Steve Burke
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Posts posted by Steve Burke
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Let me firstly say that I always use barbless hooks when deadbaiting for pike. These are trebles as, having tried single and double hooks for pike, I find them far more effective. However I use trebles only for pike and consider them totally unnecessary for fish like perch that don't have bony mouths.
When lure fishing for pike I've found I've lost too many pike on de-barbed trebles, but as it's extremely rare for a pike to swallow a lure down deep I don't feel that barbed trebles are a problem in this instance.
However, I replace the trebles on most of my lures with a pattern that's finer in the wire and with a smallish barb. In fact, many of the hooks on lures are like anchors! Manufacturer's fit them as lures are used for all sorts of species, some of them with very powerful jaws. For bony-mouthed fish like pike, I find that finer wire hooks with smaller barbs are far more efficient hookers anyway.
Regular readers will know that I refuse to use barbless hooks for perch in the larger sizes (above size 10) as they kill far too many of my favourite species. Indeed, I've gone as far as banning them on my own lakes at Wingham.
Barbless hooks seem to penetrate more deeply and, as perch have vital organs near the surface of the throat, can be lethal. They also appear to move about in the mouth of the fish as the barb doesn't hold the hook in one place. I'm not sure that these are the right reasons, but the reasons don't really matter. It's the results that counts, and umpteen years of specialising in perch has convinced me that large barbless hooks are killers.
The hooks I do use (Ashima Super Match and Super Maggot) have absolutely tiny barbs. In fact those on a size 6 are like a normal size 16 microbarb!
This year I've been experimenting with some circle hooks that Newt and Ian Cresswell kindly sent me. Unfortunately, I've found I've missed too many runs with them. However, this may be because I'm finding it hard to get used to just tigthening rather than striking. OTOH, it may be because the gape of the hook is much smaller than usual. Certainly my hook up rate is much higher with very large sizes of circle hooks compared with smaller ones. The problem is then that these hooks, being larger, would probably penetrate more deeply and so you're back to square one!
However, I suspect that large circle hooks could be useful for pike, especially as they have small barbs, so I'll probably find a use for them. Indeed, it may even be that I'll end up dropping trebles for bait fishing altogether. Having said that, I like to undertake extended comparative field tests before coming to any firm conclusions. As these days most of my piking is with lures this may take a long time!
BTW, Newt, have you had a chance to try the Ashimas yet?
[ 08 May 2002, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]
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Let me firstly say that I always use barbless hooks when deadbaiting for pike. These are trebles as, having tried single and double hooks for pike, I find them far more effective. However I use trebles only for pike and consider them totally unnecessary for fish like perch that don't have bony mouths.
When lure fishing for pike I've found I've lost too many pike on de-barbed trebles, but as it's extremely rare for a pike to swallow a lure down deep I don't feel that barbed trebles are a problem in this instance.
However, I replace the trebles on most of my lures with a pattern that's finer in the wire and with a smallish barb. In fact, many of the hooks on lures are like anchors! Manufacturer's fit them as lures are used for all sorts of species, some of them with very powerful jaws. For bony-mouthed fish like pike, I find that finer wire hooks with smaller barbs are far more efficient hookers anyway.
Regular readers will know that I refuse to use barbless hooks for perch in the larger sizes (above size 10) as they kill far too many of my favourite species. Indeed, I've gone as far as banning them on my own lakes at Wingham.
Barbless hooks seem to penetrate more deeply and, as perch have vital organs near the surface of the throat, can be lethal. They also appear to move about in the mouth of the fish as the barb doesn't hold the hook in one place. I'm not sure that these are the right reasons, but the reasons don't really matter. It's the results that counts, and umpteen years of specialising in perch has convinced me that large barbless hooks are killers.
The hooks I do use (Ashima Super Match and Super Maggot) have absolutely tiny barbs. In fact those on a size 6 are like a normal size 16 microbarb!
This year I've been experimenting with some circle hooks that Newt and Ian Cresswell kindly sent me. Unfortunately, I've found I've missed too many runs with them. However, this may be because I'm finding it hard to get used to just tigthening rather than striking. OTOH, it may be because the gape of the hook is much smaller than usual. Certainly my hook up rate is much higher with very large sizes of circle hooks compared with smaller ones. The problem is then that these hooks, being larger, would probably penetrate more deeply and so you're back to square one!
However, I suspect that large circle hooks could be useful for pike, especially as they have small barbs, so I'll probably find a use for them. Indeed, it may even be that I'll end up dropping trebles for bait fishing altogether. Having said that, I like to undertake extended comparative field tests before coming to any firm conclusions. As these days most of my piking is with lures this may take a long time!
