weirwulf

Only just noticed the lovely dace. Magnificent! A very much underated species in a world obsessed with huge carp and barbel it is sometimes great to do as you have and go back to simplicity. Trouble is many never learnt the art of trotting and many never will. Well done that man!

Of course arbocop, presentation counts for loads in every form of our sport though in my local river it is often not what the fish can see but what they can feel and smell so the important thing is keeping it all pinned down and having a good scent. I often fill a solid pva bag with hali oil and gravel so there is scent but no feed

That is stuff that most of us can only dream about Newt. I think I shall retire and join you

I think perhaps success can depend on familiarity. My local river just 2 seasons ago you would have struggled to catch barbel with anything other than meat and using 2 rods with different baits the meat rod accounted for more than 90 percent. Lately with the increase in popularity many anglers have joined the barbel ranks and having read the books have introduced mainly elips. The barbel have obviously learned that these are rather nice despite sometimes getting a hook and in one area I now struggle to catch with the meat whereas the elips do the trick. Pellets other than the elips are still not as effective though.

I am always one to appreciate and respect others opinions but I do have to mention that if you use sweetcorn for grayling please do not feed very much as grayling in particular find it difficult to digest. That said it does seem to sort out the bigger fish and especially on a pacey river can be presented well due to it's weight and density over that of maggots.

I have caught a number of good perch with the best weighed fish at 3lb 14oz but my preference is to use several small red worms rather than a lob. As most of you say, the chub will often be a bit further out in the flow than the perch which can help you to gain confidence in slower swims. I just find the smaller worms seem less attractive to the chub and more selective towards the perch. I like to use mole hill soil as a ground bait too and this holds better in the slower areas of my local river. I have noticed a definite preference for the perch to take the bait when either the float has been halted or a small maggot feeder used on a very fine quiver of an ounce or less invariably does the trick

Most of those species are new to me! We are quite lucky that the barbel feed right down to around 5 degrees but chub feed happily with snow on the ground as do the grayling so the only thing stopping you from fishing is the line freezing in the rod rings. Glycerine helps here but after a while the ice build up on the line gets too annoying to continue

Thanks for that Newt. Those buttons are quite plain to see now but I swear they were not available previously! It sounds as though fishing in general is quite good where you live though I am lucky enough to live within a short distance of the upper part of the River Medway here in the UK south east. It is very diverese and with some practice it is possible to catch most species including some fine barbel when the water temperature is high enough for them to feed. Once the temperature goes below around 5 degrees you can then enjoy lighter tackle in search of grayling. Fantastic if you like that kind of thing

This is of course dreadful news and if it is anything like the last pollution local to me the EA will not play a huge part in bringing it to attention or ensuring the culprits are located and dealt with appropriately. For us it took 3 years and was largely down to the efforts of the Angling Trust. Disgraceful!

I tagged on to the end of this topic as the Drennan Floatfish I normally rely on has failed on 2 breaking strains after just one season. All we look for is a supple floating line of a good diameter for a given strength and one you can count on not to break long before it should. Float fish was THE one to have but now I have doubts. Perhaps it just got too hot in my loft but as far as I know line deteriorates quickest with sunlight. My Fox and Daiwa thin lines are still ok but not so good at floating

Thanks Newt Still unsure about how to reply to a post without bringing up the previous message or how to begin a fresh topic. However as you say the forum can be useful despite all the accumulated knowledge we each have. No point having it if you are not prepared to share it! I had also hoped to raise the queries about site usage via a pm but that appears to be out of bounds to me. Would be great if you can point me the right direction and then I can join in the fun

Hi all! Another new member. Despite 50 years of angling I still know very little about pike so not much use to the other newbie