winky

Dawn for me. It means Ive got less time to wait before I go fishing, the tinca fishing is almost always better at dawn and there is never anyone around.

I dont think they have any preference for baits, I am always confident with smelt on, but trout, roach, lamprey, perch & mackrel all work well. Sardines and herring should work well but I never use them for fear of losing the bait on a cast.

As far as I know coarse fishing is still free on the loch. May be worth checking with the local toursist office when you get there. There should be one in Balloch, the town at the bottom of the loch. If you are keen on fishing Balmaha bay the garden centre offers parking near to the bank for a small fee, might be worth checking out. The garden center is on your left as you drive up the east side of the loch. The bay is shallow and most anglers wade out before casting. I dont think its necessary but If people are wading out around your bait then you have little choice. Balmaha pier is deep and you will need a pod as its either rock you fish from or the jetty. Have a good time an let me know how you get on.

My goal this year would be a 5lb Scottish tench. If i make it to england this year, a 7.5lb tinca would be nice. A high double Scottish carp would be nice, but I am not going out my way to catch them, as I would with the tench. I have also got a weekend away in Scotland and hope to get a perch over 1.5lb. A fish of a pound would be very nice, the people I will be fishing with have never seen perch that big.

I have fished Lomond many times at different spots and have had pike from all over it. As long as it has some obvious features such as weed or a bay, I imagine you should be able to get a run. Balmaha in my opinion is a self-fufilling place as almost everyone fishes there so a lot fo fish are caught there. Of course the infamous Endrick Pike was found at balmaha (70lb estimated weight!) I imagine the mouth of the Levin would be good as the fish run into the loch. Never tried it though. The bad thing about Lomond is that its too near Glasgow and sometimes you turn up on the banks to find litter or worse dead pike We once found five all high doubles left in a pile. If I am going to Lomond at a weekend I usually hope for a miserable week to keep the scumbags away from the water.

Record breaking fish. I cant wait for this to start. Never used to like Matt Hayes much but he seems a lot quieter these days and I'm really taking a shining to him. I think Matt and Mick make a great duo. One thing though, on the trailer for the show what is happening to Mick to make him pull a face like that

/me waves

This was something I was going to mention. Basically red light is transmitted the poorest underwater. Ithink this is because it is a longer wavelength (therefore lower frequency or energy). This is probably why blue light is transnmitted best becuase it has the higher energy. Probably explains why the water can look blue or greeny.

I dont see how a single handed reel causes more vibration than a double handed. The bail arm probably causes more imbalance. and the fact that your handle turning hand is causing the greatest imbalance by pushing against your rod holding hand. No two handed handle is going to fix that. I think they are there to look good. Much more like a spoiler on a slow car than on a fast car too

OOh thanks never thought of Maplins. Will pop down at the weekend

This is something I wanted to do, as will as start to log my fishing, with weather conditions and catches. Keep forgetting to buy a thermometer though. Any idea where to get one?

Think it was the bullhead we used to catch dont remember any barbels on the fish (otherwise as youngsters we would have claimed they were barbel )

Consider it done Leon. Interesting survey I wonder if they will get a good response.

I probably couldn't tell the difference but single handed reels look better and they must be lighter. The weight of a rod/reel is very important if you hold your rod all day. Not so important if its sitting on a pod I guess.

I imagine that if you freeze them, burst casters in your groundbait would be excellent