Roobz

What an awesome bit of fishing, to me landing fish isnt always the best bit about being bankside, sights like what you saw more than make up for it.

I fish my local stretch of the Roding for chub and its my favorite thing to do, im not familiar with the stretch your talking about but chub will always be in the same types of swim regardless of what stretch and even what river. As has been said look out for cover. over hanging bushes and trees. tree roots. all these are classic Chub holding areas. I normally allow only one cast per swim as if you get it wrong then 9 times out of 10 you will spook the fish and ruin the swim for hours after, if you get nothing after 15-20mins, bait up again then move on. Keep your rigs a simple as possible. no need to get fancy at all. in summer i free line a dog biscuit with just a few swan shot pinched on the line to hold it steady, this time of year its either a big bit of bread or cheesepaste on a small bomb or tiny 10g feeder with white crumb. keep moving, the fish wont come to you. you will need to cast right infront of there mouths and hold on for dear life! Imense fun.

Use a Riddle?

I have dropped a fair bit of gear in the margins, rod rest heads, feeders, plummets, my phone, blah blah blah. and have very very nearly lost my rod on a few occasions. but only recently did i find out there is a small shelf right under where you sit, only about a foot or so wide. so i reached in and it only came up just past my elbow. result!! i walked round the lakes remembering the pegs i had lost stuff to and was well pleased when i got my rod rest and two feeders back!! they where a little dirty but then if you had been submerged for months on end you would too! well chuffed! Fortunately i have never had to go swimming after lost tackle tho...theirs boats for that!

...What?

When i first start a session or match on the feeder i start with very regular casts. every 5mins or so. this gets a bed of bait out there and also creates noise to attract the fish. also it gets you into a good casting rhythm to improve your accuracy. then once i feel i have a good bed of bait down i will spread the cast out a bit. say every 10 to 15 minutes. as has been mentioned how you mix your bait and the depth your fishing does pay a part in it all. dryer mixes break down fast and work best in shallow water. where wet mixes are needed to get the bait down into deeper water and so take longer to break down off the feeder. remember when you reel in your feeder it should be empty. There is no hard and fast rules really. If i am getting indications on the tip i might just sit on my hands and wait. Once you have a good bed of feed down and have the fish competing its not uncommon to catch fish 'on the drop' i have had the rod rip right round before i have even put the rod back onto its rest and tightened up to the feeder. when its going really well on the feeder the bites are so fast the feeder often comes back loaded.

Dog mixers Soak them for a short while until they expand a little and go fluffy. they take on colour and flavour very well. they float so are perfect for catching chub on the surface. the rig is simplicity. strong size 12 hook with a few swan shot pinched on the line about 2 foot from the hook. adjust them according to the depth of the water. i try to have the mixer suspended a couple of inches below the surface. so if the swim is say 2 foot deep i set the shot about 1.8 foot from the hook. there is nothing like watching a big chub swimming about deciding if its going to have a go. then when it does it can be explosive!...or very cautious. once its taken the bait wait for it to turn its head then boom, fish on!

Hi all. Just a little question. I am looking for some internal pole bushes but i am confused with the sizes. when they refer to the sizes in millimeters, do they mean the internal diameter of the pole tip it will fit. or are they talking about the internal diameter of the actual bush itself so you can select the right size of elastic that will fit through it. some examples of what im on about http://www.prestoninnovations.co.uk/Produc...on/Bushes/SINX/ http://www.fishtec.co.uk/buy.cfm/pole-end-...es/40/yes/41865 (read 'sizes available') cheers guys.

Write it on the side of the winder in permanent ink or use one of those fancy label printers. I write the diameter of the main like, the diameter of the hook length and then the size hook so the side of my winders look something like this. ML 0.13 HL 0.10 H 20 i have 3 sets of every rig i use all identically set up. so if i get smashed up i know i have a replica rig ready. there all arranged nicely in the winder draw of my box...im fussy like that.

I have been using the Korum quick change beads for a long while now and was very pleased with them. then i noticed Drennan decided to bring out a version and i can honestly say i prefer to use the drennan ones now. they are ever so slightly bigger but the build quality is much better. these things are very very strong so dont worry at all about playing decent hard fighting fish on these beads. your knots will give before these beads do. you also get more for your money with the drennan ones. they do a pack of 6 instead of 5 korum jobbies for the same price. they are also mixed colours instead of just black. so you can choose a colour to match the bottom. so far they have been faultless. I have opened a pack of the Korum ones and when i went to tie them to my line. they were useless. they just where not moulded correctly so the line would pull through the hole when you tie your main line too. annoying when you have just paid £2.50 for some little bits of totally useless plastic! get on the bank and try them for yourself.

Apple does not support flash, sadly a massive web standard. now if drennan chose HTML5 on the other hand, it would look great on your iphone. Anyway back on topic..cool website. drennan make alot of good gear.

