el of a catch ...... no not ell !

[Norman]

sometime even the best laid plans go wrong ....................
I couldnt resist the ebay offer of \"bait catcher\", just for the fun of it.
It`s a lobster pot , well a small crab pot actually, couldn`t expect much very big in it. But I duly paid me £12.99 on the buy it now and it arrived the following day . Excellent piece of kit it arrived in a pizza box, its a cylindrical pot thats made of a spring wire that folds up like a coiled spring, really impressive idea, small pockets for weights to be added, big zip fastener to take out your catch, two entry points either end with non return tunnells. A really good piece of kit.
The idea was since I`m always filleting on the boat in marina then throwing the waste overboard then theres bound to be a load of crabs straight below, why not get a few for bait , just what this device was aimed at.

so after a windy day out saturday I kept one mackerel just for the test ............
got back, filleted catch, cleaned up , then ,,,,, brought out the new toy. I cut the mackerel but left the fillets intact and put the whole thing in the pot, put some weight in the bottom and fastened a line to it to drop down below the boat and see what transpired.

Sunday morning, wind blowing so a no go for fishing, however I had to lift my pot and see what was in .......... pulled it up and it was fairly heavy ... LOL expecting to see a load of crab bait .......... LOL sh1t it was stuffed and I mean stuffed to bursting with whopping big eels ah well back to the drawing board ....... still , it gave a few around me (as well as myself) a good £12.99 worth of laughter

anyone got any jelly ?

[jeff]

Hi Norman,

I almost bought one as well!!!!

Jeff.

[Norman]

haha LOL jeff , the goods are brill , it`s just my application that needs adjusted

[KeithB]

Bert\'s ordered one! no doubt a 10lb cod will jump in his

[Ell]

I`m always filleting on the boat in marina then throwing the waste overboard

That\'s a terrible thing to do Norman! Do you open your little back door and do the Dave Mason side foot move? \"Oops silly me all those guts and that have just fallen in the water?

[LING_BASHER]

I take it the eels are river eels (common silver eels) Not caught many from the shore this year, last year we had loads from the mouth of the tyne on mackerel and ragworm.

[Ell]

You\'ll be lucky to get any crab bait out of it anyway Norman, unless they\'re peeling they won\'t be much kop. A couple of eaters or lobsters maybe! You can use Common Eel in some circumstances I think for bait.

[gogs]

Ell silver eel sections are a cracking bait for tope in certain areas.
Norman peelers tend to go into a muddy or sandy enviroment to dig themselves in and hide,but your trap should be ok for hermit crab which can be good bait at times

[Ell]

Cheers for that gogs, I\'ve seen larger eel section used but didn\'t know if it was big launce or silver common. Norman you should put a long line out all round the Marina. You might have to take a windy course back to the berth for maximimum coverage but hey, no-one would notice anyway.

[Norman]

haha cheers lads, it was just an experimentation thing anyway suppose I dont need the bait considering how much IanW brings along LOL anyway just fir the record, these eels were BIG eels, the trap is about 2 foot 6 inches long and the eels were doubled up inside, there were a few smaller ones about a foot long but most were BIGGER than the trap and about 2 inches in diameter LOL nothing left of the mackerel bait bit its head and the tip of its tail where I had it tied on, so they were well fed eels as well