John Weddup

A little advise re the amount of weed. Have you ever been out on one of those days where its cloudy/showery but the sun keeps coming through. You look around and all you can see is cloud. But the sun keeps bursting through. Its because of the angle we are seeing the clouds. The weed is similar. Its probably far less dense than we think with good clear bits between the stems below the surface. The secret is not to get hooked up on the stems with the bait on the way down. If you can get it through the surface onto the lake bed then you will catch. Fish love being in weed they feed confidently. The chod rig is good but is not necessarily designed for tall weed. The pva stocking, as Dales says, is probably the best way espescially for tench. You can make a small bag up and thread your hook length through it and it will protect your hook on the way down. My favourite pva friendly contents are dead red maggots casters and pva friendly hemp cooked in salt water or bought ready done in tubs. John

Tried one of these on the river thurne which is a slow tidal river. At first I was disappointed as I probably expected to drop it off the end of my rod and see it shoot across the river with me steering it with rod tip. It doesn't do that at all. However after playing with it I started to see what it could do. The river is a bream, roach river. At times they will only take a static bait and this is where the surf was good for me. I could get it to hold station mid river which allowed me to enjoy some bream/skimmer fishing. It wouldn't stay out too much further than rod and it was a case of practicing and getting used to it. I think in hindsight I still prefer a big stick float with my 20ft light rod as I find it easier to then trot through or return to overdepth easier than the surf. However I still have a couple and no doubt will use them again.. Incidentally all crallusso floats are brilliant in their design. I love their big sliders. John

cracking fish well done john

For interest to those who fish the reservoirs for predators http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/leisure/what-to-do/fishing/pike/ Bottom rule John

Mark its the 40ft drain which used to be called vermuydens drain. John

When Mark has either saved the money up or won the lottery.

Hi Matt They have the stretch at Great Henny. It is an interesting bit but the parking is one end and a long walk to what is the best bit winter time for pike. At the far end it has tree's running along far bank to a weir at the end. The weir is private but the silver fish move close to tree's and weir in winter and the pike follow. The early part is open meadow with also a fixed weirpool that could be worth a try. It is a good depth as you say but the rains make it unfishable at times. However it quickly settles down and a visit to the EA rivers level site will show you when. John

Matt which club have you joined as there are only 2 small sections to clubs outside the area either elm park or billericay. Let me know and I will help with venue advice although be warned for the last few weeks it has been hammering through. John

Hi Badger cannot help you with company on the bank as I am a loner mostly. However I live near Sudbury and do know the fens like the back of my hand these days as I do many waters within east Anglia. Getting help with pike or zed info these days is unlikely espescially on an open forum but some pointers can be given. However being worried about fishing weekends to avoid crowded banks is definitely not required. The banks are barren most of the time. John

Peter I reported this here a few weeks ago when there were high mortality rates on the thurne. I didn't bother this time as most on here just seemed to think it was natural and OK or even a good thing for the system. For those who live in East Anglia it is very important. The fish kills this time will be immense. John

Steve if tench are still feeding there now I think I would forget the perch and fish for the tench. Is dropshotting with worms or prawns considered as lure fishing. john

umm very fat could be carp/chub hybrid LOL john

cracking chub mate well done john

grafham have extended to end of January with 10 boats. john

Seen this in a tackle shop and the principal looks very good. http://www.ericsangling.co.uk/fishing/Fox-Cookware-Heat-Transfer-Kettle.html John

Since posting on this thread I am preparing myself for a foray or two after dark on the stour. Might even post results if I get any. It might be a week or two before I get sorted but this roach after dark thing has got me interested again. John

but hey having just the drunk the 9.6% cider does it matter.

