BoldBear

TThis is my idea of a great band, and one that I have loved since the late 70s. One of my favourite Pink Floyd songs is ‘Comfortably Numb’ and my eyes still water when I hear the guitar solo being played at the end of this song, so if you only listen to one song then fast forward to 16:30 on the video counter put your headphones on and listen to this. And this Keith

Sorry to hear that Martin, I hope everything gets better for you soon Its a shame we don’t live a lot closer I could take you to a nice productive Barbel river and cheer you up a bit and try to take your mind off things Keith

Probably from the local stream Martin Why aren’t you going to go fishing Martin? Is it because of the virus? or are you just not enjoying it as much and just having a rest? Do you have a local stream or river that you can go fishing on instead of having to go to a relatively crowded commercial? or is it relatively crowded everywhere near you ? Hope you are not going off of fishing completely Mate. Keith

For for anyone who didn’t already know; while unhooking a Carp on his unhooking mat Stuart’s lead and bait accidentally slipped into the water next to him, and a big Carp took the bait within seconds and screamed away through the landing stage and his rod went CRACK!!! Ian, Did you notice that one of Stuart’s bite alarms in the bottom picture is a lot larger than the other? One of his bite alarms stopped working so I gave him one of my older optonics to use. So he broke his rod and his bite alarm both on the same day Keith

I didn’t fancy going on the river today as I thought it would be packed so I had a few hours after lunch on my local estate lake after a few Carp with my son Stuart. We fished against one of the islands about 2 swims apart and had a nice peaceful afternoon sitting behind our alarms doing a bit of Carp fishing for a change. The Island that we both fished against We both had a few Carp but I only took a couple of shots. Nothing to write home about, Stuart had the biggest at 15lb 15oz (he wouldn’t round it up by just an ounce ); but it was a very pleasant few hours. Keith

If I were fishing very close up virtually under my rod tip on a Stillwater then I don’t think the type of float that I would be using would be that relevant other than it needing to be fairly small. Keith

I thoroughly love using a centrepin for trotting on the small streams and rivers that I fish, but not in all swims; some of the swims are too full of streamer weed and cabbages to allow me to trot very far. Plus the smaller streams that I fish have a lot of bends and overhanging branches which can make trotting a float a very precarious pastime in some cases. But the centrepin when in the hands of someone who really enjoys using it and who knows how to get the best out of using one is a tool that a lot of people just ignore; to their detriment in my view; however everyone is different and there’s nothing wrong in that at all, each to their own. I also enjoy using a centrepin when I’m fishing the lift method after Tench not only because I like the feel of a fighting Tench on my pin but also because the pin comes into its own and out performs one of my fixed spool reels when I’m delicately tightening up to a float which is setup to fish the lift bite. I much prefer to use a fixed spool reel when I’m fishing the link leger on my streams and rivers in tight swims and once the light starts to fade and at night. I also use my fixed spool reels on stillwaters (except when after Tench using the lift method) and the only time I ever use my closed face reel is if I’m float fishing at fairly close ranges on very gusty days. I used to regularly use my Mitchell Match when I used to do a lot of Match fishing and I felt the dab bailarm was a treat to use and allowed me to cast a lot faster and easier when I needed to get my float out again fast.. So it’s horses for courses for me, we all have our different likes and dislikes and different views, wouldn’t it be boring if everyone always thought the same. As for floats; Perhaps if one spent a couple of days with a master like Ivan Marks or Billy lane or Keith Speer you would learn to appreciate the different types of floats out there and could take advantage of using different types of waggler or top and bottom floats, both types of which I would be totally lost without. But then again if you are happy with just using the same type float all of the time on both still and moving water then there’s nothing wrong in that either even though that’s not my ideal. Keith

After reading another post on here I thought I’d ask a question: You should see the food that Ive occasionally eaten when I’m out fishing. Ive eaten food after handling maggots several times; and handling lug worm and garden worms and slugs and other things like that and not felt ill. I think I might have built up a resistance over the years as (so far) I haven’t suffered any ill affects, or I may have just been lucky. And I remember when I was a lad; I accidentally ate some maggots when I had blindly placed a ham sandwich on the grass next to me after my float went under; I thought the sandwich was a bit gristly and after swallowing a few bites I noticed that my maggots had been spilt onto the grass and had crawled inside my sandwich. I wasn’t very happy about it and I started gagging a bit but I didn’t feel I’ll or anything. It is a well known fact that some anglers up in the midlands and the north used to place maggots under their tongues on a cold day to keep them wriggling. Perhaps we are a little too careful and paranoid these days, and some people these days don’t seem to have the same resistance to germs and viruses that we used to have; because of this? What do others think, are we a bunch of pansies today? Keith

