PhilJ

I am planning to get back into coarse fishing following 4 seasons on the fly. The only problem I have is that my transport is a mid life crisis sports car which is too small for my old coarse rods. Does anyone have experience of and can recommend multi section coarse rods with good actions. I am looking for a 10ft Avon and a 12ft trotting rod which could be matched to a Bob James centre pin? I plan to fish the upper stretches of the Lea and smaller rivers. Thanks in anticipation. PhilJ

I have just come back from a fly fishing session on my local river during which, in addition to a brown trout and some nice dace, I caught a Perch of about 1lb on an up stream dry fly. This is a first for me and wonder if anyone has heard of something similar?

How about reintroducing the close season for still waters to allow coarse fish to spawn in peace?

Fenboy. Great points made. I would go one step further and encourage the reintroduction of otters to realise the natural balance which should be present in our waters. The only problem we have here is a few angling clubs determination to manicure river banks to make their waters easier to fish. I have absolutely no problem with some pegs designed for disabled access but we need to be very careful. BTW do otters feed on signal Crayfish????

This has just been sent to me http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43022/140/

Dear All, Does anyone have any information on Estate fisheries in North Essex? Also I wondered around Hatfield Forest lake yesterday and wonder if anyone fiishes is it and if so is it any good (when the crowds have dispersed?) Thanks Phil

Thanks Andrew

I have recently moved to Saffron Walden and understand that there is a fly fishing association at Audley End. Does anyone have any details re membership and waters? Thanks Phil

I have recently moved to Saffron walden in Essex. Does anybody know of any good coarse fishing in the area? I am looking for smallish rivers and picturesque lakes upto 30 miles away. Thanks in advance Phil

Blimey guys thanks for the information I had better invest in some large pike proof undergarments and brush up on my waterskiing. What will the esteemed burghers of Burford think of a scruffy angler being towed through their exclusive town by a monster Pike? (Might bring the house prices down to a level I can afford!) Phil J

I regularly fish the Upper Windrush and have turned my hand to spinning. I have caught a number of pike to about 6lbs, all in superb condition and great fun. However a question for the more experienced pike anglers out there. The river holds a large number of 'bait' fish, roach, grayling, dace, perch etc but it varies in width from 3m to about 40m in a mill pool and holes/back eddies to approx 6ft deep. My largest pike the 6lb one from was caught in the mill pool. I suspect that there a natural growth limiter given the size of a river and I wonder what size pike I could expect in a river of this specification? Any answers are appreciated. Phil

Fenboy, I missed the earlier threads so I may be repeating some info that has been supplied, however: There is an account of the capture of this sturgeon in 'Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life' by Jeremy Paxman ISBN 0-14-023741-0 pages 318 to 323. It maybe worth contacting Paxman at the BBC I am certain he will be fascinated with the reel since the story is so good. Good luck Phil

I am trying to run fishsim on a windows 98 computer. I have installed, uninstalled but on opening get a brief flash of the first screen and then the computer crashes. Any ideas, since I have succesfully run the same fishsim disc on another laptop using windows 2000? Thanks in anticipation Phil

I recently fished the Avon at Tewkesbury using a swimfeeder for Chub, Roach et al with a light rod centrepin reel and 5lb line with double maggot on size 16 hook. Things were really quiet until the rod tip showed the slightest knock and on striking all hell broke loose. I was convinced I had hooked a pb barbel which led me all around the river for 1 hr keeping deep, circling, dashing accross the river, heading for reed beds. I was astonished to discover that the barbel was in fact a 9.5 lb pike. Maggots? Pike? first for me. Any similar experiences?

Anyone ever fished this water? Looks superb and lots of stories from the locals. Cheers