Westie

I'd agree with Winter on that one. I'm a novice, but took the gamble on a multiplier. It was alot easier to master than I thought. Rod wise, I have only ever got my mits on the two Abus that I use at the moment, but I like them alot. I think there was a recent article in Sea Dangler on the Daiwa Longbeam rod - as far as I can recall, it got a pretty good review.

An example of how not to do it (trouty related, but...) In my very young days of fishing, my grandparents took me to a trout fish farm which allowed fishing to boot. No skill required and as I was lacking in understanding at that stage to catch anything with the remotest bit of fishy sense (nothing changes... ), they thought at least to take me somewhere where I could catch something. I was only 10, but was still sickened watching a lady 'dispatch' a trout with a stiletto heel. I use a salmon priest for sea fishing. It very rarely sees the light of day. Darn big fish still too clever for Westie.

I have Penn 525s - I've never used the ratchet from the shore as bite indicators - most of the fish I catch tend to be smallish in size - undersized bass/codling or flatties etc Is there any advantage to using the ratchet for smaller species, or shall I just carry on watching the nodding tip? (make that motionless tip )

I'll stop rhubarb stalking if they ever make that a sport...

[Deep breath, preparing to be ridiculed] When I was about 22 years old (11 years ago now), a bunch of mates and myself had a monster drinking session. Admittedly, we all got pretty spannered on the old grog, to the extent that we thought it would be a laugh to go walkabout at about 2am. It was a very nice summers night - calm, balmy etc. About 1 mile away from where we lived was a fantastic reservoir (Pitsford, Northants). We all staggered down there and in the end sat on the wall at the dam end just having a yarn. Now I know I've said that I was pi**ed. And so were my mates. But we all saw the same thing. I think I saw it first - I could see 5 or 6 lights, rotating very slowly but moving towards us, looking like it was following the track of the bypass road near the village. It stopped about 500 yards from us, lights still rotating round. No engine sound, nothing. Just spinning lights. No cloud, so no lights being reflected from anything. It then went back in the same direction, again no noise. It was a very sobering moment for all of us. We all saw it. None of us could explain it. We were ******, but we hadn't been on the absynthe. Now I'm not going to be crass enough to proclaim that I've seen an alien spaceship or anything like that. What I can say is that I witnessed something that to this day has never been satisfactorily explained to me. The spinning of the lights and the lack of noise make it difficult to work out. Any theories gratefully received. :confused: PS I wasn't abducted and I haven't been placed on this website to check you earthlings and what you talk about to report back to my superiors either.

Tel - haven't forgotten your kind offer. I've got some time off 7-10th December, but I'm guessing you'll be working. Unfortunately, the weekends are taken up with visits to the outlaws... And I've got a baby daughter who is taking up alot of my fishing time (but worth every minute of it, until she cries and soils her nappy)

Tog: LMFAO.

Thanks for flagging this up Leon. I've just e-mailed asking for a copy of the document and will send in my twopenneth. I have a vested interest as this is the area that I fish regularly, but that said, if this could be the start of a project which could be rolled out elsewhere, then I will happily get stuck in wherever I can.

And ignore how I spell syllable!!

Can someone explain in words of one sylable what the basic mechanics are of an aerialised OTG cast. I want to improve my distance from an overhead thump and I find OTG difficult with clipped down rigs and steep beaches that I tend to fish. Cheers in advance.

Free the Gurnard One. Never caught a tubby before, but still alot of references to tub in my house - wife thinks I've put on a few pounds

Not that I have time to do this, but my dear old dear says that if you watch the live programme throughout the day, you virtually never hear anything - most of it is clipped with the jungle noise played over the top - she reckons that this is simply because they don't want the punter to hear the soundbites that they use for the evening programme. Otherwise, it's to keep the lawyers happy... frosty

Argyll - a beaver might get fluffy after it's blow dried its fur after a hard day in the water. And when it's in it's den, it's inside... I always bring my beaver in at night... it's brassic out there.

