Paul Boote

Panic over, though the eye is still twitching - I am buying a pair of these in the 30 size http://www.fishtec-coarse.co.uk/ProductDet...shopListRec=925 I have decided. Nothing or nobody can stop me. Won't be able to fish for a month with the way the weather is looking now, anyway...

Me, too, as I am about raid my neighbour's tranquilizers.

Don't mind me, fellas, but I think I'm having a bit of a nervous breakdown. Which model do you have, argyll? The rear-drag Epix Pro? Or the Epix Pro Baitfeeder? If it's the latter, where is its drag - front or rear?

Thanks. I don't know why I was considering a 'runner facility on such a little reel anyway. It's looking like a rear-drag Epix Pro or two - a 30 for a light quiver rod, a 40 to on a bigger one for barbel - until I go and see summat else and become more confused! I should never have got rid of those old Cardinal 54s...

Okay, a final question. Argyll, above, posted a link to this non-baitrunner Okuma Epix reel, which in the 40 size he had found okay for barbel: Epix Pro http://www.fishtec-coarse.co.uk/ProductDet...opListRec=30342 But then, on the same site, I saw this model: Epix Pro Baitfeeder http://www.fishtec-coarse.co.uk/ProductDet...shopListRec=925 Anyone with experience of the Baitfeeder version? Does the addition of an extra mechanism / feature / gadget on the reel somehow affect the smooth operation of its main drag / its overall performance...? Observations welcomed.

