Gazhilla

I would suggest red hydro through a top two power kit, set loose. Fish 0.20 - 0.22 Straight through with a size 10 drennan star point if fishing soft paste. When you get a bite a gentle lift of about 6 inches rather than a strike will help to prevent the fish bolting. With carp the harder you pull, the harder they pull. After the short lift, start to ship back smoothly keeping the pole low to the water. If the carp starts to run, keep low and put a very slight angle in the pole to elastic just to prevent the top 2 flying off. Just follow the fish, it will eventually give up. When you get back to the top 2, keep low until you feel the fish has had enough, the hydro will tire it eventually, don't rush it has taken me 20 minutes to land good fish but better to get tehm in than lose them. When the fish start to top then scoop under it with the net and try to get it first time otherwise you may have to let it run again. All i can say is take it slow and keep the pressure gentle on the fish. I have landed fish to 19lb on my pole like this and have had 14lb fish in the net in under a minute by lifting and shipping back, they often don't realise they are hooked, just don't miss with the net or they wake up big style. Gary

Hi I have had a lot of success with bream this year, both on natural and commercial venues. I favour a groundbait mix of 2/3rds brown crumb to 1/3 swimstim green. To this I add a good squirt of sensas crazy bait double squirt strawberry and scopex flavouring. Corn is a great hookbait as is redworm tipped with flouro pinkie. Now the weather is getting colder I have started to use a half and half mix of crumb/swimstim. works for me so try it mate. Gary

Peter I think you are out of hand discussing this on here without pointing out the fact that Dave and several othrs, Trogg included have supported your views. There are people with opinions on here that I feel are biggoted and narrowminded but I would not go to MD's and start slagging them off. Dont be so one sided and then run off to your old mates to slag off the MD's board. Ps The canaries are shiiite as proved by the mighty Liverpool. Gary

I have four local tackle shops but use one exclusively except when they dont have casters when I use one other. I started fishing again this year and went to one shop, Gerrys and met up with a member of staff as I was looking at Shakey seatboxes. I got chatting to him and told him I was starting out again and half an hour later I left with a load of good starter gear and a bag of freebies as well as where to fish in the local area. Since than I have got back into my match fishing and have probably spent about 2 grand in there. Everytime I have had good service, a few quid knocked off and something thrown in. I have been invited to fish with the lads from the shop and and do so weekly fishing matches with then and for them. I have made some great friends through the sho pand have introduced half a dozen new customers as a result. One of the other shops is closer to me and I went in about 5 times when i was starting out but never got a friendly word or any advise from the staff in there, their bit is crap and I only used to keep going to get casters as the main shop I used did not have them. The final straw came when my girlfriend bought 6 pints of casters from there on my behalf as I was working away and needed them for the following day. She told me they had looked her up and down and had struggled to bother to serve her. The casters were crap and I got 3 and a half pints of floaters when I cleaned tham. Good service and manners costs nothing but has resulted in me sticking in one place and enjoying our sport far more and get good advice as well. Find a good friendly shop and stick with it. Gary

Hi mate, ringers are a top pellet but try fishing it over a couple of balls of swimstim groundbait and I promise you will catch more bream, try feeding 3mm pellet as loose feed and away you go. Used pellet paste the other day after scalding 3mm green swimstim pellets and making a paste and had 60lb of bream in 3 hours on a hard water. Believe me bream love swimstim and without too much of a scrap add a lot of weight in a match. Gary

Hi guys, get a daiwa capricorn from Harleerod on US E bay. Fantastic top quality reel, retails in uk for 150 notes ( I have seen them in 2 uk shops at that price). I have had two off him at approx 38 quid and postage of 9 pound. Fantastic quality and an excellent product, far better than the stradic in my opinion. If its a bait feeder then you can't beat shimano or if wanting cheaper Okuma are great value. Gary

Hi all, we regularily catch big roach/bream hybrids up to the 6lb mark on the river lune, they really go and put up one hell of a scrap. Fight a lot more than the double figure bream in there,really nice fish. Gary

I fish with catfood a lot and the best i have found by far is Coshida from Lidls. The best hookable is the red tin 'beef' chunks, great on a size 10, threaded with a baiting needle like you would with luncheon meat. I use the blue tin 'tuna' for feed, passing it twice through a maggot riddle and then adding a little water to make a slop but only feed it like this in under 4 ft of water. In water deeper than this I pass it through the riddle once and then dust it with a fishmeal groundbait and then use this as feed. Another great use is to pass it through the riddle a coupl of times and then add some natural swimstim gorundbait, mash it with a fork and make it into a paste, carp absoultely love it. Keep a baitbox full of water and a towel to clean your hands on and away you go. Stinks like nothing on earth but I have had several 100lb plus days on it and caught carp to 16lb on it. GAry

