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The Prime Minister has announced that due to the Indian covid variant people will be offered the Pun jab. People must take the Indian variant seriously. My neighbour caught it and has been in a korma for a week and he'd only just buried his naan.

As has been said, everything was bigger in the good old days ! My good old days were in the 1940s - Britain at war and the countryside almost unchanged since mediaeval times. I invented/discovered fishing for myself - as far as my family went I was First Angler Homemade rod, reel, and real linen thread line, all tackle home-made (read "Angling Vagabond" for details) Two things I knew nothing about were split shot and maggots. The absence of split shot was weird - if your float cocked - you had a bite ! Bait was worm or flour paste. It was not until my aunt married an a

Biggest of 6 chub from a Kennet weirpool this morning.

A woman in her forties went to a plastic surgeon for a face-lift. The surgeon told her about a new procedure called "The KEY," Where a small key is placed on the back of a woman's head and can be turned to tighten up her skin to produce the effect of a brand new face lift. Of course, the woman wanted "The Key." Over the course of the years, the woman tightened the key and the effects were wonderful --The woman remained young looking and vibrant. After fifteen years, the woman returned to the surgeon with two problems. "All these years, everyt

I second that. re crucians. I don't think it matters much what set-up you use as long as it is sensitive , I use tiny peacock quills (Elton sent me a bunch years ago) attached by cycle valve rubber top and bottom, dust shot close to hook, weighted so about eighth of an inch float showing - that will show a lift or a "gozunda" bite equally well. I discovered early in life that crucians will hold the bait in their mouths without moving any part of the rig (so when you lift out to check the bait -surprise surprise, there's a crucian on!) So it pays to give a gentle strike every few minu

Hi Anderoo, nice to see you back again Keith

After my short dissapointing session on the 16th when I only caught small chub I had to get out asap to try and get a propper bend in my rod. Anyhow, I managed to get out yesterday later in the afternoon. It was a lovely day and not quite so hot and uncomfortable as late, the only downside was a quite strong downstream wind which made controlling my float as I trotted it down the side of a sunken tree on the far side of the river a little alkward. Appart from that I had a very enjoyable session, first fish was a lovely barbel and having to hit and hold it to prevent it from getting amongst

Really hard to generalise I think, each river will be different, maybe even different stretches of the same river will be different. Each species also prefer different things. Not a very helpful answer I’m afraid!

I tried his. I still don't understand how it's supposed to connect me to the interweb thingie.

I remember a chap doing that and he didn't even know! I was checking tickets and he was bivvied up. As I got to his bivvy he was layed out on a bed. As soon as he moved a cloud of bluebottles and other kinds of flies exploded off him! Needless to say I didn't want to touch his membership book

Unfortunately those types of disorders need taking notice of! Getting caught short isnt a great days fishing. My advice is if your ever prescribed metformin (for type 2 diabetes) think twice! you get no warning and its gut wrenchingly painful until the deeds done.I have IBS anyway but metformin is bad for going further afield! Reminds me of me when i was about 10 i had spent the weekend fishing eating marmite sarnies and drinking pond water .Couldnt afford the bus home so was walking from Keston to burnt ash lane bromley in the rain (a hefty hike) i was wearing a one piece suit (sil

After they have spawned the fish usually hang around the spawning areas for a spell. The spawning areas are the faster oxygenated areas. As the summer progresses the fish may spread out and occupy a lot of other deeper slower areas, even in low water conditions. I'm talking chub and barbel there. Roach tend to stick to the slower paced deeper water for the biggest part.....that's what i've found, others may have differring experiences and opinions. Inlets, even small ones can be hotspots in low water also.

Hello all My name is John, living in Whitstable Kent having retired here ten years ago after a life in London where I worked as chauffeur. I fished as a kid on the Thames and various ponds around southwest London, marriage,work and children sort of got in the way and I didn't fish for another 40 years! Started up again seven years ago fishing the river Stour in and around Canterbury, a few lakes belonging to the CDAA and more recently very lucky to get into a small syndicate to fish an estate lake just a few minutes from home. Started having a dabble at sea fishing a c

