Something a BIC different

Something a BIC different
Types of boat fishing
Typically thoughts of boat fishing for pike can cunjer up images of large aluminium or fibreglass boats, high horsepower engines, loaded to the gunnels with a plithera of tackle & a fair amount of my own fishing falls into this category. I like others have had many good days boat fishing often fishing on the larges waters, glacial lakes, reservoirs & such like as well as a few trips each year to the broads. Regular readers may recall my recent my article on boat re-furbishment covering my & Andy Cookes 14ft high sided walk through dory boat. A decent sized boat like this needs a reasonable slipway to launch it from, even with 4x4 vehicles I have known people get stuck when launching from inappropriate areas.
There is also another type of boat fishing that is commonly practiced & that is fishing with bait-boats. Many years ago before the birth of the electronic bait-boat I used to use a two man blow up dinghy for baiting up for bream & other species & on occasion I rowed baits out to features whilst pike fishing. I suppose that they were the first bait-boats. I never felt safe in a blow up dinghy although I always wore a life jacket. They were in my experience plagued with problems not least punctures & invariably you got wet using them. There were fatalities that occurred with anglers who were using blow-up dinghies to bait up & that was enough to put me off & I stopped using one. The arrival of electronic bait boats was good to see & I have owned a couple & used them to good effect, the modern ones have removed many of the problems associated with the early models, although I have still managed to turn one over in windy conditions wrecking it! Bait boats to however can have their limitations, however I wont dwell on bait boats too much here as much has already been wrote on the subject.
I have seen people fishing from canoes but that’s just not something that I have ever fancied doing myself.
Initial Thoughts
I have owned my fair share of boats both small & large but even the smaller ones I have owned were quite heavy & required a trailer & usually some form of slipway to get them into & out of the water. Whilst being one who perhaps owns more than my fair fare of fishing gear, when possible I prefer to keep things simple, as using a lot of gear can tend to tie you don’t in your approach a little making your approach less mobile, even when boat fishing if your boat is loaded to the gunnels with a plethora of tackle, a mountain of bait, box upon box of lures, loads of rods, heavy anchors etc it can be tempting to have a less mobile approach & I have seen anglers sitting in just one spot all day in such scenarios using the boat in effect as a temporary platform, now that’s great if your on the fish but what if your not? I have often thought before of purchasing a carry on boat for those smaller places or those venues where boat fishing is permitted but where there is no actual slipway. On some venues there is not bank access all round, some may be too wide to bait-boat over to the far side, or obstacles like islands (although these can be great features to fish to) may limit where you can get a bait with a bait-boat or drifting techniques. So a small carry on boat could see you fishing where the fish have seldom seen another anglers bait, indeed I know of venues where I could put a small boat to good use. However it wasn’t until recently that thoughts of owning a carry-on boat were anything more than pie-in the sky (no Wigan jokes please!) to me.
A couple of recent experiences got me to thinking more seriously about the possibilities of a small, lightweight car-topable boat. Firstly a fishing trip with a competent Cumbrian piker, he uses a moderate sized plastic boat as a vehicle to transport his gear, for feature/fish-finding & taking baits out, interesting I though. He speced out the swims with his boat fish finder & also carried most of our gear in it, we both caught fish despite not ideal conditions for the venue. Secondly a trip over the border to Scotland found us stranded on dry land despite towing the 14ft Dory boat up there as the two lochs that we went up to fish were we were told had slipways actually didn’t! The trip wasn’t a wasted one as we still caught a number of pike from the bank, however we had to restrict ourselves to a spot near the car/boat for security reasons. On this trip we looked at a 3rd loch where boat fishing is permitted but there is no proper slipway, I have heard reports of good pike from the venue & it certainly looked very pikey but there was no way we could have got the 14ft Dory on their, if only I had a small carriable boat with me! This situation raised a discussion point again between me & Andy Cooke regarding ‘carry on’ boats, again we debated the matter, with the conclusion being that a carry on boat could be used for a variety of purposes such as feature finding, taking baits out & transporting gear to & from swims whilst bank fishing as well as actually fishing from. We left it that I would re-search what was available out there & the associated costs.
