Tim Kelly

I think one of the reasons for the relative lack of poularity of buzzbaits over here is that they are only really effective on most waters for a few weeks of the year. Our predators are not as aggressive and surface fixated as bass can to be. I have caught lots of chub and a few pike on buzzbaits in shallow rivers between about the middle of June (start of the season) and, roughly, the end of July, after that they seem to loose effectiveness. I believe this has something to do with water temps etc as chub are so easy to catch on all lures for the first couple of months of the season, they'll take anything, including buzzbaits, but as the season goes on surface lures seem to loose their appeal. I'm sure there are some waters over here which fish to surface lures all year round, but in my experience most waters only really fish well to them during the summer, often only the beginning of the season. If you can fish all year round the spring can be very good for surface lures too. I have found that perch, which are the nearest fish we have to your bass, seem to act very similarly to bass, except that they rarely take surface lures. I have done very well in shallow water with slug-gos and senkos for perch and recently aquired some sluggo "SS" baits in 7" and 9", these look fantastic fished weightless and I'm sure the 7" will become a favorite perch bait.

I think the sea hopper is the one from the John Wilson episode. I picked up one of their small 6'6" models a few weeks ago from an ad on the internet. They are dead expensive new but I got this one for a good price. I went out in a Portabote earlier in the week with a friend who owns it. It's the 12ft model and two of us lure fished out of it comfortably. I haven't tried fishing out of my little one yet, I think it may really be too small, but great for those profitable lure retrieving days! I think the bote is around £1500 for the 12ft model, considering the saving on trailers and possible storage on a normal boat I think it is a fair price. The piggy bank is swinging into action, I just have nothing to feed it with at the moment!

Brundall angling, Sportfish etc sell Minn Kota's. If you find a good source of secondhand ones, please let me know!

Have you ever rung the ABU service and parts department in this country? It's a wonder they ever repair anything! They never seem to have any parts in stock and whoever you speak to does very little to inspire any confidence in what they're doing. Americans definitely get far better service than we do!

There's an Intrepid Bucaneer and Seastreak though!

Get in touch with JRC and see if they can supply the spare parts?

As far as I remember it was later than the mid 80s. I expect it was a UK only model and I think it had a fairly short production life.

I think it's like a standard 6500 but with magnetic brakes from memory. Should be great for what you intend using it for, provided you don't mind using a right hand wind reel for lure fishing. I think they were made about 7 to 10 years ago, so it probably doen't have the instant anti-reverse they have now.

I've just seen that ABU have come out with a left handed 7000 reel, the 7001 suprisingly! Can't wait to see what that's like, hopefully it will be more durable than the standard 6501s we use at the moment.

Washes????!!!!

Washes????!!!!

You can also try http://www.reelvalue.co.uk He gets the parts from ABU as well, but at least he has the agro of dealing with the geniuses in the parts department! If you can get the part number, either from the schematic that came with the reel or from one of the ones on the ABU USA site you will have a better chance of getting the right bit first time, or maybe second...

You can also try http://www.reelvalue.co.uk He gets the parts from ABU as well, but at least he has the agro of dealing with the geniuses in the parts department! If you can get the part number, either from the schematic that came with the reel or from one of the ones on the ABU USA site you will have a better chance of getting the right bit first time, or maybe second...

Now you're just trying to confuse me. I will call it "fish".

Now you're just trying to confuse me. I will call it "fish".

Phew, it's obvious then! I think I'll just call it a mullet!

Phew, it's obvious then! I think I'll just call it a mullet!

Thanks Leon. Is there an easy way of differenciating between thick and thin lipped mullet?

Thanks Leon. Is there an easy way of differenciating between thick and thin lipped mullet?

Leon On my hols in Cornwall last week I caught a mullet on a popper (1/2oz rapala skitter pop)and had several other mullet attack the bait. Is this unusual? I was fishing for Bass at the time.

Leon On my hols in Cornwall last week I caught a mullet on a popper (1/2oz rapala skitter pop)and had several other mullet attack the bait. Is this unusual? I was fishing for Bass at the time.

If you're new to piking PLEASE go with someone who knows how to handle them. That is the most important thing as they are very delicate. Summer is a good time to catch pike on lures but NOT a good time to fish baits unless you really know what you're doing. Fishing baits in the summer, the chances of a fish swallowing the bait out of sight is far higher, so best to stick with the lures. Use reasonably large lures to start off with, things like 5" spoons, spinnerbaits and 5-6" plugs. If you use reasonable sized lures matched with a reasonably strong rod you will be able to get the pike in quickly and the lure shouldn't be out of sight at the back of their mouths, as can happen with small lures. You will need a pair of 8" long nosed pliers (from a DIY shop), a hook file (the lure jensen yellow handled one is great) a pair of bolt croppers (DIY shop again), a large net, unhooking mat and maybe a pair of gardening gloves, but the person who's showing you how to handle pike will be able to show you how to handle them so you don't need gloves. For tackle I think a spinning rod of about 7-8ft rated to cast up to about 1.5oz and a medium sized fixed spool is what seems to suit most people when they start out. I would recommend 30-50lb braid too, It sounds heavy, but the advantages are enormous. Hope this has been some help. I don't want to sound too negative, so please enjoy a little summer lure fishing, leave the deadbaits until the winter when the pike's metabloism has slowed down a bit. Don't try to catch pike on your own at first, please go with someone who knows what they're doing, get the fish in quickly and back out even quicker and always use a wire trace. Some helpful websites are: The PAC, http://freespace.virgin.net/vicky.mark/index.html The lure anglers society, http://www.lureanglers.co.uk [ 06 June 2002, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Tim Kelly ]

If you're new to piking PLEASE go with someone who knows how to handle them. That is the most important thing as they are very delicate. Summer is a good time to catch pike on lures but NOT a good time to fish baits unless you really know what you're doing. Fishing baits in the summer, the chances of a fish swallowing the bait out of sight is far higher, so best to stick with the lures. Use reasonably large lures to start off with, things like 5" spoons, spinnerbaits and 5-6" plugs. If you use reasonable sized lures matched with a reasonably strong rod you will be able to get the pike in quickly and the lure shouldn't be out of sight at the back of their mouths, as can happen with small lures. You will need a pair of 8" long nosed pliers (from a DIY shop), a hook file (the lure jensen yellow handled one is great) a pair of bolt croppers (DIY shop again), a large net, unhooking mat and maybe a pair of gardening gloves, but the person who's showing you how to handle pike will be able to show you how to handle them so you don't need gloves. For tackle I think a spinning rod of about 7-8ft rated to cast up to about 1.5oz and a medium sized fixed spool is what seems to suit most people when they start out. I would recommend 30-50lb braid too, It sounds heavy, but the advantages are enormous. Hope this has been some help. I don't want to sound too negative, so please enjoy a little summer lure fishing, leave the deadbaits until the winter when the pike's metabloism has slowed down a bit. Don't try to catch pike on your own at first, please go with someone who knows what they're doing, get the fish in quickly and back out even quicker and always use a wire trace. Some helpful websites are: The PAC, http://freespace.virgin.net/vicky.mark/index.html The lure anglers society, http://www.lureanglers.co.uk [ 06 June 2002, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Tim Kelly ]

Hope you're right, but don't hold your breath. He didn't appear remotely interested in the Lake District livebait debacle.

Hope you're right, but don't hold your breath. He didn't appear remotely interested in the Lake District livebait debacle.