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Dave B

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Everything posted by Dave B

  1. Small halibut 'chickens' can be pack hunters, but most large halibut are solitary fish. They will chase a baitfish up through 100 metres of water and hit it on the surface no problem - I've seen a 350-pounder (est) smacking hell out of a 20lb coalfish on the surface in Norway - I even managed to cast a livebait at it cos it was on the surface for so long, but I didn't hook the bugger! One thing I have learned about the halibut is that they hate metal - so use a soft bait like squid or a live coalie, or a shad if you want to catch one - throw away your pirks! You'll find that most of the halib
  2. I've got a pair of MTI 15lb Offshores and I've been using them for uptiding with no problems at all, even with 8oz of lead and a decent bait. In fact, I've been using the rods pretty much exclusively all summer and I've caught tope over 40lb, conger over 45lb and a whole host of other species like blonde rays, pollack and cod on them - I love 'em, they're great!
  3. I take it that picture shown isn't of the 58lb cod he caught on the rod! There's no way he could hold it out like that with an outstretched arm - plus it looks way smaller than the 40-pounder I caught a few months back - I'm 6ft 5ins tall and it's tail went down past my knees when I held the head up level with mine. Greys Excursion rods are really good though - I've got a 20/30lb and the 30/50lb and have used them all over the world - they're good for playing striped marlin on!
  4. Let us know how you get on - I'd be interested to find out!
  5. I've caught bass, by accident, in over 240ft of water on a wreck off Brixham. They were black as a piece of coal, but it just goes to show that they can frequent really deep water too. My biggest bass, 9lb 15oz, was caught in a hole about 75ft deep in the Thames. In fact, a lot of big bass are caught in the Thames in around 70ft of water, mostly when guys are targeting the tope.
  6. Hi Paul, any chance myself and Tugboat Jim can jump on board on the Sunday to fish the comp and cover it in the mag? D B
  7. I got 'escorted' out of the marina shortly after hooking and losing a double-figure bass! I can't remember if I was more gutted about losing a double-figure bass, or about not being able to try and catch the even bigger bass that I could see swimming around! Anyway, my 'Mee no speaka di inglish' routine didn't wash with the local police, but they were really good about it and simply told me to go and fish the beach and not in the marina! There are some really massive bass to be caught at Vilamoura, and you can catch them off the beaches at night. Depending on where you stay, you'll see the l
  8. I've caught mackerel from various locations around the UK all through the year - the most memorable was out of Littlehampton late December when the river had started to freeze! Ada's right about the optimum temperature that brings the mackerel in to feed - it's all to do with zooplankton and phytoplankton and loads more sciency stuff! Of course there is also the fact that warmer water speeds up digestion in pelagic species such as the mackerel, so they will naturally move inshore to shallower, warmer water to grow bigger, quicker!
  9. Dave B

    Hatch Covers

    'Ere Murph, what happened to the tarpaulin and rope idea then? LOL I'm sure you'll be able to make a hatch easy enough mate - it's not that hard. Just don't go sniffing the resin or you'll fall off the boat!
  10. I used to go through the whole rigmarole of peeling, drying, wrapping and freezing peelers. That was until I got home late some 15 years ago and couldn't be bothered and just lobbed a small plastic bag with about 20 crabs in the freezer. I took them out for a spring shore session some 6 months later and they were spot on. Ever since then I've simply bagged them up, whole, and frozen them - they come out far better than when you spend hours peeling and preparing them!
  11. I can remember seeing the first ever Stella in the UK, some 10 or so years ago. The reel was originally developed for casting with really light lines by the Japanese - it only came with a very shallow spool that you'd be hard pushed to get 100 yards of 15lb mono on! I've since seen the newer models, and they are superb. But - who the hell would want to spend that amount of dosh on a fixed spool reel? I'd be too scared to use it!
  12. Those small mullet make superb livebaits for bass - especially in marinas! I think a cast net is the most effective method for catching them.
  13. Try using a 70mm redgill about two feet up from the plug on a blood loop - that always works for me!
  14. Dave B

