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Flying Radios....

Paul Pittman

Senior Member
Last night, I managed to cast my DAB radio into the river! I had just returned a 4lb Chub and i was concentrating on hitting the same spot and as I cast I felt something heavy and then saw my radio flying through the air. I started to wind in and my hook had wrapped around the end of the ariel so I managd to retrieve it. And it was still working! Stopped after about 30 mins tho and now its dead so just trying to dry it out in the cupboard. :(
 
That's the sort of mishap I'd be proud of.

Can't quite beat that, but the other week I was listening to my DAB with the earphones on when I had a take. Listening to TalkSport while playing a barbel just isn't right (I'm not sure listening to TalkSport is right, full stop), so I pulled out the ear phones with my left hand and commenced battle. In the dark, I failed to notice every turn of the reel handle was wrapping round the ear phone cord. In fact I only noticed when the reel seized up completely, fully encased by my ear phone cords. Luckily by then the barbel was in netting range, so all was well. It just took me 15 minutes to unravel it all.
 
Ha! I love these type of stories as they remind me I'm not the only clumsy angler.

A month or so ago I weighed a barbel in my landing net on my Fox Digital Scales. Then I carefully returned the barbel in the net and let him recover. When I retrieved the net things felt wrong, and so it proved: in the bottom of the net were my £80 scales.
 
Priceless Paul. In similar circumstances I managed to cast out a brand new fleece into the Trent. To make matters worse after fishing it out and hanging it out to dry on a nearby tree, I then forgot about it and left it there!

Obviously nothing to do with my inept casting technique and all to do with using a 5ft+ hooklength :)
 
Not casting anything in but something that got my heart racing the other night, I was walking back from a secret peg on the Kennet that I usually blank on and this night was no different and on the tow path I could see something odd in the beam of my headtorch,as I got nearer I thought "#### me there's a dead body" I really didn't want to touch it,don't know why but I was #rappying myself and on closer inspection I could hear snoring.

My springer Alfie wasn't keen either and starting his barking routine,the apparition got very unsteadily to his feet stumbling backwards away from the water(luckily as there was not way I was going in after him) and seemed very confused obviously totally bladdered.My dog wasn't keen to walk past this human creature of the night and took a fair but of coaxing to get him going before we could be on our way.

All in a nights fishing!!
 
D.A.B radios are an expensive accessory.

Recently I borrowed a mate's scales to weigh a good barbel as the batteries in mine had died. 10:22 the scales read, which puzzled me, but apparently verified that I'd caught a double. It was only after returning the fish and returning the scales to my mate that I realised I'd been looking at the time....

Possibly the most senior moment I've had in 50 years of angling!

Dave
 
Think I can beat that...
One day piking, was in a little boat . Wind got up quite bad, so decided to motor to the bank and bank fish until wind died down.
All went to plan, started to unload the rods etc and had that ' something's missing' feeling.
Couldn't quite work it out, then realised- no minn Kota engine!!
It had fallen in the lake.
Searched and searched to no avail. Had to go back the next day when water had calmed..found it straight away about a foot from the bank.

Amazingly, after tipping out the excess water, it started first time!
It has now, however, been resigned to the tidy tip lol( not)
 
One 15th June I got my gear in the car ready to go, got my head down for a few hours before waking up just before first light, on reaching my car on the drive I spotted my quiver with about a grand's worth of rods and reels propped up against my nearside passenger door. In my haste I'd forgotten to put it in. My heart sank at the thought of the implications.
 
I have never cast a radio in, but managed a motley selection of other bits. A few months back I took my glasses off after baiting up, placed them by my side, then proceeded to cast out. I am sure my baited hook would have landed right on the spot, had it not had my glasses attached. Obviously I had hooked them briefly on the cast...long enough to launch them, but not enough to get them back. Fun session for the rest of the day...not. I really must get a guide dog, which could possibly be taught to bait up and cast out for me...or at least let me know if some extraneous item is about to go swimming :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Nearly cast my brother in :eek:, swung back to cast not realising he was there and it went solid as i tried to cast, hooked him fair and square in the cheek, not his arse cheek either... he wasn't happy:D
 
Recently I borrowed a mate's scales to weigh a good barbel as the batteries in mine had died. 10:22 the scales read, which puzzled me, but apparently verified that I'd caught a double. It was only after returning the fish and returning the scales to my mate that I realised I'd been looking at the time

Pity you didn't catch it at midnight - you could have claimed a British record!
 
