Chris Plumb

All those coming should have had an e-mail from me today - let me know if you didn't..... Chris

I got this book today for me birthday. Jaq picked it up for less than a fiver second-hand and it's an absolute gem of a book - a veritable treasure trove of angling writing down the ages.... I loved this piece of advice from Sheringham to the Edwardian Carp Angler... "You cannot, of course, fish for big carp in half a day. It takes a month. So subtle are these fishes that you have to proceed with the utmost precautions. In the first week, having made ready your tackle and plumbed the depth, you build yourself a wattled screen, behind which you may take cover. By the second week the fish should have grown accustomed to this, and you begin to throw in ground-bait composed of bread, bran, biscuits, peas, beans, strawberries, rice, pearl barley, aniseed cake, worms, gentles, banana and potato. This ground-baiting must not be overdone. Half a pint on alternate evenings is as much as can be employed in this second week. With the third week less caution is necessary, because by now the carp will be less mindful of the adage concerning those who come bearing gifts. You may bear gifts daily, and the carp will, it is to be hoped, in a manner of speaking, look these gifts in the mouth - as a carp should. Now in the fourth week comes the critical time. All is very soon to be put to the touch. On Monday you lean your rod (it is ready put up, you remember) on the wattled fence so that its top projects eighteen inches over the water. On Tuesday you creep up and push it gently, so that the eighteen inches are become four feet. The carp, we hope, simply think that it is a piece of the screen growing well, and take no alarm. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday you employ the final and great ruse. This is to place your line (the depth has already been plumbed, of course) gently in the water, the bullet just touching the bottom so that the float cocks, and the two feet of gut which lie on the bottom beyond it terminating with a bait in which is no fraudful hook. This is so that the carp may imagine that it is just such a whim of the lavish person behind the screen (be sure they know you are there all the time) to tie food to some fibrous yet innocuous substance. And at last, on Saturday, the thirty-first day of the month, you fall to angling, while the morning mists are still disputing the shades of night. Now there is a hook within the honey paste, and woe betide any carp which loses his head. But no carp does lose its head until the shades of night are disputing with the mists of evening. Then, from your post of observation (fifty yards behind the screen, you hear a click, click, which tells you that your reels revolve. A carp has made off with the bait, drawn out the five yards of line coiled carefully on the ground and may now be struck. So you hasten up and strike. There is a monstrous pull at the rod-point, something persues a headlong course into unknown depths, and after a few thrilling seconds there is a jar, a slackness of line, and you wind up sorrowfully. You are broken, and so home." H. T. Sheringham (1/7/1911 from an article in The Field) Chris

Well the hint worked - got this for my birthday to day - I can now Bore for England Did you know there are 48 hair's breadths to the inch?..... Chris

Chris you a PM from me... Chris

Carl, PLEASE don't shout. Good winter baits for chub are bread flake, cheese paste and the humble maggot. However, the type of water you describe is like some I frequent a lot and on small rivers stealth and water craft are of the essence much more important than what bait you're using - move slowly and deliberately, the fish will be very easy so spook. Start at the top of the stretch introduce some mashed bread and move downstream. Stay mobile you're unlikely to catch more than a couple from each swim (actually you're unlikely to get more than one CHANCE from each swim. If you've caught introduce some more bread that will drift down into the next swim. Depending on how long you've given it when you've reached the bottom of the beat. Start again at the beginning - but be very wary on your return up the bank - stay well clear of the water and avoid the temptation to have a look at that hot-spot. Give it as long as you can before having another cast. I think it was Dick Walker that said spooked chub reappear at the rate of 10 minutes to the pound. Well IME on small streams it's more like half an hour to the pound!!! HTH Chris

Chuffing Heck, Leon - tht's some posting!! I think that the state of the Salmon Farming Industry is nothing short of a National Scandal - one that for years has been studiously ignored by the media. Only Private Eye have been banging the drum on this and have for over a decade. About time it got some wider exposure..... Chris

The Fishingmagic site has a short report on Timsbury Hopefully we'll get a few less trout than they managed! Chris

I reckon the biggest grayling caught on next fortnight's fish-in desrves a prize! Chris

I'll me e-mailing you all at the weekend with directions and stuff. A week ago a was really worried about the state of the river but providing we don't get tooo much more rain in the next fortnight I reckon it should be perfect - I'm down on the Itchen early next week - so should get a good idea of the condition of the rivers in that part of the world.... Duncan Kellet & Richard Cove from The Grayling Society & EA (respectively) have organised & sent me a whole stack of log books, measures and reports from last year's Grayling Survey. I'll be dishing these out on the day - Lets hope we all have some Grayling to measure!!! See you all soon... Chris

