The Flying Tench

By the way, Martin, I am interested that you turn your own casters. Is there a special trick? I recently went to the tackle shop, and there weren't any casters, so I tipped a quarter of a pint of red maggots into a container and left them over night in the garage, not in the fridge. In the morning half were still maggots, and half were a dark red colour - which I agree are still useful. But I didn't get any of the white and brown ones that form the majority when you buy casters. Part of it could have been the red dye, but from memory when I've bought maggots it's the same. How do you do it?

Ayjay, I'm going to Christchurch next week and I'd love to catch a sea trout. I've never caught one except for one that literally jumped into the boat when I was a teenager! Can you advise whether you think this is a realistic possiblity and the best approach and place? Thanks John

This was an experimental session, feeding hemp but trying different hook baits up in the water to see which worked best. My conclusion, at least today, was maggot for the rudd and double caster for the roach. My best fish were a rudd of 13oz on maggot and a roach of 14oz on double caster. The casters were dark red, and would therefore have floated except for the weight of the hook, and so would have sunk very slowly which may have appealed to the roach. As well as tares I also tried artificial hemp, sweetcorn and soft pellets, none of which did well.

Thanks, Chesters. Dried black lug sounds interesting. Presumably it would last longer than the live ones as I won't have a fridge?

I'm a coarse angler who's hardly caught anything in the sea. I'm going to Bournemouth for 5 days in July and I'll mainly be fishing in the rivers, but I'd also like to have a crack at sea fishing, probably from one of the piers as I think I can handle that with my coarse tackle. Can you advise a good rig for a beginner? Is it enough to fish on the bottom, or should I set up a paternoster rig with a bait higher up? And what about baits? I once fished Swanage pier with ragworm, and it was 'bite a chuck' with tiny wrasse. What bait would still provide bites but increase the size a bit?

Thanks, both of you. I have a bad back which limits me a bit, so I won't be buying an inflatable. Blackbird, how accessible is Hope's Nose? I can only walk up to , say, 200 yards. I may well end up fishing a pier partly because, as a beginner, I can see what others are doing - though I'll check out Hengistbury Head which Blackbird has already recommended. Chesters, the baited feathers certainly sounds fun. What would I bait them with? Does that approach only work when the mackerel are in, or does it work more generally? By the way, I've invested in a drop net! I'll start a separate thread about the best rig for a beginner off a pier,

Best of luck, make sure you let us know how you get on!

Thanks, Tigger, I could try some crumb, possibly mixed with the other groundbait. How do you choose between white and brown?

I normally use Sensas Gros Gardons, and I think I get the consistency about right in that I see it breaking up as it starts to sink, which is what I want in a still water at least. And I don't have any problems using feeder or bait dropper. My problem is when trying to ball it in. I find it hard to get it to cohere into a ball before throwing, and when it leaves my hand it immediately breaks up so that it hits the water in a range of places and I'm not really concentrating the feed. Do others have a similar problem? I'd be grateful for any advice.

5.15 - 7.15pm. I'd had a crack at the roach with hemp and tares a couple of days ago, but was frustrated by very few hook-ups. This time I did much better. I wondered if the tare was sliding round the hook and masking the point. Switching from size 16 to 14 helped a lot. They were still very fast, tricky bites but I managed 23 roach and one rudd up to half a pound or just over.

I went again today, early evening, and did much better. They were still fast, tricky bites, but I upped the hook size from 16 to 14, and had a much better hook-up rate as a result. In two hours I had 23 roach and one rudd, up to half a pound or just over.

You're right! I've just googled it. I had no idea they farmed sea fish like halibut.

Wow! What a place to start river fishing! The Wye is a brilliant river, but it is also a challenging river if you are not used to it. It is big, wide and fast. The water level goes up and down by, I think, 12 feet, so you are coping with steep banks in many places. I've only fished it 3 times. The first time was in winter in Hereford where I went to try and catch some roach, and I didn't catch one! I was totally foiled by the depth, width and pace of the water, which I hadn't expected. Though of course in summer the flow may be less, though I think you'll need some flow if the barbel are to play ball. The last 2 times it was for barbel, and I did catch each time, though I'm very much a beginner. I would definitely use braid (12lbs bs?) for the main line to minimise the pressure of the current. For hook length I think I used 8 lb breaking strain soft braid, but the tackle shop would advise. Personally, I couldn't handle two rods on the Wye, but that may be me. I seem to remember I used 2 and 3 oz feeders, which I got from the local tackle shop. Best of luck!

