overrun

The Pentax Optio W20/30 gets better reviews and arguably has a better lense but the Olympus mju720/725 is very tough being both shock and waterproof to 5m. Neither have viewfinders which is a problem in bright sunlight with the display, think the Pentax is marginly brighter in this respect. The Olympus has a retractable lense cover which is worthwhile addition but still very easy to get a salty mark on the lense while at sea. The battery needs to be removed for charging on the Olympus and the camera does not accept standard SD cards. Can't think of anything else, I have the mju725, very nice pics in daylight.

Thanks Simon, up to now I've always trolled from the rear deck mounts, quite often miss when something is on unless big. I'll try my front gunwale mount set sideways as you suggest next time out. Regards trolling speed, reckon it's a good plan to vary it, stop and start, a constant mechanical speed might be alright for Mackerel. I use mainly floating divers close inshore over rocks, watch the sounder and slow to bring the plug high in the water after passing shallow rocks, or even change direction.

Simon, how do you keep the line away from the paddle arc ? especially with a short rod, also can you not only turn one way? presumably the rod is at right angles to the Yak.

Congrats on number 10 , definately need to tag 'em.

Thanks JRT. 6 miles, which for me was unthinkable 9 months ago. Took my time with an eye on the wind and using the tides, so very easy, could have done about the same again under identical conditions. The worst bit is when you realise how far it is to go back, thoughts of is the wind going to get-up etc. etc.

On the slip for 10:30, had conversation with a guy called Steve, he was familiar with AnglersAfloat and knew SM. We chatted for a while before he headed off in a fully loaded rib, looked like two families aboard and 3 Yaks strapped on the side. Launched 11:00, sea flat, slight NE breeze, water gin clear. The plan was to paddle/drift with the slowly rising tide towards Worbarrow, either fish the reef or the Black Hawk wreck, hoping for Bream or possibly Triggers. Took a well offshore track, 60ft of water most of the time. Stopped off along the way at various pot buoys, a few missed bites on the float and some odd tugs on the ledger rig. Arrived at the reef, could see what looked like a 2 man orange Kayak on the Black Hawk, so headed on. A few yards further and realised that is was probably a small inflatable, could make out 3 figures. A dive boat, thought about giving it a miss as didn’t want to interfere with their sport but then noticed they seemed to be underway. The small inflatable wizzed past, and I pressed on to the wreck. Clearly, finding a wreck, even with a GPS is not a trivial task, there were no buoys as are sometimes found at popular dive sites. Glanced back and forth between GPS and depth sounder, went right past, turned about, went directly over, slung the anchor out, but it dragged. Wound back in and spent a good 15 minutes traversing back and forth trying to get a good position. Finally, got reasonably close and the anchor held, according to the GPS was right on top, but nothing on the sounder. The first drop and a typical Bream bite, struck, was solid in the bottom. Sent another rig down, no bites, after a few minutes wound in, and a Mackerel just under the Yak grabbed the Rag. Meanwhile the float had gone too. Switched to Macky fishing, one at a time on a Dexter wedge, virtually every cast, final tally 9 in the boat and 10+ returned using the approved method, no touching (dropped or fell off). The ledger rod was nodding and this little LSD was the cause, amazingly, a first for this year. Steve motored-up, been to Lulworth, caught a Pollock, think they were heading back as the weather was rather overcast. Hauled the anchor and paddled off to investigate the fishing at the Tout. Arrived to find a surprisingly brisk current and confused seas, thought better of anchoring and landed at Pondfield for lunch. Back on the water, stuck my favourite big plug on and began trolling back to Brandy Bay. The Air Sea rescue Helicopter roared low over-head and into Brandy Bay, was so low that could see dust blown from the shore in a big cloud, as they hovered over something. The plug was nailed just past Wagon Rock, nice Bass just over 40cm about 3lb, great fight on a light spinning rod and mini multiplier. Spied a strange object on the beach, landed to investigate. This was probably what the Helicopter was so interested in. A wrecked Bic, Oh goody! was tempted to have a paddle, unfortunately, no one was about to record the event. Should you feel the urge, it’s back there on the beach.

