Hoop

1 hour ago, Andy135 said:

Friendly reminder for us all that @Jon cook's thread is in danger of being trashed. Can we keep it on topic and vaguely civil please?

😳 For a moment, I thought this was Philips from the other site.. *stinky bait*

24 minutes ago, JonC said:

You started it  🤣

 

I didn’t wreck tadpole’s decking post - that was ruined before I got there 

🤣🤣 

6 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

I'm busy all week digging 🥺

Lovely job, a chippy masquerading as a plumber? Should earn you some brownie points!!

2 hours ago, Saintly Fish said:

Wow sounds like you got lucky steve. Now you do have an almost new rod for not a lot of dosh. Fair play to the seller for chipping in.

Lucky? I'd say so..

Although Century are no Orvis in after sales service, Century do tend to look after customers for the most part. Considering the rod isn't registered to me and was purchased secondhand, credit where its due for them to just get on with it... perhaps it worked in my favour as they did state that within the registration docs provided they warn against spigot contamination?! They caused a chuckle when they said it happens within the marine environment .. where else would it be deployed!? Sightly overkill on the local chalk stream.. 

As for cheap? So far the bloody thing has cost me 448£! -50£ transferred back in..  over 600£ new!! Stupid money. 

1 hour ago, Andy135 said:

Actually, this reminds me - when are you, me and @Saintly Fish going dangling then? There was talk of a session a while back. Are we waiting for a decent tide?

Don't know, it kinda died?! Thought it was my reference to the glory holes in the adjacent public conveniences.

Superb tides this weekend, will see hounds along local beaches.. as the Bass will be mooching up the creeks.. 🤔

Yarp, it happened.. back on the stinky baits but it didn't all go according to plan!! Standard.

Found a stick worth a punt via a Facebook group, Century Tip Tornado Supermatch Graphex.. sold as nearly new having been used twice! Day after arranging courier to pick up in Scotland, I had it in hand.. couple of days later, I had it on the beach! Session finished with my buddy having landed a couple of dogs, it was a shit nothing tide and was more a session for a social catch up than anything else..

For me, I took the rod out of the bag for the first time on the beach.. Rookie mistake? The 'next to new' Century had an issue, the male section of the spigot joint had blown up and wouldn't seat sufficiently enough into the Butt section.

Rather foolishly, and despite only managing to seat it upto an inch or so, I decided to give it a go whilst taking it easy.. pfffft. Second cast out pings the tip section and impacts the beach hard enough to generate sparks as it blew up the bottom guide.

Good news today - sent to Century yesterday and was delivered at 1026 today, by 1400 they'd repaired the spigot, no fee, guide replacement and return will run to about 36£. Interesting note from them was that the spigot had blown up due to internal contamination.. sand and other detritus present within the butt section.

The seller claims the rod was no different when purchased and always had limited connection.. not knowing any different he fished with the rod thinking it was normal. Thankfully he's covered part of the cost of sending to Century and guide replacement at factory so it could've been worse. Can't wait to get it back and give it a dam good thrashing!

Beautiful Cuckoo's but the star of the show has to be that Bream, what a cracker!! 

9 hours ago, JonC said:

Really they should contact you first to check what you need before they launch their sale. How inconsiderate. ☹️

Here, here..

On 4/20/2023 at 8:39 PM, Saintly Fish said:

I saw an email on this and went from 0 to 60 in the excitement stakes in moments, clicked in to waste away yet more money on lures destined for the doom box and nothing! Nothing new and that I've not already got, I clicked off without spending a penny. Meh. 

Hey mate, not sure I'm following you here.. stormsure tape? Apologies if I'm missing something.

59 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Not necessarily an evening venue, but daytime can get busy with boats in and out of the river. Dingy racers are a pain as they come real close and like to collect lines with no regard for others. 
Maybe we can talk @Andy135 into appearing. His fee is low these days! 

Be nice to catch up with familiar faces. Mind you, Andy as a heads up..  I've heard stories about the public toilets around that area... 😳 .. worried Neil didn't include any safety warnings. 🫣😂

37 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Ive just had a quick look at the tides and there is not a suitable low until mid June. 
Maybe another venue!

Yeah I had a quick look, currently into Springs, expect the next set of springs to see more numbers of Hounds but they are there now.. or during the neaps hit Bass. 

Hillhead on the / a spit hounds, rays and not many dogs.. Andy. Warsash, Lepe, hurst also springs to mind.

12 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Yes, a 2 hr before low water mark. Walk out to the point then a gentle lob into the channel. Bream, hounds, bass and codling in winter. Turn 180 deg and fish into the shallows for thornies. 

Ahh, so I do know it. Bass were easy pickings on the ebb, so great takes off the top. Never fished it at night, assume its a nighttime thing? Be interesting, let me know when! 👍

7 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

I do keep thinking of Hamble spit! 

Not sure I know this mark, is it at the mouth.. more or less in front of the marina? Had stacks of Bass on lures at that spot..

26 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Of course. Although I never go beach fishing. Maybe once a year at most. You're welcome to come take a look though. 
And yeah, they're Italian quality rods. 

As the Hounds have arrived, could be worth while making that yearly trip soonish. Two birds and all that.. 

27 minutes ago, JonC said:

It seemed quite a B lot of money at £180 but I know they are sought after rods and I guess if it’s condition is good then it won’t depreciate unlike cheaper stuff. 

This is what I was saying about prices. Nice rods but not a touch on modern gear.. reckon its probably not far younger than myself. Mine made a nice heavy bass rod for chucking whole mackerel with 7-8oz leads.. couldn't wind a pendulum with bait and hit any real distance, that said when I find it I'll ping him a message.

