fenboy

Angling heritage? Are you having a laugh? The whole point about Dick Walker and Redmire Pool was that he was a pioneer, fishing the unhknown. More than half a century on, it's a joke. If Walker in his prime was alive today,do you imagine for one moment that he would be fishing a place like Redmire? Please... Walker would be pioneering something different... something that the so-called stars of today would never comprehend. That's because he would be fishing for a species in a venue that nobody else had truly exploited. At the risk of sounding like an old codger, I have to say that nobody today is doing that. The sad people on the 'specialist circuit' would make an innovative angler like Walker turn in his grave. Even today the great anglers find their fish, catch them and move on to new challenges. The rest - the majority - are mindless morons that follow like sheep. It's a shame places like Redmire aren't bigger... it would keep the complete tossers out of circulation. Remember: keep your mind open... catch and move on. It's always the first angler in the hot spot who strikes gold.

Hello folks, I had a outburts last night on the forum (just joined, got a lot to say). Some were meant to be funny, so please don 't be offended. But here's a serious one. Drinking in a very picturesque pub in Northamptonshire last week, a local told me he'd caught a 2-12 perch (on bleak livebait, from a lock cutting) and killed it for the table. Now, let me give you a bit of history. I fought tooth and nail against predator killing on the Fens from about 1970 for at least 15 years. AND elsewhere ever since. When I first started fishing as a lad in the 1960s, a few Fens locals did take the odd perch for the pot (they were the sort who would have eaten a cousin if they weren't already married to one another) but it was rare. I have thefeeling that programmes like High Fearnley-Whittingsomething's could have a bearing on this. While it's hard` to argue against catching for the pot on logical grounds (what better reason for going fishing?) where does it all end? According to the Daily Mail, we're already knee-deep in asylum seekers prepared to eat anything that swims. The war against predator killers isn't over yet, by a long way. The only plus point is that the ones from central Europe will prefer carp... and there are far`too many of them anyway. It's pike, perch and zander we have to watch out for.

Burbot is to the Fens what barbel is to the Ouse above Bedford. After all, there are probably more burbot alive today in the Fens than there are individual potential record barbel in THAT stretch of the Ouse. The trouble, of course, if finding truly pioneering anglers who can adopt standard carp tactics to burbot-luring techniques.Boilies hadn't even been invented when Britain's last burbot made its curtain-call appearance over 30 years ago. Do Burbot tolerate Braid? Are they sensitive to fixed leads? Would they they dislike bent hooks? These questions need to be answered. I'm far too old to be a pioneer any more. But if anyone is inspired to take on angling's last great challenge, I would like to offer the following advice.... 1. The mid-Norfolk rivers flowing east to west and ending up in the Great Ouse were always the best burbot hotspots. 2. Burbot feed at night. Pretend you're zander fishing but scale doiwn accordingly. If you're fishing the Little Ouse, Thet or Wissey you could get an enormous chub on your deadbait (try a gudgeon). 3. If more than three of you take this serioursly, stick together and stay that way. Don't argue and split up. The last thing we need is a Burbot Seekers' Society, a Burbot Catcher's Club and a Real Burbot Appreciation Association - each with two members apiece. Good luck, you would-be burbot pioneers. And remember... burbot were caught in all sorts of places, including immediately below the head sluice of the Relief Channel at Denver (approx 1969-70). Yes, I know we need iced-up rivers for them to spawn. But I was in Swaffham this weekend and it was cold enough for a populatrion explosion of the little codlets. Good fishing!

Learnt fishing from a hospital bed? The conditions in NHS hospitals today is a disgrace. Nurse! Drain that fluid now! But seriously, it's a shame that kids are left to their own devices without a bit of guidance from experienced anglers. Once they learn that they'll catch more by sitting quietly out off the skyline they'll do just`that. They learn quickly. Sorry to sound like an old fogey, but I blame the increase in commercial fisheries where nobody gives a damn about the next angler so long as they're getting their fiver's worth. In the good old days of CLUB fishing, older anglers acted as mentors to willing youngsters. If angling is to survive in the age of New Labour and the townie right-on do-gooders, we need active recruitment of young blood. To let the noisy little sods in the next peg know that you're ****** off with them will send them back to their Playstations before you know it. They are our future, so tolerate them.

You'll be fascinated to learn that on March 14 1971 a teenager from King's Lynn, Norfolk, by the name of Neville Fickling took a 21 lb-plus pike from the Relief Channel on a herring soaked overnight in cucumber juice. Even back then it was well known to locals that smelts were superb pike baits on the fen drains and Neville was attempting to synthesise what was then a rarity deadbait (the only one we could get our hands on in those days were ones we caught on rod and line from the tidal Great Ouse). Fluke? Probably. Pike like herrings anyway. My biggest fen pike to a herring, sans cucumber, weighed over 25 lb. But you have to admire Neville's pioneering spirit. Later in 1971 he broke the zand record twice... and in 1985 he broke the pike record on the River Thurne with a 40-plus... to real smelt. If he carries on that like he'll be famous one day.

Flukes, eh? Well, my biggest zander and eel came while I was pike fishing... my biggest roach while I was carp fishing... my biggest rudd while I was tench fishing... my biggest trout (out of season)while I was grayling fishing. But I enjoyed every one of them. Record fish? That's another matter. I'd claim it so long as I didn't cause the fish any distress in doing so. I would not keep it confined in shallow water for hours while seeking the appropriate witnesses. But I always carry accurate scales and semi-pro camera gear, so if necessary I would let it go and let my peers decide the validity... As for disclosing the venue, why worry about being followed? Only a complete loser would return to the venue he'd caught a record fish to try and catch the poor thing again.Get a life - and move on.

Loads of old lure sites on the web in the USA. Check out ebay and you'll find them. Trouble is they specialise mainly in small lures for large mouth bass. Incidentally, if you do have an old lure you think might be valuable, make sure you keep the original packaging. It's worth a lot more that way. But personally I reckon they're more valuable when they're covered in big, toothy scars!!

Single hooks are fine for small deadbaits like sardines, small smelts and sprats (although I don't rate the latter very much). Something around size 2/0 is about right. If it's barbed,squeeze or file it down. Hook the deadbait through the eye sockets and secure with a small piece of silicone or elastic band. Works brilliantly - and you don't have to wait before striking. If the pike's worth catching, it will have engulfed such a small mouthful in one. Singles on lures? Ok up to a point, they seem to work on spinnerbaits, but beware of swapping any lures hooks for smaller - ie lighter - hooks. On plugs especially they will drastically alter the action- usually detrimentally. If you do swap big, rank trebles for smaller ones, balance them with solder on the shanks... or wrap lead wire around the shanks. When newcomers are having trouble unhooking pike on snap tackles, I advise usung smaller trebles - 8s or 10s are plenty big enough for most baits. They will also prevent dropped runs if the pike are finicky and - best of all - they strike out of the bait easier so you get a better hookhold. :cool: