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ping.....just landed in my inbox

Ta very much Norrie. The second set just came through but I haven't got the first set yet..... floating the ether I guess. How many emails did you send altogether?

Thanks for the help Davy I just checked on my GPS and it reckons I went 70yds uptide between 11:26 and 11:47, 50yds back between 11:47 and 11:57, and finally 20yds back uptide as she came to surface. At 12:00 I dropped off the anchor and drifted so you had her on board by then

Ah, therin lies the secret of sit-on-top kayaks designed for angling, they are made to be stable enough for this kind of thing. Hats off to the clever people at Ocean Kayak and the designers of the Prowler13 I say I'm sure that can be arranged Hopefully during the inshore tope run next season, still to get me one of them feisty critters.

Simon/Nifty, How did you get on with the pike? Back to the original topic..... good idea Neil. I'll go first..... Common Skate 175lb and in my best Forest Gump impersonation " thats all I've got to say about that"

I rigged up an anchor trolley on my P13 and didn't drill a single hole, I used the fittings already in place. I made up the usual loop of cord, with a short elasticated section, running through pulleys at each end with snap links to attach the pulleys to the yak. At the bow I clipped it to the exising pad eye. At the stern I used the rudder fitting. I replaced the plastic 'dummy' bolt with a proper one and used it to mount a small D-ring that came from an old walking boot. I removed the deckline and the runners and used the bolts to fit plastic clips to hold the line in place. The clips were 15mm C type that hold pipes in place, that I cut in half and fitted so they like an inverted J. I dont use a cleat, I just use the paddle retainer bungee to lock it place. Works a treat and I can restore it back to original anytime I want This thread has some pics of the setup: anchor trolley

Just back from a fun weekend at Lochaline with the kayak, some new PB's and some new species for the year. On Saturday Davy and Norrie were out on Catchalot, Davy's skate catching dream machine catarmaran, so while they went to rustle up some fresh mackerel I fished around the rocky point by the white cottage, just west of the pier. I was hoping for a ling to add to my species for the year but all I managed were several pollack. As the best one was 5lb 6oz I wasn't complaining, as that's a new PB for me from the kayak. Davy and Norrie came past in Catchalot heading for the mark, the new gelcoat giving it a wee bit extra edge on speed so that's why I couldn't quite keep up.... They settled down to steady stream of doggies and spurs, but their skate baits went untouched. I only managed one fish. After a break for lunch back at the snack bar it was more of the same and with no sign of any conger either I decided to head off to Ardtornish and try my luck there for a ling. I soon got into more pollack, mostly about 2 to 3lb, but then I had a take was definitely not acting like a pollack and it was heavier, it turned out to be a 3lb pollack and a 2lb ling. I also got a wee poor cod on one of the drifts as well, so that was two more species for the year. Then I went further round to find a reef that Davy told me about, a sure fire ballan wrasse mark. The mark was right where Davy said, and I got 3 wrasse really quickly, but all of them were male cuckoos. There were plenty of pollack there as well. I headed further up into the bay to see what mini-species I might be able to find, but all I found were mini versions of regular species, pin whiting, codling the size of my pinkie, some more wee poor cod, and some tiny saithe. Sunday I moved round to Kingairloch to try somewhere different. I found a good launch at the church in the bay just north of the loch. I fancied heading south down toward the very deep water off Glen Sanda but there was already enough of a northerly breeze to put a chop on the sea and make the paddle back into the wind tiring, and considering that the wind might pick up some more I opted for the safe option and stayed in the loch and the bay. There were stacks of wee pollack and saithe in the tide run at the mouth of the loch but the loch itself was very quiet. I had a few nibbles in the shallow margins but I soon picked up a seal for company and as he insisted in following me everywhere like a stray dog for the next 2 hours I didn't catch anything. So that was my weekend.... oh I nearly forgot, that single fish I caught on Saturday morning while Davy and Norrie were rattling out doggies and spurs ...... We were in 380ft of water and I was winding in my other rod to rebait as it had been rattling away to tune of a doggie that I failed to hook when my big rod rattled. It was a 30/50 Penn Tidecutter and TLD10 with 50lb braid, a 12oz lead, and a whole large frozen mackerel bait on a 12/0. It had been down less than 30 mins, first bait of the day. It looked like a doggie bite so I ignored it. It rattled again and I still ignored it and continued winding. Then it hooped over and line started peeling off..... it wasn't no doggie. By sitting on the butt and bracing with my knees a bit I could pretty much get it fully loaded and battle commenced. For the first 30 mins I only gained a few yards, for every five turns I gained she took 4 back. Then she started only taking 1 back for every 5, and after another 10minutes of this I figured from the level of line that she must be within 100ft.... and then I saw her on the fishfinder at 240ft! My left hand was getting sore form the pressure on the rod so I had to keep giving it a rest.... At 200ft she took another 60ft in one quick dive and I started again from 260ft, but this time she was obviously tiring as it was a steady pump and wind all the way up coming up. It took 55mins to bring up. At about 100ft I shouted across to Davy and he dropped off the anchor and came across to help out and by the time he got up close she was at 60ft. Shortly after that they were telling me they could see her right below the kayak and she was BIG, especially compared to the size of the kayak. I still couldn't see anything, even as the wind on leader was winding on, as she was still right below me. Finally she moved a few feet across and I got my first look at her, yep, she was big I got her right up to the surface, on her side, and alongside the kayak, when Davy came right up, got a hold of the trace and pulled her across within gaffing range. It took both Davy and Norrie to lift her onboard. Davy has a derrick so he got her in a net sling and weighed her at 175lb. She was also measured and the tag number from a previous capture by Davy checked before releasing her. Using the 'old' charts the measurements gave an estimated weight of 171lb, pretty damn close, while the 'new' charts make it about 20lb more. A big for the help from Norrie and Davy I didn't get any shots of the fish on the surface as I was a bit occupied at the time and I missed the release as I accidentally switched the camera into into a different mode when I pulled it out of my pocket Norrie got plenty of good shots though and when he sends them I'll post them and bask in the glory Norries pics now inserted

