Stig

DG - see you've changed your avatar (haven't posted for a while). Have you got a GT3? Might have to give you a run for yer money if you do

In a bit of role-reversal, I made up a kit for my father-in-law for Christmas. They moved to Brittany to retire and now have a decent selection of local rivers/canals and still waters. He was thrilled to bits with the tackle which I put together. NWAC suppleid a Shakespeare telescopic rod and Okuma baitrunner reel for 26 quid and they were both good quality, especially for the price. A trip to the local tackle shop to get a selection of floats/ledgers/hooks/shot etc. all put in a small tackle box brought the whole lot in at about 35 notes, for a package that was vastly superior to the 'starter kits'. As an aside, don't buy tackle boxes from tackle shops. A trip to the local B&Q or Halfords will get you a suitable plastic multi-tray box for a fraction of the price!!!

They found him

Hope you don't mind me sharing this with you. But the challenges of Autumn angling were brought home to me this weekend. I sneaked off for a bit of a session and thought I'd give the river at Sonning (R&DAA beats) a try for the first time for 20 years! With the river running high/coloured after the prolonged rain at the weekend, I initially tried swims which had some slack water/crease to see if I could snag a chub or 2. But, it was dead as a piece of luncheon meat. I tried below the weir for predators looking for food washed down by the fast water, then above in a slow stretch by an island. But again, nothing. I tried a variety of baits on the feeder and even switched to float which can normally tempt the odd Perch, but again, nothing. Half a day fishing and not a single bite. I almost packed up and went home, but, with about 1/2 a pint of maggots/casters left, I decided to up sticks and drive to Wallingford! Within 5 minutes of dropping the feeder in the far margins, I was into a fish! A lovely Roach in perfect condition a shade over a pound. The rest of the afternoon was the same story and I had the best session yet since my return to the sport. Highlight was hooking into what felt like a monster (there have been a few barbel to 10lbs+ caught recently on the stretch I was fishing) only to lose it right under the rod tip due to an overtaught clutch and an overexcited me! It was only the lack of bait that caused me to finally pack up and go home So the moral is, sometimes it's better to change rivers entirely rather than just a swim! PS. I know they're both the Thames but you get my drift PPS. I amost ended up in the water a couple of times, what with the banks being so greasy - so remember, be careful out there!

Aha! Will re-appraise my tactics on my next trip then. Thanks for the feeder rig tip too - very ingenious and good for our pescatorial quarry.

Excellent tips Steve, I'll give them a go. Incidently, I read elsewhere that Chub don't like groundbait? Any views on this?? Thanks again Stig

Had a good (albeit short 6am - 12) session down at Wallingford on the Thames last Friday which resulted in my 1st chub since taking up the sport again after a layoff of 20 odd years! Was well chuffed. Still, back to the point of this post. Was fishing the far bank, close to the overhanging trees on a swim about 400 yards below the weir at Benson. Flow here is pretty slack and I was feeding a line on a drop-off (or so I thought). After some pre-baiting, with a chub mix groundbait (bready/cheesy) I rested the swim for about 1/2 an hour whilst tackling up. An open ended feeder filled with groundbait and some maggots to help disperse it, was lobbed into the swim. 2 white maggots were used as hookbait. Bites came pretty quickly and I hooked the chub shortly after. I missed several bites after this, until I hooked into what felt like a good fish - which promptly snapped the hook length (2.5lbs)! In fact, it felt more like whatever was on the end had been taken by a pike. Still, I managed to pull out a few roach this way. Anyway, I'm waffling. The point of this post is, how long do you reckon I should leave the feeder in place before re-filling/casting? I fear that in my impatience, I ended up doing more harm than good as the constant 'plopping' of a weighty feeder in the swim seemed to make the bites dry up. I switched to a ledger to minimise surface disturbance but the fish weren't taking anymore. So any feeder tips/tactics that you'd like to share with an old newbie? PS. For old read 33!

Matt, will probably start out below the weir and then explore the river between the abundant power lines! As ever, on the lookout for Chub but a barbel wouldn't go amiss! That said, I'll probably end up with two gudgeon and a dace

Just reviving this thread again as I'm now a fully paid up R&DAA member. Am sneaking a day off tomorrow to try and pull some chub out. Thinking of Wallingford or the Thames at Sonning. Any peg recommendations for some quality chubbage at these beats? [ 06. November 2003, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Stig ]

Thanks Gary!

DG, as I said, I am joining the R&DAA so no worries there. However, having always been a 'free' water fisherman at beats where I've been told it's free, how do I identify which beats are R&DAA and which are other clubs? Other than the website which shows approximately where they are. Apologies for the noob question!

DG - already ahead of you on the R&DAA front. Cheque's 'in the post' so to speak. As I said, have only just taken up the sport again so am finding my feet again after a 20 year break! Used to fish Sonning Eye quite a bit - river and the pit, so will be back to see what's changed. Just getting my head around who controls which waters, so I can try them all More of a river fisherman than stillwater, so, as you say, I'm spoiled for choice around our way. Thanks for the good advice and maybe catch you on the bank sometime? [ 30. September 2003, 10:08 AM: Message edited by: Stig ]

Cheers chaps. DG - I know what you mean about the smaller fish, the Dace were scoffing the bait way before it was near bottom! Didn't exactly promote our chances as my mate was stomping around on the bank like an elephant Bit of an early start and some stealth tactics I reckon. The weirpool looked promising, but the swims were already covered by other anglers. I see you edited your post with more info! I live in Sonning Common (not to be confused with Sonning) so all those runs are pretty local to me. Just wish I had more time to be bankside Waited 20 years to drop another worm in and now I can't get enough of it!!!! [ 29. September 2003, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Stig ]

Firstly, hi to all here as this is my 1st post to the forum! Already seen some familiar names from otehr forums that I subscribe to, notably Apache (Matt) springs to mind. Anyway, after a 20 year break, I had my first session last week on the free water stretch at Cookham. I tried the feeder stream and the slow water above the weir and other than an abundance of dace, things were pretty quiet. I'm desperate to get into some decent sized Chub and was wondering whether anyone out there has had experience of this stretch and could suggest some likely swims? Apparently the Thames at Whitchurch Hill is fishing well at the mo. so any suggestions for likely spots there would be greatly appreciated. Other than that, good to be here