Noel80

Thanks Newt. Much obliged.

Just wondered how long until I can post without each post requiring approval from moderators? I'm a good boy. Honest. Long time lurker, even posted here years ago...................

I admire his effort but he never stood a chance. If you can't even have a respected wildlife professional like Hugh Miles dare to suggest the wholesale re-introduction of otters into waterways that cannot support them might not always be a great thing then we haven't a hope of getting anywhere. I'm not 'anti' otter. Calls for a "cull" or whatever are completely insane. What *should* have happened is that for every otter re-introduced they should have notified every stillwater owner in a 20-30 miles radius (the otter's hunting range). And footed the bill for any otter fencing required. Would only cost a few hundred thousand pounds per otter.............. But as they're such amazing creatures that the general public adores I'm sure nobody would have minded footing the bill.....................? They should have spent years carrying out extensive fish surveys on the local waterways to see just how 'strong' the silverfish and eel populations were. I keep hearing Eel populations have crashed by 95% over the past 30 years. What did they assume otters would eat? What are the effects of cormorants on the otter's prey? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Just releasing predators into the 'wild' and saying "there you go, everything is healthy now" doesn't seem very honest. The sickest irony of the whole story is that 'we' as anglers are hugely responsible for their success! Who stocks the ponds with carp and fish? Who pays for the stocking of rivers? Who ends up feeding them? We do! Great, isn't it? What is so 'wild' and 'miraculous' about a recovery whereby an apex predator is introduced to the wild where it feeds itself from man-made, artificially stocked lakes and ponds? Or even garden ponds when they get desperate? Is that sustainable? Is that a "success"? Far better to have a pretty blonde woman waltz around the countryside saying how amazing everything is. That's makes for much better TV.

Don't know of any books like that myself. It's a mine-field out there for the novice carp angler. The trouble is carp anglers are always looking for 'edges' and magazines need new things to show so rigs are constantly getting 'invented' and re-invented. Bottom line is most of the very best carp anglers stick with 1 or 2 favourites. They have the knowledge and skill to tweak things if necessary but for 98% of fishing a 'standard' rig will do. Find fish that are feeding or get them to feed. Then you'll catch. Korda have a great website showing rigs. But they're a business that makes money from selling rig parts. It doesn't need to get anymore complicated than this: 'Chilly' is a brilliant angler.

The exact same thing has happened on local club pond. I don't fish it much but it was nice to take a loaf of bread for two hours in the evening and catch a few carp that disappear during the day. I went last week and there are signs up saying "NO SURFACE FISHING". I don't know why but can take a wild guess........... Match-orientated committee took exception to baits floating down pond and spoiling fishing for others? I guess if people are firing in hundreds of mixers it's going to have an effect somewhere down the line but all it does it put people off fishing there. I certainly won't be bothering. No Groundbait. No boilies rule already in place. Why? It's a small pond with silvers and a few carp mostly 3-9lb with the odd double. It's never going to be a mecca for carp anglers. 1 Rod Only. No night fishing (fair enough). So it's only fished by pleasure anglers, Dad & lads etc. Yet the place and car park is plastered in signs. It's my experience that the kind of people who obey rules and signs don't need to be told how to fish and behave properly. Yet the kind of people who need to be told how to fish and behave don't bother reading signs or follow rules anyway!

Never really thought about getting one. Some are being advertised now as alternatives to margin pole fishing "down the edge". You get the length of rod for the presentation with the benefit of a reel for playing the fish. I have no idea how good they are though. http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Angling-Times/Section/Tackle2/Coarse-and-Carp-Fishing-Tackle/Fishing-Rods/Telescopictravel-rods/Chpmans-Pegasus-Unbreakable-Margin-rod/

Once again, thanks for everyone's help. I went to another tackle shop that had a few cheaper ones (under £100). In the end I bought a TF Gear one (the one Fishtec sell). It feels great. I know you can get better quality 2nd hand ones on ebay etc but I wanted to try it out before I bought one. I spooled up with 50-60 metres of Drennan Float Fish 4lb. Can't wait to try it now! I can sense the tangles I'm about to suffer already! I discovered by accident that the plastic clip that comes with spools of line fits perfectly over the drum to hold the line in place and stop it springing off. What do other people use? Elastic? I think I might need another one though... for barbel...

Good point. Thanks for your advice on the Bewick. It makes sense now. Planned to go stick float fishing for silvers on a small river, really. The Okuma Raw 2 box it said the line capacity was 200m+ of 8lb line. I thought you only put 50 odd yards of line on centrepins? I just couldn't get past the flashy look to it anyway. Sorry for more questions but why can't some reels be 'batted'. I'd like one that can be. What do I need to look for/avoid?

I think the John Wilson Avon Quiver is one of the best selling rod of all time. Can't go wrong. Though people do say the old ones are better than the new ones.......... There are loads others available in the £50 price range. Shakespeare, Korum CS etc etc As for white tips I paint mine . Just like John Wilson did in one of his old Go Fishing shows. I don't paint the fluro end tip or the rings. I use a quick drying (i.e. water-based) acrylic primer that's designed to stick to anything because I've always got some open. Zinsser 1-2-3 or Dulux Super Grip. But any paint would do they really. Model paint, 'craft' paints etc save having to buy a whole litre. Nail varnish... (apparently)... Makes a massive difference when fishing at dusk and against a backdrop of trees and foliage or dark water etc.

