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Damn site more than i caught ,i popped down the river for a couple of hours ,just as i leant forward to drop the float in the bank slid and down i went. The rivers not deep just waist deep in the pool i was trying to fish but getting out was a laugh ,fricking cold and very muddy ! In the end i walked downstream to where the bank was easier to climb but i went down more times than i went up. Must have been a great sight walking along the road ,one hand holding a muddy bag and rod the other desperately trying to hold up sodden muddy trousers with a broken string ! Probably curtains were twitching and the neighbours thinking whats that old fool up to again ,worst of all the mrs refused to let me in until i had a strip wash in the shed and a dash into the house dressed in a labcoat . Not sure i will venture out again this winter And no theres no pictures!

A friend of mine has been taken into hospital with covid19 and put on one of those Dyson respirators, just phoned to see how he is and apparently he is picking up nicely!

I ordered a Chinese meal last night. Chinese driver came to our door and I walked out to meet him. He started shouting "isolate" "isolate" I said you’re not that late, I only ordered 25 minutes ago!

I managed to get out when the virus first broke, bought 1,500 rolls of bog paper and 150 bottles of hand sanitiser, thought I would be ok but my sister is coming to stay as she lives in a post office with her daughter’s family and it’s not a good environment for protecting her from infection, so I went out today to get some more bog roll and the shelves are empty, bloody idiot hoarders and panic buyers.

Thanks for trying to explain my position Phone, but you've got somethings the wrong way round. It's not so much the 'culture' of the carp anglers in general, I have a few acquaintances, that are carp mad, and we still talk amicably it's a mixture of things. It's not the fault of a virus that it inflicts itself on other people, but we still want to try and control, or eradicate it. We can't eradicate the people who catch and spread the virus, only try and get them to accept more hygienic, and common sense methods to help reduce the impact of that virus. Carp are the virus, anglers are part of the group that wilfully spread it. I've tried over the years to explain my feelings to this group, as well as, clubs, 'fishery' owners, river authorities, and the environment agencies, but while many say they see my point, I'm afraid they are only too willing to accept that angling is now becoming an artificial pastime, worshiping money and the ego, but without, for want of a better word, 'soul'. The creation of overstocked artificial, predominately single species waters, for one. I would feel the same whatever the species, even my favourite roach or tench, it just happens to be carp that are singled out, because they are easy to breed, grow large, and are virtually indestructible in comparison with many other species. I cannot understand, or accept, the appeal of waters that have no natural balance. Throughout my angling life, I have seen waters change, and the predominant species change within them. Sometimes it's been because of changes in the effects of the weather. Long dry summers like the mid 70s, saw an explosion of fry, and very good, (for the time), match weights in the autumn/winter, and the following year. This was then followed by an increase in most predatory species, pike, perch, chub, and even catching roach and bream on small live/dead baits. The waters then over time attained a new, 'natural balance', not always exactly the same as before. Eventually the whole thing levelled out, until the next change in conditions. Sometimes it was a manmade incident that altered that balance, such as pollution. Then, my view was that the water should be left until it could support aquatic life, and then, only then, should there be a restocking programme, just enough to 'kick start' the natural cycle. This last point was dismissed by those who wanted large stocking programmes, to produce instant results, which brings me to my next point. I don't usually refer to these waters as 'commercials', because we have always had waters where we had buy a permit to allow access to fish. The main difference is that where it was once done to create 'pin money', to bolster the family income, sometimes with the added inclusion of a bacon sandwich and a cuppa on arrival. Now it's an out and out business concern, a part of the angling 'industry'. Where once anglers paid the money to allow access to the water, and then their success depended on their skill, luck, or lack off. Now anglers pay not only for the right to fish, but as part of the fee, expect a guaranteed catch, regardless of their ability, and actively complain on line if they don't receive the 'catching experience' they've paid for, just like buying any commodity. Almost instant results, regardless of any ability on behalf of the angler. I've never believed that fish exist purely for the catching pleasure of the angler, they are part of a great cycle of life that encompasses all our native wildlife, and I felt privileged to be able to share in, and be a part of it, if only for a while, before returning to my inner city life. I could go on and on, and as some on here will attest I often have, but will finish....for now, with one more point. While Cameraman and I agree on most things, I, (so far), have refused to patronise any overstocked commercial water since my early disappointing forays in the 90s. While I can understand his views on the safety, and convenience aspects of these waters, especially for the young, and, I guess, the older generations, I still can't understand why they have to be so overstocked. I see it as a dumbing down of the whole thing, and with many of the youngsters I've help over the years, I have found that the ones who have it too easy when they start, (double figure carp, and big bags of fish spring to mind), are the ones less likely to stay with angling. Those who start 'small' and feel the need to 'grow' and expand their angling experiences over time, are the ones that I've seen continue over the years. In fact many of the youngsters I helped 20, 30 years ago, are still at it. It's a standing joke within my family that I have often been stopped by someone, who I don't recognise, but obviously recognises me, (I guess I must have looked pretty old 30 years ago). They then start to tell whoever is with me, the story of how I helped them when they were kids. It's a nice, if somewhat embarrassing situation to be in, but it makes me feel pretty good inside. John.

