Diabolos

Linda wants to know what's going on with the hair??? That's easy... vanity forbids me from letting all those damn grey rebels having the run of my head. Answer? Shave the swines clean off!! Give Linda my best. S

DB, once again you avoid the question and attempt to deflect. This is clearly going nowhere, so in order not to distract or detract from people who genuinely want to contribute to a serious topic and thread, I think we should respectfully agree to disagree. If there any points on which you want clarification please feel free to message me privately. S

Gladly: Please explain to me why this grumbling sea rapist had to wait until all those 'live' fish were dead before he threw them back?! And Davy, if you watched the same footage as everybody else, there was no obvious hyperbaric effects evident in relation to the cod boated. And I know you haven’t been driving that big green boat for long, but you must have seen enough cod boated by now to know they are much more robust than pollack, pout, wrasse, ling, torsk etc. That is unless you are doing the porbeagle thing up there and knocking everything on the heed… in which case the debate ends.

Gimme a clue... you want me to dance, or you want me to tell you to go back and answer the question that you dodged at the start??

I ain't in the 'suck-up to appease you' business Davy. And hard as this might be for you, it’s just the way that it is. I know you have fallen off a fragile soapbox, but try not to be too obsessive and move on. Alternatively read - If you want to swap suggestions based on facts, then you first have to accept that the commercial industry and the poor little fisher-fellas are a bunch of very bad boys. No ifs, no buts... just the hard truth. - and let's play!

Ho hum. You will have to do a lot better than that I'm fraid.

Davy old bean, you clearly have no idea about fish stocks, or instead of trying to fudge presented arguements, you might have come forward with some sort of an answer in the first instance instead of trying to be deflective. I deal in what's concrete and can be proven, rather in this smoke and mirrors caper of yours which lacks power and slides all over the place missing the mark like a drunken man trying to stab the wrong key in the wrong lock. Your mediator/champion act doesn't wash buddy. If you want to swap suggestions based on facts, then you first have to accept that the commercial industry and the poor little fisher-fellas are a bunch of very bad boys. No ifs, no buts... just the hard truth. Further, if you are really confident in what you think is a sound case/arguement, then I am on the telly for an hour on Friday and will happily debate it in front of the world and people who do know what they are talking about. Sleep well. S

Hang on mate if you want to chip in with a catty comment aimed in my direction, then be brave and answer the question posed rather than presenting a pile of, frankly, horseradish. If you really are keen to suck up to the commercials, then maybe you should dig a bit a see what really goes on re discards and the hidden truth re voluntary discards. What would that be then?? Perhaps it's when a boat with days at see remaining who has say, filled up with 100 boxes of cod for arguments sake, phones ahead to the buyer/market and finds out there is a better price for haddock. Boom – 100 boxes of cod go over the side (what the world does see and know blah, blah), commercial scum-bucket fills up with haddock and moves ‘em on at better price. Most, if not all boats are at this game, and other shocking dodges that you would probably never believe. This is reality, not some non-sense ‘feel sorry for me, I work hard’ publicity exercise. As for the other goody-goody, let seek sustainable solutions drivel... I have heard it suggetsed that government takes a very different approach for once, and moves to shut the greedy lying gits down, and burns their boats. Not that I would go that far... I'd probably let them get off the boats first.

Hi Dale I can see the licence thingy rearing its ugly moosh again. I have always been quite vocally against any sea licence and won't hide from saying so again if needs be. S

Please explain to me why this grumbling sea rapist had to wait until all those 'live' fish were dead before he threw them back!!!!! There was no need. Making a point is one thing, but inventing a point is something else entirely.

And.....?????

Daiwa every time. The Shim good for propping up the cheese plant though

Working on it but not satisfied with the efforts so far. Fished up and down the east coast a good bit in recent weeks...pipefish bursting the sea from Orkney to Northumberland. Cod and pollack stuffed full of the things. Standard jellyworms and Redgills hammering fish, so methinks these are a close enough resemblance. S

Glenn, Veals do them even though they are not openly advertised. I think you can buy them in bags of 1OO if memory serves. Failing that, you could perhaps order them direct from source in the USA. Email or PM for company contact details. PS - Silver is not the best colour!!!! S

Doesn't it just. And, don't you dare.

Thanks for the kind comments guys. Davy: I'll do that for you. And please fire your new details through. Cracking eel too. Glenn...you are a cheeky devil! I think the answer given to your "Can you tell me where to dig lots of big white rag?" was...in my fridges!!! Cheers guys Stevie

Silly boy!

Like I was going to tell him!!!

Davy Just to let everyone know that I have just had confirmation that the first film will be going out on Sky Sports Tight Lines programme on the evening of July 14th. Channel and times to be announced later. All the best S

This thread is cobblers. Enough.

Ian I'll be down at the NEC for all of next week's show. If I get five minutes to bunk off, I'll have a wander and see if there's any half decent hooks doing the rounds that might serve as a reliable halfway house between the 3261 BLN and an O' Shaughnessy. If there is anything that catches the eye, then I'll grab some and fire them in the post to you. However, last year there wasn't hellish much to turn heads other than a couple of half-naked pole dancers...so don't hold your breath. Hopefully get out fishing with you later in the year. S

Contrary to some of what has been posted, stainless hooks do rust in time...this includes the famous Daiwa Sea Strikes. And it occurs to me that if some SS hooks do fall out or rot out, we would never know because these would be the ones we never came across. Each will have their own hook preferences based on personal experience. My choice when fishing for big stuff gives consideration to the fish, but is heavily weighted towards the sharpness of particular hooks. Fishing barbless is the as near as failsafe option for quick and clean release. Having used all of the hooks mentioned previously, I would input that none come close in sharpness terms to the Gamakatsu bronzed O' Shaughnnessy...problem is they don't currently do them in sizes above 8/0.

I hope it is out of character, and I apologise now to any who take offence. But, I am not a hider and tell it like it is. My experience and my strong opinion...that's all. Not allowed to burn them at the stake, you see. S

Sorry Donnie, I do hammer the main thrust of commercials because, contrary to your ‘honest’ assertion, my experience is that most are lying, swindling, often wasteful, conservation disinterested, feel-sorry-for-me, wooden-headed, well-off toads who don’t give a stuff about anyone other than themselves and the Money God. I am acquainted with several trawler owners and I have yet to come across a poor one; they have much in common with bleating farmers if you ask me. As someone who also knows several fish-buyers, I’ve got to know who just how they beat quotas and what they regard as restrictive legislation, so no preaching please. If the power were mine, I’d have no conscience or hesitation in shutting the home industry down, even if it meant sky-rocketing fish prices for reliance on imported and farmed fish. Extreme? Yes, but it would only be a shortcut to their own, self-created date with the devil. So the cure: no sympathy; no second chances; and no surrender. And by the way, your information on the Scottish sea loch is absolute tripe. S

Whereabouts is easy...my fridges! And the smaller silvers and whites (catworms) do have their moments for winter flounders. As CC says, on sandy beaches, they can be deadly in combination with harbours.