izzetafox

I know you expect a wet ride when kayaking but the Malibu 2 seems to take that a bit too far... Or am I being unfair? At the weekend I was involved in a charity event in the Lake District. The best part was going to be kayaking on Windermere. Well after 5 hours of leg breaking cycling amd walking in Grizedale Forest the time came for the kayaking. As a team of six we were allocated three Malibu 2's. Now out of the six I was the only one with any yakking experience, albeit on my Tobago. First impression was that with two men and 27 stone in it it sits awfully low in the water As we got paddling all seemed reasonable although the water was lapping at the top of the scupper holes and gently trickling around my bum. As soon as we got into some chop a lot of the waves that hit us broadside from the big pleasure boats, were coming over the side. Personally I never felt in any danger but the novices were twitching to say the least. I know the guys were newbies but they had a hell of a problem keeping a straight course, the Malibus seemed very unforgiving of less than perfect paddling. I also realised the benefit of having a back rest in the Tobago, after a couple of hours hard work we were all aching. The scariest bit was as we returnted to the start point....althought I had been on and off the yak at various points to electronically register, the return was a continuous 45 minute paddle against the wind. Wellllll....you know how when you sleep on your arm and you wake up and your arm is like jelly....as it was a timed event as we beached I leapt out of the yak to get to the timer point ...right leg hit the shore no problem left leg came forward hit the floor and .... crumpled...I fell arse over tip onto the shore and my considerate mates fell all over **** themselves with laughter. I guess I must have trapped a nerve or something. Scary at first but funny when the feeling came back, however it is something I will bear in mind in future. Best bit of the day glorious sunshine from dawn to dusk, our team stuffed the managers team and we had a 53 yr old, a 52, a 48 a 45 a heavy smoker and a lump of lard. Their average age was 35 and most were sporstmen. Of course we have let them forget it......like hell we have. A great day and at least £63k raised for Age Concern. Malibu??? No thank you!! Fun on the beach maybe, but no good for any distance in a chop and I would only ever venture far solo to keep it high in the water but I guess paddling would be a pain then. I was tempted to get one...very pleased I got the Tobago now.

Ouch...they have got a bit heated haven't they. Nice to see there are some voices of reason amongst them though.. I have added my six penneth.

I too am a fishing yakker. I have passed anglers with never a cross word indeed there is usually an interesting exchange about access to otherwise inaccessible swims. As for 'total access' then NO, but access to areas that are already deemed navigable by powered craft then definitely. Are you aware that there is significant access permitted already. £20 approx membership of the British Canal Union gets you access to all British Waterways Canals, you also get 3rd party liability insurance ( how many anglers have that ?????), a further £20 will get you access to the River Glen, Nene, welland and Ouse complexes which I assume would include the Fenland drains. So you see things are not as 'angler exclusive ' as you think.......I belive the E.A. also offer navigational access on other River complexes. I am uncertain how long these agreenents have been in force but have you seen your favourite stretch of Anglian Waters rivers devastated by kayak/canoe yobs???? I am sorry but as I say I fish from bank and yak and think the two can complement each other. I was an angler first and saw the yak as a way to enhance my experiences. Rather than dismiss it out of hand perhaps you should give it a try. As for the ' we were there first' argument, I thing we would find that historically the rivers were probably shared by our ancesters for travelling and hunting and often both at the same time. Do not be blinkered and judge all yakkers by the occasional idiot, the same way as anglers would not want to be judged by the idiot angler who dumps luncheon meat and sweetcorn cans on the bank along with his left over line and hooks. In both groups these are the minority that the majority try and educate. Both groups should talk to each other rather than firing ill informed insults back and forwards. That way we should get what we all want ' a sensible solution'.

With regards to insurance...I am considering joining the BCU as by paying about £20 you get access to all British Waterways Waters i.e. most of the canal in UK plus 3rd Party Liability insurance. Might give a bit of leverage. I intend to try cancvassing a number of inland fisheries to see if they have or can be persuaded to have a kayak policy for anglers. There are so many waters that have vast unfished areas where yakkers could venture without disturbing bank anglers. The only problem is ensuring the idiots don't go afloat and spoil things.... The ranger said one of the issues was that althought I had taken proper precautions for my safety kids seeing me on the water might try going afloat and not be so careful. As an example of the mentality of some of the kids around here he had to throw some kids off who were swimming in it last Sunday when it was difficult to tell the difference between the lake and the nearby canal and river due to flood water!!!! I suppose that is what you are up against.

