richjones

Awesome post mate. I only wish that the streams around here had chub of even that size to target at any time of the year! still ive got the grayling to keep me happy.. another reminder that i must get a fly rod soon, especially living in prime fly fishing part of the world. Just over four weeks to go before i can fish 'properly' again, its absolutely killing me at the moment, canal or nothing for me!

Hi sorry about the delayed reply. The lake is just outside of a village called cefn-y-bedd about 3 miles from wrexham and on this map it can be seen just behind the word "sydallt" http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|wrex...les,%20LL13%208 the road side has a steep bank and might not be ideal for camping, but the other side is flatter and probably the best side for fishing from anyway. I would avoid this venue if your planning to fish during school half term as it can get popular with kids. further into wales and iv heard that llyn y gors on anglesey is good, also there are some lakes on the denbigh moors that have big pike, im not sure about the camping rules though but these would be in very scenic locations i presume. What size lake and what location in wales are you looking for ideally?

John would you disclose the name of the brook, as i live not too far from you and love catching chub. I understand if you want to keep it a secret though. I think these comments show the state of the closed season, i bet every worthy river in the country is being illegally fished as we speak while we are all holding on for june 16th. The only advantage of the closed season for me is that i like the anticipation and exciting feeling that i get when there is only a few weeks to go.

hi tiddletamer Im not sure that a big wide canal like the grand union would fish the same as the one i fish which is the 3m wide llangollen canal, but i have found that throughout the winter and even now still, its a complete waste of time fishing the long featureless straights of the canal, and that it could be worth targetting the wider basins. A good example was when after spending a couple of outings searching out fish around the straight stretches where a few boats were moored, expecting all of the fish to be shoaled up around here, i caught on average nothing more than a few gudgeon, then on the third trip, as i was heading back as the sun was going down, with only an hour or so before my bus home, a woman sitting on the roof of a canal barge parked in a small basin/marina shouted over... " there's loads of fish around here, iv been watching them rising for the last hour". I then quickly threw in a small handful of maggots and cast in. during the next 30mins i caught no less than 20 roach, dace, and lost a bream of about 3lb at the net. since then i have fished this particular basin and when fishing close to the far wall, introducing 1 small ball of black groundbait mixed with micro pellets every hour i have found it to fish as well as in summer, catching alot of nice bream and roach over 1lb. Im not sure that the fish in your canal will be shoaled up in the basins in this way, but it may be worth considering. anyway, im off to egypt in 6hours and fishing is strictly banned from the shores around the red sea, so my telescopic lure rod is staying firmly in the garage so spare a thought for me! Good luck! Rich

Alright mate, I live in Wrexham in north wales and although i dont usually target pike when i go fishing i can give you info on a few venues where i know they are in good numbers but maybe not in huge size. I fish a water situated within a public park called acton park in wrexham which has been netted recently and found to have a good head of fish between 4 and 8 pounds and other pike up to 20lb if your more experienced and know where they might be. the drawbacks being that your only 1 mile from the town centre and so there is alot of early morning dog walkers and kids that might ask you the usual "what have you caught" sort of questions. this water is free but has retained the closed season and so can only be fished from 16th june onwards ( il be there for the big bream!) theres a farmers field pond 2 miles from the town centre that i can give you directions to, its known as "the pike pond" but i think only for the large number of jacks that can be caught easily with lures in the margins. theres possibly a few bigger fish though. otherwise if it was after the 16th june i would definately recommend trying the free stretch at farndon on the river dee which is free up to the bypass bridge, a good mile of free water containing fish to over 20lb and maybe bigger. If your looking for waters further into wales then im not sure i can help as i usually head into cheshire rather than further into wales for coarse fishing. if you would like any further info though il be happy to help cheers! Rich

I would never fish a river during the closed season, but as the weather warms up i would like to start exploring new swims and do a bit of pre baiting. My question is, is it legal at this time to use a fishing rod to 1: plumb swim depths and 2: introduce bait via a bait dropper? I am worried that if this is allowed, passing dog walkers etc might assume i was fishing and report me to the EA, but i cant think of other ways to plumb a reasonably deep strech of river, and accurately introduce bait. any suggestions would be great help cheers!

Ive been out fishing twice this weekend which is rare for me as its usually once if im lucky. On friday i managed to finally get down to hampshire to visit a friend, and spent a day fishing at britford on the avon after recomendations from AN members. Had a great day out even though i didnt catch anything special. A couple of grayling and trout aswel as a jack pike taken on red maggot. However i was amazed at seeing 4 perch, all at least 2lb sitting in a side stream only 2 foot deep and maybe not even twice that wide! You dont see that kind of thing up here very often! Today i managed one final trip down to a small local river and i managed a new pb grayling on my last cast! good way to properly christen my new okuma centrepin. iv attached the picture, let me know what you think. by the way the fish weighed 1lb 11oz. 7oz bigger than my previous best Anyone else had any end of season luck??

