Thames Steve

Rusty massive congratulations! You did right leaving us early the day before and keep your powder dry for the last day. Beautiful fish. Hopefully that will inspire you further for next season. Steve H.

TrevBoy very possibly small fish tugging the ends of the worms. Maybe test the theory by using smaller hooks and smaller bait next time and see if you hook into them.

Thanks Steve, much appreciated.

Newly released - brand new in shrink wrap. Please PM me if you have any questions about the film - thanks, Steve. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Where-To-Shore-Fish-In-West-Sussex-sea-fishing-sea-angling-beach-fishing-DVD-/231165002241?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d2820201

Newly released. Brand new in shrink wrap. I was involved in the making of the film, so if you have any questions please feel free to PM me - thanks, Steve. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Where-To-Shore-Fish-In-East-Sussex-sea-fishing-sea-angling-beach-fishing-DVD-/231168014529?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d2aff8c1

Newly released. Brand new in shrink wrap. I was involved in the making of this film, so please feel free to PM if you have any questions - thanks, Steve. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Where-To-Shore-Fish-In-Kent-sea-fishing-sea-angling-beach-fishing-DVD-/231164974108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d281941c

As a bit of an outsider, I've always thought this forum 'suffers' from not being at the top of any niche. If I want to know something about carp I'll go to Carp Forums or Cemex, Barbel will be BFW, match fishing will be MFS or MD, sea will be WSF, preds will Pikers Pit...you get the idea. The more generalist nature of this forum dilutes the number of specialists on here that would have real-world experience of what someone wants answering. Just as an example, if you want to know advance tips for improving corkball pop-ups, 20 lads who make them, some for a living, will read your question that day on say, Cemex. The good thing about this forum though is there's some really friendly and experienced people on here who you won't feel embarassed to ask a question or post a comment to...not the case on some of the forums I mentioned, where belittling the less experienced is on the agenda.

Even great bait can't make up for poor presentation

Hi Budgie, I know one was caught from Penton Hook but you'd only realistically fish as far as Sunbury if you wanted to target them. They're caught rarely, especially when you consider how many perch and pike specialists fish the Lower who never see one.

Hi Anderoo, first fish was the 7, caught it just as it turned dark. The smaller one came an hour later. Reasonable flow, say...stick float type flow, due to the snow melt. Not a classic chub swim - no snags, no overhead cover. Both were from open water just maybe 2 rod lengths out in a 70 metre wide bit of river. I'd previously seen a high 5 caught there in a similar underhand swing out. I'm not experienced enough with chub to suggest 'patrol routes' a la barbel....but I wouldn't discount it. There's certainly no reason for them to stay there so I wouldn't think it's a holding area. Hope that helps.

Hello all, I'm Steve's (JV44) and Rusty's friend, the lucky captor of that 7lb 7oz chub on Sunday night. I'm a fellow AN'er but being a Thames angler, mainly reside on the TAC's forum so don't get on here much as I'd like. Steve has asked me to add to this thread. Previously, beyond 4 inch chublets, I'd never caught a Thames chub. I'd hoped to catch a lucky one whilst fishing small deads after zander and perch but alas, no. Not even on pellets whilst after bream. I fish Staines downwards and they're just not as prevalent as further upstream. Some Mid Thames matches are won with chub, with 2nd and 3rd places all chub nets - that would be unheard of down on the Lower river. However, the occasional beast lurks. So, 7lb 7oz for my first ever Thames chub, backed up by a 5lb 10oz fish within an hour. You go years without catching one, then two of specimen proportion grace your net within the hour! Fishing eh? Caught on quiver tip, 6lb line, hair-rigged flavoured meat. Water temperature 36 degrees, frosty net, lots of flow but all from snow melt and road salt As I've said elsewhere, I've learned a lot about angling this year, mainly not to second guess conditions. My two best Thames fish have been in a really hard frost (10lb zander) and then this chub in snow melt. Moral of the story, get out there and don't second guess conditions. The fish tell us when they feed, not the other way round Fished alone and an over-excited self take, too close to the flash but you can see from its frame it will be an 8 pounder before long - it's even beginning to develop carp-like shoulders.

Much artistic licence but I don't see why the claims about size should be considered BS. Only in this week's AM he mentions he's landed, weighed and photoed for others over 400 20lb pike, over 30 30lbers and 3 40lbers. If you fish over a lifetime, that often, on the right waters, you're naturally going to lose the occasional monster...and you'll remember them well, surely?

