Big J
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Everything posted by Big J
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Easiest way to cut an 18ft beam with an Alaskan is to take it to someone with a bandmill and get them to do it. Given that Alaskan milling is manual, and board handling is usually manual, do you really want to have to lift an 18ft beam? It could take all morning to square up a log with an Alaskan (especially if there are a few boards from the outside of the log) and that same log could be done in 15 minutes on a Woodmizer or something similar. An Alaskan is an invaluable tool for certain applications (wide boards, inaccessible timber) but it's not suited to producing dimensioned timber.
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I'll have to pop in - that almost couldn't be closer to me (about 2 miles from my house). I shall see you there!
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I'm not sure that the ice fishing appeals - it just looks incredibly cold! Lovely barbel there Chris. Something you see very little of up here, which is a crying shame. One of the local coarse fisheries has mini barbel in one of the ponds, but they really are tiny. The fact that they seem to fight twice as hard as the carp only makes me want to catch them more.
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Some excellent fish there - very jealous! The water I've fished can best be described as a 'runs' water. The floats never stop going under but the fish tend to be small. Runs would typically come at 30 minute intervals. This was never an issue for me before, but I've decided I'd really like a 20 (or larger). I'm scoping a new water reasonably locally that I'm optimistic about. It's fairly large, completely unfished and I reckon has the potential to contain thirties.
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They are truly beautiful fish. Rarely ever my target species but always a welcome bycatch.
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Both lovely fish, the brown especially. The colours on it are just extraordinary. There are browns to over 10lbs in the lake I fish, but with the water not being especially clear, the colours are usually pretty washed out.
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That's total lunacy! Never seen anything like it!
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I did try sweet corn for 20 minutes today on a 14, but just got tiny nibbles on the float, nothing more. It's a hugely deep water that I fish (55ft deep at it's deepest) and I think that the large roach just sink deep over winter. I almost never get them. I'll try lobworm though next time - I have vast numbers of worms in the garden. Good day otherwise though. Had 325 small roach, a pike at 8lb 2oz and a monster rainbow at 8lb 4oz on the whip. 3.3m of pole with hollow nine elastic, with a size 24 hook, single maggot and 3lb 6oz line. Took nearly 20 minutes to get it in, and as I pulled it over the net the hook bent out and pinged off. Luckily, it was already in the net. Stunning fish and very happy to put it back: My legs were wobbling for about 10 minutes afterwards. Longest fight I've had out of a fish since I was a kid and nearly doubled my rainbow pb. Brown trout totally absent today. Water was very brown today due to heavy rain, which I think switched them off.
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It's gets into your head, it really does. I see the merit and appeal of all types of fishing, even if it's not for me. I do like to put my fish back though - breaks my heart when I see big rainbows clopped on the head for no reason other than that is what is expected of the angler.
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Holy flurking schnitt - £4400! That's mental.
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I don't really like Ifors - very heavy and rather expensive too. That Unsinn model I linked to is under £2k plus VAT. I've absolutely hammered mine and it's still in great condition. I'm confident I could still sell it for close to what I paid for it.
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Speak to Jeremy (Arbwork on here, based in Milton Keynes). He is an experienced operator and can also break down larger logs with chainsaw mills.
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Tough day - the rain isn't helping at the moment. Probably out tomorrow on the trout fishery. It's very coloured at the moment, which actually might help with the roach. I've set up a 3.5m line (it'll fish at about 8-9ft depth) on a 14 for sweetcorn to try to coax a larger roach out. Unlikely to be successful but you can only try. I've also fined down my other two lines from 0.13 to 0.11 and down from size 20 back to 24 and also with a micro barb again. Bumping off too many fish at the moment which I think is wrecking the swim with spooked fish. I can't go too light on the elastic as I'll get smashed by the trout, so a compromise is the hollow 9 and reasonably strong line (3lb 6oz).
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Just wasn't sure from the photo! Apologies for asking. Have heard some awful things about the pike culling in Ireland. Where are you fishing tomorrow for the chub?
