snakey1
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Posts posted by snakey1
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It occurs to me that the cupholder area of the elites arent going to get much wear and tear anyway so it may not cause much of a problem.
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Did all the paddle breaking bit but i may have been a little slow, as i said before i am new to it time and experience will no doubt help but i have to say the elites are unwieldy in the surf zone but then again with their length i did expect this
didn't realise about leaning into the wave though thanks for that tip i shall try it next time i'm out. -
I also have the same problem with the trolley/scupper hole. Though about fitting some piping over to act as a bushing sleeve to save buying another trolley.
Interesting thought i may give that a go to see if it helps solve the problem.
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i have a hummingbird 363c fishfinder/gps unit fitted to my elite 4.5, it was purchased directly from johnson outdoors at the same time as i bought the kayak and seems to work fine, captain fishyfinger has the same set up and has had no problems with his either. i got dumped twice last week in the surf (my own fault i expect as i'm new to this game) and there was no problem with the fishfinder afterwards apart from on the second dumping the battery came loose and the connections with it which i had to then reattach. (a problem with the battery holder which came from new zealand direct again from john outdoors is that the buckle on the strap used to hold the battery in place is not the best quality in the world and has a habit of coming loose ,captain fishyfinger had more problems with this than me even though he only got wiped out once).
We had the elites out for and average of about 5-6 hours a day for 7 days last week and seemed to have few problems my only major complaint being the difficulty in fitting the eckla trolleys arms into the smaller of the elites scupper holes and i may now be seriously looking at either modifying the eckla or purchasing a c-tug.
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let them eat what they want it just gives natural selection a helping hand and keeps the future unemployment figures down.Perhaps selective culling could be brought in to, starting with jamie oliver.
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Have a humminbird 363c fitted to my elite 4.5 which seems to work well, has dual beam, GPS, and built in unimap.The screen is only black & white but do you really need colour?
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Seen dolphins and seals off tywyn on dozens of occasions. Infact when me and captain fishyfinger were there 2 months back spinning in by the dysinni mouth there was a seal basking on the rocks about 10 feet from us. dolphins i ve seen as close as 60 yards from the beach off tywyn front itself. shed loads of jellyfish to but their not quite as cute as dolphins and seals.
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Was thinking of trying just in front of the "bandstand" at tywyn as theres a bit of a trench and reef there ( had a couple of nice codling out in may)plus might have a day just scanning the front with the fish finder to check out some other areas that have been recommended in the past. all depends on the weather if its crap may just sit in the broadwater mullet bothering.
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Naming your kayak can be good fun and giving it a truely silly name may seem like a great idea at the time but remember you will have to use your kayaks name when identifying yourself to the coastguard with a VHF radio in a case of emergency or if contacting other vessels and also if you complete the coastguards CG66 form there is a requirement for the vessels name.So naming your kayak "mighty penis" may sound fine to you but when you have to broadcast it to everyone listening on channel 16 they may just think you are a right one.
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Me and captain fishyfinger will be in tywyn from the 8th through to the 17th of sept breaking in the new prowler elites (in my case possibly quite literally) so we may well see you guys there
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Reminds me of a story a mate of mine told me about when he used to work for a major train manufacturer, apparently according to my friend (a senior engineer now retired)they used to test the windscreens of high speed trains by fireing defrosted chickens at them from an enormous cannon type device (mythbuster fans may have already heard of this in that when they first obtained said cannon they forgot to defrost the frozen chickens and it caused greater than expected damage).Anyway apparently one day having set up the cannon for a test firing the engineers decided that as it was close to dinnertime that they would go to lunch and leave it rigged and fire it after they got back.however while at lunch the factory cat apparently climbed into the barrel of the cannon tempted by the chicken it had seen or smelt being put there, so that when the engineers returned and fired the chicken gun it wasn't only the chicken that impacted the windshield but the factory cat as well ! How true this story is i'm unsure but my friend insists he was there and i have no personnel reason to disbelieve him. he did say that afterwards safety checks were tightened to ensure no "foreign" objects got into the barrel again.
