tiddlertamer

My speciality is breaking landing net handles - three in a season! Though I do suspect one was not my fault but trodden on in the dark by one of the finest denizens of the angling scene during the last Anglers Net gathering at Barton's Court on the river Kennet. A small price to pay for meeting lots of lovely people at a cracking venue though. I'm a pretty dab hand at breaking favourite floats too as well as leaving the occasional one up a tree - not the best place to catch a fish...

Today's Angling Times had an article on 'Britain's next killer boilie'. Named the 'Chav's Breakfast' it contains the flavours of Monster Munch and Wotsits as well as bubble gum and energy drink Red Bull... I am hoping it was a joke but it's a bit late for April Fools Day... And a major manufacturer has invited the inventor, who created his recipe for an Angling Times competition, to their headquarters in Essex to witness the creation of his bait. Sometimes there just aren't the words...

In replying to Anderoos post on summer, lethargy and angling, which was recently lost, I fortunately wrote up my reply in Word rather than in Anglers Net - due to a dodgy wireless router which kept losing my internet connection just as I was popping in my final full stop when replying to a post - meaning I can recover at least part of a thread otherwise lost to posterity. Sorry but only Anderoos' original post and my answer are saved. But here we go. An interesting subject to which regulars and newcomers alike will hopefully contribute. Anderoo: I love the summer but I just can't muster up any enthusiasm for fishing. The lack of reports and new fishy topics on here suggests I'm not alone, unless everyone's being all secret squirrel! Autumn, Winter and Spring will all see me totally absorbed in something or other, whether it's tench, bream, perch, chub, or something else, but what do you do in Summer? What I'd really like to do is sit next to a quiet, pretty little pool and float fish sweetcorn next to the lilly pads, or close to the overhanging branches of an old willow, not expecting much but not caring - just relaxing in wonderful, calm surroundings. But those lovely, quiet pools don't exist any more. I had another little go at the tributary at the weekend, but soon became bored and went home. It's clearly a winter river, and I'm just going to have to wait. Come September/October I'll be spoilt for choice. Until then, I guess I'll crack on with the DIY Tiddlertamer: I tend to agree with most of your posts Anderoo but not with the sentiments of this one. Perhaps with only a couple of years of fishing under my belt, I lack your experiences and memories of fishing from years ago. But I love fishing in the summer. Those long warm lazy days by a river bank. Stalking through the undergrowth armed with polaroids and looking in to the river to spot your prey. Finding weed in that favourite winter swim but exploring elsewhere and then coming across a lovely gravely glide just perfect for sending a float down its course. Warm, sultry evenings with the sun disappearing behind the trees and that magical time as the fish begin to feed with a vengeance. Timeless days by the riverbank with hour upon hour to enjoy unlike those short winter days when the light fades all too soon. Set against this I think of last winter and the bitter cold and the approach to the river bank to invariably find the water a dark tea stained colour and rushing through. And I would invariably blank. Didn’t a famous fisherman (Fred J Taylor?) once say, and forgive me if I get the quote wrong, “I’ll be happy when I’ve had enough of this cold weather fishing!” Now, in summer, I find myself catching again. And this summer sees me planning visits to some of England’s greatest rivers. And although winter may throw up specimen fish among many species, I do find myself catching more in summer. Perhaps by the end of summer I will curse myself for not planning these visits during autumn. But for now I await with fevered anticipation my days by the side of a river.

What tactics were you using for the perch? (and remind me to use something different... ) Mind you - your perch is over a pound bigger than my best...

I seem to recall some poor chap on this site in another thread who was bewailing the fact that he had blanked 17 times on the trot (not the long trot ) during last winter's difficult conditions. Actually, he might have been trotting as these 17 trips, were all, I seem to remember, to rivers. Step forward and take a bow if that was you...

I often ponder over the art of fishing and particularly my own lack of ability. In the depths of last winter, and early in the New Year I did blank on three consecutive occasions and on five out of eight fishing trips. However, though I have blanked, my lack of success pales into insignificance with a couple of friends of mine. One friend has fished the famous Wraysbury pit since the start of the new season along with the Thames. Wraysbury is famous for carp and tench record breaking fish but does have a low stocking density. The Thames is just out-of sorts. He fished for over 100 hours without success... adding a further ten hours of failure just last Sunday... Elsewhere a friend of mine fished the Fishers Green stretch of the old river Lea last season. He trotted on the first day of the season and had a few small perch. He then set up two leger rods and sat back awaiting large chub and barbel. He hooked and lost what he thinks was a 5/6 lb chub – one of the biggies. He then fished the same stretch of river ten times over the course of the season employing similar tactics. He blanked on each occasion. Almost an entire season blanked... He went back there at the start of this season and trotted again, this time actually catching quite a few small fish. His best fish was nearly a record. A record gudgeon though... not quite the species he was aiming for though he does admit fishing isn't all about large species Has anybody else got tales of their own or friends' heroic blanks!

