wunnus

I have noticed that the rain can have an effect on the fish activity. When it first rains there do seem to be more bites and then as the rain continues these bites tail off. Maybe the situation goes something like this... When it rains the temperature of the water will be altered. If the rain is warmer then the lake will warm up. on a river there is a delayed effect until the run off makes it into the stream. if the rain is colder then the temp' will fall. When it rains it will knock dust, plant material, small animal life off the trees into the water. When it first rains the fish can be excited under trees etc for the free feed. Surface feeders certainly get more active and explore more. As the rain continues it usually drops the temp in the top layer and the fish sink or cease activity.

I would agree with all that has been said. I would suggest trying liquidised bread for the feed. It does not splash on entry. Just grab a handful and squeeze, it holds together and then u can throw it out. Another really fun way to get at the chub is a worm on a rolling leger. You can then roll it under the overhang, vege mat or bank etc. In some cases the bite comes immediately. Often the fish think that they are unobtainable. Usually I just trot a float though. Once you get to the 2oz and up stage of chub, it becomes great fun.

the essential element of the Wallis cast ie the dropping of the weighted line whilst casting (horizontally is usually best) can also be made with the fixed spool. The fixed spool casts seem to always suffer with the heavier lines used. Hence the mad overhead wang it out technique. the fixed spool lacks the finesse of the centrepin, but I didnt want people to be discouraged from giving it a go. Tip of the week... watch out for the hook

Its interesting but the upper Stour really has shown some stonkin perch 2LB+ repeated on several sections. Its starting to feel just like the 1970's. If it was one location then I would think it was just one very sociable fish. But some of the weedy sections really do reward a little clearing of weed. The best spots for me have been at ....... well just follow the old railway bridges for em

Try the L Melford water above liston... larger perch have been on the move at Rodbridge so try the PIke . Upstream of Brundon (SDAC) also well worth a look.

I started with telescopic ideas but I hated it when the whole lot shot back. I also used a spinner rod. The casting went well but the control of the fish on a barbless hook was a bit wayward. By hit and miss with cut down match rods I ended up with about 9ft as the ideal, a sorta compromise. I did tend to lean to a whip rod tip, but then I like using whip rods. The two most common challenges were the downstream side of an overhanging willow and the wide,low road bridge. The challenge in both cases was not so much in the casting as in the striking. The slow stream flow tended to aid placing the bait where I wanted. Quite often it is necessary to draw the catch to a suitable landing position. Plus large Chub (5lb+) tend to be a bit headstrong, weell come that chunky perch (2lb+) also tend to have a mind of their own. The line can hang on to it but the rod needs to soak up the sudden moves. Thanks for the great ideas. The commercial rods rarely offer much below 10 ft. The few that I have encountered (Shakespeare, Masterline, Abu) have been way too sloppy for the jobs mentioned above. The older glass fibre rods are more suitable. Fly rods (8s) have also been used, but I tend to end up fly fishing for chub, nothing wrong in that but I do enjoy my stick float fishing. Clearly the

I have experimented in customising rods to be shorter (so they go straight in the car). I fish small (5m across etc) streams and usually with plenty of interesting/challenging overgrowth. I find that I can get to grips with 2lb+ perch and some nice lookin rudd/roach crosses. It s those bolshy chub that cause the agro , and who the hell taught small pike to go for maggot!!. But why are the produced rods so soft in their action. If I had to rely on a gettin a commercial rod I'd have to use a small feeder rod with a float.

Weed sorta hard to live with but ya carnt live without it. Everyone seems to want to do away with it. But then those pike and perch, and chub , and... would nt hide along it. Hey come to that those fish that hide below it would then see us along the bank. What would I hide the line on if they took it away? whats wrong with making a clearing in the weed... anyone want to borrow my rope??