Happy Dude

quote: Originally posted by KennyC: What happened to Cinnamon 'lucky' Potatoes that had a plastic soldier inside? [/QB] i'd forgotten about those things, they were disgusting, but the midgie soldier made it worthwhile, still hate cinnamon. what about AZTEC bars?? also, how come you never open a bar of chocolate to find it had turned white anymore

hi winter, with whites they will keep almost forever if you look after them properly. i haven't kept them for years, but i when i did i could keep them for 6-9 months no problem. i used to put them in seed trays in the fridge with just enough water to cover thier backs, not too many and don't put matchsticks in with snakes as the big ones will eat the small ones, you need to make sure the tempreture stays stable and there is something to catch any drips of freshwater before they get in with the worms. when you get them check thier condition, keep broken worms separate from whole ones, watch for worms with blisters as well quarantine these too. check every day for the first couple of weeks, change water if it gets cloudy or smelly, after a while you won't need to check them much, once a week maybe. always keep spare water in the same fridge as the worms as they don't like being put into warmer or colder water. thats about it, you could use coral sand instead of coal dust, doesn't look as bad in the bottom of the toilet after you tip a tray of rotters down the pan and the sand/coaldust doesn't flush away ;o)

satchmo, you don't need take light rods with you, just go into walmart or k-mart and you will pick up suitable combo rods and reels for fishing on the bridges and docks for peanuts, there is a huge walmart in florida city which you drive through to get to the keys, you could pick up a couple of combos for $50.00 or so, for a fortnight it's cheap rental ;o) [ 30. July 2004, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: Happy Dude ]

just thinking there, you don't need to get on a boat to enjoy some great fishing, the first time i fished in the keys i was with my family, we stayed in a small place on the island called tavanier, just before islamorda, it was on the gulf side and had its own boat dock, under the dock was jumping with mangrove snappers, trigger fish, angelfish, small cudas, i even caught a small nurse shark about 20lb on a tiny spinning rod with 6lb line through to the hook, some of the snappers were about 2lb and fought like a 4lb coalfish would, what a scrap, you didn't need anything fancy for bait, we found the best thing was bits of ham and turkey anything meaty infact, just make sure you have plenty of hooks as the small barracudas appear like lightening and bite your hooks off without you feeling a thing. les

satchmo, we stayed here http://www.lasiestaresort.com/outside.htm pretty nice, basic accomodation, friendly, mind and display your parking permit, i didn't and it cost me $170.00 for towing and storage les

hi satchmo, his name was capt pete king and he worked from the island on tavanier just before islamorada. if you go into bud and marys or caloosa cove you will get your choice of skippers all willing to do the fishing of your choice, tarpon, bonefish permit, from the flats, inshore and offshore on bigger boats for anything you could want. trolling for dolphin and sailfish can be exciting but a bit monotonous if theres not much doing, there is always something to get from the wrecks and reefs plus the water is so clear at times you can see the fish take your bait in 70-100 feet of water, then watch the sharks and barracudas chase it all over the place.....lol the problem...if it is a problem, they get so many people who have very little or no fishing experience that they assume that you are the same and treat you as a beginner, tell them your fishing experience and you won't feel patronised whan they show you how to flip the bail arm on a fixed spool. paulg is right as well, if you get the right guy you will have a good time, last time i was over my first fishing day of the trip was from a flats boat from bud and mary's, can't remember the guys name sorry, i hooked a small fish i didn't have a clue what it was, as he netted it he was shouting about world records, it was a ladyfish, the average size is 1-1.5lb, this one weighed 5lb, it didn't mean anything to me, i wanted a tarpon and was a bit disappointed, he reckoned it was the biggest ladyfish he had ever heard of i told him to kill it if he wanted to for the publicity it would bring him but he insisted on returning it alive, turns out the florida state record was 4lb 10oz and had stood for donkeys years, the world record was 5lb 14oz, fish of a lifetime??? rather have caught a tarpon......lol i'm hoping to go back in the next couple of years, when i do it will be in april or may, it isn't too humid and there is less thunderstorms and its peak tarpon season. http://www.caloosacove.com/oldsite/about/ http://www.budnmarys.com/ hope this helps les

hi newt, a lot better than the times i was there i think we got $1.40 or so to the £ les

hi satchmo, i have fished islamorada a couple of times and the fishing has ranged from bad to brilliant. from what i have learned the spring months are best for tarpon and bonefish, also offshore for dolphin etc, but the best for me was fishing the reefs and wrecks for permit, barracuda, jacks, snappers and everything inbetween. there is also a lot of good skippers and an awful lot of bad ones, i had a bad one on my first trip, my boy (9) got a barracuda about 20lb and the skipper wouldn't bring it into the boat for a picture, too dangerous.......my ar... butt ;o) but the second time i went we fished on a larger boat most of the time on the reefs and wrecks, brilliant, big fish, light tackle, i got a 25lb permit on a fly rod, first and only fish i have caught on a fly rod too, but we cheated using live crabs for bait, 35lb blackfin tuna on 20lb spinning rod, barracuda to 30lb on 12lb gear sightcasting live baits....if we had fishing like that here i would never go to work there is a small marina a couple of miles south of islamorada called "caloosa cove" we fished with a guy called roy on a boat called "tiki", and with a lady skipper on a flats boat who was brilliant, she just about wet herself laughing at me for trying to tail in a 100lb+ nurse shark (think 100lb bull huss)into the boat for a photo, these things can bite thier tails and it nearly got my fingers twice. it was 3 years ago and the prices were steep then, a full day tarpon (8 hours)2 people max cost $400 + bait + tip the big boat was $660 + bait, live crabs were $2.00 each + 15% tip for the deckie 6 people max hope this helps les

