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A late start for todays anglers to take advantage of the best of the weather. The target species was bream and things looked good when plenty of fish were seen on the echo sounder as we neared our mark to the south of the Purbecks. Almost immediately, the first bream was landed providing us with optimism for a good days fishing ahead. Sadly, this bream was the first of only seven. Other fish landed included mackerel, garfish, wrasse, pollock and the first of this years bass for local angler Steven Wheat who landed a small one in the Swash channel. The Tango Bravo 2006 species list now stands at 28.

A five day trip to Alderney for the guys from the Badgers Bum Sea Angling Club. Day one and the weather forecast suggested an unpleasant crossing with fresh westerly winds. The plan was to travel direct to Alderney without fishing, except to get a box of mackerel to use as bait for the turbot during the following few days. As things turned out, conditions were better than expected and the mackerel were fairly easy to find.

For the rest of the week, the weather forecast indicated that conditions would be good. This proved to be the case and for three days we were able to fish a variety of marks around Alderney in pursuit of the king of fish, turbot.

Turbot fishing can at times be very slow but if anglers are prepared to stick at it, results nearly always follow. During the three days on the banks, these guys managed totals of 16, 11 and 18 fish. A total of 46 flats comprising 3 brill and 43 turbot up to 17lb. It was great to see the guys return most of the flats to the sea. We also saw dolphins on two days and had a close encounter with a shark on the third as it very nearly took a turbot from the hook, only narrowly beaten by a swift Tony Way on the landing net. The lads also managed the odd bass. All the bass were released.

It is becoming a regular feature of this years Alderney trips to have a poor weather forecast for the trip accross on day one. Yet again we set off from Poole expecting an unpleasant voyage only to find that conditions were far better than expected. The aim of the day as always was just to arrive in Alderney with a box of fresh mackerel. Anything else would be a bonus. The mackerel however proved hard to find and after several stops we eventually found enough close to Alderney. The trip accross was made more interesting when about mid channel, a shocked angler came into the wheelhouse telling me that he hadn't eaten his tomatoes. It made no sense at first untill he explained that he had cooked a full breakfast before leaving home. He could remember putting tomatoes under the grill, but couldn't remember eating them and thought that he had left the grill on. To cut a long story short, using the VHF we were able to contact Portland Coastguard who then contacted the local police. The police gained entry to Brian's flat using keys from a neighbour only to discover that the grill was off. Ah well! At least it was good to see that the system worked and my thanks go to Portland Coastguard and to the police for their assistance.

The three days fishing the banks around Alderney were a little slower than we would have liked but the crew were blessed with some calm conditions, although quite foggy at times. The three days produced 22 turbot to 13lb but only one brill. Some of the fish were personal bests. Top angler was Rhett Barton who managed a credible 8 turbot but sadly missed out on the biggest fish pool, which went to yours truly. A good result, I thought. Yet again I have been impressed by the willingness of anglers to release some or all of their catch. We have introduced a new minimum size limit on the boat of 45cm for turbot and all seem willing to comply with it.

Our trip back to Poole on day five was in perfect conditions. A calm sea and sunshine, but the fishing was the worst that I have ever experienced mid channel. Five wrecks and two ground marks failed to produce a single fish. On our first mark however, we did see plenty of fish landed. Weymouth boat, "Peace and Plenty" skippered by Chris Tett was landing between 4 and 6 good sized pollock each drift. His crew were using live bait. Our artificial lures were proving uneffective in the murky waters caused by the May bloom. I am sure that had we stayed on that first mark and persevered, we would have found a few fish but instead we elected to use the last of the flood tide to get us quickly to a group of wrecks closer to home. This, with the benefit of hind sight proved to be a mistake. Ah well! THAT'S FISHING.

To sum the week up, fishing was a little below par, the weather for the most part was kind and the company and social side was great. All of the crew are planning to come again next year so I guess that says it all.

It is easy to loose touch with what is happening closer to home when you are away in Alderney, so I am grateful to True Blue's skipper, Malcolm Collins for sending me an email report. Fishing locally, Malcolm has reported some fine double figure undulate rays for his anglers but best news of all are the increased numbers of bream and mackerel that he has been catching right accross the bay.

A local bream trip for members of the Blandford SAC and a chance to prove Malcolm Collin's report of increased numbers of bream. Good weather in the morning gave way to a fresh SW wind over tide conditions by the afternoon, but reasonable fishing was fairly consistant throughout the day. The lads landed 101 bream on Southbourne Rough and released well over fifty percent. Best fish was around 2lb.

Another bream trip and another visit to Southbourne. The fishing was a little slower than the previous day, dispite the conditions remaining favourable all day. By 2 o'clock the lads had managed 61 bream to around 2lb before we decided to move to Ballard where we had heard that the bream were much bigger. At Ballard we only managed another 2 bream and no bigger than what we had already caught. I guess we must have missed the best of it as I know that fish to 3lb had been landed earlier. The day was finished off with a successful spell to get a few mackerel. Once again, many of todays bream were released. Pip Spencer added two new species to the Tango Bravo 2006 list. Among his varied catch were blennies and gobies.

Mackerel were scarce so we decided to go straight to the bass mark and use shads. Fishing was reasonable, although it took a few moves to eventually end up with enough bass. The lads managed a credible 54 fish, all taken on Storm or Calcutta shads. No biggies, with the average fish in the two, to two and a half pound class. There were several bigger ones with the odd one making around four pound ish? Many of the fish were released.

Another bass trip, but sadly the unseasonal wind returned and with north-west winds of up to force six, the crew agreed to target bream off Ballard Down. Reasonable fishing was enjoyed by all, producing some good flurries of bream up to about 2lb, dispite some awkward conditions at times. A move late afternoon to Poole Patch produced more bream, smoothounds, dogs and wrasse

Yet another bass trip that had to be changed into a breaming trip because of the weather. The fishing off Ballard appeared slower than the previous day so a move to Dancing Ledge was agreed. BIG MISTAKE, fishing was even slower with the only notible fish being a spotted ray and a reasonsable bream nearing 3lb for Paul S-T. Thanks to a tip-off from fellow skipper, Malcolm Collins, and a few more miles under our belt, we were soon saving the day catching bream close to Southbourne Rough. Cheers Malc, I'll let you have my fuel bill when it comes in.