BoldBear

When I was a naval meteorologist back in the late 70s when I was working in the MET office at the RNAS Culdrose airfield next to Helston in Cornwall; we had a laser light which when we shone it up in the sky during the night we could work out the height of the cloudbase by working out the angles. Whenever we used it at night we used to get people phoning up the airfield reporting UFOs in the sky as they could see a bright disc shaped spacecraft whizzing across the sky at high speed and then suddenly changing direction and zooming away at an speed. Of course it was just us with our cloud base laser light trying to record the cloud base. NB: We didn’t use it very often as we could only use it when there were no aircraft in the sky. Keith

Looks like you had a great session with some really nice fish Keith

The thing that annoys me is the disappearance of 'chunks' of chocolate in our chocolate bars? All of the makers are now selling their chocolate in a thin layer now and chunks of chocolate are a thing of the past. But the prices are still increasing even though we're getting much less chocolate than we used to in a bar of chocolate. And this type of thing has now started to happen with our split shot. Keith

There’s nothing wrong with fibreglass rods, they still enable you to catch and play decent sized fish and still cast very well. The early Carbon fibre rods were not always as good as they could have been however they’ve come on a lot since they were first developed; and they soon improved and today even a relatively cheap carbon fibre rod can be is as good if not better than most fibreglass rods of old used to be. Of course there is still the very occasional fibreglass rod that is still going to be hard to improve on like a light fibreglass Canal Wand for example. I eventually replaced all of my fibreglass rods (except for my canal wand) over time with Carbon Fibre rods and haven’t regretted it at all; as I can now hold them all day long because of their lightness, plus I can cast a lot further whenever I need to, plus I can handle extra long rods of 15ft and 20ft rods all day long with a lot more ease when I use them without having to put them down into rod rests. It’s not that fibreglass rods are not very good to use, because a good fibreglass rod is always going to be a good rod, but carbon fibre has just made it a little easier to use in a lot of situations because of what I mentioned in my previous paragraph. But as I said a good rod is always going to be a good rod regardless of what it’s made of; in my view. As far as feeder fishing is concerned; it depends on several things like: the type of venues you are fishing ie. rivers or Stillwaters and in the case of rivers the current speeds etc, plus the size and types of the species your likely to be catching, plus the type of lake or river beds you are going to be presenting your baits over; etc. I suggest you invest in a good fishing book which deals with feeder fishing in all of the different types of venues that you are likely to fish and the types of fish in them. As it can be a lot larger a subject than you think, with lots of different types of feeder and feeder setups and feeder rods depending on the above. Anyway tight lines Keith

Sad to hear about Rusty, RIP Rusty. Keith

The only time that I could see myself using a ‘Semi’ loaded waggler (like an Onion) on a faster flowing river is if I needed to be trotting tight against the far bank in a strongish downstream wind, and I needed to have a bit of stability without it starting to drift away too far from the far bank. But I don’t think that I would use a normal loaded waggler whether it was on a Stillwater or a running water, unless someone demonstrated differently. Ivan Marks used to fish with a zoomer on the river Wellend however he used to fish with his zoomers attached both top and bottom; but the Welland is a far cry from the smaller rivers/streams that I am usually fishing. Keith

Not if the fishery is a fast running chalk stream where if the water was dammed and the flow reduced it would encourage the gravel bottoms to be silted up; because any silt particles in the water would start to settle on the bottom when the flow is reduced; meaning that the fish that rely on clean gravel in which to lay their spawn and the streamer weed and other wildlife that thrives on these clean flowing habitats would all start to die off. Im all for beavers as long as they can be culled in places like these sort of gravel bottomed rivers and streams. Keith

I’ve never even had the urge to put a loaded waggler on my line; by loaded I mean the ones with the heavy weights attached to the bottoms like you see being used on commercials; however; I love using ‘semi’ loaded wagglers like the Onion waggler; (these would still lie flat if you put them in water with no shot on) The Onion waggler has just enough loading so you can still spread shot down the line. These semi loaded Onion wagglers fly through the air without the characteristic waggle that gave the waggler its name and are perfect when you need real accuracy when casting up close to distant lilies or bankside vegetation or tight up to the far bank with the hooklength flying behind it. Plus it doesnt sink very far on landing like the usual loaded floats often do either. Not much good on a small stream or river though Keith

Had another evening on the same lake after Carp and caught a couple of small Carp of around 10lb to 12lb-ish and then just as I was going to start packing up I caught another Wells Catfish which felt and looked a little bit heavier than the last one that I caught here a few weeks ago. Apparently they were illegally stocked into a reservoir further upstream and they spread downstream into this lake. hopefully they’ll have another netting party soon to catch and remove them; however meanwhile we are putting any that we catch into a large submerged pen ready to be taken away. OK yes I did enjoy catching it as it did put up a tremendous fight; however I’d much rather have caught a 20lb Carp which is what I was trying to catch; or a 7lb Tench. Keith

