Steve Burke

Cold and mainly sunny in East Kent. Lovely clear night just now. Even more sun forecast for tomorrow.

I'm still here but rarely post these days as there are few topics that interest me. Unfortunately even some of the fishing topics turn to politics and these turn me off. In fact we now have more politics posts with a few fishing ones rather than the other way round as we used to. It might be a good idea for someone with more time than me to resurrect some of the old fishing topics.

I like late March and early April. It's one of the best periods for perch. There's less natural food about and the perch are feeding up ready for spawning, that's typical late April at Wingham.

What's your least favourite fishing month? Mine's November, in fact it's my least favourite time of year full stop when it suddenly gets dark earlier. What I especially don't like in November is the first cold snap of the year. Once it warms up again carp often come madly on feed for a few days, but getting the timing right can be difficult. Carp will then move to their winter quarters where they're looking for stability. In particular they don't seem to like undertow in the winter, whereas they do in summer. On the other hand November can be an excellent month for perch, especially on mild, drizzly days with poor light.

If broadband is always going to be slow via your telephone line do a Google search for radio broadband in your area. This comes via a radio mast instead and for us has made a big difference.

Cheers,Ken. ?

Nice one, Keith. I miss my small stream fishing; most of my time is spent at Wingham these days - more often working than fishing! I've never caught a barbel from a small stream, but have caught big chub, perch and roach from streams I could jump across. The farmers readily gave me permission, often saying there was nothing worth catching in them!

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Budgie now has a tackle shop and boat hire business on the Norfolk Broads. A lot of the regulars have drifted away now. I certainly miss the good old days of an active coarse fishing forum. There were loads of interesting topics purely on fishing then rather than politics.

Yes please!

Dave, one of the other Wingham members (Andy Larkins) had a yellow perch last September at 2-06. It was a lemon colour with very pale stripes. That's the only one I've ever heard of. If I can find the photo I'll post it up.

I too am a Jerry Pournelle fan. My favourite is The Mote in God's Eye, another collaboration with Larry Niven of Ringworld fame. I'm also a huge fan of Don Williams. Whenever I need to destress his music is the first I turn too. It's so gentle and soothing, yet melodic.

Dave, you may remember I did a short trial of circle hooks for pike some years ago and missed quite a few fish with them. In fact I probably missed a 20lber on a circle but caught it later in the day on a treble! The story is part of this blog type topic: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/1064490-wingham-pike-survey/.

Saw an absolutely brilliant wildlife programme on BBC2 last night. Stunning photography and an excellent commentary about the wildlife in a small French village. If you missed it Wild Tales from the Village can be downloaded on Catchup.

I'm surprised this topic is still going. All the arguments are likely to be pointless in the long run. The younger generation voted overwhelmingly against going it alone. As my generation dies off it's probably only a matter of time before the youngsters vote us back in!

It was Glen Campbell who first got me into country music back in 1969. The song was Galveston, which I initially listened to only because my father was working there. Now I'm very much a country music fan, so thanks Glen! This included the years when as the song says "when country wasn't cool". There's now a revival in Ireland in particular with a 24/7 country station, Keep It Country on Sky and Freeview. It's been sad to watch Glen Campbell's decline due to Alzheimers. There was a tribute TV programme on the BBC a couple of years ago that I've got recorded. Hopefully it'll be repeated. He was a brilliant guitarist who backed a lot of stars before he became famous himself primarily as a singer. I'll certainly miss him.

My son has a Tesla S and one of the potential downsides is that, although there are quite a few charging sites over most of the country, it takes about 30 minutes for a full charge. Sure, you can have a meal when the car's being charged. It hasn't happened yet, but what if all the charging points are being used? Battery technology has got to improve, and history suggests that it will do so. As the old saying goes "necessity is the mother of invention".

50mm is often quoted as the focal length of a 35mm film camera to give neither a wide angle nor telephoto effect. However it's not quite correct. The true figure is 43mm, which is the diagonal measurement of 35mm film (that is actually 36x24mm). This gives a 45 degree angle of view. Standard lenses in older times were made at 50mm purely as they were cheaper in those days to make to a high standard than a wider angle 43mm. Indeed my first SLR, a Russian Zenith had a 58mm lens. I do believe however that Pentax did do a 43mm lens at one time. AyJay, does your friend get good results on birds as well with his extender? I'd assume that it would be a lighter and more compact set up but the maximum aperture would be less than without the extender. It might be something for me to consider.

Why does almost everything on this forum end up discussing politics? Please can we get back on topic, lads?