You are seriously tempting me to get out onto our estate lake and catch a few myself Ian. Nice one Keith

I regularly used to use my tiny Abu Record 2100 multiplier together with a split cane Avon rod on the river Kennet fishing for Chub a back in the late 70s and I also tried using this tiny multiplier for long Trotting after reading Dave Stuart’s book on Roach (from the Osprey Angling library of books) where he says he occasionally used this multiplier for trotting for Roach just for fun; and it was good at both trotting and for casting a light link leger. NB: Above is a picture of my closed face reel and small multiplier from one of my articles on long trotting with a Centrepin that I wrote several years ago which is why it has the large text below it. I do quite a lot of long trotting and quite a lot of trundling amongst beds of steamer weed and close in along the near and the far banks using a Centrepin reel catching Barbel Chub Roach and Dace and also the very occasional Carp, and using my fixed spool reel with a small link leger once the light starts to fade. I also occasionally use my Abu 506 closed face reel if I’m trotting for Chub, Roach and Dace on a gusty day although I wouldn’t choose to use this small Abu 506 closed face reel for larger fish like Barbel. Keith

Ken, I often fish a shallow estate lake, chasing big shoals of Rudd all feeding at and near the surface, and I catch a lot of these rudd (and some big Roach); either using a straight waggler (set shallow); or if they are feeding a long way out; on a small bodied ‘semi’ loaded Onion waggler and I hook quite a few of these Rudd on bites that would otherwise be missed on an insensitive bobber type of float. Also, as for fishing through a small hole in a lilly bed; I don’t think I would fish in such a precarious situation anyway. Although I often fish right up close to lilies using standard wagglers; but not fishing into a small hole. Theres nothing wrong with using bobber type floats, but in my view there’s no way they’re going to be as sensitive as a more convential type of float unless I’m using a much larger bait which I need to present off the bottom. But horses for courses, everyone is different, that’s just my view. Keith

Not really Phone; if you are using a float adapter (for wagglers) or float rubbers (for floats attached top and bottom) then changing floats is then a simple thing to do and you only have to add or remove a shot or two. Keith

I think that those perch bobbers and American bobbers are fine if your fishing a large bait like a big lobworm or another similar sized bait that needs supporting, but if you are not and you are fishing a smaller bait then why would you need such a large bodied float if your fishing close in along the edge??? or close in under your rod tip ??? or just a few rod lengths out ??? They are not even a good design for accurate distance casting without having to stand up and cast with all of your might and chance spooking everything in front of you that’s swimming in the surface layers Keith

Hi Aqua, welcome to the forum. Unfortunately I don’t live in your area so can’t help you as far as the fishing locations and clubs in your area but here are a few of the Angling clubs in and around the Medway that you might want to look at. https://www.medwayvalley.com https://www.maidstonevictoryanglingsociety.com http://www.rookeryanglingclub.org https://www.twaps.uk/about-twaps/ http://www.tonbridge-angling.co.uk http://www.wheretofish.co.uk/pages/fishing-on-the-river-medway-kent.html Don’t forget to tell us about your catches Tight lines Keith

I have a whole bookcase full of Angling books that I have collected, however I don’t have the book you mention Ian it sounds really good. I often read the better ones on a cold winters night or take one with me if I’m spending a couple of days by the water in the warmer months. The last one that I re-read was ‘Confessions of a Carp Fisher’ by BB (Denys Watkins pitchford) which also contained R.Walkers account of catching Clarissa (or Ravioli as Walker originally called it). I prefer books that are not just “how to do it” books and which contain stories and anecdotes as well as some technical data and watercraft knowledge but I suppose it really depends a lot who is writing the book and whether I can relate to the waters they are writing about. Some I like just for the history that they contain especially if they are also a bit humourous. Keith