There new website is great. with loads of good info when you click on all the bits of tackle, good stuff! A little side note, i just got myself some of the new Drennan quick change beads after using the Korum ones for some time i am really pleased with Drennans offerings. The mini size are slightly bigger than the mini Korum ones but the build quality is far better. you also get 6 in a pack as apposed to 5. so they are better value for money. i think il be sticking with the new Drennan jobbies.

Ball in one ball of groundbait at the start of your session. then ping out a few pellets every couple of mins once the bites start. little and often is the way to go. single maggot on the hook or even a pellet. if your after roach maybe put out a bed of hemp and ping out a few grains little and often. 4-5 at a time. Simple but effective method.

i have found this 'rule' no good. in my experience it has just left me with pellets that turn to paste as soon as you try to get them onto a method feeder or into a cage feeder., there just to wet. All i do is get a standard bait box. add as many pellets as i think im going to use (its never enough) then add water from the lake/river until the pellets are covered,, swish them about with my finger then drain all the water off them using the lid of the bait box. i leave them to 'soak' for seconds not minutes and they are perfect 5 mins later. this is with 4mm Skrettins put i have tried with a few different brands as well.

i keep my rigs as simple as i can. Free running cage feeder/maggot/open ended feeder on the mainline via a snap link swivel, down to a Korum quick change bead. then i attach my hooklength thats been pre tied at home. couldnt be more simple really. means i only have to tie one knot on the bank and im fishing.

Well i feel its only fair to update this thread with a little positive news. after a few days they did manage to get throught to me. telling me my emails where going straight in the junk folder. So after getting my questions answered i took the plunge and ordered up 5kg of groundbait and 5kg of skretting pellets. they arrived in under 48hours and £3.50 for 10kilos of bait is very fair for postage and packaging. and its £3.50 whether you buy 1 kilo or a shed load, this alone got my interest. The best news is the groundbait seems to perform exactly the same as the expensive Sonubaits match method mix i have been using and at £5.99 for 2kg of the stuff. i am over the moon with the Medusa stuff that works just as well. i have been out fishing 3 times since i brought it and its had me catching fish every time. id say its worth checking out.

Yeah chicken livers work great for catfish. i was fishing a friends pond in the US trying to get rid of a snapping turtle for them. instead i caught plenty of small cats!. got the turtle in the end tho!. the strangest and uglyist thing i have ever caught in my life. As for the wand, without doubt the best peice of gear i have ever brought. i have yet to blank since using it. its just perfect for the fishing i do. thanks for pointing it out to me. i think i would of ended up spending alot more than i needed too if it wasnt for the great people on these forums!

Chicken livers work great for cats

here is a video of Matt hayes tying a spade end knot. the best knot to use with spade end hooks. it is a really simple knot to tie just needs a bit of practice when used on smaller hooks. start big and get small! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYmAgmoGQ8s

I used to use Berkley trilene in 4lb BS for my feeder setup. its a clear mono and was 0.22mm in diameter,, i then changed to preston direct mono that is 0.17mm in diameter but also half a pound stronger in BS at 4.5lb. its also black in colour. i was amazed that a line thats alot thinner could infact be stronger. it might be all psychological but i did notice my catch rate improved dramatically after the change. i think the fact that it has much less stretch than the trilene really helped my see the shy bites on my tip. and the fact that its thinner may of made it less visable to the fish. who knows.

Thanks Dales for that little bit of history. i always wondered why i never see anyone fishing hollow ponds. i used to ride my bike round there as a kid and it is still a nice place to wonder around. sadly because of the area its in, you do get alot of chavs and general riff raff there too. nowdays theres a massive head of eastern euros about the place. i once saw a dead 12-15lb carp floating about near some reeds there. its a pretty big lake so i always imagined it contained some nice fish.

It my local so i know the place well. firstly its a very new fishery. its only been open to the puplic just under a year i think, maybe slightly longer. and the whole thing was dug not long before. so the venue is still developing, what i do know its its stocked with a really nice selection of silver fish. you will not find carp in these lakes. i started fishing there just before winter last year and watched as the match weights where slowing with the weather. now i am watching them rise slowly as the spring sets in. i do not fish in the matches but like to keep track of the weights. i have had some great sessions there in the last few weeks with some lovely Chub to 4lb. some really nice Bream, Tench, Crucian, Roach, Rudd, Perch and Brown goldfish to name but a few. the owner Gordon is a top top bloke, and he knows a thing or two about fishing. hes really passionate about the place and you can see that with the effort hes put in with the cafe and the other facilities, and also invested alot into stocking the lakes with quality fish. one thing to bear in mind is there are no monsters in the two lakes. its all too new. but there are big fish to be had. personally i love it there. its a really friendly, pleasant place to spend a few hours fishing. get amongst it i say!!!

http://www.redbridgelakes.co.uk/

Awesome news!

Personally id draw up a few plans and peg layouts. then see if its viable as a match venue. then approach a few clubs and see if they fancy giving it a go just to see what they think, you never know they might add it too there match curcuit. word soon spreads if decent weights can be had there. you will soon attract a good amount of people if it fishes how you say it does.