davidP

I've noticed my fish, particularly the young tench early in the morning, doing as you described. After watching them and the other fish a few times I came to the conclusion that they were attempting to suck in the surface film. Not entirely sure why as there wouldn't be much food content I wouldn't have thought, but it did seem quite deliberate.

They're already there! These days there's barely a water that doesn't contain some 'exotics'. Catfish, barbel, koi, zander, goldfish etc etc - it's amazing how far these species have spread (mostly deliberately transported in buckets!). Hybridization is also extremely common. I fished a water where they introduced 100 golden orfe (aprox 4 inches long). Within 3 years we were catching bright orange 8oz carp.

A very good question. The simple answer is that you should go slowly straight down the middle (ie in the deepest water). This will upset the fewest angers. However, as with everything in fishing, you'll still get complaints. My club used to have signs up requesting boaters to proceed as above, but that still doesn't stop certain people from whingeing at them. Some boaters used to get upset that they followed the instructions yet used to still get shouted at by various anglers who wanted then close in, right over, down the middle etc etc. Sadly you have to accept that you will always get some anglers who think they have a divine right to exclusive use of the canal and will resent your presence. All you can do is follow the accepted custom and go slowly down the middle. If you follow this then any angler that gets upset really needs to sort out his priorities and accept that the world doesn't actually revolve around him!

One of my books says that goldfish and crucians will hybridise, so crucian and fan-tail/hi-fin goldfish cross would generate something like that I think.

Chrysodine was used to make bronze maggots and caused bladder cancer. Bronze maggot was almost the staple bait on the Shropshire Severn match circuit during the winter, and I know several Severn match regulars who got this particular cancer. Crazy thing is that certainly up to 3 or 4 years ago it was still used (by individuals and shops) even though it had been banned for years. You could always tell those who used it because they had yellow hands at the end of the match. The banned red dye I believe was rhodamine and as I recall it was banned at around the same time as chrysodine.

What sort of water is it from? Is it one that has a lot of 'ornamental' carp ie ghosties, koi etc?? It's a bit of a Heinz 57 variety although I'd think it's most likely a combination of crucian and fan-tail/hi-fin goldfish (according to one of my books goldfish & crucian will hybridise).

I really miss living in Shropshire you know, and the Shropshire Star was only a small part of it

'The Quarry' that you highlighted on the map is actually a public park on the banks of the Severn. It does not contain any lakes except for some ornamental pools in The Dingle flower gardens (Percy Thrower's old job). It's the same park that the Shrewsbury Flower Show is held in every year. The river fishing is controlled I believe by the Shrewsbury Angling Management Committee. Day tickets are available on the bank I think, but far cheaper to buy them in advance at tackle shops.

Possibly too late now, but I believe The Valley Hotel actually has some rights itself. From memory however upstream on the hotel (north) bank would be Telford AA (referred to as Powerstation water). Downstream (including and normally referred to as Dale End Park) belongs to Avenue AC. The North bank immediately above the bridge is still free water I believe, but access is extremely difficult and it's seldom fished. The South bank (i.e. powerstation side) is controlled by Dawley AS from the Ironbridge upstream. I believe this runs all the way up to the Powerstation itself where control changes to the Powerstation itself (they have their own club I believe). As far as I can remember all these waters except inside the Powerstation grounds themselves are on day ticket. Personally I used to fish on the Telford AA stretch either on the pegs opposite the powerstation outflow, the floating catwalk, or the very fast water at the top end alongside the island (difficult access). The bit by the island changes every year depending on the floods and I haven't been there in at least 4 years, so it may not even be fishable these days. Worth a look though as usually some very good chub hiding amongst the trees.

Apologies for the delay - been away from the site for two week or so. Anyway, DAM Robo. Yes, I've got one, but I haven't actually got round to using it yet unfortunately. So what can I say about it without having used it. Well it's very purple, it's big at nearly 6 inch diameter but it's very light (130g as against 255g for the Adcock Stanton in the pics). The one I have also spins forever - even better than the Stanton, and even better than my Browning Revolver. My one concern about it would be that it's lightness makes it feel a little flimsy and I'm not sure I'd really want to regularly play big fish with it. I may be doing it a complete disservice as I'm saying this without having actually used it yet, but that's the impression I get. Great for trotting, not so good for specimen hunting. Bushes or bearings? Not sure. It's extremely smooth but if it's bearing they're very small. Should you buy one? Well I'd say not as an 'only' centrepin. If you want a work-horse reel then I'd go for a more regular design. If you want something a little different for more occasional use then why not. I reserve the right to change my mind however should I ever find the time to actually use my Robo in anger Image is against a 4.5inch Stanton for comparison Also, as you're in the USA have you considered any of the local produced 'pins? Have a look here or at Islander Reels - quite like the look of one of those myself! [ 29. July 2003, 09:52 PM: Message edited by: davidP ]

As I recall Rodbaston College do fisheries courses (I seem to recall that Bruno Broughton has something to do with them). Not sure if they do postal courses but may be worth a look. Failing that there's always the Institute Of Fisheries Management. They definitely do training courses and sell all sorts of guides and booklets. And if all else fails ring up your local Environment Agency fisheries office and ask them - they'll probably be able to suggest something.

