mark barrett

Peter , as you well know that photo that you were talking about was one in an article of mine. firstly as far as being a "big name" i am sorry but i completely cant see that one, but yes you are right i am the secretary of the PAC. as for the photo, well it never struck me as wrong, probably because i see this sort of thing out in the fens all the time. yes the rods are more than the requisite 3 metres apart, albeit not by very much, but can you honestly say to me that a rod that is 3.5 metres apart is any more or less dangerous than one 3 metres apart, of course it isnt. i know the guy that sent me the photo extremely well, in fact he has been one of my best friends since we were 11. i know that he wouldnt do anything to hurt pike, nor is he a rule breaker by design, in truth he probably is as unaware of that rule as the vast majority of anglers are. i dont condone rule breaking, dont do it myself knowingly, nor do i condone it in others, i used the picture because i just thought it was a beautifull picture that my mate was very proud of, and i thought looked amazing. Its just a shame Peter that you couldt put your time to something a bit more constructive than knocking others

I did do an article in CAT a few years back about Rudd fishing Steve, but i seriously doubt as to whether I still have that anywhere, though its not beyond the realms of possibility. i do a fair bit of fishing for big rudd, in fact they were probably the first big fish that i went for by design, but those were the good old days before the cormorants came in and reeked havoc on the silvers around here. theres many ways too catch them, but the most successful that i have used are floater fishing, float fishing o the drop, or feeder fishing for them. unfortunately i have never fished a big rudd water, where there are not also large numbers of small rudd, and these must rank as one of the most voracious feeders of all fish! therefore my fishing has really boiled down to two baits only, those being very small boilies, or sweetcorn, with the latter being my favourite of all. Big Rudd have some kind of fixation with sweetcorn, but this is where the real trick comes into play, because if you are fishing that corn on the bottom, the rudd would have to invert past 120 degrees to actually be able to pick it up. they dont, what they do, is to swim at the bait and bat it up off the bottom, where they take it on the drop. therefore its absolutely vital that the hookbait is critically balanced. i usually use a single piece of fake corn, and one or two real pieces, mounted straight on a hook, size 12 or 10, light gauge. when using boilies i use 10 or 12mm baits situated tight to the bend of the hook, maple or activ 8 are my favourites, closely followed by esterberry boilies. i have caught rudd on all of these. again they are better popped up or critically balanced. these were usually fished either on a feeder or with a running rig and stick. the best attractant for rudd is either groundbait or hemp, rudd like roach absolutely love hemp. on one pit that i used to fish the rudd could be tracked round the pit, by the little blits and blats from the carpers alarms as they rolled their boilies around the swim and cleared off the hemp. invariably this happened just before and after dark, through to midnight, then it would die off for a while before picking up again just before and after first light. again fishing on the drop i would use corn, bread would be great, probably better, but realistically it actually sinks too slowly and this means that the smaller rudd get at it first and drag the bait and float all over the place. last opening night i had 5 big two's and a scraper three by using corn on the drop, with a small shot to get it down past the smaller rudd, to the bigger ones laying slightly deeper. this worked a treat and only a few smaller fish were caught. the other thing to bear in mind with rudd is that they are a shoal fish that will react to any disturbance by fleeing the area. therefore your casting, approach to the water etc need to be very circumspect. also when playing a fish try and get it away from the shoal without it splashing on the top. hope that helps some people, because big rudd are in my opinion the most beautifull of our freshwater fish.

john, big rudd are indeed a different kettle of fish completely, to be honest these days i would only fish for them for the last three hours of daylight and at night, as they are extremely nocturnal. Of the six rudd over 3lb that i have had, 4 have been at night. having said all of that they are catchable in the daytime, but in my experience they will stay either way out in the lake or very close to cover of some description, reeds being a favourite.

