMouse across to the Bristol Channel this year, so I'm going to have to be pretty lucky even to get in the top ten.

Steve

[keana]

What a great read Steve. I laughed about the women on the beach. I can just picture you chucking the spanners in the boat to get out of there. Hope you get your boat sorted. Sounds like your missing out on some great fishing down there.

[fishypaul]

great read mate. well done