Cod eye

I'm fishing the Wye on Monday for barbel and it's probably going to be coloured. I'll try big lumps of meat, which seem to be working, but am after some advice. Are there any meat tips I should try - flavours etc - and are there other forms of 'meat' other than luncheon I should be giving a run out? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Quite a lot of Dragon Carp's stuff is the same as everyone else, it's just a lesser known badge and of course he sells direct so doesn't have to cut the tackle shop into the equation. There's only so many sourcers out in the Far East and they all go to the same factories. There's a top of the range suit called a Cyclotherm that's exactly the same as a 'super duper' outfit by a 'famous' brand yet it's less than half the price. The new rods - anything over twenty quid - are pretty incredible for the money. Nice and slim blanks and 'proper' fishing rods. I never used to like his reels as they were really cheap with plastic spools but again he's now got fixed spools that are the same as others but half the money. From my experience you need to carefully pick your bargain - for every Surgay gem there's a few duds.

My local fisheries are reporting y-o-y losses of 20-50 per cent on day tickets. I guess it must be worse for companies selling tackle. Is that people feeling the pinch in the recession or the is the terrible weather keeping us off the banks?

I had a strange run of catches whilst fishing Lough Derg for pike. One day I landed three predators and they all had lampreys attached to their side. It's never happened since - not sure how unusual this is.

But it's not really his name is it. I hear he's called Ken Thorpe. Used to be heavily involved in a fishing club down South. No idea why he moved up north and changed his name. Maybe it was to do with being on the radio. Like Cliff Richard. Two first names sound better. Elton John!