If orders that are streaming through my door are anything to go by, it seems like a lot of anglers are now aware of PAC30 - the Pike anglers club’s anniversary book. However for those of you that may be undecided about whether or not to be 100% certain of getting a copy here’s just a taster of what you could be getting. “…..I made contact as the pike headed fortunately away from the overhanging trees and snags beneath, into open water. I soon had it under control and drew it towards the waiting net and in the half-light could make out only the silhouetted head and shoulders of what was obviously a very large pike. Once in the boat the single size 6 treble was removed with the aid of a torch, so quickly had the light gone. In to the weighing sling she went and with the Avon’s supported on the blade of an oar I read the weight at 23 ¼ lbs. Now I knew it was bigger than that so I reweighed it, with the same result. It then dawned on me; I was one revolution of the needle short of lowering the sling with contents onto the bottom of the boat I counted as the needle went round. Once , Twice, thrice, almost four times to give me a weight of 31 ¼ lbs! I double checked, repeating the procedure to confirm I was right, hardly able to comprehend that I’d caught a fish so big….” Taken from My Broads records by John Watson And.. “…What is it about that very first cast of the day? The thrill of the unknown quarry that may be waiting for your bait? The knowledge that pre-dawn is one of the key times to be on the bank? Or simply the relief that you are actually out fishing instead of doing all the other things that life throws at us in a seemingly endless stream? I’m sure we all have very personal reasons. Quickly baiting up, I cast the first morsel….” Taken from Natures finest by Steve Ormrod These are just a sneak preview of some of the exciting and diverse chapters that make PAC30 the ‘must have’ book of the year. Do you really want to miss out???????? To pre-order your copy then simply send a cheque for £25 (+ £5 for Postage and packing) for a hardback edition, or why not treat yourself to a leather-bound collectors edition for £185 (+£5 p+p). Even better why not save yourself the postage and pick your copy up at the PAC convention on the 22nd September at Stoneleigh Park, Warks and get your book signed by many of the contributors. Full details of the convention can be found at www.pacgb.co.uk. Orders for PAC30 should be made out to “The pike anglers club” and sent to: General Secretary Mark Barrett 32 Berristead Close Wilburton Ely Cambs CB6 3RS

and again

up we go

Elton, it would help if we knew what he wanted to catch. Carp wise there are loads of lakes on the Cambridge Fish preservation ticket, they have a website I believe. They have Block fen 1 and 2 at Mepal, plus a few others. Most of the rivers and drains are night fishable too.

it certainly was steve, but this one is on a different level

chesters1, the last book that the PAC did, "beyond 2000" was selling this year for around £30 on ebay, the original cover price only being £6. honestly i cannot say whether or not it will go on to be a desireable issue, i had the pleasure of editing it and i think its a cracking read, so it has that going for it. i agree on the whole that compilations arent as desireable, but not always so. red letter days bucked that trend, i sold my copy of that for £80 only last year. All i can say is that in less than a week of launch, its flying off the shelves.

what difference does it make chesters? the average run for a fishing book is around 2,000, hence why they seem to invariably go up in price a few years after release. there will be a limited run, once they are gone they are gone, its after all being done to raise funds for the PAC to enable the club to offer more to its members and particularly to enable the club to pay for members to get coaching qualifications so that we can run juniour events responsibly. or do you have issues with that too?

there will only be one run chester, and 100 leatherbounds period.

All the rumours that you have heard have been true, and PAC 30 the celebratory book is now available to pre-order to make sure of your copy. PAC 30 is a quality hardback book produced by Pike angler and book designer Stephen Harper, the man responsible for such legendary titles as Neville Ficklings mammoth Pike, John Watson's Pikers progress and Stephen's own Broadland Pike. All of Stephen's past books have become much sought after editions and are changing hands on online auction sites for often ten times the original cover price. The book is an out and out story book, in that there are stories of red letter days, record fish, river thirties, reservoir thirties, friends and influences, and is just the way to wet your appetite for the new piking season, as well as being a book to dip into in those moments when inspiration is required! The book includes chapters by: Barrie Rickards Derrick Amies John Watson Neville Fickling Mick Brown Dave Horton Roy Lewis Phil Wakeford Steve Bown Graham Slater Denis Moules Scott Davidson Pete Climo wayne Thomas Steve Rogowski Steve Rodwell Steve Taylor Steve Gould John Synnuck Mark Barrett Chris Bishop Mark Skinner John Neafcy Eric Edwards Chris Donovan Steve Ormrod Bill Palmer James Holgate Dave Lumb PAC 30 is on a limited print run, and the only way to make sure of obtaining a copy is to pre-order one now. Why not save yourself a fiver into the bargain by picking your copy up at the convention on the 22nd September at Stonleigh Park, Warks? The hardback version of the book costs £25 with postage if required another £5. There are also a strictly limited number of leatherbound editions available. These retail at £185 + £5 postage. Only 100 of these will be made and are sure to become a classic. (leatherbounds limited to members only and two per person) Books can be ordered by sending a cheque or postal order made payable to the pike anglers club to General Secretary Mark Barrett at: 32 Berristead Close Wilburton Ely Cambs CB6 3RS

honestly mate, it takes a very special kind of person to catch something that big and then keep completely schtum about it. personally i dont think its happened, but would love to be proved wrong.

budgie the locals that we were talking too when i was out there earlier in the year had nearly all caught Zander around the 8 -9 kilo mark, definately gong out there some more, just fell in love with the whole place.

