Dick Dastardly

"Red Letter Days" Not heard of this one.A lot of you reccomend it.Any details please.

Very good point Elton.Does anyone know if any of the many governing angling bodies spend any time or money on PR? Surely there must be some one out there who works in this field and could start up a movement to promote angling to Joe Public?

Partridge hooks are made in the UK.Redditch again.Most British hooks are/were made there.It was an obvious follow on to the needle making industry based there.There you go a bit of tackle history for you!

Thats the fun of it m8!

I wouldnt lose to much sleep over the taste of the hook Ziffy! I would worry more about location! [ 12. August 2003, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: BUDGIE ]

Had them grab feeders,floats,the lead on the bottom of sunken pat rigs and boilies all when wound in!!In fact they like these things as much as carp seem to like controller floats!

Allow me to change it slightly if I could only ever use one of four baits it would have to be live roach,TP boilie,maggots and a toss up between worm and bread.Could catch anything that swims in UK with these.

Yeagh the JW auto biography was a good read.

Didnt mean to come across as "stroppy" mate! In reflection my post wasnt very helpfull.But I honestly believe you would be better off climbing the ladder slowly.Why not try a bit of specimen fishing for Bream or Tench etc first? You will learn a lot along the way and have a good time too.If you had done this you would have a much better understanding of the subject you asked about.More importantly you would gain some practical experience on which to base your own opinions on rather than just taking what others have to say as gospel.Above all I tuely believe that a few years gaining this sort of knowledge would ultimately make you a more sucsessfull Carp angler when the time comes. [ 12. August 2003, 02:38 AM: Message edited by: BUDGIE ]

"Bill Keals Book of Fishing" A classic for the allrounder. "My Ten Favourite Swims" Fred J Taylor "Confessions of a Carp Fisher" BB "Gravelpit Angling" Peter Stone

I can vote for the Leeds as well.Would recomend fitting a line guard though.You will have trouble keeping up with a Mullet running towards you though!

Why do people think that the size of the carp dictates the power of the rod? Why do people want to use rods that totally outgun the fish? Why do people think that to light a rod will result in line breakages when the exact opposite is true? If you dont grasp basics like this then maybe you should gain a little more experience with other fish before moving on to carp?

Unfortunatly not many dog walkers,boaters or general public leave boillie bags,hook packets,sweetcorn cans and mono line.Very hard to lay off the blame for these items.

Fair play to you Chesters.Any of the waters I have baillifed or ran I have always had to pick up litter.Part of the job unfortunately.As is trying to catch the culprits and educate them.Sadley I see many waters these days where the baillif just poses around all day dropping his litter too.What an example for the youngsters eh? What realy grips me is that by calling themselves anglers these dirty bastards tar the likes of us with the same brush.

This sort of thing happens all the time.Ask anyone who lives in Kent.Least with it being a club you can try and make this person acount for his actions.No chance when it is an Angling Assosiation or worst still the EA!!

I have just read the comments on the Sabs site was about to leap in and defend my sport calling on my 37 years of practical experience to give an educated argument BUT I DIDNT! Why? because once again the idiot minority has made us all look ***** by leaving rubbish.When will people learn? Bloody never by the look of it. We must get our act together before we have any chance of defending our sport from those who want to see it banned.Let us give them no ammunition at all.God I cant believe that we still have to discuss this litter issue after all these years. :mad: :mad: :mad: and :mad: again!!!!!

These days I very rarely use a keepnet,the local clubs evening matchs and the occaisional time that I feel that releasing fish immediatly will disturb my swim being the exception.I do understand that for a lot of anglers seeing their total catch at the end of the session gives them great pleasure.A good quality net used correctly causes no great harm.Let us allow people a bit of personnal choice and not detract from their enjoyment of the sport.Instead of preaching our personal preferences let us concentrate more on educating people.

Not totally convinced that a metal disgorger causes any more harm than a plastic one.But plastic disgorgers are kinder to fine hook links as they do not have any sharp edges on the slot that the line goes in.As with any tool they need to be used correctly.

Forget about breaking strains mate I always select braids by diameter.A much better way of getting the abraision resistance you want.

One thing that hasnt yet been mentioned (I dont think so any way)Is that good quality photographs can and do sell articles.

I too always want to catch fish,but it isnt the end of the world if I dont.Would anyone go fishing if they 100% knew they were not going to catch? No of course not.On the other hand you would soon loose interest if you knew you were going to catch exactly the same each time you went,wouldnt you? As allready said surely it is the anticipation and uncertainty that keeps us going.

Talk too the lads who specialise in eels.With them using a lot of small live and deadbaits they can tell you of loads of good roach,bream,tench and carp taken by accident.Saw a bream fairly hooked in the mouth on a lure at a Pike Champs on the 20'.Caught carp on jelly beans.But for really weird baits look to the catfish world,Blue soap,dead chicks,medicinal leeches it goes on and on.I suppose you could include the bait that I caught my first big carp fron Conningbrook on..three black beads on a hair!

Ah got wot you are getting at mate!No hard and fast rules there Im afraid.I normally just carry on baiting and fishing the swim untill it produces.On the Saonne in France this is normally around three to four days.

Hmmmm.....Where can I get a supply of these dachshunds from then? Then again not much of a monster at only 70lbs though!

Thanks for the replys.Will give them all a go.Had more or less come to the same conclusion on the rubbers.The line twist makes sense too as once it has tangled once it happens all the time.