nifty

HI all, Has anyone here tried for or caught any Tope on their yaks? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks nifty.

Hi Yakity, Suddenly i feel very inadequate As for standing up, that was something else i tried,to see what happened but have decided against. nifty.

Hi All, Thanks for the concern YY about my safety on the water but if you'd ever seen me on my windsurfer you'd know i've had plenty of practice at falling in . Nowadays i prefer to be out of hearing range of everyone P*****g themselves laughing when i go A**e over T*t into the drink. Seriously though, one thing i did learn was that the front hatch cover is definitely staying in place when i'm on the sea. My main aim at the moment is to sort out how i keep my fishing gear out of the water swilling around the seat well. I am going to go along with Jaffas method and i have my prototype crate made up and ready to go, just got to make up a leash to fix to the rod to stop it dissappearing. All my bits and bobs are going in ice cream tubs that sit nicely in the crate now after a bit of work with the hacksaw. Thanks Newt for the info on the Anchormate, it certainly looks the business and could be the way to go if my method doesn't work out as i hope. Cheers nifty.

Hi All, Just got home from a weekend at the coast(West Wales)trying out my prowler 13. I had 3 hours out on the water on Saturday in perfect conditions, flat calm and bright sunshine. The first thing i noticed was how easy it was to keep her going in a nice straight line considering I havn't done much kayaking for 30 years, and i wasn't having to over compensate with one stroke over the other. The only gear i had aboard were some dry clothes in a binliner shoved in the front hatch. Stability wise I didn't know what to expect but after 5 minutes i was feeling very confident that i wasn't going to end up in the briny and went for a good long paddle out to a reef marker buoy half a mile out that i regularly fish around. Once out there i tried moving out of the seat to get to the bow hatch to see what happened when you move about but as you get further forward she becomes very tipsy and i wouldn't like to try getting the hatch cover on and off whilst on the water. Also I didn't realise how much water you would ship through the scuppers and moving forward had it pouring in. Do you guys put bungs in the scuppers as a matter of course when afloat or just put up with water sloshing about? I don't really want all my gear floating around my feet whilst i'm fishing so i'm thinking i'll have to put bungs in. Next i tried just moving about within the well and sitting sideways with my feet over the side and this felt very stable, even when i tried rocking her side to side to see how far she would go without tipping i don't think i was in any danger of going over without forcing her. When in the seat i tried turning around to get to where my milk crate (a la yy)will be and this felt a little unsteady to begin with but i don't think it'll be a problem when i've got used to it, the only doubt i have is how to get the anchor over the stern. I am thinking along the lines of having the anchor rope in place over the stern with the anchor in the stern well and a length of rope with a loop in the end to run freely along the anchor rope. This short length will be tied somewhere to hand and when the anchor is lowered the main anchor rope will slide through the loop and you can feed it out to the required point, whereupon it is tied off leaving the short piece lying alongside the kayak. When you come to haul, it's just a matter of pulling on the short rope and dragging the kayak around beam on the tide and hauling without even getting out of the seat. I hope this makes sense and i realise it might be a bit dodgy in a fast tide but how many of you are dropping the hook in fast water? On the whole i'm very happy with my prowler and i 'm hoping we get loads more days like i had saturday weatherwise so i can get back out there with the fishing tackle as well, and i would definitely recomend going out without any gear on board for the first time or two if you havn't got much experience so you can see exactly what happens when you're afloat. sorry for going on so long, and bring on the fish!!!!!! nifty.

Hi Yakity, Thanks for the warm welcome. My Kayaking experience is i have to admit a distant memory when my dad built me a plywood kayak as a kid(lots of fun in the surf). Last summer i got hold of a couple of old glassfibre sit in kayaks thinking they would be ok for a bit of fishing if i was careful but I frightened myself to death nearly and thought perhaps not. The biggest problem was getting into the dam things. I have been using Mirror Dinghies for the past umpteen years but the hassle of storing, transporting and generally manhandling them up and down the beach alone finally got to me and for the last year or two i have stayed ashore unless i could borrow a mates dinghy which is on a mooring. As for safety, gear at the moment it's just a lifejacket and anchor with a compass in the tackle bag. I am looking at buying some reasonable clothing for yakking and am open to suggestions, preferably at the lower end of the price range as the prowler has spent me out for a while. Regards nifty.

Hi Jaffa, I'm not planning on cutting holes in anything just yet, my toolkit (brick hammer, Trowel) doesn't run to DIY boat work I have to admit that i like the uncluttered approach because i tend to bash into anything within arms length and i don't want to knock anything over the side if possible. Regards nifty.

Hi Speciman, I'm hoping to get out over the Easter break at New Quay, West Wales. Iv'e got a caravan down there and Wife, Dog and 4 kids (must get a telly) permitting Will have a play about then. The fishing won't be up to much for a month or two yet but will be out getting a feel for it. Thanks for the advice about where to go for a rod holder, i'd had a look at their website and that shows a Danico (I think that's what it said) rod holder, is that any use? or do they have other options. Many thanks nifty.

Hi there yakkers, Just collected my prowler 13 on Saturday and got it home to admire. I went for the basic not the angler version as I figured I could adapt it myself to suit. It looks mighty impressive in the garage I'm just hoping it'll look the same when i'm attached to a 30lb Tope 2 miles out and counting. As luck would have it I've picked up a shiny new milk crate on the site we were working on today and now am wondering how to turn it into a rod holder/tackle box. Some of the kayaks you boys use look mighty impressive when they're kitted out but at the moment I'm just looking to get the minimum of gear on the water, ie one fly rod when I go flyfishing(for bass) or one bottom fishing rod etc. The first thing I need is a simple to attach rod holder, any ideas on the best place in the UK to get something functional that will hold a fly rod or spinning/boat rod or do I need to buy two seperate holders. I've looked at the Scotty website but I'd prefer to try and get something on this side of the Pond if that's possible. Any ideas would be gratefully received, nifty.

I,ve been trying for a flounder on the fly since christmas but so far have failed. I have caught both turbot and flounder {one of each) on small tobies in the past and think that it would definitely be worth a persevering with the fly for both species. I have read somewhere of small redgills being used with some success off the shore. The dozen or so other turbot i've had have all fallen to mackerel fillets. I found that whole fillets off small mackerel split in half lenghtways produced better results and even turbot of only a pound managed to swallow the lot, indeed smaller baits tended to lead to very deep hooking which isn't really what you want. Single hook paternosters with 30 inch snoods seemed perfectly adequate with size 2/0 aberdeens and even on the very shallow beaches i fish, casts of only 50 or 60 yards have been needed to get to them. As for tides, low water and the first two hours of the flood seem to be best on spring tides. nifty