cannibalspinners

from my local river ( gala water ) a feeder river to the tweed , 1 day 2 years ago i managed to catch 5 different species on a spinner salmon , sea trout , brown trout , rainbow trout , grayling > ( rainbow trout was a fish farm escapee ) technically it was 6 species , i caught a minnow , hook in the mouth , but i think it was a fluke. so 5 species for sure , maybe 6 NOT TOO BAD FOR A RIVER LESS THAN 25 MILES LONG

thanks guys , that was an interesting read !!!!!!!!!

with coarse fish not being my first target when fishing , can you guys tell me if this is now the time of year that coarse fish spawn. i am sure i have seen perch spawn in the reeds or fry swimming about at this time of year. do all coarse fish spawn at roughly the same time.....

up here in scotland , our drainage system is pretty good , however after watching the national news & seeing all the terrible flooding down south , i have 1 question on a lighter note ,,,, do any of you know if due to the flooding , some fish species have been able to spread to waterways that they did not exist in previous , if they have is this to the anglers advantage. one other thing , do you have any rivers down south ( from scotland ) , that have breeding populations of carp , i have only heard of carp in lakes or lochs.. & never in flowing rivers........

those hooks look like they could do some serious damage , really glad we dont use things like that nowadays. still very interesting hooks though.

just a simple question. is it better to buy hooks without a barb or debarb them yourselves? i tend to think barbless hooks are more expensive , however if i take the barb of myself will they be just as good , as well as cheaper ?

i enjoy watching fish rise to the surface , they also get used to you & expect to be fed , if you keep your pond clean , you will see fish down to a good depth. some even let you hand feed them through time !!!!!! still not sure if i should protect my pond with a surface net or some type of metal grill to keep out greedy otters , herons , cats etc.........

there may well be very large pike in there due to trout on the menu. warm weather wont bother fish lying 30 ft + in the summer. i often fish st marys loch in the scottish borders it drops of to 150 ft in many places, tactics i use vary from lures to dead bait & even live minnow which is very good , i have often hooked pike in 50 ft water & boy is it a battle. the pike will lie in the drop of point to ambush fish , when the wind blows all the food for trout blows with it , the pike will follow them too. look for a build up of leaves & grime & below the surface trout will be waiting & even deeper will be the pike , but maybe not much deeper.

top stuff phil , well answered , i would like to get in to a large tweed pike , as i imagine it would be a very powerful creature with it having to fight some strong currents i myself 2 seasons ago was fishing the fairnilee beat on the tweed with a spinner when i hooked what i took to be a large salmon it gave a tremendous pull & took of like a train & 5 seconds later it was gone , broken , when i got the line back it was as if cut by a razor balde , it may just of been a pike with its sharp teeth. i have caught several large grayling on the tweed too , with spinners in very fast deep water , they were between the 2 - 3 lb mark never came across any perch or roach , rudd etc.... but i believe they are there !!!!!!!!

Thanks phil , when these fish were caught on the tweed , were they All taken with bait. The authorities insist on a close season , just to protect salmon , They would hate the idea if multiple coarse fishers arrived on the scene as their laws are based on salmon , sea trout & brown trout , they would find it very difficult to stop people coarse fishing. I would of thought that the spped of the tweed flow would not suit coarse fish except Grayling , I imagine when the tweed floods 8 ft or more & the river flows at 15 mph + that the perch , rudd etc will just move to the side & be in the calm shallows. I have always known the tweed held a mixed number of coarse fish years ago , But why are they now being caught , Is it because people are putting them in the river . Have you heard or seen any pike in the tweed.

Thanks , Andy i will look forward to reading your document , when you post it. Thank you all for the pond calculations , i would of NEVER of worked out the amount of gallons in it ( NEVER )

400 gallons was a very rough guess , it,s about 8 ft x 7 ft , its a straight drop from the side down to 30 inches , it is over 36 inches in the centre. so i did not calculate anything as i would not know where to start , it seems a lot of water to me , i really wanted about 20 fish or so , i will try dobies garden centre , thanks for you feedback , phil. is there a formula for measuring water quantity in a pond with several different measurements

hi , guys do you or anyone you know sell young coarse fish for my new pond , not really fry but the next stage where they are maybe 2" long , perch , roach , rudd etc........... thanks

hi , folks i have recently moved house & in the back garden is a large man made pond , holds about 400 gallons of water. my question to you all is where can i get some coarse fish for it , do you know any suppliers who supply the public , maybe rudd , roach or a nice shoal of perch. i am in southern scotland. any website links would be excellent thanks

Is it safe to assume , humans are a big cause of the spread Nice detailed map , I could not of received a better answer to my question ,Steve

though not a fish , the american signal crayfish has to be the biggest threat to native fish . does anyone know how far north they have travelled in the uk

mike , i bought mine from mchardys of carlisle , they have a vast range of spinning components & tools they have a very detailed website, just google mchardys the aluminium tool in my opinion is the easiest & best to use

phil , how far up the tweed are the roach , do they only lie in the calmer waters , are they caught on the worm. the perch i am told on good authority were caught in the galashiels area , this is the middle to upper tweed beat , with some very fast flowing water ever heard of chub in the tweed ? . do you think there were once many species of coarse fish in the tweed ? & the salmon foundation eradicated them through time ?.

ok , but had to make the body , but yes the rest were components

click below to watch me build a 30 gram spinning lure ( not the greatest presenting you will ever see ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uay36OEDpYw

the well known salmon & trout river, the tweed has been throwing up catches of perch , in the middle to upper reaches. several grayling fishers have been reporting catching perch on the tweed at the back end of january this is most unusual , as it is very fast flowing & has been in flood for a long time , how did they suddenly appear ? they have been caught between kelso ( upper floors ) to yair , a good 20 miles + apart. also just heard perch are being caught on the teviot & the lower gala water. anyone who is familiar with this river have any explanation.?

Its getting lighter at nights as well , so more daylight each day is welcome , every day now is a bonus, who knows spring may just be weeks away. Spring salmon are now in our rivers. I wonder if any of our frogs / toads will spawning soon in this unusually mild winter . Dont know how or if it will affect spawning this year , will it make spawning better , Maybe a higher fry survival rate than usual. Anyone seen any american signal cray fish recently ?

just put a nice yellow ( not blue ) flame under them , not for long & they will blacken quickly

due to this very mild winter i am still catching with methods that should of ended months ago spinning with mepps is still getting great results in my local pond , even brown trout are grabbing the spinner as i fish for other species. only this morning i saw trout rising for flies ( in mid jan ), almost unheard of. i have had pike chasing my lure as if it were a hot august afternoon. , roach are still in shoals in the shallows , minnows are also in large groups, what is going on ? people opposite were fishing with just t shirts . the seasons are strange just now , will the really cold snap come, who knows ? anyone else on here noticing similar things

top stuff , Never thought about coins like that before, I still think they would be hard wearing in the water when used as a spinner blade. Cant say i have ever seen a coin rotting away