SeaDooDavid

Done! (first in, besides Elton of course yehaaa!) If we can't help out after all the hard work you put in to give us our message boards, then there is something very wrong!!!! Thanks Elton Get posting boys! SDD~~~~~

What is Angling?................................... Expensive! SDD~~~~

Hi mate Not decrying portables at all but I would plump a few extra quid and get a traditional fishfinder (whatever make, you fancy!) They really are worlds apart when it comes to what you can "see" on the return on the screen!. Forget silly fish symbols. Look at the sea / lake / river bed structure! Small fish hide here, big fish chase em! simple!. One of the finder makers have a saying......find the structure, find the fish! By structure I mean whatever species you are looking for will be at different structure locations. Sandeels will be at sandbars (Bass will chase em) Pollock and Wrasse will be among rocks and crevices. The "bigger" finders really do show the bottom features well and thats what you are looking for!. I actually have a gps through mine but to be honest I just paddle towards my mark and when I see the rocky bottom / kelp that is my local fish holding area I am there Like Mark Crame pointed out you do not need to drill holes! The cables can go through the hatch and the rubber seal will keep it dry in there. The "electronics" are: 2 wires to battery, transducer is already attached to the finder. Bingo you are done! hardly complicated! You can mount the "screen" to a piece of wood / plastic and hold it on your deck by bungies etc if you want or look at some of the cracking ideas guys on here have used (search for fishfinder installation etc). stick the ducer to the inside of yer hull in a big blob of mastic (easilly removable, and great therapy peeling it off if you want to move it ha ha!) The "rod mounted" h/birds are a bit gimmicky IMO (don't shoot me!!) but are fine if you like em. It is just that they are £100 plus! and you can get a good full size (I am avoiding the word "real") finder for really just a few quid more (5 or 10 quid!) and I think you will migrate to one eventually when you see others with them. Take your time choosing as you don't "need" one ha ha!. All the best............SDD~~~~~

Textbook answer IMO SDD~~~~

Hi JT I hope they are found! I saw it on the news (I have sky set to channel Island news (spotlight) and watch it every day and had seen this!) I was wondering if they were holidaymakers as all the locals know the power of the Alderney race! Like you say JT hoping they turn up somewhere having changed their minds! All the best mate SDD~~~~

I tried getting a kayak for the wife but the guy brought her back after a day Oh no there goes the pike rod I wanted for Christmas ha ha! SDD~~~~

"Martins Haven" !!!!! Cmon' That's your back garden isn't it? Anything for a buck!!! heh heh SDD~~~~

No mate, not the boat / yaks, just the debate ha ha Personal choice is just that, personal and whatever floats your boat works (groans at cr@p pun!) All kayaks work for different purposes and I would never let anyone put me off my choice Advice, yes, needless crticism, no! Try one if you can, and if you like it and it does what you want.....get it! Easy! All the best SDD~~~

Oh No!! Not again guys!!!!!!!!!!!!! SDD~~~~~~

Unhooking my first real pike One of my happiest moments! Thanks Stu All the best SDD~~~~

Hey Mark My rod holder is held by "peel" rivets which are aluminium and have held it rock solid for the last 2.5 years You can see them through the hatch and they are only coming out when theyare cut out!!! They have to be reasonably long to get through the yak and the holder! SDD~~~~~

Nice one JT Good to see you out and about, sounds gooooood! Bass next eh? SDD~~~~

Excellent report Blaze! Those Gurnards are great arn't they? I catch (and release) quite a lot of em. The ones I get make a croaking sound and puff out a bit when you pick em up~~strange! Nice one mate That's a serious looking finder you have there by the look of it, by the way! ~~~~ Nice SDD~~~~

Ooooh just looked at that! I am just back from leave on them dates but might be able to get the weekend at a push (it's a bugger living this far up the UK ha ha) Right see what the FPO says Cheers Mark SDD~~~~

Ha ha Yep got my voice back now (the misses is delighted ) I think Stu must have thought he was talking to a budgie the first time I spoke to him on the phone ha ha!. Back at work now booo! but still got an ear to ear grin to keep me going Would love a go at the tope mate already working on the FPO for the car ha ha p.s. that WAS a disguise, as you know I normally look like Brad Pitt Happy days ~~~~~~~~~

Nice one Nasher Firsts are fantastic arnt they? There will be MANY more so keep at it! All the best..................SeaDooDavid~~~~~

Hi Mark Me n Nifty were talking about you at Coniston I realise how lucky you are there being able to fish for these beautiful fish. I have had one or two years ago as a kid but these two were my first real catches. The second one absolutely made my day Pike gear shopping here we come Like stu said, a shame to live on the doorstep of the lakes and not fish em!. Likewise, am gonna go for the mullet which seemed a definite possibility to catch, with Nifty's advice!. As for a twenty! If that 6lb one was anyting to go by, then god help me ha ha!!!. Cheers bud SDD~~~~

