GPSguru

I have worked in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the latter being the best. Feck’in poofs like you would need to be careful in these countries, TBH, I am surprised that you even know where it is in the world, being outside of your Thames comfort zone 🤣

@Geoff 's reply is worth a 9 .............. 🤣

If you can get them to tick the 'Gift' box on the customs certificate (CN22A) and to declare the value as £250 or less, then there will be no VAT or import duties, however, many businesses will not do this as the penalties for a false customs declaration are very severe. Another alternative is for a friend in the country of origin to buy the gear for you and then send it to the UK as a gift. That has worked for me in the past, but you need to have friends or relatives in the country of origin. I have used that method for gear from both Oz and the USA.

Yes, Max gets farmed worm and it is terrible, not only small, but doesn't keep well either. You need to give Matt a call at South West Sea Baits in Plymouth. He digs local, they keep well, and more importantly, most are like snakes. His place is easy to get to, he has a unit on the fish quay near the national aquarium.

Sikaflex 291, you can get it in white and black.

Yes I realised you were in ‘boat mode’ , but I would not have pulled you up on such a triviality. 🤣

Yeah, does both 👍 100 yrds is 91m ish

Using a 12ft Greys 2.75lb prodigy carp rod, a Shimano wide spool big pit coffee grinder, 3 oz lead on a zip slider and short 12” hook length, 100 yrds is consistently doable. Hooks were 1/0 manta’s and we thread the worm over the hook and up the line, so the hook point is right at the tail of the worm. If you don't do that, the fish just bite off the tail and miss the hook. Also the fact that we are wading to waist deep, makes the casting more tricky. I did some low tide test casts and was achieving a consistent measured 95 - 110 yds ( with bait). We used a Bushnell shooting range finder to measure the distance.

RIP ............. Keith Levene, the Clash guitarist, passed from liver cancer aged 65

Well, yes, we went estuary fishing in the deepest darkest part of South Devon, to a venue that is private, and has produced a ton of Bass for me in the past, and a mark that I have been visiting for almost 50 years and has been enjoyed by 4 generations of our family. This mark fishes well on rising spring tides, any wind direction other than South West, total darkness, and no rain runoff in the river, which is something of a lottery when we are invited to stay at a remote estuary property at short notice. A quick look at the tide tables showed that the weekend was falling springs, but certainly enough water, the tides were in the evening (perfect) and the wind was light South East (perfect). We decided to fish just the 3 evening tides (Fri, Sat , and Sun), using 12ft Carp rods and big pit reels loaded with 20lb braid, as the casting distance is critical, and you really need to hit 100yds and each cast. Pre-empting a good session, I had ordered 6lb of king rag, as there were 3 of us fishing (me, my son, and Kyle). Timing is critical, as the best time is the last 2.5 hours of the flood and the first 2 hours of the ebb. On the river there is no standing time and flood to ebb is almost an immediate transition. On the Friday evening, I was first to arrive and went straight into the fishing, whilst my wife did the cottage stuff of lighting the log fire etc. Within minutes the first Bass was landed and that is the way it continued for the rest of the tide. I was soon joined by the other two, and we all enjoyed some excellent sport. The stamp of fish was better than in the recent past with the average fish being probably 2.5lb The Friday tide, I beat my record, with 17 consecutive casts producing 17 Bass. On the Saturday evening tide, the fishing was also well above average. I tried a different rig (clipped down Pat) in order to gain some extra casting yards, but the flow was causing the pat to go up in the water and the worm baits need to be nailed hard on the bottom, but it only cost me 30 minutes of wasted time. Here are the stunning numbers, the fish size varied between 1.5 lb Basslets to fish of almost 5lb. Between the 3 of us we caught 82 Bass over 3 tides and went through 6lb of local dug king rag, the slowest fishing being Sunday evening when the Springs were dropping in to neaps. Interestingly, when we fillet fish from this mark they are always full of crab, but annoyingly, worm is the only bait that produces consistent bites, although I have had limited success with sandeel, Because this is such a prolific mark, that is very remote and private, there are not many pictures, another factor being that we were fishing in total darkness. Ready for eating, a fish of almost 5lb and another of 3lb

Excellent work Gary, and great that it is now sorted. I have been away all weekend Bass fishing, and will post up a report later 👍

'Black Gold' is what they are called locally, you should be eating it !

Hmmm, a small percentage that is still too feck'in big. My tolerance threshold is very low with these clowns, and I usually adopt the stance of 'tell it like it is'

RIP Garry Roberts Boomtown Rats guitarist,

RIP Dan McCafferty

The weather is monumental shite here for boat fishing, and next week doesn't look too great either, however, I will be away at the weekend fishing the private part of the estuary again for the last remnants of the current Bass season, but I do expect a fair few schoolies to maybe 3 0r 4lb. It could be that the Bass have legged it and the flounders have moved in, but as it is still mild, that is pretty unlikely. 4lb of rag to collect on Friday ...... Hopefully when the weather does settle, it will be for an extended period, I just have a feeling that there is winter Cod on the wrecks.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 A superb realisation of character 🤣🤣👍

Generally, Pollock is better if you take the skin off. If you leave it on, then always cook it skin side down. I like Bass done whole in tin foil in the oven, but the inside of the fish stuffed with tomatoes, onions, a little garlic, and some finely chopped orange and red peppers. Fried bass fillets are nice when served with a fried pepper/ onion salsa We tend to panko breadcrumb Cod, rather than batter. Traditional Plaice half fillets are always panko'ed and cooked as goujons Butterfly plaice fillets are either fried naked, or sometimes Panko'ed

The same fecker's that drink Mango juice and play the bongo's 🙄🤣

I read it wrong, some old folk shouldn't be allowed out on their own 🤣🤣 🤷‍♂️

Mar & Apr are the worst fishing months here. The winter species will have moved out and the summer visitors don't arrive until May. Although TBF I can catch Mackerel all year.

Tell them that @JonC was driving. A little birdie told me he has updated his tinder profile to reflect the season ........ Use his profile pic to send to them ........

I didn't think we had that many injuns around here 🤣

Too much effort........... I just buy them trade in 50's, probably cheaper than making them, and I don't have the danger of climbing the church roof 😊 I only really use cannon balls in 8, 10, and 12, and Aquapedo's in 6.