Steve Burke

Here are the pics of tinca tincas 2 items. Thanks, Paul!

Thanks, Anthony! Yes, that may well work. We can test it at the weekend.

Forgot to mention that another reason to target the perch is that the cold weather won't put them off nearly as much as the tench.

I've just added 2 lots of 4x stainless steel flasks, see post 3.

Dales is on the Main Lake. The perch hadn't spawned at the weekend and those caught by the only member fishing for them averaged about 2-12. If I've time whilst working round the lake this week I'll throw out a lure and see if I can find out more. With the late Spring, this year is the perfect chance to perch fish at Wingham as normally they would have spawned. I'd therefore strongly suggest that you try worms during the day. I've also found that early season big baits are best for the tench. All my big Wingham tench in the early years came on worm. The water is also gin clear at the moment so I'd have most confidence in natural baits anyway.

Thanks for the pics, Paul. Peggy will put them up later today.

Sorry, Steve, I've no idea. As for the action it's soft in the tip and middle, stiff in the butt.

Cheers, Rich!

Paul, Peggy says if you e-mail the pics she'll post them up on this topic. Thanks for donating them.

I've done some more asking around about the Walker, Bampton fly rod. Although it's very high quality it's not a collector's item as it doesn't have the right name. I've therefore revised the estimate down.

I should add that there's no need to pay for your auction purchases on the day, although you can do so in cash or by cheque. As long as everything is paid for by the end of the month that's fine.

Vagabond, Wyeknot (Steve Campbell), has kindly agreed to bid a minimum of your £50 reserve on the Creel magazines so do please bring them along. Thanks! Based on what I paid for my bound set a few years ago I'm guessing they'll go for £50 to £80. Thanks also to Steve for his auction donations. I'm going to change the lot order so that Steve's GFs alarms go immediately after my 3 GFs alarms. I propose to put 3 of Steve's GFs alarms in 1 lot and the 4th one in a separate lot. That way someone will end up with 3 and someone else with 4, with one of the winners getting my receiver. Estimates for Steve's alarms would then be £15 to £20 for the set of 3, and £4 to £6 for the odd one. Steve's Fox reels are, I believe, tench/light carp size. Please let me know how many of these reels you'd be interested in and I'll split them accordingly. I'd estimate they'd go for £15 to £25 each. Steve's unhooking mat I'm not familiar with but I'd guess it would go for £10 to £15.

Split cane rod just added to my auction lots. See post 3 above.

The weather turned cold yesterday and is forecast to stay cold all week and for the Fish-In. The wind is NE this week, turning more northerly next weekend. By then the fish will have hopefully acclimatised and will have resumed feeding. The sunshine should keep water temperatures from falling too sharply. It's always difficult predicting where the fish will be at this time of the year at Wingham as it's a transitional time. However past experience suggests that they're less likely be in deep water. Certainly the carp in the Carp Lake have been shallow recently, feeding on the bottom in the shallows or in the upper layers over deep water where there's a midge hatch (some of these hatches are huge!). There's almost no weed yet, and so most of the food is in the silt at the moment rather than on the gravel bars. The late Spring means that the perch probably won't have spawned and so someone could well get a big haul, with hopefully numbers of 3lbers as on previous Fish-Ins. However, don't rely purely on what we tell you, but also do your own thing. Wingham virgins as we call them have a habit of doing very well at Wingham, don't they Rich ! It's not the ideal set of conditions, but double figure tench have a habit of turning up at Wingham in this sort of weather. For the reason why and a lot more on the tench see these articles of mine: http://winghamfisheries.co.uk/category/articles/.

All too common I'm afraid these days, Andy, isn't it? I remember one of the early pike days at Ardingly Reservoir. One of the bank anglers(?) had spread his rods out over 200 yards of bank and was sat at one end! I wonder if it started with some of the carp books written in the late 70s and in particular the 80s? Anglers then copied their idols, went off to the pub and a curry and left their rods out all the time. It seemed to become accepted in certain circles after that.

If anyone who's not coming wants to place a bid on any item please contact me no later than Friday via the Wingham web site.

Please could I remind all coming to read the rules I've sent you. We have some unusual ones, plus others have changed recently. In particular please note the requirement to be able to hit a take within 10 seconds. So please wind in, and also remove your bait from the hook, if you want to leave your swim. We've never had a problem on a Fish-In, but we did have someone on a guest ticket break this rule. Needless to say he blew his chance of membership!