I never got round to going to salisbury in the end due to work/college etc, but im definately going second week in march, train tickets booked etc. As i am limited to public transport, i think its going to be between the town stretch of the avon or the nadder anywhere up to 20 mins walk from the station. I believe salisbury and district AA own these waters, and looking on their website, day tickets seem quite expensive, however i dont mind paying the money if the fishing is likely to be good! Has anyone fished either of these waters, and if so, what am i likely to catch? thanks

well thanks for all of the replies guys, in the end i found a good deal (£105) on the sheffield and went for it. the quality of the reel is amazing and the bearings make it spin forver! took it out for a first run today, rivers are flowing at 300 mph with full sized oak trees in them so i fished a small tributary stream which is usually too shallow to bother with. 1 grayling about half a pound, still it was my first fish on the new reel! cant wait for the main rivers to drop though. the main exitement during this terrible weather though is that i can now get anglers net on my mobile! kept me occupied while i was stuck in my work lift for an hour on friday!!

Im sure this may have been covered before, but... im looking to buy my first centrepin with my birthday money and i dont think im going to have to look any further than okuma's offerings.. question is.. aventa pro OR sheffield... is the sheffield worth the extra for a newbie to centrepins?? AND is there a need for a line guard? a fisherman on the bank on sunday said to me " yeah the okumas are lovely reels but make sure you get a line guard or youl get loads of tangles" So whats the verdict, and was this guy speaking any sense?! thanks guys

theres some good grayling/trout water on the severn in the welshpool area. theres a day ticket strech actually in welshpool £3 a day and theres a direct bus there from oswestry if you need it. If youve got a car you could drive up to the dee which is very good for grayling aswel. also i fish the river alyn, a tributary of the dee, and caught nice grayling there over the pound mark and witnessed big salmon so some great grayling water then!

My targets are firstly to fix my mountain bike so that i can get down to a local grayling river more often and hopefully beat my pb of 1lb 4oz. secondly i would like to beat my chub pb of 3lb 15oz,but it must be caught from a strech of river i have been trying that is rarely coarse fished. catch my first barbel. lastly, float fish on a southern chalk stream (student railcard should help with that one!)

have a look at the john wilson avon quiver rod as its one of the best selling ever and very versatile for lots of types of fishing reel wise, i have never had any problems with shimano match reels. i use an exage and its had a fair amount of rain and mud on it, but its spinning as smoothly as it did on day 1. i would love a centrepin but i am yet to have had the experience so you need advice off someone else about those!

i would also agree that during high river levels it is difficult to catch, especially using float tactics. there is a number of reasons why but the main ones are: the fast travelling float ; the bait is likely to be flying past the fish before they have chance to bite the coloured water ; as pointed out in a thread started by the flying tench last week, coloured water will often irritate the fish and put them off feeding until the water has cleared and lowered. your very lucky to be living near to a great river like the wey, i have heard of huge barbel coming from there, and im not a barbel expert but in those conditions you may have a good chance ledgering luncheon meat, sprinkling curry powder or paprika on it so the fish can smell it easier.make sure you have strong enough tackle 10lb line minimum! if you dont fancy sitting out for a barbel, wait until the river clears and slows down and im sure you will have some great sport. good luck anyway!

hey guys, now that im working monday to friday i can only fish at the weekends which usually means once, as the other day is "spend time with the girlfriend day"! And so i spend most of the week planning where to fish and what to fish for. in recent weeks iv had mostly unsuccesful outings on club waters of the river dee after chub, and on the shropshire union canal where my dad has joined me. Now i would obviously prefer to be fishing a river but with the near flood like conditions this week, im facing the dylema that im sure many of you are facing, that is, is it worth heading to a river?? now im sure some of you like severn wolf will tell me that these are the best conditions for barbel! , and as much as i would like to catch a barbel, i dont have strong enough equipment, or a river nearby with a decent head of fish worth targeting! so should i give up thinking of chub or grayling tactics and aim for some stillwater roach/perch or is there any way that i could get down to a river and have a decent chance of some fish, in these conditions. p.s bearing in mind some comments on the flying tench's post, there are some small tributaries of the main river which i am able to fish thanks in advance, rich

thanks for all of the replys guys, i think i will probably just invest in a comfy unhooking mat for the river work, and look for a big armchair of a thing for when i target canals and stillwaters! anyway im off to the river tomorrow in search of chub, fishing a strech that is 99% fly fishermen. iv heard reports of them catching chub over 5lb on the fly so im hoping a bit of bread might tempt a couple from the salmon pools! il let you know if things go well. cheers rich

hi guys, i need your expert advice as to which roving chair is most suited to my style of fishing. im looking to buy 2 of the same chair, one for me, one for my dad, with the permision of my mum (and use of her credit card!) for christmas presents for us. the main issues are the weight, and adjustability. we may walk 2-3 miles along a river bank at a time, and the banks are often steep and uneven. the main contenders so far are: wychwood superlight chub hi lite / low lite nash nomad fox adjusta any advice would be great

