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Wednesday 16 December 2020

Gamechanger!

 The title referes to my recent acquisition of a Haswing Cayman GPS bowmount trolling motor. Its the cheapest model offering a GPS-anchor feature and even though I spent only a couple hours playing around with it, I'm very pleased with its performance.  Most of the fishing I do requires lots of moving about and usually over rough ground. Drift - fishing on a SIB is a pain and the constant anchoring and retrieving of the anchor, accompanied with the losses from snags, really deducts from the fishing time. Needless to say, I've had my eye on one of these motors for a while. They are used extensively in fresh and saltwater overseas and slowly becoming more common in freshwater here in the UK.  For some reason they haven't caught on in the salt here. 

My main issues with getting the motor were obviously the cost but also finding a way to mount it on the bow. I've put down a deposit for a new boat, but not gonna see it in the "flesh" till Summertime as the F-Rib production has been affected by covid etc this year. Anyway, I got the motor, and I decided to make a marine ply frame to mount it flat on the bow and held there by straps that connect to the sib's bow D-rings. 

The end result may not look the prettiest (further designing might be necessary), but it works and feels secure enough. 

I took the boat out the other day with a biggish tide and 20+mph winds and the thing actually worked! Can't wait to get out for some proper fishing with it now...



Fishingwise, either because of the weather or work commitments, I really haven't done much at all. Had a nice session over at the West side of the island but nothing spectacular.  Its been disappointing this Autumn, that I haven't done nearly as much fishing as last year and the times I was out, conditions were not good for topwater fishing.  It is what it is though and I'll hopefully get some good fishing next week. Here's some pics and videos of late.






This has been a testing year to say the least, but I do hope it will end on a more positive note. 

Tight Lines and stay safe. 









2 comments:

  1. Hey Dimitri, I had the same problem drift fishing and I think about buying a Haswing GPS bow mount engine as well for my inflatable. I'm really looking forward reading your experiences with it.
    Hopefully we come to Skye for a trip in June 2021. Maybe do a guided tour then with you and see the Haswing live on stage.
    Tight lines, Andreas

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    1. Sorry for not replying earlier but for some reason i dont get comment notifications anymore. The haswing is still doing great ns I definitey reccomend it.

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