AnglerPaulM

Has anyone got experience of fishing this lake for big bream? I know it holds huge slabs, and really want to catch one but can't get through any of the fish bigger than say 3lb. Aside from out and out targeting carp and hoping a slab picks up a boilie on the off chance I'm a little bit stumped, as I don't really like purely carp fishing (bite alarms, pods etc.) Any suggestions for catching slabs? You can read how I got on in the blog if you like (http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.co.uk/)

I bought a new (new old style) Shimano Technium and I have battered it. 12.5 meter and would recommend anyone buy one if the were looking for a new pole around that price. But like Kappa I bought my MAP pole (ex-display) off ebay for peanuts, there was a crack in one section but I know someone who got me a replacement dirt cheap. Like using a new pole. Mint Condition. Best bet. Pole Compare to find the one you want then scour Ebay. A mate of mine picked up an Old Shimano Super Ultegra 16m Pole with 6 kits for 435 a few weeks ago. I know that its an old pole now, but it was the flagship, and still out strips most of the middle range poles even now for rigidity and weight.

Has anyone been to Cliff Harvey Angling in Cilyfyndd? I went there on the advice of one of my friends, saying that it had loads of stuff and was really good value. I left feeling very disappointed. Going to try Tacklesmart in Ebbw Vale tomorrow. There doesn't seem to be many big tackle shops in South Wales, which is very surprising considering the amount of people of go fishing!

Urch, I had a snotty the other day fishing from bream. Ruined my hook length and covered myself in slime in the process. I know the lake I was fishing on has some specimens though. Saw a photo of a 5ld. was nearly as thick as my arm!

Meh, I weigh the fish if I think it may top my PB, but otherwise its goes plop, straight back in the water. I would put commercial F1 carp in room 101. The amount of times I read, "Mr X won a match by catching 160lb+ of F1 carp". That is not match fishing. Although these people are hugely skilled in catching these suicidal carp I would much rather see a return to catching silver fish, with fine lines and light hook lengths and not; "Inline method feeders with super smelly goo and pre-tied braided hook lengths with 0.19 mainline and blah blah blah...."

Morning folks, I'm going to give the method another go soon, but I wondered if anyone could recommend another type of fly to try. They went through the one I used in no time, and before long they didn't float, which started to put the fish off. You can read about my last trip here - http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.co.uk/ Any advice is most welcome. Thanks

Afternoon folks, Just wondered if anyone has fished this place recently? I've had someone contact me, and I re-directed them here as this site gets a heavy foot fall. I haven't been fishing for a long time because of illness but one of my last trips was to Highbury, but all I went for was silver fish as no carp or tench were showing. Have a read on the blog if interested. Any update would be appreciated. Many thanks.

Aye, a perch in dark water would explain that colouration. I take that photo and raise you this. Has to be some form of hybrid. But what. Caught from the River Aire in Leeds. I've had some private communication, some say chub, some say dace some say cross. Who wants to venture a guess. The full day and more pictures can be found here - http://goo.gl/EloZz Happy guessing.

Thanks John,. I wouldn't mind getting back up North as I really did enjoy living and fishing in Yorkshire. I've got a few older posts to go up, which are complete but never went online. I should get them up over the next couple of days. Cheers again Paul.

Due to an unfortunate change of circumstances I've recently had to move towards home (Wales) for a bit of a recharge (You can read about the whole sha-bang on the blog if you like). http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.co.uk/ But I'm now based back in South Wales. So if anyone fancies recommending some fisheries for me to try out when I'm fully mobile again (Preferably with level is pegs as balance is a slight issue at the moment). I'm thinking of; Cefn Mably Port Talbot Docks Hendre Lake River Wye Caerphilly Moat Birch Syndicate A bit of a mixed back, but feel free to chuck a few more in the mix! Tight Lines.

Evening all, Been a while since I've been able to wet a line or write a blog, but hopefully going to be able pick it back up over the next few weeks. Is anyone from this neck of the woods? I've had a look around, and I know there is a lake up behind a shop in Stanningley and the canal up near Rodley, as well as a little beck with trout in. But I've not seen any other places to go fishing around here on my travels. Can you fish in the big lake where Tong Road and Stanningley Bypass meet? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Evening campers! - Apologies for the lack of activity. I have however managed to get out there and start catching a some fish again. Went to Hillcrest Farm/Needless Fisheries in Leeds on Sunday. Cracking day. Loads of fish including a low double. Take plenty of maggots for the F1's and meat and pellets for the biggers ones. I can't seem to upload photo's from my blog for you lot to have a look at, the Double was a cracker though. If you're in the region give it a whirl, great day. Non stop action. A full write up of the day's action is on my blog.

Anyone been up there recently? Had a mixed day, its packed with fish but it didnt fish to its normally high standards. I fished there (the bottom pond) a week or so ago and saw that the island had been completely stripped of vegetation, and as a result alot of the features had vanished too! It fished ok, but I couldn't help thinking that it caused a fair bit of disturbance for the fish. Still I cant complain to bad as no one blanked. but it just got me thinking, I wonder how much of an impact things like this can effect the fish in the lake.