I had the great pleasure of meeting Nifty (Stu) over the last few days as he is up here on holidays. What a great bloke Thanks to his knowledge I managed to bag my first and second Pike ever! an ambition of mine for some time now since reading on here about you guys catching them. Nifty kindly lent me some gear I was lacking (most of it really ha ha) and we headed out to a mark on Coniston water that Nifty had caught on earlier (saw the pic of the pike on his phone and it was BIG!) Headed off with rod and Nifty's baitrunner reel (hmm purchase coming up ha ha) and began learning how to bait up mackerel on a pike trace (hadn't realised the buggers would scoff mackies that big!. With bait ready, reel set, and Nifty leading, we set off.................BACKWARDS Well that was a bit of a shock, and although probably well known to a lot of you guys, I was well surprised! BUT what a corking idea! You soon get into the swing of paddling backwards for some distance (found muscles I didn't know I had ha ha) and you can see the float in front of you as you paddle~~ Brilliant!. Trolled away for a while with reverse well and truly engaged until we got over the weed area Nifty had caught at earlier. Nifty was into a few pike who took delight in nearly biting his bait in half and shredding another Still unable to believe that pike would take such large whole mackerel, I was shocked when my float slowly vanished! I slowed down and looked for my float which I thought I just couldn't see because it was a little choppy, when the baitrunner clicked away a little line! I cranked the handle and felt a weight which I assumed to be weed as there was no real fight. Then....Bang.......Bang and yep it was a pike! It fought a little bit and I clumsily brought it to the side of the yak whilst Nifty steamed up to me to help me unhook it, as it had twisted the trace around a bit!. A little jack pike was released back into the depths as I re-set another mackie for another go, whilst trying to control my absolute delight at my first pike! Off we trolled again, reversing our way accross the weed beds which seemed to be full of fish (the F/Finder was showing loads of them passing underneath us!) A while into this second troll when my float vanished again. This time there was NO mistake!! The float shot under like a diving duck and the reel screemed off line at a good old rate, to my utter amazement. Again cranked and felt the fish take line! Bloomin Nora! it was off like a steam train and I am pretty sure I yelled H~E~L~P to Nifty as I tried to get the thing alongside. I have caught some large sea fish but to be honest this pike fought like a bloomin marlin! I was using a Abu carbon sea trolling rod and it bent past half way and towards the yak gunnels and I thought bye bye rod, but Nifty's reel let off line just perfectly and gave the pike some slack!. My arms ached by the time I got it to the side of the yak, by which time Nifty had come along side to guide me through the unhooking process. Luckily, the bottom treble with just one barbless point was in its mouth, which to me was a cavernous gape of teeth! Nifty talked me through how to hold it (without losing too many fingers) and I gently removed the treble. Nifty reckoned it was 6lb plus maybe, and what a beautiful fish!! Well DELIGHTED is an understatement It made my day Nifty has a pic on his phone which I think he may post up when he gets home. My ear to ear smile though wouldn't fit in the photo!!. I can't thank Stu enough for starting me off on a whole new area of fishing for me and I am well and truly....wait for it........ HOOKED! Today Nifty headed over to my local estuary to have a look at the mullet (which I thought wouldn't show, as sods law normally dictates but they did!) Nifty had a few hook ups and so did I but the slippery buggers got off. At least I know that they will take the bait now, as previously I had tried with small fish strips which were completely ignored! We saw a few "leapers" too probably sea trout, some of which looked a fair size!. Below are a few pics of Nifty (brandishing the famous paddle!) firstly on Coniston and on my local estuary. The last one is me and my Hungarian water spaniel guarding a disabled parking space for me in my old age ha ha Can't figure out how to put text above or below the pics yet, must ask Richi! A HUUUUUUUGE thanks to Stu for the pike and Mullet lessons. It has got me determined to do more lake fishing and bag one of those elusive huge mullet I can see flitting past me each time I go there! All the best SDD~~~~

Just seen it! Shown to me by the "model" Nifty himself while he was up here on hols! What a great bloke Had a fish with him down the road at my local estuary for the mullet and had a yak and fish on Coniston yesterday. Thanks to his knowledge I caught my first Pike (2 actually ) Gonna do a mini write-up on a new thread in a bit! The picture of him with that tope is AWESOME!!!!! SDD~~~~

Hey Martin Just got off the phone with Stu, he is in Ulverston buying bait for this afternoon fishing at Coniston, jammy sod! Gonna join him tomorrow all being well to hopefully be shown how to catch pike!! Can't wait Dave

Yeah will do Martin Should be able to make it for a few of the days after work. The problem I have at the mo since the Landrover died, is getting there! The misses needs the car for work and as I only work over the road, she gets first dabs! She is off tomorrow and Wednesday so am being REALLY nice to her at the moment! Great stuff for September keen to get out now as the kak summer has left me landlubbing for the last few months! On local leave 3rd to 8th Sept so will sneak out if you make it up SDD~~~~

Buggerbumski!!!!!!!!! on hols between 3rd and 8th so won't be able to make it Fancied that as well!! Hey Brittas, you will have to bag a few for me mate! Nice one Richi Hope you get a monster!! Cant wait for the pics! I am only on "local" leave but the FPO has pretty much got it all arranged. Wanted to test my 20-30lb new rod too Jeez summer (yeah right) is running out quickly and only been out a handful of times, gonna have to re-name my scupper "The Olympic Flame" .................. Coz it never goes out! Good luck lads (gonna try and make it out on Coniston with Nifty who is up here at the mo!) SDD~~~~

EXTREME mate You da man!!! SDD~~~~

Sadly, only my heart lives in Jersey but I spend as much time there as physically possible If I were to be "chomped" I would rather it be there It has come out now that the whole thing was a hoax (yehaaaaaaa) so please note MY SCUPPER PRO IS NO LONGER FOR SALE sdd~~~~~

Ha ha very good point Andrew As a few people on here know I have a healthy fear of ol chompy! It was on the radio as well and a few "experts" have seen the video and reckon it may well be real, but again, so the Sun says ha ha! There have been claims for years that it is possible for chompy to get into our waters! I travel to Jersey C.I. a lot and wondered if there was a chance of seeing them down there (hope not!!) If anybody knows for sure, PLEASE DONT TELL ME HA HA!! SDD~~~~