I saw some absolutely disgusting behaviour on the way through town today. There was a man and a woman having an almighty argument in front of a load of kids. Suddenly the woman just lost it, she was hysterical and smacked the guy straight in the head. It all kicked off then and there was a massive brawl. Someone must have called the police because this poor policeman turned up on his own. He was trying to stop the fight by hitting the man with his baton but the guy took the baton and was hammering the Policeman and the woman with it. Then out of the blue a crocodile appeared and stole all the sausages!

They were good "in the day" but compared to most intrepids they were far superior . I have a boxful of Mitchells not worth selling on but dont collect them as such ,some are highly sought after but more to put on a shelf than a bank. I dont rate them today enough to use them but i do use abu closed face reels most trips from the same era they fulfil the need i use them for as most know on here i stupidly becan collecting intrepids this is about 2/3rds of my collection i cannot go back far enough to get them in all in the fram

Last night the wife was wearing a sexy black Negligee for bed - I could see right through to the Cardigan!!

Wow! that's a major swerve/U-turn, Corbyn was your new 'messiah' a few months back. Talk about fickle! Anyway on to more serious things. Paul, in your self appointed role as the chief spokesperson for the Tories Are Wrong All The Time, (TAWATT for short) party, could you please enlighten the nation, (or at least the half dozen or so on here), by sharing a little of your vast wealth of knowledge. What would you advise the Government to do in the future, to fight this pandemic? Your expertise in epidemiology, ably supported by your 'experts' in the media would be of great value in this fight, and could bring some much needed solace, and reassurance to the people. Thanking you in advance, I await a reply with bated breath. John.

A suggestion Paul. Why don’t you write all this stuff down, and present it to your mp, or your favourite media source, when “this is all over”. That will ensure that there are “questions to answer”, and it will spare the rest of us having to endure your constant drivel, telling us what we already know! John

you pair should get married!

Watch to the end John

Was in the post office yesterday and there was a terrible panic when three blokes came in through the door wearing masks. Then one of them said "This is a robbery" and we all calmed down a bit.

I must have written at least a half dozen replies to comments on this thread, and then deleted them HV. This time I couldn't help it. To try and score some petty political points on the backs of the sick and dying, is as low an anyone can stoop, and I couldn't let it go. Every evening, as well as the horrific news reports, we get a facetime call from my daughter checking that we are ok. It breaks our hearts to see and hear the stress, danger and even abuse that her and her colleagues are subjected to every day, and they still keep smiling for the sake of their patients. We can't even give her a comforting hug because she insists on keeping her distance for fear of infecting us. I can't really put into words my thoughts on those that belittle the efforts of those who are trying to help us through this time, just to try and prove some pathetic point they obsess about in their sick and twisted, narrow little minds. Well I could put it into words, but it would probably, and rightly, result in my being banned from the forum. John.