As far as I can see only Christian has asked to borrow some long banksticks and long bobbins. Have I missed anyone out? Or have all the regulars learnt! Steve Campbell said he'd bring along some appropriate landing nets. The fish run big at Wingham so I'd go for at least a 24inch spoon or a 28in triangular at the very minimum. I use a 30in spoon, in fact 2 of them, one on each side of the swim. You'd kick yourself if you missed a PB as you didn't ask to borrow a bigger net! Oh, and if you get a big eel do land it tail first. Failure to do so cost me a PB last week! Those who are unfamiliar with night fishing and especially bivvying up can also borrow all they need. This will include a bivvy, bedchair, water carrier (I use flasks), stove, kettle, cookware, plates, mugs, cutlery and idealy a bivvy table. Just ask as soon as possible. BTW, a sleeping bag isn't essential. I prefer to use duvets as they're easy to throw off. Rather than 1 thick one I use 1 thin one plus 1 medium one. Using layers like this is much more comfortable. You'll also need a torch, but please, please don't bring a bright one - they're simply not needed. A bright light will also scare the fish at Wingham. A headtorch is great, preferably with a red light as that won't ruin your night vision. You'll be amazed at what you can see at night once your eyes have got used to the dark! Suitable headtorches with separate switches for red and white light can be picked up in Argos and lots of similar shops for about a fiver including batteries. I've got 2 just in case. Finally, do make sure you bring an unhooking mat as some of the swims are very gravelly. Make sure it's not tiny too!

Apart from mine and Vagabond's we've no firm offers yet of any auction items. Most of us will have something gathering dust that may be useful to others. It didn't take me long to find the above bits and pieces plus it freed up some much needed space. Over to you, lads........

Thanks, Andrew. Wingham Carp Lake has now produced 5 different 50s to 59-08. The only one I stocked is the smallest of these; the others were born at Wingham and so have plenty of years of growth ahead. The average age of the carp in the Main Lake is even younger, but the first 50 came out last year. So far with almost no carp fishing until very recently it's already produced 11 different 40s. There's still a chance of a record bream, and I'm hoping I'll have more time to try for it this year. It may even come out at next week's Fish-In!

I'll be bringing the following: Lot 1 3x Good Fishing GFs bite alarms with dual sensitivity (Made in Britain and highly rated by Forum members). 2 cases (I've the 3rd somewhere and will hopefully find it in time). Receiver (wired) + leads and spare new Fox long leads. 9v batteries in the receiver and 1 of the heads. Estimate £20 to £30 Lot 2 Rucksack with bottom freezer bag compartment. Excellent condition. Estimate £8 to £10 Lot 3 Selection of terminal tackle including coated hooklinks etc. About £80 worth. Estimate £15 to £20 Lot 4 Selection of pike floats and corks in useful box. Estimate £10 to £15 Lot 5 Pike unhooking tools + other bits. Very heavy duty Berkley 12in forceps fitted with Predator wrist strap, 12in straight forceps, 8in curved forceps, 6prs ET rod straps(3prs unopened), bag for scales etc, weigh bar, Alex Ball homemade "Spod Dropper". I believe the Berkley forceps cost me £40 alone. Estimate £15 to £20 Lot 6 Deep landing net mesh to fit approx 36in spoon or triangular frame. Heavy duty hexamesh with solid material rim. Estimate £2 to £5 Lot 7 Improved Prologic version (with extra rod straps plus internal velcroed weigh sling) of the highly regarded Korum Multimat. Excellent for the roving angler for use as a carryall/unhooking mat. Straps for rods, net handle, pocket for banksticks plus large pocket for tackle box etc. The mat itself is made from high impact waterproof foam so won't fill up with water. The extra weigh sling is a big plus compared with the original Korum Multimat Estimate £20 to £25 Lot 8 Walker, Bampton 9 1/2ft 3 piece split cane fly rod with extra top. I'm told Walker, Bampton was set up down the road from Hardy's by some of their disgruntled craftsmen. As you'd expect their rods are very high quality, but they're hard to find. The cane on this rod is beautifully straight, and has very high quality locking ferrules plus what looks like the original close whippings. The butt ring and one of the tip rings seem original, the other tip ring I'm guessing is Aqualite. The snake intermediates also look replacements as the green whipping is a different shade to that on the intermediates, as is the that on the replacement tip ring. The butt cap is enscribed "J.J.S.WALKER.BAMPTON & Co MAKERS ALNWICK". There is also the number 2471. Complete with butt spear and original cloth bag. Estimate £50 to £80 Lot 9 4x stainless steel flasks, half litre size. Peggy has soaked them all in Milton sterilising fluid. Push button tops. I prefer these somewhat smaller ones as 2 of these keep drinks hot much longer than 1 large one. They also fit better into many rucksacks. I also use them for water when session fishing as water carriers can split, plus I always find I spill a lot of the water when trying to fill a kettle. Estimate £5 to £10 Lot 10 4 more half litre stainless steel flasks, this time with screw tops that don't need unscrewing all the way to pour. Sterilised with Milton fluid. Estimate £5 to £10.

You'd be very welcome, Andy.

Not yet. Probably tomorrow evening or Friday.

Sorry to hear that, Ian, but quite understandable.

Wil miss you and Jo too, Colin. Have a great holiday!