BTW, Newt, have you had a chance to try the Ashimas yet?
[ 08 May 2002, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]
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I'm now taking formal bookings for a free fish-in on Wingham Coarse Lake on May 24th - 26th. You can come any time between 10am on the Friday to 10pm on the Sunday.
Please don't book here but e-mail me at my new address: stevepeggyb@hotmail.com However, I'll be happy to answer any questions here.
The weekend is a thank you to Elton for hosting the Wingham website, so priority will be given to those who join the Angler's Net Members' Club. If you're not already a member you can join via the Angler's Net home page. Thereafter priority will be given to those who haven't fished Wingham before.
When you e-mail me please let me know:
1) Which day(s) you'll be fishing.
2) Which night(s) if any you'll be bivvying up. You can also sleep in the clubhouse which has a kitchen, toilets and shower. Accomodation is also available at a local pub or farmhouse.
3) Where you're travelling from so I can give you directions.
4) Whether you can't walk far and need one of the four disabled swims.
5) What species you'll be after so I can suggest what tackle/baits to bring and possible tactics.
Wingham isn't a bag up water but does offer many of you the chance of a personal best in several species, especially tench, bream, carp and perch.
Last year my tench *averaged* just under 7lbs with a best of 9-04! They're still growing and many members have seen bigger tench, so there's every chance of a "double".
Talking of doubles, on the last fish-in 2 years ago Steve Randles had a 10-01 bream. Remarkably,a scale reading showed this fish was only 8 years old! Bream grow for at least 15 years so Wingham could easily break the record in the years to come.
Although the fishery is in Kent it's on a nature reserve in the middle of nowhere. Those of you who've fished it will know it's very peaceful, with the loudest noise usually being birdsong.
Partly for this reason, but mostly because the complex is very little fished, I want to keep pressure to the minimum. Therefore the numbers will be restricted to just 30. Demand is likely to be high so do book early to get one of the places.
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I'm now taking formal bookings for a free fish-in on Wingham Coarse Lake on May 24th - 26th. You can come any time between 10am on the Friday to 10pm on the Sunday.
Please don't book here but e-mail me at my new address: stevepeggyb@hotmail.com However, I'll be happy to answer any questions here.
The weekend is a thank you to Elton for hosting the Wingham website, so priority will be given to those who join the Angler's Net Members' Club. If you're not already a member you can join via the Angler's Net home page. Thereafter priority will be given to those who haven't fished Wingham before.
When you e-mail me please let me know:
1) Which day(s) you'll be fishing.
2) Which night(s) if any you'll be bivvying up. You can also sleep in the clubhouse which has a kitchen, toilets and shower. Accomodation is also available at a local pub or farmhouse.
3) Where you're travelling from so I can give you directions.
4) Whether you can't walk far and need one of the four disabled swims.
5) What species you'll be after so I can suggest what tackle/baits to bring and possible tactics.
Wingham isn't a bag up water but does offer many of you the chance of a personal best in several species, especially tench, bream, carp and perch.
Last year my tench *averaged* just under 7lbs with a best of 9-04! They're still growing and many members have seen bigger tench, so there's every chance of a "double".
Talking of doubles, on the last fish-in 2 years ago Steve Randles had a 10-01 bream. Remarkably,a scale reading showed this fish was only 8 years old! Bream grow for at least 15 years so Wingham could easily break the record in the years to come.
Although the fishery is in Kent it's on a nature reserve in the middle of nowhere. Those of you who've fished it will know it's very peaceful, with the loudest noise usually being birdsong.
Partly for this reason, but mostly because the complex is very little fished, I want to keep pressure to the minimum. Therefore the numbers will be restricted to just 30. Demand is likely to be high so do book early to get one of the places.
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No, but Andrew in Australia found some Flopys but at an exhorbitant price. I don't expect to have much luck I've been looking for over 10 years!
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No, but Andrew in Australia found some Flopys but at an exhorbitant price. I don't expect to have much luck I've been looking for over 10 years!
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Thanks Phone, nice to see a youngster with a record fish. Your bream certainly aren't the same as ours. Can anyone post a bream pic up here for our transatlantic friends?
BTW, I'll be posting up details of the Wingham Fish-In this weekend.
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Thanks Phone, nice to see a youngster with a record fish. Your bream certainly aren't the same as ours. Can anyone post a bream pic up here for our transatlantic friends?
BTW, I'll be posting up details of the Wingham Fish-In this weekend.
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Tommy, I'm buying several book collections at the moment. I think one of them contained a paperback edition of Casting at the Sun which I shalln't want. If you or anyone else is interested please let me know.
