tiddlertamer

Ahem Anderoo... Oxford man. And undeniably north of Watford... I feel duty bound as a Londoner to warn everyone on the internet as to your midlands/northern proclivities...

Tip-top fish. What a fantastic way to highlight your return to the Anglers Net forum. Ignore nappygate. Your advice is always appreciated and you have shown, well and truly, that you can catch specimen bream.

Blooming Heck - I need to relocate to Lancashire and the River Ribble. Sounds like us southerners' gloom about declining stocks of quality roach is not matched up north...

That's quite some session. Congratulations. Any photos of the 2lb roach? That would be the fish of a lifetime for many of us on this forum.

I'm sorry Gozza. Your arguments about carp may be right, may be wrong or may contain a bit of both. But what is apparent is that earlier posters on this post have just been downright rude... I can understand why anglers such as Anderoo are giving the site a break for a bit and why Specimen Sean feels a bit put upon. Some of the behaviour on this site recently is a long way from humourous and simply insulting...

A fine fin perfect specimen if I remember rightly! Perhaps not your finest bit of fish recognition but many's the day I have spent blanking that would have been turned round by catching such a lovely fish.

A case of 'no can do' when it comes to spelling...

Not completely fair. I remember Matt Hayes having the top section of his rod breaking on one of his TV shows as a Severn barbel gave him some real stick. Maybe a structural fault but it does happen that a big fish can astonish you with its power. Me, I've only broke a rod when losing a tug of war with a tree. Probably shouldn’t have cast in there though. Not many fish in the trees...

Probably a question for a salt water forum but I know some of you coarse fishing anglers have caught these species. And this board is where I hang out. I have caught neither species but if a holiday in a lifetime came up, which do you think is the most rewarding species to target? I know tarpon grow up to ten times the size of bonefish according to websites recording record catches but bonefish are mean to be pretty special. They also live in fairly close proximity in some parts of the world. But if you could only target one species would you choose tarpon or bonefish and why?

I’m afraid you’ve entirely missed the point of that story. It’s titled Morality Tale and it sets up the rich kid who is a braggart with all the gear (and no idea?) against the poor kid with cheap gear. A tale of good against bad with the rich kid set up as bad and the poor kid set up as good. Brian Clarke sets the story up ‘like a thousand Hollywood westerns’. Everybody is rooting for the poor kid in the battle where the two fisherman ‘play out their own High Noon’... Then Clarke cleverly turns the story on its head. The rich kid puts his cast out and it plops a foot in front of his feet. The poor kid sends his cast soaring out to the far bank. Who would now win the duel? Who would catch all the fish? ‘The demolition began. Three barbel, seven good chub, two cracking roach, a big grayling, a big trout and dace beyond number’. Well actually the rich kid won. But not because he could brag, bully and had the best gear... But because he had read the swim properly. A lesson I’m sure we all could learn from!

Well I for one support you. Fish in a way that you feel is right. If barbed hooks are damaging fish, don't use them.

What a thourougly unpleasant way to talk to a fellow Anglers Net user. May your bites be line bites...

OK. Going to have a bash at it. LSD = Low stocking density? SD - nope. Beyond me...

Someone put me out of my misery. Can someone tell me what a SB/LSD water is? I'm sure it's been mentioned on this board before but I wasn't paying attention. I'm pretty sure it's not a reference to the favourite drug of the sixties and acid house culture though...

The Czech Republic looks good for pike too. I found the following online: "The World Record Czech Pike Clearly, even bigger pike swim in Europe than in the British Isles. The NFWFHF current world record, a monster 55 pound 15 ounce pike came from then Czechoslovakia's Lipno Reservoir, where at least six other pike over 38 pounds have been taken in the last 20 years. Jiri Blaha took his 4 1/2-foot long pike on a large roach bait -- a European minnow much like our sucker. According to the report in Splash, the magazine of the NFWFHF, the 55-pound, 15 ounce pike was landed without a net or gaff. All records were carefully checked. The scale examination, weigh in and angler and witness interviews were done by Bedrich Hala, a Czech magazine editor. So this fish is now the NFWFHF all-tackle record. "

So does anyone have tales of titanic Romanian roach? Plump Portuguese pike? Bear sized Belgian barbel per chance? Howzabout capacious Czech chub? Anyone want to share their stories of fishing on the continent or tales they have been told of epic European fish.

Colossal carp in France. Monster perch and zander in Holland. As the enclosed link shows, a massive roach in Germany. Are there any other European countries which hold the same species of fish as Britain but which also has specimens in excess of anything caught in the UK? Monster Bulgarian bream per chance putting the much loved Wingham fish in the shade?

Here's a link to that 5lb German roach. Large German roach

The Thames is not short on bleak. In fact it's swarming with them in certain places making fishing with maggot impossible. What intrigues me is Holland which appears to have both giant perch but also zander. And what about Germany - I recently saw a 5lb German roach online...

Wow - an 8lb 4oz perch. From a Dutch river. Does this mean the UK could possibly have perch this size? Any scientists/anglers on here care to speculate? Has a combination of evolution and the split between the UK and Europe thousands of years ago meant that the perch species has developed in different ways in different countries? Or, is it exactly the same species with exactly the same potential for growing so big in not only Holland but the UK too?

I wandered down to the lakes in Victoria Park last summer as I was in the vicinity picking up bait from Roman Road tackle for a river session the following day. Didn't spot any huge fish. Did spot a monster terrapin though. Must have been a remnant from the Ninja Mutant turtle craze which had outgrown its tank and been released.

I think the odds on Anderoo being anyway other than the Thames river bank up until midnight tonight are somewhat long...

Thanks for all the help with this and apologies for delay in replying - been off seeing family. I was using a size 8 Super Specialist hook and tearing off small sugar lump sized hook baits. Perhaps a barbless hook might have made it easier? I've started using barbed hooks for lobworms and used these hooks when switching to meat...

Simply stunning fish. Well done - you've put in a lot of hours and used the right tactics in pursuit of your quarry. Thanks for sharing this triumph on this forum.

Gerrys of Wimbledon has always been really good to me and provided an excellent service. Roman Road Tackle are good too.