certainly o 30lb +, the Ebro record is reputed to be around the 40lb mark

spot on anderoo, because no one stocks zeds and they are very much a wild fish and a predator too boot, its almost impossible to "grow on" a record and so very much the record get broken out of the blue. the current record stands at 19lb 5.5oz and has stood for nearly ten years i believe as i am not 100 per cent on the date. yes, it took me a long while to break the 15lb barrier, in fact hat barrier is like the pikers 30lber, roach 3lb er etc, they just dont come along very often in a lifetime. personally i dont think that the record will go unless we have a very warm close to the season, or one gets caught from the numbers of pits that hold them. but they are one hell of an impressive fish when they get past double figures, which is why i still go chasing after them, both here and abroad. in fact this winter i am running trips oer to the ebro in spain in conjunction with www.catfishcapers.co.uk

yes budgie the week before christmas and a new PB at 15lb 0.5oz

i would keep a close eye on the weather mate but i should think you will be okay as regards a trip to most venues, though i think it might be very hard work on the relief channel. was on the old nene on saturday and that was a bit out of sorts as its still pretty coloured. but the ouse looks fine, i would imagine that the level will be running from about 10am -3pm but other than that should be perfectly fishable. an there have been one or two decent zeds out this year mate, like this one!

completely slanted bunch of untruths.

i am not sure if he was hoofed out, or whether he left of his own accord over blithfield, believe it or not, but at the time he was actually quite low profile in the blithfield fiasco, especially compared to some! as regards whether Nige Williams was a member at the time, yes he was, as was gary banks, both resigned immediately as they had broken the clubs code of conduct. without question the PAC would have taken action, but once they were no longer members there was effectively nothing that we could do in the form of sanctions.

Greg, please be aaware of the facts before you post. Bill Chillingworth DID NOT make the comments attributed to him by the EDP and in particular Roy Webster who is about as anti piking as you will ever find. This is in the process of being passed to the Press complaints as Bill was verbalised by said reporter, I know this because I spoke to Bill directly. moving on, The Pac will not be accepting that livebaiting should be banned, because it is a completely legal method, and if it is done within the realms of the law then is no threat of disease. That some people still choose to translocate is highly irresponsible and is not condoned by the PAC in any way, as can be seen in our code of conduct. You also bring up the matter of the Vedace in the lakes. The science behind this ban was extremely dubous, the main bone of contention being that the Vendace were under threat from the increasing shaols of roach in the lakes, roach that the EA claimed were not present untill recent time. This was disputed by the PAC and other bodies at the time, and since then it has come to light with documented evidence that there were roach in the lakes in the early forties, as foreign airmen used to catch and net them in the war for food. do you asuppose that pikeanglers were at fault there for transporting livelies, at a time when most people didnt have a car? as for your assertion that lures and deads work fine, yes they do for pike, but what about perch and zander anglers, now who is not looking at the bigger picture? the PAC is not blinkered to the rest of the freshwater system greg. for the record i fish for all pecies of fish, and our stance o the wholescale slaughter of pike on trout waters is evidence to this, not against. the removal of big pike from any fishery will create a natural inbalance that results in explosions of jack pike and an increase of the problem rather than solving it. if we lose deadbaiting or offer it up to the antis in any way then its just the thin end of the wedge, the antis dont care where we stick hooks.

Simon, I agree with Steve on this one mate. The antis are not bothered where we stick hooks into fish, they dont want us to do it at all. Offering up livebaiting wont in my opinion alter their view or perception of anglers or angling, in fact i feel that they would use it as a stick to beat us, citing us giving up livebaiting as an admissionof hooking fish as being cruel. Throwing away livebaiting would be the thin end of the wedge in my honest opinion. Steve, being on the PAC committee, i know that the statement certainly was not meant to be interpreted the way that you seem to have taken it. I know that the committee are very aware of the potential double standards in using fish as bait, but we are not saying that Pike should not be taken at any time for any reason. The one for the pot has never been an issue unless it is taken to extremes or outside of exsisting guidelines. As a mad keen Angler for ALL coarse fish, I am extremely aware how other anglers view fish that Pike anglers may only view as bait. in my own slideshows i devote a section of the talk to portraying the enjoyment that can be derived from other methods of fishing, for other fish. I think that its vitally important that the PAC, and for that matter, all single species groups take much more of a holistic view of angling, rather than forever looking inward at their own branch of the sport. tight lines

Steve, you forgot to add to that, fishing when t suits the camera crew not the fishing being stuck to a pre arranged day rather than when the conditions will be right presenters that fluff their lines up so often that it leaves you with little time stops for lunch!! yeah fishing for the cameras is easy

that bait, those conditions, got to be a bream or maybe a zander

but the difference is charlie, that the otter has to fish to live, and only has a limited choice as to where it can fish. you do not and have a wide choice. the otter has every right to be there, in natural numbers, personally i wouldnt care about losing the odd fish here and there. the other thing is though charlie, if you used your current line of argument with a naturalist, there would be one simple answer, well in that case we will cease your fishing on there.