Been looking at my main section but like before the close its empty ,no rises ,not a sign of a shadow of a trout its very unusual ,it town tomorrow so i will have a peek in gostrey meadows to see if theres anything left ,the larger chub disapeared when suddenly it became very popular by anglers with very basic tackle ! My bigger permission was wiped out by cormerants as was the stretch by my sons horse field ,thats the trouble with shallow rivers theres no-where to hide until the streamer weed if full grown Update just tiddler chub no sign of all the decent ones that used to be there

It was a bit cloudy and slightly cooler today so my son and I decided to have a few hours this evening after a couple of Carp on a club lake before the weather gets any hotter; as we’re due a scorcher of a weekend. However when we got there we almost had the lake to ourselves which surprised us a bit as there have been some good Carp coming out over the last few months (before they started to spawn; and which we thought had now finished); We didn’t see any surface movement from any Carp; and unusually our baits were not being eagerly swallowed by any Carp either; however I did get one tak

Today was my first try for a tench this year. Anyhow, it was pretty bismal to be honest. This water was a prolific tench water not more than 8yrs ago. A club bailiff illegally introduced a dozen wells catfish and the tench fishing has gone down hill every year. I used to catch seven or eight tench to 7lb on a short session of two or three hours when the club first aquired the water, I managed one small fish today. This is the time of year when tench are on the mooch for food and are usually easy to catch right now. The club even got a licence to keep the invasive bastards from the EA, an

Occasionally, you have a moment of lucidity. Today is not one of those days.

For one reason or another I haven't managed to get out fishing since the 9th of march. Anyhow, I did manage to get out on a club water last week. I fished a freelined bunch of maggots in the margins and caught a number of rudd and gudgeon. A little later, after 6pm I cattied out a few pieces of bread and after a few minuites I noticed carp were having a got at it. That was my que to try floating bread. Within a few minuites I had a small carp which gave a fair old tug of war for it's size. After that one I had five more carp of a similar stamp. After the last one my hunger pangs had

Nice to see AN back. Rumour has it that Cod has something to tell us.

Blimey hes a fish trafficker aswell it gets worse!

So a bit like being in denial that the majority voted to leave the EU, and that we have actually left the EU and Brexit is done and dusted?

Bugga, if it wasn't for brexit we would have won Eurovision!

Hey everyone, it’s been a while, hope you’re all doing ok. Couldn’t resist a crucian topic :) I did a bit of crucian fishing a few years ago and caught using both float fishing and bolt rigs with little method feeders. The float fishing was a lot more enjoyable but I didn’t do it after dark, only in daylight. Watching floats with lights on makes my eyes go funny. I tried the lift method but actually preferred using a very delicate waggler with the bait a couple of inches on the bottom. Most bites were lifts anyway, but not the big lifts you get with the proper lift method. The littl

My largest Crucian of 3lb 5oz was caught in around 1980-ish from one of my clubs ancient gravel pits ‘Frogmoor’ which is now called Moor Mill and this pit also produced a Crucian Carp that was less than an ounce off of the British record for a member a couple of years ago. NB: The same gravel pit (now knicknamed the Leather Pit by it’s members) briefly held the UKs largest ‘leather’ Carp (Toadless) too after ‘the previous Record holder ‘Heather the Leather’ died; until it too died at just over 44lb a couple of years ago. My son and I occasionally fish there for its Carp and it’s Ten

I used to have a friend with a large northwest angling shop. Many years ago he was telling me about a load of reels he'd just got in that cost him a quid or less. He was amazed at how good they looked and felt for the price they cost. If I remember correctly he was going to sell them for 9 quid, so the profit margin was great! I honestly can't see how it's possible to make a reel of any quality for those kinda prices. Unless of course it's all subsidised as the Russians used to do. I can remember buying baikal shotguns, some very nice o/u single selective trigger ejectors

I usually use caster, Pinkies, maggots, bread punch or small redworms too; but one day I was fishing the Great Ouse a few miles west of Cambridge near Huntingdon and that day the fish just wouldn’t touch anything else but Hemp, and I had to scrounge some hemp from the other guys around me. Keith

I can never be bothered with hemp and tares but have seen some anglers having a huge success when using them. Only the other day I was talking to a chap on a small still water and he was catching a lot of roach and rudd on tares. The fish were all small to average size but no idea what he caught after i'd gone. I prefer to use maggot and caster and have had some decent results.