My biggest dace, at a whopping 7oz came from a canal! maybe fattened up by the lack of exercise needed compared to a fast river?? Anyway as i said earlier, i had a trotting session on my small local river on wednesday, and although i didnt get the results that richard and anderoo had, it was still enjoyable. countless small grayling 4-8oz, biggest 12oz a few nice small dace all around 4oz a few little brown trout 4-6oz as i reeled in one small trout a pike of approx 10lb flashed before me leaving a cleanly severed hooklength. just received my first pair of polarised glasses in the post to the next session should be a treat!

Totally agree also. Went grayling fishing on wednesday, and although i didnt manage any of the bigger fish, the biggest of the day at 3/4 lb was caught in about 9 inches of water at the bottom of a long gravel run

thanks for a great read anderoo. the river you describe sounds amazing, i only wish there were more of that calibre around here! saying that, i have been fishing a small river near to me recently and although the dace are mainly only 2-6 oz, there are some cracking grayling around. Ive had them to 2lb but others have had them over 3. cant wait to return there on wednesday! theres nothing better than walking a stretch in your wellies and trotting a float through every likely inch of water i dont think, keep us updated with your reports.

thanks for the replies, i think il try out one of the cheap triangular ones, see how they perform. Im sure i could reduce my tackle down further, but at the moment i can carry everything in a medium sized back pack apart from my feeder rod. if im lure fishing i can travel lightest as my shimano exage spinning rod folds down to not much over 30cm in its case. My shimano reel is tiny and is supposed to be a match reel, although i use it for most types of fishing at the moment until i can afford a new one. my net handle is garbolino and also folds to 30cm. other than that i carry the minimum amount of tackle that i need, and dont carry too much bait. i think these things coupled with a smaller landing net head should make for easy travelling. i do need one of those korum mats though

I have recently spent the remainder of my student loan on a warrington anglers licence, and on friday i managed to get down to the river dane for the day, which resulted in a new PB chub of 3lb 15oz woo! The day would have been perfect if it wasnt for me just missing my train and having to wait an hour for another, just because i had spent 10 minutes trying to pack my landing net into my bag! I dont yet have a driving licence and i therefore travel via public transport to any venues, if my dad isnt on hand to give me a lift. So travelling light is obviously a big issue for me. I have been quite successful so far in becoming a minimalist angler, but the landing net problem still remains. What im after is a net that will collapse down and roll up enough to fit alongside my rod in its holder. Im sure i once saw one used on passion for angling, where they jumped out of a tree to net a carp. Im sure theyre probably widely available, but my local tackle shop doesnt stock any. Any examples and reviews would be a great help. thanks guys

hey finfighter, iv been fishing the streches around llangollen a couple of times this year. this area is difficult to fish because of the amount of boats disturbing your swim literally every 2 minutes! however if you go upstream towards the horseshoe falls the canal becomes clear and it is great fun just watching the large bream and the odd pike in their natural habitats. look into the water under the long tunnel upsteam of the pavilion and you can see bream of 7-8 pounds just sitting there with the larger roach. these fish are spooked very easily as you may expect and fishing at night may be the only option here. if your after a good days fishing around this area then i would suggest you travel to the stretches near the aqauduct. if you fish in the newbridge area especially on the wider stretch where the road is near the canal, you can expect to catch skimmers and roach to over 1lb, as well as the odd larger bream. iv never seen or heard of any chub being caught in the canal, but i know that they are present in the dee to over 7lb so theres a good possibility of the odd one being in there. your best bet is to target the silver fish though. let me know how you get on as i dont fish this canal much and need as much advice as you do!

hi i was in wroxham in july, and salhouse broad which is between wroxham and horning was fishing particularly well for silver fish on maggot and caster. the pike are pretty widespread and relatively easy to catch. if i were you id try fishing 50 yards upstream of the railway bridge at wroxham for perch. believe me, there are some beauties in there! also try fishing from the moorings at the entrance to wroxham broad as that was fishing well for skimmers and perch good luck!

Hi Gerald. The £21 licence is a salmon licence so if your only fishing for coarse fish then you will only need the £8.75 one. that said, if you are, like you said, planning to fish again any time before april then yes it may be worthwhile you buying the full season one for £24.50. Its very important that you get one though, as the fines can be huuuuge. As for the fishing, i cant really help you if your looking to fish near the city centre, though i have heard of a couple of park lakes that allow fishing. If your willing to travel 20 miles or so though, then theres hundreds of places to try. Im sure the other guys on here that know the area will be able to help you out more.