Glasgowdan

Hi there, I would drive the short distance to dunbar, launch about 3 hours either side of high tide and find some nice gullies to drift along, use small pirks, 6-8oz, or a 2 hook rig with a large silver spoon built into the rig body (causes mental vibrations that the fish love), bait with either small chunks of mackerel, mussels or lugworm, and you should get into plenty cod, ling, coalies, and the odd catfish!!! can have a right good day out there. Ive found the bigger tides best

sounds good peter... its about £150 a boat isnt it? as I say I have the car, and to be honest at a push I can take 4 in it... prefer folk not to smoke in the car, but thats not an issue just now! id well be up for a day on the shore too. my number is 0141 3570905/07870 345607...do the others fancy sharing their numbers? cheers Dan

huge ive sent a pm, cheers

for a similar price I would recommend the key west boat rods, sold on ebay by a guy in carlisle quite often. they are a bit light for their action so a 20-30 is more like a normal 12-20, but they have a nice progressive action, light tips with good bite detection, and are very light to hold too

cheers doug, Ive fished the areas mentioned for a few years now, always in someone elses boat with generally at least 40hp engines, so ive never been aware of these issues. Sounds like itw worth holding off until i find something suitable. Ill let you all know how i get on

phoned Ian today, think it was the missus... the only availability is the 20th July with ians other boat...does he ask for a deposit before booking? does anyone know him well and would rather put their name to the booking rather than me whos never been with him before? cheers

thanks manxman, a bit of genuinely useful information there... ill have to keep an eye out for something with a bit more pace, for the safety aspect of things I think, rather that than potter about in a small slow boat! dont want to be a burden and risk having to call someone out to help me because im not in a good enough rig! ill get in touch, my friend and i are so close to getting a small boat, but are on a tight budget, so its just going to be a chance that we find something suitable in the next couple of weeks. im dying to get out hough, the seasons approaching and the fish are a-calling

yeah its isle of whithorn more than the mull that I want to fish... its a boat a bit like this one http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F62370/ only 14ft... really the places ill be going are the sea lochs (no problem there), dunbar/berwick, firth of clyde for mackies, and whithorn. so you guys are thinking it should be ok, long as I stay away form the big tides??? cheers Dan

Hi all, Im looking at buying a small boat with my mate, and have seen a nice one with a 10hp engine. Generally we fish close to shore, but im concerned about fishing areas like the mull. does anyone fish a small boat with engine that size and have any advice to offer? Im more thinking isle of whithorn tope fishing a mile from shore, will that engine be enough to get us back into the tide? Cheers

hi norrie, aye sharing transport sounds IDEAL! heh... this polluted old world doesnt need any extra cars on the road now, does it? I should be down on a weekend day during the june week, and dying for a shore tope session... got my new penn 525mags to sort them out for me.

looks like it should be possible...ill give him a phone this week then. where are you all hailing form anyway? Im in, err, glasgow

Well if i can book ian for about the 20th july, could i assemble 3 more people?

i fancy midweek in july if anyone can make up a goup

Does anyone have contact number or websites for charter boats around isle of whithorn, and other south west areas? No use phoning ian burrett, hes booked up until october at weekends! Im looking for some tope fishing in june. Im sure theres a couple smaller boats at isle of whithorn but cant find anything on them, cheers

I use a 5000gte yakkity for the pollack fishing, and yes I do like it but they need hauled apart and thoroughly serviced once a year or else they rust to hell... not made for the sea. and somehow I want the extra smoothness of front drag. Mianbassman, abus are great, but you really should try a penn 525... once you get a feel for it and the extra power it offers over the abu you wont go back. abus are nice to use but just get overloaded sometimes on a heavy retrieve. and peterthefisherman, speedmasters are ok... but the gears are too small for the retrieve ratio and they just virtually lock up with a double of dogs or so... nice to cast and use, but underpowered. My choice of light beach reel, top 3 in order would be 1. penn 525 mag 2. abu mag elite 3. daiwa sl20sh

norm b you are right... im half asleep!

ps I know a guy looking to sell his penn tld20-two speed, hes never used it and had a 30-80 ugly stick of some kind too. if anyone is looking for a kit like this I could let davy know. daft guy bought them with idealistic views of skate fishing but never once had the time to book a charter!

I dont have faith in okumas... the only ones ive seen have been rusty and falling to bits! Shimanos seem to be geared too fast for the power they hold, but i havent used any of the bigger ones. There seem to be a few people with problems with the abu 7000lever drag reels too, so Ive decided to stick with what Ive got. Not used them enough though. The charter special I think is going to go up for sale as i find it very hard to get into to sort out any tangles etc, and again doesnt seem to have the power that the penn reels do. Hrm, I love reels! sorry to keep going on about them! Im dying to get hold of a nice front drag baitrunner for the pollack fishing, shimano dont seem to do any, but daiwa have one... anyone have any experience of this reel? cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 cheers Dan

nice collections guys. I was a dvout abu man until I started using penns... I realised how much tougher they are, and with larger gears thjey winch in tackle and fish that any abu would creak whilst doing. I do love the 7000syncro though... does anyone have one for sale? Ive got a converted one in there but really want another with levelwind for the boat. Otherwise I think its sortd, dont need any more reels for a while! Had the abu6600lever drag on ebay but took it off again, I cleaned it up and couldnt bear to think about being parted! its a lovely reel.

Just wondering what collection other guys have. Ive taken a wee snap of mine photobucket.com/albums/v242/glasgow...rrent=Reels.jpg And calculated that i paid £475 in total for all 9... not bad, only average of £50 each! But I ifnd ive got one or two I dont use (namely the abu syncro and charter special). Interesting to see what people in other parts of the country use.... indicating their different fishing etc.

HI there, I have a penn 975LD and want to service it, but ive got the side plate off and the spool doesnt seem to be coming off from the gear housing. I have unscrewed the nut over the lever drag lever as far as I can but it doesnt come right off, taken the handle off, and thats as far as I can get! Does anyone know what to do, if i am missing anything etc??? Thanks

hey chris... i thought i sent it sorry! pm sent now, cheers

They are excellent, and I make my own out of clothes hangers. You really need someone to show you how to do it... When i fish the boat, i don teven have to touch the fish 50% of the time, and that counts spurdogs, rays, pollack and cod etc. Better for the fish and your fingers too!

Jeep im going to have to pull out, it was for my mate and i was sure he wanted a 5000 but ive just spoke to him and its a 6000 hes after... sorry to waste your time! Id stick it on ebay, bound to get a good price there

I fish waters with tides... proper tides, generally 2-3 knots or more. a kayak does not go much faster than this, so how can you sit in a spot and fish in a 2 knot tide? anchor???