BoldBear

TT, There is no substitute to local knowledge so I would ask in the tackleshop or even better visit a local canal, river or lake (maybe without your tackle at first) then sit and watch somebody who's catching regularly (not someone who is not catching regularly). watch where they are casting, what bait they are using, what float they are using, how deep they are fishing what size hooks and line they are using, try to glean any useful info from them like which other good swims there are along the stretch and which swims are not so good etc. Most anglers will give you this information as long as you don't pester them too much. Good luck and tight lines. BB

Chasing targets is not as important to me nowerdays as it used to be; as long as I can still catch specimen sized fish I am very happy. If I beat any of my personal bests along the way then it is just a bonus but not that important to me any more. But good luck with your targets for the coming year.

Excellent session, cracking fish, Lovely river the Kennet.

One thing that wasn't frightening; but was strange; was when we used to night fish a lake in Kent where there was a glut of hedgehogs; there seemed to be hedhogs scurrying about all night. One morning I woke up in my bivvie and found a hedghog fast asleep in my frying pan under the bedchair; it had licked out all the fat and fell asleep in the frying pan. I've heard they are tasty but I didn't want to try eating one.

Cyranne12, ok Ill have a look to see what I can find in the shed, I think I might have one of those inner tubes somewhere, thanks for the tip.

Hi TiddlerTamer, What do you mean by 'the best roach fishing'?. Do you mean where the largest Roach can be caught? or do you mean where the best quantity of Roach can be caught? Either way; If we knew where the best roach fishing is we would be fishing there now. There are 3lb+ Roach on the Thames but you will have to find them yourself as anyone who has spent the time and effort in finding them is not likely to give this information away. I know of 2 places on the upper river Lea where I and my close friends have caught 2lb+ Roach but Im not likely to tell anyone else their where-abouts as it will very soon be ruined and the large Roach wouldn't be there long, plus I would be shot. But if you search for them around the London area on the river Thames, river Lea, Kennet and river Colne then there are large Roach to be caught in all these rivers. So all you have to do is read up on the types of swims and types of rivers (or stilwaters) where you are likely to find them; and why, then you are on your way to catching your 2lb+ Roach. But if you do find them then keep it close to your chest. A good book that I am currently reading -->'Roach: The Gentle Giants - John Bailey' As for the best places to fish for a good days roach fishing sport then at this time of year I would concentrate on rivers rather than stillwaters as the fish are constantly using a lot of their energy to just maintain their position in the flows; so it is logical that they will need to replenish their energy more often by eating more than their still water bretheren. Roach can be found in most types of swim but concentrate on the edges of rush beds, or in deeper long streamy runs and around creases in the flows and around bends in the river etc. and use small hooks and baits at this time of year, although breadflake is a good bait, and feed little and often.

I read this on another well known Angling Forum and I thought that it would be useful to bring it to your attention. Easytackle.com Scam Beware

You can cut and Paste the table into 'Windows Notepad' (which is a pure text editor) then any special formatting control characters will be stripped, then cut and paste it from Notepad into your forum post.

Like Chris, I'll also occasionaly use one of my pins on still water when I'm margin fishing for crucians or tench. or on a 2nd ledger rod using the clutch as a bite indicator. If I don't have my bite alarms with me. But apart from pure enjoyment I can't see any real advantages on still waters.

Ive had no problems; whether tying delicate size 22 fine wire hooks to 8oz line or size 14 to 4lb line using the matchman hook tyer. Just make sure that the turns round the hookshank are neat and apply a bit of silava before slowly pulling the line through at the end of tying the knot then It should be fine and should take you no longer than a minute or so. Also when you tighten the knob to clamp the hook; make sure the shank is in the centre. Practice tying a few in front of the telly. If you still have problems; as Brian said; the shop bought ready tied hooks are fine nowerdays, and come ready tied to top quality hooklength lines; rather than buying one of the expensive versions of hook tiers.

Congratulations on your first Barbel. You always remember your first (I do anyway) well done, nice Barbel.

Congratulations on your first Barbel. You always remember your first (I do anyway) well done, nice barbel.

Hi Houghton, I have never fished the place as I'm a southerner but just incase you didn't realise they have a web site for the fishery see the following link --->Charity Farm Fishery which has the following tips on it. "Best baits are maggot or caster on float tackle, pole or waggler fished maggot. For quality Carp use luncheon meat, sweetcorn, chum mixers or bread. Prawns are exceptional". Hopefully someone who has fished the water will be able to give you more accurate info. but if not this is how I would approach it for pleasure fishing if I had no prior knowlege other than the info given above. As you said that you would be fishing for small fish mostly but also have a chance landing larger fish if they come along. I would start off using a Pole or waggler rod with up to 3lb hooklength with Casters, maggots or Pinkies as bait and size 18 hooks. (I would also take some bread/corn and size 14 hooks incase there are Tench or nice rudd in there) I would also take some slightly heavier gear with 8lb to 10lb line incase the carp are more predominant so that I can switch over if neccessary. Is there anyone out there who can help Houghton with more accurate info of how to fish the venue? Good luck Houghton .

