Stewart_Bloor

Lotsof lovely rain. Maybe time to start my barbel season.

Well the guy had just come back from an Alvin Stardust gig and completely forgot about those.

Funily enough Rob, that's the exact situation I found myself in. I opted for the tench and will be doing a very short focused spell of fishing for them, before I get back on the rivers.

Fifty pounds of potatoes and fifty pounds of crayfish. That sounds like a meal fit for a Texan.

Whilst most anglers will be pretty open with sharing general information, there's nothing wrong with keeping certain things back - and swims and stretches fall into this category, for obvious reasons. And it's definitely not selfish to do so. After all, there is absolutley no obligation on the part of anyone to share what they don't want to anyway.

I work on the philosophy of using the highest breaking strain that I can get away with rather than the lightest.

What did you expect? The stretch and the swim?

Below Worcester

Sweetcorn. If you get bored and want to read about someone else's angling http://www.sicm.org/anglingdiary/101.Itsgo...fullysweet.html

Three tench in two sessions, but a couple were 5's so could be worse.

I bet he doesn't have a bivvie then.

Personally I don't bother with hair rigged baits for chub and as boilies invariably fit this category, I never fish with them as a bait of choice. When barbel fishing on the lower Severn I get a lot of chub runs with boilie, and although I do catch a fair few, not every run results in a fish. Lots end up with dropped baits. When chub fishing it's usually paste or bread moulded around the hook.

Is this thread still at the top then?

I'm surprised Peter hasn't replied. After all you'd have expected him to have a lap top in his bivvy.

Was it Bill Wyman?

AS well as considering bait options I'd say that the time that you fish is perhaps more likely to give you the edge. During dusk and darkness the fish become less cautious.

Alcohol abuse is a major problem in society so it's no surprise that it also affects angling too (just like litter). As a non-drinker though I don't have the worries about how far I should go etc. Some of the clubs I belong to do have a no alcohol policy though. Like many others I have seen examples at the water's edge of bad behaviour. I was once on a gravel pit and there was a well-known angler who had drunk so much the night before (he and his friends were pitched up close enough to me for me to see what was happening) that when he had a run in the night he slept right through it.

It's my main choice of line (hook length) for barbel. been using it for a couple of years in 10lb and had fish to well over that with no problems at all. Also using it on my current gravel pit campaign for bream.

My freezer is currently full of dead maggots, but as the species changes then it will be replaced by seeds. Yes, freeze it.

Whilst I am looking forward to June 16 I don't have the same excitement as usual. But that is in no small way to the fact that I am thoroughly enjoying my current bream campaign, with a little canal carping thrown in for good measure.

...or even company

I was out last night bream fishing with just the rats and mice to keep me copany.

I love pitching up and fishing through the night. Brilliant!

Might be a good place for Peter Waller to go on holiday, it says no bivvies allowed.