We also used to make a floating boilee cake by adding two or three extra eggs to the boilee mix together with some extra sodium cassienate or some baking powder and baking it in an oven until it became a cake like texture. It would last a lot longer than floating crust plus you could also add some colouring and flavouring to the mix before cooking. Keith

Pedigree chum mixers used to contain a certain amount of gelatine* and we used to dip them in some water for about a minute or so then drain them and leave them overnight to soak up any water that was left on them; and overnight they turned into a milky brownish jelly like bait which still floated well; we used to catch lots of Tench, Bream and Carp on these hook mounted pale coloured jelly baits suspended at various depths from just off the bottom right up to the surface; and the fish loved them. Although we had to make sure that we cast a little more carefully as they weren’t quite as resilient to being cast too violently as normal untreated mixers are. * I suspect that they might have modified their ingredients now but I’m not 100% sure. Keith

If there is a strongish surface tow or a slowish current float-legering would allow you to hold still while at the same time give you a lot of the advantages that a float can give you. Plus you can use a paternoster rig with the live or deadbait coming off to the side when using a float-leger rig. NB: You can also use the paternoster presentation when using a submerged float in much deeper swims too. Keith

Have you tried pedigree chum mixers? (If they still sell them). Keith

If I’m piking fairly close in then I would prefer to float fish for my Pike too. When the wind is in the right direction I’ve also been known to have vanes made out of dart flights attached to the top of my float so that it catches in the wind and starts to drift downwind. however in the local gravel pit where I do a lot of my piking there are some really deep holes where a surface float is too limiting so I’ll often use a leger together with a sunken float to keep my line off the bottom or away from the edges of a deep hole; for this I use a stop knot set at a depth that will keep my line above these things. I occasionally make some of my own surface Pike floats using balsa doweling with either a central hole for my line to go through or use the barbed shanks of sea hooks as in the diagram below: I prefer using a Pike float where it’s possible simply because it gives me a visual indication of what is happening down by my bait instead of just waiting for the line to pull free of a butt indicator. A float will often give me a clear warning when a Pike picks up my live or deadbait by trembling and moving off before sinking out of sight, plus a float gives me the option to vary the depths that I want to present my bait. However if I’m fishing for Pike on a river then I prefer to use lures so I can move around a lot more and search in various likely places. Having said all that, in reality I haven’t been Pike fishing for several years now although I might start targeting Pike again this winter as long as the weather isn’t too cold (I am a pensioner now you know ) Keith

Hi Peter and welcome to the forum, and to the sport of Angling your 15 to 45g spinning rod can be used for Pike using Plugs and Lures and at a push for Carp and Barbel allthough you’d be better off using a dedicated Barbel type rod. And as S63 said your light spinning rod could be used for drop shotting or spinning for Perch, and even for fishing for Very small sea fish off of a harbour wall or off rocks; as long as the fish are not too big. keith

Thanks Martin, and it goes both ways Keith

This is what I usually do anyway; but first I must say that I rarely cast great distances and am usually only casting up to around 65 to 75 metres at most; and I usually use a length of anti tangle tubing behind a 2oz to 3oz in-line lead with the swivel pushed into the tubing that runs through the lead; or if Im fishing over a hard lake or river bed I attach the lead via a ‘correctly’ fitted safety clip. NB: I use the rig at the bottom of the picture on hard bottoms simply because when there’s a hard bottom there’s less chance of the lead landing on top of the hooklink/swivel and possibly damaging it; whereas on thick silted beds it’s not quite as important to me. I make sure that the swivel that is inserted into the end of the tubing or safety clip will come free with only a minimal amount of pressure so that The lead and tubing will never be dragged around by the Carp if the line parts; so is safe; and my safety clips (when used) are not secured too tightly. If I’m using two rods for Carp fishing I use free running baitrunners together with alarms and front bobbins set to hang about 6” above the ground incase I get a drop back (see pic below) although I rarely get drop backs no matter what direction the Carp run. When I get Carp picking up or sucking in my bait and getting pricked by the hook there is a ‘semi’ self hooking action where the weight of the lead is just enough to pull the hook further home as the Carp takes off; until the line is tightened and a strike is made. NB: the lead/tubing often pulls free during the take and will often slide up the line a foot or so anyway; causing my bobbins to usually rise up even when the Carp is moving towards me; plus If the line did decide to part the lead would pull free very easily. This is more or less what most of the other Carp Angler’s would be using at the waters where I tend to Carp fish. legering for Pike: If I’m legering for Pike I usually (but not always) tend to use bobbins attached to my rear rod rests which will tend to break free quite easily on a take; this is because Pike are sometimes easily spooked by any resistance as it moves off with the bait in its mouth; especially if it needs to further adjust the bait before swallowing it head first; so I don’t want a bobbin bouncing about during the take. A friend of mine has rear battery indicators containing mercury switches that automatically sound an alarm as his rear bobbins drop free. but I only have basic ones. Keith

