tiddlertamer

Nice one Anderoo and you do of course have me bang to rights about the bandana. I'll no doubt be wearing the bandana at Timsbury. Here's some evidence of the bandana in action, although it's quite a rare sight as I've actually caught a fish! Not the 2lb roach you promised me from the Test though... Personally I think everybody should post a picture of themselves in some headware and then pledge to wear it on the day...

Looking foward to it. Mark my name down. Can anyone out there guarantee good weather?

I am increasingly drawn to the attraction of the Timsbury Manor Fish In on the river Test. I don’t kid myself I’ll snaffle a 2lb roach but I’ll give it my best shot. (maybe that should read trot...) I’ll be travelling on the first train from London which doesn’t arrive until 10am into Romsey and then grabbing a cab up to the fishery. Get your good self down there too Anderoo. Vis a vis roach and the best conditions, I have consulted the expert, Dr Mark Everard, and in his book ‘The Complete Book of the Roach’, he intriguingly says: “The water is never too coloured for the roach, although a rising river and particularly a cold one, can put fish off the feed.” Mind you, all the rivers I’ve seen recently definitely need a bit of rain. Maybe even a lot. They’re all crystal clear. Just not too much rain please...

I think I'd be marched off the Hampshire Avon by the river keeper who's taught me how to fish if I used a size 8 hook and double corn bait.! He's of the school of thought that small hooks and baits aligned with light lines wins the day. I don't use light hook lengths but do fish 3lb line straight through to the hook. I know that some people on this forum fish straight through with 6lb line, But your results show that some of the ideas about presentation are perhaps a bit precious. I'm off to Tescos tomorrow for some Jolly Green Giant sweet corn... And the 3lb line is gonna be left in the flat. 4lb line here I go...

Congratulations Anderoo. What a fantastic perch Is lobworm the bait of choice to catch big perch? Trotted under a float on a big size 6 hook? I always float fish with small hooks and small baits. Size 18 hooks with double red maggot. Time to change tactics methinks.

What a clonker!

Recent threads have discussed the wonderful roach in great detail. In one thread, when discussing which fish we’d most like to catch, the 2lb roach emerged as the favourite among Anglers Net aficionados. Another thread explored why big roach are so few and far between. My question though is what conditions, what tactics, what baits, and which rivers and what types of swims produce the best chance of snaffling a 2lb roach? Obviously we won’t discuss where particular swims are though I dare say a few of us would love to know where the phenomenally successful angler Dr Mark Everard fishes on the Bristol Avon with his amazing record of over 200 2lb roach! Moving swiftly on let’s discuss conditions first. I’d go for a mild autumn day with overcast conditions, low pressure, and coloured water fining down after rain. I’m sure many others would want similar conditions only in the depths of winter. For tactics and bait I invariably fish double maggot on a size 18 hook long trotted under a bulk shotted avon float. Disastrous tactics on many rivers methinks. Perhaps breadflake, lighter floats and button shirt style shot patterns would appeal. I always find lightly shotted floats are too easily pulled off line if held back making unnatural actions which put off fish but I’m sure many swear by lightly shotted floats for finickety roach. Of course many people will ledger. Who can forget Bob James epic haul of 2lb roach on a Passion for Angling with a swimfeeder and bread flake as the hook bait. For the river I’d check out the Hampshire Avon rather than my local river Lee. The Kennett appeals and I hear the Norfolk rivers are starting to get back to their former glory. And swims – as a trotting fan I enjoy a steady flow perhaps running alongside a reed bed. Although a relatively novice fisherman, this being only my third season, I have had some big fish. Sadly not roach though. My biggest? A paltry 8 ounces... So what do I know...? What about you?

