DoubleShotDamo

Well said. Do I know you?!

Garfish, I do agree with some of your points. For instance, the banning of some baits. Whites, as you say, are very localised and often need to be dug on several tides to get enough. You either need to be single, divorced, or rich to hav a decent supply of whites! But the same could be said for reds. Most, if not all, the estuaries I know of within driving distance of where I live have a bait digging bye-law. So what are we to do to keep up with the singles, divorcees and the rich? I for one do not wish to break the law to be able to compete! The point I made about anglers unable to keep up when the fishing is fast, has been bourne out time after time. 15 years ago there was a flourishing Zziplex league on the south coast. Every match attracted over 30 teams of five. There were no bait bans. There were lots of fish. But the same teams and anglers kept scooping the top spots and the dosh. Consequently, Mr. Average from Team Nags Head decides he is wasting 50 quid every fortnight so decides to quit. There is no league now!! What I am trying to say is, no matter what you ban, be it bait, species etc. the best anglers will always come out on top.

It's only those who struggle to keep up when the fishing gets fast and furious that ask for certain baits and fish to be banned, the sort of people who want to fish a "catch a fish, win a prize" match. If it is a conservation point, i.e. too many whiting getting slaughtered, then we all know catch and release is the way forward. As for "Cod Only" matches, or the like, there is no skill in catching one single cod amongst 40 whiting! It is luck.

Lots of peolpe mentioning mackeral strip for flounders....well, it's one of the last baits you would put on your hook for flounders on the south coast.

They're ok. But they do get the smaller fish.

Ok

336lb between 2. That's 168lb each. An average charter boat must take 8 anglers. The average port must hold 20 charter boats. If one ports fleet went to sea and caught 168lb of pollack per person, that port would be responsible for slaughtering 26,880lb of pollack...and that's one port!! How many ports are there around the country?!! I bet all the pollack died; they normally do once the swimbladder inflates through the mouth. Some rod and line anglers are pretty much hypocrites.......

Well, to sum up the fishing in my area (West Sussex), there was an ISAC match fished a week ago Saturday at Worthing with 102 competitors, many of them very good anglers and a good few England blokes fishing too. What was caught.....5 flounders, 3 of them were undersized!! Roll on the spring!!! P.S. I did not fish, I'd rather play the lottery!

Me, loaded? I wish!! I have tried various lamps, but wanted a beam from a lightweight, longlife lamp, and the Myo XP is the one. I tried a couple from Ebay, all cheap chinese rubbish that won't last a season, and not even weatherproof!! I'm well happy with it. There are people who pay out over £250 to have a lighthouse strapped to their head, and a motorcycle battery in a rucksack on their back, all for a blinding 3 hours of light!! Good luck to them!!!

The smell of deisel fumes and I'm a gonner! My mate once gorged on apples as soon as we boarded the boat. We had been steaming out for less than half an hour, and he already felt bad. After arriving at the mark and dropping anchor he yakked his guts up, and it smelt like cider!! Mmmmm nice!

Petzl Myo XP is a great LED lamp. It has a pre-focussed beam and three power settings. It has one white LED, some new fancy one! Also has a flip down diffuser to give a wide pool of light rather than a beam if you wish. Not bad for 50 quid, but no red LED I'm afraid! Does red light actually give you any benefits??

It would be nice to see a picture. I found a crab in my local estuary several years ago. It wasn't a shore crab, neither a velvet, but it was a viscoius b@gger!

Tide in Worthing went out bl@@dy miles last night!! And it wasn't a huge tide, big but not huge.

Scientific Anerican.com!!! Hmmm, they put more CO2 in the atmosphere than any other nation on the planet!!! Ref: BBC and ITV news!

Totally agree. Can't forecast the sun coming up that lot!!

A volcanic eruption puts thousands of tons more CO2 into the atmosphere than man has since the invention of the car!! And besides, if the ice caps melt, and the Gulf Stream decides to grind to a halt due to the inbalance of salt/fresh water in the northern atlantic, then the climate will become SO cold that northern Europe will freeze over. Problem solved.

Pretty poor in the Worthing/Brighton/Eastbourne area. Rockling if you like them! Few flounders here and there, better if the east wind would disappear! Pin whiting at night. That's it! I'd stay at home!!

Stavey, what if the smuts did not show?? The bootlaces and small flats would win the match! Personally, I think that a big squid bait attracts hardback shore crabs during the summer, and, perhaps, then the smoothound goes for the hardback crab. Just a thought....

Use the thickest thread you can get!

Kayak fishing? Hmmm, never had much luck at that; Have had several windsurfers to 280lb before though!! Go like stink! But you can't beat a speed boat.....

Down here in Sussex, if the wind is in the east it's cr@p; if the sea is clear, it's cr@p; if the sea is calm, it's cr@p; if the sea is calm and clear, it's really cr@p; if the sea is calm, clear and an easterly is blowing, it's really, really cr@p; if the sea is calm, clear, the wind is in the east, and it's January / February...well.............. IT'S BL@@DY AWFULL!!!!!

Use three hooks, if the match allows. You have 3 times more chance of getting one. You might even get a double shot! You can also experiment with different bait combinations.

Each to their own!

Not too good then. You do get out and about a bit, Mike!