In fact, please sent me your wants lists and I'll see what I can find for any of you.
Likewise do the same for any books you have for sale with a note of the condition, the price you want and which edition it is. I could well be interested in buying them.
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Tommy, I'm buying several book collections at the moment. I think one of them contained a paperback edition of Casting at the Sun which I shalln't want. If you or anyone else is interested please let me know.
In fact, please sent me your wants lists and I'll see what I can find for any of you.
Likewise do the same for any books you have for sale with a note of the condition, the price you want and which edition it is. I could well be interested in buying them.
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I've used it successfully for tench, and I believe the record carp was taken on it.
In fact Enterprise Tackle do a wide range of useful accessories, some of which are really excellent. I'll be reviewing a few of these shortly.
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I've used it successfully for tench, and I believe the record carp was taken on it.
In fact Enterprise Tackle do a wide range of useful accessories, some of which are really excellent. I'll be reviewing a few of these shortly.
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Casting at the Sun is my favourite descriptive fishing book of all time. Those of us lucky enough to have first editions (or 2 in my case - I'm a greedy so and so!) rarely part with them. They've been changing hands for about £200 recently!
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Casting at the Sun is my favourite descriptive fishing book of all time. Those of us lucky enough to have first editions (or 2 in my case - I'm a greedy so and so!) rarely part with them. They've been changing hands for about £200 recently!
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Casting at the Sun is my favourite descriptive fishing book of all time. Those of us lucky to have a copy (or 2 in my case - I'm a greedy so and so!) rarely part with them. First editions have been changing hands for about £200 recently!
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Casting at the Sun is my favourite descriptive fishing book of all time. Those of us lucky to have a copy (or 2 in my case - I'm a greedy so and so!) rarely part with them. First editions have been changing hands for about £200 recently!
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Leon reviewed Optilabs presciption polaroids here on Angler's Net. I bought a pair as a result and found them brilliant and cheaper than on the high street. Having said that I seem to recall a TV ad by Specsavers in the last few days offering a free pair of prescription polaroids when you buy an ordinary pair of glasses costing more than £80 or so.
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Leon reviewed Optilabs presciption polaroids here on Angler's Net. I bought a pair as a result and found them brilliant and cheaper than on the high street. Having said that I seem to recall a TV ad by Specsavers in the last few days offering a free pair of prescription polaroids when you buy an ordinary pair of glasses costing more than £80 or so.
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Thanks guys.
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These are rubber plugs with adjustable plastic lips to vary the depth they work at. Rublex made them in 3 sizes, by memory 1/8th, 1/4 and 3/4oz. For the last 10 years I too have been looking for the bibs and/or the plugs themselves, as long as they're the rubber ones and not the later hard plastic ones.
If I find a source for the bibs I'll post here for the benefit of our Australian reader.
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These are rubber plugs with adjustable plastic lips to vary the depth they work at. Rublex made them in 3 sizes, by memory 1/8th, 1/4 and 3/4oz. For the last 10 years I too have been looking for the bibs and/or the plugs themselves, as long as they're the rubber ones and not the later hard plastic ones.
If I find a source for the bibs I'll post here for the benefit of our Australian reader.
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There's 2 schools of thought on the length of lure rods. For boat fishing I'd agree that short rods are best - and Newt and Peter are largely boat anglers.
However, most of my fishing is from the bank and then I very much prefer a long rod (9 to 10 feet) for pike fishing. These help you to reach out beyond marginal vegetation and fish parallel to reedbeds etc.
Additionally you can cast further with a rod of this length (but less accurately), which from the bank will allow you to cover a lot more water. Surprisingly, despite suffering from a muscle weakening illness, I don't find a 9 to 10 foot rod tiring, possibly because I need to put less power into a cast.
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There's 2 schools of thought on the length of lure rods. For boat fishing I'd agree that short rods are best - and Newt and Peter are largely boat anglers.
However, most of my fishing is from the bank and then I very much prefer a long rod (9 to 10 feet) for pike fishing. These help you to reach out beyond marginal vegetation and fish parallel to reedbeds etc.
Additionally you can cast further with a rod of this length (but less accurately), which from the bank will allow you to cover a lot more water. Surprisingly, despite suffering from a muscle weakening illness, I don't find a 9 to 10 foot rod tiring, possibly because I need to put less power into a cast.
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I've just bought an old ABU 9000C multiplier which seems to be working fine but needs a bit of a clean up externally, and probably internally as well.
Any suggestions on how to go about it? Thanks.
Wingham Fish-In May 24/25/26th
in Coarse Fishing
Posted
I forgot to mention that even if you asked about coming before please e-mail me to formally confirm your booking. Cheers.