Walkie-talkies - one of the most important items of fishing tackle I own and use

I know what some of you are going to say here - Henry, why not just use your mobile phone? If I had my way they wouldn’t be called mobile phones, because however useful they are for any number of different reasons, most of the time when I go out fishing I don’t get a usable mobile signal. Let’s park that one then before we get going today……………

I first properly came across walkie-talkies or two-way radios when I used to be involved in making some TV programmes about fishing. My director would hand me a walkie-talkie to communicate with him when we were doing those drive-by shots - basically me in whatever car or van I happened to be driving at the time, driving past various camera positions to build a story within an episode. The easiest way to communicate with my director when we were doing this was to talk via walkie-talkies.

And it didn’t take long for me to realise how useful they could also be for the actual fishing. I fish on my own a good bit so I obviously don’t take walkie-talkies out then, but if I am fishing with a friend I will usually hand them a walkie-talkie before we start, then ask them to give me a shout if they land a decent bass and can put it in a rockpool or something like that. Many, many times I have been fishing away and got a call on the two-way radio to say that so and so has just landed a nice fish which I can come and photograph. This obviously relies on who I am fishing with to be kind enough to put themself out to do this for me, but I fish with good people.

Photography aside, walkie-talkies are also really handy for general fishing information as you are actually fishing. Signs of feeding birds, a particular lure colour which might be working better than something else, a specific method that is doing the job, something interesting going on with a current or gully or sandbank and so on. I have absolutely no interest in competing with my fishing against anybody I go fishing with, it’s just not my thing at all, so I am naturally drawn to other anglers who love their fishing and are happy to share information as we are actually fishing. If we are close together then of course walkie-talkies are not required, but they are easy things to carry and we can often be a good distance apart on the hunt for fish.

Monday was a classic example. I reckon I’d have blanked if I hadn’t handed a walkie-talkie to my mate Mark before we started fishing. I chose to go one way along the coast and found weed and more weed, but I stuck at it because a Savage Gear Surf Seeker at range was giving me at least a few turns of the handle before getting clogged up with weed. It was hard going though and I was struggling. Later into the session though, Mark gave me a shout on the walkie-talkie to say that he had found some really good, weed-free water, and he had just landed a fish. We kept in touch then I gave up on “my” water and yomped over to where he was fishing. The water was clear and we both landed a few bass on Seekers at range. Without walkie-talkies - no mobile signal where we were - I reckon I’d have persisted with the area I was fishing and blanked.

I wouldn’t have got a photo like this without the use of walkie-talkies………Marcin was assured enough to be able to call me to say he was hooked up to a good fish, so I got myself there pronto!

There is also the safety element when fishing with a mate or two, but don’t for one second think that a walkie-talkie can replace any proper safety related items such as PLBs and proper VHF radios and so on. They can be handy though. We had a situation in Ireland a few years ago when a mate decided to try his hand at a new sport - running flat out down a slippery cliff face with waders on - and he went down really hard and hurt himself. Because I had handed out walkie-talkies to the four of us who were fishing together, he managed to get hold of us to say that he was in a bit of trouble. We made our way to where he was then helped him out of there whilst obviously taking the piss at the new sport he had just tried to invent and trying to ignore the fact that his knee had blown up like a balloon!

I could go on and on about how essential I believe walkie-talkies are for my fishing, and of course a lot of it is based around me being so obsessed with photography. There are various things to think about like line of sight etc., but get a relatively clear area between the walkie-talkies and it’s surprising how far away you can be and still communicate. For my co-guiding work they are a complete no-brainer. Saltwater obviously plays havoc with a lot of electrical stuff. I used to go through a lot of walkie-talkies and would spend a fair bit of money buying endless waterproof pouches and so on. Now I spend decent money to get waterproof walkie-talkies that last me pretty well and don’t need the additional expense of waterproof pouches and so on.

As with many items of fishing tackle, I have used any number of different walkie-talkies over many years. Some have lasted pretty well and some haven’t. About the best I can find these days are the Cobra AM1055 ones. They aren’t perfect but they can take a saltwater drenching and you simply hose them down when you get home and let them dry. You can find much cheaper walkie-talkies and I have bought many different ones over the years, but for me they have ended up dying if they get any moisture on them at all, and the whole point of carrying walkie-talkies to me is to have them on you and easily accessible. I hang mine around my neck on a simple lanyard and I usually leave my mobile phone in my waterproof rucksack on a rock or bit of beach, away from where I am actually fishing. These Cobra AM1055 walkie-talkies are pretty good, and they also have a small light on them which you could use to get back to your car at night if your headlamp failed. Not ideal, but there’s just about enough light to do it if required.

Apart from non-waterproof walkie-talkies getting killed by rain and saltwater spray, one of the main weaknesses I have found with all the ones I have tried is the charging connections. The points on the bottom of a walkie-talkie where the connectors on a charging base connect with it to charge it up will always rust out however waterproof the walkie-talkie claims to be. Be very careful with this if you are thinking about buying some. As good as I find these Cobra AM1055 walkie-talkies to be, I know that the connectors at the bottom are going to rust up however much I look after them - and they have - but I can still use them because there is also a mini-USB port which you can connect to for charging them. It’s a bit of a pain but the port is covered up by a waterproof bit and it’s a workaround which keeps the units working for me. I would advise against buying any walkie-talkies which don’t have a secondary way to charge them up, indeed I have had to dispose of multiple units over the years because their connectors rusted up and I couldn’t charge them anymore. If you know of better walkie-talkies than the ones I am currently using then I am all ears………………..

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