Guerilla

Try this one: Death on the Wensum Link "...Unfortunately, otter predation is now resulting in such high numbers of adult barbel being lost that many of us increasingly fear that the collapse of the Wensum barbel fishery is inevitable..." "...With otter predation of fish stocks on the Wensum and its neighbouring Broadland rivers, the Yare and Bure, having reached a point where the situation has become unsustainable without intervention, the future is looking particularly bleak." "...Today, however, otters have left many stretches almost devoid of fish." "...Three years ago there were as many as seven known 15lb-plus barbel in the fishery, but today, due to one reason or another, this number has been reduced to two, one of which is a potential next UK record if it can last long enough to make the weight." Very good post Jeffwill. I can't believe this is still being disputed; Otters are simply killing lots of fish here. Have a guess at what one of the 'one reason or another' reasons may be if the fishery has the potential to produce a British record. Yes, the Wensum is stocked, but not to the extend of a commercial lake full of F1 carp. Carp in cold water are slow, but they aren't dead or dying. Would you rather take the really big, meaty, easy-to-catch carp and just eat what you want from it, or would you rather chase down a shoal of 4oz dace, expelling energy in the process?

How about this local tench? or this waveney valley eel? Pike? or how about a chub? failing that, there (was) always monster barbel in the wensum: Otters do that, too:

The fish in the neighbouring river. The fish in the unfenced 4 lake complex a mile down the road. Any other fish they can find?

As someone who has been to the lake in question, what may not have been explained is that it runs merely a hundred yards or so from the river. The lake, coincidentally, is also only a few miles from the old 'Otter Trust' establishment. The lake is only a couple of acres in size and was home to several 30lb+ carp - easy pickings in winter for Otters, which have since moved on as the lake is all but depleted of fish. And for the record, it's a very rare occurrence when I don't see an otter when out on the river around here.

Try Reelvalue?

Ouch. Next time the dawgs and spoons aren't scoring, I'm gonna mount my camera on a snap tackle and give it a bit of sink 'n' draw. just goes to show that they ain't all that fussy!

Mucilin?

How about a pair of battery powered heated insoles for £15? I bought a pair of these socks from chavsportsdirect on the weekend for £5. Used them once and were nice and warm but they've got a hole in already. Askari often have cheap thermal footwear and usually offer discount around Christmas time.

My first and only soft rubber caught fish was a perch on a red grub, so yes, I'd say they do work. Check out the Texas Rig.

Tried spinning, twiddling and knotting but have now settled on crimping. I find it quicker even though I insist on putting heat shrink over the crimp, and more importantly the sharp tag end. As Budgie said though, it depends on what wire you're using. I guess it depends on what you're comfortable with. It helps me having a tackle shop close by that sell some small diameter crimps, 50 for £1, otherwise if I was buying Fox ones all the time I might prefer a cheaper method! I won't be changing my wire for a while as I've got 5000m of 19 strand AFW - must try to punt some out on the 'For Sale' forum!

I do mine on the side burner of the BBQ to avoid this problem but now this has sadly been put away for the winter, I can confirm Neutradol works well in removing the smell. Just get a cheapo saucepan from Wilkinsons - DON'T go using her finest copper-based ones! As for the salt, some people add bicarb of soda as well. I think it makes the hemp blacker and some argue it reduces the cooking time. IF you can put up with the smell, boiling your own hemp is FAR cheaper than Dynamite Baits stuff!

Have a read here. I'm sure there's a YouTube video of one somewhere, too?

We need to convince Tesco Direct to take on fishing gear again, and sell it off stupidly cheap when the new catalogue is due out!

Dunno, but if you find some, Peter, don't keep it a secret else my pike floats will look like some of these guys: P&P Thanks for the link Budgie, and nice floats there Lutra

My sentiments exactly Peter, just not that of the company. In fairness, the lady told me to take it back where I got it from. When I told her the shop had ceased trading (Brundall Angling - she wasn't aware of their closure) she did go off to find out about a replacement for me only to phone me back and tell me it was covered under guarantee - which costs £25 "to cover administration charges".... and more than covers the cost of 6ft of carbon, a bit of cork and a few guides, methinks! Lovely rod, but despite wanting one, I didn't buy another in their range due to this incident. I don't have much success with glue for any DIY job so I might just cut it off. I'll post a pic later.

I've got the Korum rod and it's a cracking bit of kit. It does, however have one design flaw that Korum haven't acknowledged despite me informing them of multiple instances of the failure; don't screw your reel down too tight with the seat screw as the cork will split. It appears that the cork is too long and all of the load is taken up by a jacking screw underneath it. Mine split when it wasn't even tight to a real seat, as did the guys in my local tackle shop and various others which he's sold from the shop. If/when it goes, it is only cosmetic but you will have a floating piece of handle stuck between the hook keeper and the reel seat. Of course, working in a tackle shop, you get yours replaced by the obliging Preston Innovations customer services for nowt, but they want to charge me the £25 as per the guarantee. Good luck with the new venue but unfortunately a new rod does seem to guarantee a blank!

Very good advice, speaking from a recent bad experience and I'm not new to feeder fishing - just lazy. As the others have said, fish the lightest you can if you need to register slight bites. Also, different tips are often coloured differently. Fishing with my rod tip in the air, keeping line off the water the other day was difficult as I kept losing the tip in the trees on the far bank. For the sake of 1oz, If I had am alternative coloured tip with me this may not have been the case. As it was I had to fish with the rod parallel to the bank. 4,5 and 6oz tips are probably more useful for fishing for barbel in fast water conditions - as Steve said, not being bothered about small fish.

It's probably because of the Chub presence around here in the Waveney as dant pointed out previously, which was confirmed by a recent EA survey: UKs best roach river Chub in Abundance The article also suggests cormorants may be to blame!?

Time for another teach-in?

Never mind the bivvy, did you spend £60 on bait and not catch a bream?

I've had a spin of these reels. Excellent reels for the price - Askari usually sell them, but don't seem to have any so no idea where you'd get one. http://www.cormoran.de/co/en/products/free...ducts-model.htm I also got 2 Cypry 4000 after Steves recommendation. Good reels, but larger than the Okuma 30 and nowhere near as good out of the box; one reel needed regreasing as it had all accumulated in one area. Another needed the front drag mechanism stripping down and re-assembling as it didn't apply even pressure. Once fixed, they're great for the money. Get the Okuma with the warranty and you won't be disappointed!

Okuma Interceptor in the 30 size. Cracking little reel. I've got 3 spools for mine as I use it so often. https://www.tackleuk.co.uk/okuma-intercepto...ize-p-3134.html Otherwise check out the freerunner section at 'Askari'; plenty of choice there. Not sure if the link will work? https://www.angelsport.de/cgi-bin/askari.st...41/Catalog/1185

Update on the crayfish, albeit dated January 2009!? http://www.bctac.co.uk/Marks%20fishing%20blog.htm http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/managin...ental-news.html If you receive any reports of crayfish in this area, please contact the Broads Authority or the Environment Agency.

Hmmm, tried sending you a message and it informed me you have messaging disabled? Don't worry about any monies for the book, Richard sent it onto me for free so I'm happy to do the same.