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Hi Steve, Fortunatly I did, my kidneys and liver seemed to have recovered well, although my liver still is showing problems however fortunatly they believe that to be the after effects of an infection, hopefully over time it will be back to normal. Craig

I actually went to see an infectious disease specalist yesterday and he explained more about leptospirosis. Aparently most people who get it just get a cold or flu symptoms and never realise they have it. You may have just been a bit achy and had a cold, passed it off as such but actually you may have had leptospirosis. About 40 cases a year develop further and turn into what we know as Weils disease, which is a name given to severe leptospirosis. Its at that point things get nasty! One main symptom is severe muscle pain, I myself couldnt put any weight on my calf muscles, it was at that point I knew it wasnt normal "flu". Its a nasty one as because it presents itself as normal cold/flu like symptoms you dont really do much about it, the test for leptospirosis takes approx 1 week and the blood sample needs to be sent to a special lab I believe in herefordshire. unfortunatly after the flu like symptoms, if your unlucky enough to be one of the 40 people that go to the next stages, it happens very very quick. I was feeling better in terms of the flu symptoms on the wednesday but couldnt put weight on my calf muscles, on the thursday my liver and kidneys pretty much stopped working. They were probably slowly stopping but you dont realise as its masked being the flu symptoms as your not eating and drinking much anyway. I have now purchased some anti bac gel from tescos, 4 bottles for £1 at the moment! so thats one for my pocket, tackle box, arm of the chair and one with my flask / food !

Yup.. the bacon sandwiches sound familier too! munching away, catch fish, munch away again! antibac for me now.. my thoughts exactly, if the EA just sent out something small with the rod license.. would help a great deal, as others have said, risk is small but real.. trust me! very scary being told that your kidneys and liver are failing, they may have to put you on dialysis, you cant lift your legs as your muscles hurt and your looking more yellow than bart simpson! something I hope I never come accross again ! can anyone recomend a good anti bac? pref one that evaporates so it doesnt leave your hands all sticky.. I should have nicked one from hospital!

Thanks I am indeed, aparently using the time I have been signed off by the doctor isnt the best time to spend fishing according to the mrs I tried to explain that some fresh air is good for me but it didnt work Hopefully be up to 100% soon and then back out, might try my hand at some piking this year

Guys, A Massive thank you to all that have posted and wished me well. Im now feeling much better, although not 100%, im getting there slowly. May I take this oppertunity to remind everyone again of the dangers being at the bank, if Im totally honest I was never overly carefull about how clean my hands were before I tucked into my lunch or put something in my mouth because I didnt have enough hands! I for one will be taking extra care in future! Im lucky that I had this forum as we were able to mention Weils to the doctors right from the start, without this Forum I would have never known it existed. I believe more should be done to raise awareness as others may not be so lucky as myself! Thanks again everyone, It hasnt put me off.. the biggest obstical I have now is convining the better half to let me go! Thanks again everyone for their messages. Craig

I use a polaris sidewinder - attach it onto any rod and you have a really sensitive quiveretip equivilent

and im jelous! now remember my birthday is in Jan

Have to agree with Stu there... A hot pot noodle sandwich is the best - you have to make sure your bread is buttered too Im a fan of most flavours but dont tend to use the little sachet of sauce! Pot noodle is definately going in my bag for the next fishing trip, never thought of it before

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help. In Anglers Mail there is an advertisment for a 3 rest Rod pod, 3x bite alarms and 3 bobbins for £20 (+ £5 del) Do you think thats a pretty good deal? Ive tried to read up on bite alarms and it seems you get what you pay for, but what do you guys think? Cheers, Craig

Hi All, I have two rods and want to start fishing them at the same time, I thought it would be easy.. but.. ive quickly found out trying to keep an eye on a polaris float or the sidewinder on the ledger rod at the same time as looking at my waggler is almost impossible! Its only when I dont get anything, reel in my ledger rod to discover the bait has long gone I have been looking at bite alarms so when I am using my waggler, I dont have to keep an eye on another float etc. Do I need anything else other than a bite alarm, ive seen videos where a weight (sorry I dont know the correct name) is placed on the line in front of the reel) - is that something to do with registering drop back bites? If anyone could give me some information on a basic setup of a bite alarm etc it would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance, Craig

Hi Roland, Take a look at the Polaris float http://www.ultrafloats.co.uk/products.php?cat=47 This enables you to leger without plumping th depth. The float free runs on your line however when the line is tight, it wont move. So you put the relevent weight on the end of the line (the weight depends which size float you get), cast out, reel in until the float sets in place and away you go Regards, Craig

Hi All, Went camping near bicester the other day and they had a couple of lakes onsite. Thought I would do a spot of fishing whilst I was there... I managed to land my very first carp! Wasnt a monster, only 2.2 lbs but still - Happy I managed to get a new species! Got it on a halibut pellet, hair rigged - Was also my first day of using an adative (scopex) in my groundbait. Managed to get 4 in about 2 hours worth of fishing but this one was the biggest Thought I would share it with you guys, no record breaker, but super pleased! Thanks, Craig

Thanks everyone, as always - super helpful advice!

