bluerinse

In my experience wild brownies will take corn, bread, meat, pellets or just about any other bait. Wild brownies are some of the easiest fish to catch except with a fly rod, which is the whole point really. If you fish for Grayling you are going to catch trout if they are present, it’s then a question of how you handle them, you should aim to unhook them in the water if possible. As to a 3lb grayling, that is a rare fish indeed and I am green with envy

OK heres one of my secrets, try diping the hook bait in worcester sauce, shhhhh don't tell everyone though

I was going fishing yesterday,. but as the rain was so bad I stayed home. If the rian is light I will head out and use a brolley, I dont mind sitting in the rain aslong as I can cast ok from under the brolley, if I am heading to the river I always head to a swim that will fish well when the water is rising.

There must be some element of selection, some days you can fish a mackerel and have no takes but pop a piece of lamprey or a smelt on and you start catching. Since observing the pike feed on the perch I have used them as live baits very successfully, I would never have used a perch before observing this behaviour as I remember reading as a kid (possible in the observer book of British fishes) that pike did not eat perch (and I believe it also said tench) Anyway I am curious about this point as it seems to me quite important in the approach to catch pike. It seems a worth while topic to discuse

You could be right, but does that mean that the perch were the easiest meal as they were slower than the other fish and if this is the case does this make perch a more likely target in the wild?

Possible but I don’t recall the perch being closer to the pike in any way!

Im sure it would of but would it have had a preference? unfortunately I decided to release the fish as I had got the drawings I wanted, I did then however keep some Cray fish in the tank. They were amazing and were very territorial; I could watch them and the fish for hours.

Some years ago I kept a small pike in an aquarium for a few weeks. I was living in Sweden at the time and had bought a house, in the basement was a huge aquarium all set up and ready to go, I put some weeds and rock in and filled it up, I caught a few course fish and put them in , Roach, Rudd and Perch. A few weeks later a caught a small jack about 12 inches long, so I popped him in the tank. He did not eat for 2 weeks but then the perch started to disappear. Over the next 2 weeks he ate all the perch 5 in all and did not eat any Rudd or Roach. I released him shortly after. I came to the obvious conclusion that pike prefer to eat perch, then I got to thinking was it a case of the pike removing the competition? As the perch were very small they really were not competition but lions in the wild kill and eat lion cubs as potentially they will become competition. I am sure really it is the case that for some reason pike prefers perch but if anyone has any thought I would be interested to here them. p.s. I am sure some on here will disapprove of keeping fish in a tank and practically predators. I was very keen at the time on drawing fish so this was my original motivation and only kept them for a few weeks. I was aware that the pike would eat some of the fish in the Aquarium but I balanced this in my mind by reasoning it would be eating fish anyway if it was in the wild.

*Ironically asks* but what’s its Name? Great fish and from the Wensum. I hope he gets the record and the fish remains name less

I fished there in 2001 on an anglers experience kindly given to me as a Christmas present from my wife; I spent the day fishing with Bob James. Firstly we tackled the Roach and perch with center pins, maggots and bread, and then we had a go for the bream. We could see a huge school of bream but they would not take our bait. In the after noon we went after the pike, we stalked the river with Meps. We could see a lot of pike in the shallow water, but they were not interested in the lures, even if we passed the lure over their nose. So we span in some deeper parts of the river. We caught a few nice perch and trout but no Pike. I guess they just weren’t on the feed we did see some massive pike I don’t think I saw a pike under 10lbs. The pin fishing was exceptional, roach from by the bridge up to 1lb 10oz, dace, trout, and perch. There is one swim were a feeder from the canal comes through a hole, (sluice gate) Bob James was stood well back from the rivers edge throwing maggots in to the canal so they would wash through the hole into the river and was catching some great fish, roach grayling and trout. Great place to fish. Those going will have a great day. PS I was also there in March

I have but I find that the fish tend to drop the bait quit quickly, but I guess I should keep trying. cheers

Budgie A combined trip would be great, currently I am targeting the large perch I have found in my favorite Zander swim and I have been having some great success. I am though going back to targeting the Zander, there is a swim that I always snag in if I try and fish it, but I am sure there are Zander there, I am trying to think up a way to get bait in and a fish out without losing the tackle or tethering a fish. Float wont work due to the force of the water so it has to be a ledgered bait. Rotten bottom would work I am sure but as I use circle hooks I fear that these will snag, I think the snags are sunken logs and branches, I guess some swims are just not fishable!! Anyway let me know when you are coming and I will see if I can make it Cheers Richard

The sea pulley rig is a great rig to clear your lead when fishing rocky bottoms, does anyone use it in course fishing? I am thinking about using it for dead baits for Zander as the fish will have a short run before it feels resistence. it will also help clear the weight in some snaggy swims I want to try. If anyone has used it or has a reason not to use it I would love to know Cheers Richard

I presume you mean the carp. The cats are land locked and are not near enough to a main water coarse to escape without the help of humans and as it’s a privet syndicate I don’t think they would want to move the cats. The Carp however have escaped into the Avon from fisheries that the river flooded into in the 80's and 90's and I am sure in 2007, One fishery that flooded in the early eighties was a trout fishery, trout were common for a couple of years in the Avon, but these have now all but disappeared. The question of irresponsibility in my mind lies with the environment agency for allowing commercial fisheries to be built on the flood plain without adequate protection.