Good luck with your chubbing. Let us know how you got on when you fish the Nene Tight lines.

Hi Chili, Nice to see someone who realises that there is far more to fishing than just sitting down behind buzzers all day (and night). Too many younger anglers seem to think that going after Carp is what it's all about. Not that I hate Carp fishing as I still like to do it occasionally; but like you; I like active fishing and whenever I spend a hard nights Carping I sit there dreaming I was on the banks of the Kennet, Ouse or Lea after Barbel & Chub or Fishing for Tench & Crucians on our local estate lake. In addition to the excellent advice already given so far by others on baits; another two good methods that you might like to try are either a light leger using Peeled Prawns or a nice freelined or legered Fat Garden Slug. I don't know the Nene or how it fishes but if it is anything like the rivers that I fish then it could be well worth trying as they can both be devastating for Chub. If you use peeled prawns then make sure they are not the small anaemic ones especially this time of year; as they have far less flavour and can be next to useless. get the slightly larger pink coloured juicy ones (fresh or frozen) and fish them on a size 6 hook; the bites can be vicious if the chub don't already see a lot of them (see fig below showing how I hook my prawns) . and if you are using plump garden slugs then hooksize depends on their size but I usually use a size 2 hooked once in their rear end. Tight Lines

Hi Jay, Like Mike said, I would suggest one of the Avon/quiver type rods eg. the 'John Wilson Avon Quiver' It is a very popular rod which comes with two top sections. 1. A normal top for float fishing or touch legering 2. A Quivertip top for ledgering. It can handle hooklengths from as low as 1.5 lbs up to lines of around 7lb so it can be used for catching Roach, Chub, Perch, Bream and modest Barbel and Carp and is around the nearest to an all round rod you can get. The newer ones come with a screw reel fitting, unfortunately I have two older versions of the rod so mine suffer from the classic 'reel falling off the rod' syndrome. There are other recent forum posts which ask the same question; so have a browse through them to see what others have recomended Tight Lines Keith

Looks like it will be a great project, great pictures. That picture of Hugh holding the Brace of Kennet roach looks more like Father Christmas holding them with his white hair and Beard Ha. Ha

I haven't used a feeder on the Pole but I used to attatch a small bait dropper to my pole rig to feed bloodworms hard on the bottom a few times and it won me a match or two. but Ive not used it for quite a few years now.

I use tungsten putty when fishing popups while Carping. Also If I'm getting line bites; I use small pieces of it to pin my line to the bottom (near the end tackle) when I dont have any backleads with me. I have not noticed the smell putting fish off but I may start experimenting with it to see.

Although you don't usually need to; it may be worth buying half pint of pinkies so that less minnows drop off the hook when you are fishing for them.

Yes but what about any fish in the area that would be killed or at the very least stunned by the explosion?? plus spooking every fish in the lake.? the explosion would have to be more subtle. (a small localised explosion??). I agree that Bait boats can be useful toys on certain really big lakes if you use self hooking rigs** and if there were no bad snags, or rocky gulleys or you werent fishing into distant bankside vegetation that the fish bolted further into or there were no Islands or buoys for the fish to kite round or etc. etc. etc. ** It would need to be self hooking; have you ever tried to move a 3oz lead at 300 yards?? its quite hard to move it more than a few inches even if you use braid and a long sweeping strike so what about a 4oz lead??? (Try it yourself in a field, you'll be surprised). Except in extremely exceptional conditions I wouldnt use one, I might borrow someone elses bait boat to relieve my boredom if I was fishing a very difficult water; but at the price that they cost It would be cheaper and more fun to pay for a ticket on a more fish-accessable water. But each to his own, I dont mind other people using them as long as it doesn't interfere with other peoples fishing or the wildlife.

Perhaps we ought to build some mini submarines to sink their Bait boats if they cause problems. they wouldnt even know why their boats sank if you didnt make it obvious. Sorry I was daydreaming; It was just the boy in me coming out. but it was a pleasant dream though.

I feel exactly the same. Bait Boats are probably just big boys toy's like the Train sets were in the old days and give the Carp boys something to occupy their minds during their long sleeps. As long as the boats don't interfere with my anglng (or other water life) why should I really care?.

I have to agree, Looks a like genuine roach between 1.5lbs - 2lbs Small streams can hold some cracking roach can't they . You'll have to put a set of scales and a small weigh-sling on your Xmas present list and keep the actual location to yourself for a while.

Dant, Was that the 16lb 1oz Barbel caught by Korum sponsored Duncan Charman that was reported on another site?, it was caught on a thames tributary very early in the morning when most other anglers were still asleep. Cracking fish. Steve, There are so few times that Ive even seen the very small barbel on the riverbed; probably because they are so hard to see over the gravel or perhaps they live right under the streamer weed or in other dense weed in side streams and don't venture out much, or maybe weve mistaken them for gudgeon on the riverbed? Still thats what is so enjoyable about fishing, if we knew it all Im sure we wouldnt enjoy it as much . Great news about the stocking on the Thames though.