Piperspruce

Blimey. They'll look lovely on somebody's gold plated, diamond encrusted alarms.

I'll put my hand up to being worst on the board! I try hard though! He he

Has this happened to anyone before? Grabbed a few after work hours on my club lake last night, got there about 4 and the going was slow until a couple of ducks invaded my swim. These weren't the usual 'swim around the float, come and see if they can blag a few maggots or groundbait' type ducks. These were 'go getting' ducks and they proceeded to spend ten minutes diving under the water and I presume helping themselves to the ground bait I had put in. After a while (I was cursing them the whole time) they swam off with full bellies, and as soon as they did the fishing really picked up. Now do you think they had stirred up the bottom creating a cloud? Should I be pleased when ducks invade? Could have just been a coincidence I suppose, it was getting later and a bit cooler so that could be the reason. So in general, do you think water fowl have much impact on fishing? Would the presence of birds give fish confidence or put them off?

Blokes arriving at the lake together, setting up on opposite sides of the lake, and having a running conversation all day at shouting volume! "GOT SOMETHING BOB?" "NAH, LAKE IS DEAD!" Maybe its just me but I try and be considerate to others. Perhaps I'm too sensitive?!

Well a mile up the road I'm happy to report that our small apple tree has gone crazy over the last couple of weeks and is now sagging with small apples. The blackcurrant bush is coming along very nicely too. We like to make blackcurrant schnapps in our house so hoping for a good harvest. Lot's of birds round our way though and I haven't got any netting sorted... Contrast with a few weeks back when my OH went to the local pick your own strawberries place and they were only selling them pre-picked as they said there crop wasn't big enough for people to be picking their own. I suppose it's my fault with my 'one for the basket, one for my mouth' approach.

These are the Korum rods I was thinking of, but it seems you only get one 2oz quiver top with it, so might not offer much in the way of versatility. As an example, this one comes with more quivertips, but may be a little powerful if you're planning on doing a lot of float fishing for smaller species. I've got an older Maver feeder rod, nothing expensive but does what I need it to do. That has three tips so covers most situations I'm likely to come up against. But it depends on how much coarse fishing you're likely to do as to how much versatility you'll need. Will you be fishing still waters or rivers? Close in or distant? I suppose that's why I suggested that within a £250 - £300 budget you could easily get a good quality float rod and feeder rod for £200 and still have change for a good reel too. Like I said, somebody far more experienced and skilled than me will be able to provide a better answer soon I'm sure. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious by the way!

Ha I have no idea. I just remember way back in the day when I was a kid my Grandfather got Sky TV whilst we still had the old normal tele. Used to go over to his and watch Rex Hunt fishing adventures for hours on end. My grandfather had no interest in fishing but used to put up with it, and ended up being able to pull off a pretty good impression of old Rex. Ribbidyribbada folks! Not sure I'd watch it these days... I'm not much of a fish kisser.

I'm a recent returnee to coarse fishing myself, and recently asked a similar question as the choice can be baffling. I'm sure others will be along shortly to offer up some better suggestions but if I'm not mistaken, a 2500 reel is more suited to float fishing, a 4000 for feeder work and a 3000 for a bit of both, but not heavy feeder work. As for rods, there are lots of twin tip, Avon style rods out there but I would get a reel sorted first then you can take it along when you check out some rods to see how they feel when attached to the rod. For your budget though you could probably get a good quality feeder rod as well as a float rod rather than a two in one type. That's just my opinion though! If you wanted a twin tip I've heard people talk well of ones produced by Fox, Daiwa and Sonik. Think Korum do some around the £100 mark too but haven't come across anyone that has one.

Clearly it's Rex Hunt.

Hadnt even crossed my mind! So is it a matter of personal choice as to whether the line comes off the top or bottom of the spool?

Ok, so I have decided to take a punt on the TFG classic centre pin. Any advice from the experienced users out there? Do you think I would benefit from the optional extra line guard? I have to say, I'm quite excited about it. Looking forward to the challenge and the chance to improve my knot unlocking skills!

