Russell Fitzpatrick

i used to be quite good at surface fishing, definetly watch the line,as soon as it moves- strike,it will snake or shoot forward,of course still try to keep an eye on your bait so you know when exactly to watch the line for a take,i used to use big chunks of french stick so it would survive several doubles having ago at it,mixer where ok but i cant see em past 30 yrds! aint caught one off the top in years! might have to have a go

not a big fan of drennan wire, i much prefer fox easy twist, or carboflex-can be twisted but awkard better using the crimps supplied,i have been intending to use it for zeds as some friends have done ok using it,if its good for them i rekon its good for eels,its coated wire so its supple and kink resistant 20lb bs should be about right for eels and zander and pike if they arent to big! ps if you go down the crimp road get soem fox crimping pliers(the bees knees for crimping traces) me i use both crimping and twisting(took me a while to get it right!) depending what wire

i will start making up some zed traces and dusting off my fly gear for rudd,ready for teh coming seasons challenges!,doing a night on the still magical 16th too

hehe silly buggers,wonder what teh lea valley park wardens made of it,you seen them?they got big dogs and 4x4s painted up like old bill!

not far from some of my haunts,i think its belivable!

biggest river fish is a 20lb 8oz pike,small river too!

not really mate,i share my findings with a small group of friends i fish with thatsit,i will tell what i have caught just not where i caught it there you go matt,you're one of those good enough to admit it,i would galdly have you come down and fish for some preds! be good to show yoyu how to handle them give you soem confidence

haha ok dont fish for em these days mate,still like em tho!

nice one! beats me... i landed a 17.06 off the surface on 6lb line tho!

ahh matt, if you want to know i have no problem sending you a PM,a few already know they are there.i trust you matt you know what your doing, if you didnt you would ask so thers no problem telling you : ) yes but alot dont want help thats problem,they already think they know what they are doing,funny how it seems to take them 10 minutes to unhook and photo a pike,(regardless of size)

chub and carp are very very wary fish especially the bigger ones!

good topic ken i am a piker/predator angler,i lie all the time,i have to like seph i want to protect the fishing i have found,often its bloody hard work finding it. i fish for zander in a place not many know they are there,i neer mention them,as far as they know i am carping/breaming (lives hidden, drop offs away during dayllight) crafty? selffish? yes i am a little, but as matt hilman said pike/zander are not carp and tench. if i am appraoched by another pike angler,i say same as ken,few jacks mate nothing big,even if i have had a double i will not mention it.

nice one matty thats a record chub! off to france this year the grassies go to 49+!

all fish can be hard work gozzer...as hard as you make it. barbel are not the most gifted of fish i will leave it at that...... go for it anderoo,alarms?never heard of the famous six foot twitch then!?

budgie &matt they are great fish!!! why we are not stocking more of them and less carp i dont know. i will certainly be targetting them alot more in the future!

my mate had the same problem on his first trip, i was using cat-pro eagle wave hooks sizes 1 -1/0 and braid mainline as well, i just closed the bail arm felt it tighten and lent into it,it was moving at some pace i can tell ya! probably helped set the hook thinking about it. that was my only run too! chris my mate had blinded me with his super dooper camera and flash that ws off my camera

cheers guys, no where realy seph,been off-line for a while not long got re-connected norfolk dan,i will pm you

nothing complicated about it mate,personally i think barbel arent that hard to catch even when they have been spooked.

anderoo i have fished for barbel on a small clear river,heres my rig i came up with, i used an 2oz in-line lead(korda),no tubing,around two to 3 feet up the line i have a float stop and either a small 10z inline or a drilled bullet held in place with another float stop,a fixed backlead (a safe one).at times depending on flow i was getting away with 2 or 3 swan shot instead of a lead or bullet,when you plae rig you must slacken offf and allow teh backlead to settle then slowly tighten up you will feel teh backlead before the ,main lead. lazy way really you could always stalk em!

being a predator angler i use wire traces and braid traces a bit for pike and zeds and cats,i have no option....but....if i am stalking chub with lobs and crust in a jungle swim hooklengths have no place in my armoury. i go straight through,6lb or 8lb mono,a good strong hook and through action rod and confidence in your tackle and skills are better than getting the take and being smashed straight away,as would happen with a light hooklength,only one example tho there are times hooklengths are needed,weigh it up and be your own judge.

sod it,i have posted this on another of my haunts but thought i'd post it here to i did my first night after a catfish last week at a norfolk pit,at 12 midnite i had a screaming one toner,about 5 mins or so later i was weighing a 20lb 5oz cat she took a live rudd fishhed on a poly ball rig, another predator pb! .mates matt and mark got in to with matt having a 21 cat and 27+carp and mark a 7+ tench if you have never caught one, go catch one! they fight like they are possessed!

hi rob my mate matt uses the greys rods,hes use's the lighter top for perching and rudd etc i think hes even had carp on on them as well,hes has a pair,i have seen him hook several jacks upto about 7lb or so while using lives for perch,they were landed quickly despite going bonkers,he really rates the rods highly, very versatile, uses em for bream fishing to! hes had them to 13+ i believe!

www.lureshack.com eye level strikers, 10 squids,just got a pair myself good fish spotters so far! they have various styles and delivery is fast and free.

i travel light at all times unless i'm going static for the night,even rove at night too. the lighter you travel, the more water you cover,more chance of finding feeding fish. other reason is i hate carrying unesscarry crap,and i mostly go by tube and train, so little is best.

aahh river pike....i fish rivers for pike alot, two reels that have stood up to the rigours of river piking are my old shimano baitrunner RE6000- had it for nearly 3 years and its still going strong,not one thing gone wrong with it and it looks the nuts in "real mud" camou the other is an abu garcia 303fr, nice little reel,double handle,metal not plastic body,get two spare spools,one aluiminium one plastic,one for braid one for mono recommended highly,lastted longer than i thought it would and it can handle good fish,has a decent front drag that works! a baitrunner reel is not completly necessary but they come in very usefull,i often fish my rods on floats,tip up high, one front stick n alarm no rear drop offs etc as i travel light,teh freespool or baitrunner function is exactly what you need so you can tighten down yet still give on a take,river pike are not that fussy or bothered by ressistance.