Brian Carragher

If you're going to travel from Manchester to N Wales how about heading North East and fishing from Whitby, you'll get everything there you want, good boats, good skippers , Big Cod on here runs his own charter boat from there, and you'll catch plenty of fish and have a good night out in Whitby thrown in for good measure

You can fish in the Tees and its tributaries and all of the Northumbria and Yorkshire rivers for trout only without fishing for coarse fish but you're only allowed to use worm if you're bait fishing, you can fly fish and spin (after a certain date, can't remember which it is) but you're only supposed to be fishing for trout You can use float or leger and fish in those areas that hold both coarse and brown trout and you're right the fish don't know its close season so you can catch and return any coarse fish you catch but you can't use a keepnet on the river during the coarse fish close season, not even for trout Maggots are a banned bait on the river systems until june 16th

Think someones trying to get to 15 posts Newt so they can use the PM system to sell some worms This would'nt be margate boy (do a google search before parting with any cash) under a different psudenim would it?

I had a look at the URSA web site, its a bit of a mess really is'nt it?. Whats it all aboutand whats the tie in with the AT and the realfoto.com site

Is Thorney wier on a river?, if it is then I guess it won't fish very well till June 16th

Bu**er I thought I was going to get a lurid account of some murky liason with a 30 something looker

I guess fresh waters as good a place as any to start with, much better odds than fishing in saltwater for roach seriously though I can't see anyone giving up information like that out ona forum good luck though for trying Not knowing Lincoln at at all apart from passing through it, nice Cathedral , I think I'd be hitting some of the known roach hot spots near the town centre early doors or late evening and giving it plenty with caster or legered bread

A scarf is a splice but when you scarf two pieces tofit together you need to make sure that the scarf(splice) does'nt point towards the bow as you'll be moving forwards most of the time and a splice facing the wrong direction forces water into a joint rather than the leading edge of the scarf protecting it If you have'nt got it, try drawing a scarf(splice) on a piece of paper and then imagining water forced against it, one way is wrong the other way is right Can't offer any advice as relevant to your particular boat as I have no idea what type it is nor how the fixing detail work but in general all I've described above will work for most boats. Depending on how and where the two skins come together will determine the final gunnel fixing details

Looks like you had a very good weekend well done

2lb 5oz

The reason being its not called the world wide web for nothing They'll be folk looking in or trolling internet forums just for that bit of easy informayion that will give them easy fishing or the location of big fish. What happens next is an army of anglers flooding an area that they normally would'nt look at and generally kill the fishing, a real pi**er if you're a local and its your favourite water thats now goosed or its your water you can't get on due to the influx of anglers Think Chris was referring to Jake Bowles rather than you as he's trolling an old posting from 3 years ago

Big omission If you are going to scarf the gunnels together to form one long continuous length and you're going to do the same on the inner gunnel then make sure that the inner and outer scarf are'nt near each othe and that theres plenty of distance between the two otherwise you'll have no strength there and you'll have just built a weak spot into the gunnel Can't be anymore general than that not knowing your boat but I've rebuilt and repaired a fair few boats over the years and have'nt found one yet thats been more trouble once started but I have refused to do a couple as they're beyond any reasonable repair

Should have added that if you can get hold of any larch in the right thickness's it makes great gunnels as it steams well and is resistant rot, most clinker built boats are larch planked for a reason

Ply even marine ply is'nt good stuff to make new gunnels out of, the open grain along the cut edge will always take in water and moisture and before you know it they'll be rotton again You can make new gunnels out of softwood or hardwood depending on what you can scource. Hardwood will bend over a period providing its not too thick without the benefit of steam but if you can get steam on it the its very easy to get it to bend Using a steamer, a kettle like apparatus with water heated up in the bottom kettle end and a long long spout to hold the timber and steam in (stuff the end with a rag) and when its flexible enough you cramp it to the boat hull with as many cramps as you can muster If you're lucky enough to get lengthd that will go in in full lengths then you don't need to splice it, if you're usins short lengthd that have to be spliced (scarfed) then make sure the scarf is running away from the direction of travel. Start at the stern and work towards the bow and that way you minimise any water ingress into the scarf Cramp the new timbers in place and let them cool before you start work on them and they'll set in the position you want them. Do exactly the same as you did before and repeat the process for the inner gunnel and let that cool as well When you're ready to stich them together you'll need copper nails and roofs, drill the clamped gunnels together and put the nail in from the outside of the boat so the roof is on the inner gunnel, the idea is that the roof is driven over the nail and then snipped down and the remaining copper nail protruding through is then hammered to a rounded finish securing the nail to the roof Glue any scarfs together using a proper glue, cascamite or similar not PVA and once your gunnels are assembled you'll notice a gap all along the gunnels equal to the tickness of the hull itself (if you're fixing through one skin) if thats the case you have to cut and glue a fillet of timber into place to seal it up Sand and finish Thats the quick abridged version, you can get fuller more explanitry versions on line or some of the boating manuals describe how to do it, if you're more competant and you're fixing gunnels on one shin you can cut a rebate channel under the gunel to slide over the outer skin but make sure you dont make the rebate too wide or you'll have to put some adhesive in to counter any boat movement, if you do this then Sikaflex is brilliant for the job (Ever build do their own version and its just as good but cheaper) Worth doing and when its done you'll enjoy using the boat