This is how it went for BEAVER I am guessing that it is a rabbit? Yes , No , Close 29. I guess that it is meat (food)? No. 28. Can you eat it? Yes. 27. Do you hold it when you use it? Sometimes. 26. Is it colorful? Rarely. 25. Could it be found in a classroom? Maybe. Does it communicate? Unknown. 24. Do you catch it? Usually. 23. Does it live in the forest? Rarely. 22. Can you use it with your friends? Sometimes. 21. Can it be trained to obey commands? No. 20. I guess that it is a yorkshire terrier (dog)? No. 19. Is it fluffy? Yes. 18. Does it have a long tail? No. 17. Is it originally from Europe? Depends. 16. Does it have a long nose? No. 15. Is it heavy? Depends. 14. Is it black? Depends. 13. Is it outside? Partly. 12. Does it have a bushy tail? Depends. 11. Can it climb? Rarely. 10. Is it a predator? Sometimes. 9. Is it a nocturnal animal? Depends. 8. Can it be placed on your head? Sometimes. 7. Does it pant? Depends. 6. Does it have a large nose? Doubtful. 5. Do you use it in your home? Usually. 4. Does it swim? Sometimes. 3. Does it have whiskers? Yes. 2. Does it bring joy to people? Yes. 1. It is classified as Animal.

Alan - any info on where I could get one of these disgorgers would be very gratefully received!

Last session I caught a fine dab, but unfortunately deep hooked. In fact, the hook was only just visible. I wanted to return the fish (as I do with 99% of what I catch) and I did not want to kill the poor critter in the process of retrieving the hook I've got a gemini disgorger, but have never had to use it before. New to fishing and I can't say that it was a great success, but it might be that there is a very simple technique to using it or that I wasn't firm enough with it, for fear of damaging the fish. :confused: In the end, I thought it was probably kinder to cut the snood and let nature take its course with the hook. Obviously deep hooked fish do happen now and again and I'd be grateful for any tips on dealing with the problem or alternatively if I was somehow missing the point with the disgorger. As always, your advice will be gratefully received. santa frosty santa frosty

Home brew is what knackered half of my brain cells. Now what was I saying? It is possible to make good beer, but it takes time and patience. Patience is one thing that I never had. Hence why I never made a good pint. Had some cracking hangovers though.

Must have been a pennel rig...

Prepare to be shot down in flames....: Knock on the door - "Jehovah's Witness"...

I've got the Penn 525 Mags and I love them. Red Rocket Fuel and mags on 4 and the thing cannot be blown up. And I'm a rank amateur with a nice agricultural casting style. Not tried them at night, yet...

Money keeps vanishing from my wallet... And I'm sure my bank manager is not from this realm, either...

Ferret - honeymoon period? Bad luck. Tough break.

I always found that smelt and barbless trebles worked for me... Great news Alan. Glad to hear that things are going well with the treatment and I agree that a positive mentality to all the sh*te that life can throw works wonders. Good luck with the pike/fly combo. I've never tried it myself, but I saw the Henry Gilbey programme where he turned his hand to that method, with rob buckling results. I used to do a bit of fluff chucking a few years ago and have still got the kit. It's a heavy duty reservoir setup, which I'm hoping might be heavy enough for some bassing next summer. Only problem is that the east coast waters are so murky, it seems like it might not work. Only one way to find out. Tight lines to you and look forward to your forthcoming report on the pikelets.

I fished there about 3 weeks ago, but it was a day session. I started about 2 hours into the flood and caught dab, codling, dogfish. Bites went off at top of the tide, but an hour into the ebb saw a good number of fish too. This was on the dity wall area, close to Martello Tower. You can park there no probs, so you don't have too much of a yomp with your gear. As for night fishing, not had the chance yet, but you should see some action. All fish I caught were in the region of 70-100 yards out. Usual baits - rag, squid and mackeral all took fish.

Looks like I'll go get the batteries for mine then and give it a real fast go.