davedave

Never catching one before, i'd love to catch my first tench. A nearbly lake i fish a lot is well stocked with roach, rudd, perch, carp, tench and others. Ive never seen a tench come out of there so im guessing theres only a fairly small amount of them if there are any left in there, but with the large amount of carp in there i dont know how to try and catch them. Any ideas?? Cheers

Just a bit of advice from a new-to-carp-angler, a week ago i had my first double figure fish, a ten pound common on a size 16, so i doubt the hook is too small. I also doubt it is the hook-length as you are striking and connecting with the fish so i dont see why it should be a problem, sometimes fish do just come off the hook, annoying, but it happens, maybe you just had a very unlucky day when several fish came off the hook? I would try leaving the bite to develop for maybe 5 seconds, any longer than that and you are giving the fish time to snag you. Keep trying, but maybe leave the bites to develop slightly is my advice, hope this helps.

How do you know it is crayfish and not, say small roach or eels? Do you actually strike and they are on your bait or do you just assume?? I dont know because i have never had this problem that i am aware of, but i rarely fish rivers and stick more to canals, ponds and lakes. Cheers

ive ha skimers and nice carp on it but i dont think i have had many roach or rudd on it? Always found it very succesfu though, just thinking of ways to improve it now

What cheese works best, i was thinking of cubing it and maybe ledgering it? Any tips

Put me off for sure, not that i would be able to afford one anyway

any ideas on ledgering it or flavouring it?

Being paranoid that my bait will come off the hook, i have never other used any other bread apart from bread punch. I was thinking of using artificial bread popped up off the bottom, has anybody tried this or is it just a waste of money? Any tips please

ok thanks

With cheese strings how do you hook them?

Did anybody see the matt hayes total fishing episode when he had a rod that had no eyes, the line just went straight through the centre of it. It was one of the older episodes i think, matt said the rod wouldnt be able for a few years so i was wondering if it is able now? Has anybody seen or got it as it seemed pretty clever, i would never be able to afford it but has anybody else tried it?? Cheers

Has anybody used cheese succesfully as a big fish bait, if so what type of cheese and how did you hook it? Any general advice really please

thanks very much, thats very interesting!

I was thinking of making a basic groundbait by buying a packet or two of cheap tescos crackers (25p) and crumbling them up or whizzing them in the blender, has anybody else tried this, how long does it last and what could i add to it? I was thinking of crumbling them up into a powder and adding something like an oxo cube or some curry powder, any advice please, thanks

Is there anything else you can do to stop fish getting tethered, i fish barbless hooks and use free running ledger rigs but is there any other things i can do to prevent it?

Thankyou, i have found it works now, couple of days ago i had a ten pound on a simple free running ledger rig, one sweetcorn on a size 16 with a handful chucked out, 5 minutes later had a 6 pounder but it came off right before the landing net, i was still chuffed with the ten pounder though

Thats pretty much all you need to know right there but my advice is if you have never been fishing before i would buy a cheap £9.99 whip and fisha simple rig with maggot on the hook and a mainline of about 2/3 pound straight to the hook, every few minutes throw in a few maggots to keep the fish feeding. Fishing maggots simply like this will catch you lots of fish, not huge but it will get started. From there you can try different baits, stronger line, better pole or a rod, and then different venues if you choose to do so, just start simple and work your way up. Hope this helps

haha

So is it a common thing then, i always assumed barbless hooks would come out of the fish within a few hours, obviously not :/

I caught my first double figure carp today! After playing it for about 10 minutes i finally landed it and unhooked it. Only to find some idiot had completely ignored the lakes barbless hooks rule, the poor thing was bleeding out the corner of its mouth where a barbed hook was, and was tethering a great big weight, some people!! Anyway after sorting him out i retuned him and he seemed fine, very feisty! Has anybody else caught a carp with hooks in it or pulling weights along, also would it have eventually died, because he must have been well enough to eat my sweetcorn! On the good side the fish is ok and i now have a new weight, one of those nice camouflaged ones as well, and 2 swivels, so cant complain!

Thanks Elton, thats brilliant, comes up fine now

Thanks everyone, very interesting to hear what you all have to say on the matter

I posted a topic about 'fancy tackle for catching fish or anglers' and i cant get in to read it, ive tried it logged in, logged out and even on a seperate computer, has anybody else had problems getting into that question? I press it and it just comes up white!! Any advice, has this happened before? All other stuff opens fine :/

Ive been fishing for about 6 years now, i've grown up on improve your coarse fishing and fishermen like alex bones. Ive also grown up on the concept that you will only catch fish, especially big fish, on fancy tackle. I dont fish with very hi-tech gear, (because i cant afford a lot of it), and most of what i use is simple. But ive always assumed that to catch better and bigger fish you needed all the fancy gear and complicated rigs, but recently ive come to think it is all a bit unnecessary. My uncle came with me a couple of weeks ago to show me how it is done, he hasnt been fishing for a good 15-20 years and he completely showed me up, he borrowed my quivertip, a size 16 hook and a single shot, and made himself a very simple free running ledger rig with 5lb line all the way through to the hook, he brought nothing but a tin of luncheon meat as bait. He hooked it and put a piece of grass under the bend of the hook, while im sat there thinking hes a bit out of tune and that carp are too clever for that, there is no way they will be caught on a rig that crude, but from that lake he brought out 2 nice bream, a 7lb, and a 10lb carp in not even an afternoons work! Whilst I faffed about with bite alarms, hooklenghts, swim feeders and all sorts and had a small skimmer bream to show for it. I couldnt believe it, all it did was make me believe that complicated rigs are pointless, and simple is best. So am i completely wrong or is a lot of this expensive tackle quite unnecessary? Sorry for my little rant but it really did change my view on fishing and i just wondered what you all think about it? Thanks for any advice, always appreciated

I saw in this months bait tips part of improve your coarse fishing it had all about punched peperami, ive always wanted to use peperami as a hookbait, especially in winter, but never have because i rarely hair rig and you really should hair rig it because its too hard to pull through on the strike. But punched peperami is so simple, cant believe ive never thought of it before, a few pieces on a size 12 with a piece of sweetcorn for attraction i think has quite a bit of potential in my opinion, has anybody used peperami like this, or got any thoughts on it?? Dave