The Flying Tench

Newt, re you entry 9 June, I'm interested in the weighted hooks you show. Can yu buy them in ordinary tackle shops?

Thanks, Mark. I e-mailed you but it was returned for some reason, so I've PM'ed you my e-mail, which I never gave initially and can't now work out how to input it!

Thanks for the advice on the Thames. The trout on the Kennet are pretty greedy. Some people catch them on bread, but I had one 3 pounder on wobbled sardine! That one was stocked by the Civil Service Angling society fly section and moved upstream. I don't know if Chris would agree, but I wonder if some of them aren't breeding, though. There are sections where you get them around 10 oz, which seems a bit small for stocking - and a bit too plentiful, too.

Thanks, Fred. I don't livebait, which I admit is not strictly rational, but I don't think the other guy going with me would want to either. I guess lures and wobbled deadbaits will be OK, and maybe worms for the perch? How big are the bream?

I've got a treat in ten days time as a reward for not going fishing on family holidays. I'm going to Fish Marlow weir from a hired boat. There will be 2 of us, and it occurs to me, it wouldn't be wise to have too many rods cluttering the boat. I certainly want to lure fish for pike - which will be 2 rods, if we do it together. Then I guess there should be barbel around early in the season. I've always legered for barbel in the past, but maybe that won't be easy with the movement of the boat. Float legering? Or maybe trotting? For some reason the books never talk about trotting with big baits. Any reason? Then again, I guess we should take maggots etc for smaller fish in case everything's quiet. A possible answer would be to fish on 6lb line 'cos, even if we were after small fish, there's be the possibility of barbel. Maybe that just means 2 pike rods and 2 trotting rods for whatever comes along? I think experienced boat anglers might deduce I'm a bit green, and I'd value any advice.

I was passing throgh Winchester yesterday en route for Broadlands Lake. I called in at the Tourist Info and they gave me a free map and told me that you could fish free at "the Weirs" and the Canal Stretch between Blackbridge and St Catherine's lock, though even they didn't know where these were! I found the Weirs, and it was a nice stretch of river in a kind of park, with lots of people walking by and benches every few feet saying "sit awhile in memory of Mavis". I think I'd have felt a bit embarassed to fish there in summer, though maybe in winter when there were few people around. Following limited guidance from the Tourist Info I then drove along Garner Road, about a mile to the south in search of the canal Stretch. I crossed two arms of the river that I could see. The western one was gin clear and full of fish but, understandably , private. The eastern one had a car park , but there was no flow, it smelled a bit, and I thought was gudgeon rather than grayling territory - I seem to remember that, when I was a teenager, the gudgeoan record came from a Winchester sewer! When I got back home I re-read Mark's advice, and I think I should have walked on south a bit beyond the Weirs - I only got as far as Wolvesey Castle. Maybe I misunderstood the map and didn't even see the Weirs? Could Mark or anyone else who knows Winchester advise me for next time. How do you find the canal Stretch, and is it the Eastern of the two (three?) arms of the river on the map? Thanks

I've seen a few takes on wobbled sardine, but it's always been a last minute sudden thing, not as dramatic as yours where you could see the fish in advance. I've also had a greedy pike attack my swim-feeder as I wound it in. I had a box of plugs in the car, but no steel trace, so it was a bit nerve racking, though I caught it OK. It sounds a brilliant venue where you can turn up and see 5 pike in one swim! There's one swim on the Kennet under a bridge where i can often catch a pike in about 5 minutes, but beyond that I'm not very successful lure fishing for pike. I do OK for chub and perch on the river and canal, but not usually pike. Part of the trouble is that, when I don't get instant success I switch down to smaller lures, so I'm my own worst enemy - its the old thing of confidence. On the lakes here in Newbury, which are quite deep gravel pits, I haven't cracked it at all. Do you find, generally speaking, that shallow lakes are easier for lure fishing?

I've just noticed there's a recent thread on this - 30th May

I tried it a couple of times without much success, but I guess that's not really a fair trial

Thanks everyone. I think the key thing is that my catapult is too powerful. I've tried flake a bit, but maybe not enough, and I must admit I've still to try tares. Thanks again.

Thanks, Paul.OK, I accept that I ought to catapult then cast, but if the bait's out of the water and i put it down I often catch a leaf! But that's just me being inefficient, and I ought to get it right. But even if I did that right I think there's a bit of a problem with accuracy of feed if you're more than a couple of rods out.I'm interested that no-one seems to have tried a feeder float? I've used them for rudd a couple of feet under the surface, and the big splash does spook them after a bit, but on reflection I can't see any problem if you're fishing well down. On your comment of whether I'm fishing the right swims, the fishing here in Newbury where I live is generally brilliant, but perhaps less so for roach than most species. I'm OK fishing for small roach which, admittedly, are easy, but I've had limited success with bigger ones - up to 1lb 2oz in the Kennet, but never more than 8oz in the lakes, although I know bigger ones are there. I recently tried the Plaums Pit in Swindon where I was told the fishing was easy and the roach averaged 10oz! I only caught one decent fish (10oz) plus some small ones, but there were very sensitive things happening to the float (insert waggler) which didn't turn into bites, and I wondered if I'd have had more success on the pole with a very sensitive float. It was very windy, and part of the problem may have been that I wasn't sinking the line very efficiently, so there was drag. I think the wind exacerbated the feeding accuracy problem. It all got me thinking! Thanks for everyone's comments, though I'd welcome any more.

The problem is that I just am a terrible marksman with a catapault. I only seem to need to get it slightly wrong and a bunch of maggots go zinging twenty feet past the target area. And even if I improved, surely it would be difficult to be anywhere near as accurate as a feeder float. I'm starting to convince myself! Another thought is that you can buy 7 metre Italian telescopic poles for about £11. I'm not sure where I could borrow a pole, but I could buy a cheapo even if I only used it a couple of times. I've no idea if they're any use. What effect do they have? Maybe the whole of me would swell and I'd start singing operas all the time?

Thanks for both sets of advice. I think Rudd is saying that, though presentation is an issue, an insert waggler is snsitive enough for bites, and I needn't worry about a pole float. Certainly moving the depth around is something I may not have been doing enough. What about the idea of a feeder float for very accurate feeding if you need to be, say, 3 rod lengths out? Has anyone tried this?

I seem to be a consistently unsuccessful angler for roach, at least on lakes. I'm more successful on rivers with a reasonable flow, which makes me think the problem may be that I don't fish fine enough, or i don't feed accurately enough. The obvious answer would be to get a pole, but the idea doesn't appeal - long, heavy and boring! One thought would be to use a feeder float adapted with a fine tip. That should feed accurately, but maybe they'd still feel the resistence. Or maybe I should use a pole float fished a bit like a waggler? That would provide the sensitivity, and I suppose I could get a cheap pole and use for accurate feeding? I'd welcome any advice.

Hi, this is my first post on the forum so I hope it works. I've found many contributions helpful, and I've particularly related to those from Chris Plumb as I'm also from Newbury. Thanks to Markward for the info on The Itchen in Winchester. I'm amazed you can fish it free! I'll certainly have a crack for grayling, but I don't know the town at all. Any advice where to park? When you refer to the close season, Mark, do you mean the coarse or game one? i.e. would it be ok, say, to spin or maggot fish in May on the basis of catching trout? What's the balance of fish there? Is it mainly grayling, or is there a fair mix? Thanks again for the info.