Tigger

I think it depends on how close you are to the coast, and what kind of rivers you fish. Obviously northern spate rivers are a different again to a lot of the southern rivers which have less flow. The silverfish in my local rivers mostly migrate down stream during the winter months and occupy the tidal areas. So if I wanted to target roach I would be looking to fish the tidal stretches.

With todays clothing i've found the big thick jumpers etc are inferiour to the moderrn thin thermal or even just ordinary clothing. As a couple of examples....underarmour and superdry clothing is good, it fits snug and is very heat retaining. Some of the cragghopers fleeces are fantastic and are only thin. They also last a long time, I have a couple which have been used on a daily basis for some periods for over a decade, and they are still sound. You do need to check out the material though as some of them are inferiour to others. The tightly woven ones are best but may be a little more expensive...not much more expensive though. Even over the crimbo period and the first couple of weeks of this year whilst I was fishing in just above freezing conditions I was only wearing a T shirt under a small lightweight puffer jacket! The puffer jacket is packable and weighs very little, it cost me 15 quid from primark and i've been using it for over 3yrs!! It really is excellent and I can't recommend it enough. I would imagine if you bought a more expensive version from go outdoors or another outdoors supplier the jacks would be way better. For most of my wading I just wear rubber (aigle) thigh waders and my normal trousers underneath, sometimes I wear a long pair of socks pulled right up over my trousers and above my knees. Regarding chest waders, I used to wear a 5mm thick neoprene version which were very uncomfortable and surprisingly they really weren't at all warm. A number of years back I took the plunge and purchased some greys breathable waders which came supplied with a set of seperate felt soled boots. For me they were a big eye opener, the felt soled boots gave amazing grip on slippy rocks where wading in my rubber soles was like walking on ice, and contrary to my thoughts the breathable material was very comfortable and very warm! Several months ago I used them whilst trotting for grayling on a northern river and although it wasn't freezing it was quite cold. Underneath the waders I wore a pair of thermal leggings which are thin, and a pair of normal jogging bottoms and a pair of over the knee socks pulled over my thermals and joggers. I have worn the same things when on the same river in freezing conditions and again, I was warm enough to keep fishing. One recommendation I have about the thermal underwear/leggings, which may sound like a joke but it really isn't, is to make sure the fly area has a Y arrangement rather than just a straight slit. Reason being, if you don't wear undies beneath them ( which I do't as I find it uncomfortable) your knob will keep falling through the slit which is annoying and uncomfortable.

Yes, your right the puddle chucker floats do only come with one weight. The weight just pushes into the bottom of the float and cocks it, but, the float can usually take more weightto sink the tip to the desired amount showing. If you have a few various sizes of the float you can change the weights. Failing that you can just add shot directly under the float. You can use the loaded drennan wagglers which have the same set up as the puddle chuckers, the reason I mentioned the puddle chuckers is because they are short in the body and don't sink the line so much. You could use a genuine surface fishing float like the carp ones, the ones wheee your line is attatched to the top of the float which doesn't sink it, if you get my meaning. I'm not sure if those floats are called controller floats.

When using floating bread on the river I usually freeline it, and because I mostly use floating bread on small rivers distance isn't an issue. Although you can get a piece of crust a fair distance by giving it a quick dunk in the water and then underarming it out. Very often I freeling bread on stillwaters also. On still waters I very often fish bread on a running leger set up, this allows the bread to float to the surface so long as enough line is released to allow it to pop up. Once popped up you can tighten up and even wind down to varying levels in the water column or even wind right down to bottom if need be. This method also keeps your bread from drifting. When using floating casters I often use a drennan puddle chucker float which is pre weighted and you can change the weights to suite. I use no weight on the line and if I can't see my caster I have to rely on the float, although a wind or two of the reel can move the caster enough to get it back into focus. Another thing I do is attatch a piece of peacock quill or a waggler of the desired length via a rubber top and bottom and add a weight either side so the quill lies flat on the surface. The peacock quill is good as it stands out being white.

I think your right.

I've targetted chub on floating bread and floating casters on both still waters and rivers and at the right times it can work well. I have targetted very shy still water chub on floating casters and had great success doing it. I've also had chub on still waters using bread, floating, sinking, popped up etc but I found that on waters where the chub are shy, floating casters in conjunction with lighter lines and small hooks are the better option. I had to catty out a lot of casters, cast beyone them and wind my hookbait back in amongst them. This also works well for roach! I rarely use floating baits on larger rivers and prefer to use them on smaller clearer rivers where it's possible to actually see the fish suck in the bait. The method seems to work better on smaller and shallower rivers from my own experience.

Yup, noticed Ste's bait choice. I've had lots of chub on bread myself. My biggest chub was 8lb 3 ounces and I caught that one on a large chunk of luncheon meat.

Ok, back that up then, post your catches and stop bragging about it. Regarding maggot drowners, I can't think of any of the AN members who post on that forum.

