BIGMAN

hi all, a friend just rang me from a pub to ask what the exact proseedure was when you think that the fish just caught on the bank is a record. i'm afraid i had no idea,can anyone help. bigman.

can anyone tell me the best way to show a young lad how to handle and unhook a slimy small 5 to 10lb jack pike please!!. bigman

hi all, i don't have the experience to say which is or is not the best type of hook,but i would like to add that having read all your replys to babar that the ANTI brigade would find the quotes about perch deaths and lips ripped off quite harrowing reading, no offence intended.

hi lads, yeah the story was genuine and the blonde is a regular beach fisher,apparently the fish was well off its manor and is indeed a deep sea fish the boffins blame global warming, but they blame everything on that don't they,on a serious note the reason it looked frozen or not quite right was that they had tied it to a long piece of wood,according to the books these things can grow to 50ft in length!!!! i kid you not. bigman.

hi lads, yeah the story was genuine and the blonde is a regular beach fisher,apparently the fish was well off its manor and is indeed a deep sea fish the boffins blame global warming, but they blame everything on that don't they,on a serious note the reason it looked frozen or not quite right was that they had tied it to a long piece of wood,according to the books these things can grow to 50ft in length!!!! i kid you not. bigman.

having whatched john wilson and a few more people of late doing some very nifty and profitable trotting i wondered if it mighn't be worth buying a good centerpin reel and having a go,they seem to make it look easy(yes i know they are supposed to)but i liked the style and ease of the reel,or can the same thing be achieved with a good standard reel with more ball-bearings?

thanks for the advice dunk and eddie. tight lines.

HI eastern, dunno bout you but big al put me right off there and i'm a yorkshireman, can't say that i'd be pleased about spending me hardearned and finding the local yokals camped in all the best places, what say you. bigman

can anyone tell me how to find out how deep the silt is in order to use a popup on a deep stillwater?

Well iv'e finally found out!!! the wife's a ruddy lamprey.

thanks for the info on both subjects koi.

could someone tell me where you get the quotes from at the end of your postings and how to insert them, some of them are priceless. cheers bigman

hi all been some interesting topics of late,some quite contentious too,hope this dosen't open the floodgates but can someone tell me when the course fishing spawning season starts and ends and if it is frowned upon to fish between those dates or is it ok to just carry on? excuse my ignorance. bigman.

well said babar, i agree with you wholeheartedly,the thing is that you just have to get on with it and hope people change their bad habits,i have only been fishing a short while 9months but i have learned a lot and there are some good lads and good tips on this site. i take my young son and nephew with me and hope that the learn to respect the fish,the environment and their fellow anglers just as you do,good luck and tight lines.

my young son and i had a good day today and caught a few jack pike,but does anyone have any tips on when to strike with a spinning lure as one of the trebles was stuck right under the jaw of one fish and although i was confident in handling the fish i had a terrible time getting the hook out safely. incidental the pike were mad for the lures but would not touch the dead bait which was wobbled.

thanks for the help with my query about depth plummbing especially to you nugg, the old course fishing threds were just what i was looking for. tight lines all. bigman

thanks eddie. does that mean the float will stay in the required position when i retreive the line so that i can tell the depth. bigman

Hi everyone, please excuse my lack of knowledge but i now understand how to use my locslider float and polaris float but while watching Mat Hayes he said you could use them to plumb the depth of the water, how is this possible when the float moves on the line. tight lines, bigman

Thanks Kbone everything duly noted.

to ferret1959,tinca61 and diamond geezer, sorry about the lack of info i am not very computer literate and am new to the forum, we live in an area of west yorks very close to the not very fruitfull river calder in a place called mirfield situated between hudds and leeds. the main reason i asked for free stretches is that we have not been fishing for long and are totally self taught,because of this we don't catch many fish and most of the local anglers including the tackle shop owner are match fishermen and don't seem to have the info that we learners need (no disrespect intended) so i thought if i could take the lads somewhere that didn't cost so much every week then that would be a bonus till we become more capable, once again my apologies for the lack of info. bigman

sorry i forgot to say, we are in west yorks but will travel. thanks bigman

hello outthere, could anyone tell me of a good website or book which gives details of free stretches on rivers or canals where i could take my son and nephew for a long day out? thanks bigman.

I agree with chesters1 and i too would wholeheartedly endorse a basic guide,my son who is eight and myself have only been fishing for 10 months and are totally self taught this can be very frustrating but we keep trying and have had a little help even from reading this forum,i have also had some handy hints from a guy called steve randals he is very helpfull even for us complete amatures who spend a fortune and would be better off snorkeling with a spear gun. never mind we'll keep trying . tight lines

well steve I guess the old saying that theres always someone worse off than you mighnt seem a little inappropriate right now but you seem like the type to try and see the cheerfull side,i've been through the mill myself and could definatly give you a run for your money,but thats another story. hope things improve soon.

Hi everyone Just thought i'd add my pennys worth to the argument, i agree with peter waller but i would like to say also that up here in yorkshire we do not have otters at all but it is my understanding that otters dislike any habitat that is frequented by man on a regular basis and will not make a nest(holt)where men are fishing, so this rules out any stillwater problem straight away. they much prefer shallow narrow very overgrown rivers and tend not to effect the rivers natural balance, Mink on the other hand will live hand in hand near man and are not very shy,we have had animal rights activists release them from farms in our area and they have devastated the fish and birdlife as someone said earlier they will travel in packs and are like foxes in that they kill without pregudice because that is their nature,it can look shocking but if left alone all the kill would be taken and eaten,they are starting to take on varing colours now that they have been wild for so long, all in all it is a worry but as usual the main culprit behind the whole senario is our old friend homosapien,it could be worse if we lived in the deep south we would have the big cat problem as well. tight lines.