Blackbird1

You reminded me I had a Robin Reliant yellow thing the Yellow Peril..Dad thought it wad a good idea save getting wet on the 10 mile commute to work, even gave a lift to a neighbour at the bus stop..next day he politely refused, cant blame him. After a fishing session on the Bris Avon I was clipped by a woman speeding in her BMW the whole front end crumpled and drove home with it in the boot, looked like a weak version of Mad Max. When I was 16 I was a Telegram Boy in Bristol...Christ I"m old...the bike was as you know was a Bantam, and you were nothing if you couldn't put up a shower of sparks from the leg guards leaning into a bend. Got my car licence after 3rd sprog arrived otherwise would be either dead or just an old rocker... Nowadays kids get into a car at 16 is it? Without the skill set and knowledge of road conditions, and many end up killed or injured sadly, a push bike and motorcycle is a great learning curve.

Croatia..

Hi and welcome. I suspect your venue holds a good head of Carp..and catching them in the daytime should not be a problem. I would look for boat moorings as a start. Regular amounts of loose feed at a chosen spot over a few days will get them confident. If you can resist casting a line until you can see all the bait has gone . These carp will be very smart, they have seen it all, you will need to be smarter.

Best way imo is to store in plastic bags after cleaning with maize. Ensure the air is removed , seal and every 48 hours or so unseal and reseal allowing stale air to escape. Maggots will appear to be dead but will come alive when required.

If anyone should be in any doubt the wonderful land this is and the wonderful folk that inhabit here worry not, today a sad day, but a magnificent one also. Feeling very proud.

Thank you Boris, job done.

Cheers Tigger, I note you do OK with the float rod, Barbel Chub etc, way to go, I really must stop staring at a tip and watch a float trundle down..heaven. Most of the Rivers around here are of the Lower types, ie Avon and Severn, and the Severn especially is really a lead approach, but I do have some smaller Rivers too mainly the Arrow and Teme, but as you know smaller Rivers have been Otter screwed. atb..

Hello Bear, I am Gloucestershire Worcester borders so lots to go at....only thing is like everywhere else Barbel are slow in showing up this summer...so far. But patience is key Autumn is my sort of time. For me meat is a a great bait, in any conditions, especially when they are a bit picky, due to a lot of naturals the gorge on, a large piece of meat can often tempt them into thinking...bugger forget the diet, just once won't hurt.? But the impact on those Winter floods are unknown, hopefully it might just be that they are spawning again, or something more sinister, hope not. Been eyeing the float rods, probably will give me a new lease of life. I like the flavoured meat, but tbh find meat straight out of the tin, original flavour to be excellent, but for me it has to be fresh, with all the smell. Good luck, and keep at it, you know what your doing anyway.

This place is a bit of an oasis, away from the Carper Hoardes that think it is the only worthwhile fish to target. I despair at the demise of our pools that used to litter the countryside, Rudd Tench Roach etc. Nothing wrong with wild carp, the smaller leaner version, but they are rare now, used to be a lake in Wiltshire that hung on to a few, now a DT venue for...carp. I will concede to, that a Severn carp, or any river carp is a good adversary, and in some way reverts back to it's natural form, fight hard too.

You tease Phone... ?. I know that sort of stuff is not popular over there, but I guess Catfish and the like would go for it? Generally Spam is considered a 'poor' mans choice here, there is a stigma about buying it, and even I have to explain to the checkout that 'it's for the fish' which probably marks me down as more of a nutter than they already thought. One of my son's has a liking for it so stock dwindles pretty quick. Don't know much about shipping costs but I imagine it would not be worthwhile, but I can at least investigate, thinking about I did a few years back, and it was just too much, but will look again. Tins of Garlic Spam go for 10 x the original cost, so we really could be Spammers in the truest sense.?

Pumpkin! That's a new one on me, out of interest what do you catch on the stuff? Seems like SPAM is not as popular over here as it is in the States....we had a version of Spam (special addition) called Stinky French Garlic, it was a great bait , but is now discontinues and fetches ridiculous prices on ebay .

Ha! Phone and Chesters, thanks for the welcome, no problem Elton, thanks for the add. You boys are missing a trick I reckon Phone, having no Barbel, they really do put a bend in your rod, however some bright sparks thought it was a good idea to release Otters back into the wild, and they have decimated fish stocks in many rivers. But we soldier on and I still catch the odd one or two .Spam is a top bait for them, but we seem to have only 2 types of flavours over here original and bacon grill, I hear in the States you got the whole shabang, and would pay good money to have the Garlic Spam again. If you are up for making a bit of easy money let me know?.

Yep after a few weeks waiting, I have finally been let in, I fish for Barbel mostly now these days, although I am happy to catch anything that swims. Unfortunately Barbel are in short supply at the moment, it seems the Winter floods have a hand in that, hoping for a better Autumn / Winter when I really knuckle down. Nice to see AN still going strong, and also some of the 'old uns' too. I used to look in some years ago when the debates were legendary, and then along came facebook..., Oh! well. ? Anyway nice to be here, and look forward to having a chat.