davedave

ok thanks

If i use my reel fitted with 6lb for a spot of mackerel spinning can i not use that line freshwater fishing again, or will a wash under the tap be enough to make it coarse fishing friendly again? Thanks

I am going to be on holiday soon in cornwall, i usually coarse fish but would like to try and catch a mackerel or two. Will a light carp rod, 6lb line and an abu toby spinner work? Thanks

I soaked a couple of handfuls in a bait box last night and they seemed ok but they floated? I had to squeeze all the moisture out of them to get them to sink, and by that time they were too mushy to hook, let alone band. Im going to keep trying as they seem good for loosefeed, groundbait and making paste but as far as hookbaits go im not convinced. Also do the fish get full on them, is a handful every 20 minutes or so too much?? Thanks

haha ok thanks very much

BLIMEY! Never had a fish that big from dillington, how did you retrieve the lures, whereabouts on the pond and what strength line?? Thanks

A local estate pond near to me has just been drained to about half of its original depth for irrigation. I popped down there the other day and found it like that, to be honest its a pretty useless place to fish normally but i found it even worse than normal and didn't get a single bite in the afternoon i was down there so went home. What im wondering is, would a pond or lake with half of its water gone be easier to fish as the fish would be obviously more concentrated in the water, or harder as the water left would heat up quicker in this weather so im guessing the fish would retreat to the deepest areas and not feed?? So basically, a semi-drained still water, easier or harder to fish???? Thanks

so if i freeze the maggots and kill them, the fish on my local lake will still take them as readily as a hook-bait as they would live ones? I always assumed it was the 'lively wriggling' of a maggot that was a major part in the attraction to fish? Cheers

thanks for all your help, very useful

thanks very much, i will try soaking them overnight first as i don't want to spend £20 on a pump quite yet, this is the first time ive tried pellets so i might not find them very succesful! Thanks again

i have recently bought some cheap 6mm expander pellets from pound-land to try, they are dry and in a sealed plastic bag, do i have to soak these, and for how long? Once prepared im guessing they are used as a feed not as hook bait? Thanks very much

oh sorry i didnt realise you had to do it manually, i'll use the new topic button from now on. Thanks very much

ok thanks for all your help, much appreciated

If you buy a magazine like improve your coarse fishing, you always get loads of adverts at the back, sometimes a whole different leaflet full of them. Its worth having a look at these as they often have match rods and carp rods from about £29.99, these would be perfect for general coarse fishing, reels start at about £9.99 too so pick up an improve your coarse fishing magazine and then you can mail order it . Hope this helps P.S or try this website, its very cheap and i think its even free postage so worth a look, how about this rod?? http://www.fishtec.co.uk/online.cfm/feeder...ods/40/no/45572

I will try the isle again soon then, now the weather is warming up. I cant really say too much about dillington, i fished there a lot but would only get may e four or five tiny roach and perch so i hardly ever go there anymore, but i can say that the perch there love a redworm, i would say it is preferred to lobworms, and my friend had a few nice perch just by loosefeeding six maggots every minute or so in one spot. I would also say you should definitely plumb the depth at dillington because in some spots it can get very very deep, especially near the pumphouse. For roach i would get some maggots in to get them feeding then switch between maggot, caster and sweetcorn and see what they want for the day. For chub try a bait by the tree by the pumphouse, maybe worm or breadpaste?? Also there are supposed to be loads and loads of eels there so if you dont want them i wouldnt use a livebait, but you might not mind. Have you got any tips for the isle?? Where abouts did you catch your chub? I fished lobworm on the float right by the waterfally bit by the mill, havent really tried the rest of the river thlugh, supposed to be some nice pike but i have never fished for them. And yeh, you are lucky to get free fishing at thorney, i love it there, endless roach and perch, and the carp are good too, can be a bit of a challenge sometimes though. What baits and tips do you have for thorney?? Good to have someone from the area to talk about the local waters DD

If you want a hook for most types of coarse fishing, 14 is about right. I would use that for perch, roach and bream, maybe scale up a little bit for tench and carp. Here is a rough guide: 20+ - Squats, pinkies, bloodworm 18 - single maggot or caster 16 - two or three maggots, or two casters, redworm 14 - small lobworm tail, single sweetcorn, several maggots 12 - half a lobworm, 2 pieces of sweetcorn 10 - breadflake, small whole lobworm 8 - breadflake, lobworm any larger hooks would be for carp and the baits would be things like large lobworms, big pieces of breadflake/crust, slugs for chub fishing or something like a livebait for perch etc etc hope this helps, but it really is a rough guide, you may want to scale down a hook size for delicate bites or go up a hook size if you think larger fish have moved into your swim, its up to you.....

Hi Leveller, its nice to have someone online from so near to me. I also fish the isle, dillington pond, Thorney lakes and Somerton Viaduct. Ive only fished the isle once in winter and had no luck, how do you like to fish it?? DD

Have you had any success with lobworms on the float? Ive always wanted to dig my own worms and use them on the float but when i tried it i had no luck How do you use lob worms properly??

Mainly perch and roach, i was thinking about trying something more natural like caterpillars or something? I want to use worms more often but to be honest ive never really had any luck with them, ive legered and float fished them and never had much more than the odd perch Id love to try lobworms for carp, but to be honest i wouldnt really know how to go about it. Thanks

Dont you get pestered by small roach perch etc tugging on one end of the worm? That is always what has put me off :S

Yes i bought a packet of bloodworm red and a packet of the fluorescent ones the other day, i use them the other day, i had a shoal or roach by some lilies that were feeding really well, so i decided to put one on the hook, hoping it might pick the bigger roach out of the shoal, sadly i waited for a few minutes but nothing happened, i put a normal maggot back on and had an instant bite, the same when i put a caster on, so maybe they can tell the difference? Its probably just a coincidence but ive lost a bit of faith in them to be honest, but oh well, im willing to try them again, next time on a free running ledger rig next time i think. So yeh, basically, im not sure how good they are, but don't let me put you off, im sure in the right place and right time the fish would take them readily dd

How much is Brasem? And what about turmeric anyone, is that good? davedave

Yes it should work, to make your own though, which is cheaper, just take a couple of days stale loaf of cheap supermarket bread, cut it into a about 10 chunks, or little fingers of bread, then blend one by one, when you are done put them on a baking tray in the oven on 100 for around half an hour, they shouldn't be cooking, or toasting, it should just take out the moisture so they last for months in a sealed bag in the cupboard or tackle box (i keep mine in an evian bottle in my box so i can quickly pour them out). If you want add crushed weetabix, breadsticks or digestive biscuits to it, when its done. At the lake or riverside just take it out, put it in a bucket, bait bowl, washing up bowl or something like that, add a tiny bit of the water there, just enough so it binds together in your hand, not a slop, then add some of your hookbait samples like casters, crushed casters, chopped worm, maggots, dead maggots, sweetcorn, hempseed, tares or whatever you want. Remember groundbait is just for attracting fish and getting your samples out there, not to fill them up so only use tiny golf ball (or smaller) sizes and cup them in or catapult them, little and often, not bucketfuls every hour. Works great for most fish including roach, bream, tench, Rudd and dace, and to be honest i expect carp wouldnt say no to it as well. Hope this helps, good luck dave

Ok, thanks very much