Unfortunately, and what many don't realise, is that the fines don't go into the "fishery improvement kitty". Instead they go straight to central government! Licence checks cost the Environment Agency money and so the more checks there are, the less the money available for fisheries. On the other hand, no licence checks would mean more anglers would skip buying a licence and so again less money for fisheries. Perhaps the answer would be to ensure all fines go back into fisheries. Comments anyone?

I think there's a typo, Colin! Unless I wrote them down wrongly the perch were all twos.

Nope. Some left early so I don't yet have all the results. I'll leave posting the final totals until everyone has posted.

Here are the results of the auction: Donated by Dave Park (Vagabond) 1st 100 copies of Waterlog magazine - £70 - Russ McCully Donated by Russ McCully (Russ) Still Hooked by Terry Theobald (signed by the author) - £20 - Stephen Daly (Dales) The Book of the Perch by the Perchfishers (signed by me as co-editor) - £35 - Stephen Daly (Dales) 60 Years a Fisherman by John Wilson - £6 John Westley (John Block) Donated by Steve Burke Ivan Marks on Match Fishing by Ivan Marks - £4 - Steve Walker John Wilson's Method Manual by John Wilson - £10 - Kim Groombridge Haig Whisky Guide to Coarse Fishing in Britain - £2 - Charlie Groombridge The Big Fish Scene by Frank Guttfield (softback signed by the author) - £25 - Peter Caunter (Worzel) Coarse Fishing with Matt Hayes by Matt Hayes (signed by me as a contributor) - £25 - John Westley (John Block) The Best of Chevin (signed by me as editor and contributor) - £22 - Wayne McCully (Sharkbyte) The Complete Chub Angler by Ken Seaman - £8 - Wayne McCully (Sharkbyte) Quest for Barbel by Tony Miles and Trefor West - £15 - Budgie Burgess Roach, the Gentle Giants by John Bailey - £15 - John Westley (John Block) Tench by Len Head - £25 - Stephen Daly (Dales) Power Pro 15kgs - £12 - John Westley (John Block) Power Pro 20kgs - £10 - Steve Walker Power Pro 10lbs - £18 - Steve Walker Donated by Steve Campbell Folding chair - £20 - Kevin Clarkson (KAYC) Bivvy organiser - £5 - John Westley (John Block) Carp bag - £15 - Teejay Groombridge Seat - £25 - Peter Caunter (Worzel) Tackle boxes - £5 - Kevin Clarkson (KAYC) Carbon rod pod - £20 - Russ McCully (Russ) Korum rucksack - £20 - Antony Chance (Ant63) Donated by Paul Westcott (Tincatinca) Shimano quivertip rod - £25 - Stephen Daly (Dales) Thanks to all who donated and to all who bid, even just to push the bidding up!

The weather improved somewhat today but the maximum temperature was still 2c under the norm at 13C/55F. The wind was much lighter and swung round to the north and the sun was shining when we came out after a very successful auction. I'll report details of the winning bids on the auction page. A few tench have been caught, and as the sun lost its strength perch started to feed again. Highlight of the day though was a 56-08 mirror from the Carp Lake, the biggest ever caught on a Fish-In. This fell to Barry Goode who came to Wingham direct from a holiday in France, and the 56 was bigger than any he caught in France last week! The fish had a number of leeches on it so may only just have woken up. Here are the totals I know about as of my last round between 5 & 7pm: MAIN LAKE Colin Rennison (Maddog): 2-12 perch and a 5-00 tench Steve Walker: 9 perch, all over 2lbs, best 2-11, a 6-03 male tench and a jack Stephen Daly: (Dales):11 perch all over 1lb including 3 over 2lbs best 2-14, 2 roach about 10ozs and a jack. Peter Caulter (Worzel): 12 perch with 7 over 2lbs to 2-12, tench of 6-02, 7-02 and a PB tench of 9-00 Wayne McCully (Sharkbyte): 1-08 eel Anthony Chance (Ant63): 5 perch all over 2lbs to 2-10 Kevin Clarkson (KAYC): 2-07 perch plus a 1-12 eel Dave Benbow: 2-03 perch Bill Taylor: 7-10 tench Russ McCully (Russ): 2-03 perch plus 3 eels of 1 to 2lbs. Ray Burnett (River Rover): 8 perch, 7 over 2lbs including 3 PB perch to 2-11 CARP LAKE John Caddick: 32-08 mirror Barry Goode: PB UK mirror of 56-08