In their eyes if they are given the power to decide it can show it has power by not doing what others want! English heritage has such power so they close the bridge in the village for repairs for far longer than necessary just because they can! Give worthless bits of skin power and they WILL use it

I agree with both cameraman and phone, it can be fantastic, but would advise a degree of caution. I would talk it over with your wife, check your finances, and how much early retirement would impact your final pension. I don't think you drive, so check where you can get to a water either on foot, public transport, or have a fishing friend you could travel with. I didn't have transport, having had the use of a company vehicle for so long. I bought a car to enable me to go fishing, and carry my grandson, (who was born a month after my retirement), to the many hospital visits he needed in his first couple of years. Without my grandson, or the car, I think I would have stagnated at home, but they got me moving, and gave me something to focus on. My wife is one of the 'waspies' that got stung over her retirement age, and is still working. I run her to work and back each day, but she has the option to retire this year, and is undecided whether to go part time, or retire completely. It's partially the money, but unlike me, she loves her work, and the social life with her workmates. That's another thing that I would consider, whether you would prefer to take a small part time job, to ease you into retirement, it's worked for a few people I know. We are all different, and have different needs, and lifestyles. I, for instance, have always been a bit of a loner, with just a few people that I would call friends, and I was mostly fine with my own company. Over the years, I have lost contact with many people, especially angling friends who chose a different 'commercial' path to me. I now find that I sometimes miss having them around, it's probably an age thing. I might sound all 'doom and gloom', but I've known many people over the years, who have longed for retirement, but found that the idea, and the reality, don't always match. They have found themselves 'lost', and have fallen into depression. Some have eventually found something to focus on, be it part time work, a hobby, and in the case of a widower neighbour, a new lady friend. Other have not been so lucky, and have deteriorated both physically, and mentally, into a 'different' person. I hope it doesn't sound like a 'trying to teach my grandma to suck eggs' thing, I genuinely believe it's not always an easy thing to adapt to. Whatever you decide Martin, I hope it works out well for you, and your missus. John.

Not too keen on Roman Catholics myself Phone but that’s pushing into barbarity.