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects. 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. 3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. 4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. 5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat) 6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration. 7. Be more or less specific. 8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary. 9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies. 10. No sentence fragments. 11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used. 12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. 13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous. 14. One should NEVER generalize. 15. Comparisons are as bad as clichés. 16. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. 17. One-word sentences? Eliminate. 18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. 19. The passive voice is to be ignored. 20. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas. 21. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice. 22. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them. 23. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas. 24. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." 25. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly. 26. Puns are for children, not groan readers. 27. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. 28. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. 29. Who needs rhetorical questions? 30. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. 31. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. Chris

Well they had to close the Bluewater shopping centre as there was 8 inches of snow in the carparks and access roads - so it's not all bad news!!! Chris

Like it Adz I expect Newt will appreciate it as well. Chris

For me it's a time to chase the ladies. I was fishing for them at the weekend (and will be after them again this coming one). Fishing a very high river but keeping the bait (single maggot) slow and near the bottom I tempted over a couple of dozen beautiful grayling. More than adequate compensation for a raw wind and heavy snow showers. I can't think of another species that is so obliging in such poor conditions. Stay warm out there! Chris

Have a look at the EA site - should give you most of the answers you're looking for. They had two 'blitzs' in 2002, checking licences, One over the Late May Bank Holiday involved checking nearly 8000 anglers on 740 venues - some 6.5% were found to be without a licence. A similar campaign at the start of the season (16-22 June) had an evasion rate of 5.4% Start here Chris

You can read this little snippet on the web - here . Chris

Won't the EA be able to tell you; those checked without a licence ÷ those checked with. Best way of calculating an 'evasion rate' that I can think of Chris

Umm certainly do look very chubby!!! Surprised no one has mentioned http://www.fishbase.org as a reference site. You can read the page on Ide here Though the piccie is identical to one of the links already posted... Chris

Elton/Nick Noble can you let me know if you can make it or not? I'm still getting requests for places (which I'm turning down ATM) Chris

Bringing this back up as requested... Still got 5 to get... 44 THE WOODEN LEGGED FIDDLER REVEALED A CITY (10) 45 TERMINALIZATION WAS HIS TERM (10) 64 SANDOWN CLASS MEMBER FROM THE BORDERS(7) 86 LIES AND DREAMS FOLLOWED THESE DOGS(8) 97 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE INCOMPETENT QUEENS FOR EXAMPLE(12) Closing date is 15th Feb. I can (and will be!!!) sending off for the answers after that date!!! - Will let you know when I have them. Chris [ 06. January 2003, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: Chris Plumb ]

I'll bring the thread back up on Non-Fishing chat and reply....... Chris

...and the rest ... it actually went for £212 CRAZY. Chris

A previous boss of mine was a Koi fanatic and ALWAYS did an autopsy when-ever any of his beloved fish went belly up - he even had a whole video series telling him how to do it. I remember him being quite upset when his biggest Koi snuffed it. An autopsy revealed she was egg bound and they'd gone rancid within her - YUK! Chris

I've kept an angling diary/log book since I was 9. I've now got 33 years worth of data - which makes for very nostaglic reading.... Chris

I've had mine checked 3 times in the last 5 years (& I never match fish) including last year's fish-in that I organised on the Kennet. In appalling conditions (a howling gale which felled at least two trees on the fishery during our stay) I think the guy was rather surprised to find so many folks on the bank! On of our party - who shall remain nameless!- couldn't find his - so quick as a flash the baliff was on the phone checking out his Car Reg. to check he was who he said he was and I think he was close to issuing some kind of warrant when, thankfully, the licence was found 'in his other coat'! I have to say the old boy was very polite, pleasant and efficient, unlike another baliff I've come across who was charging around one of our fisheries on a mountain bike. I challenged him, as we often get problems with kids using it as a short-cut, and he whipped out his warrant card and demanded to see my licence!!! Chris [ 05. January 2003, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: Chris Plumb ]

I'm sure many of us have had letters from the EA inviting us to apply for our Rod Licences by DD. About time they introduced this Nationwide. I've already sent mine back - no excuses for forgetting now!! If anyone wants a DD form you can get one from the EA by ringing 01925 5424000. Chris