Well that depends on wether you're a member of any clubs or nor The traditional close season as was is just about the best time to fish for tench, with the water warming up and the sun growing stronger tench will be a good hard fighting species to aim for, throw in some good roach fishing and it seems to me a nice way to spend the day You could carry on piking locally as theres a few venues within the area where you can fish for pike all summer if you wish You could go North and fish some of the Scottish lochs that hold big vast shoals of roach bream perch and pike all within a couple of hours or so of central Cleveland, you can see where I live,some of those lochs are also good for a variety of bivvy sessions covering a few days duration if you feel up to it You could also jump on a charter boat from hartlepool or Whitby and be into some of the finest summer cod fishing anywhere around our coastline or you could already have a small boat and launch off the local beach's and fish for cod and pollack in much the same way Or you could take the opportunity to do a load of work around the house and earn enough brownie points to see you through the year

"Good news or bad?" Bad Bob, very bad They talk of 5 year sampling and recording of data and the returning of data collection every year by the member states to the EU fisheries committee so to me that says theres real longevity in these proposals and that the RSA is going to be put under the microscope in a way we've never seen before The only exemption proposed is if a member state has a prohibition on fishing by the RSA on a species that is part of a dedicated recovery plan Is that a backdoor way to get a ban on RSA activity on cod fishing as theres a cod recovery plan in most of the member states that share access to the North Sea? Big Brother is coming and its out to get us

Heres the i player link http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00z0..._Boys_The_Mammy

I know sod all about the Mersey and fishing locations but I do know that you're about 5 months early for the mackeral most of which turn up late June early July so you might wabt to leave mackeral fishing till then Flounders and flatties of all description will be caught in the esturies but I do know from reports that cod are caught in numbers throughout the winter so they may be an option if you have the gear to catch them If you're going only with your spinning rod wait till the macky arrive, a phone call in summer to a nearby tackle shop will put you in the right direction

Did anyone watch it BBC1 last night at 11:10 Absolutely brilliant, catch it on the i player if you can, its been a long time in coming to the mainland BBC but its been running for a few years now over the water and definately worth a watch, theres an odd swear word in it here and there

Thinga have'nt changed that much, what worked before will work now so just do what you did before Line choice is a personal thing so if using mono go for a decent make, if theres no snags in the water then 12/15lb will be more than ample, Diawa Sensor being a good buy, 12lb Sensor breaking at about 16lb as they rate it on knot strength (failure rating)not line strength Paternostered baits work well and if allowed livebaits are especially good and the old standard bait on the deck always works Check first to see if anyone now controlls the water as they may have a set of rules outlining what is and what is'nt allowed Bait wise there should'nt be any restrictions unless theres a controlling club otherwise its up to you Size 6 and size 8's will land anything you're likely to catch but you can use bigger trebles if you wish, my preference is smaller razor sharp hooks in the 6/8 range as they penetrate much easier without the need to drive them home Looking forward to hearing how you get on

Really you don't need to apologise for that you know, someone has to Have you looked at the Hookeduk website , they have a range of gear and some second hand stuff for sale and a bit of a sale on www.hookedwholesale.co.uk . they're on the Lawson Ind est in the boro Reel here http://www.hookedwholesale.co.uk/ourshop/p...R-30M-reel.html very good but for the money and some decent rods (Abu) both float and feeder to choose from so you'll get kitted out for not a lot of coin If you're going to fish the ponds nowish I'd go for a feeder rod but if you're going to go in the warmer weather you'll get more use out of a float rod

Amazon seems a better buy but does it come with a shallow spool for general float fishing

ps When pulling for a break instead of holding onto the handle to stop the spool turning, wrap a few turns around a bankstick or something similar, your arm will do if you've enough clothing on it so it does'nt dig in

At a guess I'd say thats the modern version of the reel you have I was going to suggest either shakespear or okuma as brands both quite cheap to buy but pretty hardwearing

Well Budgies sent stuff up this way before, well Redcar to be exact so it can be done It might seem like a daft question but where are you thinking of fishing, theres no point in buying overly expensive gear that is'nt practicle or any good for the venues you're fishing Some good tackle shops in the area that will provide what you want at a decent price , Redcar, M'bro and Billingham and Thornaby have tackle shops tht won't rip you off but theres a few decent websites that also sell decent kit for not much money, it all depends on what you want to catch If you're after a half decent rod and a reel that'll do the job without breaking the bank you'll get change out of £50 and the other £20 should buy all the bits and bobs you need