Excellent thank you! Now to get my designing head on, think I may custom make this one rather than buy a pre-built one.. gives me a chance to over-complicate and overspend on another one of my DIY projects! Leaving me to wish I had just purchased one in the first place!

Thanks Dales Definately going to look at Dendrobaena - They look a bit bigger than the redworms and im hoping to get some nice perch with them . Is it just brandlings you have found not to be great? Any idea how quick worms multiply, I dont fish that often but wondering If I take a good bait box out will it severly impact the wormery? Cheers, Craig

Hi All, I was thinking of starting up a small Wormery - From the girlfriends point of view its for the garden, nice compost and liquid feed! But im more interested in the worms themselves! I know normally you get tiger worms for Womerys, I have read the artical on AN and am almost ready to give it a go - However was thinking this morning, could I simply use lobs instead of Tiger worms? or does it not work like that? Thanks in advance Craig

Hi All, I want to go away for a weekend camping and fishing. Ideally would like camp pretty much next to waters edge. Does anyone know of a location where this is allowed? Regards, Craig

Hi Jamie, A majority of canals dont have a closed season - althought I think there are some exceptions where the canals join to the rivers. Fishing rights depend on when who owns that stretch of canal, there are normally signs on the bridges as to who owns the fishing rights. If British Waterways owns the rights you will need a waterways wanderes permit (new to 2010) - This is a one off fee for a years permit. Best to contact some local tackle shops as they often can tell you who owns the rights between bridge numbers. If you have an updated Only fished on the canal once (and it was when I hired a narrowboat on the macclesfield canal) - Had most success after approx an hour of being moored up. Fishing the margin just under the boat itself! Hope that helps, Craig

Thanks Budgie, what pole would you recomend attaching them too? are they just standard thread sizes etc?

Thanks Budgie, What size net do you recomend I need? How long are the match / pear shaped nets? Ill measure the space tonight and see if they fit!

Hi Dean, cheap as possible if im totally honest - My local tackle shop have some for just under £20 but I dont believe they are telescopic or have a folding net - space is an issue so these 2 are a must I know its a small budget but..... I can look at improoving hopefully later this year, just need one to get me through the summer!

Hi Budgie thanks for your reply, Mainly going to be after Tench, Bream this year - Some river fishing hopefully for the first time so would love to get a decent size chubb... thats about it, Im not after any big pike or carp... The net I was looking at on ebay was 50cm Triangular, made from aluminium I believe, but it was only about £10 delivered!

Hi All, Im in need of a landing net - looking around, there seems to be so many options! However unfortunatly im definately controlled by a tight budget, the cheaper the better really to be honest. Is there much difference between the makes, ive even seem some new unbranded ones on ebay for a tenner which look like they have all the features im looking for, a telescopic handle (smaller storage!) and a folding triangular head - or am I leading myself into a false sense of security and they will in fact break after 10 seconds. On the otherhand, ive just read Sportsman's topic on the £20 handle which seems to be poor quality. Does price make a massive difference at the lower end of the scale? Im not expecting to pull out any monster carp anytime soon, just perhaps some nice bream, tench and chubb if im lucky! Thanks in advance, Craig

Thanks Guys, I really appreciate hearing all the different points of view - I allready have some eyed hooks so will get my next set as spades and just compare on the waters I fish, no doubt ill find that different waters prefer different presentations etc ! One thing I never knew before getting into this hobby - how one lake can be so different from another! There was me thinking ill get a rod, stick it in and pull out a fish, how wrong could I be! But for all the good reasons, im addicted to just reading up on different methods, testing them out and constantly trying to find the perfect method... Some how I dont think ill ever find it

Thanks Guys, Ive been using the Palomar knot to tie my eyed hooks, but the hook always looks odd, I wanted to use spade ends as I know everyone says the presentation is much better. Very silly question, Can the Palomar work with spade ends? Thanks Anderoo, ther person ive seen on ebay will mix and match different hooks for me so I wanted to get a selection, ill definately see if he has those available. I must admit, Im aiming to get a Perch this summer as my current list only contains Roach and Rudd Edit: Anderoo, What size do you use for Perch?