BoldBear

Excellent advice already given. For casting a float in a side wind a loaded waggler such as an onion is Ideal for two reasons: 1. The body low down counteracts the surface drift (because below the surface the drift will usually be in the opposite direction). 2. The small bodied Onion can support more shot for casting than a straight waggler but the thin tip retains sensitivity) The diagram below shows a couple of ways to combat the wind drift. NB. If the wind is not too strong you can get away with using a straight waggler or loaded 'Dart' waggler (if thats all you have) but a long one is prefferable. Also Make sure you sink your line as others have said already. If you have trouble with sinking your line you can try some diluted washing up liquid or line sinkant on the spool which will help the line break through the waters surface tension. But make sure you rinse your hands afterwards before you touch your bait. Tight lines BB

I have always thought that big Clouds of small bubbles that come up every few seconds and are moving in a line each time they appear are from Tench but I may think again next time as some of the smaller bubble patches may be from Roach.

For the Larger Roach (1lb to 2lb plus) in our estate lake I use Casters, Tiny Redworms, Cheese/Bread Paste or Bread Flake. the big Roach seem to swim below or at the edge of the feeding shoals of smaller Roach. If I am using Cheese/Bread Paste I prefer it after it has been in and out of the freezer a few times and has started to feel cool to the touch as the aminos start to break down. But usually Casters sort out the larger ones for us. On the upper Lea we catch the larger Roach on breadflake or small redworms. But location and stealth is usually a lot more important than the Bait we use.

Some Carp men hardly ever catch a fish anyway, It's not that they are bad anglers but Its because they fish on waters that don't have a large stock of fish in them (on purpose) after 'Named Carp' and only expect a run every half a dozen outings if they are lucky. Although I have done this in the past its not really my sort of angling. Otherwise they doze on their bedchairs; every now and then reeling in a stocked carp; So I can understand why they would want to classify Carp fishing as a seperate type of angling compared to other types of angling. To do well in other types of Angling you need to at least stay awake and learn watercraft for several types of water; wheras to most Carp anglers watercraft is a forgotten craft other than a few who use it on their chosen Carp pools. I would agree that Coarse, Game and Sea are sensible classifications and anything else (ie. fly fishing) would be just a subset of one of these.

Hi bravo, I was trying to catch a couple of Carp on floating crust in the early morning and late evening and you can rest assured that everyone else was out somewhere with their rods. this is quite a popular forum with some great anglers. welcome, I look forward to talking with you on the forum. BB

Pete, if any angler left his or her rods unnattended at any of our fisheries he or she would be ejected from the fishery (forcibly if neccessary). plus I wouldn't call these people 'Anglers' anyway. Leaving their rods unnattended does the fish no favours, causing hooked fish to wander around through snags, other anglers lines; plus the danger of having the poor fish dragging a rod along behind it. Even when you use a self hooking rig you should be near enough to your rods to be able to pick your rod up when you get a run. However Pete; I don't think that is what you meant by 'unattended' but it is what I meant. I think that self hooking rigs are a necessity sometimes but I wouldn't use one automatically in every situation as some Carp anglers do; but Hey if they want to fish that way fair enough if it does no harm to the fish. On a couple of waters I fish a bolt rig can be a definate disadvantage as the Carp are wising up to bolt rigs and now pick up a bait and feel for the weight before taking it into their mouth properly and moving off, but If people at these places use bolt rigs all the time they just stop getting the good runs that they once did and usually just move on to another water.

Theres a difference between using heavy tackle and balanced tackle and if your tackle is well balanced (ie. through action rod/test curve/line strength etc. all match well) you can normally safely put much more pressure on a fish without the hook pulling and absorb the sudden dashes that the fish makes a lot better. On a tiny river that I fish I catch Barbel on 6lb line with no problems whereas my mate who uses 10lb line regularly gets snapped up. but I use a better rod that gives a little more and seems to tire the fish easier resulting in getting the fish in and back into the water much faster. However using light gear can be taken too far; I remember reading in the Anglers Mail once about someone catching a 13lb Barbel in a match on the Kennet using 3lb line. the poor fish must have been on its last legs (or fins) by the time he got it in the net (or it must have been an old weak fish).

