SeaDooDavid

All advice welcome as Mullet are a new species for me! I have watched em for years but always thought they were uncatchable! Not any more Thanks Bb Dave

Hi SM Are you comin up to our big puddle (Coniston) some big pike here! and if I can catch em.......nuff said ha ha SDD~~~

All went back unharmed, obviously, in case anybody wondered!

Thanks Bb They were just babies! I see some HUGE ones but they are very spooky and a little less interested in the bait, but gonna try a spinner with a little harbour rag on the hook as I have seen on a dvd about mullet that I have Worth a shot anyway! SDD~~~

After a lot of trying, finally got a mullet Nifty (3 actually) I used my new 15' carbon barbel rod with the stiffest of the 3 supplied tips. After trying bread for months, I started using tiny maggots (cat food produced and used as they are only a few days old so small) and "bingo" got mi first hook up! The first one came in like a load of seaweed until it got in the shallow water and then got a bit upperty about being caught! I see what you mean about a fight! the bloomin thing was leaping and tail thrashing about like crazy ha ha. The other two similar only the second one took off as soon as it hit the maggot! I had the freespool on and it took a whole heap of line before I cranked the handle to engage the clutch! Glad I set the drag light because this one would have been off I am sure as it seemed to never run out of steam!. Fantastic fun and I am glad I kept my patience after all this time trying for em mate, so thanks for the advice! Hopefully, more to come The last photo is the place where you were trying with the fly! SDD~~~~

Apart from that though? SDD~~~~

Superb that Simon My next job on the kayak!!!! Ta! SDD~~~

I have had one since I first started yak fishing for that very reason and also in case all the gear that we have leashed to the yak gets tangled around you should you flip!! Would rather cut stuff loose than go down with it! Good advice well worth repeating ! SDD~~~~

May the god of weather be with you SDD~~~

Just one question Mark Why do you have a swan attached to your paddle keep? If the RSPCA see that you may be in trouble! SDD~~~ SUPERB again mate!

I think everyone on here wil agree that JO give superb service! If I buy another yak IT WILL BE AN OCEAN KAYAK FROM JOHNSON OUTDOORS (Probably a trident!!!) Although I love my scupper pro I don't see other manufacturers on here trying to help out, or supplying yaks at meets to try? I wouldn't go anywhere else! SDD~~~~~

From what I can remember from Mikes pics, he had one fitted and it looked pretty good quality! I also saw one in Iron Stores in Jersey and again, it looked pretty good on the shelf! SDD~~~

Yep! All ready to go (apart from the weather Grrrrr!) Should be good fishing if this blustery weather ever eases Bloke pulled out a Bass from our estuary mouth that looked identical size to the one you had but they reckoned it was a double!! Think yours may have been slightly underestimated mate Soon as it calms a bit I am out! Got some new gear that needs testing heh heh! Also been enjoying them pike and some perch from coniston marina that were attacking my artificial! so got some little-uns to try, should be fun SDD~~~~

Battery will last all day with the backlight on but pointless in daylight but no worries if you forget (assuming 3-7 ah battery!) I always have my F/F set to ultra so you get the latest whats happening on screen (not as chaos in real life!!) Remember whats shown is a "snapshot" of what the finder sees at that moment so blips of fish could be anywhere and any side of the yak as they dart about!. The real beauty of the finder is confirming that fish are about (watch the screen go black when mackies go under the yak!!) and the most useful bit is seeing what bottom type and structure there is! Humminbird say "find the structure, find the fish" and this is bang on IMHO as finding rocky bottoms, weed beds, and sandy bottom all give indication what to fish for! Wouldn't be without my finder now. I have my finder going at home while the yak is propped up by 2 chairs for a good while as I set up the GPS plots etc and I believe it does it no harm (done this for years now) but it is set in silicon inside the hull!. As you get used to the finder you can switch off "auto" and tweek the finder to be more effective under different conditions, I find this good in fresh water or very deep salt water. Good luck and all the best SeaDooDavid~~~~~~

Bigger than my bungalow but the garden is not as nice SDD~~~~

You Bar Steward Brittas!!!! Love it Can't wait to post my first Bass SDD~~~~

More of a toy / Gimmick than a usable finder IMO

Now, now! we don't want to get back to threatening to rip people in half again now do we? Peace out dudes

Hi Liam, welcome aboard mate There are quite a few on here, all great guys so I am sure some of them will be in touch Sadly I myself am not a Jerseyman (sighs deeply!) but spend as much time there as I can. If you see a orange and yellow scupper proTW paddling around the fort at St Aubin at insane o'clock (3am ish!!) then that will be me ha ha! All the best SeaDooDavid~~~~

