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Looking forward

Tope Smoker

Tope Smoker

Member
Joined
May 25, 2022
Messages
30
Reaction score
137
Points
33
Location
Northern Ireland
Favourite Fishing
Boat
First of all i,d like to say thanks for having me. I live in Northern Ireland and have fished since the 70s on the north coast of Antrim. My dad and i used to come into the harbour on a sunday bout 4pm and sold the cod to the locals ( back then there could have been a dozen or so boats out and they came in bout 5pm) 1 sunday on the way home i had £47 and so had dad. ( we sold the cod for 50p/ lb). That was more than a weeks wages back then. 1 evening after work we headed down to Ballintoy and fished to bout 11pm and as usual just as it got dark we heard the trawlers coming up from Donegal, 1 trawler circled our boat and his net broke my line. This went on until they actually ruined the fishing.
I have had a few boats since then but the fishing is nothing like it used to be. I bought another boat in december 21, a 19ft redbay fastfisher, and have finally finished the work needed to get her ready for the start of the season. Hopefully mid june we will have our 1st day out, i,ll keep you all posted. Tight lines
 
Handy winch. Bought 07 rav4 to tow new boat and decided to fit new winch. Theres a crossmember in boot of rav4 where i bolted winch to. Pulls 3000lb, boat trailer and 75hp mariner 1200kgs, will pull it out of water no problem. Ebay item £99. Only issue is it comes with bout 13mtrs of cable which isnt enough if tide is out but we overcome this by having a 10mtr sling and a 20mtr sling. Comes with 2 remotes which work bout 100mtrs away, perfect.
 

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Tope Smoker said:
First of all i,d like to say thanks for having me. I live in Northern Ireland and have fished since the 70s on the north coast of Antrim. My dad and i used to come into the harbour on a sunday bout 4pm and sold the cod to the locals ( back then there could have been a dozen or so boats out and they came in bout 5pm) 1 sunday on the way home i had £47 and so had dad. ( we sold the cod for 50p/ lb). That was more than a weeks wages back then. 1 evening after work we headed down to Ballintoy and fished to bout 11pm and as usual just as it got dark we heard the trawlers coming up from Donegal, 1 trawler circled our boat and his net broke my line. This went on until they actually ruined the fishing.
I have had a few boats since then but the fishing is nothing like it used to be. I bought another boat in december 21, a 19ft redbay fastfisher, and have finally finished the work needed to get her ready for the start of the season. Hopefully mid june we will have our 1st day out, i,ll keep you all posted. Tight lines
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Welcome to the madhouse Tope, it would be nice to see a pic of your new boat when you get a chance.
 
Handy winch. Bought 07 rav4 to tow new boat and decided to fit new winch. Theres a crossmember in boot of rav4 where i bolted winch to. Pulls 3000lb, boat trailer and 75hp mariner 1200kgs, will pull it out of water no problem. Ebay item £99. Only issue is it comes with bout 13mtrs of cable which isnt enough if tide is out but we overcome this by having a 10mtr sling and a 20mtr sling. Comes with 2 remotes which work bout 100mtrs away, perfect
Beach said:
Welcome to the madhouse Tope, it would be nice to see a pic of your new boat when you get a chance.
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Beach said:
Welcome to the madhouse Tope, it would be nice to see a pic of your new boat when you get a chance.
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Tope Smoker said:
Handy winch. Bought 07 rav4 to tow new boat and decided to fit new winch. Theres a crossmember in boot of rav4 where i bolted winch to. Pulls 3000lb, boat trailer and 75hp mariner 1200kgs, will pull it out of water no problem. Ebay item £99. Only issue is it comes with bout 13mtrs of cable which isnt enough if tide is out but we overcome this by having a 10mtr sling and a 20mtr sling. Comes with 2 remotes which work bout 100mtrs away, perfect
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Nice boat, hope not to many trawlers about when you launch next month.
 
Beach said:
Nice boat, hope not to many trawlers about when you launch next month.
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Lol hope you are right pal. We took her out bout month ago but out of the harbour and opened her up there was no power in engine. We tried few marine mechanics but no one could look at her for months ( booked up) turned out to be carbs blocked. I stripped, cleaned and rebuilt them and got 1 of the mechanics to balance them for me and last sat we took her out for a trial run and she is singing on all 4 cylinders now ok, couldnt get her opened up full because of slight swell on water but we know now shes ready to go.
 
Tope Smoker said:
Lol hope you are right pal. We took her out bout month ago but out of the harbour and opened her up there was no power in engine. We tried few marine mechanics but no one could look at her for months ( booked up) turned out to be carbs blocked. I stripped, cleaned and rebuilt them and got 1 of the mechanics to balance them for me and last sat we took her out for a trial run and she is singing on all 4 cylinders now ok, couldnt get her opened up full because of slight swell on water but we know now shes ready to go.
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Good to hear, check the fuel lines/tank to make sure no crud can jam the carbs again. Had to do that with one of my motorbikes.
 
Just a wee heads up to all readers. My son bought new vhf radio for boat and when i fitted it it refused to operate. (Im new to radios) It kept asking for an mmsi number which i hadnt a clue what that meant. I ask a few other boat men and all i got was you need to do a course with the RYA and then an exam and it will cost you x amount of pounds but i got talking to another chap who said Go onto OFFCOM website. My son went on and filled in a questionair and within 2 minutes he received the mmsi number, the atis number, his license number and his call sign. He thanked them and ask how much he owed and they said it was free. So anyone needing an mmsi number for your vhf go onto offcoms website, its free.
 
Tope Smoker said:
Handy winch. Bought 07 rav4 to tow new boat and decided to fit new winch. Theres a crossmember in boot of rav4 where i bolted winch to. Pulls 3000lb, boat trailer and 75hp mariner 1200kgs, will pull it out of water no problem. Ebay item £99. Only issue is it comes with bout 13mtrs of cable which isnt enough if tide is out but we overcome this by having a 10mtr sling and a 20mtr sling. Comes with 2 remotes which work bout 100mtrs away, perfect
Click to expand...

Nice looking Boat Topey! Welcome to the forum mate! ??
 
Cheers pal. Need to get out now lol. Waiting to middle of june for 1st day as its probably bit early yet. Hope to be holding up some decent fish on here lol
 
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