davedave

Got the day off tomorrow. They give 9 degrees and sunny/cloudy tomorrow so i'm looking forward to it, also looking forward to trying out my new gf alarm and homemade bobbins. I've just taken a couple of prawns out the freezer for tomorrow, I was wondering if it was worth marinading them in a bit of predator plus? This is mainly aimed at you anderoo, didn't know if you have had any luck with flavouring? Thanks

Don't want to tell you how to fish but are barbed hooks really neccesary? I use them for some of my fishing but i'm assuming your fishing for carp, with a rig which is basically a bolt rig....when i've fished these methods i've never had any trouble with fish coming off. Feel free to tell me to shut up just my two cents worth. Dave

I usedt to use antibacterial stuff on my hands but it left such a strong alcoholy ethanolly scent on my hands I was concerned it might put the fish off if it rubbed of onto my bait. Stupid I know but just never bothered to use it after that. On any water you fish there's a 99% chance that there's some rat weewee in it but I always assumed it would be such a small amount compared to the huge dilution of water that it wouldn't matter dave

Thanks mate

Anderoo if you have a spare quarter of an hour I watched this last night I really enjoyed it, it was simplistic fishing and I liked the bloke, he seemed genuinely enthusiastic about his fishing. Gave me an incling to try this type of thing on the river on the other side of the close season. Dave

Thanks guys. Good read rusty cheers

I always find it amazing that perch and chub eat crayfish, they're big crustaceans and i'd imagine have a very hard shell. Do pike or any other species eat them? Sorry can't help with the original question, we don't have crayfish in somerset (or at least not in my area), which is good I suppose, but we'd probably have bigger chub and perch if we did.

Thanks guys. Do you use cooked or raw prawns anderoo? I use cooked ones http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=tesco+cooked+jumbo+king+prawns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42080656,d.d2k&biw=1366&bih=650&wrapid=tlif136044795257010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=W8oWUYCHOc2W0QWmmIGADQ#imgrc=UvswfAYQpm3D-M%3A%3BlJ0b8eJ2ATxtJM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimg.tesco.com%252FGroceries%252Fpi%252F522%25255C5052003668522%25255CIDShot_225x225.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tesco.com%252Fgroceries%252FProduct%252FDetails%252F%253Fid%253D265418417%3B225%3B225 I have found the raw ones very mushy and almost transparent, and didn't much fancy them as a hookbait.

Nice one Anderoo! My last half dozen attempts at perch have been pitiful. Can I pick your brains? I've been using these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TDA-Run-Rings-with-clip-5-Pack-Ideal-Carp-Bream-fishing-/360581725498?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item53f4587d3a with a bead and a couple of float stops on 3lb mainline 'straight through', then about a foot and a half gap to my drennan micro barbed specimen size 8 (depending on bait, but usually a size 8 or 6). That's my rig. I have been using single lobworms as bait. What have you been using? I've tried prawns but haven't had much luck. I would use deads but am struggling to catch them and don't want to spend all my day trying to catch some bait. Just the last few weeks my confidence has been knocked as i've been using my same tactics which have produced some good results last summer/early autumn but I feel like i'm doing something wrong. What tactics/baits/rigs are you using at the moment anderoo? If you don't mind me asking. Maybe the fish aren't biting or i'm fishing too shallow but something isn't right. I also think all the cold/rain/snow/snow melt hasn't helped. Nice one Rusty, look forward to reading it Dave

My GF bite alarm came this week. On the whole it looks very nice and good quality. I'll give it a proper review when I've tried it out on the banks. Dave

Reminds me of the river monsters episode where jeremy wade fished near mongolia with an imitation mouse

