Peter M

While I agree the behaviour pointed out by gozzer is reprehensible I really think it is overstated and if its allowed it is down to bad running of the venue. Such idiots should be thrown off the water and banned for causing nuisance . I really have not seen this type of behaviour now for a long time and I think anglers, especially those who take the trouble to invest in club membership, don’t go into bad behaviour as the rules like no alcohol no casting into others swims etc are strictly enforced.. As I say I avoid commercials now and I am now avoiding public or free places like canals or park lakes. There it’s the general non angling public as well as some anglers who I want to avoid. And just because someone wants to use modern methods for carp fishing using (where allowed) more than one rod who is to say they shouldn’t. As long as they don’t cause nuisance to others. I am not into this ultra purist nonsense. Who said we all have to fish like mr Crabtree? Fishing in the way you want while sticking to the rules and not causing problems is good, bad angling , causing nuisance and bad fishery management is bad. As I say clubs often offer a variety of venues and I like to partake of all of it. I like my method feeder, boillies semi fixed bolt rig for carp on gravel pits, or using my cane rod with centre pin lift method fishing for crucians and tench on small ponds and I like staking for chub with free lined worms on small streams. Each to their own.

My other club (ongar DAA) is developing a non carp pond for members and this is being greeted with a great deal of interest. the lake was dug two years ago and theyare stocking roach rudd crucians and tench into it. I think that clubs still can offer the range of choice we all want. both clubs i am a member of have streaches of river that also offer alternatives. My advice is to join a club and avoid the commercials as most yobbsh behaivour i have seen has been on day ticket carp puddles incluing rude attitudes from the owners of the venues. all in all its people who cause problems not the fish themselves. better rules that prevent overstocking should be put in place on commercials imo. At the end of the day if you find a good well run club with a committed commitee, sensible rules and a variety of venues that match different styles of fishing then you should be a very happy angler. Live and let live i say.

I think saying most carp anglers are inconsiderate is a bit of an over staement IMHO. I am a competent but nothing special all rounder type angler. I do enjoy a bit of carp fishing bolies bite alrams etc and my PB (as of Sat 3rd July 2010) is ony 17 pounds. I fish Chelmsford AA waters which hold lots of larger carp and the carp anglers i encounter are all helpful and considerate people who don't cause any probs for anyone else including those fishing for other fish like tench and crucians which are also in abundencce in the waters i fish. The club is very strict on its angling rules and consideration to others is in the rule book. there are always those who spoil it for others which is sad but all should not be tarnished with the same brush.

for tench i like late in the evening, a few nights ago i fished a local club lake using lift method tiny float next to lillies. had roach and rudd until 9.00 pm when i caught a tench, a three pounder on bread flake. so my advice is fish next to lillies, use bread flake over micro pellets and fish well into dusk.

i like carp fishing on lily fringed lakes, mature trees all around, the sound of birds punctuated by the scream of the buzzer and feel of a carp pulling back with power. But, is it me? i am a little worried about thier spread into rivers like chalk streams.

As i said on another thread, 1966 aside we have never appeared in a final of the world cup or Euro champs and before 1966 our showingg at world cups was dire. And i would add they were not payed much in them days nor did we have loads of foreign players in our league. so what was the excuse then. The truth is while other countries develop we let the grass grow under our feet lead badly by the FA. this tonking was coming sooner rather than later and I hope the press don't go on abot the lampard ghost goal as an excuse for this latest abject failure.

As soon as we inventid it we were **** at it, poor showings in all world cups until 1966 and unlucky in 1970 then failure to qualify until 1982 where we were ****, 1986 when we were lucky to get out of the group stage, 1990 where we were ok and a little unlucky, 1998 we were poor, 2002 underperformed, 2006 poor and 2010 the worst of all. The press keep going on like we are world beaters when our players do not have half the skills of the top foreign players

The commitee has been planning this behind the scenes for a long time they will have got the right paperwork there are too many of us all over this for them not to. It looks like i will just have to accept it and hope my worst fears are not realised.

