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Try this for details http://www.musto.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?...;productId=1440 Good info piantfly. I was thinging about the Ion until I found the Musto, Goretex for the same price

Santa's just been and visited me yesterday as well. I had been trying to choose between a quality 2pce outfit which was going to cost £360 or a cheaper drysuit, but what I really wanted was a goretex drysuit. The only snag was they are typically £500 plus for yak gear .... and even the yachtie stuff is usually £400 plus Then I found this... marinestore.co.uk/page/mrst/PROD/mu...gn/MUSM1430RDM/ At £300 thats £100 cheaper than most places sell the MPX .... so I couldn't resist. I was worried that it was old stock as its last years model code, but what I got sent was a brand spankers 2006 model that I had to wait a few days on as they got new stock in. Well its certainly a quality piece of kit, as I'd expect from Musto, the goretex is a heavy grade fabric, much more robust than my hillwalking stuff, and the cordura tough and in the right places. The leg pocket is a nice touch. The fabric overlap with the seals is a bit less than I'd expected, but it is certainly enough to the job. I'd prefer a full cover over the zip, but I'm not complaining for the money. The zip is a bit bulky in the groin area when seated but its not uncomfortable, even with my PFD on, and it makes having a pee easier However, I think wearing the bum bag I use for tackle wont be an option as it will tend to crush/fold the zip which is a no no. I have no previous experience with drysuits so these comments may apply to all suits and not just the Musto. All in all I'm dead chuffed with it and can't wait to get it wet

That was Neil, had it done at Hammond.

Great job there, Blue Peter will soon be knocking at your door .... Waiting with baited breath to see how well it works. Have to say though, being a lazy bu*ger I'd just buy one of these Eddystone live bait Tank & Pump thngies and chuck some more water every so often

Simon, Thats what I was wearing last week...... it lives up to its name.... lovely

I was looking at a similar one that that is mounted on a metal L rather than the plastic grab handle. I'm thinking about fitting it to the butt section of a rod to make hauling easier..... pump and wind ... but I want to see one in the flesh to see how robust the mounting arm is.

Neil, Nah, I didn't keep any of the saithe for bait. I did think about it but decided that they would probably have freezer burn before I get out after skate again, and the fact they were within casting rage of one of my shore marks clinched it for me, they all went back to grow bigger

Here's a pic of the wee fella: No hint of blue on the fin edges (Tub) and you can make out the fused smooth plates for a lateral line, like small vertical ridges, so that makes it a Red in my book. Here's a pic of one of even smaller wee fellas: At the time I wasn't sure if it was a grey or a red and was totally flummoxed by the obvious spot on the dorsal fin, so I took the piccy to check later if it was a Red. When I caught the above Red a bit later I assumed that these smaller ones were just paler versions of a Red, but looking at the pic now I can see its not. Not only is the mottled colouration different but you can see the lateral line is much more of a pronounced line of bristles. I also have one book that says Greys often have a dark spot on the first dorsal, so that and the lateral line makes me sure its a wee Grey, just one of them red ones

Its called getting old

Nah, they weren't Tubs, I've had them before and these did not have any blue fringing at all. They were the same as the Red, just a much paler orange rather than bright orange.

Nice video Neil, shows how it should be done nicely

Hi Richard, Nice to see you on here Sit on top kayaks are a lot more stable than most people realise, not at all 'tippy' like you'd think. All I really had to do was make sure I kept the rod close to the centreline and not off to the side, but that was the comfortable thing to do anyway as I was sat facing facing forward. Yep, I got towed a bit, according to the gps I went 70 yds uptide, and then 50yds back downtide as she tired and came up. Hi Bill, Nice to see you back again Oh yes, there were a few 'Oh my god what have I done' thoughts when I first got hooked up. Its one thing to talk about about doing it but when its suddenly a reality it does slap you in the face. I have to admit though, the thought of proving all the nay sayers wrong did help me to go through with it, that and the fact that once I'd hooked up I didn't really have much choice in the matter anymore

Great stuff guys and well done on the big girl Simon

Great write up Simon and looks like you had a great time even though you didn't get a cod. Thats what I love about this sport, blanking can be such fun