My son damaged his calf ligaments, and was on crutches for a few weeks, then his partner fell, and injured her ankle, and neither could walk very far, so Grandad became chauffeur, child minder, and general dogsbody, for a while. The only chance I've had to go fishing, this year was the other week, when I saw a break in the wet and windy weather, and the river levels looked near normal. I haven't renewed my Leeds & District yearbook yet, so was limited in choice of venue, and decided on my old favourite, Wetherby. I arrived about 8 o'clock, and the river looked at an almost perfect level, carrying a few inches of extra. The water was very clear, but it was overcast, and slightly misty, so I wasn't too bothered. I walked the length, and decided on a swim I hadn't fished before, it was on the inside of a bend, with a slack on the near bank, and the flow about a couple of rod lengths out. With a slight upstream breeze, it looked perfect for trotting, or holding still in the slack. I plumbed it at about 10 ft just on the crease, and started to introduce a few casters, with a little hemp, while I had a coffee prior to fishing. After about 15 mins, I cast in and began my trotting, feeding a little every couple of casts. I had that feeling of expectancy, and a tinge of the excitement that I hadn't felt for years, since I was a kid, and every session would be a probable 'red letter day'. An hour later, with the clouds and mist clearing, to a bright blue, sun lit sky, and the breeze doubling in strength, and without so much as a nibble, I was feeling somewhat less confident. I switched to maggot, and a heavier float, introduced a little cloudy groundbait, and still no action. While I was baiting my hook, I heard a splash, and looked up to see the aftermath of what seemed like a fish swirling in my swim. I threw a few small crusts in to see if the chub were in residence, but they floated downstream until the gulls saw them. I carried on fishing until I heard another swirl just upstream, and turned to see more spreading ripples. This happened a few more times over the next half hour or so, I heard it, but didn't see it. I then cast into the slack, and 'laid on' while I had a coffee and a sandwich. There was another swirl, but this time I saw it. I saw the head, the tail, and the bloody wings! A cormorant was working the length, and I hadn't seen it surface, this time it came up about 30yds downstream of me, dived, then resurfaced just upstream of me. I don't know if it had been more successful than me, but it must have scared the crap out of any fish that I might have attracted. In the past, this would have called for a walk, with a coffee, and a calming cigarette, but that was over 5 years ago before I packed in, but I doubt that if one was offered, I would have struggled to say no at that moment. Instead, I put out a feeder, with flake on the hook, and breadcrumbs in the feeder, in the hope that a bigger fish would maybe escape the attention of the cormorant. I thought about moving, but felt dejected enough, to not have the energy or inclination. Another half hour without a bite on the feeder, and more important, no sign of the bird, I reverted back to the float. I'd kept up the feeding routine, and first cast the float sank, I was so surprised that I didn't even strike until it was on the way back up again. The next cast, another bite, this time I stuck, and connected with...a minnow, then another, and another. I was just glad to see the float go under, so I thought I'd fish through the minnows, and hope for something better to show up. A few minnows later, I hit something that put a bit of a bend in the tip, only for it to shed the hook. On inspection, I saw that I should have changed the hook when I'd caught a snag, but since it came off easily, I didn't bother. The next cast, with new hook, produced another minnow, then another, so I thought that I would try a small spinner in case the local large perch has arrived to the table. I took out the telescopic spinning rod that I bought for the fruitless trip to Fort William last year, and put on a small mepps, that I'd bought at the same time, and tried a few casts. Those who remember my old posts about this place, might remember, apart from the minnow population, there was also the occasional 'dog walker problem', but with this being mid week, I didn't think it would be too bad. I was just about to cast again when there was the sound of something rushing down the bank towards me, followed by the sound of growling, and barking. I turned to see two dogs, one of them looked like one of those Japanese fighting dog things, the other a large scruffy mongrel. In my shock and surprise, I had release my thumb from trapping the line, and the spinner had fallen onto my keepnet laid on the ground beside me. I stood with a couple of bank sticks in hand in hand, feeling a little apprehensive, and a lot pee'd off, and waited for the owners to appear, they didn't. I heard a few people on the other side of the flood bank, call out to dogs, and the two things looked towards the calls, but carried on barking and growling at me. This stand off lasted what seemed like ages but in reality was probably only about 5/6 minutes. The owners never appeared, and the dogs got bored and left, only to come back for a few seconds and start again. Now I know I moan a lot, but for all these dickhead dog owners knew, it could have been a child that had attracted the attentions of their beloved canine 'children', instead of a gnarled old moaner like me, with different, and more serious consequences. After the mutts had left, I turned to pick up my spinning rod, only to find that the trebles had embedded themselves in the mesh of the net. I usually change the trebles on any shop bought spinners, or at least squash the barbs, I had obviously missed this one! In trying to extricate the barbs from the net, I found that I had left my pliers/cutters, at home, and ended putting a hole big enough to take my fist, in said net. The next cast out with the spinner prevented a repeat of the situation, I hit a snag, and had to pull for a break, leaving the lure behind. I carried on trotting for another hour or so, but with just few minnows to show for my efforts, and the reappearance of my feathered friend, I packed up and left. I was always taught that, Proper Preparation Prevents **** Poor Performance, I have come to realise that this is a load of crap. The day before my 'fishing' trip was spent making sure that everything was ready, (everything but the wire cutters, obviously), so all I had to do on the morning, was fill my flask with boiling water, get my bait from the shed, and go. It's the most prepared I've been for many a year, and the result was one of the worst days I can remember. Next trip will be different, I'll just bung my gear in the car and set off, somewhere, anywhere there is water, and I'm allowed to fish it, sod everything else! Apologises for the extended rant, but I needed it. I don't know if I will be able to get on a river before the end of the season. We've had almost constant rain since that day, with added 50 mph winds. Yesterday I woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the car, but the rain and sleet took it away during the day. Today it was snowing most of the morning, but that has melted now, and added to the already swollen rivers. I know I'm lucky in that I live on high ground, and never likely to flood, unlike the poor sods that are being flooded for the 4th or 5th time in recent years. I'm left wondering that if it does calm down before the end of the season, how much will there be left to fish for? The number of fish that will have been swept away, or stranded well away from the rivers, must be in the hundreds of thousands, although we will still have the bloody carp that escape from the flood plain ponds to pollute restock the rivers, won't we? John. PS, On a lighter note, I had a lady approach me and ask something about 'swimming off the sandbed upstream of me'. I assumed that I had met a considerate dog owner, and, seeing that there were a good 30yds of trees between the spot, and my swim, I said ok but keep the dogs up that way. She then explained that it wasn't a dog, but her and a friend that wanted to swim! I warned her that the water was very cold, and the floods had brought a lot of snags into that area, but said it's ok with me, but be careful. I soon heard some splashing, and laughing, and looked to see these two 40 something ladies, in just ordinary swimming costumes, enter the water, and spend the next 15/20 minutes swimming up and down the area. In hindsight I believe that they had probably scared the cormorant away.

