Salar

Sorry if its been here before - but its brilliant http://koti.mbnet.fi/~soldier/towboat.htm

Newt, I know this is tending away from sea fishing, but on a pig what is the Boston Butt? We do not have that cut inthe UK, and my smoker book constantly refers to it. Cheers

Hi Newt - Great. It looks like an old steam engine, with a fire box that is good for grilling, and a large smoke chamber for good ol' Southern barbecue smokin'. My recipe book refers to US cuts which I have had to interpret - I plan a serious village eat-in this Summer with a rather large piece of pig, smoked for a lot of hours with me watching it from behind a growing pile of empty beer cans. Only if its too hot for fishing, though... Any tips? I have only had a book to go on...

If you are fed up with paying more for ink than you did for your printer try www.purplebeaver.net, ink-jet cartidges for about .25 the price of a high street equivalent, deliver next day - and made in the same factory as the branded ones. How do Epsom, HP, Canon etc. get away with it? And I'm not on commission, just a happy customer with a few squid still in my pocket afterwards!

If you are fed up with paying more for ink than you did for your printer try www.purplebeaver.net, ink-jet cartidges for about .25 the price of a high street equivalent, deliver next day - and made in the same factory as the branded ones. How do Epsom, HP, Canon etc. get away with it? And I'm not on commission, just a happy customer with a few squid still in my pocket afterwards!

If you only have coarse fishing gear, why not fish inside a harbour - then you don't need to worry about heavy weights and big tides. Use a stiff carp/pike rod, 2 oz lead and 10lb line and you can have great fun with flatties, mullet, pollack, wrasse, bass etc. Don't forget to wash your gear down with fresh water or the salt will wreck it in no time flat. Also, invest in/make a drop net, there's no way you'll winch even a 2lb fish up a harbour wall with light tackle without something breaking. Only the British seem fixated with heavy gear for all sea fishing, many Continentals use light tackle in harbours and off shelterd rocks, and seem to be very successful. Also try float fishing off rocks in Summer for wrasse, pollack, garfish and mackeral. Same gear.

My father kept a converted Norwegian fishing boat on a mooring opposite the Heybridge lock gates, just off Northey Island. At low tide the Blackwater shrank to abot 25 yards wide and waist deep, but you had to be careful where you waded because the mud could be deeper than the water!! Thats where we saw the mullet fisherman, but that was a good few years ago and it might have changed since. I am sure there are a lot more boat moorings there now, and they may have dredged it. However, there was never any shortage of mullet wandering about near boats moored up, they were fairly bold near populated areas and particularly easy to spot on calm days, very early in the morning. My brother and I used to catch them with freshwater tackle off the back of the boat. There's a book called Operation Sea Angler by Harry Casey, Mike Ladle and Terence Gledhill, ISBN 0-7136-2369-1 which is probably long out of print but has some great stuff about unconventional sea fishing, including fly fishing for mullet. Good Luck!

Darling wife bought me a mega barbie/smoker last year (must have felt guilty/sorry for me or something), USA made Iron Horse thing. That prompted me to investigate the Southern USA Barbecue which is more about smoking than grilling (cue for a treatise from Newt I fear... ) - anyway, the point (eventually) is - I bought a great book via Amazon called "Smoke and Spice" by Cheryl Alters Jamieson and Bill Jamieson, ISBN 1-55832-061-x , which is hugely informative on the subject and has some great recipes. I can recommend it. On the first page it says "don't forget to unpack the white thingy..." only joking, Alan

I have seen them near lakes, but most lakes also have streams running into and out of them. One of my most memorable experiences was fishing a very small stream, when you had to be really quiet not to spook the fish - and a kingfisher perched on my rod. He flew off and came back a couple of times. I hardly dared breathe. I had a great bite, but dared not strike, the sight of the kingfisher was worth more to me than the fish. I often see them on the Hamble estuary and around the upper reaches of Southampton water, which is definately salty. When I say see, I really mean catch a glimpse of a blue flash doing a zillion mph at nought feet

I have seen them near lakes, but most lakes also have streams running into and out of them. One of my most memorable experiences was fishing a very small stream, when you had to be really quiet not to spook the fish - and a kingfisher perched on my rod. He flew off and came back a couple of times. I hardly dared breathe. I had a great bite, but dared not strike, the sight of the kingfisher was worth more to me than the fish. I often see them on the Hamble estuary and around the upper reaches of Southampton water, which is definately salty. When I say see, I really mean catch a glimpse of a blue flash doing a zillion mph at nought feet

Could have been a nightjar, but someone might say they only appear in the UK in Summer. They flit around like butterflies only at night, they are about the size of a small owl. Weird. In daytime they sit on the ground pretending to be a turd. If I can say that on this site!

Could have been a nightjar, but someone might say they only appear in the UK in Summer. They flit around like butterflies only at night, they are about the size of a small owl. Weird. In daytime they sit on the ground pretending to be a turd. If I can say that on this site!

Do a search on this forum for flies, we have had a number of threads on the subject. I used to fish the Blackwater estuary and there were loads of mullet. It might be worth wading at low tide in the estuary as that concentrates the fish in a smaller area. I remember seeing people netting loads of them while wading, many years ago off Heybridge.

I have a Hardy one and its brilliant. Runs on meths and a spoonful of oak sawdust. Bit costly to buy though (£60) - all you really need is a biscuit tin and a grill rack plus some sort of low flame. If you want I can send more details/instructions. Mackeral and trout cook in about 15 mins max., cod would be the same. I have also smoked chicken, but you can smoke any kind of meat or fish. These are hot smokers and cook rather than preserve the meat, but the smoky taste is wonderful. Make sure you use the right sawdust, as softwood sawdust would make the tast awful. Loverly grub

ps let us know how you get on Hmmmm...Thanks, folks I might...give it a go. Think I'll try a bring home something edible as well, just in case. Got to catch them first though, and with the boat up on blocks and gales blowing up the channel that might be a few weeks away :confused: .

Is there a way of making pouting edible? They tend to die of cod-like inflated bladder syndrome when bringing them up from 60+ feet, so it seems a pity to waste them. Unfortunately so far only our spaniel is prepared to eat them, (and she's capable of eating the most unmentionable things ) - even the cat turns his nose up. Any ideas?

foul hooked a Herring on one drop Alan(nl) I wonder what the herring was trying to do with the pirk?? Not trying to eat it I bet!