mdhome

Oddlly enough I recently spotted a shoal of about 5 chub in the river Ousel with a perch in tow. The Chub weighed approx 2-3lbs and the Perch slightly less. This really did seem quite bizarre at the time and it was as if the Perch was a honorary member of the *club*. It took me a couple of hours but I caught the bugger

My missus bought me an Okuma Aventa centrepin and my mum and sister chipped to buy me a pair of breathable chest waders off ebay. All I have to do now is wait for the temperature to rise so I can go walkies in the Ousel

Hi Chaps I have recently caught the *river* bug and have been thinking of buying myself a pair of chest waders (the misses has already bought me a Centrepin for xmas). Does anyone have any advice on what I should be looking for and how difficult/uncomfortable are they to wear? As an aside, has anyone seen any of the Ron Thompson sets- are they good quality as I would prefer not to pay more than £60 Regards MD

As an aside, I change approx 1-2 gallons of water every 2 days with fresh water declorinated with added stress coat and stress zyme. The tank was let to mature for 2-3 weeks before I added the gudegeon, then 3 days later the 4 minnows and roach were added. 3 days ago, I added the chublets. The only problem was a build up of algae on the plants and surfaces. Not feeding the fish for a few days sorted the plant problem. I must however talk of the demise of the first set of inhabitants. These were a group of snails, the biggest of which I called Nemo. I think it and its smaller siblings have also been eaten by the fish.

Hi Chaps Thanks for the feedback. I should have been a bit more forthright. I currently have 4 minnows, a gudgeon,2 chublets and a roach, all caught locally. I visited Frosts garden centre at the weekend and they seemed concerned about selling me either orfe, rudd,ide or tench due to the size of my tank, so I wondered what experience others had of keeping these fish. As an aside, the roach seems to be a bit of a moper, but the minnows are the life and soul of the tank. The gudgeon, which was the first in the tank and alone for a few days took to the roach like they were long lost buddies. I'd like to replace the roach with a few smaller specimens and add a small perch. Hopefully half a pint of maggots should resolve that problem at the weekend :-)

Hi Chaps I have a small 22gal Aqua-one 620t aquarium and want to stock it with cold freshwater fishes. Does anyone have any suggestions about the species that are suitable. Unfortunately, Goldfish dont float my boat. As an aside, how well do small perch live with roach, gudgeon and minnows. Regards MD

Hi Will Thanks for your offer and advice. I will PM you when I have moved in and settled down. Regards MD

We are moving to Monkston in Milton Keynes which is just 400 yards from the river Ouzel. I have had a look at the water and it seems very shallow. Does anyone know what, if any type of fish are caught here and the best tactics to use. MD

From what I have read, a natural fertile and aged estate lake should hold up to 650lbs of fish per acre. Rivers hold about a 3rd of this. Some commercials have been known to hold several 1000lbs of fish per acre. In my opinion, anything above a ton of fish per acre is nothing more than a fish farm. Regards MD

Cheers Pangolin Much appreciated MD

Hi Pangolin I am really after small carp,crucians and tench etc. Oddly enough I came from Bristol and remember vividly watching two anglers pull out shedloads of Tench and Crucians from the Docks. Not living in Bristol for a long time, I have lost touch with what is available etc. MD

Does anyone know of a good place to fish in Bristol. I am visiting there in a few weeks and hope to take my Bro-in-law for a spot of Angling. Regards MD

..Not anymore. That's why I left, so I could lose the accent :-)

We spent a week at Coftons in Devon recently and was disappointed with the fishing. Some of the blame lied on my techniqiue, but the holiday was unfulfilling. Unfortunately I dont drive, the missus does and I am not sure if she is too interested in going back again this year. Regards MD PS, I live in MK but come from Brizzle.

Hi Chaps Does anyone know of any holiday locations in the SE/E of England that caters for coarse anglers. I was considering going to Anglers-Paradise in Devon or Whiteacres in Cornwall but I fear the driving may be to much for the missus. Regards MD

Does anyone know where I can buy the plastic Milo pole float winder trays (or something similar) for my seatbox? Regards MD

Its a shame that the owners of fishing waters are not forced by law to check that you have a fishing licence before you buy a day ticket. Maybe they should be fined if they sell tickets to people without the correct licence.

Hi Chaps I currently have a Shimano Technium competition pole and would like to extend it from 12.5 to 14+ metres and I believe Shamano makes an exension for the pole. The question is this. Does anyone know how this would affect the balance/ strength of the pole etc. regards MD

Does anyone one have any views on using hair rigs on small size hooks (16-20) whilst pole-fishing? What are the plusses and minuses? Regards MD

Hello Jeepster, I did ask you not to ask but here goes. I am out of the house for over 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. I dont drive and spend 4-5 hours a day travelling by public transport to work. I also have commitments at the weekends. ie Saturday with my girlfriend and Sunday fishing. Not only that but my partner doesnt like taking me to the tackle shop. Therefore buying my small odd n ends (floats, shot and hooks etc) from the internet is the least painfull way of doing it. The delay in receiving goods from Floats Direct wasnt always a problem because I would order items in advance and the cheepness of their goods usually swayed me in favour of using them. However this doesnt detract from their **** -poor service. Regards MD

Dont ask the reasons for me using floats direct but I have used them on countless times over the past 18 months. The service was always slow (avg 2 weeks delivery) and approx 25% of the orders were incomplete. They also seem unable to use the correct delivery address details. As an example, the last but one order was for float making materials. Out of an order of 31 items, I received just 24. There was no reply to my email. Against my girlfriends advice, I decided to order some floats as a Xmas pressie for her brother. One of the components in this order was a beginners pack of 10 pole floats . Little did I know that this shoddy package would cost more than the individual floats combined. Now subtract 3 missing floats and along with the 2 that were broken and you get the idea of the sort of service that they provide. To add insult to injury on both orders I paid the *expensive* insurance postage option. I have decided never to use them again and let everyone know the type of service that they provide. Roger (floats direct), if you are listening, I am tired of your **** -poor service and will never use you again. Regards MD

This sounds like one of those situations that we all experience whilst fishing. Lakes/rivers next to each other fishing differently at the same time. I am sure there is a logical reason why this happens, Unfortunately I dont know why Regards MD

Thanks chaps If the weather holds out I will give these a try on Sunday. Regards Michael

Hello Chris Not sure if this is what you want to hear but brand new Shimano Technium Competition 12.5 m poles can be bought for £160 from Climax tackle and I believe that you can buy an extenison to 14m. These are probably as good as most top range poles that were on the on the market a few years ago. Regards MD [ 22. September 2003, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: mdhome ]

I have just started fishing the Wolverton Mill ponds in Milton Keynes. These are the closest MKAA has to carp puddles. Most of the the bites are usually of the shyest type imaginable with the float lifting or dipping slowly by millimeters. Occasionally the float goes under but the bites are almost always missed and I believe that these are Crucian carp. In fact the only 2 species I have seen caught there are Common and Crucan carp. I am currently using a rod (though I could use pole) with a size 16 hook attached to 3lb line and and sweetcorn or pellet as bait. Fishing with lighter gear means I loose the Commons to weed. The question is this. How do I catch more Crucians.