Recently I borrowed a mate's scales to weigh a good barbel as the batteries in mine had died. 10:22 the scales read, which puzzled me, but apparently verified that I'd caught a double. It was only after returning the fish and returning the scales to my mate that I realised I'd been looking at the time

Pity you didn't catch it at midnight - you could have claimed a British record!

:)
 
Hi men,

At 4.45pm on most Saturdays I hear the Luton score and throw the radio without the need to cast :D


Hatter
 
I couldn't manage a radio but yesterday I managed to cast out a feeder rod:(

I had taken the reel off the feeder rod and propped it up against a fence whilst I cast out my barbel rod. About an hour later I went to re-cast and the feeder rod flew over my head and into the river. Thankfully the hook and long hair had wrapped around the rod blank and it was safely retrieved. The angling gods were obviously not impressed as all I caught was a 5lb bream.
 
Just remembered another casting-related mishap from my youth.

Trotting on the Kennet, I was regularly firing out maggots on my catapult. At some stage, I decided I could do this with my rod tucked under my arm. It worked fine. I got bolder still when I decided I could also do it with the rod tucked under my arm and (this sounds complete madness 35 years on) with my hook poised between my lips as I prepared to changed the maggots on the hook.

I fired out the catapult, the pouch hit my hook length at about 60 mph, and - surprise, surprise - the hook struck into my bottom lip. I think it was a size 14. Somehow, it's far easier getting a hook out of fish's mouth than it is your own.

I struggled for 10 minutes and then decided to approach a fellow angler for help. He nearly fainted at the sight of the blood, and rather than offer his forceps, suggested I go to hospital. After three hours in casualty, it took a team of one doctor and two nurses to extract it under local anesthectic.

So, whenever anybody says to me: "How would you like it if someone stuck a hook in your mouth?", I can at least speak from personal experience. The honest answer is: "Not a lot - you lose too much fishing time waiting in A&E".
 
Just remembered another casting-related mishap from my youth.

Trotting on the Kennet, I was regularly firing out maggots on my catapult. At some stage, I decided I could do this with my rod tucked under my arm. It worked fine. I got bolder still when I decided I could also do it with the rod tucked under my arm and (this sounds complete madness 35 years on) with my hook poised between my lips as I prepared to changed the maggots on the hook.

I fired out the catapult, the pouch hit my hook length at about 60 mph, and - surprise, surprise - the hook struck into my bottom lip. I think it was a size 14. Somehow, it's far easier getting a hook out of fish's mouth than it is your own.

I struggled for 10 minutes and then decided to approach a fellow angler for help. He nearly fainted at the sight of the blood, and rather than offer his forceps, suggested I go to hospital. After three hours in casualty, it took a team of one doctor and two nurses to extract it under local anesthectic.

So, whenever anybody says to me: "How would you like it if someone stuck a hook in your mouth?", I can at least speak from personal experience. The honest answer is: "Not a lot - you lose too much fishing time waiting in A&E".

Brilliant story.

There's a youtube video showing some crazy guy demonstrating the removal of hooks from flesh. The easiest way appears to be to cut the line and remove the hook backwards, thus negating the barb. Still means you have to pass the eye through your flesh, though.
 
Brilliant story.

There's a youtube video showing some crazy guy demonstrating the removal of hooks from flesh. The easiest way appears to be to cut the line and remove the hook backwards, thus negating the barb. Still means you have to pass the eye through your flesh, though.

The oft quoted idea is that you cut the eye off before trying the removal Paul. Fact is, I would like to see them try, with modern hooks and average wire cutters :rolleyes: Even if you succeeded (which I doubt), the heaving and tugging trying to cut it, followed by the jerk as it finally parted would be far worse than just pulling the damned thing out anyway :D

The method that was demonstrated to me is to pass a separate, longish piece of strong line around the bend of the hook, then grasp both ends tightly (wrap the ends around your hand/a bar works) and snatch the hook out. Obviously you are pulling the hook backwards, in line with, but in the opposite direction to the way it went in. It works, have taken size 8 hooks buried up to the bend out of my fingers twice :eek: Can't say I would take doing that up for a hobby, but it does avoid a trip to A&E :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
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