For £26 it would let me find out if I like using one nice and cheaply, I've half thought about getting one for a while, seeing as most of my fishing is done in the margins or a few rod lengths out it seems a lovely way to fish. Maybe I'll take a punt on one then let you know how I get on. If nothing else it could help me develop my skills in unlocking birdsnests!

Just had a quick look on eBay. There is a TFG pin on there for £26 with free postage and packaging. They're claiming it has an RRP of £230!! Surely that's a RRP they never actually sell it at, and for £26 you won't get a workable reel?

I suppose the only limit is your imagination! Maybe I'll have a look round the supermarket tomorrow and pick up something to use on Sunday!

Ha ha ok I'll bite, which Okuma would you suggest for a novice that gets many a tangle with a fixed spool reel! I quite fancy the challenge of learning a new skill...

You know, there isn't anything wrong with the hyperloop at all. Maybe I'm just being frivolous. Thanks for your advice all, got plenty to consider now, Ill check out some of the rods suggested, but maybe I'll possibly invest the money in some other area of my tackle instead.

Bit of a lighthearted one this. What unusual things have you ever put in your groundbait, and have you had much success with them? I was looking at all the tinned veg, meat and fish in the supermarket the other night and if you were brave (or crazy) there are a lot of strange things you could try. BBQ baked beans, microwave Mexican rice or Dandylion and Burdock pop in place of water anyone?1

I'm still very much in love with using a float. I'm not brilliant, but that's partly why I love it. For such a simple thing, its actually pretty hard to do right. So as well as enjoying using a float, for me, there is also something new to learn, and aspects to improve upon.

Hello chaps and chapesses I've been inspired to post this by the 'is float fishing a dying art' thread. I'm certainly no expert with a float, but seeing as most of my angling is done on lakes with one,and having had a little windfall, I have been thinking of upgrading my Shimano Hyperloop match rod. I dropped out of fishing for a while so its been quite some time since I bought a rod, and on having a quick look lots of rods seem to be all 'carp pellet' this and 'yank and bank' that, which don't seem to offer what I'm after. I don't often fish commercial type places, and the club lake I fish offers a real mixed bag. So with a budget of £75-£100 I'm looking for something which will last me a good few years and will suit fishing for crucians and smaller fish, but capable of comfortably handling any larger tench or carp that comes along. I was looking at the drennan series 7 rods and also seen (only online, not in the flesh) a Shimano Purist allround float rod so if anyone has any thoughts on these, or any other suggestions then I would love to hear them. Thanks Sprucey

Actually it was the bottom pool! Peg 32, the last peg in the corner on the car park side. The tree is on your right hand side, to your left is the margin and a bit further out to your left is the pipe. Started off fishing down the margin but the area by the tree started fizzing like a jacuzzi, so switched to a little float and first put in, out she came! Went quiet after that though, packed up around 12. Still very few people down there though.

Scopex - Thank you, like most of my decent captures, came along when I was fishing for something else! Phone - When it surfaced out of the depths my firast thoughts were 'chub' but when I got a good look it's eye was level with its mouth and didn't look like any of the chub I've had in the past. The photo does make it look a bit chub-like though granted. It was from the lake that RUDD is a member of, so I expect he's had a few out over the years from there. Vagabond - It was taken on a mobile in a bit of a rush. I do enjoy photography, but I fish alone a lot so have never really bothered with photographing what I catch. They always look smaller in the photos than in my memory anyway! Plus nobody wants to see my ugly mug in a photo! I don't even have a set of weighing scales in my kit at the moment, average fish is out of water for less than 20 seconds I'd say.

... but is this a grass carp? Had it from my club lake yesterday morning, 8mm halibut pellet float fished lift style over a bed of micros, about 6 ft out from the bank under an over hanging tree. Never had a grass carp before, but from photos of others I've seen I'm fairly certain that's what it is?

My OH was going to take the dog for a walk down there yesterday afternoon. Luckily I just happened to have a look at the EADT website before she set off and read about the chaos. Plans were swiftly changed (if you'll pardon the pun!)

Better check the fence isn't electric, hooking that on a cast will be a nice waker upper at 5 in the morning. Better than a coffee maybe!

Alarms going off constantly is probably driving him crazy!