benhben

Ive been fishing properly (As in 2 or 3 times a week) for about 3 year now. Ive never been asked for a licence. Ive never even seen or come accross a bailiff or Environment Agency enforcement officer. Ive also fished a river stretch 2 or 3 times which is owned by angling clubs, and Im still yet to come accross a bailiff from that club. Its not hard to see why so many people dont buy licences and illegal fish poaching is commonplace.

I fish on lancaster canal all the time. Spin for pike. All you need is the normal EA licence. Even then Ive still never been asked for any licence off a baliff.

I have a small (think its 6 ft 6) Shakespeare ugly stick travel spin rod. For use with a fixed spool, Short handle section, good for small hands or single handed casting. Will land most stuff your likely to hook whilst spinning along UK shores and local Canals. I reckon fish up to 10lbs would be managable on it. Only cost 35 quid aswel. Watch out for the 4th tip section flying off on the cast, ive ended supergluing mine together.

Thanks Newt. I am using braid, use it on all my spinning gear. So slow with small twitches is the key. The biggest problem im having is that when twitching the bait accross the bottom I often feel some resistance which could easily be a bite, only to find yet again that its abit of debris, weed, rocks etc that have started to block the path of the worm. Im just thinking that if I did get a take (because i havent yet) that id never tell the difference. Although ill look out for the things you said. Have you had much productivity using them?

Hi, can anyone give any tips on spinning for pike, perch, chub etc using Rubber or jelly worms. Ive got some of these worms which ive rigged which i think is texas style (Small sliding weight above worm, which is rigged weedlessly). However I havent really got a clue what to do with them, ive tried bumping them along the bottom, but cant tell if its a bite or just hitting snags and rocks. Anyone fish with them and dont mind giving some tips? Also I have some small curly tail grubs which I intend to use with perch and also dont know how to rig or fish them. Ben

Lol. No Ive fished for pike for ages, so already have all the tackle to fish and spin for them. I want to target perch etc with small lures, but this I assume will require more delicate lighter lines than pike gear. Also When I tried out the small lures on the normal pike trace their action was swamped by the pike trace. Just wondering if anyone can reccomend a light flexible wire which would allow the small lures to work properly but wont get bitten off if a pike does chose to have a go at the perch intended lure. Surely someone knows what I mean lol

Alot of the time I simply go on the local Canal which has good numbers of Pike and perch reportedly. There are urban canal areas with lots of boats etc, but also more rural areas with overgrown trees, lillies etc. There are a number of basins on the canal and a deep marina at the end of the canal. This is reported to hold good size perch although ive never caught them, and pike to over 25lbs. In the summer im going to give the local River Wyre a go which is also reported to hold Pike and perch although ive not fished there yet so cant comment on the types of swims. Im just after reccomendations on a decent type of trace that will withstand pike, good small snap swivels etc which are needed to attach the lure to the trace and line reccomendations. Ben

Hi. I want to broaden my lure fishing horizons to more than just Pike and Bass. Hoping to target Perch and Chub on the lures. I have afew small lures which I think would be good perch/chub lures, however when I tried them out there swimming action was almost none existent. I think my line and trace were too heavy. I was using 30lb braid and a 28lb wire trace for the inevitable pike attack. Can anyone recommend a small lure setup which is sensitive enough to let the small minnow lures swim properly but is also pike proof. Cheers. Ben

Serious Gaff wounds. Why the feck are people gaffing pike. SOme people make me sick.

I used mealworms everyday when I worked in the local Zoo. Mudskippers and tree shrews especially liked them

I could never bring myself to live bait. I agree there are plenty of ways to catch fish without the prolonged suffering of a small livebait. Deads, Lures and Wobbled baits for me please.

Hey guys. Dont know about sea fishing in winter in Morecambe, can never be bothered sea fishing in winter. I go for Pike. Do any of you plug for bass in the summer in morecambe? I went quite afew times last summer but didnt manage one, but Im going to give it a proper go this summer.

Even if the story isnt true there is no reason why Great Whites couldnt survive off our coast. They are actually warm blooded and can regulate their own body temperature to deal with cold water. Also there would be plenty of food for them around the UK. The porbeagle is a smaller relative of the Great white which is common around the Uk. The Mako and blue shark can also be found. And as mentioned Killer Whales. As theres only 1 bite taken I doubt it was a great white or there would be nothing left. Ill stick with a Porbeagle shark.