You put a 1" drill in it ,then put holes in your head until your IQ is equal to clods (about 15l ) your then ready for facebook ,two more holes then your ready for twitter

Mine were bigger as I bred my own from scraps of good meat from my friendly butcher and my mum was ok with the smell

Fish like Barbel & Chub may well be still "Cleaning Themselves Off" in the fast, oxygenated water after spawning. Personally, I reckon all fish will sense when to move to where there is more Oxygen (May be a mile or so - or maybe to just another bend)

Payback for Varadkar.....

I realy had no intentions of going on the river today, but the sky clouded over and my mrs wanted me out of her hair so off I went. I fished a spot which is pretty naff for barbel at this time of year, reason being there were people on the spots I wanted to target barbel and I couldn't be bothered going back to the car and walking up another stretch. Anyhow, i caught a chub, or I should say, I nearly caught a chub of about 2 1/2lb on my very first trot. I wound it in and reached out and got hold of my line and had the chub thrashing about at my waist (I was stood mid river) and the

Good Evening Tench, I've never really fished with Hemp on the Hook but I have had success fishing Caster on the hook over a bed of Hemp. Burying a size 18 inside a Single Caster is best for Roach as they can be Finnicky (even better, a size 16 Fine wire if Casters are big enough) Stick the hook point in the Blunt end of the Caster then work it round so it's Buried inside. (You can spin the hemp out a bit with groundbait) Fish are known to mistake the Shot for hemp on occasions I'm told, so you might encounter some false bites with Hemp on the hook. (Just a small considerati

LoL i guessed ,my sons about the same age but handsome and thin unlike his dad ,and yes i am not exactly sure how old he is either ,i forget my age nevermind the kids

Welcome ,i fished south of you as a member of cingue ports and have fished most of the south coast but that was decades ago i now live in farnham . The stour is a bit like the Wey here but with fish lol

Well done ,i haven't even gone out the wey here is extremely hard to fish in bright conditions except for trout and they are not even present , perhaps the fluff chuckers upstream are not chucking them in or somehow they have trained them to stay on their side on their stretch . i could wander up and **** them off from the other bank but its even to hot to bother having fun and the fields not been cut so the ticks will be wating at waist height for the unwary

Blimey how old ARE you ,your son looks like hes nearing pension age (note i said nearing lol) Unusually long thin cat perhaps its not mastered eating double figure carp yet

Well done Keith, although if i had caught that wels it wouldn't have gone back in.

I was about to post this very thread...... I'm very limited at present, but I might strip down my gear to the absolute minimum and have a go on my local river. I know a spot of rather dubious legality that isn't controlled by any clubs and if I get turfed off, so be it.

Thanks, Keith, that's particularly encouraging that you were able to fish productively during the day. I was concerned that weed and bright weather might make things difficult. Were the roach any size? Your B&B sounds great. I have missed a trick there, I should have checked the angling press. I have booked a B&B through AirNb. No tackle can be taken into the house, and originally that applied to fishing clothes too! But I expect it will be OK.

Good one. I look forward to Cod's rebuttal.

I caught 41 Lb of smallish Barbel & Carp (about the same of each) last Sunday in a match at Tollerton (Heron Lake) under my feet on just 1/2 a pint of Casters including feeding from the same 1/2 pint & still brought some back. I did feed a (very) few pellets & a handful of Maggots also to be fair!!

The vaccination program, the regaining of sovereign control, the ability to turn away European criminals, the Australia trade deal, being free of EU red tape, we have been able to authorize the creation of the "Advanced Research and Invention Agency", with UK forces no longer under EU command we have seen a reduction in the EU's threats to world peace as their threats against Russia have dialled back, and here will be much more to come, but: What have the Romans ever done for us?

One way of getting **** faced! ,reminds me of a Blaster Bates joke

Swap = bartering in law I find it amusing i cannot say things regarding you "online" yet you have no problem accusing others (usualy tories)of yet umproven alligations online yourself

No goldfish as far as i'm aware. Apparently the crucians were introduced as true crucians but I am not entirely conviced that they are true crucians. They're deffo not f1s but do look a little goldfishy to me. I suppose the only way we would ever know what the fish really are is if dna was done on them. I would love to find a water not too far from myself that contained good sized crucians, propper ones as in Chris's picture. I only pick odd crucians like that up on rare occassions and they have been on catch em all sessions and not by specifically targetting them.

but they go away if they smell a Crocodile or two!!