Shady 21/06/13

KeithB

KeithB

Moderator
With Bert heading off for his jollies he kindly left me the keys and electronics and told me & Jim to go for it.

After holding the keys for less than a day I bottled it and asked if he'd give me some tuition taking the boat off & on the moorings, he kindly agreed and after a few goes on Monday night and some plotter tuition I became more confident.

With the weather looking crap tomorrow and Jim at work today I talked a work mate in to having the day off and accompanying me. We headed out about 6.30am, off the moorings no problem and headed to a wreck off the pier end. That's where the problems started :D How the pirk do you lads make it look so easy? As I approached the wreck the boat on the plotter was going one way, I was steering the other way, then vice versa :(.

Gave it a couple of goes there then gave up and headed to Souter where Gary & Co had some success yesterday, again tried to hit a wreck and at one point we did see something flash on the sounder and I did manage to foul hook a small coley.

As frustration grew I decided the only option was to head back the other way to St Marys, so off we set. Steaming up there at about 18 knots just past Cullercoats with my dodgy eyesight, I just about spotted a nice man on a small trawler type boat waving at us. He was wasn't just being friendly it transpires we were just about to steam through his net :D When I slowed down I could just see the orange ball at the far end of his net so we took another little detour :D.

As we passed Whitley almost at the can I noticed a flag on the plotter, knowing it wasn't a wreck I'd have no hope of hitting I decided to stop.
First drop I got a nice tug on my shad and after a few winds I could see a canny cod about 20ft down, it was great watching it scrap through the crystal clear water as my mate Steve scrambled to get the net (another lesson to learn). Result we haven't blanked :D:D a cod possibly 10lb at a guess, we'll call it 9.999lb :D:D.



As we'd barely moved I quickly rigged up a Shad for Steve, praying it was his turn next. Sadly not to be, I did get another about 3-4lb but we hadn't hit the jackpot I'd hoped for.

We headed back and stopped to completely miss a few wrecks on the way, safely back on the moorings for about 12.0pm.

A big thanks to my mate Steve for wasting his days holiday and a massive thanks to Bert for trusting me with his pride & joy.

I need to some wreck finding lessons mate :D:D

Jim - You are now officially stand-in skipper, I'm retiring to Keith's corner at the back (I know proper skipper's call it the stern) of the boat. :D:D

Cheers!
 
Great report Keith!

That is why I go chartering, nearly drowned in a hired dinghy with outboard. Baled out the bung! Never again! :)

Cracking Cod by the way.
 
Cheers!

Bert, Norman, Richy & Co make it look so easy, I've been told it's just like driving a car, it's NOT.

I think I did more figure of eights than the Scalextric I had as a kid, all nowhere near wrecks :D

On the plus side I managed to delete the potter track so Bert doesn't pee himself laughing. Oh, and we're both still alive :D
 
Cracking stuff, that was a great read! It must really take a a while to master boat handling! I guess we all take it for granted sometimes the art of mastering tide/wind and drift to get you over a wreck!!!! Nice fish!!!!!
 
I'm in the same boat as you Keith I can get from A to B its once you arrive at B that things become tricky and if your not a member of the magic circle you dont pull of the trick there's alot more to it and our skippers make it look so easy.
 
It only takes practice Keith, atleast you were brave enough to give it a whirl..

we've all made them mistakes before...


congrats on the fish and returning safely...:D


oh, and with the boat in one piece too...:)
 
kayos said:
Great report Keith!

That is why I go chartering, nearly drowned in a hired dinghy with outboard. Baled out the bung! Never again! :)

Cracking Cod by the way.
Click to expand...

I came closest to death on a charter. He brought us out in rough seas off Cape Town and ....turned seasick. He then through an amchor in without fixing it to the boat. He then through another anchor in -sort of- correctly.

The sea turned rough and he turned even more seasick. When the boat went uncontrollable we realised the anchor was stuck to the seabed....5 miles out of Cape Point...in the bay with the worlds highest concentration of Great Whites (the ones that jump!)

Somehow in 30 kn wind and 20ft waves, we climbed onto the stern and cut the bloody anchor off (a bit off moaning from the cabin)...and between us and the deckhand, we manouvred the boat home !!!!
 
Kartonkel said:
I came closest to death on a charter. He brought us out in rough seas off Cape Town and ....turned seasick. He then through an amchor in without fixing it to the boat. He then through another anchor in -sort of- correctly.

The sea turned rough and he turned even more seasick. When the boat went uncontrollable we realised the anchor was stuck to the seabed....5 miles out of Cape Point...in the bay with the worlds highest concentration of Great Whites (the ones that jump!)

Somehow in 30 kn wind and 20ft waves, we climbed onto the stern and cut the bloody anchor off (a bit off moaning from the cabin)...and between us and the deckhand, we manouvred the boat home !!!!
Click to expand...

:eek:

all Keith had to worry about was a few lost mackerel and a vicious ling..:D
 
Great report Keith, it's nice to know I'm not the only novice out there. I've just about mastered getting on and off the moorings, I found it almost impossible to get it lined up to slot it between the pontoon and my neighbours boat :o
BTW that was a cracking fish.
 
Last edited:
Great report and a cracking fish with pics.got to admire you for being truthful about not being to get drift right over a wreck,been trying for a couple of years and just getting the hang of it now.
Keep trying and you will be surprised when you get it right.
Once again Well done
 
That's a cracking cod Keith! Well done mate, I wouldn't worry about missing the wreck, Micky does it all the time and usually ends up getting the biggest fish off that drift! :D

Graham.
 
Well done mate, Bert makes it look bloody easy (its bloody dam hard). Practise makes perfect as they say. Nice fish for the effort and there's always something to learn on a boat every time I go out. Looking forward in the coming weeks.:)
 
Paul,

We'll see what the weather is like next weekend mate, I'll take the boat to the pier end then you or Jim can take over when there's nowt to aim for :D.

Graham,

It's wasn't so much missing the wreck but getting somewhere near in the first place, wasn't too bad on first approach but trying to go back round to find it was just impossible. I'm sure Bert will give the crew some lessons though.
 

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