Big Easy

Chevin Sent you PM. Ian

Messrs Chevin and watatoad Fascinating debate about Hitchin and the river Hiz. My father in law was born and brought up on the Priory estate in Hitchin, his father was head keeper. I will be seeing him over the festive break .................... I will ask him about the river and its history. The only down side is that he is not a fisherman but he will have factual knowledge as his PhD background would demand. Ian

thamesoddity You are indeed 'reaching out to one' ! About 8 years ago I instigated a new 'family tradition' where my son and I go out for a 1 hour pike match on Xmas morning. Once said sprogs had grown up (a loose term I might add) there was a lull in the morning which needed taking advantage of. We both fish so I offered to keep two of us out of the way for an hour or so before adjourning to the pub for a couple of beers before lunch. Plan or what ! The bragging rights are 'significant' and yours truly (who provides the tackle, bait, transport etc.) currently holds the yellow jersey although this year could prove challenging to get a line in the water. I did get put in my place about 3 years ago when 'the lucky b*stard' fluked a 23.06 whilst still half pi*sed from the night (club) before. Needless to say we have a choice of swims ......................... Ian

As someone who has lived in Milton Keynes since errmm before it was here I can shed some light on super clean sewage treatment and 'things run off'. BTW - I will try to deal in facts and I am neither scientist or local councillor The flagship sewage treatment plant (Cotton Valley) built to process the outpourings of the Milton Keynes population originally flowed directly into the Great Ouse, as far as I know. After some teething troubles they eventually routed the outflow into the Abbey Pits (mid 70's) at Newport Pagnell (water still run by Newport Pagnell Fishing Association) with the purpose of them acting as maturation lagoons to dilute the highly nutrient rich but 'safe' processed sewage. I was fishing this water at the time of change and for a year or so the tench fishing was excellent until the water got so rich all the fish had to do was swim with their mouths open in a soup of invertebrate life. The fishing got very hard until they rerouted the outflow into the Sherington Road complex of pits (also NPFA). The same now applies there. The only good thing is that the pits where the water runs through never freeze up and are always fishable. I was there last week but it was still chuffing cold ! Another Milton Keynes 'benefit' was the digging of a number of balancing lakes (Willen, Caldecotte, Furzton, Teardrops etc.) to buffer the excess flow from the newly concreted area before disharging into the slowly moving, and therefore prone to flooding, Great Ouse. These pick up the water outflow from roads and drains first and they do suffer from the initial wash off. This was recognised many years ago by the match fishing fraternity who looked to the canal for more predictable events. The discharge eventually runs into the Ouse at various points and its not surprising that stretches above MK 'tend' to fish better than those below during times of initial flood and snow melt. Quite what the cause of the drop in catches is I don't know, but the effect is noticeable in both still and running waters. Ian

Its Pete Thomas and it is Ravioli/Clarissa .............. and it was 44lb Ian

Good post, it could affect any of us. There is an interesting link off the Wikipedia website to 'Prevention' and the reference to a drug. Not sure I really understand the ramifications of taking it but worthy of futher investigation ? Especially for those waters with a track record or those infested with our 'hamster friends' .................... Ian

Andrew I have been using the Armo Aqualite bivvy for 2 seasons now and it is the business. Not cheap but excellent quality and very light. It even fits my bedchair with some to spare - you will understand. I have been using it at Wingham this year, Richard has seen it. If you are interested I will bring it along to the Sept. meeting. http://www.aquaproducts.co.uk/index.php?ma...p;products_id=2 Ian

I have been reviewing my 'Wingham transport options' despite using a Mk 2 Carp Porter. I just seem to need (?) too much kit these days. However, that nice Mr Carp Porter seems to have come up with some better engineered options. Worth a look. http://www.prestige-engineeringuk.co.uk/ Ian

Kryston Silkworm in 10 or 12 lb (not sure which)

Budgie - Thank you I guess that was my objective (LSD Vs SB) in the first place but did not want to impose my ideas without having some sort of adult debate. I believe they are one and the same and have similar behaviour patterns and, as you say, its just other variables that dictate the ultimate size. I do know people who fish for eels and they often tell me of 'accidental' captures of specimen bream and roach on double/treble lobs on large hooks and wire traces ! I do not know however if they catch both species in the same period of time. Ian

Tigger - Braided hooklinks was just bite off time when hooking eels. A change to mono solved all the problems except catching them continued without having to keep retackling at unearthly times of the night. Andrew - Thank you and I hope to get down for at least 1 day of the SG fish in and meet everyone. I would not describe my method as matchman style. Just a simple in line 1.5oz lead and maggots fished straight on a hook (no hair) and the bait put out before dark. Sometimes I slept all night (quite often from memory) other times if the eels were active it was just a case of either wading through them or changing baits. The issue I was trying to explain was the feeding of eels and (LSD) bream often co-incided, but not everytime ............. I did catapult more maggots out after each capture. Disturbance was kept to a minimum purely due to the close range. Ian

Can I say before I add my input what a fascinating and well informed thread this is. I am a ‘Wingham newbie’ and have dutifully followed Steves ‘instructions’ to read and digest this and the Ultimate Bobbin threads. I hope I can add something to the discussion. 1) SB – I have fished a number of waters (typically gravel pits) where bream have grown to a large size. Not ‘SB’ size but in the 12 – 15lb range. I believe they grow to this size as a result (generally) of low (bream) stock density and tend to term them as Low Stock Density (LSD) excuse the pun, rather than ‘SB’. The conditions that allow them to grow to these proportions tend to follow the same lines of all round low stock, light angling pressure, lack of predation, good food sources etc. All conforming to Steves general principles. My point is that LSD bream probably act in similar ways to SB, if not all the time certainly whilst they are progressing through the stages, which may be of benefit to the discussion. I am thinking along the lines of small groupings, seemingly random(ish) location, feeding patterns etc. 2) Eels and LSD bream – I was fishing a Nene Valley gravel pit 4 years ago and frequently (well enough to be noteworthy) caught eels and bream in the same night. The water, as most modern gravel pits, was not loaded with features like Wingham but the bream/eel combination existed. It was often eel, eel ……….. followed by a solitary bream. The swim was a near bank silt gulley (10 yds max cast) and I used 3 – 4 pints of maggots a night introduced by catapult. Don’t get me wrong there were many blanks but as long as you were prepared to work through the eels bream could be caught. Braid hooklink of course was a no no but ‘animal’ baits could be used at the expense of inconvenience. The landing of eels did not seem to deter the bream. 3) Undertow – I recall reading Tony Miles when he was fishing Startops in its roach heyday. He would cast an unbaited swingtip rod into various swims in the reservoir and would not fish until he encountered some undertow. Apparently even on a bowl type water like Startops the undertow was difficult to predict. Ian