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Renrag39

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Everything posted by Renrag39

  1. Seriously? You guys should all come over for tea to my happy place, the directions are, sit down (carefully) rock back and forth rhythmically and hum to yourself. You should get there in 2-3 mins or so. Best bit is, you can be whatever you want to be, 'A Dragon' I hear you cry, no problem, the more the merrier. Unfortunately, we get a lot of cats so try and restrict yourself to the cat guise for a maximum of 10 minutes coz the fur gets everywhere. Thankyou, see you there! Renrag
  2. Nowt wrong with a gas mask bag. Tubed or crated and still nuff room for some traces and odds and sods in old baccy tins. My dad used to have one, getting my own soon for pike roving. Hate big cumbersome bags and seatboxes with a passion. Renrag
  3. I'm in a one man uproar, honest
  4. Diawa Sensor, get it from nearly anywhere, pretty abrasion resistant and is cheaper than a cheap thing for about 2km of the stuff-iro £6 from Lathams. Go for about 8-10lb (at a guess) Never used the method. Renrag
  5. Just other people and that inexplicable panic from my imagination. Been fishing with a mate at Horstead Mill on the R Bure, Norfolk and got the supernatural heebee jeebies loads of times. Sometimes scaring each other on purpose would set it off, sometimes it'd just happen to us at the same time and we'd start to freak out. Plenty of suicides there and the like, plus the burnt down ruins of the water mill there don't help. My personal fave tho is the Crocodile Dundee moment. Like someone else said, we anglers have some fairly heavy duty weaponry disguised as banksticks not to mention knives. Me and aforementioned mate were fishing Woodbastwick boardwalk at night and a random bloke (bit older than us at the time, us being 16/17) threatens us with one of those crappy Victorinox Knives, about 2" long. He wanted our gear etc. Both on queue, we get out our Opinel Knives with razor sharp 8" blades (just been chopping up deads) and mate pipes up, 'thats not a knife, THESE are knives'. Somehow we kept straight faces until he'd legged it. Used to be wary of the different animals wandering about at night, but my Dad runs this http://foxylodge.yolasite.com/ So I now pester Hedgehogs and remove whatever ticks I find on them with tweezers (gives me something to do lol) and bring catfood for anything that wanders around behind me. P.S. Don't feed Hedgepigs fish flavoured catfood, it'll kill them. Renrag
  6. Well, when I kept them the average temperature of the tank was 14-16C and I was still living at home. My dad was/is quite 'tight' with heating levels so the house was about the same so no condensation problems until middle of summer (north facing, well ventilated room helped too). Also, when it does occur, a strategically placed fan will speed evaporation. Besides this, a quick wipe over once or twice a day will save the woodwork from excessive dampness. Sorry for the delay in the reply, Renrag
  7. +1 to Scopex with a Shotgun. Sponging festering pus filled bags of ****. Get a job or die, better yet, put them in the army and see how clever and tough they are when someone can fight back. I really hate seeing things like this. Keelhauling, now there's a fitting punishment... anyone need a hull polished with the skin of imbeciles? I'm going to spend some time in my happy place now and calm down... Renrag.
