wunnus

I was frustrated at the lack of coarse fishing in an area that we had chosen for a holiday. I decided to find out more about fly fishing. I started at the tourist info office in that area to arrange a couple of lessons as part of the holiday. They put me in contact that lead to a chain that lead to a man who could! It was fantastic evening fun. Just down from Hadrian's Wall, all tackle provided. From this I gained enough info to scour carboot sales and find my local tackle shops who can provide cheaper tackle. Now I have a couple of travel rodes in the car permanently. My fly collection is steadily growing. Another source of really good info is on the web much of it american, but easily accessible. Good luck

Public road bridges are often a very interesting site. The county council often buys the land for new bridges and as such owns the bank. I have tried to get some guidelines from my County Council Land Estates dept on this and was told basically we dont have a policy on fishing rights so we cannot bar you from fishing unless it is raised at council meetings.!!!??? Note that this not the same as where a road bridge crosses ANOthers bank. This is new bypasses and road schemes and the Council have purchased the bank. It is usually fenced off from the nearby land. Bridges are of course fantastic holding zones for perch etc. I have exploited a couple of my local bridges and so far noone has queried me. I would of course apologise profusely and offer to move right away.

I too drifted from fishing my local river with a single rod and a satchel of simple tackle. I and my friends spent hours at the old floodgates and creeping up slowly to the bank to spot fish. Time waits for no man and so I moved away. Life took over. Then my son wanted to go fishing so we went back to the water. I was back on the bank. My trusty cane rod was back in service. Old nets and weights were abandoned. My nephew told me that fishing had all changed now, Buzzers, bombs, braid, biolies the list goes on. Luckily noone has told the fish yet. 3lb chub still fall to a maggot. I still love silver fish on the hook. But there is hardly anyone on the bank with me. Still that suits me even better. No buzzers just me and the Kingfisher. Just fish as you want to fish. If you are not enjoying it well leave alone, dont buy tons more crap.

I usually fish only the sun up and sun down periods (where the sun does not reach 40 degrees) especialy because it is the best fishing. I rarely stay all day at the water. Perch are most active in the lower light levels and my larger perch have all come in the evening. Largest Rudd are both evening and morning. Carp ....morning Chub evening Bream evening Roach morning Tench evening I stress that these are all the largest fish and only on moving water.

Here are a few of my ideas; Jeremy Paxman's collection of stories is v quirky. Tom Quinn's collection of stories might just be fiction but still amusing. John Bailey is always worth a read. Story telling but gradually informative. Anything by Richard Walker is well worth reading if you have not already done so,

Just some ideas for fishing streams. Instead of absolute temperature look at temp rising/ falling... relative temp incr Probably far more important in strong sunshine is the clarity of water. Incr clarity = incr threat from predator. Early and late are the best targets. Angle to sun appears to be important to Carp, Rudd, Perch, Pike(less so) Adjust the fish targetted to the light. High light levels usually mean fish have to go lower to be safe. Hence the bottom feeders will be least affected. Fishing on the drop with meaty bundles of bait is often a good un. Surface lures also will attract. Down in the mud try stinky baits as usual. As light above increases it is essential that you merge into the background, behind reeds, infront of trees, well back from bank etc

I agree the first fish is spooking the rest. If you really are set on catching the slime then aim to fish the first bite out as fast as possible. they appear suckers for any strong flavours and keep the feeding up. The current bait appears to be the expanding pellet... but it does form a rather long plume downstream!!!

Go on treat yourself throw in a few tiny Rudd and comeback in a few years time... Mightyoaks etc

Look for somewhere with plenty of small fish and take a whip rod. Young minds do not want to sit for hours for a big'un. Loadsa small fish keep the attention on the water. Use a whip rod to reduce the opportunity of tangles. tangles = frustration A whip rod also keeps it cheap. Check out at the local tackle shop for where the kids go or even ask a pasing child (loaded with rod etc). Small streams and ponds are ideal to start. A problem on larger fisheries is that they aim at stocking few large specimen fish.