give me a minute I'm typing as quick as I can......

yep

Steve, The point is that they said 'average'. In that context 'nearer' does mean something and will have an effect. The problem is whether 42cm is a minimum or an average, and whether they understand that. I'm not sure that I do as I see both quoted.... and they can't both be right.

LOL.... I'll give the Coryvrecken a wide berth, 'cept maybe on a neap at slack water. As for the hooks I'm cultivating the Davy Holt look and going for rusty old hooks Glad to hear you'll be coming along Dave Along with taking pictures will you be gaffing and measuring for us if we get lucky? Do you have tags etc? More importantly, do you do Bacon Butties?

Sounds like that is what I need to spay my electonic scales to stop them going belly up after a year or so!

Hi Pete, Or is it Andrew, or siamese twins Pete n' Drew Welcome abaord Its nice to see some more faces from this side of the Border. Have you done much fishing before or is that whats new to you? I see you've got paddling experience Where are you planning on going this weekend and what do you plan to target? I can't come out to play myself as its my son's birthday and I'm on duty, but if you need any help or advice on marks or methods etc.......

Have a swap and paddle each others yak.... if your brother has a list in yours then it sounds like there is a problem.

Simon, Been too busy with work & family. I'm just back from a few days on Mull with the kids and just to rub my nose is it there were calm seas and sunny skies every day around Lochaline. I'm just starting to organise a trip for the 1st weekend in Sept.... and don't worry, if it goes well you'll all hear about it