In the mid 70s the bailif at one of our fisheries (FrogMore) nearly got smacked in the face by a very small pike when some geek was using a self strike rodrest mechanism that he was developing. These gadgets are absolutely daft and dangerous. Who (other than a stupid p**t) would leave their rods un-attended anyway?. We used to play around with developing self hooking rigs for Carp using elastic and stiff tubing etc. that you could use with smaller leads in the late 70s but nothing came of it. but even that was more efficient than a bit of sprung wire on your rod tip.

Yes it should be OK to use the following morning but it will be much heavier to carry if already mixed. Common mistakes when mixing groundbait is to use too much water and making it too stodgey. Ideally it should just be damp enough to hold together after squeezing in the hand. (with no lumps).

Pike Gags. (as well as Gaffs which have already been listed). Fishing for Carp while getting boozed up and sleeping it off in the bivvie (otherwise known as modern Carp technique)

Hi Stargazer, Welcome to the site. I also spent quite a few years chasing big Carp around the country and got a bit bored of spending night after night after big fish scanning the water for fish with my Bins and dozing next to my rod-pods and buzzers; and spending all my remaining spare time developing rigs and baits at home. My roots have always been in more active fishing and wandering the smaller rivers & streams in the evenings after Barbel or fishing for Tench or Crucians at first light on a quiet estate lake is pure magic to me. Although I usually use modern rods & reels; I occassionaly get my split cane MKIV Avon and Centrepin out and still think it's really enjoyable to use traditional tackle. I still believe that the Pin can't be beaten for the control it gives when long-trotting. Unfortunately I don't live close to you otherwise we could have had the odd day on an estate lake after Tench & Crucians or on the Upper Lea after Barbel and Chub. There are quite a few of us on this site who like this sort of fishing so I am sure you will feel quite at home. I look forward to reading your posts. BB.

The only time I have used fake hemp was when I was after roach on a backwater of the ouse near Cambridge. It seemed the best bait by far there was Hemp as it caught us more fish than Casters or Maggots; as soon as you fed some hemp followed by your hooklength you would catch a roach on the drop, to minimise the time needed to rebait each time we used a fake hemp on the hook and it worked every time. we had to use Style weights to minimise the false takes on these. Why it worked better than casters or maggots I don't know; I suspect it was because the fish were wised up to them.

My rods have been leaning against my back door ready to go for days now but because of all the rain I haven't been able to go, the rivers are belting through. At least I'm going to a stillwater on Sunday; rain or shine. The weather is forecast to be better in the second half of July but having once been a weatherman myself I know that forecasts can't really be relied on for longer than a few days ahead.

We used to fish a water near Reading (Burford or Burfield match pits I think) where they used to hold well known matches like the Embassy Final and the club I was in at the time (Barnet AC) used to have regular coach outings to: and the match weights were always made up from huge nets of small Tench averaging 1lb and under. Plus the best place to fish was right under your keepnet and close in. whether or not it is still like this I don't know. I remember winning a 'pairs match' there with almost 50lb of stunted tench between us all caught on 'caster'.

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of tackle most of which I never seem to use, I have a brick shed with an old fridge for my bait, all my rods stacked on the walls using nails covered in rubber tubing. and some old chests of drawers for my reels and other bits plus my tackle boxes are on my workbench and my luggage, Nets and clothing is hanging on wall hooks. However in practice the gear that I use most just gets chucked onto the workbench (except for the bait) as when I come home from fishing at 10 PM the last thing that I want to do is sort it out. And the normal things that you keep in the shed like the mower/garden tools/decorating bits/Bikes etc. just get chucked into a smaller shed at the top of the garden as they are not as important. But that bin idea of yours sounds quite good.

