Dan Dan

Underarm casting is as important, if not more than overhead in my opinion. There's less splash and you can it's much easier to guage distance. I can pretty much cast in any situation, but thats because im just plain awesome ;D

I must admit, I get in some confusion when it comes to shotting stick floats correctly. I usually favour the "bulk" method, have 3-4BB about 12 inches from the hook with a no 4 or 6 dropper about 3-4 inches. Shirt pattern just gets me in tangles =/

and a couple of packs of pro plus!

the main key to casting is keeping an eye on where you want to cast rather than the rig, and to let the line loose at the right point (your arms should both be straight or near to when you let the line go).

Very nice! I always regret cutting off hairs after deciding on a change of bait, this will definately save time! plus the name is awesome ;D

Sounds like you got enough to get you going, I'd definately reccommend a hook length however. Make up a few to swivels from 10 inches to a couple of feet, and start with the longest and work your way down. Hopefully after you start building up your swim (good stuff recasting every 10 mins) the fish won't mind a shorter hooklength, but start longer. Plug up your feeder with fishmeal groundbait and crush up some pellets and hemp in between should work a treat. Not sure about just taking worms, try and get some luncheon meat, bread and a few maggots maybe as well. Not had any experience with trout, but I'm pretty sure you don't need to groundbait for them! You're more likely to catch chub, perch, eels and maybe if you're uber lucky a barbel (not sure if the douglas has any though). Best approach is to wander along. If you're feeder fishing, this may not be as simple since youre effectively "wasting" bait by feeding a swim to move from, so maybe have a walk along before fishing, choose 3 or 4 likely looking swims (slack water at the edge of fast water, undercuts, floating rafts of leaves and stuff, underwater obstacles) and put in some bait beforehand, then go back to the beginning and top up as you move along. This is something I do on the Bourne with great results.

Talk about picking a winner! Congrats Chris

They could just do what that fishing programme on Discovery did, where 2 people would get points for the fish and live off them for like a week, and the one who survives wins xD

I don't think of fishing as even a sport. I see it as a passtime, a way to return to old ways of human nature. There would definately be interest by match anglers or specimin hunters, but if they had it their way it'd be all sponsors and no fishing. Team GB would win Gold though, so maybe there lies one reason...so we're not bottom of the medal table.

They should put the medals round the 3 biggest fish and the ones who catch it win the medal!

I've trotted a float through many a time, not easy to control it with all the weed and that around but I do know of a couple of holes this side of the shelf in the middle. Would it be worth prebaiting, or just investing in a bait dropper. I can pick one up for £5.99 so I think I will!

Thanks Andy, some good ideas there. Is it normal for PVA bags to float on the surface before they sink?! I was fishing one the other day and it bobbed up on the surface and then disappeared. Probably just came off the hook as I only just nick it through the bag usually.

Yes, ive a feeling the PVA bags i'm using are melting before they reach the bottom. The water's really deep (around 12 feet in some places) so I think a biat dropper would be best. I'm talking about casting 60 feet max.

about making a wormery, how do worms breed!? I'm not sure i'v ever noticed a particularly well hung worm, not that i'm looking. what sort of number would you need to start a wormery? Can you mix lobs with reds and deebs?

I've seen a few about, wasn't sure if they were usable for casting distances, or more for under the rod tip fishing. The river's up at the moment as it's been raining quite heavily for the last day or so, might have to use a lead tonight...

Hey guys, I read a lot about fish behaviour and "spotting" a fish (usually when fishing rivers for chub and barbel), but most of the rivers I fish are pretty deep and you can't effectively spot a fish, which makes baiting up a swim accurately hard. From what I know of fishing the river (it's a part of the Wey) and this swim in particular is that it's very shallow under the bridge (to the left, upstream) but it's full of crap like trolleys and motorbikes so I doubt many fish will be there. Then as comes into the main part of the swim (in front of me) the shallows drop off from the centre outwards, getting deeper towards the banks. There's a lot of weed in the centre and on either bar and i'd imagine these would be the places to bait up. Fishing the near bar is easy enough, but the weed is terrible. The far one is harder as I have to cast across the current and it's unlikely the feeder will drop to the same spot each time. However, what I think would be the best spot to hit is at the end of the bar, straight down the centre of the river. I should really take a picture and label it because I doubt any of that is very clear, but what i'm asking is how can I know where to bait up if I can't see the fish to bait towards!

Hi Rabbit, Would this mix work well for chub and barbel? i'm looking for a mix to use on a part of the wey as at the moment I'm fishing a maggot feeder with little success. Could you mash up some hemp and add that in too? Eheh just saw this post! I'll have to give it a go

I agree with ayjay, palamor knots are the best for higher BS line imo, the turns on a grinner or water knot seem not to lie correctly above the shank. works fine on smaller diameter/smaller BS but as I choose a stronger line, I prefer a different knot altogether. Sounds like poor knot tying anyway.

I bought a cheapie one from argo for a tenner, and i've had no problems with it! folds down nicely with fits in my rod bag fine. Not had to withstand extreme weather, but it's kept my dry and out of the wind when I needed it to!

Yes tigger, the sharp end still goes through the bait

rofl jeepster try dying the prawns different colours, the carp on a pond I fish are particularly fond of bright red ones ;D

I was out fishing today, using a small PVA bag with little pellets and dead maggots with a worm on the hook for bream, nothing spectacular but a couple of taps and a couple of fish. I had some Sonusbait Fishmeal Groundbait in my bag, and after reading in this thread about "light dusting of groundbait", I wondered if pouring dry groundbait into a PVA bag would achieve the same effect. The results spoke for themselves, I managed to keep the shoal there for longer than usual on this lake, topping up the swim after 20 minutes or a fish, whatever came first. I'd also alternate hookbaits and other particles in the bag, just to keep them guessing Not sure if this is a known tactic but I thought I'd share it with you as this thread has helped me a lot!

Yeah, but the pool right up by the bridge.

So yesterday I saw the most amazing spectacle down on the River Wey. I was float fishing in a pool with some maggots happily catching small chub and dace. I just caught another little shiny dace and looked at him in my hand, shimmering all bluey green and silvery in the evening light. Beautiful right? Well it was his last show. The moment I plopped him back into the water a Perch of about a pound darted out from behind a rock and nailed him straigh across the side, throwing it out of the water and back onto the bank! I was actually amazed I just sat there for a minute working out what happened. Little thing was still alive, but shocked, so I slipped it back in further down stream. Another 5 minutes and I was into another dace, fighting really well on my light float rod and stick float. I just put the net under it (it was a biggun!) as the same Perch came out from it's rock again and tried to have a go at it through the net! What a crazy fish! He went back ok, but the next poor dace didn't....i put the next one back further into the current, hoping it would have a chance to dart away before Mr. Perch came out again....alas it didnt...this time there were 2 of them! They were ripping bits off the poor dace for a good part of 2 minutes when finally a shower of scales decended to the depth as the larger one gobbled him up. Needless to say I switched rods and popped half a lob on the hook of my waggler rod and fed some maggots. 30 seconds and the tell tail perch bite came - a dip, a dive, and then moving off gradually sinking the float. I struck and felt solid resistance...maybe he was more than a pound! On light tackle Perch give as good as Carp or Tench in my opinion, and this one went like stink, I even had to loosen the clutch a tad. Anyway, 5 minutes of faffing about and I landed what was a beautifully marked river perch of 1lb 9oz. Biggest one this season It would have weighed much less if it hadn't scoffed my other fish though!!

i prefer plastic ones as they dont sink when you drop them in! but i do put a piece of old pole elastic through the hole and wear it round my neck. can't put a price on fashion these days!