Thanks Anderoo. This won't please my friend who blanked again at the weekend at Wraysbury Piut and is targeting the Thames again this weekend. 110 hours without catching. I might just have to start a thread on historic blanks!

Hi Anderoo. Any news on the Thames? This week's rain must have made a bit of an impression?

It used to be available with the two foot extension but this year's model apparently doesn't. Which is annoying... I don't know if it is some sort of cost saving measure by the company that produces this rod which gets many good reviews, but the lack of two foot extension does reduce its otherwise great all round appeal.

I'm more of a north London River Lee aficianado but occasionally I venture into south London (bandit country ) and fish the Wandle. A lovely little river. Has trout in some stretches and even the occasional fly fisher amidst the urban sprawl. Barbel too though I've never snared one. I have caught a few chub though, along with perch, dace and roach. London's only chalk stream. It really is a little gem of a river. Set against this I've hooked into many shopping trolleys - I've yet to land one though.

What a fantastic looking river. Congratulations on the 4lb chub too. I was out too today on a small river with a 13 foot float rod. The vegetation was pretty verdant too. I’m afraid it wasn’t quite the bucolic rural paradise you have found. I was indulging in a spot of inner city fishing on the river Wandle in London. Although I love the thrill of deserting London for the countryside and fishing rivers all over southern England, occasionally I explore the urban sprawl with a view to catching a fish or two. The Wandle doesn’t have the high banks that troubled you but it did throw up its own challenges. My favourite swim had a shopping trolley in it! The last time I had been here during the last season, I had to contend with a burnt out moped too... (ie one that had been set on fire by the feral lads from the local estate...) But I didn’t go away fishless. At only 1lb, my chub was quite a bit smaller than yours, but I was happy nonetheless. Another smaller chub and dace followed and then I left the river happy in the knowledge I had caught despite some unusual challenges.

I've just checked the weather websites, and that combined with oppressive humidity in London tonight, makes me think we might just get a storm tonight. If it does arrive, and there is a huge downpour, maybe someone can see if the dreaded brown algae is washed away from the Thames and post something on Anglers Net!

I had been planning to meet up with a friend who lives near Windsor to fish the Thames this weekend. However, he reports that the river is thick with brown algae. Since the fishing season opened he has racked up over 100 hours of fishing - on both Wraysbury Lake which has big fish but a low stocking density and is currently covered in green algae - and the Thames. And he hasn't had a single bite! I did ask if he'd remembered to attach a hook Anyone else got any disturbing reports on the state of the Thames.

Anybody else care to share any tales of a day by the riverbank where you learnt a great deal, perhaps discarding many old routines and habits you had developed over your fishing lifetime, before going on to catch a large bag of fish or perhaps a real whopper. What was it that sparked your change in tactics and what were the results?

Cheers Andy - a string of useful tips that I look forward to putting into action next time I'm back on the riverbank. And hopefully that will be very soon.