No unfortunately no where near kent. Up in lancashire. Yeah they are definately takes, with the tell tale head knocks on the rod tip. Then if I slacken off the clutch to give the fish time to get a proper hold, line is tacken accross the swim. Been using Smelt recently, seem to get alot of takes on it but it doesn't last that long. Roach has also produced bites (which funnily enough were all landed ). I attack the hooks one treble through the head and lips and the other behind the dorsal or half was down the flank. The teeth marks are usually around half way down the flank. Someone on the pike and preds forum says that fish often bite the tail first, so advise to put a treble near the back of the bait (Which i havent been doing). So just wondering if the fish werent really on the feed that agressively and were just nibbling the back of the bait, and missing the hooks. Other than that I cant really understand how the pike can grab the bait, run with it and still avoid 2 sets of trebles :huh:

Am using braid and my rod is a fairly stiff spinning rod. Im loosing the fish when i actually do decide to strike. When i strike there often isnt anything and the bait is pulled from the mouth, with the tell tale teeth marks in the flanks when examined. Just cant work out how long to leave it to strike. Ive tried straight away and also letting them take line. Once there hooked I usually land most of them, its just when setting the hooks that they spit the bait.

Having same problem. Infact its a major problem. Getting plenty of takes but not landing them. IN last two sessions Ive had around 8 Takes and only landed 1 . Tried striking early, Then letting them run with the bait for a while before striking, and also not striking at all just applying constant pressure. Cant think of anything im doing wrong other than being unlucky or tackling weary fish.

Having same problem. Infact its a major problem. Getting plenty of takes but not landing them. IN last two sessions Ive had around 8 Takes and only landed 1 . Tried striking early, Then letting them run with the bait for a while before striking, and also not striking at all just applying constant pressure. Cant think of anything im doing wrong other than being unlucky or tackling weary fish.

I went out wobbling today. 1st cast had a good bite, waited afew seconds anmd struck. Fish got off after about 10 seconds. 2nd or 3rd cast to same area another bite (Same fish). Gave it a little longer and struck again, on for afew seconds and got off. bites dried up i swim so moved to the next basin. Again a bite within 5 casts, Gave this much longer, struck, set my drag lower, fish went on a run rite accross swim, spat the bait on the other side. Left my wobbled smelt in shreds. Dont know what was happening. Landed 2 out of 2 bites on wobbled roach last time. Thought my hooks might have been too small (sz 8) so switched to a trace with bigger trebles but never had another bite. Must have disturbed the swim. Bad technique? Bad luck? or just one of them days? Frustrated is the word lol

You must spend alot of cash on braid!

Tried wobbling roach the other day. 1st time ever tried a session devoted to wobbling. Didnt expect that much on my 1st attempt, but had 2 takes and landed them both. I just used semi barbless, one behind the dorsal and on in the lips. I find if you hook the bait in the lips and down the flank it end up bent and spins. It was freezing so I retrieved very very slow, with twitches and often long pauses. The bites were like nothing bites, could hardly tell between a bite and a snag. Even when I tried the usual method of leaving the rod tip raised and looking for knocks on the rod tip, there was nothing. only action was whem I tightened up and retrieved more line, then the fish woke up. Dont know if this is due to the cold, or them not knowing they were hooked. Roach are excellent I found, last for ages. Remember in winter slow is key.

Ive heard alot of talk about if alot of jacks are caught then there are unlikely to be any big fish. However Ive also caught jacks in swims that are known to hold 20-30 lbs pike. So Dont really know to be honest.

Does anyone know about Perch behaviour in winter? Do they shoal up like the pike or move around like summer. Thinking of going up my local canal for some perch fishing and try some slowly worked jigs for pike aswel. Never caught a perch so dont know about bait either, was thinking of Small chopped chunks of fish or worms. What you reckon? Ben

Does anyone know where the Ryobi Mugger can be bought from? Cant find them anywhere!

Anyone been out with the lures recently? I never get chance to do any fishing now (So much work to do!)

Does anyone know of any weighing slings that double up as unhooking mats? Id like to record the weight of my fish but as i prefer spinning I cant have too much tackle. Or any methods of safely weighing fish whilst traveling light? (Safe I mean for the fish not me!)