lazy hooker

know your dilema exactly ken Earlier this year i decided that my abu enticer needed to be retired as it had been dropped and dragged accross the gower rocks once too often. I did a lot of searching as i didn't want a 13 foot rod (give or take a couple of inches) i wanted something similar in size to the enticer 11' 6" so it could be used a bit easier on the rocks and for holding for long periods. i discounted the BZE 3-5oz and zziplex powertex due to the length various other rods were discounted too due to the balance or tip action or backbone i eventually decided on the MTI bass even though my budget didn't dictate what price i was going to pay...and would have paid for the right rod. In my mind it is a real beauty light enough to hold for long periods of time, well balanced with a 6000 size reel, excellent tip action, loads of power in the blank and lovely casting action. I would recomend you have a look at one as i seriously believe that its as good a rod as those on the £200 bracket and all for £120 (keens). Might be down the Knab with mad steve on sunday evening ken will post on the other forum though to confirm and your more than welcome to have a gander at it. john

hi i've kept koi for a number of years now and after sudden deaths you need to check the water which although looks clear with no algae or blanket weed you need to rule out poisoning from nitrates and nitrites, ph can change and ph also needs to be checked. if this is ok then i would be looking at something which no one has mentioned yet - Parasite infection....you need to get a microscope and "scrape" some mucus from the gill areas....parasite WILL kill and if they don't can lead to secondary bacterial infections ...you can treat with an antibacterial but unless you identify what type of parasite then your just going to get re-infection after re-infection. It is alao good housekeeping to treat the pond in spring and autumn with an antiparasite as you get population spikes during these times. lastly and it has been mentioned and going by the time of the original post (sept) you may have had a storm or the weather atmosphere can change stopping the exchange of oxygen in the water, you can't really beat an airator even if you have a waterfall. cheers john

if your looking state side how about the shimano trinidad in the smaller versions 12 or 14 plenty on ebay normally john

SOLD

couple of pics

i've sent you a pm woot if anybody is interested the yak is for sale now in the classifieds on this site. cheers john

i have for sale my beloved prowler 13 angler edition the angler edition comes with a seat, 2 rod holders behind the seat and a small tackle box. green colour fitted out with no expense spared it has 2 scotty mounts with extender bars (£120) anchor trolley to enable anchoring from front or rear anchor, cleat, ropes and chain rigged to trip PFD (£20.00) paddle 220cm carlisle (£20.00) eagle cuda fish finder (£80.00) fitted in the forward cup hiolder so easy to play with and removable for transportation battery and recharger for fishfinder (£25.00), battery box fitted in hull c-tug trolley (£80) dry trousers waist 36" (£85.00) this is the full kit that you will need to get out and enjoy yourself in an amazing sport altogether if you were to buy this stuff new you would be looking at just under a £1000. get yourself a bargain. i'm not giving up because i don't enjoy it i'm selling up as a new job forces a move and im asking £550 john 07900 183544 i'm based in cardiff

may have a new job which is a fantastic opportunity but means a move and possibly a sell of of stuff. under that catagory of "stuff" unfortunatley is my yak. don't know how much that i would get for it and hoped to get some advice from you on its value if it does need to go its a prowler 13 angler version (2rod holders behind seat, tackle box and seat) in good condition in green anchor trolley warp anchor and chain rigged to trip 2 scotty rod holders with the extenders PFD Carlisle paddle (220cm I think) c-tug trolley eagle cuda fish finder fitted (but removable) in forward drinks holder, wired in with batterybox and battery and transducer is siliconed in place so can be altered by new owner dry trousers (if your the same size as me 36" waist) its basically the full shabang which all is needed is to add water and which someone will probably get an absolute great deal cheers john

what a good review....as someone saving hard for a boat in the 4-5K range this is what i wanted and will add it to the list along with the alaska... cheers john

Hi mate as they guys on here have hinted you can spend as much as you want..... but you can do it on a budget too. i bought a prowler off one of the guys on here with a paddle, and life vest for £400...(cheers chris) i've then searched ebay and got some nookie extreme dry trousers new for £35.00 and a x70 weight cag for £30 another £100 for ropes, shackles, anchors,boots, etc and your off. whatever you do don't get a Bic it would be easier to get your seahog on the roof rack than that!!!.....lol i'll get my coat.....taxi john

no idea they were conspicuous by there absence yesterday...anchoroed up running ledgers with bits of squid or ragworm and they were being taken by anything but doggies... have found that anchoring near the potting boats better i was thinking about the pout as live bait too, but couldn't be arsed putting a 5/0 through em...... john

