Russell Fitzpatrick

i got some little rubber frogs with a weedless hook,work quite well when bounced over lillys,i always hoped a chub would take one..hasnt happened...yet! wot sort of lure did it take,looks liek a small shad type?

i use an ABU C3,it has a level wind thank god,i would struggle a bit without it,i only get beeding if i overcast and dont feather the line,usually sorted quickly tho!

no mate that bit ya cant fish,aint stupid the old chevins,they move out come winter and drop downstream,and of an evening in summer they drop back into the fishable area, can be caught off the back sill if you stealthy enough! belive me some of them chub in the pics are big 6's and a couple are undoubtley 7+. coem winter i am gonna introduce them to fish baits ; )

took these the other week,come winter some will be looking into my camera lens again! enjoy! any guess on sizes!?

walthamstow mate,but a friend may be up for it,depends if i can get night off work n if he wants to drive!

second the safety aspect,i work up the road,go with a few of ya and take minimum tackle. go with lobworm on one rod and deadbaits on the other(roach,skimmer,perch or gudgeon) use wire...regents has a head of jacks,plus some eels have well developed teeth,some dont,not worth the risk! good luck,let us know how ya get on,if you want to daytime fish it, pick a stormy wet day,at least the nutters will stay away!even if teh eels dont want to play!

i'll try and make it,having met bill before,i rekon it will be one not to be missed! be nice to see bill again. see if i can arrange transport!

cracking eel! been some absolute monsters caught in the uk as budgie said.best i know of 7.15!

indeed a cracker! it was nice to meet uni(or nige),we fished for zander,arriving in the nick of time just before last light to catch some baits,no zeds showed but some early morning pike were fun,i'd like to say nige is one of the better anglers i have come across he already had most of it sussed,wire traces at all times,correct unhooking gear and the right attitude towards fishing for pike and other species. glad the tips worked mate,feels good to pass on what i have learnt from others,hopefuly i can convice him to keep at it in the winter!i 'll show ya some more rigs. just a foot note to say uni is using single hooks and more importantly fishing at night/early morning,so the anti-summer pike brigade can keep quite!

hook a bleak up and catch soem good stripeys mate! corn will get through them,maggots i would aviod unless i'm spraying maggot to draw the perch in!(and feed off teh bleak,if you can!)

i thought i might have been the only one! i shall look on on both your blogs,cheers for the tip julian!

i might! perching was fun,good number of perch came to the boat,topped by a cracking 2.06 for my mate dave,all on live gudgeon and chublets float fished. no chub or zeds and only 1 jack i fully expected teh jacks to give us grief but they didnt teh perch were going mad!

second that,step on tackle a little if your using 5lb line go up to 8lb,instead of a 14 use 12 or 10,what sort of rod are you using?

thanks!

JK you have PM mate,think im late tho! jamie-you know the score on them gloves mate you too budgie!

these are the chico gloves! the mutts nutts

forget gardening gloves and chain mail style filleting gloves in my opinion they are crap i used a lindy glove(gone missing!? ) fantastic protection when chinning fish with flying trebels as they do not penertrate the glove at all,handlanding fish when using big surface lures and jerkbaits etc is easier when you dont have to worry about hookpoints,or cuts/grazes from gillrakers. one downside is the lack of "feel" the lindy glove is quite thick,tough material but with use they do soften of just dont be a pansy and wash it 19.99 from www.thelureshack.com the other glove highly recommended is the chico glove! well its called musky armour,they are thin you can "feel" what your fingers are doing etc and you get a good grip,they will stop cuts/grazes but will NOT stop hookpoints like a lindy. if you go onto the pikeandpredators forum and look up chico and mail him privately asking about them he may be able to help,they are cheaper then the lindy and you get a left AND a right hand glove! they are very soft when wet excellent new for esox! the musky gloves are my only choice at the mo,until i find my lindy wich i think my dog(bless him!) may have eaten i would use these to hand land fish with flying trebles but as always i am very very carefull how i go about it,fortunetly i am a fairly experienced pike angler

hi all i have just started playing around with the blog settings and adding entrys etc i was wondering how many of you use your blog and update it and to save going through everyones profile put ya name up and we can all have a read

well lately i have been targetting a few carp,i stalked two on the river lea in hertfordshire at the start of the season,resulting in me losing a possible 20+ common,on the float too! i then went onto the tidal lea in hackney,right in the east end of london,i found a group of carp,mostly small single figure fish but several were big enough to warrant my attention,easily good upper double figure fish. so i set up a boilie/bolt rig combo got it in place,all was quite for a while until i went to recast,as i picked up teh rod there was a thump,sweeping the rod back it curved over and kicked then all went slack i had been cut off on 15lb big game! i havent been back yet but i will be! i then moved on to 90year old gravel pit,absolutley covered in lilys,stalking amongst them, in a small channel, i waited patiently in 90 degree heat,one jet black carp i estimated to be at least a mid double,cruised in to the channel,sucked my breadcrust in from within a gap in the lilys..i struck...and missed! i sodded up my one chance,oh well back to the predators for a bit!...off perch fishing tommorrow!

Well i have always wanted to hook a catfish and feel that power,i had spoken to a few friends that who had encounters with teh wels and they were not dissapointed! So i went and met up with my mates in cambridge,matt rand and mark,we had decided to visit a norfolk pit that they had fished a few weeks before,resulting in a 20lb+ cat,so we went for a two night session. on getting there we each dumped our ruckys in swims to show they are claimed,on returning with the rest of our gear,Matt had an older angler setting up his bivvy in his swim! "sorry mate didnt see your massive rucksack",rather than cuase a scene matt pitched up in my swim with my permission...it turned out to be a blessing in disguise! as we settled into our bags we discussed what the fight from a cat was like the unstoppable runs,the infamous"CAT ON" shouted by those hooked up to one in total darkness!apparently it has to be shouted to avoiding wiping the carpers lines out,its happened before! so as we settled into our bags,BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!!! my micron was screaming a one toner war cry! flying out of the bivvy,i got to the rod and realised i had no headtorch on!or shoes! i snapped the bail arm shut and whacked the rod back,at first it took on a slight curve,eel i said to matt who was now by my side lighting up the scene.....whack the rod really went into full battle curve,matty remarked thats no eel mate!! 10 minutes of charging up and down the margins and occasionally going on a run, i was admiring my first cat on the mat she wieghed in @20lb 5oz,and was caught on a live rudd fished on the polyball rig at around 40 yards out ,straight in front of my swim. that blessing in disguise...oh it came in the shape of a 21lb daylight cat and a 27+mirror for matty boy! and mark had a 7LB 6oz tench PBs all round! the last night was very very quite tho!

not really, half ounce drilled bullet keep teh bait down,depends on species used etc rudd like swimming up in the water,gudgeon dont.

sounds like you had a good day,i do enjoy trotting a float and putting a bag of fish togather,plus you get to see sights like the perch,i have seen soem enourmous perch in rivers,they never fial to make teh hair on teh back of my neck stand up,they look massive!

river lea crayfish,signals i belive,this is a big'un!

there are days when lives are the only option, i know a place you can fish deads till ya hearts content...yes you will get a few fish....but put some effort into cathing some lives...and watch what happens...oftne than not your lifeless swim coems alive its not uncommon to get 3-4 takes one after the other,mainly small but hey its sport! lives are particualy effective on rivers. i'm livebaiting tommorrow for perch,and i have had zeds on em,never know a chub might have a go too more than possible,**** i knowsome thats had carp on lives! i am respectfull i dont blantantly do it as i do know some it offends,anybaits i dont use get put back. no harm done.

doen have a look