Errrm

Hi, Next month ( due to birthday ) I'm planning on getting a new rod and reel, I want a quiver tip rod as I already have a perfectly good 12ft match rod and I was looking at the Avon style rods specifically the Fladen Maxximus Avon System or the John Wilson Signature Avon System Rod but the web page doesn't mention the test curves of the tips I normally fish on a ponds/lakes I would like tips that would cope with small roach fishing and if possible a heavier tip incase I ever find myself needing to use a method feeder. Any advice on these would be great. I'm after a reel for light ledgering and wangler fishing so a couple of spools which would be suited to lines 6lb and below, I bought my dad a browning black magic for christmas which seems really good apart from perhaps quite a high gear ratio i.e. slightly heavy to turn. Are there any other reels anyone could recomend looking at? Errrm

I'm guessing he was taught to fish by a right hander, I've got friends who are left handed but were taught to play pool right handed and they can't actually play pool using there left hand! I'm guessing that he was taught this way so it is easier to keep doing it this way. Errrm

lol I bought one for £10 from tesco's for the specific purpose of liquidising fishing baits:-). The only other one in the house was my housemates blender but I don't think he would have liked that!

lol it smelt 'really' nice but smell should be good for tench anyway

Ah ok thanks, I ended up speaking to the guy in the local tackle shop and he suggested using a blender to liquidise them and put them in the groundbait like that, so I ended up doing it this way instead.

Hi, I have some old casters in the fridge which are probably floaters now due to being left on the bank last weekend, can hit these a few times with a rolling pin and put them in groundbait or will they still float? Errrm

When I was a kid ( about 12 ) my dad took me fishing to a pond we used to fish at quite often abotu an hours drive from home. I was hungry at some point in the afternoon so I started eating the luncheon meat after about 10 pieces my dad shouted at me to stop and then explained to me it had be frozen and refrozen about 10 times! He was a bit worried it would give me food poisoning, it didn't though :-) Errrm

It depends on what is in the pond, although normally the hour just before it gets dark is good. Bream, tench and carp will all start feeding during that period of time.

Try fishing on the bottom initially, if you setup your float correctly then you will have shots at intervals down the line below the float. You should get used to the movement of the float as it settles down in the water, if the float doesn;t settle as you would expect it means something has taken the bait as it drops through the water and you should strike. You may also want to fish shallower if this is happening. Errrm

It could have been endemic in the country since the previous outbreak 4.5 years ago although unlikely, possibly from abroad like last time.

Surely horses will get catch the disease as well, it's also called hoof and mouth because it effects animals with hooves? Horses, rabbits, badgers etc can all carry the disease and even when the disease seems to be gone is can still be endemic in wild populations of animals.

Sounds like the cd drive as died, I think this was a common thing to happen with the ps2. I think the only option is to buy a new one ( which should be fairly cheap ).

I think the last outbreak was created even worse by cattle travelling into london for a cattle market, I guess from guildford a logical place to go would be london.

I just read this on the BBC :-( When I was at university I wrote a computer simulation for the spread of a foot and mouth epidemic and from what I learnt the main problem will be the last time cattle from the farm went to market... I think foot and mouth has only been attributed to spreading a maximum of 70km due to air transmission ( with wind conditions etc helping it, and this still being unlikely ) but transportations from this farm and surrounding farms will cause the biggest problems. Apparently a 3km protection zone has been put up.... I think this should be larger but hopefully it will be enough. Errrm

IMHO I think it's nice that a father can be comfortable with winding/having a bit of fun at/with there 16 child :-), I know when I was 16 I was a nightmare for my parents to live with. Although I was a bit worried about reading the thread, but I thought I should because I'm sure it would actually be about fishing.

Thanks, Yeah they break easily from top to bottom so I guessed that hooking them that way is best, do you know which month's IYCF you read it in? I might have it unless it is one of the ones my dad stole!