I'm quite happy with this: Yakpads around £50 including delivery from the US Backrest is excellent, pad would benefit from being larger but is a great improvement over the OK standard fit seat.

worth a Google: Pelican This Pelican Kayak review is by Jerbro, who reviewed the Apex 2 model kayak on 04-10-2005. It was given an overall rating of 8, where 1 is low...10 is high. Comments: I shopped for about a week and looked @ alot of different Tandem Kayaks, Price was my deciding factor. as far as the money, I couldn't pass up the Pelican apex II tandem. $325.00 @ sports authority. 300 less than its next competitor, Paddled well from from rear, and center, very stable, I was able to stand and cast, Paddle from knees, move about the boat. Speed was o.k., kept up with Malibu xl just fine. Tested on lake, will post ocean findings this week. Suggested Changes: Hatch access

Should be on the map somewhere but mine are all metres, the smaller number a decimal so your example is 5.2 metres at charts datum (lowest astronomical). If you look on easytide the heights are displayed relative to this so just add on for a given time. That's my understanding of it.

Yep noticed the 4 way buckle, a much better engineered solution, might be a retrofit possibility on the 13 although the fixings appear different.

Not sure about the centre hatch, needs a much better seal than that on the Prowler front hatch as looks lower down, will get wetter and let water in during moderate conditions. I'm just not keen on opening any hatches on the water that go to the inside of the Yak. What I would like to see is a decent tackle box that's actually waterproof, not like the Prowler one. As for the finder guard, nice idea for going through the surf if the unit can be folded down and again it's all sealed, otherwise not convinced. All IMHO

You've done it now m8, life will never quite be the same

Hi BartonYakker There are a few of us based in and around Christchurch, been looking to fish your area from the Yak for sometime as it's my favourite shore spot. Spied Hordle Cliffs as a possible launch but guess you are going in at Milford? Regards fishing, should be loads of Small Eyed Ray all along to Highcliffe and possibly some reasonable Turbot, good Bass at Barton. Thought about doing a falling tide drift to Barton then back to Hordle Milford on the run-up (assuming springs) otherwise its not much of a paddle each way (now that I can manage a few miles!) Anyway, to answer your question, Richi and Speciman already have, look on AnglersAfloat, we've recently had good Smooth Hound at Sowley, and if you're not bothered about distance there's the other end of the Solent, Poole Harbour the Purbeck coast and Portland. Look forward to meeting you on the water

Recommend lopping 6 inches off the butt, makes the Euroboat much more Yak friendly. Rubber but cap will pull off and just trim back the grip by the same amount as on the off-cut, stick back on with 2 ton or similar.

Just a few more thoughts. The mating connectors have a definite life, that is the gold flashing will wear off with use, lubricants may help, but leave the finder plugged in at all times, including transport/storage if you can. The surest way to kill the connector is to get it wet/damp while power is present, the contacts are effectively electrodes in bath of fluid, result, they corrode. Fit an inline switch and switch off or disconnect the battery before breaking the finder connector.

Just search this forum for 'Scupper Pro' and 'Rolls Royce'

Fantastic stuff Simon, a real communing with nature session.

Biggest problem I found was that I pulled the Yak on top of me, good point about the bits'n'pieces on your PFD getting in the way or snagging the grab lines.

Return visit to Sowley after Friday night’s fun, this time in the company of Richi and Phooey. Launched just after 6.00pm, Richi already well away and half way across the Solent! Tied off to buoy 916 as Friday, only 400 yards out, Phooey just behind me. 30 minutes of small Bream ‘pecking’ the baits off then heard Richi in the distance whooping and shouting, obviously into a fish. Phooey headed off towards Richi and I followed, found another buoy 200 yards short of Richi & Phooey and stopped there. No bites whatsoever for 30 minutes, there was some sort of an air display going on near Lymington, a Harvard was doing low passes over a field with simulated ack-ack and big explosions on the ground, in the midst of this Richi was whooping again so I guessed another fish. My No.2 rod then started banging away and line was going out, a good fish, a very good Smooth Hound, got it to the Yak and saw that it was at least as big as my biggest caught on Friday. Off it went, uptide, downtide, under the Yak, lots of surface action this time, got it to the Yak, grabbed the tail and dragged it in still full of fight, it proceeded to whack the hell out of my sounder and compass and some how lost the hook and stuck it in my suit. Definitely bigger than Friday’s personal best, not much longer but much fatter, well into double figures. Could hear both Phooey and Richi whooping in the distance so clearly they were having fun too, just got the Smooth Hound returned and No.1 rod was away, another Hound. A medium sized one, perhaps 4lb. The Bream appeared again, a d**n nuisance, were getting through my bait rapidly, nailed one eventually. Had another Bream, bait nearly gone and thinking about packing up then Phooey arrived, was going in and very generously offered me his Ragworm. Phooey had caught 2, the largest was 'Tope' size, so will be interesting to see how that compares with mine. A few minutes later and Richi paddled-up, also going in, had two Smooth Hounds and 3lb Bass. While we were chatting, No.1 rod screamed off and another Hound was on. Much the same size as before, around 4lb, this followed by yet another a few minutes later. The tide was easing and all bites stopped, headed in for a 10.30pm landing. Well, what a weekend, couldn’t have been any better, great fishing and great company, can’t wait to get out on the water again. __________________

