Rockling

Scottish shore caught Skate record: fish of 169lb caught off a pier by G McKenzie in Loch Roag in 1994. I fished near the same location soon after and caught big LSD's and good sized thornback. What was disturbing was that this angling feat reached the ears of local commercial fishers and the area was cleaned out within a short time by trawling. The shore fishing in the Outer Hebrides is good if you think about what species you are targetting and adjust tackle and tactics accordingly. If you catch a big skate off the shore have a witness and a camera, measure and return it and keep location confidential! Rocky.

An amazing fishing trip, with some quality fish caught and returned. Do you keep stats? The new fish seem smaller, any thoughts on this? Rocky.

There will be seals in the area: the worms are seal parasites which the cod pick up from eating seal excreta, the life cycle continues when a seal eats the fish presumably. To avoid getting worms in the flesh gut the fish immediately on capture, otherwise fillet later and pop out worms with the tip of the filleting knife as you hold the fillet up a light source. The parasites found sometimes on the gills are a different species, but I do not know the life cycle of these critturs, except that they are far more destructive to the fish, apparently they have more on their wormy agenda than being fortuitously eaten. Any expert Piscine Parisitologists out there? Rocky.

I moved to Telewest due to lots of dissatisfaction with BTinternet (they cut you off after 2 hours whether your machine was active or not - the number of times this happened when I was downloading things of interest only to rocklings was uncanny!)- Telewest have been very reliable, especially as my machine is nearly on 24/24 with my insomniac rockling brood. I would reccommend Telewest but check if they have come and dug up the road outside your house yet to ensure availability! When they did that there was marvellous chaos for a while as they hit a power line and blacked out the opposite half of our street and then signed off for the weekend. Broadband is very fast and web sites generally load effortlessly. As for technical support one of the younger rocklings handles all this, he must have got it from his mother... Cheers Rocky.

Squids in Angling Supplies Net Angling Best in the Net Angling Emporium or variant, sighs from Rocky, Barbelled Beauty awaits capture, Capture Ltd (anglers and fish!) or Raptlure, or Captlure, get something unique, register the domain name, .com, and take it from there, all words in dictionary long gone! Best of luck!

I really did try hard to get the beast to go into the water, looked really good fitted out with a plastic seat and GPS and all that, but she dug her front hooves in and just would not get wet. What am I doing wrong, Yakity? Would a goad help or can you Yak whisper? Otherwise Lulu is headed for the knackers. Just how do you do it? Puzzled Rocky. PS I cheated, I could not get a yak, I borrowed a Charolais cow. Did that matter? :confused: [ 20. May 2004, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: Rockling ]

Hi, Severus, do u know I don't have a clue! I know that various species of char, closely related to the salmon family, in Scottish Lochs date back to the Ice Age or before, different Lochs, different species, and they are very deep, both the fish and the Lochs, yes, they have different populations which are unique. Where did the brownies come from? On the webbed feet of ducks or the trout equivalent of an Appleseed Johnnie? LOL, reminds me of another thread, you can get a full working DUKW for £14,500, Johnnie, who can drive/sail it is looking for a bottle of malt! We return big brownies now as we consider them an endangered species (got my trout fishing hat on now, it tends to slip over my tiny eyes, what use are barbels if they are on your chin?)- biggest brown trout I ever caught was 2lb 15 1/2oz (yes the one with the riparian rights insisted on weighing it, such a fine fish, fed my family, but that was in happier days when the rivers were full). Anyone know where the brown trout came from after the Ice retreated? Serious question! Rocky. P.S. since I read "Trout Fishing in America" I am a total expert on nefarious practices in Mexico? I read far too much.

I am surprised no one has mentioned rainbow trout, though this is a freshwater species imported from North America for sports anglers. Recently it was established that these genetically altered supposedly sterile fish were breeding in Scottish Lochs (jings reminds one of Jurassic Park), thus becoming a bigger threat to the native brownies - some trout fishers whom I meet occasionally had all the details, this is a tiny brained rockling's recollection of the conversation. Their gloomy prognosis was that the brownies would eventually become extinct on all major Scottish waters.

Newt, ah u have given me a glimpse of heaven, that DUKW, a real horse/camel designed by a committee! The James Bond thingme would suit some loaded stockbroker with money to burn and others to impress, but that DUKW! Imagine the chaos trying to park it at Sainsbury's or Walmart's when going to get some Calamari for bait. You could fish an incoming tide from the motor and get one up on the distance casters! Motorway congestion? Just head across country. Contribute to road safety on winding country roads as everybody follows behind at 25 knots! When I win the lottery I know what I will be scanning e-bay for! Such a craft could be a magnificent obsession. You could cuddle up with Eskimo Nell without the worry of upsetting the craft! I will save up my pennies! I appreciate the trouble you took getting the websites! Rocky

How much does a fishing kayak cost? Would I have any change out of £500? If I stay on the beach, what a landlubber!, my boots cost me £20.00, max. As I fish out of cars, blue badge disabled, I would do better with a DUWK!

Surprise is the first word that springs to mind, regarding this arrangement. Wrapping the line round the rod, if I understand what is described, can only lead to greater risk of abrasion and snap off through friction. The rod, if used correctly, exhausts the fish (any trout fisher will agree)by being held up high; the beach fisher simply reels in - generally if a beach fisher hooks a big specimen he is in trouble as he has no idea how to play a big fish. I have seen this several times when a very active sea fish like a coalfish or a pollack is hooked. Drag set incorrectly - big bust. My rod may be the equivalent of a Skoda but who wants a DeLorean, realistically? Spiral wrap is equivalent to gull wing doors - looks brilliant but is totally non-utilitarian. Think about it, gull wings need an extra 18 inches either side than the average parking bay, otherwise I will continue to shimmy out the 15 inches allowed to me!

My mate Mark runs an online business (Scotland)which specialises in silent fans and insulation systems. He also does water cooled systems which seems totally weird and dangerous to my tiny rockling brain.He has just built me a totally silent machine with fantastic specs. If you are into building your own systems his pages are worth a look. Warning for geeks and nerds only! http://www.whispertec.com He will probably have something that will help, though design and positioning of components are vital from what I understand to stop overheating. Regards, Rockling.

Casting at night from the shore seems to be a dawdle with the new multipliers, brakes and all. Listen for the lead hitting the water and immediately stop the spool with your thumb, after some delicate thumbing through the cast. I used to use fixed spool exclusively for over nights but now use multipliers, any thoughts on this? What would seem to limit multiplier use is the caster's ability to use such a reel and the fear of a terrible fankle. I look at over runs versus unexplained and copious line spooling when I compare multipliers and fixed spools, rather than distance casting and ease of use. Multipliers also would have the advantage in that, with some reels, you can set the reel with the ratchet 'on' in freeline position and thus hear a take or a run, any fixed spools with such specs?. Just some thoughts on a fundamental fishing decision, which type of reel to use.