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Nice pike there - hope that it's not dead though! Pike don't have a great reputation in Ireland sadly. Only on hollow 9 elastic on the 3.3m top two (almost all my fishing is done on that). Sometimes use about 6m of the 11m pole, but that's only a hollow 6-10 as well. I'm convinced it's the hook. Luckily, I was in the tackle shop that I got the Drennan hooks in before (they'd been closed for refurbishment for a month) and they had them. Also had whisker barbed Kamasan B611, so I'll try those as well. Even got a pack of size 26s, though I suspect that's overkill. It's the wide gap hooks I'm presently struggling with - the Drennans are very small. I'll be out again next week to test the theory.
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When I say boat fishing, I mean pike. It's a water I know well, and I have a fair idea where the pike are in winter, but unless it's fairly still, I won't go out. There is nowhere to hide from the weather in the middle of a loch!
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That takes the biscuit!! Not quite in the same league, but I took my friend piking and his first ever fish was 10lb 2oz. I blanked. There are big pike everywhere. They recently drained a section of the canal locally and the largest pike electro fished was just over 24lbs. The issue is that (quite rightly) no one talks about the waters they catch large pike in. I'm currently at the start of trying to get permission to fish a reasonably local loch that I believe will have huge pike in it. Not ever 100% sure who owns it though!
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No, nothing chunky really. Two doubles this winter (10lb exactly and 11lb 7oz) but I've hardly had any days on waters likely to yield larger pike. I'm contemplating doing a couple of days on the boat next week in the Highlands, but winter boat fishing in Northern Scotland requires grit, determination and some very favourable conditions. Not sure I've all those things in my favour!! That being said, I do really need to pull my finger out any get a 20lber already. I've had well over 300 pike in the past three years, 36 doubles and still no twenty! John - I seem to have lost the knack with the trout on the pole a bit lately. I think possibly it's a hook issue as they keep jumping off (had some Drennan size 24s that were superb, but run out of them now and not getting on with the Kamasan replacements). Sounds like you're getting some outstanding fishing though. Coarse fishing is a struggle up here, even in summer. Winter is tough.
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I have a 14x6.5ft Unsinn trailer referred to as the WEB 28. Two years of heavy use and only maintenance issues were replacing the front LED lights, which seem a bit susceptible to damage from pebble strikes etc. It's probably done 25,000 miles now and still draws compliments. Cheap as chips too (worth going to Germany to grab one): Unsinn GTP 2642-13-2040 web28 - haengermarkt24
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Definitely a chub there! Nice bag of roach too. I'm at the local trout fishery tomorrow which has thousands and thousands of roach. Mostly tiny, but the odd clunker (had one at 1lb 5oz a few weeks back). Plenty of trout too, which are great fun on the pole (several browns over 5lbs on the pole in the past few months).
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I've been a way off shore for cod once in Denmark as a kid, but I didn't find is desperately exciting. I like the sometimes intimate nature of freshwater fishing, where watching the fish take your bait/lure is very possible. I've had quite a few decent sized pike and brown trout take wobbled deadbaits right under my rod tip. Exciting stuff!
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Stubby and Matty, you're both in the perfect parts of the country to your respective loves! I grew up in Derby and mostly fished the River Derwent and it's tributaries. A very diverse range of fish in it, hence the broad spectrum of angling interest! Being 100 miles from the coast, sea fishing was never really on the cards!
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This last few months have been a touch quieter (good thing) which has allowed the guys to start doing more of the actual milling at the yard. Less need for me to be there so taking a bit more time off and going fishing. After 7 years of stupidly long hours and little time off I don't feel too guilty! You should start again though. It's a rare thing now to have peaceful time off, outdoors and without staring at a screen.
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Wondering if anyone else out there suffers (is that the right word?) from angling addiction? Fished a lot as a kid, had a break in my late teens and early to mid twenties. The bug has properly bitten again and I spend all my time either fishing, or thinking about going fishing. I'm a multi discipline angler too - love close to medium range pole fishing, pike fishing, trout angling, spinning, deadbaiting, river fishing, lake fishing and so on. Not that keen on sea fishing though, I'll admit. So if anyone in the Edinburgh area wishes to go fishing at some point, give me a shout!
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Matelot. Whatever (occasionally valid) concerns you have with regards to the scale and impact of immigration, you undermine yourself by just coming across as a white supremacist. Honestly, some of your opinions would have been deemed controversial in 1960's America.
