BoldBear

Yes but she should have at least a little bit of intelligence though (P*TA???). Isn't that the organisation that was taken to court for killing large numbers of dogs and cats (90% of adoptable dogs and cats in its care)???? I think I can find the news reports on the Web somewhere. OH Yes its here

Perhaps they have their heads under the sand and don't know what is happening around them? or maybe they have someone in authority who has their heads in the clouds and thinks like Paul McCartney & PETA (although I believe that the word THINKs was the wrong word to use).

I love these smaller streams, even when you get someones dog paddling in your swim it doesn't seem to put the fish off for long as they seem to get used to it and it stirs up the food on the bottom; as long as you keep low.

Yes there is some great fishing in some of these smaller streams. I was fishing in this little stream on friday evening: and caught this brace of small Barbel (see below), its amazing what fish are in these smaller streams; not record breakers but still great fun. There are also roach to around 2lb caught occasionally in the same stretch of stream. You get anglers driving past these streams on their way to a lake or canal where the'y'll sit and watch their float or catch a net of stunted roach and bream; and they don't even give a thought to fishing these little streams. Still I'm not complaining as you can almost have the stream containing the better quality fish to yourself.

Yes those yummy F1 hybrid carp are briliant for eating (although a bit fat and fightless (size for size) or you could read this ? Fuse lit; now retire and wait for the bang!!

Cobra, Another club that also has some good waters on the Great Ouse at Radwell and Felmersham (as well as other stretches) plus the Ivel and Upper reaches of the Lea etc. is Verulum AC. We have a Barbel Day later in the season where the clubs specialist section show all their tackle (don't be rude ) and give talks on successful baits, methods and barbel location; and then have a barbeque and raffle with Barbel tackle as prizes and guest speakers plus some free samples from the tackle trade, then afterwards you can walk the banks asking questions to specialists fishing where they will wind in and demonstrate how they are fishing or you can fish yourself and get advice from the clubs specialists on the bank. it is a great day. we also have these types of days on other waters for Carp and Tench on waters that have 40 - 50 lb Carp (including Toadless) and double figure Tench etc. Vauxhall, Milton Keynes and Verulum all have great Barbel sections where huge Barbel are caught on these rivers so there is no excuse for not being able to catch Barbel in their natural surroundings. Tight lines.

I didn't realise how lucky I was, as I only know of one or two commercial waters about 10 to 15 miles from me, and the only people who seem to fish them are matchmen. I only know about them from my match fishing days. Im surrounded by really good club waters from the Grand Union Canal through to Estate lakes, Gravel Pits, Barbel Rivers etc. so there is no reason for anyone to fish these overstocked commercial carp puddles in my area. I really feel sorry for the people who live in areas where good waters are not so common and where visiting an unnatural overstocked commercial pool is all they have available to them where the pegs are too close together so they can get more anglers in and the pegs are neatly set out and the grass is neatly mown and the waters are a uniform width for the pole anglers and the fish gulp down everything that you chuck at them because they are nearly always hungry, and you have to use the fisheries own bait etc. etc. and the anglers think that watercraft is something they float on in the navy. And when someone decides to stock fish like Barbel in them as well it makes me feel sick. I think I would give up fishing and play Golf more often if I lived in one of these deprived areas.

Simon these are not stupid questions at all, so don't get put off asking such questions matey . 1. can i use a hair rig on a pole (looking for bigger fish) Yes especially when fishing for Tench, Carp etc. which feed by blowing and sucking up baits from the bottom as apposed to physically picking them up in their lips. and fish slightly over depth. 2. why do carp stop feeding when it rains Carp do not always react in this way, in fact one of my most productive carp sessions was during the night in one of the most fiercest and wettest of thunderstorms (back in the fibre glass rod days); the Carp where almost climbing up the rod. However they may react differently in an unexpected downpour for the reasons that fruitloopy said. 3. my pole is rated 16/18 elatic whats the biggest fish i could safely land This depends on how experienced you are with the Pole and what type of water you are fishing (how much weed and other snags etc.). I have landed Carp of up to 18lb on the Pole using this strength elastic but you could probably land Carp of around 10lb fairly easily if your Pole is up to it. when you hook a big Carp which runs it sometimes pays to lower your pole tip under the water giving sideways pressure, this sometimes stops them, Read up on articles written by people who are more experienced than me with the Pole. Tight lines.