Matter of Concern
One thing that has always put me off buying such a small boat before is the safety aspect, a lot of the small tender types I have seen being used for various different recreational uses just don’t look all that stable to me, they may well be fine for one or two people to row a few yards to a moored up cruiser but not for fishing purposes. Unfortunately accounts of boating tragedies are all too common & I don’t want to become just another statistic. Whilst fishing bad weather can often come out of no-where & I’m by no means a fine weather only angler. Whilst on holiday in Ireland a mate of mine was fishing with his elderly father in a tow-along boat that came with their cruiser, they encountered bad weather on the trip & my mates dad ended up overboard, fortunately he didn’t come to any harm, but it just does not bare thinking about just how different that day could have ended. I love my fishing but its not worth risking your life for a days fishing, whilst going afloat safety always has to be a top priority. I will get off my soap box now. So the specification of our craft would need careful consideration to ensure that the correct type was selected. Having fished 2 people in a 10ft boat before it’s far from ideal so me & Andy Cooke had already decided that if we bought a carry-on boat we would buy one each. As I have fished many places where tenders are used to go out to cruisers & I have also had the odd nosey at small boats at chandlers etc. I had a rough idea of what we wanted as a starting point.
Research & Specification
Middle of the next week saw me trolling, this time not on water but on the internet! Looking at details of small boats, e bay, P&P boat fishing forum, Boats & Outboards, Boat Sales & manufacturers web sites etc. Various makes, models & all manner of designs & colours were available from numerous manufacturers such as Plastimo, Fun-Yak, BIC etc. We were looking for something carryable by two men, light but with a decent load capacity & reasonably stable. An interesting feature that I found was that some of these small boats were fitted with wheels in or on the transom so that you can push them along & this was a feature that I decided I would like to include on my boat. There are pro’s & con’s with buying new & second hand, the drawback with a brand new boat is the cost, something I just cant afford & so here again I would be looking to buy second hand.
After many hours on the internet I decided that one of the first models that I had seen was the one for me the BIC 252 Sportyak. BIC I know from carp angling acquaintances to be a reputable make as some of the carp lads use the smaller version to put amounts of bait out. Here is the specification of the boat that I decided suited my purpose:
252 cm long (about 8.4ft in old money) 140 cm wide
Load capacity 254kg (about 571 lb), or 3 people plus gear
Plastic design
Dual hull design
Foam filled
3 rowlocks
Painter
Engine capacity 4hp (I think it would pull a wheelie with a 4hp on it though!)
Extra’s -
Transom mounted blow up wheels
Now regardless of the impressive load capacity personally I think that you would be mad to fish three men in one of these, for me for fishing they are a one man fishing boat with a minimum of tackle. Also safety first it would not be wise to consider fishing from something like this on places like the larger glacial lakes where adverse weather conditions can come out of no-where or there are lots of big powered craft about or other hazards.
Purchasing
Now for the tricky bit, finding one, if at all possible second hand. There were many tender style boat available second hand however many were battered or did not fit my specification & I was holding out for a BIC 252. I got offered a good deal on a new one however that was not within the budget. At first the search for a decent second hand one over a couple of weeks was fruitless, then out of the blue one came up on e bay that had been kitted out for fishing but it had a custom made trailer & I figured that I didn’t need another trailer anyway so it was a no go. Shortly afterwards another one came up & it looked like new so I went for it. I got it for a good price & the only hick-up was getting lost on country roads when we went to collect it. On arrival at the chap said that it had come free with a Yacht he bought, he had never used it & it was surplus to his requirements. It certainly looked like new & was a bargain & was very much a done deal, it was easily light enough for two of us to carry & had quite large wheels fitted to the transom & pushed along the ground no problem at all, it had a set of new ali oars, row locks etc & was quite literally ready to go fishing. Never ones to miss an opportunity we decided to use it that day as we had brought the fishing gear along with us.
