Boat fishing in the North Sea

This summer i had some great days out fishing and shooting, i was also lucky enough to get the boat out (doesn't happen much). My dad and i fish out on the North Sea off the east coast where the sea can be very unforgiving so finding a window of opportunity is rare so we had to take it.

We use boat rods with feathers and worm going for what ever we can. I personally use feather and go for Mackerel. Mackerel are a delicious fish and is one of my favourites. On the BBQ with a bit of salt and pepper topped off with a splash of lemon juice. Cant beat it! The catch was decent with around 13 mackerel in the bag. Obviously a few were eaten on the evening with a cold beer but you have to enjoy it whilst its fresh. The rest are in the freezer to eat at a later date or kept for bait which i use for Pike fishing. Pike love oily fish and Mackerel is a brilliant dead bait. My dad also caught a lovely Sea Bass on Worm weighting around 7lb. A beautiful fish and another great taster. Here some photos from the trip.

Mackerel

Myself and the Old man

Sea Bass 7lb

Talk Cartridges Part 2

Just a quick one on the cartridges I am using with my 12g Semi-Auto and Over and Under at the minute.

GAMEBORE 'velocity'

The velocity cartridges I use for clay shooting. These are a great little cartridge and they are priced very competitively. I personally believe that for clay shooting unless you're a competitive shooter the cheaper cartridge will do the job and you don't need to spend the world. I brought 250 of these for £40 and doing a 100 bird shoot every two weeks it isn't going to break the bank. They always perform well and work great in my semi-auto and my over and under. 

12g, Shot 7.5,Load 28gms, Length 70mm, Wad Plastic. GAMEBORE 'velocity'

GAMEBORE 'Clear Pigeon'

I do a lot of pigeon shooting and these cartridges are fantastic and just like the 'Velocity' they are a great price too. I would highly recommend these cartridges in a semi-auto, I have put nearly 1000 through mine and its never jammed once. The one downside which isn't really that bad is the colour. They are black and if you drop them on the ground sometimes they are hard to see. But other then that they are my first choice for a bit of pigeon shooting. These come at around 250 for £56.

12g, Shot 6, Load 32gms, Length 70, Wad Plastic GAMEBORE 'Clear Pigeon'

Overall very pleased with these two at the minute and would definitely recommend them to everyone out there. Gamebore have done a great job with these and have made them affordable which is also a bonus.

Talk Cartridges

Shotgun cartridges have so many different varieties there are different lengths, loads, calibers,  shot and wad. I don't want to bore you by going in depth of what all of these mean but i will briefly go over them to give you an idea.

• Length -The cartridge length refers to the case length when fired. This will either be measured in millimetres or inches. This is dependent on your shotgun chamber size to find this out research the manufacturer online or visit your local gunsmith and I'm sure they can help.

• Load or Payload -This will depend on the quarry, range and chamber length of your gun. For most game shooting with a 12 gauge gun, 28g, 30g and 32g would be the most common payloads. For high birds 34g would be ideal. You must remember that the use of large payloads, particularly in smaller calibers, poses some problems, especially recoil, and can cause damage to your gun.

• Calibre - The most common size is 12 gauge, with up to 50% of the overall shotgun market in the UK. The 20 gauge shotgun is favoured by shooters uncomfortable with the weight and recoil of a 12 gauge gun. The next most popular sizes are 28 gauge and .410. Each gun can have a different purpose for example 12 gauge for pheasant and .410 for rats.

• Shot - The size of the pellet/shot in the round. It means the diameter of the pellets is approx.

• Wad – This is simple there are two types, plastic or fibre. In terms of money the plastic are (a bit) cheaper, but fibre are better for the environment and farm livestock. In terms of performance I personally can’t tell any difference and I shoot with both.

GAMEBORE 'Clear Pigeon'