Blimey "Matthew", why doesn't he post anymore? Be great to see him start posting again!

Sorry to burst your bubble, bubble floater, but just go away, you obviously don't go fishing. I suggest you go and try it on with the members who post o the non fishing section.....I think they will chew you up and spit you out ??

Your catching some serious fish JV, well done Mr ?

You are right Keith, it's most likely Rabbit again using one of his sleeper accounts. If I was John i'd ban the retard before he gets any more pleasure from winding people up. I blame that prick for the forum being as quiet as it is!

Bubble floater......have you got a problem with old people ? I would put money on it that i'm fitter than you ?.

AT is just a organisation, group of people being paid by the EA using anglers licence money to do so. What's the point in doing that when the EA could just do the things the AT do anyhow? Maybe the AT is another route for the EA to get more money via AT memberships on top of the fishing licence fee?

Apparently the government had not said no fishing, it was the AT who spouted that. Prolly so they could say they've swung it for anglers to go! I might go fishing again today.....??

Ok John, fair enough, you have a totally different story. To be honest John I know a number of people who work in these hospitals, and have had some close friends actually being patients on covid ward. My bezzie m8's sister is in charge of the x ray department in another local ozzy. She and her husband were both infected with covid. She is a big fatty and had very little symptoms, her husband is also a big fatty and has type one diabetese and he was rough for a week, but they both recoverd ok. It's a well know fact that the number of operations and other treatments has been reduced massively and some are halted completely, the specialist doctors being left hanging with nothing to do. Pointless me going on about it as you will dissagree as you have been told a different version of things.

For what it's worth, a friend works in the nhs, he works in two different hospitals. Anyhow, one of them is supposed to be covid free and the other has covid patients. He told me there is no rush on at all, there are loads of empty beds and nurses sitting about doing eff all. He said they were looking at Ann Summers stuff on the internet the other day ignoring an old woman who was buzzing them for assistance! He and the rest of the staff are all very confused as to WTF is going on? One of the hospitals does hips, joint replacements etc and keeps stopping all operations...why? As I say, even the staff are all very confused. Regarding the vaccine, apparently a lot of them don't want it? Regarding dicks fishing and having an accident, well, lets be realistic, your more likely to slip and fall on the frickin pavements which are thick with ice round these parts. I don't feel safe walking on pavments at the best of times with traffic speeding and often skidding across the pavements, and right now walking down the pavements is like playing russian rulet! As far as I can see, the reason for the ban on fishing is because people who do other activities who be upset because they can't practice their pastime.

I only found out it was lockdown when I got back from my fishing today ?. Private place with no one but the farmer who owns it and myself with his permission to even walk there so away from anyone and no one can even see me. I'm lucky to have such a hideaway (of about 2 miles) to myself :). maggots are to expensive to waste, so I used most of em today.....still got a few left though ?.

I honestly think dead baits would be one of the lesser productive chub baits, infact, I think a lure approach would be more productive than a dead bait. I have had lots of chub on meps on the river. Personally, I would go with bread, maggots, meat, corn, pellets or even boilies rather than bother faffing with dead baits. Good luck whatever baits you try ?.

Imo chub are more likely to take maggots, worm, peice of bread etc before they would take a dead bait, so I can't see the point it it. Also, using dead baits is more likely to attract a pike and chances are you'll be bitten off and leave the hook in the pike.

Hey Phone, hows it hangin bud :). I've still been going out fishing and unusually I was catching barbel well into december on the float! I say unusually because barbel sedom take a trotted bait during the winter months round these parts and prefer to take a legerd bait. I didn't bother posting as without a picture or two of the fish it didn't seem worth it. Anyhow, instead of using the link for forums I pressed ont the link for websites and the pictures appeared! The bait was live red and white maggots, I use as many as I can fit on a size 14s superspade hook and it does the trick for me :). No flies on you Phone, you are right about the net, I got it in october as a replacement for a trout net i'd got for a days grayling fishing and the mesh came appart, not a bad little net to be honest.

I haven't posted for a spell but thought i'd post todays results as it's the first time out this year . I had an hours trotting in the snow today, first bit of fishing of 2021. As I drove to the river the car thermometer showed it was 0.5, so only just above freezing. After arriving at the carpark the skies looked a bit iffy and as I started to walk to the river it began to snow, the snow progressed to heavy snow in the form of large flakes. At the river, it looked awful, it was a dirty brown colour and was still up from the previous days snow melting. I had no luck in the first three spots that I fished and decided to give one last spot a go before giving it up as a bad job. As I got to my last spot the snow ceased which made fishing more comfortable. I fished overdepth and eased the float down through the swim and after several trotts through I started to catch some chub, with some quite decent ones amongst them. I think I had four fish in total which isn't a huge catch, but in the horrible conditions I was satisfied. I shared the pics for website and they came up!

Great looking pike ! I'm keepin' al reet thanks bud :). I am having some good sessions recently but pointless posting about them really.