Dan Dan

"jacks" are generally the name for the male pike, as they don't grow anywhere near the size of the females.

Yes, they are plastic shads, and you just feed the hook through and clip your trace onto the weighted head.

google is your friend, my friend! Contact Partridge Lakes

I know we're discussing gravel pit bream fishing, but I've recently found a stretch of the River Bourne near me where I seem to catch as many Bream as Chub! They're a decent size too, had one the other day of 5-6. What I want to ask is are the sort of techniques for targetting the larger bream (I know they won't go anywhere as large as pit bream) are the same on rivers as lakes and pits? Does the current of the river have the same effect as undertow on a lake?

I used to catch hundreds of these in the Wey Nav even a couple of years back, but now they're no where to be seen

boilies, meat, corn, paste, pellet, worm, maggot *insert bait here* carp are freshwater pigs.

The idea with pole fishing is to let the elastic do all the work. Keep the pole relatively high and above the fish where you can. If the fish makes a lunge whilst elastic is fully stretched you may need to dip the pole to prevent it snapping but other than that it should be pretty straightforward! oh yeah, don't bee too eager to ship in your sections either.

gay tench?

always flush

overcast, south westernly winds, 17-23 deg c lol...its impossible to give "best" weather conditions as fishing is never that straightforward! consistent weather is the best, sudden drops or rises in water temp will usually put fish off until they equilibrate.

looks a lot like a common carp, but with a hump of a crucian/goldfish, as stated.

Soemthing I thought about last night after reading this thread was about those rubber worms that sea anglers use. i'm not sure how small you can get them, but mighten they be worth a try? not sure if you can flavour them but again another idea. meat is an underrated bream bait, but on carp waters you'll get pestered. eels too I guess.

go buy yourself a few pet spiders

You'll be hard pressed to find one method to distinguish a true crucian from hybrids. Generations of cross breeding will inevitabley blur the margins between them. Tried frying maggots...they just went crispy xD

I would love an AN centrepin! Most ive spent of a piece of kit but Im sure its worth it!

well as you guys can probably se eby taking a glance out your window....it's p*ssing it down! obviously this is going to affect the rivers, and even the little streams will be belting through with debris and unknowing ducklings (bless). but canyou still have a good session? I know larger/smellier baits are the way to go in these conditions, like spicy luncheon meat or cheese, but i can only see you catching the odd fish or two with this method. anyone had a real red letter day fishing in floodwater conditions?

I'd probably repost this in the session carp forum, we're more general coarse in here! a simple running patenoster with anti tangle tube if you must is effective and tangle free. no idea ab out bait boats :S

Hi Rolo, What sort of baits are you using at the moment? maggots and caster will likely attract the smaller fish in quicker before the bigger ones have a chance to move in. there are two ways to get past this, either feed off the smaller fish and hopefully they will get full up and move off, or use a larger bait that only a fish with a larger mouth, like a tench or carp could suck up. This pond sounds a lot like one i fish, and I usually try and feed them off with maggots while introducing larger baits like sweetcorn or pellet gradually. Hemp is great for attracting tench and carp, but they can sometimes get completely distracted by it and miss your hookbait! Try elastic banding a pellet or a couple of pieces of sweetcorn and bulk feed at the beginning of your session, topping up when you feel the bites easing off. It's easy to overdo it though, remember you can put more in but not take it out! As for striking, just a sideways movement generally away from the area you are feeding to try and get the fish away from others. then just let the elastic do the work and keep the pole high. if it goes for a sudden dash, bring it down but do not try and stop it completely unless you're fishing crazy heavy. Hope this answered some questions! Dan

...show off...

go for it, but dont forget to tell us how it goes and take pictures!

fish with 2 rods, one with little or no feed and another with more? this obviously isn't a fullproof way of seeing which they prefer, but probably how I'd start. I saw a massive river carp on the thames on sunday, about 2 metres from where I was sitting on the bank. it was just nosing around in the cabbage in front of me and pretty much ignored the free offerings of bread I lobbed in front of it.

i have to say, after catching half a dozen river bream from my local they do put up a fair scrap in the current, using their huge slabness to move across whilst bending my rod to an unholy angle.

My recipe is white bread with the crusts cut off, a bag of green "swim stim" micro pellets and then whatever hooksbaits im taking with me (chopped worm and caster make a dynamite goo )

I use a regular blender that my dad has been using for years to crush up his pellets and crumb. tip for making even finer particles is to grind them, then freeze them for a day, and then grind them up some more.

Nice write up of an interesting day's fishing! I generally don't mind catching eels, I usually carry some newspaper that I can wet and grip them with easily in my bag just in case. i've not caught a zander yet, and was wondering if there have been many reports of them turning up in the Thames?