  8. Really dont like the look of them. Imagine trying to get a caster on without bursting it! Ok for Sea Fishing I guess but not much cop inland. I use both SE and Eyed. Much like everyone else seems to. Spades for lil uns and eyes for big uns. Sometimes use a drop of superglue on the smaller spades 20 up cause don't quite trust my knots that small. Renrag
  9. Personally I agree on some points but not others. Fixed cameras are pointless, they're nothing more than a .gov gimmick. Mobile cams have their uses and at least you can be stopped, tested and reprimanded and actually warned instead of fined, by a human than a soulless machine. Bad points about mobile cams is that they're not THAT mobile. You get to know where the police camp. The thing that needs to be instilled into new drivers (its already too late for those already driving) is the danger of not being aware. I ride motorbikes and firmly believe they make you a better car driver. You become more naturally aware because you KNOW you are at risk. If you get in a car with a frequent bike rider you will notice 2 things. One, they generally leave more of a gap between them and the vehicle ahead and Two, they actively use their mirrors, not just cursory glances but proper, 'scanning' looks. My way to make the roads safer is to make riding a motorised 2 wheeler mandatory for a suitable term before driving a car. This would also make existing car drivers more aware of motorbikes because there would be more on the road on any given day. I know I am heavily biased but feel that it may have some truth. It would also be good to somehow teach people to know how fast they can go SAFELY in any range of conditions, on different types of roads and road surfaces but alas, the only way to obtain that knowledge is by experience and it can be painful. Renrag
  10. +1 for fishing in the margins. What length rod do you have? What line do you have on now? The argos line is somewhat heavy duty if I remember right. Personally would recommend 4lb daiwa sensor (cheap as a cheap thing and loads of it too) to a 3lb hooklength as you may break off (personal preference, plus I don't know how good your reels' clutch is). I'd also recommend getting a book too and going straight to the knots section and make yourself some hook to nylon hooklengths up. Either just for practice or to build up a stockpile. As I rarely float fish I can't really help much there but do remember to keep the larger shot towards the float as I find it helps casting and to make the line lay better without wrapping over the float and don't be afraid to vary the depth you're fishing to find the fish. Welcome back, Renrag P.S. Magpie
  11. My favourite were gudgeon tbh, they just seem such 'happy' little fish :-D My nan still has a shoal of about 15 in her pond. They're about 8/9" long now! Like little barbel lol. Renrag
  12. Not a Kayak fisher but have experience with wetsuits from kitesurfing. With your size, you'll be best looking for a custom suit, I don't know of any mainstream manufacturer that does an off the peg for you. Unfortunately this can be expensive but the plus side is that your wetsuit will be under no undue stress (overstretching/bagging) and should last twice as long as an off the peg with good care. Try www.secondskinsurf.com/ for starters, just search for custom wetsuits. Thickness all depends on how much immersion you will be submitted to, temperature/time of year and flexibilty. For example I'd personally be looking at 5/4/3 suit with a smoothskin body of 5mm, standard 4mm on the legs and standard 3mm on the arms for flexibility for general watersports with high/medium immersion times eg kitesurfing/surfing. The smoothskin on the body will reduce windchill thru the suit by repelling external water. This suit should do you spring, summer, autumn but it all depends on your tolerance of cold. Will do winter instead of summer if you are constantly moving (boil in the bag syndrome) but I don't know how kayak fishing works lol! Hope I made some sense. Talk to a custom wetsuit outlet and they will be far more aware of what you require. Have fun, Regards, Renrag
  13. If you want reliable then you have to get the flywheel piston type, they're the only one's that'll cut a constant 2' plus backpressure without lunching themselves. If you want aeration, bodge a spraybar up, block half the holes and aim across the surface with the bar half submerged and holes at the water line (cuts the noise). Another option would be to use the spraybar as normal but run it into a wet/dry filter and hey presto, more surface area for O2/CO2 exchange. They're easy enough to bodge up, a shallow tray mounted on a small frame or simply resting on a brace bar. Ugly, but only you get to see under your hood. Very efficient too, ideal for cichlids or any high density tank. Regards, Renrag