I stand corrected, sorry. Maggots = Blue bottle, Pinkies = Green Bottle, Squatts = Housefly is that right or have I still got it wrong?? For Squatts a slice of milk soaked bread (squeezed out) still works better than brick dust, try it in the winter matches for loose feed when using pinkies on the hook, you may be surprised. this was an old trick obtained from the old matchmen and it really does seem to work. The squatts seem softer, a little livelier, fatter, whiter and they still sink; although being livelier they may not be quite so good in groundbait but I didn't use groundbait much in the colder months apart from a thin cloud anyway.

There's several things that you can do to increase your chances in a river full of streamer weed. The Barbel like to stay out of sight under this weed so try to find any clear pieces of gravel running between it were they can dart out to intercept food and dart back under the streamer weed again; or bury your hook right in the middle of a softish piece of luncheonmeat (or spam) to prevent it from catching on the weed as it falls through the weed; Ideally on the outside of a bend or where there is a depth change caused by a narrowing of the banks and try to stay alert when the evening comes (or early morning). when the streamer weed is shorter at the beginning of the season Chub often like to swim just above the streamer weed picking off food being washed downstream and when they are in this mood they seem to ignore anything that you offer them on or close to the bottom, so you could try a long leger link which allows a long hooklength to waver just above the streamer weed. When after the Barbel in thick streamer weed it often helps to fish upstream so that you can attempt to pull the fish down through the weed easier; as opposed to trying to pull them through it from upstream. Also because you can't always see them doesn't mean they are not there, the Barbel can merge into a gravel bottom quite well; and sometimes if you stare at a patch of gravel for long enough you may just start to see the odd slightly lighter looking fin gently waving and once you see this the rest of the Barbel can sometimes start to get clearer. Good luck and tight lines. BB

Perhaps he may be using a hair rigged artificial bait soaked in flavour to keep the nuisance fish off? or just using a very large hair rigged boily with a hard outer coating? which the nuisance fish can't seem to break down and swallow? I don't have any experience of waters with small catfish in; but if they don't take baits like Tiger-nuts for instance (I don't know); maybe hes using that type of bait to sort the Carp from the Catfish? If you find out how he is avoiding the small catfish and other nuisance fish let us know Someone else on here may be able to give you better suggestions. BB

Smashing report as ever Janet, I felt as though I was with you watching you fish. well done. can't wait to read about the next round

When I used to Match fish I used to riddle all the sawdust off of my maggots and replace it with some fresh maize powder to get rid of any ammonia smell before putting in the fridge with the lid off the maggot box. If I wanted to keep them for a week or two (for adding to groundbait or loose feed) I used to replace the maize with bran before putting them in the fridge; but I would still change the Bran every few days. If I had run out of maize meal I would use semolina powder but I preferred the Maize powder. If I was fishing an important match I even used to wash and dry my maggots by rolling in my towel before putting them into the maize powder but I don't think this is really neccesary; it just gave me that extra confidence that my bait was in top condition. I never had any problems with my maggots smelling of ammonia. While we are talking about preparing maggots; I used to prepare squatts by riddling all of the brick dust (which had been added in the shop to help them sink) out of them and adding a thin slice of milk soaked bread (with the crust removed) on the top of them and then put them in the fridge with the lid on the night before a match. (squatts are the larvae of the fruit fly) and the following morning at the match they used to be soft, plump and clean after feeding on the milk soaked bread plus they used to sink well. they won or nearly won me several winter club and team matches on the canal and its tributaries. Tight lines.

In the late 70's early 80's I used to fish a lovely little stream that flowed into the Grand Union Canal near Watford. It had some lovely Chub averaging around 2.5 lbs with the very occassional one up to 5lb. To get to the stream you merely had to cross over a small lock and creep through some bushes, No-one gave the little stream a thought which was fine by me, I had some great days fishing for the chub trotting with waders on and using a centrpin and an old spit cane MKIV Avon it was typical Crab Tree fishing. I remember once as clear as yesterday when I looked down at my feet in the water and not 5ft away was a huge Chub of around 5lb which was Just sitting there, at first I thought it might be a Pike, but it was a huge Chub; so in very slow motion; I gently lowered a piece of bread flake upstream of it, a shoal of minnows attacked the flake as it sank and the Chub Darted forward towards the flake; and the flake gently bounced along the Chubs head (it was after the minnows), my heart stopped as this was all happening right below my feet about 5 feet away in crystal clear water. You couldn't experience that in the canal could you?. Since then, the Club that controlled that part of the canal has realised how good the stream was and have now fenced and gated it off, but I bet it is not as good as it was before hoards of anglers descended on it.

