Fastd

leon, definately not pipe fish. I have seen many of these in cod recently and they look more like a stretched seahorse. These had the look and feel of an eel/elver including the full length dorsal fin and keel. But no definable mouth more of a sucker similar to a lamprey. Slippery and almost impossible to pick up just like an eel. dave, ps ...managed to read my emails but cant reply.

Went out yesterday from Hartlepool and fished ledgered mackrel all day at anchor. Almost without fail ever bait was eaten by something that had an eels body and the mouthparts of a lamprey, The ones that came aboard were about 20cms long and 1cm thick and a plain light brown body. The baits were coming back with the skin in tact and the skeleton, even the ribs but every piece of flesh had been eaten a totally empty shell with head. This would happen to a whole mackrel in a matter of minutes so there must have been thousands of them down there. Unfortunately we did not take a picture of the couple that came aboard wedge inside the baits ...wish I had now. These things are a real pest and make being pestered by dogfish seem like a minor irritation. Lets hope this isn't an invasion of something unusual as they made the fishing almost impossible. Any suggestions as to what they may be and has anyone else come across them elsewhere I have had a look on the aquarium site and can see nothing like them. Cheers dave

I'm starting to get worried about happy dude. This is a guy who fishes with a buddy who's a chef, carries a cooker on the boat ...and keeps posting pictures of fish with bits missing and curious bitemarks Now does not eating them all at once count as being a conservationist

A new sideline for you Nick...Boat storage. I left mine at Lomond last time up and what a difference it made to the journey.

So Newt...when are you going to allow chesters a full account?

I reported the post because it was totally off topic and also looked like a personal attack to me. I think three others had psoted along the same lines before I reported it. My attitude would have been different if the thread had been in the general forum, but it was on a specific subject which had been pinned as is it of some importance to anglers. To see the thread go off topic and be cluttered by non related posts is not helpfull to anyone trying to get a message across to the board readers. I am all for freedom of speech and all that, and if the posts had been in a normal forum I would have been more than happy to sit back and watch the battle as I know the person concerned is more than capable of holding their end in a discussion. My last post on the thread was also removed to clean it up and keep it on topic. dave

I was wondering if anyone has a fool proof way of removing mackrel scales from tackle. I have borrowed some gear and want to keep it in good nick, but despite scrubbing it with a brush and hosepipe they disappear when the gears wet but when it dries they appear again. Perhaps a roof rack and a car wash may be the answer dave

Conger? they are predators with a quite pointed jaw and plenty of them around you area. Just a guess. Dave

It had to happen. They have moved on from the hunts and it looks like need another target. There was a phase where anglers in the midlands were being targeted by off road bike riders riding down towpaths breaking poles. This particular action sounds far more sinister and organised. This may explain why the Countryside Alliance were so vocal in support of anglers re the bmp.

I'm a member of SACN and SOS. Both free and very conservation minded. I did look at joining the NFSA but got the impression from their website that the main intrest is match fishing. I may or may not have been mistaken on that. I'm considering joining Hartlepool Yacht club...not because I have had a lobotomy and fancy a wind powered boat...just because they have secure boat storage and a slipway. Its expensive though but I am running out of space at home. I haven't joined any clubs that actually get out there and fish. dave

I've often thought about towing the boat to the marina. Standing on the wall and throwing 5 packs of feathers, 7 leads and two jiggers into the sea, then going to sit in the pub and have a meal. Tow the boat home again after 5 hours. Net saving would be about 30 quid for the day.

I recieved those pictures of Richard and he mentioned a weight of 110-115lb for that fish. Not quite sure where Glenn got 150 from but it doesn't really matter. There is a problem trying to use the charts you mentioned Norrie as they do not seem to be consistant when applied to porbeagles and not forgetting they were originally developed back in the 30's I believe for estimating tuna weights. The two fish we caught at whitby related on the charts to being 10lb different in weight. Now everyone aboard agreed the second fish we had weighed far more than 10lb above the first one. Malcolm picked up the first one on his own, the second one took three people to lift it...now 10lb doesn't make that much difference. Over time skippers get an eye for weighing fish by sight. We all do it to a certain extent. Reel in a cod and most anglers have an idea of its weight before its even in the boat. Unfortunately porgies are not as common as cod so there will always be some doubt as to the true weight. I have been in contact with Dr Ken Collins of the Shark Tagging programme and his comments were that accurate data on length to weight for porbeagles is very scarce as very few people actually hang them up and weigh them these days. He could only provide data from 5 weighed fish with regard to length when I contacted him regarding the weight of the fish Norman caught. It worked out about right at 100- 110lb. Actual data is scarce on porbeagles for the simple reason people are putting them back alive, and long may it continue. I for one am happy to be 100% sure that the fish there in the picture weighs between 60lb and 150lb and is alive and swimming in the sea The boat we went out on has a gantry with a scale for weighing the fish but we haven't used it because of the time involved in the actual weighing process. Its been commented on by Ken that it would be usefull to have more data to provide a benchmark for porbeagles so we will be trying to weigh any future fish but not if there is the slighest risk to the fish. The americans have a curious system where they have shark competitions and haul them back in for the weighin, then the scientists move in to record data in the intrest of science! and this makes the killing all ok. lets hope that kind of thing never starts happening here. I think it is the Martha's vinyard comp that is famous for this and the scientific data gained is used as an arguement by the organiser as justification for the event. I've been involved for the last few months trying to catch porbeagles and so far personally have been unsuccesfull, but rest assured when I get one it wont matter if its 60 or 600 lb, I'll be the happiest man alive for that picture. Out again Tuesday...watch this space cos one day my turn will come. Having met Norm I can confirm he is the perfect weight for his height...if only his height was 7' 4" dave