You're right Ant, 20 years young! I was one of the first to join, on February 19th, and almost immediately became a moderator. Technically I was 'involved' with AN before it even started. At the time Elton, myself, and many others were on the rec.fishing.coarse.uk chat group (ethernet?) where I'd be replying to requests on where to fish. Then Elton contacted me to ask if I'd like to manage the fisheries database on a website he's hoping to make. I agreed, and the rest is history.

Don’t be daft, he doesn’t subscribe or actually read the body of the text, he just grabs and links to the headline that, very often contradicts With the point he is attempting to make.

I had the last hour of daylight on the river today and it was more than enough! Ok, it was only 6 degrees but the wind made it feel much colder and it made my hands and especially my fingers ache like hell. Anyhow, the hours trotting/torture produced quite a few small chub and I lost one that felt quite decent to a hook pull.

Thinking about it - must have been another forum I was on (which I no longer use) alongside A.N.

A while ago I was seriously considering investing in Gozzer’s fan cleaning and refurbishment business, after all there was an abundance of warnings and it seemed a worthwhile investment with the possibility of a high return. As the frequency of the predictions became more and more diverse and yet never happened I looked for another way. I came up with my own idea. Grow a huge crop of sour grapes, this would benefit the environment by removing some pollutants from the area and give some financial reward. Imagine my surprise on learning that lots of people, including some on this forum, already have an abundance of sour grapes that they are peddling! Oh well, better buy some cleaning gear and see if I can still get a franchise from Gozzer.

text set out below is from someone who I voted for to be sacked. Guess who cod. yes it came from a daily rag this morning. It is more truthful than your misery you are peddling. As a test to see if you actually read text you don't want to comprehend, I wonder if you will claim that 17.4 million where either duped or they are the far right. One other detail that is a fact, 4 million plus labour voters also voted to leave, Corbyn and co blatantly ignored their wishes. Weren't the newspapers fault. A lot of MPs had tried to make the Election about stopping Brexit: Jo Swinson, Phillip Lee, Chuka Umunna, Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve, Sarah Wollaston, Chris Leslie, Sam Gyimah. All of them ended up losing their seats. We meant what we said in 2016. Three years of being told that we hadn’t understood what we voted for didn’t wear us down. It just annoyed us. Plenty of people who voted Remain in 2016 were exasperated by the dishonesty of those MPs who, having promised to respect the result, did everything in their power to frustrate it. This week it was the country’s turn to speak. Britain is a democracy. That doesn’t just mean that we hold votes from time to time: Russia, China and Venezuela do that. It means we expect our votes to count. We expect MPs to act as our servants, not our rulers. We expect our decisions to be honoured. Our bloody-mindedness obviously caused a degree of surprise in pro-Brussels circles. Other countries that have voted against European integration have been ignored or made to back down. Not Britain. When we say something, we mean it. Sticking to our referendum result is not the only thing that makes us unusual. Unlike many European countries, we have never had a Marxist party in office. Nor, in modern times, have we ever allowed an anti-Semitic party anywhere near power. Those two honourable records are still intact. Above all, Thursday’s election was a vote for moderation. Although his detractors make him out to be some sort of extremist, Boris Johnson is a main stream politician. Yes, he is unusually clever and gifted. Yes, he has a rich and eccentric speaking style. But his politics are pretty moderate — he is a one-nation Tory who, as a backbencher, backed Ken Clarke for the party leadership. He has always stood for liberal and humane conservatism. The only way you can label Boris “far Right” is if you also apply that label to 17.4million Leave voters. ‘Voters treated as thick’ Plainly, the electorate doesn’t see Brexit as extreme. There is nothing wrong with wanting to live in an independent country that makes its own laws, just as Canada, Switzerland or Singapore do.

Oh FFS!

