Dave Lumb

Not to be confused with the not quite so old git with a grey beard and specs on the next stand along.

Not that photo again.... http://www.pacgb.co.uk/aboutpike/mythbusting.htm

Watch it!

I've caught a few barbel (to 9lb+) on Tuttis. Not enough of them to set the world alight, but the do catch barbel.

Can't have been a Seymo, Andy. They are powder coated metal.

I know they're not 'south' but how about Castle Loch or West Pond? http://www.castlelochfisheries.co.uk/ http://www.bowmanfishman.fsnet.co.uk/West%20Pond.htm

If RPM's still looking in I'll add my two bob's worth - having caught barbel around Newark. If the river's carrying up to three feet and is coloured with not too much debris coming down you've got good conditions that are easily managed. Five or six ounces should be enough. If that won't hold try casting upstream and feeding a BIG bow in the line. So much of a bow that the line enters the water downstream of your rod. If that doesn't work seek out a spot where the lead will hold. A good area type to look for is a crease just below the inside of a bend, with slacker water (or an eddy) close in. Fish your baits on the crease, or slightly further out, towards its downstream end - not in the slacker water. Use the slacker water to keep water pressure off the line. As for tackle I'd step up the 10lb braid to 15lb mono or 30lb braid for the mainline, and 10lb mono or 20lb braid hooklinks. Set the baitrunner just tight enough to stop the rod getting dragged in. That helps set the hook and keep it in. There's no need for a quivertip for Trent barbel! A running rig and hair rigged pellet is spot on. I prefer a long hooklink - up to five feet, but three is okay - to prevent line bites and instil confidence in the fish. Keep it simple and you'll do fine. Hope this helps a bit.

Try a green plastic pan scourer.

I thought the work done on the sewage system a few years ago was supposed to have stopped this happening every time there was a storm. Sad as it is the drain will bounce back in time - there will still be fish in the drain network above the source of the pollution. Help from the EA with restocking will speed that up.

Much of it wasn't. Self publishing costs all depend on what sort of quality you are prepared to accept - and/or how much of the layout you can do yourself. Even a low print run of less than 1000 can be profitable.

Spoiler When's the paperback edition due out?

I had an eel regurgitate a load of tadpoles (and red maggots) in the weigh sling about three years ago when there were masses of tadpoles in the margins. The eel was caught at least forty yards from the bank - on two grains of Enterprise corn!

I thought you were ignoring me.

Nice to know you too Mr Anonymous.

So let him surf the net.

I wasn't referring to the OP spouting lies, I was making a general point about allowing bullshit to go unchallenged.

You ought to get out more. The users of the P+P forum are more representative of anglers in general than you lot of rose coloured spectacle wearers. Show anglers in a bad light? Maybe, but at least they weren't stupid enough to post the foot-shooting rubbish that appeared on here. As for bullshit, if it's ignored then it becomes accepted as fact. That's bad. Nobody who spoyuts lies should be allowed to get away with it.

I think the P+P forum members were right to be suspicious and I was surprised you lot didn't pick up on the signals the 'no-brainers' spotted. Maybe you lot are just a bunch of gullible fools? I can assure you that while they may come across like a bunch of ***** (and much as the halfwitted thugs amongst them drive me to despair), there are some very sharp cookies on that forum. Bullshit soon gets sniffed out on P+P and gets what it deserves. That's one of it's biggest assets. No point being nice to a bullshitter. Probably best you lot stay here with your slippers on where it's safe and cosy...

I think that might depend on the size of the bait relative to the size of the fish - a big bream should have no problem passing a grain of plastic corn for example, but a small roach might.

It's nice to know someone reads my blog! The way I see it is that if you loose fed plastic baits the fish wouldn't swallow them. They suck up stones and stuff but don't eat them, so they wouldn't eat plastic baits. They might not be very smart but they know what is and isn't food. As for fishing with plastic baits not being 'proper' fishing. Well, a rock hard pellet is not much different to a plastic one. Anyway, I've used fake maggots on the waggler to catch rudd and a few roach when I was getting so many bites I got fed up of rebaiting with real maggots. I picked up a perch on that set up, too. I've also had a few perch to over 3lb on plastic casters on bolt rigs - I don't feed casters, by the way, just red maggots. My first fish on plastic corn was a bream. The bait was fished direct on the hook to a longish tail and a running rig. So the concept that plastic baits only work on self hooking rigs for fish that grub about sucking and blowing is a little flawed IMO. I have yet to catch a roach on a legered plastic bait, though - except when I've put real maggots on the hook. Give 'em a go.

I used home made in-line maggot feeders a lot last year. Short hooklinks of Reflo Powerline (8lb 15oz) or Drennan Sink Braid (12lb). No PVA, no tangles. Lots of tench - and a couple of bream. The improved version.

You could always redo all the whippings!

You could try this lot - http://www.guidesnblanks.com/product.php?product_id=378

I'm one who picked up on Andy's paperclip idea. I safely cast six ounce leads and feeders (40-50yards?) on them on the Ribble and Trent. Yet they open up when snagged using 12lb mono. To a degree you can make them open up under a greater pull (not that you need to) by bending the 'tag' further round. The only time I have cast a lead off has been when I have forgotten to open the bale arm...

You could have linked to pikeflyfishing.co.uk though http://www.pikeflyfishing.co.uk/flytying.htm