Good plan Gary I drink the beer you make the tea. John

Well for a quick reply I would say head for the fens. A little further than Shipea hill and you get to Littleport and ten mile bank (ely ouse). Turn left or right at roundabout and you have miles of big river wild fishing for your chosen species with the odd zander thrown in. Turning left you are on Littleport angling water until the next bridge and it becomes ely beet club. This goes to Ely. Turning right you are no LAA waters until river leaves road. Continue a couple of miles and turn left to welney. Cross river and at junction again you can go left or right. Left gives you KLAA waters for a mile or so and then you are back on LAA waters but opposite bank and a bit better parking. Turning right at junction puts you on one of my favourite bits. Its KLAA all the way to Denver sluice. Its a quiet road with lots of good parking. Failing that when you get to littleport roundabout turn right. Continue for about 5 miles and you cross forst the wissey and then the cut off channel. The cut off channel is all KLAA but has big predators. All of the fens waters are dayticket on the bank. Just turn up and fish and wait till they come along. For more info look at websites. klaa.co.uk. They have loads more predator bits aswell. Laa also have a website just google it. Don't know much about the Waveney so cant help you much there. The other direction gets you to Sudbury. The stour can be a good river for predators. I have had some cracking perch and good pike days. It has many more features than the fens with lots of bends shallows deeper area's and weirpolls. Its nature changes with the amount of rain. The Sudbury club control the deeper area's around the town and for a few miles either way. Theses are the best area's to fish for pike. Daytickets or club books availeable from Sudbury angling, north st Sudbury. I can be far more specific about venues if you cannot find what you need but will obviously not go into detail about fish and swims etc. Hope this helps John

Incidentally Anderoo, being an old fens boy, The relief channel is making a slow recovery. I have been back up the fens again the last 2 weekends after zeds. The heady days of zed fishing are long ago with less being caught unfortunately. However chatted to 2 anglers at top end of relief who had been there all weekend. They had seen large numbers of silver fish. I called in at Benwick sports of soham as I usually do when up there. The owner asked about my fishing. He likes to hear a cheery opinion as a lot have been a bit down about fishing around there this year. We chatted about big roach and methods to catch them. I got onto fishing after dark. He knows of no one who does this on the fens. No doubt there are some secret squirrels out there who do but not many.I have to say most of the silver fish anglers I see there pack up about 3pm. They then moan about fish stocks. Maybe something I should consider doing in my weekends to come there. John

Havent done this for a couple of years now. It was always on my local stour. I would have a few hours after work on lots of different sections. Weirpools long straight glides deep sections etc so quite varied. Put in lots of sessions over a few years. Something I am determined to find time to do again this year when the weed growth disappears. Just need the right river conditions then and me to leave some of the other species alone. With it dark at 4ish I often found the bigger roach would feed as soon as it got dark but sometimes it would not happen till much later. The smaller ones always seem to stop feeding about that point. It didn't seem to matter what type of swim I was in there was no particular pattern other than when very cold feeding spell was short maybe only 10 mins. I generally stayed until 8ish. Normally roach spell would be somewhere between dusk and 7 occasionally as late as 7.30. after then it became chub. I have stayed later and caught chub up to midnight. Never done an all night for chub as I would not be able to resist trying for an elusive stour zed. John

Anderoo how long after dark do you try. John

Dant, as always, is a mine of info but if you want more local info post a bit more about what you want to fish for and how far you want to travel. The problem with Bury St Edmunds is its nice and central but nothing on your doorstep so travel you will have to. What fishing you like decides which direction. John

Hi Mathew I don't think you can write off any time of day for pike. Some waters do seem to have a pattern of early late or mid day but sometimes the bigger previously uncaught fish turn up in between those times. I fished a Stillwater lots all night last winter for pike and zander. It used to contain a good head of zeds but has silted and weeded up and most fish seem to have disappeared. I didn't get a zed although am certain I had one dropped run by damage on bait. However having baits in all night I found a very productive time for pike was the hour before light. I had multiple takes many times. John

Well large pike including 20s are now turning up dead. I guess they can quickly recover. Ha bloody ha