Pangolin

Fair comment, although a little green-tinged, I expect! Perhaps you mistakenly think I am a small specimen, myself... I had to hold the fish against my chest because it wasn't keen to pose: thumb in the mouth for that reason too (stops the fish shaking its head). Compared to last year's it was a very deep-bellied fish: took 15 mins to land, even with the Grey's Prodigy rod. I will go back again, next year, if not before: I recommend the Royal Hotel, which you can book with Tesco vouchers, too. It doesn't own the fishery, but it's right by the river

A whole year had passed since my brace of double-figure barbel from the Wye at Ross, so I decided to go back and have another go. To my amazement, it happened again: this one was the best-conditioned fish I've ever caught, of any species, and weighed in at 12lb. It came from the public stretch, below the Royal Hotel, and took two halibut pellets on a hair-rig.

A pub, within walking distance of my home, has gone up for sale. It seems an odd time to sell it, because there is a big new housing estate being built right next to it. The pub is freehold and, as far as I'm aware, has never been tied to a particular brewery. It may be a daydream, but I'm wondering if I could give up my job and run this pub successfully. I've no experience of running a pub and I'm not so naive that I think that, just because I drink in them, I know the business. I have a fair amount of savings and plenty of enthusiasm for a change of career. What I need to know is, if I bought the pub, who would I be buying the drinks from? Is it easier to be a free-house, or to sign up with a company (who might also help with decor and fittings)? In the past, the pub has been a pub-restaurant, although not very big. What are the pifalls of running a restaurant, or even B&B accommodation, along with the pub? Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

Just wanted to say a huge 'thank you' for the recommendation to fish the town centre stretch (Riverside walk). I had seven chub and two barbel: both barbel were doubles. The photo is of the smaller one, at 10 1/4lb, as the larger one, 11 1/2lb, was caught just after dark, and the photo hasn't worked. All the fish were caught using halibut pellet on a hair-rig, with ordinary running leger set-up. I was casting just to the edge of the fast water, about a quarter of the way across. These are my first ever barbel, and I will be going back there again!

Thanks, have you got a telephone number for Ross Angling or for where I could buy the day-tickets?

I will be staying in Ross on Wye for the weekend, in a couple of weeks time. I'd like a recommendation for a river fishery, where I could go after chub and barbel. I know the Wye at Bredwardine, but I'm sure I don't need to go that far.

Thanks for all of the comments. we've stuck with the two and a half hour ration and it seems to be working better now. There are fewer tantrums, although he does seem to spend a lot of time carefully calculating where in the day he will fit those two and a half hours in. What I hope is that some new game becomes the one to have and we can stop him from buying it. His friends will move on to this new game and he wont be able to. It makes me sound a bit harsh, but I'm trying to be a good stepdad.

Hmmm.... sounds good! How do I go about that? We have a BT homehub and wireless.

I've had some wise advice on this forum before, and I wonder if anyone has experience of this one. My fourteen year-old stepson has had the X-BOX 360 since just before Christmas. He plays two games, both army combat games, with an 18 certificate. They seem fairly unthreatening, in that the character runs along and shoots enemy soldiers etc. The game is with an online subscription, so that he can play his friends, who also have the same games. What I have seen, since Christmas, is a real character change in the lad. He arrives home from school and is switching on even before he has taken his rucsack off. He won't talk while playing and he is not interested in doing anything else, because it will take him away from the game. It is tricky to get on with a step-child and this has suddenly become much more difficult. His mum and I have tried to ration the time, to two and a half hours per evening, and the result is swearing tantrums and throwing things around. We even think he has skipped afternoon school on a couple of occasions, just to come home to play. Just a couple of days ago, I set up quite a complicated system, with a hidden timer-plug but, while we were out of the house, he has traced the wiring and bypassed the timer. To punish him for this, I have confiscated the mains lead: he says he will be going round to a friend's house to play instead. I don't want it to be all rows and punishments, so I don't know what to do next. Should I take these particular game disks away from him?

Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread. My partner was surprised when I said I would ask on Anglers Net, but I've always had a lot of help from everyone on here.

Here's an odd question: my partner will be ganted 'decree nisi' this week and, once divorced, would like to revert to using her maiden name. What will she have to do to effect this, particularly in relation to bank account and passport? I thought somebody on here might know. Tight Lines....

The club looks interesting. Which stretches of the upper lea do you fish when you are after barbel? Would you be interested in showing a new member around, if I joined? I'm not a novice angler, I just haven't ever caught a barbel and my Grey's prodigy barbel rod has only landed carp and tench.

I'm determined to catch a barbel before the end of the year but, so far, I've been unsuccessful. I've been to the Wye at Bredwardine and the Avon at Evesham: both lovely venues but both yielding no barbel. I've tried a variety of baits too. Can anyone recommend a day-ticket fishery, swim and method within a couple of hours drive? I live in Buckingham. I'm not looking for record-breaking barbel, just somewhere I'd be fairly sure of catching one with the right technique. There aren't many fishing weekends left....

