hythe shore road report

[JonBoy]

I was about to post about drogues when i saw this thread, as i hope to be flyfishing a lot and should come in very handy. Have used one for 15 years boat fishing for trout.

 

Do ya recon my 25Sq Ft Wychwood Para Drogue i use for my Fluff Flicking on the reservior would be over doing it a Bit? and a bit dangerous maybe? I DO!!

 

I recon it would be easy enough to make one though. I had a look at the Knoydart one but at 35cm Sq it seems a bit small to me.

 

With virtually no kayaking experience But a lot of drogue experience, i recon a drouge thats about 1 yard sqr would be about right, just make sure you have 2 ropes from drogue to kayak (1 from each side of the drouge). This allows for easy retreival and collapses the drogue very easily to assist pulling it back in. You can also then play with the length of each rope (by tying a loop knot in it) to adjust the direction of drift!!!!!!!!!!

 

When i'm boat fishing i always have the drogue attatched to either end of the boat. drouge opens out better, does not tangle so much and you can change the direction of drift by moving the point of anchorage.

 

I'm thinking (assuming you want to point downwind) that a rope attached behind the seat one at each Pad Eye (right and Left) should work fine. Too Pull in just pull on 1 of the ropes and it will come in with vertually no resistance.

 

I wont be trying it for a while though due to inexperience on the water, but has anyone done anything like this already ???

 

JonBoy

[GB]

I was about to post about drogues when i saw this thread, as i hope to be flyfishing a lot and should come in very handy. Have used one for 15 years boat fishing for trout.

 

Do ya recon my 25Sq Ft Wychwood Para Drogue i use for my Fluff Flicking on the reservior would be over doing it a Bit? and a bit dangerous maybe? I DO!!

 

I recon it would be easy enough to make one though. I had a look at the Knoydart one but at 35cm Sq it seems a bit small to me.

 

With virtually no kayaking experience But a lot of drogue experience, i recon a drouge thats about 1 yard sqr would be about right, just make sure you have 2 ropes from drogue to kayak (1 from each side of the drouge). This allows for easy retreival and collapses the drogue very easily to assist pulling it back in. You can also then play with the length of each rope (by tying a loop knot in it) to adjust the direction of drift!!!!!!!!!!

 

When i'm boat fishing i always have the drogue attatched to either end of the boat. drouge opens out better, does not tangle so much and you can change the direction of drift by moving the point of anchorage.

 

I'm thinking (assuming you want to point downwind) that a rope attached behind the seat one at each Pad Eye (right and Left) should work fine. Too Pull in just pull on 1 of the ropes and it will come in with vertually no resistance.

 

I wont be trying it for a while though due to inexperience on the water, but has anyone done anything like this already ???

 

JonBoy

 

I use an old parachute from a military flare. It has a small hole in the top and I tie a peice of cord across this and atatch a retrieval line to it. Tie it of to the anchor troley and hey presto.

[Devon Exile]

Hi Mike,

 

Could you tell me where do you park up and launch for the Hythe mark you reported on? I've just bee up the Hamble this morning but couldn't get any bait so just went for a long 6 mile paddle which was lovely. The mouth of the river got a bit choppy with the S.Westwerly so I headed back upstream. Would like to give Hythe/Marchwood a try as I've never fished there.

[Newt]

I've just bee up the Hamble this morning but couldn't get any bait

 

You might want to consider keeping a pack or two of Fishbites with you for times when bait is hard to come by. I know they are now making some designed for colder sea water to suit UK conditions and you can probably source them in the UK. Otherwise, ordering from the US isn't hard.

 

The things can outperform natural baits at times although usually not but they do catch fish and the fact that you can keep a pack in your tackle box or pocket is a really convenience.

[JRT]

I was about to post about drogues when i saw this thread, as i hope to be flyfishing a lot and should come in very handy. Have used one for 15 years boat fishing for trout.

 

Do ya recon my 25Sq Ft Wychwood Para Drogue i use for my Fluff Flicking on the reservior would be over doing it a Bit? and a bit dangerous maybe? I DO!!