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Actually properly dressed and cooked, cat is hard to distinguish from rabbit so theres another opportunity to take one for the pot
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Don't think its a squid as i'm fairly sure most squid beaks aren't serrated and it would have caused more damage anyway once a feeding squid gets ahold of something they rarely let go.Definately not Cherie Blair as the bite radius isn't big enough she could swallow a 2Lb spur whole
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For anyone interested it takes the most effective wind turbines approximately 9 months of constant use to repay the energy it cost ot make them(thats running 24/7) and that in the latest calculations i've seen published it would take over 44,000 of them running 24/7 with no breakdowns or windless time to produce enough electricity for the UK's consumption.So if the greens get their way we may end up with more windfarms than most people ever imagined possible.Of course that would leave a large amount of the coastline unfishable to commercials, charterships and private vessels alike so fish stocks would almost certainly grow.
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Don't know about using kayaks for bait but i have seen film of surfboards with a camera mounted on them used as lures off the farallon islands in california. very entertaining watching 18 ft and 3000lbs of shark breach, gives you an idea of the grace, speed and power of these fish and also enlightens you as to why these sharks should be protected worldwide.
also its not so strange that there have only been two scuba fatallites in S.A both at the surface when you take into account that the sharks primary food source of seals are usually hit on the surface when they're young and inexperienced or when they need to breathe, white sharks being consumate ambush predators, and so the surface attacks on divers are generally simple cases of mistaken identity and opportunism feeding.the fact that there has only been two is probably due to the fact that divers spend more time underwater where white sharks are less likely to attack than at the surface where ambush attacks are inherently more common.
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After all the confusion that has gone on over the pricing structure and what is available I suggest that the safest thing to do for anybody wanting to know more is to contact Andrew at Johnson Outdoors either themselves or via their local dealer.He has been very helpful so far in our dealings with him.
I am lead to believe however that he is out of the country this week so you may have to speak to one of the other staff members this week if your in a rush.
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Thanks for the advice
i'll pick a few local brains next time i'm down there as well and i might give it a bash if things look ok. -
Has anyone here fished the Brean sands area especially around Brean Down and the river axe? i have fished the beaches there for many years but now am thinking about taking the yak down there one of the days, however i am extremely wary of doing so because of the tides in this area(it has the second highest tide fall in the world).Any info you guys could pass on would be extremely useful in helping decide whether its worth trying this area or not.
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After speaking to the captain it now appears that Andrew from Johnson Outdoors has sorted out all our problems,well done that man you have restored my faith in humanity.
Its is nice to finally deal with 2 companies (WMCC & Johnson Outdoors)that take the idea of aftersales and looking after their customers seriously unlike most other modern companies.
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Tell the commercials
This is the attitude i'm talking about, its very easy to blame one another and not listen to what the other side has to say, both side have made mistakes, neither side has the monopoly on knowledge.they should listen to each others arguments and work on a mutually beneficial solution.remember with the commercials it is their livelyhood your talking about and they have a lot more to lose than your average angler this makes them very passionate about their views and rightly so,how many anglers would be happy if somebody from outside of their chosen trade (whatever that maybe) decided to push for regulations that would intially cause a large decrease in their wages and/or a loss of jobs! not many i think no matter what the long term advantages.however this obviously can also make them short sighted to the long term prospects and overall view of things this is why as i say both sides need to compromise and learn to work together.extremist one sided attitudes will only eventually lead to the demise or over regulation all, believe it this will happen.
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I am sure there are many issues the two fishing sectors can agree on but conservation seems not to be one of them.
If that is truely the case then i fear for the future of both sectors.