I'm not doing too bad myself John, apart from losing track of what day it is and twiddling my thumbs trying to think of something to keep me amused. I spoke to my doctor last monday on the phone as they have shut the surgery in Lichfield and they are doing phone appointments instead. I had a good chinwag with him as we are friends as well as him being my doctor. I have to see him every 4 weeks and have done for the best part of 25yrs, so we know each other well. He always tells me i'm his favourite patient as I always cheer him up, basically I wind him up and make him laugh. He's 84 and sounded rough on the phone and told me he has coronavirus, silly sod should be in hostpital not still working! Anyway he told me two of his patients had died that weekend of the virus and when I asked him what the situation was around Lichfield his exact words were "it's rife". I had to drive down there to pick my meds up as the pharmacy is in the surgery. I don't mind admitting I was petrified going in there knowing that the virus is in the building, eek! On a lighter note the tiny village I live in is all pulling together. It is tiny, you could walk from one end of the village to the other in less than 5 minutes, so most people here know one another to say hello. We don't have a shop in the village but we do have a pub They've closed up but are still doing meals and delivering them in the village, they are even delivering pints of draught ale and only charging £2, yippee! The nearest supermarket is just over 5 miles away and myself and a few others from the village have made it known that if any of the older folk need anything but are too worried about leaving their homes then we can fetch things for them, just a case of passing around a few phone numbers and it takes a little worry out of their lives.

Richard Horton is the same as every other wannabe politician and second or third rate ‘celebrity’ who is going to claim this and claim that, rather like the guy who shouts at the ref at a football match, they always know better and are obviously experts. In this case Horton needs to get his memory checked because the government wasting precious time during the onset of the virus, as he puts it, was because people like him were saying things like this and the Government followed the advice of the scientific community. Despite claiming this is not a political issue, your common or garden mouth piece will always make it so Ant at the same time agreeing that it is not political he will continue to post crap that supports his view. let’s just hope people will pull together and we come out from this without too much loss of our nearest and dearest. As for the ravings of a loathsome individual, well, there is a block feature on here, the site becomes readable and enjoyable again if you use it and leave the ramblings well behind a curtain.

I only wish I had a large pond in my garden with some Tench in it like the lucky blighter who lives up the road from me does. This weekend (Fri to Mon) the wife and I were booked into a Warner’s hotel near Hereford which has its own fishing lake (see pic below) but of course we’ve had to postpone our stay now till after the Conovirus lockdown. The fishing is good too, as well as the entertainment and food. At least when we do eventually get to take our break the river season might also be open so we might get to wet a line in the river Wye and catch a couple of Barbel and Chub. Hope everyone stays healthy and manages to avoid the Conovirus epidemic. Keith

My other half texted me the other night, as she was stopping at Tesco and wanted to know what we actually needed. "Just the essentials, love." She came home with two punnets of grapes, some firelighters and a box of hair dye!

Blimey, you can catch it anally now! Obviously the soap didnt work

Try again Dave & All. Was the same for us (3 weeks wait) But Yesterday slots appeared again with Morrison's!! Our shopping arrived this Teatime. May have put more drivers/pickers on???

Big COD, The topic of this thread is Should we have left the EU? Left is used as the past tense and past participle. It is the VERB TRANSITIVE and VERB INTRANSITIVE - LEAVE If you leave a place or person, you go away from that place or person. (transitive) If you leave you permanently stop being a member of that group (intransitive) THE WORD "LEFT" means you have DEPARTED FROM -- - - - - - you're gone - Having knowledge is one thing but being able to communicate it to others is another kettle of fish Phone

We had a discussion on that other thread after Hammond proposed increasing NI contributions for the self employed, didn’t go down well with certain members, what was it Hammond was nicknamed? Rob the builder! I wonder how many wish they had gone along with a sensible proposal after it was explained that it was not simply a ‘bloody Tory tax on the poor’ but would enable self employed to access sick pay and holiday pay amongst other things. But still the bile is spat out, in this case you’d best swallow it back, the bile is of your own making.

Well i've joined the hoards and started stockpiling. I was in Tesco and wanted to fit in, got confused and panicked. I still don't have any loo roll or hand wash, but I have 6 new ironing boards, 24 packets of plastic clothes pegs and a ton of Brillo pads if anyone is short.