Yep I still fish the old nursery waters. The trouble is that today I can fish anywhere I want. Yet I still return to the Stour (suffolk). I enjoy the turbulent waters of the of larger rivers, I enjoy the occasional dip into carping, but forever I will be the chap trotting a float down a small stream. No longer is the fishing free for me, but it is worth paying to winkle the small and moderate sized fish from their lairs in a small stream.

clearly the going rate for an individual voter costs £22 if they are an angler. hmmmmmm

I tend to use older rods with the larger rod rings and the little elastic float stops pass through OK. They take up slightly less volume than the knot (I spect I am c**p at knots tho'). The bead/float rubber stays with the float, especially if you glue/jam it on.

The sad cynic who ran the fishery needs a bit of blame. Lone kids need a phone number for emergencies. The better owners go out of their way to create repeat custom by helping dads look after their offspring. Good child care is expensive. So should the cost of unattended children be cheap at a fishery?

The broads are a rich fishing area and well worth a look. Build up your knowledge of an area and you will be rewarded. Try out rigs, baits etc. The presence of boats does not signal doom and gloom but try to see how take advantage. One of the best surprise sessions I can remember is the discovery that fish hide under moored craft. The longer it has been moored then the larger the amount of fish that use the cover.

Instead of the knot tying you can get elasticy float stops which move nicely up and down the line. If the float has too large an eye then I put a bead or float rubber inbetween. It allows quicker changes to depth etc

I must admit that the large meaty lobs are my fav'. In fact any worm I can get my hands on in the garden is my fav'. But when the top dries out I sometimes resort to the tackle shop supplies. I can buy dendr' sized worms locally but they are just described as "large worm" and they are cheaper. The dendr' worms dont really clean up much in a tub of moss, compost and soil. They have a persisitent odour but they appear healthy. ... I wondered if they had been specially fed to add a sales gimmick?

I was shovelling bait stuff off the shelf in my local tackle shop, as fast as the budget would allow (as ya do). Most of it ends up in mygroundbait bin. I stick pretty solidly to the worm, bread, maggot, luncheon meat and corn as my main stay. You know the really sorta adventurous sort chap I am (he who dares is usually worth watching to see if it works). Well this pot of dendrobwhatever looked suspiciously like over priced worms. When I got them to the waters edge they really appeared to be pricey but smelly worms. I was hoping great things. Well on a simple rectangle tank of a fishing lake the tench were certainly interested but the usually dependable small carp were strangely absent. Then on a just about flowing river peg I got a good first pull from the perch and then nothing...? To just check things out I followed up with real worm (I believe this is what scientists refer to as a control...techy bit there) and normal service was resumed. Has anyoneelse been experimenting with these smelly worms? Am I supposed to wash 'em? Or are they specially bred for hair rigging?

What about using one of those little springs or prongs to hold on to the paste?

I would have thought that a photofit of the criminal was not needed U kno' the sorta "Police expect that he will stink like this...." I wudda thort that it was a dead simple job for the sniffer dogs.... Or follow the slime trail. You could just walk around the estate looking for any house with all the windows closed and steam coming out of the letter box. You could prob'ly even charge a fee to take the nets away.

At one time I was fooling around with a paternoster sorta rig. I used masking tape down the fishing line to ensure the lines did not tangle.

I am assuming it is one of the dumpy controllers try the drennan slimmer "waggler bodied" controller

I fish on a small lake with a healthy tree cover and there are always bubble erupting. When the water clears you can see bubbles just coming out of the silt/mud. These are meaty bubbles about a 5p across and cause the water to swirl.

dont forget the size of hook going down a couple if sizes can work wonders

The Gipping was a little crowded at 18.00. The usual faces all getting their fix. Sadly the chub spots were taken so I went in search of Perch. out came a 5lb+ bream ???? even better 6 other large shadows all shot off while I scrapped with the bream. Needless to say I went home with a glazed grin... just like the rest of them.

Me and the notebook have been out for the last two weekends. Licked the pencil and scribbled like mad... I have marked the spot where the chub were cruising. Must be 2lbs or more honest gov' I will sharpen the hooks, give the maggots a pep talk (they just dont appear to be interested!!) draw the battle plan on the map and .. then wonder where the little dears went!!