The commitee say they worked with the EA and have taken all precautions, but they have not metioned if they did a proper enviromental impact assessment which they must have with the EA involved. To be honest i am more angry with the EA who have allowed this to happen, i thught they were against non native species. its only a few years ago that pike were put in which i agreed with as the lake is a bit over run with small carp and rudd so needed some predation. ALos i like a bith of pike fishing but pike are natural to the UK and it is unlikely they will over predate but the cat fish is different. I am also worried as the lakes lease does not allow night fishing. the club cannot police this and anglers frustrated at the lack of action for the cats will start breaking the rules. the farmer will then not renew the lease. threre are all sorts of ramifications.

I am very angry with my club the Chelmsford Angling Association who have decided to put catfish into one of our lakes. I and others argued against this saying it will be bad for the tench in there and that it will ruin our tench fishing. The commitee said that they were told that there would be no problem as the lake is big enough (17 acres) to cope. what is the enviormental impact of stocking catfish? btw they have now put them in one to 32 pounds.

I agree the shimano is also the cheapest out of the two. To be honest if you want a bait runner then Shimano do not let you down.

Lots a good stalkers on here but here is my take on it. first get to the river early and keep low off the water and no heavy footfalls. even if you can't see fish you can still cast into chubby looking places. If you don't get a take put in some bait like sweetcorn and come back later. 'For chub 6lb line is ok and if the chub dives into undergrowth, as they are likely to do, you have a chance of pulling them out, i don't like to fish too light for them on overgrown rivers. Chub on still waters are a different propersition and the best way if there are lots is to fish clear waggler up in the water and spraying maggots over the top. hope this helps

Well had a couple of nice double figure carp off the top on soft floating pellet with a controller float on my club lakes. thanks for all the tips i could not have done it without you.

Thanks for all the help guys if i actually catch a fish from the surface this season i will let you know. BTW will couple it with a barble rod 1.5 pound test curve for maximum fun. cheers

Well actually now you ask its bloody cold and thats my point should i wait a bit? often this time of year on my club lakes its warm enough for the carp to spawn, Today was like a nice day in December shame its May.

This is great thanks for all the replies. i want to go later this week but am worried that these northely winds might put the fish down.n

Return of the Ash planes grounded peace near airports i can't wait. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/V..._Irish_Airspace

specifically i would liike to know what you would reccomend for hook lenght matereial and how long i have some flurocarbon and wonder if that would be good as fly fishermen use it for thier leaders. any tips gratfully received. my only experience with fishing off the top is to free line bread for chub or carp so i am a bit of a novice at this style of fishing.

the truth is out there but its a bit like the X files what is true?Even if you fully belive in climate change and global warming it is unlikely in the Uk that we will see much of a difference as the worst case is our average warming will be 2 dgrees in the next 80 years, while parts of the arctic circle will be 10 degrees above average. However, most of the science on this is more "we don't know but we think" type of science so who knows. more likely is the demand for water from a growing population is going to affect our rivers in a bad way.

Hi Rambo, it is rambo isn't it? i would recognise your overwhelming obsession with fishing from boats any where. Have you tired of boring the tits off everyone on essex fishing forum? Are you going to work your way through every angling forum on net? best of luck

i have used tinned ones soaked in garlic. i was fishing with my wife and she had maded a bean salad with garlic and olive oil. i tried one on a hook float fishing and first cast had a 10 pound carp.

Well my question is why was it not well known ? there are volcanos that erupt and there are planes that fly near them. someone, probabaly the avaiation authorities, should have carried out research on the affect of ash on plane engines before now and we could have avoided this massive disruption and cost to our economy

Well as i said at the start this has been a massive over reaction based on poor science.

Funny how they decided to up the amount it takes to damage the engine now and allow the planes to take off again.

I read somwhere that the turkish cray fish carried a parasite that killed red signal cray fish but that may not be true