There's a slightly strange article by Dr Paul Garner in this week's Angling Times. In principle he deals with a useful subject in my view - what pellets to use when. But I wasn't clear on the issue of when to use Halibut Marine and when to use so called 'coarse pellets.' And indeed, why are Halibut ones called that? The strange thing is that he seems to be saying that Halibut Pellets are not called that because of their content but because they are designed for feeding halibut! I quote: 'Halibut, on the other hand, are selective fish-eaters that need a diet rich in fish protein... pellets formulated for these giants need to be much richer...' Paul is a knowledgeable guy, but this must be wrong mustn't it? My more practical question is what pellet should I use for roach and chub on rivers? My tentative answer is that the Halibut ones have a stronger smell, and I won't be chucking in huge amounts - so probably they are OK?

I had a crack this afternoon (warm and sunny) in the club still water. Up in the water, tares on the hook. The roach were onto the tares immediately. In fact, at the start, when I was still shotting the float, and there was no bait on the hook, I was getting bites! Presumably they were taking the shot. So it was bite a chuck, but they weren't good bites, they were playing around with it, and I only had half a dozen fish in a couple of hours. It didn't seem so bad when the sun was behind a cloud, so I must try again at dusk or on a cloudy day.

The ones I buy are all the same size - bluebottle larvae. I can't believe your local angling shop really mixes up the types of fly. Maybe some of the maggots have only just hatched from the egg?

I've just read an angling times article which says they will be in the fastest water. I don't dismiss this at all. The article is mainly about chub and barbel, and it seems to be particularly about times when the river is low and flow is lacking. But how true is it more generally? For example, I believe (with some evidence, though not a lot) that in summer the fish won't generally be in the lock cuts but out in the main river. But, against this, I know of one Thames lock cut that seems to fish very well for roach and bream in summer. And how far will they go to get flow? Is it just a question of moving into the middle of the river, or will they travel a mile or two to a faster stretch?

I've just returned from an unsuccessful hemp and tares outing on a new water, so it's prompted me to ask you folk some questions. I've only used it successfully about three times, and that was in a Thames lock cut where I know a lot of other people used the approach. So my first question is 'Is hemp in particular a bait the fish have to get used to?' A second question is whether the approach is equally effective in all types of water: slow river, faster river, canal, lakes. I guess the third question is a general one 'Have you discovered any tricks of the trade with this approach?' I, and I am sure others, will be interested in any advice you can give

I've decided to try hemp and tares for roach to see if it really works on hot bright days, which is forecast for tomorrow

Will you be fishing (then or soon after)? And for what?

Whiteacres and Broadlands - thanks for these suggestions. Maybe another time, I've got enough options in Bournemouth now I think for this trip.

Will certainly give feedback. I've recently restarted posting to my AN blog, but will give some kind of alert also. Where are you based now? I've also had health issues and like you, combined with Covid it's been pretty much a fishless year. So it's great to plan for better days! Best of luck on the Wye. I've been there a couple of times near Ross barbel fishing, and on one occasion did really well. On the other I don't think there was enough flow in the river.

Blackbird, I should have said re Hengistbury Head, I have a bad back which limits me a bit. I can walk up to about 200 yards, and have to sit to fish. How far is it from where the ferry lands to the pier type construction?

Thanks, Blackbird - and welcome to AN, I see it's only your 3rd post. Re Stour and Avon, I'm encouraged by you and Bold Bear re the Stour, but don't feel so confident about the Avon. I went to the Royalty Fishery once about 30 years ago when I was new to fishing, and I didn't know how to approach it. My memory is of specialist barbel anglers catching or not catching as the case may be. It would certainly be good to put out such a rod for a few hours, but I'm not sure how I would approach general coarse fishing for the rest of the time. I'm not sure if there are many roach in the Royalty, though maybe there's a good head of dace and chub? Re sea trout and mullet, I'd be madly keen to try for both! I won't be going to the Itchen, but I think you get them in Christchurch harbour. I've seen people spinning for them on Youtube (a bit tricky for me as I have to fish sitting because of a bad back, but not impossible) and I know you can get mullet on bread, float-fished or ledger, I think. But I'd be interested in any advice re the sea trout, which I think you are saying you can also get on bread. Hengistbury Head sounds interesting, too, thanks.

Thanks, Keith, that's particularly encouraging that you were able to fish productively during the day. I was concerned that weed and bright weather might make things difficult. Were the roach any size? Your B&B sounds great. I have missed a trick there, I should have checked the angling press. I have booked a B&B through AirNb. No tackle can be taken into the house, and originally that applied to fishing clothes too! But I expect it will be OK.