Yep steve has said it all. A couple of other bit's of advice: Keep low and don't alarm the fish walking around in your swim. If you are float fishing fish slightly over depth with a short (about 6") length of line on the bottom, or fish the lift method (see other threads on here). Other good baits that work on some waters (as well as the ones that Steve suggested) are Casters and/or small redworms or small pellets. Good luck and tight lines.

You have taken the words right out of my mouth Colin. I sometimes fish from around 04:30 til 07:30 (Three hours) before going to work and some of the best Tenching Ive had is at this time (and Crucians and Roach). Anglers who turn up at around 08:00 and fish during the day don't know what they have just missed and only very occasionally catch a Tench during the day. there is an evening feeding spell but as Coin says it is usually nowhere near as good as the early morning session. This may not be the same on all waters as another water close by fishes best in the evening; but enough to tell you that you might as well join the fish and have a kip (although being warm blooded you would be better off in the shade) once the sun comes up at this time of year on most still waters.

Maybe not in the lower/mid Thames but they do spawn in some of the Thames Tributaries like the Kennet and the upper Lea etc. and in the upper Thames where it is more natural and cleaner and not just a large deep and Muddy river.

I agree with the above, why don't you join a club that has them on the great Ouse or another river or stream near you?. If you look for a river which holds them then look for the typical barbel swim features and use a bit of stealth and fish in the evening you should connect with the Barbel, plus they will give you a better fight. However if you are after easy Barbeling and fishing for the less fit Barbel then you might be better off fishing a still water like Makins in the evening. I don't agree with taking Barbel out of there more natural surroundings and stuffing them into stillwaters either; can you tell?

Wildies by miles. although I've also had some good Ghosties which didn't want to give up. (but still not as good as a river pig pound for pound though )

Nothing changes with some companies, I had a mate who ran a tackle shop a few years ago and he once had 50% of his Fox Chairs returned with faults either in the stitching or the welded leg sections. I bought one of these faulty chairs when the leg weld parted and when I wrote to Fox mentioning this I got a rude reply from them telling me how good their chairs were and basically calling me a liar. They also told me that their customer support was really great. (Huh??) If they didn't sell some other really good tackle I wouldn't have touched them with a bargepole. I thought their customer support had since changed their attitude but reading what James has said; it seems that not much has changed since the company produced supermarket trollies. However Rob; the cost of the repair to your alarms seems fair considering the original price you paid for them.

Voted to send the editor Carp Fishing in Sussex, I haven't targetted Carp much myself for around 6 years so I think it could make a fairly interesting day as long as the editor can stay awake in between fish. Fishing is currently no.1 in the sites chart.

I agree, I love fishing small streams and there are some surprisingly big fish in some of them (eg. Roach up to around 2lb, Chub up to around 5lb , Barbel up to around 7lb etc.) not record breakers but some quality fish nonetheless, and you can sometimes have the stream to yourself on some of them. Yes I too love fishing for Tench, Crucians etc. in stillwaters but the small streams and the upper levels of rivers where it is almost a stream are the most enjoyable in my view. Lovely catch Tigger

Brillliant find, I never see anything worth having at these boot sales (although I did see a couple of 2lb TC Diawa Powermesh's going very cheap once). I will have to look much harder in future. But an unused brand new condition Match Aerial in its box?? I bow to your obviously superior luck. Lucky S*d

Although I concede that the gudgeon gives a great fight pound for pound. I can't believe that no-one has said Barbel; as pound for pound they give a briliant fight on adequate tackle. especially after reading Bream was a choice??? NB. After catching a few small (3lb to 6lb) Barbel on a small stream the other night; I thought that I had hooked a smallish chub because of the lack of fight; it turned out to be a healthy looking 6lb Carp.

