Errrm

I like eels as well :-). I don't know if I would sacrifice fishing for the perch and tench to fish for the eels instead but I could possibly be pursuaded lol :-)

That's my understanding as well.

Fingers crossed it will get there, reading the first diary (Four Seasons) and really enjoying it..... really hoping this last one gets made. Still trying to decide if I should upgrade my order to the signed copy or not.

I've signed up for one. I was torn between then signed and normal hard back so I went for the normal hard back for now. Trying to find how much a copies of the original diaries are..... Update - Bought the original 2 diaries now..... today has cost me a lot more than I thought but after reading Our days with Dick I'm craving more like it :-)

I always recommend the Wychwood Barbel rods, I use 1.75lb test curve which if needed allow me to cast 60-70 yards but are good short range rods as well, mainly they are good value for money if you don't want to pay for a dreenan tench rod. Hope you find what you are after.

Thanks for the advice, I've only had follows on spinners from Chub and caught them all on very shallow crankbaits (less than 2ft below the surface) retrieved slowly. The biggest chub I had a follow from (way bigger than my PB of 5lb) was with a mepps, it turned away :-(

If you have chub around your area then have a go for them, the hit the lure like a steam train and the first things you know about the bite if the rod arching over and the line steaming off the reel! Very exciting fishing :-)

Normally I know what I want to do each year...... this year I'm struggling though. Last year I had more fun fishing then I had for a while learning to lure fish and doing lots of small sessions fishing for Pike and then as the season went on perch and chub (chub on a lure are so much fun!). This year I'm not sure if I should try something different or carry on lure fishing. Currently I'm thinking about trying to target bigger perch and chub on lures (biggest after 1 season 1lb 1oz perch and 3lb chub) so I'd like to aim for a 2lb perch on a lure and 5lb chub. Also Pike fish with weedless frogs on the weedy venues near me. So probably nothing new, just a continuation from last year with higher aims...... unless an interesting oppurtunity comes along :-)

I don't fish much with braid lines apart from lure fishing but is that situation I would probably fish with a stronger braid line so that he diameter matched the diameter of the mono I normally used, I suspect the 20lb braid is thinner than the mono you are using currently. I think just having the hook link abrasion resistant might cause problems if the lead gets caught in a rock and the fish runs, the mainline will then end up in the snag and it will probably then break. You could to get around this fish with a mono leader between the braid and your hook link, maybe 20ft of mono tied to your mainline with a double uni/grinned knot would allow you to fish with braid but keep the abrasion resistance. Nothing wrong with fishing with braid instead of mono as long as it's done sensibly

I use Wychwood Barbel 1.75lb test curve rods for this type of fishing and have landed Carp up to 25lb from very weedy waters. I have also fished for much smaller carp up to mid doubles (similar to what you are likely to be using them for) and they were very good for this. If I need to I could cast a 2oz lead and PVA bag around 60-70m if I need to but they are also fine when with short range accurate casting (something my carp rods are great for). They don't appear often on second hand EBay though but I think they are still being made and you can probably pick them up for £50 each. I've also used them for chub, barbel, tench, bream and they were great. I wouldn't want to cast a method feeder 70m with them but for everything else they match what I need.

Hi, I've bought some of his before and have caught fish with them (also fished in the competition they had to catch a fish on the lure and send it to the next person in your team) and they are very good. Can you tell me about the smaller, rounder alphabet style lures in the top left and top right? I've never seen them before on his website and would definately buy some if there were. Is it an old style that he no longer makes? How big are they are they any good for Perch and Chub? Cheers Neil

I've seen perch fight over food and even try to get food while it's in another Perch mouth. I once hooked a perch on a small mepps and while reeling it in other perch were trying to steal the mepps from the perch mouth! Could it be that the perch can't swallow the deadbait straight away so they are holding it and rushing off to avoid another perch taking it from them? Can you go to smaller deadbaits? Although I'm not sure this would help. If they are bolting away from other perch they may be dropping it due to a change in resistance so as you suggested switching to drop off indicators might work better.

I've got three of the bags and I have done for 2-3 years and they have held up really well to my rough treatment. One of the best things they have and almost as good as the Korum ones you would pay £40 for in a fishing tackle shop! I'll be having a look at the lures to see if there are any worth buying.

