Ron Thompson Beach Shelter.

Hi There

It’s that time of year again when the weather starts to affect your fishing.
To be honest we have all underestimated the changes in temperature that can occur while out on a session. Nowhere is more effected by the elements than on the beach, the beach of course is the first line of defence and if you are not well protected it can lead to a miserable fishing session.

Allow me to introduce you to the Ron Thompson Beach Shelter.
It is light-weight and easy to erect and will not only protect you from the rain but more importantly (I think) it will cut off the wind chill by acting as a solid wind break. Sometimes the temperature on the beach is quite warm but because of the wind chill factor but it feels freezing because of the wind! We have these shelters in stock and in the following colours Red, Blue and Black. The RRP is £59.99 Bells Of Hythe Price £46.99.

http://www.bellsofhythe.com/products.asp?catid=48

What's happening...

I just spoke to Danny Panter following his trip to Town Quay last night for a full damage report and he had nothing on the big rod but he did have Dab and Whiting on his worm rod. Not much else caught last night on the entire pier.
Here is a file picture of Danny to prove that he can catch fish.

In happier news Neil Leighton managed three flounders from the Reclaimed land in Hythe this morning the biggest being 44cm!! He did not have any scales so we do not know the weight but 44cm I think would be about 2lb mark??

I am going to fish the Reclaimed Land next week so I will hopefully have some pictures of my self to put on here.

Kayaks are becoming the new Rock And Roll when it comes to sea fishing. When you are in a Kayak you are free to fish wherever you want to and you are not limited to fishing deep water. What I mean is you can fish 200 yards from the shore in only 2 foot of water if you want.
I have been working with my Fiance's father Tim Bayliss sourcing Kayak equipment to sell at the shop www.bellsofhythe.com.


Tim is a keen fisherman and has gone into the Kayak scene in a big way so along with his son Chris and his workmate Mick and his son Ben I am privileged to all the right information as to what I need to stock for local fishing.
Also I have some great pictures and videos at my disposal to share with our anglers. Incidentally Mick has a fantastic Blog on the go at the moment why not visit it and follow him?

http://mickskayak.blogspot.com/


First we looked at the Kayaks themselves. As with everything in life there are various makes and models and various price points that we needed to look into.

Here are some of the Kayaks we can now get..

Freedom Kayaks, Native Kayaks, Ocean Kayaks, Hobie Kayaks, Islander Kayaks, Teksport Kayak,s Perception Kayaks, RTM Kayaks and Wilderness Kayaks.

We have made sure that we can get all of these Kayaks at the right money so that we can be competitive when it comes to our retail prices.


Here is the Ocean Kayak Prowler 13..

It represents a very good very affordable sea fishing Kayak that will be very stable and handle most conditions that you will find on our south coast.


I have set up a poster to advertise our kayaks on our website..

As you can see the poster shows a lot of the brand names mentioned above and bang in the middle is Mick's son Ben with a fine Ray caught on his Ocean Kayak.

The yellow Ocean Kayak shown above is 13 foot long and is valued at only £584!
That is a very good price for a Kayak of this quality.

I have been looking into the correct type of fishing rods used from a Kayak and have come up with some crackers! We sourced this Abu Garcia Diamond Crest boat rod. This rod is a perfect mini rod for Kayak fishing, it separates into two pieces and when put together measures only 5 feet in length. The rod is like a boat rod in miniature ideal for Kayak angling.

We have also bought a lot of Lineaeffe reels that are very cheap but work fine with lures or light leads. They are only one ball bearing but they feel very strong and smooth. And at £7.99 you cannot go wrong.

 Our Kayak tackle site is live and ready to use. 

 http://www.bellsofhythe.com/department.asp?ID=6

I will let you all know as soon as the Kayak section becomes live, I cannot tell you how excited I am about it. I also have a Kayak fishing gallery on its way so get ready for action!!




Stay Tuned

                            Big Al. 

Fishing Just Got Very Interesting!

Hello my name is Alan Shergold and along with my Fiance Laura Bayliss we own Bells Of Hythe a fishing tackle shop in Hythe, Southampton right in the centre of the New Forest National Park and bordering The Solent.

As my profile picture suggests I like to carp fish but I will also dabble in boat, beach, fly.... well anything that means I get to hold a rod really.

Recently my old friend Shaun Jarvis (Rod Hutchinson, Essential Baits) appeared back on the Carp Scene and I have to say that I was quite excited indeed! He made some serious waves back in the 90's along with Steve Renyard (Ultima, Shimano, Richworth) when he fished Sowley Lake near Beaulieu and had some serious fish!

Shaun has set his sights on Nutsey Lake, Totton a Test Valley Angling Club water. It holds a lot of old carp and one big one weighing 50lb+!!

Terry Hearn (Dynamite Baits) did a bit on the lake for his last book and had most of the fish including the big one at 48lb, Terry sent me some awesome slides and the pictures came out great! Here is his picture of the Nutsey Biggun.

In true Shaun style he did indeed spend about 14 sessions on the 5 acre pit and managed on average 1 carp per session one of which weighed 52lb 14ozs!!

You guessed it the Big Mirror! Shellfish B5 does it again! Look at the size of that!

I do like it when the old carpies come back to the bank with a stonker straight off the bat!! Good work Shaun! I will keep you informed as to where Shaun is fishing next...

A lot of blanks reported this week including my own shop working bivvy tramps Mr Goeff West and Popadom Padroma. Goeff managed to blank Hightown in Ringwood for 4 days and Padroma pulled off a dramatic blank at Mopley this week! P45's in the post boys. Goeff is still using the CC Moore Odyssey XXX that he has had great success on this year, lets see how many blanks it takes to change his mind?? Winter carp fishing is a true test of loyalty when it comes to bait!

Anyway, if you have fished any of these lakes please let me know. I would love to see how you have approached them. 

On the Beach scene Town Quay in Southampton has thrown up some awesome Bass this week! We heard of an 8lb Bass earlier in the week but unless I see pictures I am never sure whether to print catch reports, today Danny Panter from Marchwood Army Base emailed me two pictures, a 5lb 7oz Bass

and a 9lb 9oz Bass

caught on live Pout by a Mr Steve Chesterton this week. His pictures are currently on the fishing news page of my website www.bellsofhythe.com.

Danny said he too had a good Bass on but lost it as it went under the pier, Steve however was fishing 60lb line straight through and did not lose any of his chances!! 60lb! That's some serious twine!!

Danny has tackled up a notch and is on the Quay as I type this trying for his monster! He got snapped to bits last night using 15lb line, not the normal thing to happen but when your fishing underneath a rusty pier that sort of line would not offer much resistance to an angry Bass, I would go 30lb-ish but Steve reckons you would be dead meat unless you step it up.

I will let you know if Danny strikes Silver or not..

Many Thanks.