Testing it out
We arrived at the chosen venue quite late in the day & it wouldn’t have been good for me to leave Andy stranded on the bank whilst I boat fished, he had been good enough to come along & collect the boat with me. So we opted to bank fish but to use the boat for putting a couple of baits out. We chose to bank-fish what can be a decent area, an area I would normally boat fish, there is a couple of drop off’s in the chosen area however they are a fair way out & you are talking big leads & small baits to reach them, also there are a couple of interesting features that would require very accurate distance casting from the bank. To save a bit of a walk I decided to use the boat as a vehicle to carry some of our gear plus myself whilst Andy & my dog Rocky walked round. I fitted the electric engine to the boat & it handled me plus the tackle I’d loaded into it no problem & I arrived at the swim fresh whilst Andy cursed me & arrived panting after his walk. We decided to use the boat to find & mark the drop off/features & put a couple of rods out each with the boat, Andy was also maggot bashing & Eel fishing so I baited up from the boat for him to save time consuming spodding & catapulting etc. Without the gear in the boat was very easy to row & I used the smart cast to accurately locate the drop off & a couple of features from the boat & the marker/s were set. I rowed the baits out with pinpoint accuracy, Andy stayed on the bank & set the rods, hardly had I finished the task & beached the boat than one of the rods went, a drop back. A swift strike met with firm resistance, this was the type of big fish we had come for, of that I had no doubt. After a very lively fight a suburb fish came to the net, we anticipated that it just may go twenty, a scraper perhaps? It was not to be & after deducting the weight of the combine unhooking matt/sling I have just purchased it went 18.12 my best fish from the venue, (incidentally the combined unhooking mat/sling is a cracking piece of kit & minimises fish handling) a couple of quick pics were taken on the ever-ready digital camera with the BIC boat in the background & she was returned to her watery home none the worse for wear. Quickly the bait was rowed back out, we then had a brew & contemplated over the events of the day deciding the purchase of the BIC had been a good idea. The weather turned for the worse & it hammered it down with rain & we retired to the bivvy’s for the night. I was up at first light to answer the call of nature, not too long after the alarm sounded & I was in again with another nice double (on the second rod I had rowed the bait out on). Overnight Andy who had kept this options open fishing a maggot rod, an Eel rod & a pike rod had managed two nice Eel’s & some silver-fish from the area baited with the boat. We had to leave early morning to fulfil other commitments, the boat was loaded with a fair bit of the gear & then pulled up the bank near the car-park like a big tackle barrow with the gear still in it, the initial trip had been a success.
At home initially the boat was stored at the side of the house in the yard, strong winds blew it over putting a dint in the underside (this came back out itself though) so I put it between the conservatory & the fence, using the painter rope to secure it to the fence, where it has stayed no problem.
Timesaving
A recent thread on the P&P web forum enquired about how long it takes pikers from getting to the venue to fishing i.e. launching their boat, put the gear in, pull the trailer back out etc. With the BIC wasted time is absolutely minimised, there is no trailer, you can take it off the car roof & throw your gear in & wheel it to the water & away you go, it really is as simple as that. As its only a small lightweight boat you only need small lightweight anchors & I use a couple of lightweight mud weights, they are quick & easy to use. Carrying a minimum of gear like this means that you can move quickly & easily covering a lot of water.
Stealth
I’m sure we have all seen lads with high HP outboards flying around, some going at speed right over the very water they intend to fish, I have seen this on shallow water like the broads not just on big deep glacial lakes (obviously this can be avoided). An electric outboard is all that you need for the BIC & if you wanted to its light enough to row. This means that you can get it into position quietly & with the absolute minimum of disturbance. Indeed it would be easily to row gently along float trailing a couple of baits using the BIC.
Transportation
Andy is a white van man, a great big transit van he drives, so we collected the boat & transported it for the first trip in that. Since however I have purchased a set of roof bars for my VW Touran & the boat goes on no problem at all (see photo).
Andy’s Boat
We struggled to find a BIC 252 second hand for Andy, however we managed to find the slightly smaller version the sport-yak at a bargain price second hand, this boat is also a fair bit lighter & can be carried by one man & is really easy to row & as it will only get used on smaller venues this is what Andy bought.
Extras
Portable fish-finders have been purchased for both boats, again second hand, these are powered from the 12v leisure battery for the electric outboard, as the boats are so lightweight a decent battery will run the engine & fish-finder all day. To save drilling into the boat etc. we are going to use the fox clamp on boat rests. The portable fish-finders & the clamp on rod rests will also come in handy for when we fish venues where you have to hire their boats.

Thinks to come
I have a few trips coming up where I can put the boat to good use, I will be going back to the two lochs I mentioned where boat fishing is permitted but there is no slipway as well as other venues. There is a nice reservoir I have fished before that’s a good lure water & I think the small boat can be put to good use there. There are also other venues that I know of where you can use a boat for leisure use but not for fishing from, so I will be able to use the small boat to map the place out, gaining useful information for bank fishing.
Footnote: A keen piker called James Dean from Wigan has kindly given me a 9.6ft fibreglass boat, & this has been donated this to the region of the PAC that I am R/O for, it’s lightweight enough to be car stoppable & can easily be carried by two men. I field tested the boat on a reasonable sized Scottish loch & it performed admirably. I have arranged 3rd party insurance for the boat & this will give PAC Region 31 South-Lancashire members who are not boat owners the opportunity of a taste of boat fishing.
Conclusion
I hope that I have given you an insight into another option when it comes to going afloat & the variety of uses & the fun that can be had with ownership of a small carryable boat.
Tight lines
Jon Neafcy
Wigan Piker