Phil Adams

Didnt manage to get up to the river today, I'm hoping that I may be able to nip up sometime tomorrow, assuming I can get some paperwork done first.

Hi all, hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather! (and footie I own a couple of Reddicat catapults, had them for years and years. They have one long length of elastic running through the hollow frame and then connect to the pouch via plastic plugs.... Does anyone know where I can get replacement laccy? I have tried a few shops but they all say the the Reddicat is no longer in production and dont have any spare elastic long enough Thanks

"forkandles" I'm not ready! I bought a new carryall, line and shot. Still need new bait boxes, a few floats, bombs, feeders, hooks etc Better get my bum in gear eh!

Just what I was after Terry, thanks for that I'll try to go and have a look over the weekend, and report back (note to self: charge up camera batteries). If you dont read it on here Andy, I'll pm you mate ok. neeeeeeed to fish! Cheers all

I have just sent an email to Vauxhall asking for any further info regarding this stretch. There seems to be several clubs allowing access to parts of the river, and I dont want to be stepping out of bounds! lol If I get a usefull reply I will post it up here. Those pics look great, I'd love a stalking session or two somewhere like that! I'm only down the road in Luton, so if I can get somthing sorted out it maybe fun to hook up and have a fishing session, if anyone is interested. Phil

ok cheers for that. I'm still trying to work out which part of the Ivel it is lol, I think its the section behind the playing field just off the main road (Mill Lane). I'll have to take a spin up and see if I can find it at the weekend.

Hi all, Does anyone have any info regarding the section of the River Ivel in Biggleswade? I have access to it as a member of Vauzhall and was wondering if anyone had any info. In the club book there are two sections. "River Ivel - Girtford" and "Biggleswade Common and Backmeadows" which I assume is still part of the Ivel. Thanks

I shall be off to one of Vauxhalls waters, although I'm not sure which!! The ouse at sharnbrook is looking good.

The show was "Predators" and I'm 100% sure its was Steve Burke as the perchy expert, I forget what he was using to attract the perch, I think it was maggots with perch magic or somthing like that. Made for interesting veiwing. I would be tempted to give his, or similar methods a try one one rod. Using a deadun for the perch. Then fishing close to this with a waggler setup, feeding maggots very often to attract all of the smaller prey fish and using the waggler setup to just catch whatever takes the bait lol I read a great article in corse fisherman a while back about using a live bait in the surface layers to catch perch. Although I dont like using live fish for bait, just a personal thing, so I've not tried it.

I've fished there quite a lot, never for more than a full day + overnight session though...........and I've caught sweeeeet FA lol, I did get a hook hookup but lost the fish in a large weedbed. Not seen anything caught either, although a "friend of a friend" swears by the place.......I'm yet to be convinced. Bare in mind that they opperate a closed season (or at least they have done for past years). *edit, I have only fished the main lake, not the boating lake or smaller ponds.

And be VERY carefull doing it. Why not use a small piece of foam to pop the wrigglers up?

Sounds like it could be fun, I live in luton so I'm not to far away. Need to get my bum in gear and get on the banks again!

Thanks all. Ive used some old 12lb fox soft steel, I spooled up with 100m of 4lb matchteam, then filled with 12lb backing right to the lip. Then I reversed it using another spool lol so now it holds 100m of fine 4lb line! Thanks again

Hi all, I've got a spool for a reel that takes alot more line than I'll ever need. Can someone advise me on the best way to pack the spool out so that I dont have to fill the entire spool with new mono each time? The spool takes: Dia (mm) 0.25-190m, 0.28-155m Lb (m) 6-190m, 8-155m Looking at some of the current new mono's, 4lb test is an average of 0.015mm dia for the match type lines. Any help?

I dont know the braid in question but I have to disagree totaly with the use of braid fished through to the hook. Braid as we know is very sharp when compared to mono and can cause horrific damage to fish. If in doubt, please use a mono leader above the hooklink, it only needs to be a few feet long and you wont notice any difference to bite indication. I stand to be corrected but this is my view.

As another Series 7 user, its a bargin i tells ya!

I wouldnt have thought that the internal volume of helium would be enough to make any real noticable difference to the weight of a pole. Plus it couldnt be under any deal off pressure as it would be required to conform to standards that govern pressuirised containers. Me thinks its a leg puller

Mainly the drag knob, I have had two reels, both of which have had the drag knobs come off in my hand. It started when I was increasing the drag. Suddelny the clicking stopped and I noticed that the knob had moved away from the fighting drag lever by a 4mm ish. Turning it back, in the hope if it re-attaching it'self, resulted in the knob comming away completely. I managed to re-attach it, but unless I'm very carefull it will do it again. (its done it at least 7-8 times). The knob is simply clipped in place, and then held with a few very fine threads on the inside of the drag knob. If the knbo goes to the extreme of these threads.......it can come off (I think). I would have returned it for a full refund, but I cant find the recipt etc, and I really cant be arsed to pay shimano to "fix" it, since Im convinced its a manufacturing/design fault. If you look at older Shimano's, they all have a large screw holding the drag knob to the reel. As far as Im aware, none of the newer ranges have this. I need a new smaller reel for float fishing duties, but Im put off buying a Shimano even though ALL of my old reels have been from them.

Hi all, I'm looking around for a new reel to use with my waggler rod. My old Shimano Perfection is really on its last legs now. I own and use a Shimano Super GTM-ra 4000 which I use on my feeder/avon type rods, whilst it is a lovely reel, I have had problems with the drag knob so I'm unsure if I should get another. I have a budget of up to £70 and am looking for a small, reliable, strong "2500" or smaller model. It dosent have to be from Shimao.

I have had problems with a few of Shimano's current reels, the GT(M) and Stradic in particular. I'm 99% convinced that quality control has slipped (although the prices havent). Personaly I would be tempted to go for an Okuma, should it fail or go wrong, you always have the 5yr garantee to fall back on. IMO

Sprinkle water on the lawn from a watering can with a rose fitted and you can be suprised at how many lobs will come up. You dont need to add soap or washing up liquid to the water. (as I have seen suggested before.........no idea why though) We have some moster lobs in our garden, digging over one of the beds revealed some true snakes!

Aswell as catching on the edge of a baited area, dont forget that lakes have underwater tow just like rivers. Maybe your groundbait wasnt exactly where you thought it was. But I bet it was just one of those things, it happens to us all (sadly lol)

Excellent, well done to both of you

I use a small piece of insulating tape folded over the line just infront of the tip ring. This is stuck to the line after casting out to the chosen spot. As you cast, feather the line as soon as you hear it touch the rod rings. Obviously this depends on how large your rod rings are, I doubt it would work to well with small rings, but works perfectly with carp rods etc. Another tip, if you use this method is to trim the tape into a triangle, so that the point of the trinagle is pointing away from the reel.

Thats alot of bait! Does anyone know where I could buy pellets, crumb etc in bulk around the Luton/Bedford area?