It's the river Isle in Somerset. The pictures are of a slower area where a lot of the bigger chub show, but most of the river is quite pacy and so has some good roach, dace, trout and small chub fishing. In matches the river can produce 15lb of roach and chublets on a good day. There are pike but are rarely fished for, i've had a couple of attempts but have never been succesful, although I hear they've come out to low doubles. I woke up this morning with the intention of fishing in the area in the third picture, as it looked really nice yesterday, but the forecast gave heavy rain. I packed the car up as it started to drizzle so called it off and went back to bed for a couple of hours, but then it cleared up again so I thought i'd give it another try and went down to a different part of the river closer to home (not knowing which way the weather would go) and had a fishless hour and a half trotting before the rain really came down and I packed up and went home wishing I hadn't bothered It's been really depressing. I've been fishing 5 times this year and had two perch of about half a pound each to show for it. I've had no luck fishing for big perch and my attempt on the river today was useless. I haven't had a good fishing day since December in the christmas fayre match. Yet I'm still stupid enough to go out every weekend. I really should just put my rods away for about 6 weeks but I can't do it Anyone else having any luck? Anderoo did you catch much on the perch pond? Cheers

A few pictures of the river I took earlier this afternoon. I was hoping to get out chubbing tomorrow but the forecast gives heavy rain so I may just stick my umbrella up and have a coupe of hours trotting. A chubby looking spot Where i'm hoping to get out tomorrow, it's a lovely part of the river A nice run down to a small bridge Let's hope the weather holds out tomorrow. Fingers crossed

F****ng series link didn't kick in. Is it repeated at any time? Cheers

Don't know what everyones moaning about, I couldn't fault it. Ok John Bailey could be a bit in your face but I think he was just trying to involve 'peter' as much as possible. As for weighing techniques I think the emphasis was more on fish care than pinpoint precision as they just wanted the fish back in the water as soon as possible. I look forward to watching the rest of the series.

Most people that break the rules, are fully aware of the rules. And that goes for the English as well.

What's a fish scarer?

With snow on the ground and the soon-to-come snow melt going into our rivers and lakes I think fishing is off the cards for a little while. I'm going to write off this weekend and try again next weekend. Anybody braving the snow to get out on the bank? Dave

Thanks Steve. Don't night fish so blue should do the trick. Cheers

My local stretch of (disused) canal can be a funny place. It fished it's head off a couple of months ago when we had all the rain and it flooded, but then when it dropped to what appeared to be perfect conditions we blanked. One thing I have learnt on my local canal is that it always fishes much better with colour in the water, and can be really really hard when it is clear. My favourite method of fishing the canal is an insert crystal waggler with all the shot around the base of the float and half a lob on a size 10 hook cast tight to far reeds or any other cover. I prefer this as it can be great fun catching the perch up to about a pound on light tackle, as well as big eels and other surprises. I'm not keen on fishing maggot as you can be pestered by tiddlers but on its day can produce good mixed bags. My advice would be: - Scale your tackle down, 1lb bottoms and 22 hooks if your on maggot - Pinkie and bread (not together, although never tried it) can be great baits and i've watched regulars bag up on these baits - Try different spots and plumb about to see if you can find a deeper hole or ledge - Try for the perch, they feed well in winter and can be great fun, and might throw up some bigguns

I don't know if anyone could help me with a quick question. After meaning to do it for months I finally bought a GF alarm last night, as I don't have a paypal account I sent my sister the link and got her to buy it. She's had an email back saying which LED colour would I like. Does this just mean which colour the light flashes when there is a bite? Which is the best colour? I didn't know red or green, or maybe another colour. Thanks

Blanked today Conditions were pretty naff to be fair, it was very cold, very colured and very bright. Still a shame though as it was a nice spot between the pontoon and tree. http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/gudgey06/DSC00099-3.jpg

Woke up this morning to find it pouring it down, and it has done so all day. Really annoyed as it's been dry and mild all week until today. I'm worried now that the rain will ruin fishing for tomorrow as well.

Thanks, and you. I hope I can get out but the forecast gives rain all day, so it's 50/50 if I will or not. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ta19?day=1 Fingers crossed