The Flying Tench

Over the years I've used an old gardening glove (left hand) but it's a bit bulky for sliding into the gills of a moderate sized pike, and I've asked Santa if he can give me a neater, slimmer version. I'd rather try them on but my local tackle shop doesn't stock this particular item. Can anyone recommend one that would fit a large hand?

Great fishing, Tigger!

Wow! Thanks, Terry. What a profusion of good waters MKAA has. I might start with Stratford Stoney as it's a fraction closer to me, and it looks as if the car parks are very close to the river, which is necessary for me with my back trouble. Tight lines

I'm thinking particularly of perch fishing. I was advised years ago that the best way is through the head so that as it drops it looks as natural as possible, and also when you wind in. And when float fishing that still makes sense to me. But when feeder fishing they are more likely to feel resistance and let go, so I think you have to strike more quickly, and there's a risk they won't have engulfed the whole worm. So is there a case for hooking the worm half way along? What do you do? I caught a nice perch of about 1.5 lbs today, but missed 4 more which I thought I'd hooked, and started to fight, but then came off. I'm wondering if this was the reason for some of them, though for some of them I think I was using too small a hook (size 8), and maybe the tip of the hook was masked by the worm curing over. Any views?

I see the EA have developed their site giving river levels to give forecast levels as well and also rainfall https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/ All to the good I guess for planning trips once we've got used to it. But it reminds me I don't have a good site at present for air pressure. The one I used to use seems to have disappeared, and a quick google doesn't seem to yield much. Can anyone recommend a good site?

For some reason I can't read pdfs attached to emails at the moment. I use Thunderbird for my emails, and have Windows 10. It used to be OK, the difficulty has only come in the last couple of weeks. The only thing that has changed is that I had a card with 4 extra RAM put in cos the computer was slow. Could this have affected it? What happens is that when I click the name of the attachment at the bottom of the screen I just get a blank page. I can read Word docs ok, but not pdf. Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks, Terry, just the advice I need. So I'll probably target the perch, and leave the roach for hemp and tares in the summer. Though come to think of it, if my experience on the Kennet is anything to go by, the perch will shoal up in the winter so there could be an issue about locating the fish, so roach will be a useful stand-by. A slight difficulty is that I have a bad back and I really need to be within about 200 yds of the car. Can you advise a suitable place? I phoned an angling shop and they suggested New Bradwell or Emberton Park, which both sound fine, but Buckingham would be closer. But I can't find much info on the web about Buckingham, day tickets parking etc. So any advice on this would be great. Thanks

I'm thinking of going on a short fishing break soon if the weather will allow, and I came across an old article in the Angling Times recommending Bromham, near Bedford, for roach in the summer. That got me thinking about roach fishing in the Ouse more generally. The nearest to me would be Brackley, then Buckingham, then MK, then Bedford. I guess the ideal would be fairly reliable fishing with the hope of a pounder or two. Actually, although roach would be my first choice, I'd be interested in anything fairly reliable (perch or chub, for example), but I'm not wanting to sit by a ledger for ages hoping for a barbel or monster chub. Any advice would be welcome.

The word 'priming' occurs from time to time in articles on roach. It seems to be more or less synonymous with 'topping'. I take it to mean 'rolling', ie breaking the surface in a leisurely manner without jumping right out, though I could be wrong. Anyway, that's what I meant by it in my earlier post. So the general view tends to be against assuming too easily that bleak breaking the surface means they're trying to escape from a predator. Would I be right in thinking, though, that several bleak leaping at the same time is a sign? Or one bleak doing a series of little jumps?

Sometimes you see a bleak making three or four jumps out of the water, or making a very high jump. I assume these mean attack by a predator, probably a perch. But what about when it shows itself on the surface, a bit like a roach or bream priming? Do bleak do this anyway, or is this also a sign of a predator?

Welcome to Anglers Net, Teddy, and thanks for replying to lots of threads.

Wow, lots there Dave. Can you clarify one thing. You mention feeding loose maggot for mullet. Presumably this would go with maggot on the hook? It sounds really great as the fish wouldn't be able to whittle down the hook bait as they do with bread?

You may have noticed there are one or two youtube videos on coarse fishing in Port Talbot, though I haven't checked them out.

Bayleaf - no, no experience of the coarse fishing. I took tackle, thinking of Gowerton Lake in Swansea, but spent all my time in the Marina.

That's interesting about the wrasse. What kind of place was it? I've heard of maggots feeding on decaying sea-weed, so the wrasse would have seen maggots before. Was it anything like that?