uncle nester, It was me who reported your posts to the mods and not them taking arbitory actions. The reasons for doing so were that the posts were 100% off topic and seemed to be a personal attack on someone I know well and in my opinion were completely unfounded arguements. The moderators are there to see that board users are not offended by anything they read and when a post is reported they read the report and take any action they see as necessary. In this case I was the one offended. I dont see this as a big brother syndrome more as them acting as arbitrators when someone reading the board is offended by a particular post. The world would be a lawless place without someone prepared to stand in judgement when needed, a thankless task as from what I see every time they take any kind of action they are criticised for it. On this board it is very rare for the moderators to get involved with any thread which is what makes Anglers net a pleasant place to hold discussions. Dave

Lol Now would I have sat there with my leg like that for the photo! No way! Well done richard.

Made me smile when I read where the woman lives

Sad photo's norrie but hopefully well in the past. Good to see the Tunny angler was properly attired for the day out fishing. Its odd but when I return from a trip I tend to be covered in fish guts and scales. Perhaps if I took up tunny fishing I too could come back from a trip looking like I was ready to sit down to dinner. The guy must have an amazing tailor to be able to incorporate 50n bouyancy without spoiling the cut of the suit.

"they caught fish with there hands" I want that mark!

My only experience of jet drives is from my days of waterskiing when I was younger. We had two jet drive boats , one powered by a ford mexico xflow engine and the other by a Rover 3 ltr v8. Both boats were comparatively uneconomical with other inboard boats in the club. They also suffered from loosing power if the intake or jet tube was blocked in any way. The tolerance of the fit of the impeller to the tube is absolutely critical and it only took a small stone sucked up into the impellor to toally stop the drive despite there being no major signs of drive damage. Both boats had a spare impellor onboard as replacement was a regular essential. Modern jet drives may be far superior to these older boats, but I personally would not consider fitting one to a sea going boat as a piece of bladderwrack or plastic bag over the intake filter leaves you limping home at 1 kt. Fine for a ski boat where shallow water and running them up on the beach was a regular occurance, but as a workhorse at sea I would not consider one. Dave

This morning I was talking to a non angling customer of the wealthy variety. He asked why I wasn't available yesterday and I explained I was out sharking. He told me how many years ago he used to go sharking in cornwall and how they would hang them all on the dock ...then chuck em back in the harbour. His final words were "the catches dried up so we stopped going". Now theres a suprise ...and perhaps a belated lesson. Dave

A couple of questions... Whats a pollock diving board? How do you get them to climb the ladder? And do they award marks out of ten ? dave

I agree with both comments on here, Norm does raise some valid points but...why oh why do the IGFA have to have so many seperate records. Whats up with having a blue shark record at xx pounds and thats it. Why do people need records sub divided by age records, sud divided by sex records and line class records. Surely the only one that really matters is the largest one. This current set up just leads to dozens of totally meaningless records and many fish dying totally needlessly. Its time that IGFA tiedied up there record system to stop this needless slaughter and come more inline with the catch and release policy which is becoming more popular with anglers. Who cares what size the largest blue shark that was caught on 30lb line by female under 17 whilst hampered by a lazy left eye. I only care about the biggest one I can catch...would I kill it and claim it ...personally I wouldn't. I can only see it as a reason for the captor to claim their 15 mins of fame and probably pick up a few quid in sponsorship for the captor and the skipper. This will continue despite all efforts from conservationalists for as long as organisations like IGFA give people targets to aim for and insist on the fish being dead to claim the record. Its a money talks thing. One thing I would love to see is the BRFC close the records for several species caught from around our shores. They changed the rules for coarse species to prevent them having to be killed. How I would love to see them not take any further claims for species such as Common Skate and all sharks to prevent any more being killed in an attempt to claim a record. As a hypothetical situation...an angler catches a record tope...kills it and submits the photo to the angling press. Would they publish it? Norm is probably well qualified to answer this. we all saw the condemnation of the skipper and paper after publishing the picture of the dead porgie. Would the sea angling press risk the same condemnation for the sake of a headline? Hopefully this senario is becoming less and less likely as more and more anglers are happy to take a picture and put it back, and more charter skippers than ever are insisting on it. Dave

Hi Solway, Its all a matter of personal taste but I started with a six foot 30lb rod which was pretty cheep and suited. that rod got used for everything including tope and bait fishing. Last year I bought a Mitchell 8-16 multi tip which has been real fun to use but in deep water when pirking it does struggle a bit. It is excellent for shadding as it allows the initial take before bending over to set the hook. I have had problems with the tip spinning round in use I have just bought a Fladden maximus solid glass 20-50. Nice light rod with a good feel for whats happening below. Looks very thin but have had some good Ling on it to date and it has coped well. Hope it helps. Dave.

Downloadable posters to give to tackle shops are now available for both the english and welsh consultations on the home page of the SOS website. There are several sample letters in the forums to give you ideas. Dave

Thanks for the support guys. If you need any hints as to what others have written take a look here There is also a poster on both the English and welsh consulations available to download from the sos website. You are allowed to respond to both. dave