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Personnally i would like to see at some point soon both commercials and non commercials learning how to work together a) because with a little more tolerance and understanding of each other i think they can and
because otherwise those people who truely want to destroy the uk commercial industry and those who would like to see angling banned (PETA etc) are going to be one step closer to success.On a slightly different tack i have seen this happen already as a long time holder of a firearm certificate, with both the 1988 and 1995 ammendments much was vaunted in the media about the powerful "gun lobby" affecting pariliments judgements. This almighty"gun lobby" was however a highly fragmented group of many organisations who seemed much more concerned at infighting between themselves and having an i'm all right jack attitude than in dealing with the true threats being directed at them and as such did nothing to stop the passing of foolish laws which have neither lead to an increase in public safety or a decrease in the firearms crime rate,only to a decrease in those people able to enjoy their chosen sport/work.Unfortunately the same in fighting and fragmentation appears to currently be going on within the fishing industry(both commercial & non-commercial) and i can only hope they will all learn from others mistakes before it is too late. As the saying goes together we stand, divided we fall. -
Andrew from Johnsonoutdoors reply to the captains comments had not appeared when i made my intial comments and as i have yet to see the email he has sent to my friend i shall reserve my further opinions until i do. i may have been hasty with my initial judgements, we shall see.
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Have to agree with captain fishyfinger as we both purchased the prowler elite 4.5 with the intent to use them mainly for fishing and were told that the price for the fish finder ready version was approx £70.00 more than the standard version and after reviewing Johnson Outdoors New Zealand site (they don't appear to have a uk based one) we opted for what we assumed would be the anglers version.however the only apparent difference i can personelly make out is that you get the transducer boot with it which i could have made up myself for a damn site less than £70.00. not only that but the hole which is moulded into the kayak to allow for the cables to be threaded from the fishfinder into the hull to the battery was sealed with a plug which appears to be glued in place (not so fishfinder ready after all). Pictures published on the Johnson Outdoors site also appear to show the premoulded screw fittings for the supplied forward mounted scotty rod holder(also a standard in feature in new zealand though not apparently the UK) however there are no premoulded screw fittings on the forward part of the 4.5 elites cockpit meaning that if you want to fix the scotty rod mount(supplied as standard in New Zealand but not in the UK) in what one would assume to be the premoulded fixing area either you have to drill holes in the yak which i thought these premoulded fittings were there to avoid or you can't and as they aren't supplied anyway i suppose it doesn't really matter.
Maybe we were mistaken in thinking that a fish finder ready version would truly be that and that we in the UK would be getting the choice of the same 2 versions (basic & angler) as those good folks in New Zealand with add on custom variations available at an extra cost but apparently not.
We were both intending to head over to tywyn (our usual haunt for several years now)this weekend to christen our new yaks however due to the work that we have to carry out to make the elites fishfinder fitted i think this weekends merryment will have to be postponed.
On a happier note many thanks to Roger and the guys at The West Midlands Canoe Centre they couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful and i would recommend them to anyone
As for johnson outdoors i await to here via the captain or this forum on their view of our observations but personnally i am of the opinion that after spending a reasonable amount of money with them only to then be told that what is supplied as standard in NZ are optional extras in the UK and therefore cost extra that someone somewhere is taking the p*ss.
For those interested the standard prowler elite UK version is £529 the fishfinder unready version £599,the uk fishfinder/angler version comes with transducer boot as standard, the NZ version comes with the transducer boot, scotty rod mount, hummingbird fishfinder mounting plate, 12V 7 amp hour battery and cradle, and battery cables with in line fuses all as standard.
Seals freind or foe
in Conservation & Politics
Posted
Yes but surely this is societys view on animals as a whole, we don't think twice about eating lamb, cows etc but mention eating dog cat or seals and whales and everybodys up in arms its only a matter of what your brought up to consider as food, whats acceptable in one country is not in another but who is right? it reminds me of the old "don't eat the tuna because dolphins get caught in the nets" case, well what about the tuna? was it a case of f**k them they taste nice. if you eat meat of one kind then you shouldn't complain if someone eats meat of a different type just becasue you think its cute and cudley. Another aspect of this is you cannot possibly protect or deplete one area of a food chain without some effect on the rest of said food chain, this happened in north america when they brought in laws to protect pinnipeds from hunting and there was an explosion in their numbers which lead to a decrease in fish stocks and in certain areas an apparent increase in white shark appearences which then lead to a worry over a possible perceived increase in shark attacks.