snotty

Might be worth giving the EA a call since they are supposed to be responsible for our waterways, and spotting a mink used at least to be a notifiable incident. There have been threads in the past about this topic.

Nowt wrong with SLR, but for ease of use and flexibility digital wins it. Best thing to do is set yourself a realistic budget and then have a look at the many online camera reviews to see what's available at the price. That way you can narrow things down a bit. Secondly, take a trip to your local shop and handle a few, believe me some feel pretty crappy. You can usually buy much cheaper online, I can personally recommend internetcamerasdirect.co.uk their service is excellent IMO. Eventually I also chose a Fuji, neat, compact, excellent pics, simple to use and as you will discover browsing the reviews, battery life is darned good, a very important factor. On the subject of batteries allow ££ for a set of GOOD rechargeables 2000mAh nickel metal hydride, and a suitable recharger. You can go through a couple of ordinary duracells in no time at all. Enjoy the search.

Planning a pleasure session only to arrive and find a match arranged without prior notice being posted. Anglers who bring their kids and / or dog and allow them to run about being a nuisance to others. Tweaking my rig and re-baiting only to catch that tree behind on the cast and the ensuing cats cradle. Walking across the meadow, settling into a swim and realising that the maggots are still in the car in the underfloor storage box. Backfiring catapult load... does this happen only to me? Line that loops around the rod tip despite my best efforts to avoid it happening. Tying a water knot to form a link leger and trimming off the reel line. Over friendly swans and ducks, I've had one cob attack my car bodywork after seeing its refection, leaving lots of tiny little scratches. People who drop rubbish into the canal from the bridge where the pike lay up. The last cast

I'm all in favour of supporting the local Post Office, and I'll gladly queue in order to do it, besides which, while my local chappie was filling in the form we got chatting and I discovered he was a keen fisherman, so I got some useful gen too on local hotspots. After 20 minutes there was still not one other customer waiting behind me.

Budgie IMO at ten quid for three (or three pounds thirty three each) these doodahs are cheap as chips and if they only last a season ...great, I probably waste ten times that on floats, and other stuff I never even get around to using. As for silicone float adaptors... why don't polaris make a self-locking version of said adaptor into which you could insert your favourite balsa or peacock?... just a thought.

I would add my (considerable) weight in support of these little devices, having bought three at the Go Fishing show. They do just what they say, a simple quick release connector, invaluable for landing nets. Basically its a two-part machined aluminium connector. One end screws into your landing net handle, (for example), the other has a female thread into which you screw your net. The two parts are securely fastened together with a sprung loaded retracting ball device similar to that used in the aircraft industry and on fuel /air lines. The coupling is released by pushing back the sprung collar this can be easily achieved one-handed. The whole thing is only a couple of inches long and has a flat for a spanner to aid securing if necessary, though hand tight is good enough in my experience. I wish I had thought of using such old technology in this way.

Here we go again! I'm with you on this one Peter, I know we should be united, that way we fight any threats together, but it just isn't happening and frankly I don't hold out much hope of it ever happening until our sport is threatened directly. So to all you budding 'one size fits all' organisers out there... go join one of the existing groups. There are plenty to choose from.

That happens to me all the time! The other thing that I find when I'm concentrating hard is when the water is gently rippled and you look away at say, the sky, the clouds appear to be circling around like some huge weather event is about to take place. If you look at trees on the far bank they move! It still takes me by surprise sometimes, and can be quite spooky.

Think I quite fancy the humble Ruffe... our local canal I'm sure would provide the goods as my son caught a big daddy some time ago, and not knowing what it was (he thought it was some sort of perch hybrid) he didn't weigh it or take a pic.

I'm afraid the Royal Mail gets my thumbs down. 1. My company bank statements posted through the wrong door, turned up sometime later having been opened. Other instances of company mail from accountant which never arrived. 2. Receive wrong mail regularly, which clearly has correct address sometimes for houses streets away. 3. A postie who doubles as a paper delivery person for the local newsagent simultaneously. Q; If a house has a BIG white number on a BIG black slate featured prominently on the wall, why does postie get it wrong? Q; Why does postie assume that no car in driveway means no-one in, doesn't bother to knock and leaves parcels up the road with people I hardly know even by sight?

It would have to be colour you could always go sepia or b&w later adding effects etc once the pic was uploaded. The real question would be do you capture the wide angle perspective shot, or focus right on the money with a telephoto?

Many thanks for that Chris, duly sorted and run... clean as a whistle fortunately.