Well I have been giving the Tobago some stick on the River Soar, the Grand Union Canal, Llyn Padarn and King Lear's Lake in Leicester. Really enjoying it as is my frequent crew member my grandson. Generally well accepted by other water users. I even contacted the Ranger by e-mail at Leicester's Watermead Park, home of King Lear's. When after a couple of weeks I had no reply I sent one to Leicester City Council asking what kayak access there was on council owned water...still no reply. There were no signs on the local information boards refferring to any for of boats, yaks etc. So I thought I would try paddling there and see if anyone intervenes. On my fourth trip and the first one with some piking gear I set my stall out for a bit of dead-baiting and spinning. After about 20 minutes the bailiff for fishing had a chat with me and had no objections, indeed offered some advice as to where to fish. Just after moving to what was supposed to be a hot spot the rangers van turned up and called me to shore. He said boating was not allowed.... I asked why he or the council had not told me this in reply to my e-mails. His reply was that 'No reply could not be construed as consent'. I told him I had already paddled several times and he had driven by so I thought if there was a ban that he would have approached me then. At this point he became very sympathetic and appologised for his negligence. He explained it was not the rangers decision but the local council did not have insurance to cover accidents involving boaters and so it was banned. This was fair enough but a shame. I should point out at all times the chat was genial. The funny thing was that after 30 minutes banter about sit-on-tops he said that he and his side kick were going to get a Canadian canoe to paddle the entire length of the River Soar but having seen the stability of the Tobago he was now intending to get a 2 up sot. He was also impressed by the Crewsaver drysuit and the fact I used a PFD and thought paddle leashes were a good idea. Shame about being kicked off but nice to have made a 'convert' and the guy genuinely seemed sincere when he said he regretted that a 'responsible' yakker cannot use the facilities. Oh well the river should have run off by now........ Roll on the Lleyn Peninsular.

Try this link the price is right and I have a pair and they are great, as already said beware of overtightening. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-X-RATCHET-STRAPS-T...1QQcmdZViewItem I got some of the grey dense foam pipe lagging from B&Q, with the split down the side it slips easily over roof bars and with 3 or 4 cable ties it holds firm, this then give you something to compress and gain traction without risk of damaging the yak.

Well after months of 'lurking' on various kayak fishing sites, checking reviews etc.etc. I have finally picked up a second hand bright yellow Tobago. Tomorrow hopefully will have a chance to get it wet. As warned it it on the heavy side and there is definitely a technicque to be learned for loading on the Galaxy roof bars solo. Have three seats with it so will fit them all in and try all three paddling positions. more to come....

Looks like what is known as a skimmer, if fact it is just a young common bream, skimmer = small, in the same way as small pike are call jacks and bass schoolies. As the bream get older they turn a bronze colour. Skimmer being distinct from a 'silver' bream which is a separate subspecies which only grows to a couple of pounds as opposed to high teens for Common or Bronze bream.

Just bought this pfd from Decathlon £23.95 Lots of room under arms. Front mesh pocket and a velcro pocket, side zipper. It has space in a velcro back pocket for one of those water carriers and velcro for the tube. This could be used for other bits and bobs but remember unless you are two up you won't get to it on the water. http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/Product_arbo...8968/index.html

Check the post from Neil about two thirds down the page and watch the video clip. It is a long winded thread but if you have the time read it all. It certainlay explodes a few myths about ' Killer Waders.' http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.p...wader&st=40

There are three main issues: 1 Access to water for navigation 2 Access to water to fish 3 Authority to fish. 1 Is resolved for about £20 you can get an E.A. permit to navigate on th Glen, Welland, Nene, and Ouse networks. Which is a large area including the Fens. 2 Is resolved by a Rod License which you probably already have. ( Something sea anglers should also be required to have. Prepare himself for the abuse!!!) 3 Will the local fishing club allow you to fish, i.e. season or day ticket. The first two are easilly fixed, I am in the same position. I am about to embark on this fishing. It is my intention to get the EA navigation permit, I already have the Rod License, I am now going to try the Fens and if a baliff comes along I will offer to buy a day ticket and see what happens. My view is that with many rivers baliffs are so scarce as are anglers unless you actually annoy anyone you will probably be allowed to continue and they will gratefully accept your money. I would be interested to hear if anyone has had any success. Terry p.s I do remember meeting the late great Fred Wagstaffe whilst he was working his way around the Fens piking in a rowing boat and I know the baliff saw him because they had a chate with Fred gleaning as much local knowledge as he could.