Always enjoy these threads! You have to treat each situation differently and sensibly. One club only has a single stretch of river fishing. 3 fields but they're open so it's one big field. No public footpath. I gave up fishing there because they were so unsettled when they saw you. It was uncomforably obvious that they did not want you in their field. They would get very agitated and never calmed down or lose interest. Actually the opposite always happened. A different stretch and a field of heiffers and bullocks. No problem at all. A bit suspicious but actually quite friendly. they always come and "have a look and sniff" a few times throughout a day. No problem. Another stretch. Young bullocks and heiffers. Absolute hooligans. As soon as they see you they start walking towards you, then jogging, then running. They surround you. They're a bit nervous so you can carry on walking but then... they start getting jumpy... the ones at the back start pushing forward and they start jogging again. But this time you're in the middle of the field (or on the edge). You stop. They stop. But as soon as you move they start running/jogging around you. It's unsettling. You get over the fence and can stroke them for ages. But as soon as you want to go back the whole thing starts again. I don't think they're 'violent'. Just curious/playful/hungry but when there's 30 of them you could easily get knocked over. They're just about ok. Another stretch. Prime Limousin herd. Always an enourmous bull. Always cows with calves. Always choose somewhere else to go... There is a footpath on part of the field so in theory they 'should' be used to people but.......... once they spot you it's the old "what the hell is that bloke doing there?" Calves curious, cows anxious.............. Not a good mix. I've never waited to see how the bull would react. I know they don't go around charging everything that moves. I've seen a bull from a completey different stretch once slowly make his way towards an angler. Luckily for me it was on the other side of the river! It walked right up to him within a few feet and never even flinched. It never paused for a moment and just carried on following his herd. I reckon I could hear the guy's heartbeat from 50 yards away!

Very good point Chesters. Especially with regards to rivers. On a related theme I'd be interested to know how matchmen have changed. Most matches these days are carp matches, aren't they? So the line between carpers and matchmen has got increasingly blurred.......... Yet at the same time it has never been greater................ Sitting on a box for 5 hours catching 'small' carp sounds like hell to a guy who wants to sleep in a bivvy all day in the hope of one bite from a special fish............ The trouble with clubs is you cannot please everybody. If you make it a "runs" water the specimen carpers aren't interested. If you stock it sparingly with carp the pleasure and match angler isn't interested. If you invent silly rules like "no floating baits" then I get REALLY cheesed off, as I found out on small club water last week!...................... My local club stocks everywhere with carp but obviously doesn't really want 'carpers' to fish there by inventing silly rules like that one..................

Interesting topic. I think as anglers we automatically think everything was better in the past. I'm sure some of it was. But some of wasn't. Jeremy Paxman makes the point in the forward to his book on fishing. There's a great quote from 1598... ... "the fishes decrease and the fishers multiply"... Tell me about it! I've only been fishing for 10 years. Locally, there is more and more pressure on a nice day ticket water. It's a 4 acre mixed fishery is now occupied by at least 4 or 5 bivvies 24/7 carp fishing. I like carp fishing too but I fish for everything. It's sad that some people clearly think you're weird if you go there to target bream or roach. There are lots of small farm ponds near me. All have carp and usual species but they're all 0.5 to 2 acres in size. They can get busy and noisey etc. Not what I go fishing for. So I spend more time on rivers. Silverfish numbers on a lot of rivers had reduced considerably. Cormorants? Loss of spawning habitat? Abstraction? Low flows? Siltation? Floods? The effects of "The Pill" washing through waterways?........... Who knows? And large shoals of small barbel seem to have been replaced by small shoals or individual BIG barbel. Which is 'better'? I doubt there's ever been a better time to target big perch or big chub. The Hant's Avon has nothing like the roach populations of the past but it has big numbers of chub. Some absolutely monstrous. Perhaps there is link in that? Perhaps not? Big roach are there to be caught in 'commercials........ I do wonder what effect the increase number of otters (I know, can of worms etc) will have on stillwaters. I suspect the well managed and protected ones will just get busier and busier whereas he unfenced ones will suffer. Will people change from carp to other fish or will they just give up? Why bother spending a fortune on bait when all you're doing is feeding otter food? Let's not turn this into an otter thread though, please. It's an interesting topic. Look forward to the other replies.

Interesting idea. As someone who buys a licence and Angling Trust membership every year I kind of think I'm already "doing my bit". Why isn't the polluter paying? Or the Environment Agency? Or the Canal Trust? They can make the money back through ticket sales. Or am I being selfish? We lost thousands of fish in Devon when the Tiverton canal bank breached in the winter floods. So I understand how upsetting it is. Not sure who is responsible for re-stocking though.

Thanks for everyone's help. Special thanks to philocast for his reply and offer. Sadly, I couldn't be any further away! (Devon). I think I'm going to do a bit more looking and "trying". I'll let you know how I get on........................ Now where did I put that sledgehammer?................

I remember once packing the car, driving for 50 minutes. Getting to the pond and thinking "er, I don't actually feel like fishing". Very bizarre feeling! Had never happened before. I had just gone on auto pilot for the whole morning. I don't actually believe that a bad days fishing beats a good day at work......... . I've had some awful sessions where I've thought "what am I doing here? I'm not enjoying it"!!! I've found that keeping things simple, not taking things for granted and lowering expectations helps. I try to think like a kid. Get back to the mystery and excitement of the 'unknown'. Don't have targets, don't have a sense of entitlement. But everyone is different. Others love to set targets etc. And it works well for them.