I don’t like using a braid mainline for the same reasons as Ian and Whitty. A certain amount of stretch is my friend when a powerful Barbel is intent on trying to break free; and also braid doesn’t stand up to being a-braided on rocks or the sharp edges of rushes or on roots etc. the only thing that braid gives you is a total lack of stretch which unless you are fishing at extreme ranges (which you never usually are with barbel) is definately not what is wanted. Thats why Braid is a definite no no for me as far as Barbel are concerned. Whenever I’m legering for Barbel I will always use just one rod and touch leger, so that a Barbel take is immediately felt through my finger(s), and I find that I’m playing the fish the second it’s felt without even having to think about it; and even if bites are rare I will still have my hand on my rod handle ready for an immediate pick up. Keith

Apart from hooklengths for large inquisitive Carp and for mainline on my beach-casters on the coast; the only other time that I use Braid is when I’m drop shotting for Perch and then I’ll use it as a main line to allow me to feel and control the small movements of the dropshot lure which to me is fairly important when I’m dropshotting; however the hooklength will then normally be fluorocarbon. Plus when I’m drop shotting for Perch Im not likely to lose more than a couple of yards of braid at most if It ever did decide to part before the fluorocarbon did. I don’t use Braid for anything else whether it’s for mainline or for any of my hooklengths; or even for normal lures; and it’s mono for everything else including my Barbel line and hooklengths. Keith

We used to use Trout Pellets back in the 80s and 90s for Carp, and by pouring boiling water over them we could mould them into larger baits too. We used to catch lots of Carp from the WGC lake in Hertfordshire, and some other more local lakes to us using them, however there was a lot of talk in the Angling press back then with experts saying that they were far too rich for a carps digestion, and could do more harm than good, and not being deemed good for the Carp (and other coarse fish) we rightly or wrongly stopped using trout Pellets because of this; even though they would catch us plenty of Carp. Whether or not this has since changed I don’t know, but I’m still a bit wary of using trout Pellets because of this. Keith

I use Halibut or monster crab pellets on my Barbel streams and rivers but during the Autumn and winter I tend to coat my pellets with halibut or crab paste which dissolves in the current causing a flavour trail downstream. When I can find some I also use some Lamprey flavoured pellets too. NB: Ive found that the Dynamite Halibut Pellets are not as oily as some of the other Halibut Pellets are. Keith

My son decided to have an all nighter at one of our club estate lakes last night; and although I wouldn’t be fishing all night with him I decided to have a few hours chasing a few Carp until the light started to fade at 8pm and then leave him there.We got setup by around 3pm and decided to fish along one of the island swims which we had not fished for quite a while.This was my swim facing one of the islands:There was a dreaded Bream shoal in my swim and I was forever getting my bobbins lifting about a foot before stopping which was a tad annoying and was keeping me fairly busy resetting them every time I tried to pour myself a coffee ; unfortunately one of these Bream actually managed to swallow one of my hair rigged boilies hook and all.The Bream of around 2½lb which managed to swallow one of my hair rigged boilies.I had four Carp before I left at 8pm; the largest being just over 17lb.I don’t know how Stuart got on as he hasn’t got home yet.Keith

There are two main reasons why I don’t often use a feeder. 1. In the streams and small rivers that I usually fish you just don’t need to use a feeder as you can feed tightly enough by hand or catapult. 2. The splash of a feeder landing on top of fish can put them on their guard especially in shallowish clear water; plus a couple of times I’ve seen a feeder actually startling some Barbel when they dicovered it unexpectedly in these conditions. I do very occasionally use a feeder when I’m fishing somewhere we’re I can’t feed accurately by hand or by catapult; especially if it’s a lot deeper or at distance. I also occasionally use PVA stocking attached to the hook, usually containing some pellets or hemp. If the swim suits and doesn’t seem to have any Barbel in it yet then I will also occasionally lay a bed of hemp/pellets using a bait dropper. Keith

If there is no (or very little) silt on the bottom I just use simple link legers like the ones in the picture below on the right; else if there’s any silt or weed covering the bottom I’ll add a longer link of line like on the simple leger on the left; however 99% of the time I’d be using a running leger instead of using a water knot. If on an extremely rare occasion I am using a water knot; then I’ll use a much weaker line connected to the lead; which is sometimes called a ‘rotten bottom’. Of course When I’m after Carp I usually use completely different setups. Keith

Here’s the documentary that I mentioned previously about the blatant pollution of the river Wye as well as all of our other rivers. Although the pollutions on the Wye are disgusting It’s not only the river Wye. Apparently not one of our rivers is classed as being healthy today, not a single one. https://rivercide.tv Keith