Talk about confirmation bias ,if a newspaper said aliens landed because of brexit you would believe it lol

Yup, that's the one Ian. The fish we used to catch in the Leeds Liverpool canal when I was a kid, were nearly all afflicted with this parasite, and in severe cases, they were blinded. Some were blind in one eye, some in both, and other than the blindness they looked healthy enough. It used to fascinate us how a completely blind roach, could still find our baits, but they did. The canal was almost over run with snails. If you picked something from the canal bed, it always had several snails on it. Leave a keepnet, or landing net in the water for a while, and you would find several attached when you lifted it out. The water also had a lot of gulls patrolling the lengths, so had all three of the requirements to complete the life cycle of the worm. When I've fished it in recent years, I've found that the snails are not there in such numbers, and the black spot is seen on fewer fish. There are also some waters I know, where there are loads of snails, but few fish with that with black spot. I don't know if there is a specific snail that is prone to carrying the parasite, or it's the water quality that curbs it's numbers, but there seems to be fewer waters that have are as affected as the canal used to be. John.

Let's keep the personal insults where they belong, which it NOT on here

When you result to personal insults as a keyboard warrior, you have lost. Simple as. Nothing more to say, nothing to add. End of.

I buy red crumb by the sack £27 for 20kg off Ebay I also buy hemp at the same time, £26 for 15kg. Cook my own hemp with additives, freeze it down or use fresh. With the crumb, I add my own additives as I see fit to where I'm fishing, sometimes I'll buy a bag of the expensive stuff, often a meaty red and use some of it to some crumb. I often buy the groundbait that's in the remainders or cheap bin to mix in. Occasionally I'll grate a tin of meat into it or blitz hemp to a rough powder. Just experiment with whatever is available. I tend to mix it with the water from the cooked hemp. Oh and unless hemp is banned I always add hemp and corn. It normally lasts me 2 or 3 seasons, just depends on how much I get out and need groundbait. Normally I use it through the feeder only. One of my favourite additives at the moment is a suet bird food pellet from the pound type shops, 89p for about 1.5kg I think. Very soft and can be rubbed between your hands to produce a rough powder, mixed with g'bait it helps bind for a method type mix or just through the feeder. Used loose as a feed, the pellets are about maggot size. On the hook, banded, single or double it's a killer bait. They come in red and an off white. 1 bag lasts 2 to 3 sessions maybe more. You do get the odd pellet that floats but the vast majority sink. Oh, one last thing, if I'm really struggling for bites I sometimes squirt some strawberry ice cream topping stuff on the loaded feeder and bait.

Chesters post about his unplanned bath in his local stream got me thinking about similar things I've witnessed in my angling years. I haven't actually fallen in, yet, (he said hastily touching the nearest piece of wood), a few near misses, but not an actual 'fall in'. I remember once fishing a favourite stretch of the R Ure, and one foot slipping into the river. I managed to throw myself forward and grab both a bank stick and my box. I hung on with one leg in the water nearly to the top of my waders, (I wore waders because we had to walk through long dew soaked grass to get to the river), and my other leg more or less at a right angle along the bank. I hung there for what seemed an age, trying to get a foothold with my immersed foot, but not being able to find anything to get any purchase on. I then realised that the bank was undercut, and could possibly collapse at any time. My shouts for help to my mates went unheeded as I tried to pull myself back onto the bank. Fortunately, it was many years ago, and I was younger, stronger, and considerably lighter, than today, and slowly managed to pull myself in a position where I could roll onto the bank. As I laid there shaking slightly, and feeling exhausted, I remembered the undercut bank beneath me, and gingerly moved myself and my tackle out of harms way. I came back later that day to lay-on next to the undercut, which was about 10ft deep, (fishing from a safe distance upstream), and caught some decent perch. I caught well from it on each visit that season, but the next season, following the winter floods, I found the whole lot had collapsed into the river. A session on the R Wharfe at Boston Spa, saw my mate have an amusing, if nearly fatal 'fall in'. We were fishing a swim that could be tackled in two ways. There was a slack behind a bush, that I was fishing from the bank, and as it was fairly shallow above the bush, (knee deep), my mate waded out , and trotted down the edge of the slack. We had shared the same swims so often, and knew each other so well, that we rarely had trouble, and often had our floats inches apart trotting down a swim. We were both catching steadily, when I heard a shout, a splash, and saw his float being jerked back upstream. I stood up and couldn't see him over the top of the bush, so walked round to have a look. As I rounded the bush I saw something like a scene from Arthurian legends. There was an arm sticking out of the water, holding a rod and reel aloft! I dashed into the water and grabbed the arm and pulled my mate up, and dragged him to the shallower water. He had been stupid enough to wade out without using a stick to test the river bed, thinking that because we both had fished the swim many times before, he 'knew' it well enough. The gravel bed had been moved by the current, and there was a sudden drop off he hadn't seen, and slid down, causing him to fall length ways into over three foot of water. When we'd got him on the bank, lit a fire, hung most of his clothes over a tree branch, let him dry himself on a collection of groundbait cloths/towels, and dressed him in bits of spare clothing we had, including maggot bags for socks, and a large waterproof mac', he grinned and said 'at least I kept my new reel dry'. John.