I lived in Sweden for 2 years, all kids learn English from the age of 7 (they dont start school until tere 7) my kids had an advantage in the english leassons!!!

Its funny really when you think about it, perch in the Baltic sea will take sea baits as they swim with them, smelt, herring and mackerel make up the natural diet of Baltic perch (and pike) It must be with perch a case of what your used too, I wonder if in any of the uk tidal reaches if perch feed on sea fish?

Cats breed in the lake close to my house, the Cat fish conservation club have a water in Kings Coughton, (Midlands, not norf nor souf) a few years ago they lost a lot of fish due to lack of oxygen. They did not restock but they did install an aeration system, since then the cats have been breeding and a lot of Small moggies have been caught this year, prior to the aeration system I think I’m right in thinking there was no evidence of the cats producing offspring, it could be two reasons after the disaster there were less cats left and they have reproduced as the water can stand to have more fish in a kind of natural balancing act. Or that the aeration has some how prompted or helped the fist to reproduce or has helped the eggs to mature. Interesting topic With regards to carp I catch the odd small carp on un stocked waters (river Avon) there are large carp in the river so I presume these are the off spring.

There is plenty of pike fishing in and around stockholm. go to a takle shop and ask, you might even get an invite on a boat. The sea trout are running through stockholm right now but I dont remember if the season ends end of October or end of september. Lure fishing from the bank will catch pike and perch and on the right water Zander, you really need to find a tackle shop in the area you are going, try google someone in the shop will speak English I am sure and will put you on the fish. Good luck and please let us know (with pictures) how you get on. Cheers

Fresh dead bait can be good for large perch, I have not tried frozen deads, and I would think they are a poor choice of bait under normal circumstances. I think if you find the perch feeding (as you said about the pray fish scattering) I think a frozen dead fished shallow on a float would have a good chance as the perch will be ripping around chasing fish and should just grab what would look like a fish previously hit by another perch. Just a thought

the only thing I can add is that on the river arrow the dace are on the shallows during the summer and in the deeps in the winter regardless of size.

Ok here is my confession, I am a trained chef. The best way to cook pheasant is not to skin them but to pluck them; you need the skin to protect the meat if roasting. To roast the pheasant, rub the skin in salt, stuff a few herbs in the bird, parsley and sage are good. Make sure you have a very hot oven 220c, brush the bird with melted butter, and place the bird on a trivet (wire rack) in a roasting tin. Place the bird in the oven for about 20 minuets, baste only once after 15 minuets. Take out and rest the bird for 10 minuets. You can then joint the bird or carve it. The meat should still be pink, over cooking it will make it dry. traditionally its severed with fried fresh bread crumbs, water cress and game chips (thin sliced potatoes that are fried) and a nice red wine sauce I deglaze the roasting tin with red wine add a little game stock (or beef if you don’t have game) and reduce. It’s a great meal but you need a bird per person if you are carving it. If you skin the bird then you should use it for casserole. Hope this helps.

Well so many different opinions, some spouting "fact" as if its truth. I find the whole thing confusing, does it mean the UK will have a Mediterranean climate as some experts have said; will low lying areas become flooded? Will the deserts become bigger, will the ice cap disappear. It feels to me like an awful lot of speculation and scare mongering. I believe though that a lot of the advice and effort made to not waste fuel and recycle is commendable as it seems we need to be more carful with our resources regardless of global warming. So I go along with all the energy saving efforts and the recycling (it saves money anyway) I have reduced the use of my car in the last 2 years by about 60% which has given me a Hugh saving. I don't believe we are going to be wiped out, from what I have read, if you believe a 5% increase in the world temp is going to be the outcome then I have read it is not species threatening it just means an awful lot of change, politically and physically IE change in agriculture, movement of populations, boarder disputes, change in construction etc... but humans have tad to deal with rapid change many times before , it might not be a happy time but man kind will prevail I am sure. I don’t wish to make light of the most worrying predictions but a bit of a Mediterranean climate in the UK should chill out a few of the poster on here. Finally I say do what you can don't put your head in the sand, but don't get so worked up that you don't enjoy life, we only have one.

well here is the proof the river arrow looking empty!!!!

I used to fish a lake that had a road through the middle with a bidge over, in the winter the fish were always in the flow caused by the narrow gap between the bridge piles. It was good for roach, perch bream and preds, you could trot it like a river. other parts of the lake would be hard fishing but in the flow fish were always willing t take a bait. I agree find the flow.