Will Wilkinson

Thanks again to Steve, Peggy, Glyn, Terry, Tom and also all the Wingham members who give up a weekend's fishing to allow the fish-in to take place. I was to have fished the Carp lake as a thank-you from Steve for putting in an extra work party to finish trimming overhanging branches before the fish-in, but the carp were spawning so I decided to fish the coarse lake instead. Only managed 1 Tench (7lb 8oz) and 5 small eels (1lb each) but the wildlife, setting and company made up for this many-fold. Wingham is IMO the best mixed coarse fishery in the country (it must be good - I joined even though it's a 3 hour drive from home and I have some superb fishing on my doorstep). Congratulations to all who had PBs. Will

Gear sorted, Toyota pretty much packed, Landy battery on charge (packed the Toyota 'cause I reckon the Landy's more likely to start if I have to repack). Just need to pack food & drink & mugs now. Should be away from here around 8:30, staying with a mate in Essex (Tom) tonight to shorten my journey tomorrow and let him follow me down so he doesn't get lost :-) Really hope the Landy starts as it gives Steve another taxi to drop people round the lake which helps the bailiffs out. Looking forward to it immensely, not managed a trip down this year yet despite having a night ticket. Plan to make a few weekend trips later in June & through the rest of the summer though. Safe journeys to all who are travelling, see you all down there tomorrow. Will Update:Landy started OK once I'd got some charge in her, should get away in 15 mins or so.

Am hoping the Landy will start once I've got some charge in the battery, otherwise I've got to try and cram everything into the Celica which will be a serious job of packing. Should have used the Landy last week after leaving her parked up while we were on holiday :-(

I'll bring a selection of long banksticks and some bobbins plus should have a spare couple of alarms available. I can also lend a couple of suitable rods between 1.5 & 2 lb test if anyone needs them (please let me know about the rods if you want to borrow them - I'll only bring these if asked). Will p.s. Budgie - still not managed to make contact to pick up the rods for you - have had a couple of messages left on my answerphone when I've been at work and not been able to get through when I've been free.

Had a few hours on the Ouzel today, felt very cold in the wind and the water temp was still low. Managed to winkle out 4 chub estimated weights 3 1/2, 4, 4 1/4 and 4 3/4 lb - I only bother with the scales for ones that look like going significantly over 5lb. Lost 2 others when they got into the roots of the overhanging tree I was casting to. All came to double red maggot with maggot feeder and were fit, good condition, fish. All in all a pleasant 4 hours despite the wind. Will

I managed half a dozen Roach from the slightly slower bit by the car park, best about 6oz. Lost a few others including a much better fish that might have been a Grayling or Chub - it wasn't on for long enough to have much of a guess as to species but didn't feel roachy. A really tough day, but as others have said good company and it was nice to catch up with folks, wouldn't have wanted to miss it and look forward to the next time. There was some talk of doing 2 LIF trips next winter rather than going back to Timsbury now the slow carrier's no longer included - I'd go for this, it would be nice to see how it fishes in October for a change. Will

I've three particularly memorable captures, first a 14lb 10oz mirror on 6 elastic, size 20 barbless hook and 1lb bottom on the pole when roach bashing in a friendly match. Took quite some landing and won me the match by a whisker over 12lb. The second is my PB barbel of 13lb 2oz, a fish that I'd targeted for over a month - knew where it holed up during the day and seen it several times, often in the company of a few smaller fish, so finally catching the big one rather than one of its smaller companions was a great sense of achievement. The final one is a 7lb 14oz pike on the pole at my first AN fish-in at Wingham, it shot out of the weeds to snaffle a lob meant for perch on a hot day when nothing much was feeding. Gave me the shock of my (angling) life :-) Will

Good luck, don't empty it for us ;-) Will

Looking forward to it. If the conditions don't look good for the Grayling then I might have a hunt for a Barbel - they love it coloured. Will

September 1st - January 31st (Inland), September 1st - February 20th (Below high water line) - except Northern Ireland which just has the main season until the end of January. Winters are variable but most water's ice free most years with December maximums being around 10 Celsius.

The Great Ouse for me. Yes it's my local river, but it's also got lots of variety and specimens of most species. I can fish wide deep swims for Bream, weedy margins for Perch, riffles for dace, pools and glides for chub and barbel, the list just goes on and on. Plus it flows through some lovely countryside. Will

Tom, nice to see you finally made it here I'd also recommend the various waters along the Lee Lee Valley Park Fishing There's a lot of very good fishing to be had hereabouts. We'll have to see if we can manage a day on the river before the end of the season. Tight lines, Will

I sympathise with you Steve, my Father passed away at the end of November, about two years after being diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome which progressed to Acute myeloid leukaemia in the final 6 months. My mother cared for him at home with support from the district nurses, their GP and weekly visits from myself and my sister. The care from the nurses and their GP was fantastic, particularly in the last weeks - nothing seemed to be too much trouble for them, the GP even gave us his private numbers to call at any time if we needed him so we wouldn't have to use the on-call doctors. Travelling 300 miles a week to visit took a heavy toll on the rest of my activities, particularly the fishing, and I've also only managed to get out a handful of times last year. I've now got the will to sort out, still waiting for probate after nearly 2 months, so it looks like it will be spring before things get nearer to normality. Take care of yourselves and make good use of the support services that are there. I hope to see you soon at Wingham - I'll be down for a work party in the next couple of weeks and hope to make more use of my ticket this year. You're in my thoughts and prayers. Best wishes Will