China is better

Phone, the float is only 3 gram and I shot it simply byusing four or 5bb's. I have one dropper shot about 6 to 8 inches up from the hook and bulk the rest about 12 or so inches above the dropper. I can vary the shot as the session goes on by sliding them up and down the line. I rarely ever faff about with fiddly set ups and for the most of my trotting I simply fish 6lb mono straight through to the hook. The majority of anglers would say I fish way to heavy, some call it crude. At the end of the day (crude or not) it works alreet for me . Obviously there are situations where I do scale right down if the fish i'm targetting pay more attention to anything out of the ordinary/suspicious but i rarely fish for those kind'a species.

Hi Ian - Maybe we could have a whip round for new float lol. Keep the Pic's coming bud' they're very welcome for us fair weather Anglers.

Surely theres no conger in whitby at all! According to you those devils called scallopers have turned every reef and wreck into fine sand overnight

I broke a rod last year on holiday early season and as I think nothing of doing my own repairs and if I'd been at home would have fixed it overnight. I called into the local tackle shop to get the bits I needed only to be told I was wasting my time no one stocks bits now. My local guy does. I was shown new rods, superior to mine and told that they are "disposable". Reasonable quality feeder rods from a tenner upwards. Wanting to feeder fish I decided on a new Drennan rod not the cheaper disposable ones and the guy threw in a new NGT baitrunner and 100m of 6lb Chinese line. All for under £70. The line was given to a chap on the bankside later as I buy bulk spools of quality stuff and keep it in my caravan when we go away. Returning home I talked to my local guy and stocked up on whipping thread, dope, varnish and a bulk box of tip rings. He'll have to order intermediate rings in bulk so I said not to bother. The cost......you don't want to know, cheaper to buy a new rod! We're definitely in a disposable society. Last time out I picked up a 10ft telescopic landing net handle, the reason it was propping up the bin, the tip was missing. I simply glued a piece from the head of a broken bank stick in its place. Now its sitting on my garage shelf waiting for son to collect it.

In 2016 we voted to leave the EU: up to now, those who disagreed with that have done everything they can think of to prevent it from happening. Boris won because he was the leader of the only credible party who said he would honour the democratic decision of 2016 and take us out of the EU. I didn't vote for anyone, I spoiled my paper because I won't vote Conservative and the other three candidates were rabid remainers. If you want hatred and poison, look back through your own posts.

Here’s a few of the reels that I used to use back in the 1970s and 1980s which I still keep in the back of a drawer (although the Intrepid envoy was from back in the early 1960s) I still very occasionally use my Abu Cardinal 55 when surface fishing for Carp and my Abu506 closed face reel for silvers occasionally, and my blackCat Centrepin when lift bite fishing for Tench; but the rest of them have been consigned to the back of a drawer where they belong since the 1980s and haven’t seen daylight as there are far better reels about today in my view. I moved on to using Diawa and Shimano fixed spool reels after this period. Keith

That's good to hear John, thanks. As I'm getting older I've thought about some of the regular members from when I joined nearly 14 yrs ago, and how they are now. Names like Poldark, Ferret, DavyR, Budgie, Snatcher, Nurse Judy, Worms, Kleinboet, Chris Goddard etc. There are too many to mention, but it would be nice to hear how they are if anyone is still in touch with them. It's sad that so many have left the forum, it used to be such a lively place, if a bit argumentative, at times. John.

Let 'em get on with it Ian, the guys on this forum can tie spade end hooks - End of!!