A friend of mine has caught many barbel during his life but has never had a double figure fish. I however, although only having caught one, trotted a stretch of the river Lea in only my second season of fishing, and snared a 12lb 2oz specimen. An incredible experience – and when I first sighted it after over ten minutes of an incredible fight, the sight was jaw dropping. But an incredible experience already under my belt so another fish would have to be the one I really wanted to catch. The same friend caught a 2lb roach growing up next to the river Stour in Suffolk. In the three seasons since I started this pastime, I haven’t had a sniff of a roach over half a pound. Though I did see one over 1lb breeze past me in crystal clear waters on the Hampshire Avon only a few weeks ago, before it spotted me and bolted off. A 2lb roach would be a dream. Well catching it would... Chub are my favourite quarry but a large one eludes me. Maybe my preference for trotting all year round and reliance on maggots rather than bread means I need to focus on altering my tactics for the rest of the season. I do prefer the mechanics of long trotting a float though, even though I’m more likely to catch on a legered bait especially in winter months. But if I do snaffle a large chub, I hope it is while trotting. Big perch are lovely fish. They look so bristling and also so magnificent with their stripes. I’ve lost a big one at the net too which hurt. I can’t finish though without writing about the grayling. I once fished alongside a river keeper on the Avon who briefly had a go on the rod I was wielding without any success. And he immediately hooked into something big which, to my embarrassment, he insisted I play and land. And after a few minutes a grayling appeared close to the net. The river keeper cried out exclaiming it was a monster grayling, the largest he had ever seen and surely a record for the river. At which point I hauled on my rod as if trying to drag the fish from the water rather than subtly trying to bring the fish over the net being held by the river keeper. And so with inevitable consequences the fish escaped the hook. I had failed to hook but had lost the largest grayling in perhaps the whole of the land... So a grayling please Anderoo. A very large grayling...

Does anyone want to get tiddler tamer out of a hole and take his place at the Barton Court Fish in on Sunday. I woke up today with a rather nasty dose of manflu and it might not be the greatest of ideas to cough my way around Berkshire... If no one takes up the offer of going to Barton Court I'll phone this evening to let them know. There are lots of good reason to go though for one lucky individual to take my place though: Barton Court is on a lovely stretch of the Kennet. It’s the next beat down from where the winter episode of a Passion for Angling was filmed. Rumours of 2lb roach still exist. There are pike. Big ones too. There are large shoals of dace with some reaching specimen size. There's also a lot of trout, not our target species, but rather lively when hooked! There's grayling in there too. It’s a great place to trot with a centrepin. It’s in the heart of beautiful countryside but it’s very close to Kintbury station. Go on! You'll not regret it.

Is Bury Hill shallow then? I always thought its old lake was famous for the fact you could punt there but punting poles can be quite long.

In ‘The Little Book of Fishing’, a fishing A to Z book by charismatic angler Rob Yorke which was published in 2004, there is a chapter on fish that jump from their watery surroundings. There are the normal suspects including game fish such as salmon and rainbow trout that leap from the water when hooked, the tail walking pike, the carp that suddenly and inexplicably jump and then crash back into their lake, and fry escaping from predators. There is however a much more surprising candidate. And I quote: “... and bream at Old Bury Hill Lake, in Surrey, have a remarkable tendency to take to the air in a way that is quite uncharacteristic of the species.” Is he pulling our leg, has he been spun a tale that he has fallen for, or is he in fact spot on. A remarkable leaping bream! My own experience of bream fishing is limited though I did once catch a 5lb 12oz bream right under my rod tip on the river Avon which thrashed around the swim, banging its head about furiously, but didn’t take to the air. Then again, this wasn’t the Old Bury Hill Lake! With a reputation for fighting like a paper bag when brought to the surface rather than leaping into the air, what do other members of this board think about this claim? Anybody here fished the famous Old Bury Hill Lake? And did the bream leap?

I think most anglers would agree with your sentiments Anderoo. Worth watching out for a John Wilson DVD though - A John Wilson Go Fishing special on float fishing, slider and stret pegging. Fishing a secluded Norfolk lake from his boat, he catches nine double figure bream up to 14lb. "Magic, absolute magic." And these bream really do put up a bit of a fight. I don't think he's just exaggerating for the camera because with the fish staying down deep in the 13 foot deep swim, they didn't appear to give up too easily. And 14lb is quite some fish. "What a clonker!"

I’ve read in countless book and publications that trotting with bread as the bait is a devastating technique. I lack confidence in bread though having found maggot, caster and worm more effective. I’m determined to push ahead with bread as a bait however as it means I can fish pretty much anywhere without having to find a tackle shop. Which species of fish love it and which turn their noses up at it? What type of bread is best? Flake or crust? What size hook? What’s the best way to loose feed bread – should it be soaked in a landing net and mashed? Thanks and tight lines.

One fish that I neglected to mention is the lovely rudd. I have never been lucky enough to catch one of any size. I assume they fight like a roach but that is a complete guess. Anyone here been lucky enough to catch a large rudd? How do they fight?