Yes, saw the advice on Wetsuit Outlet's site and went one bigger but there is a reasonable amount of slack in the sock. Must be that my gut is too big for my feet and I had to buy to fit the gut in...

I guess many of you must be in the same situation as me with the socks on your dry suit being too big. Well what do you do with the excess????? Do you pull the to forward so the heel fits and fold the to over oorrrrr.... Do you pull the heel back so the toe fits and try and fit the excess in the back of the boot?

Was that on the Tobago or the Bilbaos Mick?

On a kayak forum I use the discussion of chest waders being a killer when kayaking was discussed. Some very knowledgeable people contributed. I think the main comments related to neoprene chest waders, they do have a bouyancy which would generally be greater than the amount of water that would enter them when you take a dunk. In fact if you wore a wading belt the water would be even less. One guy and his brother from North Wales actually did a test after a days fishing. One of them deliberately fell off of his sit-on-top kayak and found it to be no problem with the waders on, in fact I believe he sait the bouyancy actually made it easier to remount the kayak, he 'fell in' several times to prove the excercise. In fact many yakkers are using chest waders and a kagoule as their winter wear and believe me the sea fishing kayakkers are very very safety concious. I think one thing to bear in mind is that your safety , and dryness, will always be enhance when wearing chest waders if you wear a wading belt around your chest. terry

Ordered at 10:28 yesterday arrived at 09:05 today excellent service. Excellent service from Weysuit Outlet, highly recommended. Oooh and it's sooo sexy all that latex and neoprene cannot wait to show 'er indoors.

I take it underwear should also be co-ordinated.....you never know when you might get run over. Just ordered the hyperdry ...how the hell do they do next day courier for only £3.50 ????

How many times does the 100% water tight come into it? Is it only total immersion? Would you really notice it for occasional spills? Is the neoprene rain tight?

I know it's been asked many times before but..... I am about to order a dry suit and am split between the Typhoon Racer and the Crewsaver Hyperdry. I know there is a mixture of both out there in your opinion which comes out tops? They seem very similar, I will of course go for front zip, does colour have any real benefit? Does having the neoprene neck and wrist make it comfier or is there a trade off? There is only £20 difference and I don't want to think a couple of weeks down the road ' I wish I had gone for the Crewsaver. Thanks Terry

There is of course the unspeakable event that can happen when wearing a hooded suit. It is rumoured that someone went to relieve themselve behind the hedge whilst fishing. H duly dropped the one piece hooded suit and squatted. Having completed the job and cleaned up using fistfulls of grass carefully avoiding the nettles and thistles ( ouch!!) he pulled the suit back up. It was not until it started to rain some time later that he went to pull the hood up!!! It appears that the deposit had not hit the ground but nestled nicely in the hood and was now pressed nicely against the back of his head!!! Urban myth? Or did it really happen? Who knows but there is a moral there for hood wearers !!!

I always had a problem with my one piece suit coarse fishing. I would be standing up in the river stick float fishing all day letting the flatulence flow without a care in the world....then cam the time to sit down!!! OH MY GOD!!!!! All that air gushing up through the neck opening, I don't know how I lived through some days, sure makes you think about what the missus has to put up with when the quilt get wafted. I suppose it is even worse with latex/neoprene seals retaining the toxins even more efficiently. Shoult dry suits carry a health warning?????

Now that looks a serious idea...B&Q here I come.

Mike thanks much appreciated...did pm you but I guess you missed it. YY I agree re saftey, I have told the little 'un that before we do anything they will practice falling off and climbing back on as often as it takes until they are confident and do not panic. I have lurked here and Anglers Afloat and read with interest lots of the safety pages and am very grateful at the wealth of knowledge around. It is partly the safety aspect that is making me lean towards the Tobago with its extra floatation. Thanks all for the great advice. What did we do for info before the net....one thing is for sure I wouldn't have been able to get help from Sea Angler.!!

Definitely helps....my youngest grandson would love to play in that... Seriously though looks a good option, thanks

I know this is a stupid question that has probably been answered already but humour me please I am a Midlander. When you guys are in your Power Rangers suits and a mile from the beach...what happens when you need a pee??? Is it a 'bucket and chuck it ' job like on a boat but slipping a wide necked bottle through the zip to the appropriate organ? Then retrieve and empty. Relief achieved and modesty maintained.