24 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Or a cheaper version, 

 

 

I also have an Ian golds beach caster that is made from a Zziplex blank. But that's a bit special, and I'm not 100% I wanna off load it, even though I never use it. But might 

My advice would be to keep it, fukin nightmare to replace and will only cost you more! 

Don't know much about Vercelli, something is saying Italian or Croat and big on the match scene. If and when you're next drowning worms, any chance of having a wiggle? 

1 hour ago, Saintly Fish said:

Shame you want multi, because I have a few FS beach rods that you could choose from! 

Hey Neil, what have you got up for grabs? Not against a decent conti..

47 minutes ago, JonC said:

I saw a very nice diawa amphouroud on Facebook 

Hey Jon, thanks for pinging this across.. my PB Bass came on one of these, will have a nosy. Ta much.

Having moved on all non essential gear to justify to myself for the considerable outlay on a happy Jappy stick, I now find me self in the position of requiring beach gear....... AGAIN. Quite happy to leave he bait gear alone though there are several times a year I get a little nostalgic, Cod, Hounds, Ray and bream.. A very dear old mate of mine, some what of a mentor in professional life, is going through some tough times with ill health including rapidly reducing vision.. 

Obviously the chap struggles and although the angling bug burns as bright as it ever has, he's clearly nervous about getting out. Due to the safety risks of lone fishing, he's pretty much just knocked it on the head.. with a little encouragement from his wife and I, I'm going to get him out and rather than just sitting on my arse or being planted to the spot with the lure gear, kind of figured I'd be a participating chaperone.

Having looked at the price of decent, used gear up for sale I'm in shock. Led to believe Zipplex went bust, not a big fan but the following Zipplex generates is akin to a cult following. I saw one rod, a Bullet, unused and recently built by the god of rod builders, Chris dance (from memory),.... they want a grand for it. Crazy. I moved on top end Daiwa Tournament rod last year for under 200 notes, like new.. for the same rod, its closer to 300. 

Anyhow, if anyone spots any half decent gear up for grabs for reasonable money, please let me know. Multi preferable, Penn or Daiwa, stick, ideally something akin to a century tip tornado supermatch or similar.  I'd like a fishing capable of smashing the horizon rather than a tool that hits the horizon and is garbage to fish with.

Otherwise on a local note (Solent), Hounds are already rolling in off the beach to double which is a touch early but apparently the Ray fishing has been crap, non existent. Oh, apparent the calling signs of Bream have also been noted.. 

On 4/9/2023 at 5:31 PM, Saintly Fish said:

My Stainless Steve landing net is just too cumbersome and long to keep on the boat. So I'm going to get shot of it (pm if interested). 
But what good quality net should I replace it with? I'd like small enough holes that a smut can't wedge itself and a telescopic light weight handle. 
What's recommended??

Last cast saloon (formally, Daves tackle - Gosport) have some telescopic handles on the shelf. 

I purchased one a few years back from a French outlet prior to stores this side getting them, my only gripe was with the rubber bung at the top that locks the poles into the handle,nothing that some packer material wouldn't sort.. I've got the Daiwa short handled version, the one I suspect you'd be looking at for the boat.. welcome to it as I have no use to it since we lost access to Blockhouse. 😪

4 hours ago, Andy135 said:

Impressive stuff Steve 👍. That's a good catch. Were you targeting the trout or just a happy bycatch?

I'd be lying if I said yes....

Had them on bait up Hillhead way, years ago, free lining rag on ebbing tide couldn't miss..

River Meon (inland from Hillhead) holds healthy head of ST and knowing anglers from that syndicate, steady catch reports flows throughout the year and electro surveys conducted in past years.. sluice at Hillhead Harbour - one way in and out. 

The bay, I thought, would be out of range.. assuming ST would hang around closer to the river system they were born!? Interestingly, I'd heard dits from folk concerning the spot I had previously taken you to (within pompey harbour), that said it used to be a hotspot for ST. (presumably from the Wallington) 

Interesting though, that same mark has turned up flounder, gurnard and ST.. all to metals.

Beautiful Bassy, well dangled.

8 minutes ago, JonC said:

Not heard that one but it could be a thing. But I’m not average so my thoughts aren’t applicable 

Average!? Never.. Jon = boaty Jedi!

4 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

That's a new one on me. We've always been told that braid cuts through the tide better as it's thinner. Surely fatter mono would catch more tide and vibrate more I would have thought, but who knows. Either way, I've now got another excuse to add to my armoury for the next time I blank 😉

Losing your touch old chap? Historically saved by a dog or three... 

50 minutes ago, JonC said:

Your point about 3 beardeds does stand up. The main issue for me with other nots is the size and the fig not greatly reduces that. Most of us fish over gunned anyway so the chances of a fish smashing us up as opposed to getting snapped are generally low. 

Here, here Jon. I think for the most part size etc is relative to lines used. Decent lines tend to knot better, give higher resistance to abrasion at lower diameters. 

Not a million miles away from the topic, I've heard recently of a theory regarding braided lines vibrating in tide and in turn spooking nearby feeding fish? 🤔 Some beach folk turning their backs to braid and fixed spools, going back to multis and mono.. wondered what the average boaty thought on this? 

17 hours ago, JDP said:

I see to many fg's pull apart on decent fish over here from experienced anglers who think they have perfected them. 

As you will recall, those solent salmon and 3 bearded rockling dont half go some... stands to reason that the bench mark for any international tackle test, takes place in the mighty Solent. 😁 

An FG tied properly won't give up before other weak points in the line..  👍