Hi, Having never used pellets before or knowing much about them obviously the best thing to do was a day before going fishing buy a bag of 'soft marine pellets'. I've added some into a Tench 'stench' + brown crumb ( 50/50 ) groundbait with some sweetcorn. How do I hook these? They're 6mm in size so can I hook them straight on to a smallish hook, 18-20? Or so I need to hair rig them? Thanks for any help you can give to me to help my idiocy :-). Errrm

I don't know the place myself, from a quick search on the internet it appears it is between 27 and 30 acres so the main problems are going to be locating the fish in the lake, and possibly reaching the fish. Locating the fish is probably best done by going for a walk around the lake on a weekend and talking to any bailiffs and anglers to find out the best advice for general course fishing ( unless anyone here knows the lake? ). When starting out you will probably have limited tackle available so it will probably easiest to fish swims with features i.e. lilly pads, trees, islands etc. within about 30 meters, although the margins will probably produce fish during the morning and evening if not throughout the day. Hopefully the advice is usefull, there are far better anglers here so hopefully they can give you some better advice. Errrm

Hiya, The most common advice/questions are... Try finding your local tackle shop and speak to the people who work there, in general they're friendly and informative about your local area. What part of the country do you live in? Someone might be able to take you out for a days fishing and teach you the basics. Have you tried fishing magazines, Improve your course fishing ( IYCF ) is generally pretty good and explains stuff well. It might be worth trying to fish commercial waters to begin with until you get the hang of it. Some people on the forums hate commercial waters but for beginners and children I think they are good bacause you are likely to be able to catch fish easily to get you used to handling the equipment. Hope some if this helps, Errrm

The hook sizes that are suggesting are probably the right size for carp commercial ponds, but if you are fishing on a canal then you probably want hooks that are smaller. It really depends on the bait you want to use... 20 - Single Maggot 18 - Double maggot, sweetcorn 16 - Luncheon Meat I don't think you need to be thinking about using anything larger then a 16 when starting out, I'd only ever using a hook larger when using a bolt rig and I needed to make sure the hook point caught the lip. When I fish my local pond, which has some fairly big fish in it, I use a size 18 when float fishing just so I don't need to change hook size when swapping between Maggots and Sweetcorn. I think the best advice has already been given which is get down to your local tackle shop and have a chat to them about the local waters and get some advice about which tackle to buy. Try and buy a match rod not a rod built for comercial carp waters because it won't really be any good for smaller fish but you should be able to land large carp still on a match rod. Errrm

It's a dark fine powder which seemed to be a generic brand, does this help? I'm really after bream and tench, there a few ( very few ) carp in the lake all about 20+lbs but I'll only be using a 2.4lb hook length so I'm not really after them but the hook length will be fine for the tench and bream to about 7lb.

Congratulations and I hope you get the record! Mullet fishing has always appealed to me but I live near Birmingham so it's a bit hard :-)

Ok, I've read that a maximum of 20% molasses should be used in groundbait mixes but I'm unsure about the validity of this because I read it on a random web page found by google :-). If anyone has any views on this then can they post them please. Thanks

I've decided to have a mess around with brown crumb for tomorrow's fishing I have about 3kg of ground bait, I also bought 1/2 kg of molasses mix should all this be used or just a small portion of it, or is it not enough? I asked at the tackle shop what price they would sell 20kg of groundbait for and I was told about £18 so I probably should have asked there first :-). I'll keep a look out for some animal feed suppliers in the area I live. Another question, does anyone have any links to articles about groundbait mixing or any idea of some books which are good?

This sounds familiar to the ponds I fish, although if I'm actually out to catch them I generally cast beyond the shoal and then reel over the top and then make small winds every few seconds and you should be able to hook them without striking so you don't need fast reflexes. Although I think the amount of fish taking stuff on the drop where I fish is silly, the amount of times I have cast out while fishing on the bottom and reeling it in to sink the line and everything goes solid as a fish takes it is crazy.... almost annoying at times.