Wooden or metal creels, which fish the best? Fishermen will argue the point forever and a day. Materials for the traditional wooden creel, wood and bamboo cane, aren't cheap to buy today. Also a lot of time goes into making them. Metal creels, on the other hand, come off the shelf in all shapes and sizes - D-type, Parlour, Beehive, Square, Folding.

Parlour creels cost about £16 each ready to fish when delivered to Coll. The great advantage of them is that if you get several days of bad weather and you can't get to sea, you know your catch won't get out of the creel very easily. With a hinged door at one end of the metal creel they are very quickly cleaned out and re-baited, which is very handy on a bad day when your boat is 'standing on her tail.' Strength is the metal creel's greatest asset. Ground swells jamming them on a rock can ruin a wooden creel, but with the aid of a big hammer and a vice you can repair a metal one.