Andy Nellist

Anderoo there are several articles by Wol and me about Tring and Eeling in the Colne Valley on FM. If you have any queastions feel free to PM me. Eel dentistry varies from water to water and on some waters it may be essential to use wire. On the waters I fish I use Quicksilver 35lb for my trace material (fish to 6-14 last season). I've had Pike bite through it but not Eels (touch wood). Kevlar in my opinion is a very poor material for eel traces. Both Wol and I lost good fish using Kevlar. Some of the anglers l know use Kevsteel and reakon its good but I've not used it myself.

Some anglers like long drops some don't. I like to use as long a drop as I can get away with in the swim I'm fishing. In a flat swim 4ft. The only solid obsticles in water are a lot bigger, more visable and therefore easy to avoid than a 1/4mm thick line. Bream certainly do spook from tight lines whereas anglers using long drops will tell you the fish will happily swim through them for hours.

I've read the whole of this thread and its been quite interesting (and at times a bit out of order) It is certainly the case that how you feed, what you feed and where you place your hookbaits in respect to your feed and the bottom type can make a huge difference to your catches. I tend to use a carpet such as crumb/corn/maggot and fish to specific points at which I concentrate the g/b I expected the Bream to eat first like chopped worm/caster If using two rods I often fish one to the back right of the carpet and one to the near left. That way you can work out which direction the fish are approaching the bait and tailor you approach accordingly. Big Bream are easy to spook and for that reason I like long drops even if using heavy indicators. Continuous resistance is not a problem with liners but a fish hitting hitting a tight line is. If you know where the fish are and want to avoid liners using a sinking braid is effective. As for hooklength well that depends on bait where you are fishing and how the fish are behaving. There is not single optimum hooklength for all situations. I've used everything from 2 inches to 7 feet and they all work on their day. The secret to being a good angler for any species is to make the most of every opportunity and to do that you need an open and inquiring mind. Oh and finally... Lutra you need to chill out

Didcot Angling Centre 01235817005. 36 Wantage Road, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0BT You will find them really helpful and friendly Chub fishing on the Thames within a 5 mile radius of Didcot is excellent.

Cheesepaste is an instant bait It's important that you use shortcrust pastry not puff pastry. If you have a food mixer its very easy to make. Put 300 grams of danish blue into the mixer and using the whisk attachment beat it till the cheese is a smooth paste which will take 5-10 minutes. Add 500 grams of short crust pastry and mix the two together thoroughly using the K beater for about 2 minutes. This will make a really smooth paste that is just strong enough to cast but is soft enough that it always falls off during the retrieve.

Stalking is seen as being very skillfull yet it involves fishing for fish you can see. A fishfinder gives you a much less acurate picture of what is going but make no mistake what Peter Waller describes is stalking fish. He is simply using something that allows him to see the fish when otherwise he might not be able to. He still has to catch them and that's where the skill comes into play. [ 10. October 2005, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: Andy Nellist ]

Its a shame Steve wasn't writing instead of JB. I don't know JB but I hate the way he writes which I find utterly patronising. Walker was a genius yet managed to get his message accross without being patronising.

Bernard double is the famous baliff at Tring. I've known him for nearly 20 years and he's a great bloke. If you need any help or information regarding the reservoirs Bernard is the person to speak to on 01442 822379. His house is actually just over the road from the Startops car park. The reservoirs are owned by British Waterways whilst the sporting rights are owned by the Waddesdon Estate. Blue green is toxic if eaten and can irritate the skin. The main reason for the signs put up by BW is to warn you to be cautious particulalry if you have a diog with you as they shoudl not be allowed to drink the water. As the reservoirs are high up they are often very wind affected. When the blue green is on the surface it often collects at one end of the reservoir with most of the rest being clear. As a result the reservoirs stay open and anglers are able to choose if they fish. Startops and Wilstone are very hard waters whereas Marsworth is by comparison easy. However Marsworth is a "natural" water containing fish with its stock having been born in the water and not having been heavily managed water. Thus it has natural stock levels and blanking throughout a short two hours session would not be abnormal at any time of year. If you have a chat with bernard about how to fish it I'm sure he'll be able to put you right.

A back lead is used to keep all of your line on the bottom from the bank right out to your ledger weight. the simplest way to do itis to cast out and then clip back lead onto the line and lower it onto the bottom. The reason for doing this is so that you don't spook fish by having line up in the water in your swim that fish can bump into. It is also useful if there are boats, windsurfers and swans about as it keeps your line out of the way of them too.

Fox Submerge 15lb & Drennan Feeder 8lb and 6lb Tench, Bream, Perch, Chub, Barbel & Roach Far better sensitivity for indicating bites and playing fish when compared to mono £35 for 250M for the Submerge & £10 per 100M fro the Drennan Feeder

Perhaps you shoudl list the lines and collect anglers opinions on these factors for different lines using a questionaire. i would be happy to fill them in for all the lines that i use.

I think the fact that maxima comes out so badly shows the limitation of looking at statistics. For most of my fishing these days I use braid usually Fox Submerge 15lb which is about as expensive as it gets. To my mind it is always worth paying for quality line. So why is it that I also still use still use maxima ? I never use it as a hooklink only a reel line and for repeated casting of heavy feeders it is an excellent line. Perhaps you do durability tests such as: effect of 1000 casts of a 3oz feeder using 6lb test effect of light on the line after 60 days exposure effect of water on the line after 60 days exposure and also look at distance that can be cast for a specific diameter of line. I have tried Diawa Sensor and do use it still.... as cheap backing line. The facts that i always seek to obtain before using a line are: what is its actual breaking strain ? how is the bs affected by different knots ? what is its true diameter ? how reliable is it ? how much stretch does it have ? how heavy is it after being submerged ? how much stretch does it have ? how abrasion resistant is it ? how durable is it ? how much memory does it have ? is it prone to kinks ? is it prone to tangles ? does its colour change ? how dense is it ?

I like to watch John Wilson or Matt Hayes on the telly they are both entertaining (even if the content of the programs is aimed at the mass market and therefore rather lightweight). However, neither their TV programmes nor their writing have a fraction of the impact of words written by Walker 25 years or more ago. I re-read Stillwater Angling yet again two weeks ago and the genius of Walker is still plain to see. I would have loved the opportunity to fish with or even speak to the man. These days popularity and/or fame seem to be confused for ability.

Walker was inspirational whilst Wilson and Hayes are entertaining.

Comparing John Wilson or Matt Hayes with Richard Walker is like comparing Stephen Spielberg with William Shakespeare. [ 16. February 2004, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Andy Nellist ]