I use Rain Today which also has 15 minute updates. Will

The bigger problem is not the volume of water contained in the melt, but the fact that the underlying ground is likely to still be at least semi-frozen. This greatly increases the problem of run-off as nothing's absorbed by the frozen soil. I'm expecting to see a fair bit of flooding at the weekend as slightly milder air moves in (for a while - this winter's not over yet), particularly as this is likely to be accompanied by moderate rain. The ratio of snow depth to equivalent rain is very variable - the light powder that we had last week doesn't produce much when melted - could even be as high as 15:1 if it's very powdery, but the much wetter stuff that fell in the last 24 hours (here at least) might only be 5:1. Will

Pity it's the small one - I've got the 2.5 pint kettle, would have had it off you otherwise (except you'd have been able to use it then ) . Will

I use my Kelly for all my Wingham trips - once I've added the cook-set I doubt I'll even take a conventional stove for other cooking. I do carry a small bag of split kiln dried kindling in bad weather though to get it going. Never considered firelighters as the kindling's always done the job. Wouldn't be without my KK as it's never let me down, unlike most conventional stoves (other than the Trangia). Still like my MSR petrol jobby in really bad weather as it's so fast, very noisy though and I've been known to run out of fuel at inopportune moments on long sessions - not a problem with the Kelly. Will

Rather belated, due to personal circumstances, but thanks to both Tony and Sue and all those who made a foul (weather) day into a fantastic fish-in. Also thanks for everyone's condolences and best wishes. I had my best day so far on the Test, not many grayling and the best slipped the hook, but fish from all three areas - Slow feeder, fast feeder and main river. Grayling to just short of the pound (the one that slipped the hook just shy of the net looked to be twice this), trout to over 3 1/2lb and a solitary perch (less than 2oz). Christened my recently built Harrisons 15' GTI SU nicely :-) Will

Likewise, if there are any places left I'd love to come. Will

I'm off Barbel hunting tomorrow, river looks fantastic - up and coloured, will have some lobs with me as well in case the Perch want to put in an appearance. Will

And there's no option for the correct answer for the number of colours of Pike Dawgs available on the float comp - there are more offered than any of the options if you look at the site. Will

No need to fish "for" them round here - any meaty bait (including maggot) fished on or near the bottom on our local rivers, canal and lakes will produce cray after cray. Will

If it's DT it shouldn't matter - I always used to turn mine round to get more life out of them when I used DT. Most of my fly fishing's on reservoirs these days so I've only got WF loaded at present though, and all my outfits are a bit heavy for the Test. I'm planning to build a lightweight river outfit for next year though, probably an eight foot #4 rod. Will

Here's my list - I've started keeping separate records for pole and running line: Barbel; 13lb 2oz; River Great Ouse, Northants; 2005 Bleak; 1oz 8drm; River Thames, Oxfordshire; 1983 Bream; 8lb 6oz; Willen North Lake, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire; 2004 Carp (Mirror); 14lb 10oz; MBK, Liss, Hampshire; 1994 (Pole) Carp (Common); 12lb 6oz; Goose Green, West Sussex; 1993 (Pole) Carp (Ghost); probably around 10lb Carp (Leather); probably around 8lb Carp (Crucian); 4lb 2oz; MBK, Liss, Hampshire; 1993 (Pole) Chub; 7lb 2oz; MBK, Liss, Hampshire; 1993: River Severn, Shropshire; 1997 Eel; 6lb 2oz; Moor Farm, Petworth, Sussex; 1992 Dace; 14oz; Many times: 1lb 2oz; River Dane, Congleton, Cheshire; 1986 (Out of season - trout fishing, I think this was equal to the then record IIRC) Grayling; 15oz; River Itchen, Southampton, Hampshire; 2007 Gudgeon; 3oz 8drm; MBK, Liss, Hampshire; 1993 (Pole) Perch; 2lb 10oz; Wingham, Kent; 2004 (Pole): 2lb 13oz; River Great Ouse, Buckinghamshire; 2004 (Running Line) Pike; 7lb 14oz; Wingham, Kent; 2004 (Pole) Roach; 2lb 6oz; Norfolk Broads; 1984 (Running Line - on a boat trip with my parents, caught several over 2lb on that trip); 2lb 2oz; Furnace Mill, Sussex; 1995 (Pole) Rudd; 2lb 8oz; Jubilee Pit, Buckinghamshire; 2005 Ruffe; 2oz; Many times Salmon; 1lb 8oz; River Itchen, Southampton, Hampshire; 2008 Tench; 9lb 6oz, Patching Pond, Patching, West Sussex; 1992 (Running Line): 7lb0oz; Jubilee Pit, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire; 2003 (Pole) Trout (Brown); 3lb 8oz, River Itchen, Southampton, Hampshire; 2008 Trout (Rainbow); 3lb 14oz; Weir Wood, Sussex; 1990 Trout (Sea); 2lb 4oz (guessed - based on the brownies I was catching at the time); Tributary to Duddon, Ulpha, Cumbria; 1979 Will p.s. Where I've not stated otherwise they're caught on running line

I had a cracking day, 14 brownies to 3lb, 1 rainbow around 2 1/2 lb, a single 4oz grayling, a dozen roach from 2-6 oz, a 3lb bream, 1 8oz chub, 20 or so dace to 8oz, half a dozen perch to 8oz, a single gudgeon and a few minnows. All fish came to maggot, mostly in the pools where there was a bit more depth and flow. Best spot was the pool by the fishing hut. The river was rather low and clear, would really benefit from a decent bit of rain this week. Will