    Barham's Blog

    Hi Ada, sorry mate, I've been flying around like a nutter the past week or so. I'll buzz ya when I get back mate. Had a great day today, myself and one of the Welsh lads both hooked into fish at the same time, and they both weighed exactly 28lb 8oz a piece! Top sport. Loads of pics up in the Gallery on the BFM site.
  15. Dave B

    Barham's Blog

    Today's weather was great - but the fishing harder. We still had great sport with coalies up to 14/15lb on light spinning gear though, plus a load of cod to 16lb. I lost a pig yesterday - I reckon over the 40lb mark! It took a coalfish that i'd hooked as I was winding up. Had it on for about fifteen seconds before it parted company - gutted! Maybe tomorrow? There's a few more pics uploaded from todays exploits on the BFM site. Hey Murph... wish you were here!
  16. Hi all, I received this press release yesterday while I was on a day off fishing at Grafham water. Recreational anglers wriggle out of EU quotas plans Conservative pressure and amendments pay off Brussels, 31st March 2009 -- Plans to bring recreational anglers into the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) have been watered down significantly by the European Parliament‚s fisheries committee in a vote this afternoon. Article 47 of the proposed regulation would have required recreational fishermen to register their boats and whatever they catch would be counted against the fisheries q
  17. Arfter wotchin dat rubsome green on tha telly, Oi iz gowin darn tha rivvar to spearz sum poikes fur moi dinnars, yum yums!
  18. I should imagine that every live bait we use feels 'pain', but we choose to ignore it. Who'd be a ragworm eh! Anyway, I doubt that crabs feel anywhere near the amount of pain the Murph is gonna feel tonight! Apparently he's thinking of fishing The Wall in a Force 6 and torrential rain!
  19. If I were you Kev, I'd take a crash helmet along with you if you're gonna be casting or fishing with Murph - he's bloomin' deadly!
  20. Yeah, it is a bit out of the way, but then again a lot of the best fishing destinations are. I've done a couple of trips where there is 24 hours or more travelling involved - International flight, chartered light aircraft flight, ferry then a private speedboat to get to an island in the Bahamas! Needless to say the fishing was totally awesome, but getting there was a real adventure in itself! I think 300k in a jeep sounds okay considering what's at the other end. You certainly wouldn't want to go for any less than 10 days though - all that travelling really takes it out of you!
  21. I know - If I wasn't so busy I'd be down there now! Let me know if you go fella.
  22. Mozambique is one of the best places in the world to go for a big Giant Trevally! I can remember seeing a video about eight years ago where three guys camped out on the beach and caught over 100 sharks and loads of massive GTs on huge white surface popper plugs. They ended the week-long stay by landing a 50lb GT head! Yes, just the head weighed around 50lb, a monster of a shark took the fish after an hour of playing it. They estimated the GT to weigh well in excess of 200lb - they'd already caught loads over 120lb. If you're sure that the boats you'll be fishing on don't have any gear, then I
  23. They may have been big bass and not cod at all. There have been some real beasts caught in the past couple of weeks - a lot of double figure fish (mainly along the south coast).
  24. Yeah Maaan, it was real grooovy. Hey Ade, you haven't got rid of that lovely old black bucket and bought a shiny new orange one have you?
  25. I'm not having a dig at Mark personally, from what I have read on here the poor chap is up to his eyeballs. And yes I agree that time will tell as far as how the AT is concerned. The thing that I am annoyed about is the fact that we have Article 47 looming over our heads as we speak and we do not have 'time'. When the AT was 'officially' launched in January, they should have had things in place and ready to go - especially on the sea angling side of things. It's like Nissan launching a new range of cars - but oh, you'll have to wait six months because we haven't got any doors or headlights so
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