Tim Kelly

I know a few people who've tried for tope on lures and they've all been extremely unsuccessful! Lures like bulldawgs etc would, you would imagine, do the job perfectly if they were there to be caught. Unless you've got some extraordinary circumstances where you go for tope I think you could waste a lot of time. As an aside, can anyone explain to me what the moral superiority of catching a fish on a fly rod is? I used to solely fly fish, though rarely do these days. The bloke I mainly fished with still fly fishes, though mainly abroad. He thinks there's something special about getting all sorts of fish on "meat" flies in chum trails etc. I think it's just a daft way to fish for fish with inappropriate tackle though!

Lureshack have some of their own range which are moderately priced. Many places sell the action plastics generic shad in 9 and 12" sizes. If you got a range of quality jig heads with suitablu large hooks you should be well covered for depth and speed. Soveriegn Superbaits do a good range of suitable jig heads, as do Gordon Griffiths. Sovereign also have a good range of castaics at reasonable prices, though they are generally pretty fast sinking. the 9" storm shad is very fast sinking and can easily be modified to put a belly treble on by cutting the back single, splitting the belly and bending the wire that holds the back single down so it hangs out of the bottom of the bait like a hook hanger.

No such beast exists! St Croix make some good 7.5 and 8ft rods in their Avid range, but they're one piece. Would advise going for a shorter rod if you want a two piece which is up to the task. I think there was a thread recently about Greys, TFG and Nash who all do something suitable.

Love to get one of those tiger musky!

Chris has got PMT at the moment. Ignore him and he'll be back to his usual cheerful self in a week or so.

What was that link again?

Agree with Glen. Also, I've always done spade end knots by making the wraps from the spade end down to the loop, so the tag doesn't go over all the turns - more like a nail knot. Always worked well for me.

I'm impressed that you could decipher the post Elton, or were you guessing?

Avoid the orange ones. This is a thread about chocolates isn't it?

Good on both of you. The internet is a wonderful thing.

I would have no problem paying £50 for a rod licence if it meant angling was taken more seriously and they worried less about salmon and more about the fish most people come into contact with. Decent enforcement is all that's needed and if the licence fee was higher it might make it more worthwhile patrolling the banks properly. Whenever I've been stopped in a boat all they are interested in is the boat licence, never ever get asked for a rod licence.

All laws are utterly pointless without enforcement. Perhaps if the price of a rod licence went up to say £50 anglers might be taken more seriously, it would pay for actual bailiffing of the banks, the bailiffing would catch people up to no good as they would inevitably have no licence and they would be able to enforce the current rules about the number of fish that can be taken.

Was he Eastern European?

Don't buy cheap tackle, learn to cast, use suitably strong line etc etc! If you want to give it a go again get some 20lb fireline, some 30lb traces, a reel with a working handle, some spinners heavy enough to be able to cast without too much effort and fish a bit of water with less trees and not too many snags. As you get the hang of it you will be able to fish more difficult areas, but to start off use some reasonably balenced tackle and learn how to use it properly.

Thompsons do a good range of runner bean seeds, ideal for cane rods.

I would imagine you're talking about the GC, if so I would think the best approach, especially during the colder months would be with soft plastics and jig heads. The perch and zander relate to the bottom quite a lot, especially in the winter and the bottom is fairly clear on that venue, so you can hop plastics along the bottom pretty easily. I would get some jig heads in the 1/4 to 3/4oz range and some soft plastic shads in the 4-6" range as well as some twister type worms and split tails. To get the best of them on there you would probably want to think about relatively fine braid and slightly longer rods as distance casting with light lures will be a big factor. I should think a rod in the 7-10ft range and something like 20lb Power pro or Tuff XP matched to a 4000 sized reel. Use as light a jig head as you can as you want to be able to hope the lure along the bottom (mainly by giving the reel handle a few turns and then waiting for the lure to touch down again) and as light a jig head as you can use will make the fall slower, which is usually a good thing, and frequently when the baits are taken.

Most of the zander in this country live in rivers - oh, and they're not walleye!

If you can use a boat to fish for them 4-6" plastics fished vertically or with close range casts and trolling 4-7" crankbaits so they make frequent contact with the bottom are very reliable methods for average sized fish.

I doubt the perch have read that. If something isn't working, try to change things until it does. If it makes you feel better I expect Owner size 6 hooks would be bigger than drennan size 6 hooks. By the way, I have caught loads of perch on hooks up to 5/0 using lures.

Try a bigger sized hook then.

What a suprise. Still, they won't dare go after fishing, will they.......

If the hooks you're using aren't straightening out I can't really see how the hooks are the problem. Try a bigger size and hauling the perch in quicker. the longer you let them swim about the bigger hole they will get in their mouths and the more chance there is of the hook dropping out.

I was just pointing out that just because you don't understand why someone else would want to hunt farmed animals it is naive to think that everyone else thinks your going fishing is completely rational!

Didn't deputy Dawg have a name for that cotton pickin' catfish he was always after as well? I want Vance as my new fishing partner too!

Fair enough Shortstuff, though you might think differently when you are Tallstuff, and surrounded by crap fishing...