Hi mate, there is another tackle shop, Carlsons in Kendal on the High Street. Coarse fishing is a bit rough up there but try the Windermere And Ambleside Website that will give you the best info. You can always drop back on the motorway and come off at Jn 35 (Carnforth) and try the British Waterways Borwick Water for shedfulls of Pasty carp and some bigger. This is about 25 minutes from Windermere. GAry

I had a ron thompson match rod when I first came back to the sport, rated for up to 5lb line. Just could not get on with it at all, had the same problems with the reel seat as yourself and although rated for a 5lb line it just did not have the power to turn even 4-5lb carp. Gave it to a mate and he loves it. Horses for courses I suppose but not for me im afraid. Got a free okuma dynacarp baitrunner with a magazine subscription and I love it, works great, light and powerful enough for my fishing. Gary

Great read mate and all true. Gary

Hi guys, just read this thread with great interest. I came back to the sport this season after 15 years away and am 32 years of age. When I learnt to fish all those years ago it was on hard natural waters where if you caught 2 three ouce roach it was a good day. I remember fishing a match at 11 where I won with an 1/2oz rudd which was the only fish caught by 20 anglers. I learnt to fish from reading and practicing as there was no-one to show me. I inrtiduced a mate to the sport this year and we fish on average once a week together. I started him at a commercial stocked with silvers and he caught about 30 fish on his first 3 hour session. We now try differing venues from the local canal where my best catch is 3lb of silvers in 3 hours to a carp pool where i can catch 200lb of carp in 4 hours. To get to the point, I learnt to fish hard venues as a kid and did it because I loved the outdoors and shot and hunted also. He has learnt to fish starting on easy venues but now relishes the challenge of the canal and having to work for every ouce of fish, he just enjoys angling. I FIRMLY believe that that he would not have got this hunger for the sport if we had started on the canal and struggled to catch. If i was to take my boys when they are old enough to show interest I would do exactly the same to get the interest level up before making it harder for them. The human mind in particular at an early age needs sucess to generate interest. What is wrong with giving that if it means that another life long angler joins us. At my local Borwick water which i use to practice new techniques as it is very easy to catch on the pole I always take the time to help other anglers if they ask and have got many a youngster catching whern they have taken the time to ask. Fenboy I would love to have teh rich natural fishing surrounding me but I dont, therefore the commercial is a way of introducing the sport to all up here, bearing in mind I have spent approx 20 hours on the Lune to catch one large bream and a good hybrid, relish the challenge of that just as much. Gary

The Generation carp, Technium XT, Maver Grim Reaper are all good poles around that price range. My suggestion would be to go to a good local tackle shop and have a waggle of what they have got. This is the only way to see what suits you. Why is it that people don't appreciate the pole on here?? I fish with pole, tip, float rod and carp rod, its all angling and I catch on the lot. Go and try them mate they will make your small fish ( saying that i have caught carp to 16lb on mine!!)angling lots of fun. Gary

In the last 10 days I have had the opportunity to fish several times. I fished Borwick last thurs, practicing method feeder fishing and caught a carp a chuck, mastered my feeder mix and got more confident. Fished Greenhalgh lake Friday, 21 carp in a day session for about 150lb, alternating pellet on the splash waggler and on the straight lead. Fished a match last night at Farrington Lodges, for three and a half hours I did not even get a bite, the match was won with 1lb 6oz! Tonight i fished the Lancaster canal with a mate for three hours, caught about 20 fish for about 3 and a half pounds. Tomorrow night i fish the river lune with two friends for speci bream knowing there is more chance of blanking than catching but knowing that if one bream is caught it will be a good fish of at least 8lb in weight. Whats the point in telling all this?? Its all angling and whether stocked or natural fish I enjoy all of it, don't profess to be good but who are you Fenboy to ridicule or slag off whatever fraction of the sport anyone wants to practice. Stick with what you want to do but keep off moaning about others choices. Yours in sport, Gary

A good buy for the money, comes with a free elastification pack as well I believe. Did you get a match top 3 in the pole and a power top two as well? If you did I would suggest 4-8 elastic in your top 3 and 12-14 in your power kits and that should cover most of your fishing unless going for lumps in the margins mate in which you will need 16 elastic at least. Welcome to the world of pole fishing, next investment is a role to help ship in and out and a couple of rigs and away you go. Yours in sport Gary