Definitely NOT at the spot featured below on Angling News, anymore. Just glad I did what I did when I did it... Byas Ghat Report India Written By: Misty Dhilon On Date: 23/11/2005 We Arivied at Byas Ghat on the 2nd of October 2005. Just a few days prior to our arrival at Byas Ghat the river was a raging torrent, with both the Nayar River and the Ganges River flooded, due to the extensive rains all over the North Indian state of Uttaranchal. James Moorehouse, along with Phil, had been fishing there since the 20th of September. The first two days for them were good, but the heavy rainfall had spoilt almost every thing after that, as the river rose to a level it seldom reaches. With the exception of a 16 and a 20 pounder the talented, and much experienced, duo could not do much because of the odds being completely against them. The conditions slowly improved over the next few days as the rains stopped finally and the weather forecast eliminated the possibilities of rainfall though the region. On our arrival the Nayar was a mouth watering, huge almost crystal clear river. Any angler witnessing it for the first time would probably head for a couple of casts first to the Nayar and then to the Ganges - though seldom is the Nayar more productive than the Ganges for, however fine it may look. As is well recorded the great historical "Black Rock" beat on the Ganges is a killer spot. No one had any action on the second and the third of October. 4th of October 2005: James and Phil left today, and soon after breakfast I was into a large fish some 300 yards below the confluence, and it had hit a jointed lure. I had finally switched to spinning tackle after fly-fishing for the past two days. As usual I had a four-foot piece of 20 lb breaking strain Trilene Big Game mono, which I was using as a leader in front of my Power Pro Braid. Bad news! After a fifteen second helpless brawl with the fish and during the very first rush the line snapped with a loud crack and I fell back on the gravel bank behind me. Very upset with myself as I felt that had exerted far too much pressure in the presence of heavy structural elements in the area the fish was hooked and misused my 4 lb test curve rod. I went back to the camp for a cigar and a coffee break and soon returned with Pralad, one of our fishing guides, to the water. I had two more touches before the sun tore into my back and I finally decided to call it a morning. The fish that broke my line was clearly large, as it tailed before taking off down river. I estimated this fish to be some thirty plus pounds. My friend Peter joined me later in the day. He reached Byas Ghat well in time for the evening fishing session. Surendra, another of our fishing guides, made his way back to camp, after dropping James and Phil at Satpulli. I had another good take, which seemed sizeable when it ran, though was only an 8 lber. I had nothing else that evening. Fishing in these torrential rivers of the Himalayas, often gives you sense of what you are fishing for, the very terrain makes the fishing far more challenging. The figures are not important as sometimes even the so-called small fish, fight with such verve, exploiting the slightest neglect on the tackle front, holding very well in the current for as long as they can. 5th of October 2005: A blank day, cast after cast, back breaking stuff, my 4 lb test curve 12 foot Mahseer rod gave me a back ache. 6th of October 2005: Today I had a Byas Ghat fantasy come true! Like back in time, Brigadier Pinto's accounts and the others I have come across in the past few years. During the morning fishing session, which started at 0600 hrs, we went blank. At 0930 hrs Surendra and I returned to camp for breakfast while Peter and Pralad decided to run up the Nayar, fancying their chances, as Peter was told that Phil had his 20 lb fish from the Nayar a few days back. Surendra and I made our way down to Black Rock at 1015 hrs, and, from above black Rock some fifteen casts later, I had a 16 pounder on a Red Head plug, I started casting immediately after we tied her. Exactly on the fifth cast I had another fish. This fish came clean out of the water and somersaulted falling back in, headfirst, something I have seldom experienced in Mahseer fishing. Very exciting indeed! As soon as the fish landed back I was almost spooled. We had the fish out and beached in some twenty minutes. Both these fish were had from the same spot. I decided to give this spot a rest and go down to the historical spot below Black Rock from where Paul Boot had his 52 pounder as mentioned in John Bailey's book "Casting for Gold". Some ten casts later I had another fish, seemed big, though it did not show itself at all. The fish took off towards the rapid and after a tremendous fight, I managed to stop it just before it could reach the rapid. We knew it was large! Was I close to the Byas Ghat record? I would find out very soon. We had her out in some twenty-five minutes; she had taken the large Mullet plug entirely in her mouth. As Surendra brought her out of the water I was most excited. She was very beautiful, a fine thick-lipped specimen while clearly looked monstrous. I did not have a problem getting the hook out, which I was originally most concerned about. We tied her up and I did not bother to cast more, it was 1145hrs. All of this was done in one and a half hours. My estimate was of fifty pounds - Surendra said forty-five! We would soon find out once the weighing gear was brought from camp. We decided to weigh the fish after lunch, and then it was postponed to the evening, allowing the fish to recover from the shock. My adrenalin was high and I smoked two Cigars, one after another. "This is Mahseer fishing", I said to Surendra. Peter returned from the Nayar for lunch and was overwhelmed to learn of the morning's events. This evening I placed Peter opposite black rock, while I fly fished. Soon enough Peter was into a good fish, which took him some thirty minutes to bring in - this was a lovely 23 lb fish. The entire village of Bagi gathered as we started to weigh our catch. The first to be weighed was my big fish - a cradle and a scale were produced and the cradle mounted on an oar shaft from one of our rafts. As Surendra and Pralad lifted the shaft from either side it made a perfect balance. The final figures were as follows: my big fish which was rather over estimated by me, weighed in 42 lbs, was the first to be released back. The others followed, my 22 and 16 pounders were the next to go in and then finally Peter's at 23 lbs. As we walked back to camp after releasing all the fish back, Peter decided to chuck in a few more casts. Surendra, Pralad, the villagers and myself started walking back to camp when suddenly we heard a loud splash on the water. On turning back we saw Peter's rod bent double, which slackened moments later. On retrieving the plug he found one of the 4x treble hooks to be straightened. It was most certainly a good double figure fish Peter had on. He gave it a few more casts and retired. 7th of October 2005: Peter left rather early today, and presented me a beautiful "House of Hardy's" rod, which he had inaugurated with the 23 lber the previous day. This was a beautiful Salmon 10 foot-casting rod, so I decided to give it a go by mounting a 7000c multiplier on it with some 300 yards of 20 lb Berkley Trilene big game on it. It was a traditional Salmon fishing combination, with which I enjoyed casting very much as it was quite well balanced. I started fishing at 0930 hrs and hooked a fish from the same spot I took the 22 and the 16 the previous day. This took me some forty five minutes land this fish and I had to follow it downriver as it had pealed off all 300 plus yards of 20 lb mono on the 7000c. I finally brought it in at the same historical spot below Black Rock. She was weighed, in the presence of another huge audience from the village Bagi, at 34 lbs. The fish was released soon after. I had had enough, the raft was rigged and I was due to carry on down river to Kaudial to go on to Delhi to pick up some guests. I had my fill and my fair share of double figure fish this season and now it was the turn of our guests to try their luck! 2nd October 2005 Blank 3rd October 2005 Blank 4th October 2005 8 lber 5th October 2005 Blank 6th October 2005 16, 22, 23 and 42 lber 7th October 2005 34 lber 13th October 2005: We, along with our guests, reached Byas Ghat, by raft, at 1300hrs. The Ganges was fairly high and it took us an hour or so we reach Byas Ghat by raft from Devprayag. As we arrived at Byas Ghat everyone was eager to start casting. Bob Roberts, one of our guests from UK, was soon into a large fish. As the fish did not surface or show itself everyone was guessing as to how large it was. The battle went on for an hour and forty-five minutes! Bob's experience of fishing throughout the world but he'd never fought any fish that hard and for that long! In the course of the battle, the 7000c multiplier he was using started giving problems, now Bob was left fighting the tackle as well as the fish! As he stared hauling this fish in by grabbing the spool from either thumb to stop it giving line, I went in to help land the fish and realized that the fish was hooked under the mouth. Over the course of the battle the line had received a fair bit of beating, and it finally gave way when the fish was just about to be beached. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Bob, so close yet so far. My estimations of this fish were of well over thirty pounds. The next couple of days were great, with a couple more double figure fish that were landed by Rick and Stu - and mysterious monsters that got away! For Fishing in India and all inclusive holiday packages, please contact Misty Dhilon on misty.dhillon@gmail.com See photo gallery for pictures.

Many thanks. Suddenly the mists of my Okuma Confusion are beginning to clear.

In a fit of lager in a pub a few weeks ago, I suggested to a good fishing-pal of mine that we hit the screens with a series titled "Guesting" - him and me filmed, first preparing for, then executing, stealthy guerilla angling-attacks / hits / raids on some of Britain's best, juiciest and most exclusive coarse and game waters. SAS-style balaclavas, face paint and clothing ... silent reels etc etc. Required viewing!

Sounds a very nice reel, tigger - thanks. Reckon I am in £30 to £45 mode for such a reel / reels, though - if you knew the amount of gear that I have ... well over 100 notes on flytying materials in the recent days, and I've already got enough of the stuff to stock a decent shop...

Still have my Marshall-Hardy, Jim - "With love from Mummy & Daddy, Christmas 1966".

Oh yes, plus two GREAT fishers with a float: Billy Lane and Jack Harrigan. I was lucky enough to fish a few times with the latter when I was a kid; there was simply a magic about the way he fed an Avon swim and kept its different areas producing fish after fish.

Game: G.E.M. Skues and Frank Sawyer, with occasional guest appearances by F.M. Halford. 'Summer on the Test' Hills. Robert Pashley of the Wye. Hughes-Parry of the Welsh Dee. A.H. E. Wood of the greased line for salmon. Various chalkstream keepers - the Lunn family, Colonel Crow, Tom Williams... Lee Wulff, Joe Brooks and others from the States. 'A River Never Sleeps' Roderick Haig-Brown from Britain and Canada. Etcetera. All round category: H.T. Sheringham & Bernard Venables. Historical: Walton and Cotton. Coarse: Henry Coxon, F.W.K. Wallis, Martin the Trent Otter, Bill and Sonny Warren, Richard Walker, two pals of mine when I was young - Gordon Edwards and Ken Guy (great fishers both, so much was lost with their going). A.E. Hobbs of the Thames, with Patrick Chalmers and Peter Stone. Etcetera. What a forum it would be, though some of the above names might not stick around too long with some 'anglers' being what they are these days...

Supplementary question from now to further confuse things: I have a pile of pike / carp sized Shimano Baitrunners, but need one or two good, cheap, roach / chub / barbel leger reels. As it seems to have been 'all Okuma' in recent years, please tell me which Okuma model and size would suit, plus approximate cost. Thanks.