had the day off yesterday and as the forecast wasnt too bad decided to go down to oxwich bay on the gower with the kayak, light gear and some old rag and squid i had knocking around. lovely morning got there about 10 unfortunatley the weather man had the wind speed and direction wrong again....forecast to be north westerly but was definatley comming in north easterly and at times really strong too but can't really complain. started off amoungst the boats moored in the bay and was into fish straight away, had gobbeys, scorpion fish and loads of dabs with most being over 10" in size surprising they give a good account for themselves on 8lb line and a 20 gram spinning rod. by the time they started to drop off abit my backside was getting numb so paddled in for a stretch of the legs and a pee break and decided to fish the wreck so nice and easy to change rigs etc on shore. managed to drop the anchor straight into the rough stuff and the fishing carried on non stop all afternoon with loads of tiny pointing no bigger than 3" also had loads of wrasse upto about the pound mark too which was fun. Towards late afternoon hooked into something much better and a trigger appeared out of the depths, obviously didn't like what he saw and no joke bit though the metal of the hook leaving me with an eye and a straight bit!!!! all in all had a great day with over a dozen dabs, half a dozen assorted micro species, 20 odd pout and about 15 wrasse. john

very much the same as bream rigs we use size 6 or 8 hooks with finger nail size pieces of squid. should be out after them tomorrow weather permiting just have to get in really close to the wreck for an hour or two over low water. john

nice one blaze have you tried the wreck at the moment with bits of squid....plenty of triggers upto 3lb on there at the moment, and give hell of a fight on light tackle. good fishing by the way john

i was open minded on this arguement until you posted this. I have surfed for over 20 years in some of the worlds best waves when the conditions were spot on including mundaka at over 10 foot faces, le graviere 10-14foot faces, morrocan point breaks that would make you blanche and canarian reefs so shallow you can almost see the rock ledges/reef that will tear you to pieces if you come off. as you say Bic have been making boards for an awful long time but they are cr@p they are heavy unmanouverable lumps of plastic that should be ridden by beginners (who have enough strength to get them to the waters edge)....oh of course you will see the marketing showing class surfers pulling huge manouvres but those guys can ride virtually anything and you don't actually see them pulling the manouvre off!!!!....if their expertese in surfboards have been instilled in kayaks then i can only assume that like their surfboards they are heavy, cumbersome and will only be bought by beginners who if they stick with the sport will progress onto something better before a season or two....sorry that comment backfired with me john

how about going to a caravan breakers. you may be able to pick up an old 14 foot caravan for next to nothing...rip the caravan off it so you are left with just the chassis which you can then modify to hold the yaks... heard of someone doing this with a bigger caravan who then modified it and used it to transport a rally car... john

most will come with an in-line fuse and full instructions on assembly. you may also want to incorporate an additional power switch between your battery and the fishfinder. i was advised to do this (but haven't yet). by all accounts when the fishfinder is all linked up (even if the fishfinder is off) the current can cause the connector to rust over time, the additional switch isolates the current away from the connector and no rusting in theory..... john

the power cable ends come as standard with just bare wires so you need a couple of spade attatchments which you squeeze on using pliers and fit straight onto the battery (couple of pence in maplins)... took me 15 minutes to fit the fishfinder, batery and transducer. i used velcro with an adhesive backing(from focus normally with all the duct tape) to fit the battery box so you can then take it out, also put a stip under the battery so it doesn't move around in the box while out on the water and easy to remove when you are going to transport the yak. john

i have an eagle cuda 128??? i think and use a 12v 3.3amp battery from maplins which because the screen is black and white doesn't use much power at all. i can get a good 20 hours out of the battery before recharge..... john

hi guys the tides do really run through here in Cardiff/Penarth 8/9 knots possibly ...even the charters avoid the full flow and they aren't productive for fishing in when they are belting though like that in massive springs. I can't imagine that he is going out into these areas but is staying sheltered in places like tucking in behind sully island which would still have a decent current...certainly would be foolhardy to try and fish the full strength of the current john

have never fished that far along but surfed it plenty of times. the swell can pick up loads on an incomming tide....just something to bear in mind, but the shop behind the beach will does surf forecasts so may be worth checking with them. you also have solva just up the road which is really sheltered where you can launch and retrieve by the pub...... john

also at risk of teaching you to suck eggs is to get one which is long enough!! i'm 6 foot and use a paddle 220cm long, some shops don't appreciate that you need a slightly longer paddle on a SOT john

you have a pm devon

oxwich is a nice sheltered beach perfect for the first outings not much tide and generally sheltered from swell too. i wouldn't go out onto the furthest point on your first outings as it can get a but confused out there. but certainly safe out as far as the boats are moored halfway to the main point incidently the wreck is just passed them. easterlies can cause a little chop but not too much and the only other thing is on an outgoing tide the water drains out of the bay along the rocks on the right hand side of the bay (looking out to sea) but this isn't too strong. will be there saturday afternoon hopefully can't say for definate as i'm on call and don't know what that can throw at me so will probably see you sometime during the afternoon allan. john

hey allan you been getting the pollack and mackeral on artificials on the wreck??? if so try rag too the wrasse love it. been away for the last couple of weekends so may try it this weekend on saturday for a couple of hours. john