 

I recon it would be easy enough to make one though. I had a look at the Knoydart one but at 35cm Sq it seems a bit small to me.

 

With virtually no kayaking experience But a lot of drogue experience, i recon a drouge thats about 1 yard sqr would be about right, just make sure you have 2 ropes from drogue to kayak (1 from each side of the drouge). This allows for easy retreival and collapses the drogue very easily to assist pulling it back in. You can also then play with the length of each rope (by tying a loop knot in it) to adjust the direction of drift!!!!!!!!!!

 

When i'm boat fishing i always have the drogue attatched to either end of the boat. drouge opens out better, does not tangle so much and you can change the direction of drift by moving the point of anchorage.

 

I'm thinking (assuming you want to point downwind) that a rope attached behind the seat one at each Pad Eye (right and Left) should work fine. Too Pull in just pull on 1 of the ropes and it will come in with vertually no resistance.

 

I wont be trying it for a while though due to inexperience on the water, but has anyone done anything like this already ???

 

JonBoy

 

Jon, the drogue you use on boats at grafham/rutland are WAY too big for a kayak, dangerous in fact. The www.knoydart.co.uk is perfect. In fact you could make one easily or use a small bucket as others have suggested.

 

JRT

[mikeb]

Hi Mike,

 

Could you tell me where do you park up and launch for the Hythe mark you reported on? I've just bee up the Hamble this morning but couldn't get any bait so just went for a long 6 mile paddle which was lovely. The mouth of the river got a bit choppy with the S.Westwerly so I headed back upstream. Would like to give Hythe/Marchwood a try as I've never fished there.

 

 

 

i launched into a small creek near the sea scout hut on shore road, there is a layby there to park and then you only have to carry your kit about 4metres over the road, there is a tackle shop in hythe where you can get bait

[YakDiver]

I launched into a small creek near the sea scout hut on shore road

I use to fish along there, I use to belong to Hythe Sailing Club I don't know about now, but you could get some very large Mullet and small Bass great fun on light tackle oh and eels if you like that sort of thing.

As for a sea anchor/drogue I made my own :- top ring 12 inches dia, bottom ring 3 inches dia and length of 22 inches, in the top ring I put some plastic tubing to keep it open at all times works very well.

[Simon Everett]

Interesting that you say the Wychwood one is dangerous - I have been using it for years!! It works much better than a drogue with a hole in the cone. I agree you can make one much cheaper - but if you already have a trout one - use it! BUT, wash it out well when you get home.

 

I have one line to it - there are the four corner lines coming together at a becket, a swivel on the becket is where the line attaches. You only need about 4 or 5 feet of line to the anchor haul - clip it on and thats it. This is enough line to allow the kayak to move on the water, so no fear of the drogue pulling you over. Put a champagne cork on each of the lines which will be the top lines - and a small weight on the other two - this gets it deployed much faster and stops it from sinking and frightening the fish away in shallow water. It alsomeans it will ride over rocks happily. I use miine to take me through the white water around rocky outcrops or shallow ground. To retrieve you don't need a collapse line - just pull on one of the four corner lines and the thing collapses. By attaching to your anchor haul you can alter the aspect and rate of drift by pulling the haul from bow to stern or having it set midships.

 

One thing though - it only works to wind drift, not tide drift. If it is wind against tide you can speed the drift up by using a drogue - as you are not getting an wind drift and so the curent will take you faster. If there is little current the drogue wil stop you almost dead in the water in a breeze! It works.

 

For tidal drift control GBs milk carton of sand, bag of stones or the anchor dragging technique that the Skerries charter boats use comes into its own. Martin said to fold the anchor and let it drag - it works.

[GB]

Ehem twis not I who uses a milk carton. Plastic tubs indeed how uncivilised I like using the anchor fully set and just control it by using a short warp, more infinite control that way by letting out more or less warp.

[jimbofisher]

Hope you guys dont mind me throwing this in...but surely you cant be doing the sea-bed much good by dragging stuff along it?? Im sure you guys are conservation minded, but if you drag an anchor, or even a plastic full of sand over an eel grass bed you will do all sorts of damage, especially around spawning time....just something to think about