Shimano Purist Barbel Rod - has 2lb TC top plus 3 quiver tips up to 5oz. I have one and can recommend. Not available new in the UK anymore but perhaps where you live is Greys Xflite Barbel rod. 1.5TC and 2lb TC tops plus quiver tips up to 6oz. There used to be, (or still is?), a lighter version available but the one I have has a 6oz quiver. If you want to chuck heavy feeders across a big river they are ideal.

Idler's Quest

Just to correct that article, there were no members of the Angling Trust there - it was all Thames Anglers' Conservancy. The Angling Trust were very helpful in putting out a good press release for us though. Steve you mentioned about cleaning my sewage covered waders before we meet up....I made the mistake of leaving them and the net we used to scoop up dead bream in the car...and they're still there!

Hi Barry, I was wader deep in the river the day it happened with other TAC members trying to save what fish we could. I saw with my own eyes literally thousands of elvers along a maybe 150m stretch of foreshore at Barnes, either that had beached themselves or were at the surface right in the margins gasping for air. Also saw many dozens of eels I'd guess about 1lb up to 2lb. So a healthy spread of ages in the river. My 'anecdotal' evidence of eels in the Thames doing a lot of nights on maggots last season is that there are stacks of them under about 2.5lb. One EA theory, that I concur with, is they're choosing to stay in the estuary rather than go all the way upriver due to the abundance of natural food. The tidal Thames is crawling with shrimps and juvenile fish of many species, being a nursery ground for flounder, mullet and bass especially. Why go upriver? And you are correct in that the "98% eel population decline" headlines were taken from 1 monitoring station way upriver - hardly scientific.

Personally I don't like to see any animal get killed if its not going to feed someone but in this case, it does seem for the greater good. Native British wildlife should always come first in these instances.

Salmon effort in the Thames given up

You do the same as you'd do on a smaller river - look for features and flow variations, plumb around your swim, maybe run a marker lead over the bottom - it's no different. Depth on the lower Thames is usually around 9 - 13 foot and the flow is normally slow so comfortable float fishing. When you first go and have decided where to fish, resist the temptation to cast to the far bank - you don't need to - just focus on the bit of water in front of you out to halfway. If you're legering with 2 rods, you could do worse than put one at the bottom of the shelf and one midway out in the main navigation channel.

That's them Anderoo - they come in all black aswell. For what you need though - sploshing thru flooded fields - they're not the best choice. They're waterproof like a welly but only up to the laces.

Had a lot of dace and roach on them.

Caribou Sorels. Been making them since 1972, recommended to me by an Arctic survival trainer in the Swedish army. That's what him and his team's wear on expeditions. That should be enough of a recommendation. Wore mine for a week in -20 and my feet weren't cold once. Waterproof and snug, not clunky like moonboots. Good grip in the mud/ice.

Seen the programmes - that episode about fishing around the marshes where he told us about his bait digging job - 1,000 worms target day in, day out! S*od that! I don't warm to him as a presenter - comes across a bit too posh for me and it all seems a bit highbrow. I respect his angling achievements though. His book, Roach - The Gentle Giants though is superb. I recommend it to any specimen hunter of any persuasion. His dedication and passion for his quarry shows thru on every page - he was doing before the internet and the ready exchange of ideas and venue info etc, so had to put in a load of pioneering time on waters just following hunches and scraps of info. I've read his book Perch - Contemporary Days and Ways aswell and although weaker, is still one of the few books available about perch and again, his passion for fishing does jump out at you.

I read that article and as I had just finished Braddock's excellent book 'Fantastic Feeder Fishing' sat up and took notice as he obviously knows his fishing. Later that week though I saw an episode of the Fishing Adventurer where he's piking in Canada - he put 100lb mono (or fluoro?) on and got bitten off. Wasn't snagged as you could see the pike tailwalking - the line was bitten thru. If they bite thru 1001b, how heavy do want to go? Yesterday I was watching Lake Escapes with Matt Hayes where he's on a Dutch lake after zander - had mono on, connected with a pike that he got to the surface - got bitten thru and Hayes was left holding the end of the line in his hand - the fish no doubt had a lure left in it's mouth. To be fair to Hayes he said he was used to using wire but obviously he felt he had to fit in with local practices. I know we've all caught accidental pike on mono but these guys are good anglers - if they can't land their pike every time safely on mono then I'm fairly sure I and most others can't.