Been to Pizza Hut lately Elton?? First question I got asked when I started getting phantom withdrawals on my debit card as apparently (at least in my area) it was a hotbed for card cloning. In my case however a new card had been intercepted in the post (Slough sorting office!) and they bought a new PC at Office World, some cinema tickets and several pizzas. I got all the money back though fairly rapidly. Crazy thing was I spotted the discrepancy in the available balance before the payment requests had even been received by Barclays but they wouldn't stop them because the payments had been authorised so the money had to be paid even though the bank knew they were fraudulent payments. (Your available balance reflects authorised transactions even before the official payment request has been received through the system - if they're received an authorisation request for £500 then the bank will ring-fence that £500 so you can't spend it again hence the available balance being lower than the current balance. The payment then takes 3 days or so to come through the system). [ 24. July 2003, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: davidP ]

At the very least you'll be restricted to the duty free allowance because it's outside the EU and that's 200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250gms of tobacco. Any more than that and it will be subject to VAT, duty etc. As you're not bringing them in personally however I would suspect that the whole lot will be subject to the duty.

We hired the pumps, it was normally the long-suffering committee members who had to sit with them to make sure they weren't stolen!

Storms with their associated torrential rain and pressure changes can play havoc with ponds and lakes. My old club has several lakes that regularly suffer oxygen crashes in the summer after storms. The storm actually kills the algae which then starts to rot and deoxygenates the water at a frightening rate. It once got so low that the EA guy thought his oxygen measuring device was broken! We have to hire pumps and arrange for people to sit with them 24 hours a day whilst we reoxygenate the water. As to the algae problem, can I suggest that you get your water tested. Take a small bottle of it down to your local aquarist shop and for a couple of quid they'll do a load of tests for you. This will tell you if you have any basic chemical imbalances in the water and then they'll be able to recommend any remedies. This may save you a lot of work with cleaning, water changes and the like if the problem can actually be fixed by a small dose of something. It's worth buying your own testing kit eventually as well. They aren't hugely expensive and will last a fair time and it's surprising how often they provide the answer to problems.

There are plenty of old Pins that get sold through e-bay so may be worth a scan through there as well (tip: search centrepin and centerpin)

True, but by law they can't charge you more than a few quid to do it, and I'd have thought it would be worth that not to have this on your record. Of course if it turns out the banks didn't make the right checks before putting you on the list then I'd have thought they'd be only too happy to pay back your costs rather than having to deal with the banking ombudsman, the press, Consumers Association, Data Protection Registrar etc.

Under the data protection act you have the right to see and then have amended any data held about you if it is incorrect. Exercise your right to find out the information (i.e. when and which bank put you on the list) then insist on a proper investigtion and the removal of your name from the list.

OK Rex, give us a kiss and throw me back (and no tongues!)

If it is catalogue number GEP8882 then Record Collector lists it at £18 in mint condition. A quick search on Ebay completed items however shows they seldom actualy sell for more that £10, often less. Sorry - no early retirement

Out of interest, which ones did IYCF review and what were their conclusions?

I would guess it's putting a carriage return or similar line-break character at the end of each line even though you can't see it. Best way to see these is often to cut/paste the text into Word and then select the option that lets you see the unprintable characters (Show All - the icon looks like a stylised backwards P). It may be that it's actually the configuration of your mail that's inserting these characters rather than wrapping the text. May be worth investigating your settings.

1/9/1970 1/9/1971 1/9/1972 1/9/1973 1/9/1974 1/9/1975 1/9/1976 1/9/1987 1/9/1978 1/9/1979 Imaginative ain't I!

Not used XP personally, but it's normally in the 'view' menu and you'll need to set it off for each folder.

Let us not forget that different standards apply in different countries. From what I've read Rex is regarded as quite a conservationist down under. Anglers in many countries regard the way we treat our fish as either hillarious or incomprehsible. Would the average UK angler 30 years ago not have said similar things about our current standards (barbless hooks, no keepnets, unhooking mats, knotless mesh, fish first-aid etc etc)?? So whilst I agree with your general point that it doesn't do our image much good (it's dirt cheap TV for Discover H&L however), consider that he is making his programs for an Australian audience, and it is largely us that are out of step with the rest of the world and not the other way round. [ 05. July 2003, 12:21 AM: Message edited by: davidP ]