Hi Andy, welcome aboard Drip rings are better these days, mine stop the drips! Again most cags and tops will stop that water getting in no problem at all. As for the crate, I only use mine for chucking my catch in! Yeah I can sit side saddle but it doesn't suit me personally so I don't bother / need to!. The best thing I did was to fit a 6 inch hatch in front of my seat area giving access to the inside of the hull (handy if you want to add fittings later too as you can reach inside to tighten up nuts etc) The hatch is well big enough to fit a sandwhich box and other goodies inside! I bought a collapsable ground bait mixing bowl (abount 16"round) and squeezed it in this hatch. This means that all my goodies that I want to get to (food, scales,first aid kit, phone and camera in waterproof bag etc) are all a single twist of the hatch away! Simple!!. enjoy yourself mate and be prepared for the infectious nature of this fantastic sport! Having the misses interested is 75% of the battle when it comes to getting fishing passes you jammy so and so ha ha! All the best SeaDooDavid~~~~

WOW ~~~~~ That is turning into a serious fishing machine Thanks for the report Mark, a pleasure to read / view and inspiring in the extreme SDD~~~~~

Corking idea SDD~~~~

I have the H/Bird matrix17 dual and it is superb! That one on your link is from the US with all the pitfalls mentioned earlier! SDD~~~~

Hi Paul I have successfully used bog standard silicon for the last few years but I believe sikaflex is supposed to be the best ( I think most big chandlers have it) someone here will put you on to it near your location. What I would recommend is using a method of "bubble free" application that I found on this forum, and that is to cut the end with the applicator completely off leaving the whole tube open at that end!. Do this when you are ready to go and have everything to hand. Push out a huge blob (slightly longer than your transducer (ducer)) right where you want the transducer to be fixed and use your finger or a piece of scrap plastic to cut off from the tube. What you are trying to achieve is a solid tube of mastic which will be bubble free. Push the transducer into it (facing the right way!) slowly push in and slightly move forward then backward on the way down to the bottom. When it gets there apply a weight to the top (or wedge a stick or something to hold it down onto the hull while it dries) You can smooth the "blob around the top of the transducer if you want it to look neat, but it does not really matter, the important thing is that you havn't squirted in a load of mastic like spahetti and then mixed it with a spatula or a finger etc, which will always have air bubbles in it!. The method I used to weigh the ducer down while drying was to cut a piece of hard foam packing (pipe insulator cut flat would do) to the shape of the ducer top. I pressed the ducer top (the part with the fins that would attach to the bracket if you were to mount it outside a boat) This left indentations in the hard foam and I cut a rough shape out with a craft knife. This then fitted over the ducer perfectly and the top of the foam being then flat was perfect to balance a weight on top of (I used a few small dumb bell weights left over from my more ambitious fitter days, errhem!) Perfect!!! Here's the hard bit ~~~~~~ leave it to dry, untouched for a good 24 hrs or 48 if you can hack it!! The better the set, the less chance of bubbles the better etc etc!. This is my 3rd year with my ducer mounted this way, and like Speciman said on another post on this forum, I can see my weight, line and feathers go down to the sea bottom (really!) on my humminbird matrix17. The "picture" is glitch free and I have compared it to my mates who has a similar F/F but on his boat and mounted on his prop and mine is as good if not better and he admits this ha ha!. The ducer is mounted "rock solid" and I am sure you could lift the yak up by it ha ha!. I have mounted it roughly below where my feet are and I shove a beach ball inside my hatch and inflate it to make a kind of bulkhead, which enable you to still pack kit in the front hatch and also adds bouyancy (I also squidge anothe beach ball right up into the bow for the same purpose, this also stops any packed kit sliding about (even your battery box if it not tied in somewhere!) You could use bow and stern proper bags if you like (about £25 a pair) but beach balls are 50p each! Which ever way you choose to mount it, good luck mate and I am sure it will work out fine. The good thing about silicon fitting is, if it goes wrong, unpeel, pick off all the silicon bits (very theraputic!) and have another bash! Use the rest of the silicon for other jobs after the ducer has dried (tape the applicator end back on!) I taped the end over with masking tape and it is still usable in the tube!!!! All the best SeaDooDavid~~~~~

Hey Stu Ditto Moonyakker! Mine is fine for my 13.5 stone too! she sits nicely in the water and takes waves no differently than some of the Prowlers SDD~~~~