Houseplant

if you are a beginner and want to get a few fish on the *river* bank, i'd recommend a simple, small maggot feeder rig fished on the near shelf and re-cast every 10 minutes or so. it overcomes some of the problems that beginners have when starting out, like regular and accurate feeding. it also puts the bait on the bottom where most fish will be feeding. thinking back i wish someone had told me this. i might not have wasted my time fishing a float 4 ft deep in a 12 ft deep river and throwing in a few maggots every hour with predictable results

Managed a couple of hours the other day on the local river. Very quiet on maggot/waggler, just one small perch which I used as livebait. Within seconds of putting it in the water, I had a run, wound down and nothing. The same thing happened a few more times. It was starting to get silly, so I gave the culprit a little longer to find the hook. Result was a tiny jack hanging on to the bait. Three times I got him to the net and each time he let go. After about an hour of constant harrassment, I finally hooked all half a pound of him. A micro pike, but strangely satisfying to see him on the bank after all the trouble he caused. I hope he has learnt a few lessons

around £2.40. they've been this price for a while, so not much inflation on maggot prices.

i've caught more decent sized perch on a maggot fished under a waggler than 'proper' perch gear. it's hardly a selective method, but effective.

Gut reaction is not good, but this was not illegal activity, although it *may* have contravened club rules. Better get used to it with the number of (legal) immigrants entering the country. It's an emotive subject and the rights and wrongs have been discussed to death on other threads.

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great pic and great story!

I've fished at both of these fisheries and they're very nice: http://www.felixfarmtroutfishery.co.uk/ http://www.go-fish.co.uk/venue_1472.htm

barbless hooks would be a good move as already mentioned. also, i find that metal disgorders are better than the plastic ones. good luck

i hope #5 didn't interfere with #1 to 4 too much!

i was surprised to see a usable looking carp rod for sale in tesco extra for £11.99. can't vouch for its quality, but at that price, how can you go wrong? wish i could have got gear that cheap when i was a youngster.

yes, yes, yes that's the theory, but if there is a great angle between the rod tip and lead, i'm not sure of the efficiency of this.

i suppose that's a good description. i once saw it called a lazy man rig in a book. anyway, i agree in theory that the 12 inches will allow the fish to knock the rod tip rather than the lead. whether this actually happens or not, i don't know.

yes to the weaker hook link and yes to a safety link, unless you mean safety clip which is used by carpy types to make fixed lead (bolt) set-ups safe, unless you now want a fixed lead set-up that is. confused yet?

hi klonker, in this situation, life becomes difficult and my main concern would be getting the bait in the right place and keeping it there. i wouldn't be too worried about a super free-running rig. indeed, it might not even be possible to achieve. i happen to fish a basic running lead for most of my bottom fishing, just because it's simple, effective and safe. in the type of swim you describe, i doubt it would make an ounce of difference whether the lead was running or fixed. probably not a consensus view, just my personal experience.

just a thought, there's not much point in using these things if you're fishing a tight line coupled with a heavy quivertip or butt indicator. i've seen a lot of carpy types go to great lengths to get their rig as free running as possible and then fish with super tight lines

no one has mentioned hook gauge yet. i go for the lightest circles i can find. current batch is from NZ and working very well. similar to the owner mutu light, but lighter

controversial, but my experience after half a season of using nothing but large single circle hooks (1/0 - 5/0) for small to medium sized live/deadbaits and waiting a little longer before "striking" is not one single deep hooked fish.

Nope, but I sympathise with your exasperation at this British 'summer' Good luck.

A souless length of green carbon, sorry!

strange thread, but can't be any worse than hooking a fish, playing it to exhaustion and THEN netting it, so fill yer boots. not for me though.

i don't know the area at all, but i once travelled to retford on a regular basis for work. there are some stunning looking waterways that run right through the middle of the town. shallow, clear fast(ish) flowing water with some good sized chub that were taking flies off the surface. a fly rod would be the way forward if you were that way inclined.

Shocking and barbaric and that's coming from someone who regularly bashes fish over the head for the table and who has (legitimately and with good reason) tagged fish in the past. It's also totally idiotic because the 'tags' employed do not allow for growth as can be seen in the second photo.

i hadn't heard the anti-oil argument, but it does make sense. however, there will be other 'things' in a dead fish which might attract predators and are water soluble.