I disagree, to simplify my point of view. Imagine if you struck from horizontal one way to horizontal the opposite way, the length of the rod would obviously move the hook further if the rod was longer.

Out of interest I just did some quick maths using fairly basic trigonometry and pythagoras about how much eatra line would be picked up by a longer rod. My I used are rounded off so they are probably slightly different to the actual numbers in real life and everything is in meters. 2 rods, first is 2m (~6ft) and the second 4m (~13ft) Scenario, fishing 5m out and 2m deep and having a tight line between rod tip and float and float and hook. I did two slightly different calculations but each suggested that the longer rod if struck from horizontal to vertical would move the hook and additional 1m. To be more accurate it would move it 0.5m further up in the water and 0.9m closer to the angler. I assumed that the difference in the amount of stretch between the 2 setups was negligable and also the bend in the rod also was negligable but I suspect a longer rod is likely to bend more. If anyone else wants to work out a similar thing it would be interesting to see if they come to the same conclusion as me. Personally if my numbers are right or even close to being right it would suggest a longer rod does move the hook further and assuming roation speed on both setups are the same then the hook will also move through the water faster, I would expect this setup the hook more fish and probably set the hook better in instances where both setups would have hooked the fish meaning less fish would escape.

I hooked a small jack at the weekend along the bank about 5-10m along the margin. It started tail walking and then managed to tail walk out of the river and on to the bank! It then flapped about and before I could get to it it managed to jump back into the water and release itself! Now the thing I waa wondering was can I count this fish? Technically it was 'landed' and without it I would have blanked :-)

As has already been mentioned. I would concentrate in the margins and the surface, take along a bag of dog biscuits on a sunny day and see if anything will start taking them from the top.

Holiday booked for the 19th, now I need to negotiate how much fishing I'm allowed to do with the girlfriend :-).

Thanks, sounds good. I'll let you know if we book it for that same 2 week period.

lol, we are thinking about going somtime in November to the Daiquiri as well, we haven't booked it yet but it depends on a few things if we go.

Thanks Tony :-).

I've already done that, but I trust many people on this forum and I'm a great believer in getting as much information as possible :-). Thanks for the advice though :-).

Hi, I posted this on the sea fishing forum but so far I have had no replies so I was wondering if I might get better luck here.. ---------------------------------------------------------- Hi all, Sorry, I thought it was best I pop over from the freshwater forum, hopefully you don't mind :-). Me and my girlfriend are thinking about going on Holiday for two weeks to Cayo Guillermo and I was looking for information about fishing there. I have done a search on the forum and there is some useful information but I was wondering what sort of fishing tackle I would need. Also how much is hiring guides or going out on fishing trips? As a freshwater fisherman I have done most normal types of fishing (ledgering, float, lure fishing). Can I just use these tactics but with heavier line from the piers/beaches? What's the best way to just catch some fish or different species, maybe some biggish ones? Is there any simple tactics I can follow? Would touch ledgering slices of fish work or is it better to fish with a pike style float? All my lure fishing is done with below 20g lures, would these be ok or would I need to get a stronger rod and bigger lures? Thanks for any information you can give me. Neil --------------------------------------------------------- Any advice would be great, thanks.

Hi all, Sorry, I thought it was best I pop over from the freshwater forum, hopefully you don't mind :-). Me and my girlfriend are thinking about going on Holiday for two weeks to Cayo Guillermo and I was looking for information about fishing there. I have done a search on the forum and there is some useful information but I was wondering what sort of fishing tackle I would need. Also how much is hiring guides or going out on fishing trips? As a freshwater fisherman I have done most normal types of fishing (ledgering, float, lure fishing). Can I just use these tactics but with heavier line from the piers/beaches? What's the best way to just catch some fish or different species, maybe some biggish ones? Is there any simple tactics I can follow? Would touch ledgering slices of fish work or is it better to fish with a pike style float? All my lure fishing is done with below 20g lures, would these be ok or would I need to get a stronger rod and bigger lures? Thanks for any information you can give me. Neil

I will be mostly lure fishing do weed is ok as long as I can fish over the top of it.