  14. Right, temperature is the first obstacle as many have pointed out, yes even fluoro tubes generate a fair amount of heat and filters, whether internal or external also generate some too. In fact in a 'normal' house, room temperature is several degrees too high, so to keep Perch, or any coarse fish for an extended amount of time, you need to either spend obscene amounts of money on chiller units/fishhouses etc or take my homebrew example. HOMEBREW CHILLER Buy 1 large or 2 smaller external filters (gives peace of mind for breakdown/failure of units) Next, buy beer cooler/tabletop fridge and lots of hose. Make a pair or holes for each filter to allow the output hose of the/both filters to enter and exit. REPEAT- OUTPUT HOSE! You don't want to chill the water BEFORE it enters the filter because it will inhibit the efficiency of the Nitrosomnas and Nitrobacter bacteria which turn Ammonia into Nitrite, then Nitrite to Nitrate respectively. Set up the hose accordingly, seal with silicone sealant roung the entry/exit wounds and set the cooler to brass monkeys. I found wrapping the hose/s round a 2l coke bottle, filled with water, increased the 'chill factor' significantly, along with filling any additional space with liquid to absorb as much coldness as possible. Beer is an excellent liquid to achieve this with! Stubbies being better as you can fit more in. Plus you can also store your maggots in there too, thus ensuring your beer will not go to the squeamish. FILTER SIZE The size of the filter itself is not really important compared to the flow rate. Ideally, you want an hourly turnover of about 3-4x the total capacity of your tank. What must be taken into consideration, is that most filter manufacturers live in a friction and obstruction free world where everything is perfect. This cannot be, how would you explain me? So its best to err on the side of caution and get 5-8x capacity turnover to account for the extra length of hose/growth build up and optimistic lph/gph ratings. SUBSTRATE Pea Gravel, large version of normal aquarium gravel, easy to clean, rounded so as not to damage a fishes mouth and plenty of space to allow anaerobic bacteria to do their thing. Needs to be at least 1 1/2-2" deep at the front, sloping back to about 3" at the rear. Rinse it thoroughly before putting it in. PLANTS Elodea aka Pondweed. Get it from an Aquarists, not your local pond. They have all sorts of nasties on in the wild. I recommend lots of it. It wont hide the fish as they feel more comfortable with somewhere to hide and will therefore behave more naturally as opposed to being pale/nervous shadows of their normally gregarious selves. In a 4' tank aim to have each end densely planted for about 8" at least and loosely scattered along the back wall. Plant each stalk individually, not as sold in the metal wraps or they will rot. Just push each stalk deep into the gravel and it will take hold in time. Be patient, there is no quick way to do this but it's worth it in the end. LIGHTING Try to get as deep a cover as you can get to house 2x fluorescent tubes as far from the water as possible. I recommend a PowerGlo for the back tube and a SunGlo or AquaGlo for the front. Have them on a timer for 8-10hrs a day or you WILL forget and your plants WILL die. CLEANING Get a purpose made 'aquarium vacuum' or make your own. Easier to look at one in the shop and copy it with some hose pipe and a 500ml coke bottle. It'll make sense then I promise you! Every 2 weeks, you need to remove 10-15% of the water to reduce the build up of Nitrate (which is the end product of the nitrogen cycle). To do this you must suck on the hose end of the vac with the bottle end fully immersed (clear pipe saves much retching) with the hose end below the level of the bottle. Water will now shoot out all over your carpet because I forgot the bucket. You also need a bucket! While the water shoots out, firmly push the bottle end deep into the gravel and you will see all the lighter detritus get sucked up and out. Repeat this all over the unplanted area. The detritus around the plants acts as a good fertiliser for them and promotes a healthy growth. Replace water with either day old water from the tap or de-chlorinate with a commercial product. STOCKING I use a formula for stocking and have modified it for tropical and coldwater aquariums. These stocking levels are the FINAL amount of fish you can have in your tank assuming you follow a rigorous cleaning/water change schedule Multiply the length of your tank in inches by the width and divide by 8. This will give you your TOTAL length of fish to keep. (l x w)/8= T. In a 48" x 12" tank this gives you 72" of fish to stock. Fish length is measured from Nose Tip to the Root of the Tail. STOCKING SCHEDULE Leave the set up as above for TWO WEEKS at least. Not One and a half, TWO! Then, do NOT put Perch in first. Despite being the greediest buggers this side of an all you can eat buffet they are very sensitive to water conditions. I have experience of seeing a prymnesium outbreak and the first to belly up are the stripeys. I have always used Tench in my aquariums. They're tough (green and golden) interesting and useful. They will also be compatible with perch as long as they have a few nooks and crannys to get into/under. Slate and bogwood (expensive tho) is perfect and helps round off a natural set-up. Get 2-3 small Tench from a shop (not wild, they're another matter) and introduce them properly by first floating the bag for 30-45 mins to equalise the temperature with the lights off, then undo the bag and gradually mix the water in over a period of an hour or so. Then release and marvel at where the heck did they go. Leave the lights off for the night and set them to come on while you're eating breakfast. They will eventually come out boldly and you