G
Guest
·Hi everyone,
well as my partner has gone away to a dog show for the weekend (she took one of the dogs before anyone says anything), I decided that as the weather forecast was good, I would take the inflatable out on my own for a change (only the second time ever) so at least I had loads of room to stretch my legs.
I launched at Minnis Bay around 10:00ish (tide going out) and found the dreaded weed right from the start.
Having got the inflatable off the launching trolley and anchored, I dragged out half the seaweed in the thames estuary with it. Great, something to clean off later!
I returned the trolley to it's trailer, parked the car 100 yards down the road as it was already busy there, and walked back to where I had anchored. The wind was fresher than I had hoped for, plus there was a bit of a short chop on the water. This made going out a bit hairy, especially as my forward ballast was in Amersham.
Once I had arrived at my mark and dropped anchor, the inflatable started slapping about like a slappy thing on national slapping day. I decided to sit it out as 1) I was already there and 2) as the tide was still dropping, I wasn't going to drag the boat in from that far out on my own.
After a couple of hours the wind changed then dropped and the sea went like a mirror.
Up until now I hadn't had a bite and this continued to be the case for a lot longer.
Every now and then the whitebait would boil on the surface near the boat so I would try plugs, spinners, and everything else I had, but with no success.
Just when I thought a blank was going to be the order of the day I caught the worlds' smallest mackerel on a 4/0 circle hook.. Beats me how it got it in it's mouth and it nicked my shrimp too..
I found that if you hold it 2" from the lens on my phone, it looks bigger..
I don't think I can have it added to the southeast specimen list as there were no witnesses..
Poor quality pic due to me smashing the screen on the phone (so I was guessing what I was taking) and also the lens got scratched.
I pulled the anchor up at 17:00 and headed back in. At least by now the water was upto the slipway making recovery easier.
Got home, washed everything off, flushed the engine so it's all ready to go out again.
I was at least pleased with my new towing vehicle.. 1.7 D corsa van. Ideal for fishing and towing the inflatable, plus a much better turning circle than a shogun.
Malcolm.
well as my partner has gone away to a dog show for the weekend (she took one of the dogs before anyone says anything), I decided that as the weather forecast was good, I would take the inflatable out on my own for a change (only the second time ever) so at least I had loads of room to stretch my legs.
I launched at Minnis Bay around 10:00ish (tide going out) and found the dreaded weed right from the start.
Having got the inflatable off the launching trolley and anchored, I dragged out half the seaweed in the thames estuary with it. Great, something to clean off later!
I returned the trolley to it's trailer, parked the car 100 yards down the road as it was already busy there, and walked back to where I had anchored. The wind was fresher than I had hoped for, plus there was a bit of a short chop on the water. This made going out a bit hairy, especially as my forward ballast was in Amersham.
Once I had arrived at my mark and dropped anchor, the inflatable started slapping about like a slappy thing on national slapping day. I decided to sit it out as 1) I was already there and 2) as the tide was still dropping, I wasn't going to drag the boat in from that far out on my own.
After a couple of hours the wind changed then dropped and the sea went like a mirror.
Up until now I hadn't had a bite and this continued to be the case for a lot longer.
Every now and then the whitebait would boil on the surface near the boat so I would try plugs, spinners, and everything else I had, but with no success.
Just when I thought a blank was going to be the order of the day I caught the worlds' smallest mackerel on a 4/0 circle hook.. Beats me how it got it in it's mouth and it nicked my shrimp too..

I found that if you hold it 2" from the lens on my phone, it looks bigger..
I don't think I can have it added to the southeast specimen list as there were no witnesses..
Poor quality pic due to me smashing the screen on the phone (so I was guessing what I was taking) and also the lens got scratched.
I pulled the anchor up at 17:00 and headed back in. At least by now the water was upto the slipway making recovery easier.
Got home, washed everything off, flushed the engine so it's all ready to go out again.
I was at least pleased with my new towing vehicle.. 1.7 D corsa van. Ideal for fishing and towing the inflatable, plus a much better turning circle than a shogun.
Malcolm.