I’m going back to the first day of the season but I hope the following write-up may still be of some interest. I certainly learnt a lesson from my day by the river. I was fishing the Hampshire Avon. My tactics were simple – trotting an Avon float on 4lb line fished straight through to a size 18 hook with double maggot bait. The first swim threw up a couple of splashy wild brown trout up to a pound but that wasn’t my target species so I moved on. The next swim offered nothing despite an hour’s efforts. Walking along the river bank, armed with some new polaroids, combined with a crystal clear river, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by a beguiling sight. Five or six large river bream were moving around a swim, with some chub edging nervously around them, flittering in and out of the same swim. I crouched down on all fours and flicked out my float which drifted down the swim whilst simultaneously offering some free offerings of red and white maggots. And, watching through my polaroids, I observed how the fish didn’t take the slightest bit of notice. The swim itself was like a fish tank in its clarity. I’m sure the fish knew I was there but they were used to fishermen and their tricks and went about their own business without fear of falling foul of their ploys. Again and again I let the float run through the swim but without any success. Now I am a stubborn mule at times and have often persevered with tactics much longer than any sane man really should when those tactics are proving so unsuccessful. But even I knew it was time for something different. I cursed myself for fishing 4lb line when 3lb line was the choice of many other anglers trotting on the same stretch of river. I bit the bullet and set up again, switching reels so I could trot on the lighter line After 15 minutes of fiddling around (Yes, yes, – I know that is ten minutes longer than it should have took – is it just me that is all fingers and thumbs?) I was ready to let the float run through again. And? Nothing... And again I let the float run through. And? Nothing... OK – time to switch bait. Sweetcorn. I threw out some free offerings and the bream came in eagerly to feed. Interesting. Very interesting. I let the float trot though. Nothing... OK – now I’m perplexed and confused. It’s time to abandon everything I practice in fishing. 99 per cent of my fishing is trotting a float down a swim. But perhaps catching is more important than the method. The float was removed. A drilled bullet and ledger stop was added about four/five foot from the hook. The size 18 hook was banished to the tackle box and a size 6 hook attached to the line. On this, a lobworm was attached. This was then lobbed out itself to the middle of the swim to where the bream were feeding, their heads pointed down towards the river bed. The line was tightened and I began an attempt at touch ledgering. A ledgering expert I am not. Less than two minutes later though, and the tip of my entirely unsuitable 13 ft Hardys float rod began to tremble and the line twitch in my fingers. Even I cottoned on to the fact that this just must be a fish. Strike! And lo and behold a large fish began to crash around under my rod tip. Now bream have a reputation as poor fighters. But river bream, perhaps used to fighting constantly against a current, fight more than their still water bound brothers and sisters. Ok – it didn’t rip off 50 yards of line but a lively and interesting bout of wrestling ensued before I enveloped it in my net. Look below and you'll find a photo – a rather wonderful 5lb 10 oz bream. I was happy to have caught it. But even happier in the way I caught it – the change of tactics and way in which I moved away from my ingrained fishing habits. What did I do next? Thinking the swim may have been disturbed I moved on. Ridiculous really – any good angler would have attempted to bag the shoal. Me, thinking that the disturbance of the previous fight would have scared away the rest of the shoal, moved on. I did in fairness hang around for twenty minutes or so and snaffled a small but plucky perch but it wasn’t long before I had moved upstream. Back to trotting in another swim. And with what success? Two dace and three gudgeon, none more than an ounce!

Mine was definitely very much greeny tinged with black spots... Are we talking the same species or are there huge variations?

I just remember the Great Rod Race TV programme with Matt Hayes and Mick Brown attempting to catch all the main UK fish species in 30 days and the ruffe was one of the fish that they really worried about catching. Armed with a bit of local knowledge from Chesters they might have felt a touch more optimistic...

I try to target fish but of course, the unexpected species often shows up. My own limited experience saw me dangling a lobworm in a local canal in a search for perch. I got more than I expected when a 9lb common carp run off with the bait. Somehow I landed it though it gave me one of the fights of my lifetime. Next cast expecting nothing after the carp had thrashed around the swim, the float just bobbed and I struck.. .A perch? No a ruffe - the only ruffe I have ever caught. Diminutive but an unexpected delight due to its rarity. Anyone else landed something that they really had no idea was in their swim and either delighted or bemused them?

According to Mark Wintle in an article on another fishing website, Dick Walker did think that bulkshotting alone was effective: "It is necessary at this point to understand the importance of the final (drop) shot. Decades ago debates raged for weeks on whether the drop shot had any effect, with Dick Walker taking on all comers, claiming that a bulk shotting pattern was the only one needed. " Wintle himself disagrees though. Physics never being a strongpoint of mine, ( whether it be the first or third or even all of Newton's laws ) I think I'm going to come down on the side of a trusty river keeper I know on the Hampshire Avon who recommends bulk shotting alone. That won't stop me experimenting throughout the season though or from listening to any more advice posted here.

I think it's worth noting here that that this topic applies to moving water and bulk shot lines being used for trotting. I'm happy to broaden out the subject to still waters but some of the issues would I believe be very different.

Thanks to everybody for responding. Clearly a complex subject which I'm still trying to get my head around and to which there are a range of interesting opinions. Regarding a fish moving several feet without it registering, could the use of a 'tell tale' shot actually have an adverse affect? i.e. Could the use of this extra weight, no matter how small, cause the fish to think it unnatural and reject it quickly?

Some people think that the drop or 'tell tale' shot set up close to the hook helps indicate a bite on a bulk shotted line in certain circumstances. Others, including the legendary Dick Walker, have argued that it has no benefit. Who is right? If the 'tell tale' shot does have benefit, what is the principle behind how it aids bite detection for the angler? Or in fact, are there potentially any adverse consequences from using the 'tell tale' drop shot

Anderoo I hate the following to be done to you twice in the space of a couple of days. But clearly some sort of action is needed to bring this discussion to an end. Mornington Crescent.