Chubstar

I use the loc slides and polaris on my local lakes very sucessfully, but I am fishing in 25 feet of water less than 2 rod lengths out!! You are using them correctly, but in my experience, the float goes under more than it would drop flat on the surface, maybe that would have something to do with the depth though... Personally, I would not use them in water where you could use a normal float as I do not believe they are as sensitive as a conventional float, but are a good substitute for a feeder or leger, one method I do use which I think is a more sensitive set up is a helicopter rig (or paternoster) so the hooklength is not pulling through the lead, which leads to less aborted bites as there is less resistance this way.

Excellent article Leon... One of my fishing buddies had a nasty experience last week with a couple of oldies who were totally ignorant towards the Pike debate and were horrified when he released a Pike back from whence it came, his response was "If you had killed that pike in front of me you would be going home very wet and cold" Needless to say they were horrified that a "proper" fisherman had such a disgusting view on Pike not being culled...

Try using butcher's complete meaty morsels, they are much better than pedigree chum, and they are not biscuit hard either, they have a small amount of oil already in them and they do not take water on as quickly either and are fairly easy to side hook too.

I had a play with a friend's Ballista Slims the other day... Cracking rods in my opinion, they're built on Harrison blanks, cast very, very well, I didn't catch anything, but he told me they are good fish playing tools too.

If you are asking how and when to use leadcore, my advice would be steer clear of it, if it is used incorrectly, it can be very dangerous for the fish, use a backlead instead, pick up a few more rig skills and then see how you view it. I have seen too many anglers use leadcore wrongly, in the right hands and in the correct manner, it is a very effective way of keeping your rigs "on the deck", and I do tend to use it regularly where allowed, otherwise I use the Korda flying backleads.

I bought a couple of the original Interceptors 5 years ago and I liked them but did find the seat twisted a bit under pressure, I have since upgraded to Shimanos, but my Father in law is still using the interceptors and after 5 years, they still work perfectly, so you can't grumble with that for 30 quid...

I like that one! I'm having to retackle after virtually every fish and making up a new trace there and then, and being newish to piking have yet to buy a trace storage bin or rig board.

I know quite a few anglers who fly fish and the last species they would want to catch is a trout, there are so many species that can be caught on fly or fly derivatives (biscuit flies and pike flies, salt water flies etc), but I think the lairds in bonnie Scotland would never go for it, down here, there are more sea trout caught on worms or spinners than will ever be taken on flies, but that doesn't stop them from spending 8 times as much as us coursers for exactly the same stretch of river (we get 34 lakes too!)

If that Perch weighs 7lb, using the captor's estimation scale, I've caught double figure Perch!! There's no way that fish is near 4lb, let alone 7lb!!

I like the idea of the single hook in the tail root, do you use it on other deads or just herring?

You have also got the fantastic River Lea not too far from you, I'm out of touch with the lea since I moved away from London, but you can fish some of it for free with some seriously good stretches available on a day ticket

I caught one from Chequertree a couple of years ago on a lump of Lamprey, was after the chub in there, they go to about 11 or 12lb now and go berserk when you hook them, good fun too, unfortunately, Chris the owner has been told to remove them by DEFRA and any caught he has to "bless them with the Priest" now.

I buy lead strip from a builder's or roofing merchant and then cut to size from there, can't see why your idea wouldn't work just as well, it's a lot cheaper too.

There is such a venue close to me that fairly regularly gets mentioned in the angling press; Longshaw Farm, Herne in Kent. I have had some cracking roach from this venue, there are also a good head of perch, bream silver bream, decent hybrids, chub and some lovely tench as well as the ubiquitous carp, it's clean and the new owner is very hot on fish welfare and litter.

I livebait where allowed, occasionally. The livebaits are released from the hook after about an hour unless I have had a take, and usually recover with no ill affects, they are kept in a livebait bucket with an aerator pump so they are in no discomfort while being held captive, at the end of a session the unused fish are returned to the lake from which they came, they are kept humanely, and as far as possible, used humanely too, all manner of baits are live when they are mounted on a hook, not just small fish, or do you just use bread and tinned meat or sweetcorn etc?