This is wot I writ... I am writing in response to the Consultation on proposals for managing the exploitation of tope and strongly support option 2. only allow fishing for tope by rod and line but prohibit the retention, transhipment and landing of tope caught by any method. I am a Recreational Sea Angler, a member of the National Federation of Sea Anglers (NFSA), Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers (SFSA), Sea Anglers Conservation Network (SACN) and Save Our Sharks (SOS). As you have noted in the consultation notes Tope are a slow growing, low fecundity, species making it vulnerable, and as they are apex predators their health is important to the whole marine ecosystem. Tope are currently listed The IUCN Red List, which classes it as an endangered species, and have also been given the highest rating of 5 (should be left alone, not eaten) by the Marine Conservation Society. As such Tope should be protected from commercial exploitation. However, a complete ban on fishing for Tope including rod and line angling, as in option3, is not necessary for several reasons: 1. Recreational Sea Anglers are currently involved in tagging programs assisting the research of Tope distribution and migration, growth rates etc, and this work should continue. 2. The fact that many tagged fish have been re-caught testifies to the fact that rod and line angling with catch and release is not harmful to the fish. 3. There is a significant health benefit derived by anglers from undertaking sport fishing as a release from the stress of the modern day world 4. There is very significant economical benefit to UK PLC, and in particular to the coastal communities with the best tope fishing, from the total spend of anglers. To illustrate these points I’d like to mention a trip I made to Tywyn, Wales, in June this year to fish specifically for Tope with a group of over a dozen like minded anglers. I live in Aberdeen where Tope are not caught so I traveled to Wales to fish for them. I stayed for several days in the town, ate in a few restaurants and enjoyed a few hostelries, as you do when you are on holiday. I was fishing everyday from my sea kayak and caught many fish, all returned except for a few mackerel used as bait, and as I was paddling my kayak for several miles everyday I was getting a good workout whilst enjoying myself. My trip cost me several hundred pounds. My kayak, safety equipment, lifejacket, flares, VHF, GPS, fish-finder, rods, reels, etc cost over £2,000 in total (please don’t let my wife into that little fact). So UK PLC has benefited to the tune of around £2,500 from those tope, I have benefited to tune of ‘priceless’, and the tope are still swimming around, doing what tope do best, and available to be caught again by another lucky angler spending a similar amount. If the Tope were commercially exploited then: 1. the fish would be dead and not available to contribute to the future stocks 2. it would probably have yielded a net profit less than the £1.50 a recent fish, that was large enough to have been a British rod caught record, provided when it went to market 3. the stock would soon be collapsing, a similar fate befell the vast stocks of spurdogs of the west coast within 3 years when they were targeted 4. the knock-on effects due to the loss of an apex predator 5. and at the end of the day it would either be used for pet food, fertilizer, or just the fins sold to the Asian market, where the Tope is known as the Soup Fin Shark, as they are not eaten as a table fish. Mind you, having seen the repeat of the BBC prog about great whites in the UK last night, I missed it first time around, I'm not so sure about the apex predator bit

Done mine. Told them about our trip earlier this year and how much UK PLC benefited from that.

Jim's is usually the cheapest for Shakey gear. http://www.jims.org.uk/fishing/beachcaster-b.htm

I love it when a plan comes together! Nice one mate

Steve, Thanks for those, I already ready the CEFAS one. The trouble is they just quote somebody else's work. A statement like "consistently above 42cm" is actually not very speficic. Did he actually mean always, nearly always, usually or what? And how often is it less than 42cm, never or sometimes? And if it is less than 42cm how much less and how often? It may seem picky but in my work I frequently come across people either mis-quoting or mis-applying other peoples work. Or even worse using somebody elses conclusions as the basis of a whole bunch of new work without understanding that the original work was based a bunch of dodgy assumptions. Castles in the sand and all that...... It seems that whenever I do a search on the source material for bass you always have to pay.... and I'm too bloody cheap. I guess I should have been a marine biologist

Thanks guys, thats more like it, but they are not scientific papers investigating the maturity of bass but stock modelling based on assumed maturity rate. Based on those maturity figures there would appear to be some merit in a 40cm MLS being an improvement on 36cm, going from 3% maturity to 23% maturity. However, as these figures are an average of both sexes, and they differ significantly, they are not much use. Interesting comment on the modelling based on 40cm MLS on page34 of the RIA though .... "A 40cm MLS would, therefore seem to offer a way for the existing fisheries to operate much as present.........There may be gains for the angling community in terms of greater availavility of larger fish but these are substantially reduced compared to the 45cm scenario." This is the french paper I was looking at, and its got a whole section on ovaries, eggs and viability.... if only my french was good enough. http://www.ifremer.fr/docelec/doc/2005/these-1088.pdf

I already looked and thats why I was looking for more detail. BASS makes the following statement: "Sexual maturity is governed by length, which for female bass from north-west European waters is 42cm total length, achieved in six to seven years." That implies that an MLS of 40cm is no benefit at all. However, I doubt the validity of that statement and that is what I wanted to check out and dig out the source.