I have just got back from 3 days estuary fishing in Swansea - see blog. I'm a complete novice at salt water fishing, but it feels so strange casting a bait out with no groundbait. Do you feel the same? I did try bread crumb in the feeder for mullet, but I didn't get the impression they were too interested. But on reflection, what about fishmeal based groundbait? You'd think this might work as it's made from sea fish as I understand it. Have you ever heard of this being used?

Three days in Swansea fishing as part of a week's family holiday on the Gower. It has to be said that this was salt water fishing (well, maybe a bit brackish), and my experience of such contests is that the fish normally come away with a 'clean sheet'! Though on this occasion I had built up my courage by watching a youtube video by some local youngsters who made it all look rather easy, catching small fish of a wide range of species. So I was hoping to get plenty of bites and catch even if the fish were very small Day 1 I ledgered ragworm, and caught a decent fish! A flounder of about 10 oz. I was well pleased. In addition I had three bites which I failed to connect with. Maybe the fish were too small for my ragworm? Day 2 I made the rash decision to switch to bread in the hope of a mullet. Slow to say the least, but towards the end of the day I saw lots of bubbles coming from a patch of water close to the edge. Then followed very tricky bites, with the float going down about an inch and staying still, just under the surface. BUT I did actually hook a small mullet which duly careered all round the swim before coming off the hook. Then a kindly local angler, who normally fishes for mullet, offered to show me the where and the how the next morning. Wow! Day 3 Of course I was full of expectation. Mullet are often found under boats where they feed off the weed growing on the hull. He had found one particular boat hosted a good shoal of fair sized mullet, but it was too far to float fish. Accurate casting of a ledger was needed. He predicted we would very soon have little knocks from mullet, and he was right. Normally, though, they didn't produce hittable bites, rather the reverse. As if to mock the angler they would slowly remove the bread from the hook until the metal was showing, and then they would refuse to have any more to do with it! But just occasionally they would get fed up and pull the tip round with a solid take! I started to get the hang of the casting, and things looked good, but gradually it became clear the mullet were not in a bold mood, and neither of us caught. But, unlike yesterday, the smaller mullet started to show lots of interest in the bread crusts we were chucking in, and at one stage it was quite dramatic with silver flashes everywhere. And one two of them were by no means small. After my friend had gone, and I'd had a nice lunch at the nearby sailing club, I returned with a float rod. Alas, the mullet had lost some of their enthusiasm. It may have been that the sun had moved so that the relevant area was now in shadow. They seemed to positively LIKE the bright light. In short, I didn't catch. So not much on the bank after 3 days, but an interesting and enjoyable time, of course with many questions. One thing I have wondered about is the use of groundbait. I used bread crumb, both in the feeder and balled in round the float, but it didn't seem to interest the mullet - whereas at times chucking in bits of bread (which sunk) or crust (which of course didn't) did. I've been wondering whether liquidised bread might have been more effective? Comments or advice from those who know more about sea fishing than I do would be welcome!

I see the advantage of a float in still water where, as Keith says, you can adjust the depth - and sometimes in rivers where you can trot a bait down stream. But a lot of the books recommend float-ledgering, though I've never really understood why

It's amazing how you do those diagrams, Keith!

Martin, I've had a fair few pike over the years, often just 3 or 4 a year, but they add up. There were a couple of years when I concentrated a bit more on piking, and I got quite 'professional' at the unhooking - but I admit I'm a bit out of practice. Very few have been deep hooked, but the few that were I handled OK, even if with difficulty! Apart from my very first pike about 25 years ago. Why do you think float is preferable? Is it because you think there is a greater risk of deep hooking with a ledgered bait?

Some great pics, particularly of the pike sniffing the keep net!

Thanks Tigger Thanks, Tigger, sounds like I need to try heavier floats!

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. My only remaining question is why the drop back indication should happen if you use a heavy ledger weight. As long as the lead stays static, whichever direction the pike goes in should cause the bobbin to rise. OK, that's in theory, I know, but how often in practice do you get a drop back if you are using a heavy lead? Tigger, thanks for suggesting some pike swingers. I'll probably get a couple, but that's £25 so I'll have another go with ordinary 'front' bobbins to get my mind in gear.

I've just bought myself a Drake Alloy Domed Stick because of it's high visibility. On reflection, at 2gms it's maybe a bit heavier than I'll use, but it occurs to me they go up to nearly 5gms! I can't imagine what kind of fishing would need such a weight. What weight do you folks find you need? Tigger, I know you fish some fast flowing bits. I'm not talking about the style of float (I know sticks are not your favourite), I'm trying to get into my head the depth and speed of water which might need such a float.

Hi Chris, What volume of maggots do you get through on a morning such as this?