Christian T

Thank you Kappa, just the little screw in bit. Steve is kindly lending me a couple of bank sticks.

Hot water, blankets and Horlicks aside would anyone be kind enough to lend me a butt rest? Seem to have misplaced one and don't want people thinking I'm fishing the Thames in flood!

Ha I haven't seen it on a supermarket shelf in a long time so couldn't comment.

Thank you, excited is an understatement. I'll pick up a few pints of deads from the tackle shop. They've normally got a quite a few in the freezer so if anyone wants me to them some up let me know, they're £2 a pint!

What are the chances of an eel if I leave a lob worm on overnight? Have somehow managed never to catch one... What are the chances of an eel if I leave a lob worm on overnight? Have somehow managed never to catch one...

My dad says a good chunk of crackabarrel was his favourite barbel bait on the Thames as a young one.

Will people be scaling down the line when fishing the perch? I have 10lb mainline spooled on at the moment

Getting very excited now. Has anyone got any thoughts on what bait they will bringing?

I like the look of the Sentient although most definitely cannot justify another feeder rod.

Perhaps a gallery for us nosey parkers? Would love to see some more pictures of the bream/ tench. It all looks very smart though.

I bought some korda goo in corn flavour, first time I used it had 5 carp up to about 18lbs from the canal. Coincidence or not it was one of, if not the best catch of carp I had from the canal. I rang up my friend singing its praises then it sat at the bottom of a tackle bag for 3 years, just came across whilst having a bit of a sort out. I know a lot of people swear by garlic flavoured spam for the barbel but I haven't noticed any difference as yet.

When I've been meaning to get out my river fishing has been ruined by the rain. Just wanted a bit of settled weather, average river and some nice chub conditions. I'm sure people have been catching a few fish but it hasn't been my idea of fun out there. Was going to go for a few hours after work yesterday, checked EA river levels at lunch time and it was fine, by 6 o clock when I drove over the river the nights rain was in and it was ripping though again. Still, had the best autumns fishing I've ever had this year. Best of luck to anyone out this weekend. Bring on a warm spring and some tench!

Has anyone read any insightful studies on hydro such as this and its effect on fish/ biodiversity?

That is an absolute monster, congratulations!

Cracking session, well done!

Definitely less easy to navigate, looks like it has consequentially mucked up the riverlevels.uk website as well.

Last few years I've probably spent 95%+ of the time using one rod. That said it will be nice to be able to use three on the odd occasion when fishing a pit, with slim hope of a bite from anything but a mossie. What riles me more then licence prices, rods on a licence or personal photos has got to be the point Bold Bear raises about it being governed by the same people who issue abstraction licenses. It's a duplicitous approach, that to me undermines the integrity of a body who is supposed to have anglings interests at heart. Hope the price doesn't go up too much though ...

Have to say I don't think it's a bad looking carp. Well done to the captor!

I've been keeping an eye on the fish ins for years, maybe this year

The wind, rain and it being dark after work has put me off a bit. Intending to have a good go for the back end of the season though. November was kind with the chub fishing, short sessions with cheese paste and clonking pb of 6.11lb. 9af58775_o by 123Christian, on Flickr Off for a day after a roach on the Hampshire Avon tomorrow, fingers crossed.

What a travesty.

Any good?

I bought a leeds as a first centre pin and really didn't enjoy using it. I'm not sure why. Bought a trudex after that, it doesn't spin half as well as the leeds but I enjoy using it a lot more. I guess it's true what people say you really do get a 'feel' for a pin.

Hi C Walker, I really enjoyed catching the tench there. It was the first and one of the few places I've caught any regularly. A 4lber is still a memorable fish for me. Just believed everything I was told there as an impressionable youngster (everyone wants to believe stories of big fish right?) and eventually came to realise there was probably a few porkies being told. Didn't mean to be putting a downer on your days fishing at all, it sounded like a cracker, just a word of warning on the bailiffs claims. I do remember seeing it riddled with crayfish at one point. They appeared quite out of the blue. I understand they came out of weir wood reservoir, worked there way down the Medway from Forest Row, then a fair old way down to where it meets the River Eden, headed up there, up the Eden Brook and then eventually into Eden Pond. Amazing when you consider as the crow flies weir wood res is probably not more then 6 miles from Lingfield yet at a guess I'd imagine those crayfish have done a good 30 miles to get there. I'm not too sure how far it is from you but Green Lagoon on the Letchworth Angling ticket is a cracking place to fish for tench. Early season you can catch them a few feet out in the crystal clear margins. Like Dales said mostly 3-5lbs. A five being a good one, though they do get bigger. Tench are the predominant large fish. Although there are carp in there you wouldn't have any trouble just targeting the tench. They do get more finicitky as the season goes on although I understand that's fairly common with tench?

Having lived in East Grinstead for most of my life I fished Beaver Farm a reasonable amount when I was younger. There is absolutely no way there are double figure tench in Eden Pond, if there is I'll eat my hat. I never had one much over 4lbs but haven't fished it for 5 years. They put some carp in there a while ago and the average size of the tench seemed to get smaller, not sure if those are still in there or what has changed lately. There's definitely some big fish on the complex but I'm sceptical about the things I haven't seen a photo of, i.e. 10lb tench, 35lb pike and 5lb perch. Did see a guy catch a 44lb carp on Snipe a few years ago. There's meant to be some big tench in there, very believable with all the boilies that go in but I'd imagine they are few and far between. Also heard that there was a fish kill that nobbled most of the big carp, not sure how the tench will have faired.