What about a Daily Points competition? Using one or more of the following: One point for the biggest fish caught each day. One Point for the smallest fish caught each day. One point for each different species caught per day. One Point for catching anything at all each day. One Point for the person who catches a fish on the wackiest bait per day (from a pre-determined agreed list). One Point for the person if he catches on a bare hook during the day. One Point for the person if nobody else catches the same species of fish on the day. One Point for buying the first round on the day. One Point for buying the last round on the day.

In the days when Whips were Whips and Poles were Poles: A whip was called a whip because it was roughly similar in design to a horse whip ie. It was a flexible rod with a fixed line that you cast by using an overhead, underarm or sideways cast and to land a fish you would just lift the Whip and swing the fish to hand (or use a landingnet). Yes you could add an extra section if the fish was heavier and therefore bent the whip too far to swing the fish to hand and to help you play the fish but you NEVER used elastic because you could not swing a fish to hand when the elastic stretched. Whips had a flexible solid fine tip which enabled the angler to use finer hooklengths without pulling out. Whips were used mainly to catch silver fish but could also be capable of handling slightly larger fish if necessary (but were not ideal for this). Whips came in different lengths from 2 metres up to around 7 metres and apart from the first section (or two) which were putover joints they were usually telescopic. Whips enabled anglers to whip out small fish very fast and won many a winter match on the Canals and were also used by some of the top matchmen on the Thames catching huge bags of Bleak and Dace; sometimes catching 4 or more fish every minute. Whips were used by the French with devastating effect in the world championships before it became popular in England. If a Pole was elasticated, was fished under the tip on a shortish line and was unshipped when landind fish and shipped when putting the float out; no matter how long or short it was it was called a Pole. Which was totally different to a Whip. Simple and clear wasn't it??? But nowerdays they (Wrongly in my mind and many others) seem to call any short elasticated POLE a Whip! (???) Ah well! times change and things get corrupted over time, I suppose its just one of those things! even the companies that made the original whips have started calling their shorter elasticated Carp POLES whips (???) They will be calling short rods Whips one day. No wonder new starters to angling get so confused these days

It sounds like you already have a rod; If so then the line, hooks, floats etc depend on what sort of rod it is and what size of fish you are realistically going to catch with it. It is no good using a 3lb line, size 16 hook and a waggler with a beach casting rod; likewise it is no good using a light match rod with 15lb line and a 3oz lead and size 4 hook. I suggest you take your rod and reel into your local tackle shop and ask his advice on the venues you intend to fish; the fish you are likely to catch and the tackle you will need. and invest in a simple begginers book which shows you the basics of setting up and unhooking etc. then watch the other anglers and observe what they are catching, the baits that they use, where they are fishing and the tackle they are using. you can learn a lot by watching and taking note. As RearePleasures says a licence allows you to use two rods and is only valid for the angler whos name is on the licence, he can buy a 1 day licence or a full licence if he wants to go more often. Most waters are owned by clubs or private owners who charge for a dayticket which you will have to buy in addition to your rod licence. There are some waters that are free to fish but you will still need your rod licence. Tight lines, you will not regret taking up fishing especially if you learn how to do it properly.