oops, Sowley

Launched from Tanners lane at 7.00pm, wind blown chop on the water was enough to confuse the depth sounder so switched it off. Tied off to a buoy in 8ft of water, tide was O.K, 1.5ozs just holding the bottom. Lobbed some Rag out 10 yards, instant action with a mini Bass first cast, second cast and the mini species really got going with this Black Breamlet, which gaffed itself on a 2/0 hook! Constant plucking bites and bait being stripped for the next 30 minutes, managed the occasional cast with the other rod and surface popper. Mid retrieve with the popper and the line out clicker screamed off on the ledger rod. Grabbed the ledger rod to find something substantial was hooked, tanked off down tide and took a couple of minutes to subdue, nice little (Starry?) Smooth Hound, wrapped itself around the trace and practically strangled itself. Weighed in at 2lb 7ozs and after some gentle resuscitation was returned and swam away. The evening continued with loads of sharp plucking bites and bait being stripped, presumably the mini Bream. Once again was fishing with the surface popper on rod 2 and rod 1 was screaming off. Another substantial fish on, this time felt bigger than the last, and boy did it go, tore off down tide, any attempt to put pressure on resulted in another run, wedged the rod between me and the Scotty and wound the popper in. There now followed what seemed like an age as the fish was brought to within a few yards of the Yak only to turn and run, must have done this 3 times during which time I was sat there laughing and generally enjoying whole experience. Finally, enough was enough and I bullied the fish towards the Yak, this resulted in another run and having wound the drag-up something had to give, the line broke. Well, I wasn’t too upset, would have been nice to see the thing, but whatever, great sport. Examined the 15lb trace to see that it was broken well away from the hook, must have been damaged by the earlier Smooth Hound or rubbed through. New hook length from 25lb mono and back out for more! Switched the popper rod to bottom fishing. Another thirty minutes of plucking bites, one dropped run then off we go again with a decent fish. Much the same as before, any pressure and away it went, dragged the Yak round across the tide at one point! Once again, after several good runs the drag was increased and then hastily reduced as another run began. During one of these moments I fumbled the drag the wrong way, the rod bent a little too far and snapped! Was only a cheapy telescopic. The tip headed off down the line and this signalled the end of the fight with the fish finally breaking surface, and what a fish. Took a couple of goes to get hold of it, wound itself around the line, the paddle leash and the remains of the rod. Had to unclip the paddle to get the beast into the Yak, just a little concerned that I’d get bitten, but no worries there as it turned out. Cut the trace away and retrieved the hook, no idea on size so tried to weigh it, too long, read just over 10lb on the digital scales but the tail was resting on the Yak, tape measure gave 39-40 inches long. Here's a pic, rod bits and all: Returned after gentle resusitation, definitely a personal best by a large margin. Back fishing and the action had ceased, no bites, the tide and wind had eased to zero and the sea was flat, fished on for an hour then headed in for 11.00pm to be met by the Police! They were out checking cars, as apparently there were break-ins during the week in daylight; the PC thought that the thieves were watching as they only broke into cars where items had been hidden.

The breathable dry suits are really quite impressive, temperature control by the number of layers underneath, I've not used one through the summer but suspect that it might be just too hot when the temperatures get over 20C on the water, currently I'm down to a Tee shirt underneath. Good point about wetsuits by Gilbo.

Here's mine, only problem is paddling against 9 knot tides as I tend to clout the antenna at the end of the power stroke. P.S. If using a Carbon paddle make sure it's not a whole number multiple of the Radar wavelength long, otherwise it becomes hot.

I'm guessing it's a fast one to top 9 knots