If the catch was THAT small, what was he using as bait? IMHO foul hooked doesn't count match rules or not. This is one of the all time absolute rules, oh! that and gravity.

Mat, try holding the tips gently as close to the tip as you can and allow them to sag, the yellow will probably sag the furthest, this is the softest, then the green, then the red, which is the stiffest. I'm not sure of the ratings for them though.

Sorry Nathan, simplest is best, if its hard to see its tiresome to read.

Sorry Peter please forgive my naivety but you ARE being sarcastic aren't you? Personally I quite like Keith he speaks his mind and seems down to earth, but I draw the line at someone who is trying to tell me I should be using fruit flavoured meat... or fish flavoured fruit... or whatever.

A BIG THANK YOU Elton, for all your hard work and time, I hope that you feel you have achieved what you set out to achieve. This is, and will continue I'm sure to be a great forum, expertly moderated I might add, so thanks to those guys also.

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll get carried away. He'll enrol on a website for similar folks, with news and advice, and maybe a few jokes. A forum for those who need somewhere to rant, his whole life will take on a piscatorial slant. His family and business will come a poor second, once the ghosts of Crabtree and Walker have beckoned. The desire will penetrate right through his heart, until he's a fully fledged tackle tart.

Nothing at all... aren't carp anglers the ones who buy camo gear?... like camo boots, do they walk on their hands so that the fish can/cant see the boots 'cos fish cannot see less than 10 degrees to horizontal... camo shot (!)...and camo sunglasses (yes really!)

Sorry Newt, your listing doesn't mean a great deal to me I'm not sure if 'bucks ultimate 10ft jiggin' is a fishing tool or a mating ritual. I guess if it don't say 'whip' it aint a whip. Actually I am in the market for a whip, and have been looking for a stockist of Zebco rhino DF whips, having been impressed by them at the NEC show. I have searched all the usual sites and my local dealers but can find no mention of them anywhere... does anyone have any info on them please?

Freezing them can take up to 48 hours for them to die, boiling is a little quicker but messy, anyway you need to store them once dead and one plastic bag is not usually sufficient to keep lady wife happy. I now have a bait fridge / freezer so no hassle.

Do we take it then that Elton deferred to his good lady wife and made her honorary AN member #1 Its amazing how low a man can stoop when trying to gain brownie points to go fishing.

Welcome Gaz, I'm from t'other end of lancashire (well Cheshire actually) tho I expect I may get up to lancaster to fish sometime in the future as my daughter is living up there. Nice looking canal down past B & Q. I was brought up in Carnforth and schooled in Morecambe so I know the area a bit, however I was shrimp fishing off the pier or at Arnside in those days. This site is the dogs doodahs for info and help so fill yer boots.

Don't be fooled lancslass, when they say... AA what they really mean is AAA which is as described above.

Originally posted by Peter Martin; My advice is to start pike fishing by going to a local river or canal where there are a lot of jack pike, get a good spinning rod, use a lure with a large single hook rather than treble hooks, net all pike you hook rather than trying to chin them out as you see on the TV programmes. buy ready made wire traces rather than making them until you are good at it. to be honest this is what i am still doing as I consider myself as an advanced beginner. This just about sums up my first year of piking! Nugg in answer to your query what made me take up piking... I fish a local canal where there are a lot of jacks and I had always regarded them in awe what a supreme predator, in much the same way as I regard barbel as a supreme species. Having watched the usual stars on telly lure fishing I was taken with Gord Burton videos and Charlie Bettels book. Although I have the utmost respect for our star names I dislike intensely the way one in particular encourages pike to tailwalk. Having gained a theoretical knowledge and an insight into the life of this frail killer I set off to 'chuck a few lures about' and my first take from a jack around 3 1/2lb was an awesome feeling... and that as they say was that! I was grateful for having been shown how not to be afraid of a pikes mouth by my father and unhooking just seemed quite natural. To date I have had pike to 9 3/4lbs and have branched out from lures to deadbaits, e-bay is mainly responsible for the explosion in my lure boxes and I look forward to my first 'double'. My video and book collection is still expanding too. I have not had a pike die on me yet, and I would rather strike too early and lose a fish than chance to deep hook such a magnificent creature. When I see folk watching their floats sailing off before winding down I cannot but wonder what they think is happening down below. By the way I am not and never have been what might be called a carp angler, I would rather roam with a float and pin for chub or a tip for bream and tench.