It was only a couple of days ago where we were laughing at two anglers on the upper Lea who were using their Poles for Barbel even though they were using Carp Poles (although we were inwardly crying for the Barbel with the hooks being left in them), and true to form they lost every Barbel they had on. the Carp Pole may be fine when used on larger parts of the river where you can afford to give them some room but on the narrower upper stretches which are full of streamer weed and rushes etc. the anglers didn't have a chance with their Poles. I don't deny that a really experienced heavy Pole angler may be able to catch the odd Barbel but it is hardly sensible tackle for Barbel on the upper Lea or sensible advice to give the less experienced. When I was younger; using an old MKIV Avon rod I had been unfortunate to have ripped open a large Barbels lip on the Kennet with a size 4 specialist hook, leaving a wide open gash dripping in blood, I didn't have my landing net as my friend had just gone further upstream with it so I just continued pulling at it trying to get it within reach of the bank so that I could land it by hand but the Barbel made a last minute dash for freedom resulting with the deep gaping gash in its lip although the hookhold still held, because of this bad experience I have never liked to use Hook and Hold tactics; however I do beleive in using tackle that is strong enough to enable me to land the fish as soon as possible to prevent the fish from exhausting itself too much. I believe that the Barbels welfare comes way before my need to catch it and if Hook and Hold tactics are required then I just move on.

Barbel are my favourite fish as well; closely followed by large Tench. Roach are my third favourite; maybe because although they are elusive they are not too hard to locate on the upper Lea and Upper Great Ouse where they seem to stay near features like large rush beds, although we do try to keep the actual locations to ourselves as they would soon move away if too many people started fishing for them. Although I used to fish almost soley for Carp at one time and spend many hours planning and executing their capture I don't think they really fight size for size as well as a good Barbel; well not in the rivers that we fish anyway; Plus Carp are a bit common these days and fishing for them is not a very active type of fishing with alarms, bivvies and bedchairs etc. I have often caught a 6 or 7 lb river Carp after catching Barbel of a similar size and I have thought it was a Chub because the fight was not so powerful after playing a Barbel (this is not always true though; but usually is). Poledark, you say that Barbel don't seem to fight that good; I remember reading in Peter Stones book 'Bream and Barbel' where the Barbel on the Royalty used to be like that, occasionally a barbel would fight like hell but most of them in the Royalty used to give up without much of a fight; unlike the Barbel on other stretches of the Avon and the Stour plus other rivers. and he said that Richard Walker had a theory that the Barbel on the Royalty in those days were so accustomed to being caught that they just gave up knowing that they would find themselves being free again very soon after. He said that it was not inteligence but programming. I don't think It's like that on the Royalty these days though. Perhaps they are a bit like that where you fish if you don't think they fight Poledark?. Like many ex Carp anglers (Yates, Bob James etc.) my favourite species has progressed back to the Barbel; which fight like hell until they are literally exhausted, and need recovering for quite a time before releasing. You never seem to forget your first Barbel however most anglers that I know (including me) can't remember when they caught their very first Carp.

It is not always like that. I had one of my best nights Carping in the middle of a raging thunderstorm that passed right over me; with lightening strikes all around me; in the days when I used fibreglass rods. The Carp suddenly started feeding about an hour before the storm and were almost climbing up my rods during the storm. I was soaked but very happy (although a little scared at times). I was a Meteorologist in the Royal Navy then, and thought it was something to do with the rising air pressure.

Hi, Can someone recommend a good bivvy that I can use as a toilet when I get taken short? Mustapha Pooh. NB. This actually happened on our water once; after they left we found a neat pile of S**t and toilet paper neatly piled up in the middle of the bank were their bivvy had been. needless to say they were not members for long.