Whitty

Fewer posts, but also less members, less topics, the lot, more aggressive debate on forums that deters many from even bothering...

I must agree Peter, he was on another forum at one time, as a paid contributor and didn't do much for me I'm afraid, also when you questioned his methods, for clarification you understand, not picking, he wasn't very forthcoming, as though we should pay for his written word and he had already supplied his quota...

I believe John joined the club Keith, but living at Abingdon the journey can be taxing...

The water treatment people must be in league with the devil himself as they are completely immune to fines.... as we the customer have to pay them out of our bills(even though we don't want the muck in the rivers), unless the shareholders/boards of these companies are punished directly it will never ever stop!!!

Social media is an awful place to talk fishing, you get the anti anglers, the women after your account numbers and the underhand spoilers, I'm sure the problem is many people love talking about angling but don't want to debate it, which happens quite a lot within forums, wanting to use a forum is a bit like wanting to go fishing, you either do or you don't.... As to being quiet on AN, it is a self perpetuating problem, the less people post the less people look in, new, potential members look at the post numbers and just don't bother, Ian mentions Maggot Drowners, but the forum is match orientated and even though I used to be a dedicated matchman, imho today's match anglers are only interested in catching 200lbs plus, not the skill in catching 2lbs from a hard natural venue, so it is our choice, the days of hundreds of members potentially posting every day are long gone, these days it is easier to click onto YouTube and watch videos of your interest....

Sadly that isn't an option,we have an autistic son(22)whom if he wakes it is my shift,the wife has the short straw as she stays up as he doesn't go to bed until midnight most nights and if you push it he has serious behaviour issues...

We go down to Dorset on Friday,I'm dreading it,the weather is so warm that I won't be doing anything other than trying to find some shade,how is that a holiday,I usually fish every evening on the Stour,just the thought of marching down the bank at around 3-4pm sweating buckets does little to excite me....

My rant is that this forum has slowly lost following,where hardly a thread is started,or answered,so nothing happens,just another ten or fifteen regularish posters would make this fly,the comments like 'why dont you do it then ' doesnt really apply as nobody replies with a question,or contrasting opinion,so you drift into everybody else's apathetic style.....rant over(and out).

Haha,I check my posts before putting them on,but as soon as I click to post auto corrective spelling kicks in,which would be OK if it was the right word it was spelling,now I can't remember what the tampon was supposed to be,but at least I've corrected the blender....

These hook tyres,made and shipped from China are pretty good,they are gold in colour,knearled,with a threaded section around halfway which when unscrewed reveals a twin pointed loop there,these are sharp,like dart points,I can tie loops by hand very easily,but these points are brilliant for knot picking,I have already had one around a year but decided to pick up two spares in case I drop one in,so I picked these up for £3.56 post free,they arrived in around two weeks,a proper bargain in my view,a warning,search around because there are many sellers of these and some are asking 5 or 6 quid...

Right people,I bought one many years ago,a daewoo halogen thing that we found next to useless,so after three or four attempts is banished on top of kitchen cabinets,but having seen a few things on YouTube and seeing how much better they seem now I'm tempted to have another try,question is,how much,how big,particular models etc,so any help would be greatly appreciated....

In my opinion their mouths and eyes are the biggest giveaway,as chub have a big mouths with basically level lips(in the perpendicular,dace have a slight top lip protrusion,as do roach,rudd the opposite,it is possible to mistake decent roach(say a pound)with similar sized ideas,but ide do not have orangey red eyes,more golden,like rudd. They are easy to differentiate once you have caught them a few times,but....

John,clean all dust from fridged maggots then put them in a plastic bag removing as much air as possible,tie them up and keep them in a cool box/bag,with ice blocks,when you take them out for use open the bag and place in a bait box putting some maize meal on them,the vast majority will be wriggling again in an hour.Tips,small batches,say half to one pint per bag,that way your wastage would be minimilised as your problem would be chilling them back down after usage,hope this helps....

Horses for courses Ken,didn't realise your types of fishing,no doubt drags could burn out etc,all of my fishing is done with various 4000 sized reels,if I fished different styles I might need bigger,I have two 500's and one 1000 for life and that's it.