navybloke

Hello all, I'm looking for a third rod setup but a very specific one - a Daiwa Powermesh X 12ft 2 1/4lb TC rod (the old model before the small foam 'anti-slip' ring appeared on the butt) and a single-handle SHIMANO 5010 Baitrunner. If anyone can help, then there's ready cash and undying gratitude waiting. Face-to-face deals preferred, within reasonable travel of Watford. Thanks for looking and all the best, John

...is it 'cos I is new?

'Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders', an anthology of John Gierach stories. His writing was single-handedly responsible for starting me down the path of fluff chucking. I'm surprised how under the radar he seems to be in the UK, because the quality of his writing is second to none. ...and it's a real doorstop of a book, too!

Graeme, All my lead and feeder fishing for the last four years has been with an Okuma Interceptor, and it's never let me down. Very smooth, very well put together, double handle, freespool facility for the real lumps. I've taken 10lb+ barbel, 5lb chub and 15lb carp on them, and they've been faultless. Not sure how much they are now, but I think they're definitely less than £50.

Don, Here's an idea. Rather than casting and then walking the line down, give it an hour or two in a spot with decent steady flow and try standing still, casting and retrieving the line with your left hand so you keep in touch with the line. By 'keep in touch', I mean not drawing the fly back faster than the flow but not letting slack develop in the line either - it's a difficult thing to describe, but if there's slack then your line will be drifting in curves downstream of the rod tip and if you're too quick you will see the fly line skating towards you quicker than the flow. So there's one idea - use your hands rather than your feet to keep in touch with the fly. Here's another one - stand still! One of the problems with your walking back and forth each cast is that you might be disturbing a lot of fish with your movement. If you cast upstream to one spot then you are casting over fish looking upstream for food which can't see you downstream of them. The fish are - or should be! - relatively undisturbed and might be more inclined to feed. If you can see the grayling, let's assume there's more than one of them. Put your first cast short - very short. Then lengthen subsequent casts by a foot or two each time. The idea is that the first fish to see your fly is the tail end charlie of the shoal. This way, you can genuinely catch most of the fish in the shoal, back to front. I've done this a few times, not often, on the Avon on Salisbury Plain. It does work, it just takes a gentle touch. Fly choice is relatively easy. Confine yourself to three patterns - Killer Bug, Pheasant Tail Nymph and Hare's Ear Nymph, the latter two patterns with and without goldheads. Oh, and ignore the howls of the purists and try a SMALL indicator to fish the patterns at dead depth or a couple of inches above the bottom. It will give you an idea of just how quick and delicate the bites can be - then once it gets too easy with the indicator you can take it off and make things really difficult! Tight lines, John

Spot on - carp, tench, barbel and pike and a host of small stuff including bait...sorry, minnows. Good stuff, isn't it!?!?!?

I fished the river at Little Britain about eighteen months ago. I took a few small barbel casting up into the weirpool from the concrete sill - and lost a couple on a gravel bar that stretches the width of the pool. I also had chub up to 4lb 8oz from a number of swims, on meat with oily groundbait and crust with mashed bread and hemp. Best swims were the wierpool and about 100 yards below it where a backstream joined the main flow. Much of the river was pretty shallow, but the fish are in there. I walked the lake a fair bit, but never saw a thing. Tight lines, John

Chris, Right, that's it, the Gade's looking good for next season - and a bit of this one, I guess! I can't message you for some reason - perhaps I'm too junior to be trusted with that feature so far - I wouldn't mind starting some e-mail tennis to get some hints and tips if you don't mind! Cheers, John

Rob, Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head there - I've tended to do two or more days at a time and I've got used to the trappings of a bivvy lifestyle. You know; "I've got a green tent, I've got a green bed, therefore I must be a serious carp angler!". If I'm honest, I've already got the kit I need for overnighters, it just takes some moral courage to slim the kit down sufficiently! I'm looking at Farlows as my chosen regular overnight venue - have you fished it much, Rob? Cheers, John

Hello All, Come the New Year I'm living at work (near Watford) Monday to Friday so I'm looking at doing at least two overnighters per week. I need to be set up quick and tackled down quick to get to work the next morning (I'm military, so few excuses for bad timekeeping!), and need to carry it all in one go. What I'm after is the lightest possible bedchair and lightest possible shelter, for single-night sessions. All recommendations are graefully recieved. Cheers, John

Raycab, This doesn't really answer your question, but it might whet your appetite a little more. Have a look at these links: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsoJyrdQCM http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=erGJtvSTVco&...feature=related http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=erGJtvSTVco&...feature=related It certainly worked for me! tight lines,

Candiru - straight up the todger of any chav, pedunkle or lout who had a pee in spmeone's precious venue!

It makes me wonder, though - I got the impression that the Adams Mill fish...which are small(ish) water fish after all...have got so big due to the amount of high-protein and nutritional bait going in. If it was crayfish they were scoffing, then Thames fish would be pushing twenties now on a regular basis. I didn't think that the Wensum was a 'circuit' water, but if it's not crayfish in a small river it's presumably bait. IS the Wensum a bit of a specialist mecca after all, and is it going to suffer from 100s of kilos of pellets being slung in?

Keith, That really is a stunning-looking place - if there's decent-sized fish in there, and if I'd be able to fish quick overnighters, then please, please give me the details!!! I presume my e-mail is in my member details, if not I'll try and contact you. Regards, John

Chris, Thanks for a really helpful reply, it was very useful. In my first year at Northwood I got a night ticket for Batchworth and never even wet a line in there! I may have to remedy that in 2009. Only snag for summer is that I've heard the water is very weedy and responds best to a lot of bait - not an ideal situation for quick overnighters, but we'll see. The Gade in Cassiobury intrigues me. It is the stretch in the Park you're talking about, I take it? I've walked it a couple of times and it looks just like a posh chalkstream gone to seed - which I guess it might be. You're saying there's barbel in there? That really would whet my appetite! Aldenham - yes, it is mouth-watering, isn't it? But life may just be a little too short for such a campaign! Thanks again, John