Special thanks to lyn, as Les Webber has come up trumps and can loan me all the tackle I need. What do I need to do about rod licences? Obviously I have one, but the students are all novices, trying out for just one day. Can anyone offer a suggestion?

Thanks to all who replied. I will contact Les Webber and I will probably PM Rusty and Will about arranging to collect their tackle and return it. Its a good idea to get sponsorship in the long-term and I'm grateful for the idea, but I need a quick fix for a one-day problem in the short term. I'm totally in agreements with your sentiments, budgie, but I have only one day with the students and a very limited selection of waters I can transport them to. The canal has been a bit 'hit and miss' for catches recently and a small lake would give me the best chance of being able to keep an eye on all at once. Once the venue has been chosen, it has to be carp because the lake is so well-stocked that floatfishing a single maggot can often result in a take from a carp which would break the line of all but an experienced angler. I just thought I would keep things simple by freelining a bait from a robust rod and a baitrunner reel. I would much rather spend several days teaching a more refined method, but I have to work within my limitations!

As a schoolteacher and angler, I've been trying for a while to arrange an occasion where I can take a group of students to a fishery and teach them the basics. I'd sort of imagined four or five students, who could use some of my rods. As it turns out, I've been given the go-ahead for Jun 30th and I have had requests from 90 students to take part. I've made it clear that this will have to be cut down to a more manageable 20, but it leaves me the problem of where to get some tackle for the day. What I need is around 10 carp rods and reels, preferably baitrunners. I could also do with a few extra landing nets and possibly unhooking mats. I'm happy to offer to replace anything that gets damaged, but damage would be unlikely as the students selected can be the ones I trust to take things seriously. I'm not asking for the best, just something that would handle stocked carp, which run to around 10lb. I am happy to collect and return all borrowed items, so the nearer to Aylesbury, the better!

Yes, its because of the spate of TV adverts but I'm wondering if its worth it. What sort of success rate is there and which company does a good job? Any stories, even horror stories, would be appreciated!

A while ago somebody helped me solve a problem with popups by deleting cookies Trouble is I've forgotten how to do it Thanks for any help....

Mr Motorola, I took time to try your recommendation today and I'm delighted it has worked! Thanks for saving me the price of calling out an expert. Tight lines, Pangolin

Sad to admit I scored 195.....

Is this one still happening? I'm pretty local to MK and I'd be interested in meeting up sometime this Autumn: a barbel is one of my targets still to be reached for this year! Chub fishing would be very welcome too.

OK, not a computer problem, but people here have helped before... Switchover to digital is imminent (still dont know what date, but never mind that) I've been using a Sony Freeview digibox to access all of the freeview channels and it works well. I do notice, however, that when I go to the 'menu', there is no channel 1 or channel 2 listed. Channel 3 is there and autotuned to ITV1, channel 4 to Channel 4 and so on. BBC 1 and 2 are listed, somewhere up in the 800s, but no signal is received when I try to choose them. I'm happy watching BBC1 and 2 on terrestrial, but that might not be available for much longer: do I have a problem with the digibox or with the Aerial? What needs doing to get my digibox to autotune to BBC 1 and offer it as channel 1 on the menu?

Steve, if you're around, it might be a good idea to start a new thread with last-minute information about the weekend. You could also post a list of who you think is going, and which species they are after. My participation is still likely but it might depend on my being able to bring my non-fishing partner. She would see it as a good weekend camping, if the weather is OK, but she probably wouldn't be keen if its raining.

Enough of the jokes! I wanted this thread to get people arguing that some fish are more intelligent than others... In my opinion, the intelligence league for coarse fish looks something like this: 1. Wild barbel 2. Wild chub 3. Tench 4. Dace 5. Roach 6. Bream 7. Rudd 8. Pike 9. Perch 10. Carp (stocked) Within each species, it follows that an older fish is a wiser fish, so there is a lot of overlap. If I believe that I catch fish that I can outwit, that puts me at around the level of the wild chub!

Rudd shoals on the Aylesbury arm of the Grand Union seem down in the last couple of years but I think its likely to be cyclical and in tune with how hot the summer is. There are still enough of them for it to be a real problem to get a small bait to the bigger fish below. Rudd are thriving at two commercial carp fisheries I regularly visit: i prefer to target the carp with floating bread, so I find the rudd are a nuisance fish. There are no pike or even large perch in either fishery and, with a lot of feed going in from anglers, its hardly surprising numbers are so high. I agree about the beauty of large rudd, having caught a 2lb specimen in N Ireland, many years ago. I thought it was a bream until it was on the bank. If the commercial fisheries are supporting large shoals of rudd, as my experience suggests, the fishery owners ought, perhaps, to thin those shoals down by netting, allowing some to reach a good size.