can set a routine. Feed yourself, feed the fish. Carp/trout pellets are perfect, just don't overfeed. After 3-4 weeks you can add 4 perch at first (even numbers seems to reduce bullying) of about 4" each (smaller the better as you get to see the gregarious shoaling behaviour that never gets boring. Then a month later, another 2 perch and so on until you reach the limit. Work the limit on your release size. 7" would be great. I would guesstimate a shoal of 8-10 Perch with the 2/3 Tench to be about right. Release the Perch AND Tench when they reach 6-7", into the pond you have inevitably built by now and Re-Stock with whatever takes your fancy (gradually of course) and you're well on your way to being an Ichthybore. NOTE You may have spotted that I have exceeded the stocking limit with 10x7" Perch and 3x7" Tench but please be aware that fish grow at different rates and may be introduced at different stages of life so this 'should' be within acceptable limits. I hope this helps budding and experienced Aquarists alike. I am sure I have omitted many important factors but hope this informs and doesn't confuse. I am always willing to share what little I know with anyone who believes they can benefit from it. My background for this is 14 years of Fishkeping/Breeding/Ruining Carpets from the age of 12 and is still a passion of mine. P.S. Please observe all laws regarding the removal and re-release of fish from bodies of water and watercourses. If in doubt, contact the owner/manager/authority responsible for the water. Regards, Renrag
  15. Thanks John, appreciate the advice. Never really worried about the lumps when I was younger but its too easy tiddler snatching in the summer. All of a sudden I am obsessed by groundbait and trying to rig up a feeder that doesn't tangle every (insert favourite expletive) cast. Am also finding that casting up the tidal flow allows me to connect more often with the bites, it makes sense but never noticed it until now! If you see me, say hi. Usually wearing a hoody, very scruffy, hopefully covered in snot with blue mitsubishi in the car park. Also helps you avoid me if necessary lol :-D T'ra abit.
  16. Hi, have beeen able to connect with lots of small silvers and perch/gonks etc but nothing really of note. Been fishing at depth with float with mags and breadpunch and quivertipping. Is it as simple as big bait/big hook (been using size 18) and plenty of groundbait or have I missed something? Regards, Renrag
  17. Must be them Grass Snakes. Had one snaffle a deadbait right next to me one day. Made me jump but was quite friendly tho it didn't take well to strokies lol.
  18. +1 for the palomar knot for eyed when you can double pass the line, if not, I use the 'Dumhof Knot' which is like a standard spade knot, just you pass the hook thru the eye first. Never used a hook tyer myself, but if you have the patience you can learn to tie a snell knot or whatever variation of spade knot by hand, just as quickly as eyed hooks.
  19. Didn't mean an actual match, just a lake stocked with match size carp, 2-3lb ish. Was thinking she'd get enough action to get her 'hooked' lol :-D Great thing is, she doesn't mind maggots/deadbaits etc in the fridge/freezer! Will let you all know how it goes
  20. Its been too long lol! Already caught my biggest ever bream on my 3rd session at Martham Staithe, not massive and didn't get weighed but was definately my biggest at about 5lb. Trying to get the girly into it too so will be taking her to Holly Farm Lakes in S.Walsham soon for some match carp. Think she'll love it :-D. Any tips for encouraging her Tenchgirl? Or just let the experience do the work? Hope I can give something back too Newt, lived and breathed Piking for several years when I was younger plus, excuse the ego, I consider myself quite knowledgeable on fish behaviour (especially predatory) from a lifelong passion for fishkeeping. Everything from Killifish to Perch. T'ra abit
  21. You'll need at least a 48" tank minimum and as deep and wide as possible. 48x24x24 would be ideal. Basically you'll need as big as you can afford. Also you'll need a good filter. I'd recommend a large external as perch are quite messy eaters. Can't think of any books that will specifically help you with natives but there will be sections in most. If you need any more help I can and will be happy to walk you through the whole process from substrate, plants, stocking, cleaning up to chilling and breeding. A word of warning though, keeping our native fish is far more time consuming and intensive compared to nearly all other fish (except marine of course). Renrag39
  22. Hi people, new to the forum, not to fishing. Was mad on it when I was younger and have just gathered my bits and bobs together once again to get stuck in. Based in Great Yarmouth, prefer coarse/pike fishing (mainly river) but occasionally go to lakes for a bit of Carping and sometimes off of Gorleston Pier for the Whiting and Bass. Used to fish in the Wroxham/Horning area as I used to live in Spixworth (Norfolk) but its a bit far for the evening 2-3hr sessions I mainly get now. Am also now a member of the NDAA. Would love some tips and new places to give a go closer to GY and on the NDAA stretches of the Thurne and Bure as it has been a while lol! Renrag39
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