I’m going to have a try at describing how each species of fish fights when hooked. I’ll rely on others to describe certain species, but I’ll have a stab at the species of river fish I target. Firstly though, it’s worth mentioning Chris Yates who describes each species’ fight in his wonderful book ‘How to Fish’. “Nothing runs as insanely far as a salmon and nothing runs as cunningly far as a carp. Tench have a throbbing tugboat determination while a roach’s fin stroke is more delicate and fluid.” He goes on to talk about the way barbel lock down during their fight. I have only caught one barbel. It was 12lb though... Trotting a float down the river Lee I noted its disappearance and struck. I thought I must have struck bottom at first. And then the bottom moved. The barbel hugged the river bed and only towards the end of the fight did it storm upstream. A nifty bit of side strain brought it back but the fight in total lasted over 15 minutes. I did in fact scramble in up to my waist in the river to release it afterwards. Respect to the barbel. And yup it sure did lock down... The roach: I would love, so love to catch a 2lb roach. In fact my best is only 8 ounces. By all accounts they put up a jagged fight though. My best kinda did but it was hardly a giant... Anyone out there who’s caught a large one care to describe the fight. The bream - much maligned methinks. I recently caught a 5lb 10 oz river bream. It didn’t run for miles but it did explode around the swim for a minute or so. I’ve also had a bream of less than two pounds from a canal that raced around its swim for a minute too but I’ve also had a bream of the same weight that skimmed over the surface like a plastic bag. Surely the weakest fighter of the fish that grow large. Yates wrote that they fin determinedly before ‘pretending to be a paper bag’. There’s a bag theme going on here though my reference is perhaps a touch more contemporary... The chub dashes for cover as soon as it hooks but then might well come to the surface near the net only to have one last dash. Bully it for the first few seconds within hooking normally sees you win the day. Normally... And the perch? Chris Yates says that large perch have a series of ‘weaving, jagged runs.’ Sounds about right though I have picked up the unfortunate habit of losing large perch at the net as they shake their head and throw the hook. Carp aren’t a fish I target. But fishing a lob worm for perch on a canal last year, my float disappeared, I struck and my reel suddenly started screeching as my tackle disappeared on a run of over 50 yards. Maybe closer to 75. No perch that! Ten minutes later I finally netted a fin perfect 9lb common carp. Some people dislike the emergence of the carp as the fish that dominates modern angling. Me too. But gawd, they fight like stink! But what of the grayling. Its huge dorsal fin helping it to hold its place in any strong current. The pike? I’ve not caught one though have had a tug of war over a small dace. I lost as did the dace. I’ve caught a ten ounce dace once and it did fight well for its small weight. Best pound for pound fish? (Or ounce for ounce...) The zander? Never seen one let alone caught one. Not as savage a fight as a pike of the same weight I believe but then I have caught neither... Which fight do you remember most?

My record perch thus far is 1lb, 2 ounces. Having seen that photo of a perch, I'm thinking, in retrospect, how stupid I was not to put a claim into the British Fish Record Committee, as it may just have crept over the 7lb mark...

I'd be up for purchasing this. If not for the fishing but the wonderful title. Anyone for paranoid with dope by mike paranoia... You couldn't make it up! PM me.

I'm intrigued by this thread. I love reading about angling and its history as well as its developments. Many of the books I have picked up on the subject are from the early and mid seventies. Swing tip fishing was big. I’m afraid I am an incorrigible float fishing angler who knows next to nothing about the nuances of ledgering. Why has swing tip fishing almost died out?

Just been watching an English fisherman at loose on Polish waters. It's a TV programme called Cast Out. It's on the rather dodgily titled Discovery Shed but it's reallly rather a fab programme in my humble opinion. For nothing else, watching an English angler abroad is interesting but how delightful that the eastern european fisherman filmed were big carp fishing fans and returned their fish. Coolio to confront certain stereotypes...

Don't forget the river Colne itself. It runs right through the heart of Colchester. It might not have the reputation of rivers such as the Hampshire Avon or Dorset Stour but, maybe, just maybe, it has hiddden delights... stretches of it may well be exquisite and open up big fish to you. Good luck.

I caught a large river bream on the Hampshire Avon recently. At 5lb 10 oz I was, well chuffed. Whilst it didn't strip off yards of line, it went bonkers under my rod where I had hooked it, banging its head around, and but for its lack of long golden flowing locks, would surely have been a contender in air guitar contest...

Sunday is in fact better for me.

Mark my name down. Although I seem to catch more trout than coarse fish at this venue those rumours of 2lb roach and large grayling, perch and dace are irresistible... Those monster pike might attract some of you too...

It would be quite ironic if we see the antis and their anti vivisectionist comrades start quoting the scientists who claim feel fish feel pain - the very same scientists injecting bee venom into trouts' lips... ...

We'll knock your camo bait drop planes out of the skies with our Sopwith Camels...