Tim Kelly

Hi Andy I certainly wasn't having a go at you as a pike angler, I've never met you as far as I know,and I'm sure you've got the best interests of the fish in mind. Those comments were aimed at the huge number of village idiots who we all see fishing for pike with woefully inadequate tackle and whose pike handling skills are a couple of rungs below those of my dog! However, I DO think that a lip gaffed nile perch is no more damaged than a conventionally hooked UK perch. If you want to take it to two men hoisting it out of the water on a meat hook, I can't see the difference between that and a perch being swung to hand on a normal hook. It's just a matter of proportion. As I said before, I expect gaffs are fairly harmless if used correctly, it's just that very few people would be able to use them correctly. Also, I expect rather like the boga grip, you'd need to play a pike to a further state of exhaustion to be able to position the gaff or boga correctly than you would need to do in order to net the fish or hand land it.

quote: Originally posted by Andy Macfarlane: I "always" put my Pike back unharmed. If I though there was an acceptable harm level, I would have to think about the pursuits I am involved in. I also fail to see how sticking a large hook into a fish leaves it "unharmed". How about I gaff you through the chin and see if you can go about your business "unharmed". After all it only a little hole. Do the PAAS have a view on what the maximum hook size should be then? I can't imagine that a large fish like a nile perch is any more harmed by being lip gaffed than a UK perch is by being hooked by a size 14! I'm sure gaffs are a very reasonable way to land fish if they are used correctly, but the chances of it being a better method than hand landing (my prefered method) or netted are slim, and the risk of it being carried out incorrectly are very high considering the appauling way many people treat pike when they profess to be fishing proficiently for them!

"Fact" ??? Sounds rather unlikely to me. The only other precident for animals killing for pleasure, other than humans, are foxes, mink etc killing domestic livestock when they are penned up and unable to escape. In the natural world there would be very few scenarios where a shoal of roach etc would get so trapped that a shoal of zander could wreak such havoc. I tend to think that stories like this about zander killing "for pleasure" (it is a fish after all) are the kind of thing put about by those with ulterior motives and possibly rather small brains! It really doesn't seem to make any logical sense.

Is Slapton Ley down that way? I think it's a day ticket water which you can hire boats on too. [ 09. June 2003, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Tim Kelly ]

http://www.timkelly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/p...%20pending.html http://www.lurebuilding.nl/indexeng.html http://www.tacklemaking.com And many others have lure making details. Have fun!

Hi There I think your question is a little too big to answer in a post. A good basic book would help you get to grips with the fundamentals of lure fishing, then once you've done it a little bit you will be able to ask more specific questions which are more answerable on these forums. Charlie Bettel has a good book which will lead you down the right sort of path "The Art of Lure Fishing" and although it sticks in my craw to recommend it , it is a good place to start! It would also be a dereliction of my duties if I didn't recommend you joined the Lure Anglers' Society. There are local chapters in various parts of the country, although not Ireland...yet, and the quarterly magazine is full of useful information. Also the PAC (Pike Anglers Club) and/or IPS (Irish Pike Society) who also produce magazines and do a lot of work helping to protect pike around the country.

Peter You may be right, but it seems like too much of a coincidence to me that we usually see dead pike at around this time of year and rarely at other times. Assuming the fish have become spawn bound, whatever that is, it might be reasonable to assume it would take them a while to die from the affects of it, so they may well be turning up dead around now. I hope they are dying of natural causes, it would be too sad if crap anglers are responsible for their demise. There really is no excuse for ignorance these days, the information and advise is everywhere.

Agree about the poor standards of bite detection and am equally appauled about the number of rigs found in these fish, but I think the cause of death is more likely to be spawning related if you regularly find them at this time of year. Most waters loose a few pike each year during the spawning process.

No fly fishing for pike on Rutland or Grafham before 16th June, unless of course you're a Norfolk seatrout fisherman...

Has Chesters noticed the Intrepid spares? .jackfish.net/acatalog/Catalogue...Spares_122.html

See the rest of you tomorrow!

ttt

ttt

Next Saturday, the 26th April is the LAS conference. Held at Bradfield College, Bradfield, Reading, Berks, it's open to members and non members alike it's a great day out for anyone into lure fishing or thinking about taking it up. As well as numerous trade stands there are lectures from Prof Barrie Rickards, Steve Crowther, Dr Mike Ladle and Neville Fickling and poolside lure demonstrations by many of the trade stands as well as Gord Burton and Dave Lumb. Should be a great day out with plenty of things to do at this great venue. For travel details and further details of what will be there see here.

I was referring to the part of your message where you said that if the message comes across wrong it's the messangers fault. I'm sure you occasionally try to give helpful replies but they are so masked by your "sense of humour" that they loose their point! You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet if I recommend anything to people, especially if they're asking for info. I have been sent a few bits and bobs to review for the LAS magazine from Harris Angling. I have used them and decided, based on how they performed, if they are any use or not. The rods I reviewed are amazingly good, especially when you consider the price they sell for and the past history of some of the poor rods Harris used to sell. These new ones are genuinely good and I would happily use them myself. All the rods we have been sent for review have been used as prizes for LAS competitions and have been distributed to the membership. I have been sent a number of Harris Jerkbaits too and while some have been excellent they have had a few design flaws which I have pointed out to Harris and in the review I have done for them. I have managed to talk about all these products without ever reffering to them as the dog's bollos or any of your other crass phrases and hopefully they have been of some use to people. Opinions are just that, I am happy to offer mine to people when they ask for them, it's up to the person asking the question what weight they give to each reply.

Pot, kettle, black - why do those words spring to mind?

Sovereign superbaits or The soft bait shop

Have a look at this page on the Lure Anglers Society website. LAS site

You might want to consider joining the Lure Anglers' Society. We produce a quarterly magazine which is full of lure fishing information, there is a network of regional "chapters" where members get together regularly to talk and go on trips, the conference is coming up on the 26th April near Reading which is open to members and non-members alike and will have lectures, lure demonstrations and trade stands selling a wide range of lure fishing equipment. For more details have a look at the website http://www.lureanglers.co.uk

DO a search on Google.co.uk for leisure batteries. I got a 75 or 80 amp/hour one for about £35 delivered and it's been great so far. You really need to get a multi phase charger as well to keep it in good condition. I bought one for about £40 and you can leave it plugged in permanently. It keeps the battery in ideal conditions this way.

Do you think that some of the scandinavian and other northern european perch are a different sub species to the ones we have here? I have seen pictures of some of the huge perch they get and they seem to have quite a different body shape to ours.

It's the best braid I've used, and believe me I tried most of them! I use the 100, 80, 65, 50 and 30lb and have used 20 but it was too fragile for what I wanted. Very expensive over here, but worth doing a Cabela's order for.

I saw it too. I think he has a common sky TV fishing presenters malady, also seen often in Rex Hunt, where the mouth keeps running on overdrive and the brain is nowhere to be seen!

I believe Eley sell bismuth shot for home loading.

If you want texas rig style cone shaped weights Fox or one of the carp fishing bits and bobs manufacturers sell them as carp back leads or something. By the way Nugg, I think they're brass so you don't need to get too excited!