looks like the bait davy

thanks for your support winter, i'm very touched by your kind words. you didn't used to post as "bob the fish bloke" on the NESA site a couple of years ago did you? les

quote: Originally posted by Cranfield: I suspect most people were not amused, but chose to ignore you. [/QB] got to get the last word eh?? looking at your last post, who are you to speak for over 5,000 other members, talk about your sweeping generalisations get over your own sense of self importance will you....please last words from me, but not i suspect from you cranfield les not a cretin

i never mentioned anything about old age or senility, just about too much time on ones hands what was so offensive anyway? was it me slagging the vicar on BBC, are you a religious man or was it the dawn french remark, she's not a real vicar you know! one mans meat is another mans poison, i find it offensive to be branded a cretin on the strength of one post. i find this with a lot of forums, there is always the guy who has been a member since day one with 1,000,000 posts to his name thinks it's his given right to tell newbies whats right and whats wrong. if the post was so bad gaffer the moderator would have edited it himself or contacted me to do so myself the internet has given a voice to the people who would normally never get an audience this is the reason why you never see any of the top magazine guys on forums there is always people taking shots at them as soon as they stick thier heads over the parapet. sorry if i offended you crankfield but i'm sure a lot more people got a laugh at my post than took the huff. les

thats a bit strong crankfield, you think you know me from one dodgy humourous post? thats the problem with retirement....too much time on your hands, you can spend all day looking for people to make sweeping generalisations about, my late old dad was the same, he judged people the minute they opened thier mouths and said something he didn't agree with. i'm not a cretin, i just have a different sense of humour to you and if more people think it is offensive i'll withdraw the post les

cranfield, i did apologise in advance

hi alan, hope you get better weather than i had, i don't think i'm ever going to catch a proper bass. i took a couple of the biggest plugs he has for my mate who is going to mozambique to fish for giant trevally from the shore, if he brings them back i'll take them to kenya next year to use for the same, they look exactly like the frigate mackerel we used in january this year. les

lol @ winter..... she was nearly as fat.... as i once read in the VIZ comic, "dawn french may be a sassy sensuous woman, but i wouldn't want to stick my nose in her arse crack on a hot day" sorry!!!

there was a female vicar on the "heaven and earth show" on BBC this morning and she was tearing her face about japan wanting to kill more whales than ever and if they couldn't do it legally they would do it anyway, but, someone mentioned the cod stocks in the north sea to her and she said she didn't care about cod because they didn't make the noises whales make and went on to do some REALLY cringingly bad whale sounds, she seemed to think it was all a joke, christ i wanted to kick her fat arse so i did :mad: metaphorically speaking of course sorry for the rant ;o) les [ 25. July 2004, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: Happy Dude ]

i'd like to take a minute to thank chris parker for the day out on his boat during my holidays a couple of weeks ago. although we never got much in the way of fish...because of the weather believe it or not...i had a great day, he didn't even want to charge me for the petrol, but i paid anyway, also if anyone needs plugs, he's your man... here's his web pages http://cfishlures.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ again, thanks chris les

hi there, this thread reminds me of a day at st.abbs last year, after anchoring up for flatties round from the head we saw about 10-15 people in kayaks come paddling by, one of them stopped for a chat and asked me what it cost to launch my seahog in st.abbs harbour....£10.00. he informed me guy who takes the money for the slip wanted £10.00 EACH from the kayakers..... so they went round to coldingham beach and put in for free. a bit steep considering they carry their yaks down from the car park where it costs £5.00 to park for the day. les

i used to have one of these rods years ago, the 30lb version, i never particularly like it and i was glad when it got shut in the car door and lost 6" off the tip.....it gave me the excuse to my wife i needed a new rod ;o) though i can't remember what i bought, it must have been worse...lol

14600 boring scottish sites....we win []

looks like david need to get posh to read his book to him again http://www.nesa.cibs.org.uk/becks.jpg

you are probably right argyle, i forgot to mention to get it sent by the US post office and not by a carrier like UPS, and i am in the scottish capital not an outlying area, except to anyone south of watford gap, eveywhere is an outlying area ;o)

hi all, if you get an item sent from the states marked as a gift, and the invoice sent separately you can sometimes sneek it in under the radar, i did this earlier this year with a lowrance sounder, i got it sent to my mates daughter in texas and she sent it on marked "gift", it just took a wee bit longer and cost me an extra £20.00 in postage. mind you, in the UK this set is £400.00, it cost me £250.00 from america total it was delivered without being opened by customs, just thought i would let you all know that this loopole exists, but i don't think you would get away with doing it evey week ;o)

hi alan, welcome to the world of small boat ownership. someone once said "owning a boat is like standing under a cold shower tearing up £10 notes" i think he was right, there is always something wrong/needing done, maintained etc, etc.