tiddlertamer

Just got back from a fruitless day on the Upper Ouse. On a stretch once graced by the late great Dick Walker. Sadly I didn’t live up to his high standards. The temperature was mild and the rain stayed away but the wind howled. The BBC Weather website predicted 20 mph winds for the area but methinks that was a huge understatement. The wind howled through the river valley. My fishing companion, an accomplished yachtsman, put the wind at over a constant 40mph. With gusts exceeding that... Float fishing was a nightmare. Birds’ nests of line appearing on the reel, and line reaching out for every tree and snag going. Keeping contact with the float was tough. Real tough... Not to mention the wind playing the sneaky trick of wrapping the line round the back of the reel handle on the one occasion I dared actually following the float’s progress... Ledgering had to be the answer. But quiver tipping seemed pointless. The tip bounced back and forth in the wind making bite detection almost impossible. Touch ledgering seemed the only answer. I tried lobs, a maggot feeder, spam and pellets. The result? A blank... What is the most effective angling technique in gales? Is it touch ledgering? If so, how is this best achieved? By moving the bait subtly around the swim? By pointing the rod at 45 degrees from the bait or straight towards it? Any advice gratefully received. Tiddler ‘’I've blanked on my last four fishing trips’ Tamer

Well done Andrew. All three fish are crackers. Makes me want to give up on trotting the maggots, and get quivertipping with mashed bread...

I fished two rivers last weekend - the Great Ouse and River Ivel. The latter I had never fished on before. I blanked on both. That's my third blank in a row... I'm going to give it a break this weekend and come back with a vengence in a week or so's time when the water levels have had a chance to drop.

davedave - I suspect you have about 20 minutes to head for the hills before the pike police arrive... Good luck!

Fair enough. Let's get back on topic.

Erm - telepathetic? Surely telepathic?

The river Wandle was hit badly by a pollution incident in September 2007. A sewage treatment works at Beddington released chemicals which devastated a stretch of the river and many fish were killed. The good news is that Thames Water coughed up £500,000 to go towards restocking of fish and the regeneration of the river. Many volunteers in the Wandle Trust also regularly get together to clean up the river. I found the following article through a google search and it sums up the latest news on the river. http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_..._gem_river.html I have fished the river regularly myself. I’ve snaffled nothing large but have caught lots of small fish. Other angling forums tell the tale of big fish such as carp, chub and barbel still coming out. Not recovered to its pre pollution state but on its way.

Well I for one disagree. I just hope I don't get the vitriol being handed out to Teme Man for speaking out against the views held by some of this forum's veterans. I like the tradition that has developed in British coarse angling of putting all the fish back. I especially like this with regards to rivers which are often not stocked. Twas not always the case that coarse anglers returned their catch alive. In the classic ‘My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways’, by J W Martin, he writes about one of his first fishing sessions in which he caught a 100 roach and a brace of tench in a single session which he sold to a fishmonger... The problem with fighting for your right to take a fish for the pot, is that logically you need to give that right to everybody else. Other Anglers Net members but also people who take fish for the pot week in week out. I’ll admit to a bit of hypocrisy on this issue myself. A colleague once visited Finland and perch was on the menu and he ordered it. I’d have done the same though in my defence, the other choice was bear! I know that hard working river keepers such as one I know on the river Avon would be appalled if they saw an angler knocking a perch on the head. Stocks of fish go down and other fisherman are denied the right to catch it. Let’s not forget this new age of fish welfare is one which replaced an age where pike were often left up the bank and even if they were lucky enough to go back, they’d be in pretty poor condition after being gaffed and the victim of a sprung gag. Attitudes do change. And attitudes could also change for the worse in terms of more people regarding the eating of coarse fish as being entirely acceptable, normal and everyday.

Many people who post on this forum support the idea of taking a coarse fish for the pot. If readers listen to the views of a Guardian columnist, those who support this idea may well end up having a lot of competition, when it comes to filling up their dinner plates... See the following link to an article on the Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wor...ater-fish-fight Views please!

I have read some of his books and they are excellent. One I don't own however, is called 'My way with chub'. There is something about the title that has me struggling to stifle a giggle or two...

Here's an old thread from Anglers Net on the Fishing Race/Golden Maggot trophy. What a shame that no tapes still exist of this series. Shown prior to video recording and in an era when the BBC wiped films! It sounds intriguing. Maybe, just maybe someone out there has a copy of the series? http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Golden-...ot-t495080.html

Many happy returns Chris. May you snaffle some lovely fish in your fiftieth year and enjoy the fabulous rivers on your doorstep.

A close friend of mine swears by split cane. I love the idea of playing a big fish on such a rod. He claims it hoops into a circle... But after spending a day with him trotting a river, and trying out both his rod and mine, I much preferred the lightness of my carbon fibre Hardys Marksmen float rod. In comparison, the split cane rod felt oh so heavy...

It's not really a carp book but Blood Knots by Luke Jennings is a great angling book. Well worth a read.

Hiya Vagabond What tv programme did you appear on? Is it still available and what did you catch?

Norfolk? Hmmmm. Must be the wonderful Wilson you refer to. I always heard he was a real sweetie. Can't be easy being a celebrity and running a shop...

Hi Den What TV progamme did you appear on? Is it available on DVD or still shown on satellite TV? Oh, and what fish did you catch?

I use a seven turn tucked half blood knot for smaller eyed hooks. It's not a popular knot on this board, from what I can remember from previous discussions here about knots. As a result, I do now use palomar knots on bigger eyed hooks.

Tip top stuff. What an adventure. Live life to the full!

I tried lobworms and cheesepaste on a local river this week. And blanked! Maybe bread is the way forward. Well done on a cracking chub.

Do you run features on record bleak captures? Just kidding! It looks like a cracking water, what with the weir and all. With the right tactics, I'm sure big fish will entail. Tight lines. And happy writing and editing!

Have you used pellets as hook bait? And trotted them? Thanks for any input you can give. Conditions are tough enough at the moment. I need a bit of confidence!

Hiya Rusty An interesting point you make about not trusting baits that don't wriggle. One I have sympathy with. But whenever reading about fishing and the use of casters, I see that authors descibe them as catching a better stamp of fish than maggots. Maybe pellets could do that too? I suspect casters may better resemble the natural baits that fish normally eat though...

Oops - yup Datchet. A friend got me access through the Civil Service Anglers Association. Rumours of big barbel and perch abound. The only record I got near to breaking was the bleak one... Enough to make me read up on flounder fishing...

I have fished the Thames further upsteam and it's a slightly different beast. Around the Windsor and Eton areas I had a frustrating day, with boat traffic fulled by the tourist boom there, making things difficult. Near Datcham, the boat traffic is denied acess. Something that could not be said about the bleak population which was bigger than anything I had come across before and drove me crazy... I listen with envy about the reports from other Anglers Net denizens around the Oxford area who are fishing the great river and its tributaries. Even the best have blanked there recently though. Back to Central London and the Thames though - one day I'll tackle it though with little hope of success. Maybe an eel?