My fiiends and I used to use large peeled prawns for Chub fishing on the rivers Kennet, Stour and Lea in the mid 70's when they were virtually an unknown bait (other than for salmon fishing). they were a brilliant bait that caught us many large chub. the bites were confident and savage and sometimes pulled the rod off the rests. the Chub didn't need educating with them and took them immediately, I thought that maybe the fish thought they were pieces of crayfish. My biggest 3 Chub were all caught on peeled prawns. we hooked them as in the diagram below with the hook point coming away from the prawn with a twist of line added above the hook to keep the bait in position (note we didn't use bait bands in those days): One important thing to remember was that buying the small cheap aneamic ones that have had all the flavour boiled out of them; that are sold in most supermarkets is false ecomony as they are usually next to useless; however the deeper pinker coloured ones which have a much stronger prawn flavour seeping from them and also have a better texture can get you the confident savage takes and are well worth the extra money. I remember an afternoon when I was driving past Dobbs Wier on the river Lea once on a hot sunny day after fishing the early morning on another stretch; the weir was full of anglers, non of which had caught very much. I thought I would give prawns a try but there were no swims left so I waded out in between two pegs and cast a prawn to a sunken rotten barge close in; and immediately hooked into a 3lb Chub; followed in quick succession by several more. The anglers on both sides of me wandered up asking what bait I was using and I ended up sharing my bait amongst them and soon they were also catching Chub on that hot afternoon. It wasn't always as good as that but I could always rely on catching some good Chub from the Kennet or Kings Weir or Throop using Prawns, even on cold winter days, but that was when it wasn't a well known bait for coarse fish. I also caught a few Tench plus a few Carp on smaller prawns but having 'Quality bait' was the key. They are used quite a lot these days so may be a little less effective where used a lot but are still a great bait if not used very much on a water. I now tend to fish for Barbel using my own bait concoctions when I'm river fishing; (even on mildish days in the winter) and don't tend to use prawns so much; although they probably would still account for a few.

I dont really think its the actual light that spooks fish on a quiet water, it's when someone keeps walking in front of it or keeps moving or flashing it around on the bank, or keeps switching it on and off all the time. I am sure that fish are sometimes attracted by it (as Newt says) however if the fish are at all unsure of it, it can have the reverse effect. When I demonstrated the difference it can make on a small Carp pond to a friend of mine he couldn't believe how close the Carp came up right under his feet, wheras when he had his light on they would always stay just outside of the beam and he would see ripples but not always what was causing them. On waters where there is often people walking around at night or cars passing nearbye it probably has little effect as they get used to it. We did experiment for a few weeks with a small isotope attatched to the lead to see if it attracted fish close to the bait and give us more bites. It didn't seem to affect the amount of bites we had but it certainly didn't seem to frighten them.

No there is not one method for match fishing which ensures you being competitive. Whether you do well depends on so many other factors eg. the wind direction, weather conditions, water depth, temperature, time of year, type of fish that are in the water, whether it's a lake, river or canal, what bait you use plus a host of other things; including what tackle you own. I would suggest you walk around the waters that you will be fishing and watch the anglers who are catching (not the ones who are not catching) and try asking them what methods are best; but stay low so as not to scare their fish and if they don't look like they want to be disturbed leave them quietly. You can glean a lot by just observing where they are fishing, what baits they are using, what fish they are catching, what tackle they are using etc. There is no substitute for local knowledge as every water is different. If you are fishing in a water that you have not fished before then do your homework. Another place where you can usually get the information is the local tackle dealer or from someone who has fished the waters before in a forum like this one. What waters are you going to fish? perhaps there is someone who has fished the water on here that can point you in the right direction.

The Bag (£6.99) has been getting some good reviews on other angling forums with some well known anglers comparing it to more expensive (circa £35) roving bags made by Fox, Chub, etc. and its coming off very well in the comparisons. unfortunately I don't have an Aldi near to me. Aldi Fishing Bag I realise that there must be a bit of exploitation to be able to sell them that cheap but I think I ought to get one for fathers day if I can find an Aldi, Ill make a £5 donation to a charity against exploitation if I see one to make me feel better. Talking of exploitation; my wife went on a Kenyan safari last summer and she said they were tipping the natives and didn't realise that one of her tips was a months wage for them; and they didn't seem to be going hungry although they had footwear on made out of bicycle tyres.