rogd

Hows ta deurn lad?Bass Lake is a good place to start-its quiet so nobody can see you if you make a d*ck of yourself!!!Tickets are available from the Pheasant Inn. £6-00 per day or £68-50 for a season. This covers you for your boat as well. The easiest spot to launch is at Piel Wyke, its got a good slipway and tha can git t'motor reet doon to t'watter.Fishing is generally good for pike and perch but the size of the pike has declined in recent years, with a 10 pounder being a good fish now. But as SeaDooDavid was saying about Coniston, they go like stink!!!Most of the boat men troll lures, flies or deadbaits, and on good days I've had 8 or 10 pike, and loads of decent perch.See you there sometime MarraRoger , Hows ta deurn lad?Bass Lake is a good place to start-its quiet so nobody can see you if you make a d*ck of yourself!!!Tickets are available from the Pheasant Inn. £6-00 per day or £68-50 for a season. This covers you for your boat as well. The easiest spot to launch is at Piel Wyke, its got a good slipway and tha can git t'motor reet doon to t'watter.Fishing is generally good for pike and perch but the size of the pike has declined in recent years, with a 10 pounder being a good fish now. But as SeaDooDavid was saying about Coniston, they go like stink!!!Most of the boat men troll lures, flies or deadbaits, and on good days I've had 8 or 10 pike, and loads of decent perch.See you there sometime MarraRoger ,

Thanks Richi. What I am really interested in is the compass and barometer functions. If, as you say the compass works OK' I think I'll try one. The basic accuracy of the barometer isnt all that important, its the barometric trend over a period of time thats the useful bit. Blacks and Millets have them on sale at the moment for about 45 quid so they're hardly going to break the bank. It would be interesting to hear anyone elses tthoughts on the effects of barometric pressure Roger

Has anyone use one of those watch/barometer/compass contraptions. If so how good are they and what would you recommend? Many thanks Roger

Just whack 'rod building' ito your seach engine thingy and you'll find all sorts of advice and materials. The problem is that although there are plenty of fly rod blanks available (at a price!!!), there are no shortish spinning type blanks on the market. As you know, kayak fishing requires fairly specialised rods, the main problem is the length of the handle. I've been known to take the hacksaw to some commercially produced rods!!! I've made plenty of rods of all different sorts and it ain't exactly quantum physics!!! A book called Rod Building and Repair is available on Amazon and even though it was written 20 odd years by Len Head, its still one of the best books on the subject.

Does anyone know of a supplier of decent rod blanks? The supply seems to have dried up lately.

VERY serious undertaking mate. The Mull to St Bees is 55 miles-as the crow flies. Add to this tidal flow,prevailing winds and unpredictable weather conditions and your estimate of 6 to7 hours is way out. Even given perfect weather you would have to paddle at a constant 5.5 knots to do it in 10 hours. If you can do that you must be supercharged!!! I would suggest that a more realistic time is 20 to 24 hours. How about Kirkudbright to Silloth, its about 20 miles and if you choose your time the tidal flow up the Solway will be in your favour. I'd be up for that

Yes. I've sent 5 or 6 emails to them and never had a relpy Roger

Cheers my freind. What do you do-just bond it to the inside of the hull

Cheers my freind. What do you do-just bond it to the inside of the hull

Does anyone know if a transom mount transducer can be adapted to work as an in hull job. I use a Garmin FF 140. Roger

Can I drive the combine please Rog

Bad news I'm afraid I was out on Bassenthwaite Lake yesterday afternoon when some kind person decided they were more entitled to my tackle than I was. Luckily about half my gear was out in the boat with me, but the b*st*rds still got away with about 500 quids worth. The police tell me that this sort of thing is not uncommon in Cumbria at this time of year so please be careful lads. The main items of gear are 2 left hand wind ABU multipliers, a Shimano telescopic mini spinning rod and a very distinctive Albackore backpack which I imported from the States at the price of 2 arms and 2 legs. If anyone is offered anything like this please let me know through the forum. I'm insured, but it still makes you feel like stringing them up by the knackers. Right, I'm of to get my car window fixed. Rog

I don't fancy running out of steam on one of those in the middle of Thirlmere!!!!!!

Its been a month now and I've not had any demands for VAT or import duty

As far as I'm aware the Post Ofice holds goods until the duty is paid.