Houghton

Bread is cracking bait on the canal. On my canal it was the only way I could avoid Perch. When the Roach are 'avin' bread you'll bag up providing your tackle is light.

I know it is illegal to take any fish from a water on a coarse fishing license but is there some license that you can buy that allows you to take coarse fish for the pot (no, I'm not Polish)? Forgive me if this sounds like a stupid question but I have heard Pike taste very good and have even seen recipes on the BBC websites which include Pike.

I bought a cheap centrepin a few months back and as yet it is unused but I'm dying to give it is debut especially now the closed season is coming to an end. I own the Wigan AA card so I know that I can fish the Gathurst stretch but I don't know which areas are decent for trotting (ie, no shopping trolleys, cars, bags of kittens etc). Also, are their any stretches of the Dougie or any nice streams not on the Wigan AA card that are free and fishable using trotting tactics.

I've not been since February this year, even then it was fishing really well, a very cold day and blowing a gale. The father-in-law had about 80lb worth of carp on pond 1.

I learned all the basics of fishing through the IMCF magazine as none of my family cared much for fishing so they couldn't really help me. Join a library too I picked up great tips from fishing books. Sites like this didn't exist when I took up fishing and most of the people on here will be only to willing to give you advice. Try to stay away from commerical waters at first and learn about 'proper' fishing.

I've never been a fan of the pole but after fishing a match on the Trent and Mersey canal, which was flowing strongly in both directions (not at the same time!) I am thinking one might be a worthwhile purchase. I fished the traditional rod and reel method but had to continiously keep re-casting once the float had trotted through. I love fishing with the rod but it was clear that the others had more of an advantage on this canal. Can anybody recommend a good, cheap pole. Anyway I finished 4th (out of 4!), had plenty of fish, mainly gudgeon and caught the biggest fish and a personal best Roach of 1lb (another Roach like that would have won me the match) Most importantly, I really enjoyed myself.

I'm a Wigan card owner, I'll try to find out where it is for you. I've googled it with no luck but the father-in-law should know, the trouble is he's in Tenerife for the next two weeks.

Some people think doing these experiments at home is just sad (the wife thinks I'm mad) but they can pay off giving you more time for actual fishing and give you more confidence in your chosen method.

Yes you are correct. Line was touching the bottom.

Why? Try it yourself in a large jug of water. I just trimmed down the float to alter its boyancy. The float sunk just below the surface (about an inch) but had enough boyancy to hold up the SSG. Anyway I tried the second float today and it seemed to work, however I feel the one SSG was putting off the many fish. Next time I gonna try Andrews advice. I did catch just the one Tench (which for me boosted my confidence in a method I have never tried before) but annoyingly I lost 5 or 6. And on other occasions the float indicated something was messing about with the bait but was unwilling to drag the float under. Maybe small fish, maybe shy crucians. (I was using double maggot)

Right, I've been messing about in the kitchen sink (yes, I have a bit of time) with two floats which I intend to use for the lift bite method. One will hold a SSG off the bottom and leave about an inch of float sticking out of the water. The other will sink about an inch below the surface when holding an SSG off the bottom. Which float should I use? I would believe it to be the latter as I would be able to wind down to it and I would be sure it was on the bottom otherwise it would be sunk. The other would require precise plumming of the depth and winding down to it could drag it in leaving you to falsely believe it to be on the bottom.

Thanks for that. As for not having confidence to try the lift method maybe next time I'll take minimum amount of gear so I'm forced to 'stick it out' on that method.

I've just got back from a 2 hour evening Tenching session from my local pond (Wiganers, its the Red Pond) and have successfully caught my first Tench of the year. I keep toying with the idea of using the 'lift Method' but one problem I do have in fishing is having the confidence to try different methods. This pond holds many Crucians, and I know they can be very shy biters. Would the weight of the shot put the Crucians off? Also, maggots seem to be one of the best baits in this pond. Would the weight of the shot put other, smaller, fish off? Am I correct in saying on windy days the lift method is useless?

Hello, My little boy (he's only 4) has been pestering me to take him fishing for ages now. I know he's only young but he is dying to go. Can anybody give me any tips on taking a little lad on his first fishing trip?

You're sick!