I'm just back from the mid-term family hols at Loch Ewe in Wester Ross. The weather made things quite difficult as there were quite a few days when it was way too windy for going out, and when it was calm I had to take my son up the hills instead of fishing. Out of the 10 days I was there I managed to get afloat five times, between 2 and 5 hrs each time. I managed to find plenty of fish every time but they were usually small saithe, the place was carpeted with them. I did find one or two pockets of better fish up to 3lb, with pollack mixed in, frequently getting two or three at once. Three 3lb saithe puts a good bend in 12lb class rod The difficulty was staying over the fish as they were in such a tight concentration. On a couple of the days the wind was almost too much, I was drifting at 3 or 4 mph, and 5 or 6mph in the gusts. Using the drogue slowed it down nicely to around 1.5mph, but its still knackering paddling back upwind. I was also dodging a whole load of NATO warships playing at war games up there at the moment so I couldn't fish the hardground at the mouth of the loch, which I really wanted to try. All of the rock edges were full of small saite and pollack and not the ballan wrasse I was looking for, so I tried to up my species count by targetting mini-species in the shallow sandy, muddy & gravel bays. All I found though were mini codling, pin whiting and a few poor cod. At least the codling are good news for the future. The mackerel are still around but not in big numbers, a dozen are now in my bait freezer but I was hoping for a lot more. On Sunday morning I finally managed to drift some of the deeper hard gound and picked up a new species for me, Red Gurnard. I've never caught one before and caught three of them, two tiny ones that I wasn't certain of as the coloutration wasn't so strong, although they did look very different to any Greys I've had, but the third was a bit bigger,a massive 8oz, but bright oranage and clearly a Red.

I don't think there will be many new species, the best I can hope for is a ballan and maybe if I'm really lukcy a haddie, more likely though it'll be mackerel, pollack, dab and maybe a bonus doggie..... If I'm feeling brave I might have shot at skate#2

I wondered when you'd pop up Mr.Sam Thats me heading over to Loch Ewe tonight for the next 10 days..... fingers crossed for the weather

I carry one of those little packs you get in the supermarkets, in the waterproof container alongside my flares, in my crate in the tankwell.

Ere, you nicked that paint roller idea from me I didn't cut the handle off to fit it to the straight rod but just straightened the whole rod with a hammer. I drilled a small hole through the rod and used a cotter pin rather than flatening the end, that way I can easily dismantle it if I want. In use I have found it doesn't have enough 'winching' power to crank up the anchor, its just not sturdy enough and really needs to be a slighly larger OD. Its built around the spool from a 1kg bulk spool of 40lb mono. What I need now is a thicker shaft (don't we all), a slightly larger spool running on proper bearings, and a way of fitting the handle that doesn't leave a bolt head on the inside of the flange for the line to catch on. The pusuit of prefection continues.......

They will be 13, 11 and 9 next summer. I'll have no problem getting them down but the problem will be that they'll be so keen to go fishing as well that I wont get any time to get away myself in the kayak I might be able to sneak off for a dawn bass raid ocassionally though.....

Assuming the SLA is for 'Sealed Lead Acid' then it will be fine on its side, and no the container does not need to be ventialted. However, do not leave the battery stored in there when not in use, else the salty air will probably corrode the terminals.

So you'll be able to see where you are driving now !!!

Cheap end of yachtie dry suits, tri-laminate and front-zip, is around £200 and up. Better quality 4 layer laminate yachtie dry suits around £300 and up. Tri-laminate designed for Kayak use, better fit etc, around £400 and up. 4 layer laminate designed for Kayak use around £600 and up. Tri-laminate 2pce suit, bib/trousers with latex boots & relief zip, cag with dual waist seal and a hood, around £360. 4 layer laminate cag and tri-laminate bib/trousers around £430 and up. Decent quality tri-laminate breathable waders and tri-laminate cag with dual waist seal and a hood, around £280. So going with waders and a cag isn't a cheap option, there are cheaper dinghy sailing tri-laminate dry suits, ..... unless you already have the waders. Personally, given that winter fishing for me often means driving rain, I like the idea of a decent hood on a cag. Somehow the rain always seems to find that tiny gap between my hat and cap, even when I'm wearing a balaclava. I don't think you have to get too hung up about weather or not a semi-dry combo will keep you dry enough though. Last winter up here a shore angler wearing a 2pce floatation suit was washed into the sea. It was 1hr before the rescue services managed to pull him out and he survived. The suit had no sealing at all apart from wrist cuffs, so a 2pce semi-dry will perform much better than that.... as long as you get sufficient insulation. Its more a matter of comfort, practicality and cost. You pays your money and takes your choice.

Bosun's Locker at port Edgar stock Ocean Kayak and they do demonstrations if you want a try out. Bosun's Locker

Me? Threatening.... never Hopefully I'll make it down next year, but early Aug might be tough as thats during the kids holidays. Its hard to get a pass for myself and ignore the rest of them so I might have to try and make it a family thing, and bring the whole Spanner Clan