Morning All, I've been asked by an academic from the University of Leeds to help get anglers to answer a questionaire about how Crayfish can and have affected angling venues. Please read the below information and give the questionaire a whirl. It would be greatly appreciated. Theres also the possibility of getting a few quid! Cheers Paul ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crayfish research – your help needed! Numbers of the UK’s native crayfish have declined considerably over the last few decades due to the introduction of the North American signal crayfish in the 1970s. The larger North American crayfish compete with the native crayfish for food, and also carry crayfish plague which is fatal to the native crayfish. At the moment, we have no effective way of controlling the North American crayfish or the plague that it carries. If the North American crayfish and the plague continue to spread, our native crayfish may become extinct within the next 30 years. In the absence of any other form of control, the only way we can reduce the impact of these American crayfish and crayfish plague to native crayfish is to ensure that we do all we can to prevent its further spread. As part of a research project at the University of Leeds, we are seeking your help, to try and get a better understanding of current fishing practices, so we can identify possible ways in which the spread of the North American crayfish and their plague could be reduced. We are therefore asking anglers such as yourselves to complete our questionnaire to find out about the rivers you they visit and the kit that you use at each site. Your help will enable us to see whether there are any areas where the risks from invasive species such as the North American signal crayfish are likely to be greatest. This will allow awareness campaigns and preventive measures to be targeted to those areas to prevent future outbreaks. Click here to take part: http://goo.gl/sfqIc The questionnaire takes 5 - 10 minutes to complete and everyone who completes it can enter a prize draw to win a £50 voucher for AnglingDirect online tackle shop. For more information, please contact Lucy Anderson at the University of Leeds bslga@leeds.ac.uk

Has anyone on here fished these lakes? I fished this venue on the weekend. There are a few things which I found frustrating, there are 2 commercial lakes and a bigger mixed fishery (previously a trout lake), one of which had a match one (which I found out about because I tweeted about it) and the other sort of had a match on, but then didn't because there wasn't enough numbers. So I decided to fish the bigger mixed fishery. I would advise to give it a miss. Despite how it look, it was full of weed and seemed to be empty of fish. I'll certainly give the 2 commercial lakes a go when there arn't any matches on but I wont be going back to Rainbow. I wrote the full piece up here. Complete with pictures - http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.co.uk/ Just seemed a bit badly organised, there was no way of knowing about the matches until I turned up.

Evening all! I went down to the River with an EA official recently after all my gripes about the amount of rubbish that was building up under a disused bridge near one of my favourite Chub swims. We got there and the guys in green were already there, saws in hand clearing it all away as you will see from my post! http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.co.uk/

Ive been told to let them warm up for a while yet and also the section I was on wasnt that good so go a mile further down the bank. Maybe i will when it warms up a tad!

I thought I'd ask you guys as we anglers don't really see a lot of the EA folks on the banks even though we should. With that in mind I thought I'd ask, have you got any questions you would like me to ask? I'm going to spend most of the day with one of their senior officers on Friday. If you have any questions you would like me ask, send them through on here and I'll post his reply some time in the not to distant future! Thanks Paul

Evening, Has anyone fished this section of the canal recently? I fished there sunday and it was unbelieveably difficult. I tried every bait I had and every method that the rods I had would allow and not a bloody sniff. Highly frustrating seen as it looks like it could be a really good place to fish. I would venture as far as to say it could be a proper match venue if there were a fair few fish in there to be caught. The full write up can be read here http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.co.uk/ but if anyone has any information it would be greatly appreciated. It truly was a lesson in maggot drowning.. Thanks Paul

Not sure where this post fits in. Living in West Yorkshire and as it's not far away I guess it may be West, but then again, it may be North. Anyway... what a bloody palarva this trip was. When I finally got there it was well worth the visit but, there were moments when I thought "what is going on!" Anyway, I had a few so cant complain. The full days proceedings can be read here - http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.com/ Let me know what you think!

All excellent examples, especially about the use of an unhooking mat. I've added a few extra blog posts recently fitting in with this topic. Have a read and let me know what you think, they may seem basic, but I have genuinely been asked how to do these things - http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.com/ If you guys can think of any other basic questions, the most recent one I've been asked is "How does that pole pot work?"

I have been thinking recently about some basic issues which I learnt early on because my grand father was a keen coarse angler. But as more and more of my friends take up angling and are obsessed with catching "the big one!" and are buying ready made rigs, with ready tied hooks etc, they seem to leap frog the basics and wade straight into being specimen hunters... Subsequently I have been asked the following questions; How do I use a plummet? How do I tie a spade end hook? How do I use a clip on Plummet? What is the best knot to attach elastic to a connector? What is the purpose of a line clip? (When fishing at a set distance) What knot do I use to attach a swivel? (Grinner or Half Blood) How do I use a disgorger? In line with this and leading from a recent outing I have decided to act on some of the above questions and I intend to document how to do certain things which the younger anglers (in my opinion) may not be doing, or may not know how to do. I've just done a basic post this week, but hopefully it's something I can build on. If you guys could take a peek and let me know what you think it would be much appreciated. - http://coarsefishingpaul.blogspot.com/ Also is there anything else that you guys have been asked while fishing, or, about fishing which you would normally consider second nature when on the bank?

When I arrived at the venue was quite concerned that the lake I was fishing held any fish at all as it couldn't be much larger than a glorified duck pond, but people were fishing around the edges so I gave it a whirl and had an afternoon of solid silver fish bashing. If anyone is after an easy afternoons sport in West Yorkshire give Spring End farm a go. Plenty of fish of all sizes. You can read the full report by clicking the link in my signature below.

The river is full of the little buggers, maybe i'll catch some this year and freeze them for the winter season....

I fished this place on the weekend. Lets just say it was a lesson in humility. Fortunately I had my thermals on which meant I didn't freeze my bits off but the hemp I was using did set be the end of the afternoon. I did a quick write up about it on my blog and wondered if any of you guys have ever fished there? I was told to expect big shoals of Roach in the winter months. But no one was fishing and I didnt see a flipping fish move! Have a look and let me if im fishing in the right aream the link is in my signature below. If anyone has some more up to date knowledge about the venue it would be greatly appreciated, the only thing I could get out of people was old advice which seemed rehashed. I imagine when it is warmer there are plenty of fish to be had!