"In my opinion paddlers can do far less damage globally than most powered craft do on navigations, although it is certain they can damage reds and other spawning sites in sensitive areas." Mine also. Roll on the day that oil runs so low that modestly powered electric motors replace all the outboards and big inboards. Think of the huge reduction in pollution, bank erosion and destruction of fish and wildlife habitat on many of our inland waterways. Which, I suppose, gets me started about testosterone-fulled powerboaters and little tin admirals in floating gin-palaces...

The Mandarins result, I believe, from an escape many years ago from the Royal collection at Windsor. Egrets? Lot of them in south Devon, a relative recently told me in a phone conversation.

Yup. Long-established parakeet colonies along the Thames - Shepperton, Staines, Wraysbury... When I lived near the latter two in the early to mid 1980s, I was travelling to fish in India every spring, and there saw many of the indigenous ring-necked parakeets (and other makes of the same), only to return home and see a whole load more.

Oh well. But neither posting mentioned the mahseer that I have stocked in the Thames, nor the Goliath tigerfish...

Lurking in the canal: crocodiles, terrapins and Chinese crabs · British Waterways study finds range of wildlife · Observations logged from town and country paths Martin Wainwright Tuesday November 15, 2005, Guardian Those traditional residents of Britain's canals, the supermarket trolley and old baby buggy, have been joined by a startlingly varied range of wildlife, according to a survey published today by British Waterways. Seals, dolphins and even a small crocodile feature on a list compiled by ecologists and hundreds of volunteer spotters working from the towpath and barges. Other curiosities include parrots, escaped terrapin, a rare osprey and several porpoises - all a far cry from the moorhen and minnows which are the nearest many canal-users get to the dramas of the natural world. More than 60 species have been identified so far, with further follow-up work to be done on smudgy photographs or descriptions of hard-to-identify small birds and insects. "Some amazing wildlife has been spotted," said Jonathan Brickland, a national ecologist for British Waterways which looks after more than 2,000 miles of navigable canal. "We want to encourage more people to visit canals and rivers. Let's hope they'll be tempted by the rich variety of animals and plants." The crocodile has already caused a brief rush of sightseers to Stonehouse on the Stroudwater canal in Gloucestershire, as well as the Gloucester and Sharpness waterway, where a dramatic description of a "fully airborne, caiman-like animal" lunging from the water at a mallard was given by a local bridgekeeper. A crocodile monitor, Andy Stephens, who followed up the sighting, said: "The ecosystem supports more than adequate numbers of food species to keep a single crocodilian, or indeed a small colony, well fed, as long as they could survive the rigours of the English winter." Possible warmer water influxes into the canal are being investigated. The survey has a relatively predictable Top Five of wildlife species - mallards, swans, moorhens, herons and coots - but these also bring out a sense of excitement in the amateur recorders. Reports include sightings of herons in mist which can enlarge their already considerable size, along with several records of the eerie mating "boom" of the bittern. Records were submitted from as far north as the Scottish waterways, where most of the saltwater species were seen, to several stretches of canal running through city centres. Mr Brickland himself noticed an otter on the British Waterways pontoon opposite the Royal Armouries in central Leeds, where a rich crop of records also came from the site of special scientific interest where the canal to Liverpool meanders beneath Leeds's ring road. Most of the records, which also included a donkey - whether in or by the canal remains uncertain - are unusually reassuring for ecological work in a densely populated and developed country. Mr Brickland said: "The waterways are one part of Britain where the wildlife habitat has increased and improved. "A lot of the system has been brought back into use, with water in miles of once abandoned stretches, and pollution from boats and other users only a very tiny part of the equation." The downside, however, includes hundreds of reports of escaped mink, which prey on smaller wildlife and cause serious damage to canal and river banks. The animals feature in 5% of the 3,700 reports, which also record the spread of the Chinese mitten crab, another damaging alien predator. More cheerful records, which have been sent to Britain's national species database, include a wider range of the kingfisher than previously thought and encouragingly high numbers of the endangered water vole. The waterways' role as "green corridors" emerges as a help to species migration, a part also played by railway embankments and motorway verges. Follow-up checks will be made on the more unexpected sightings, including the crocodile and the osprey, a sea eagle whose salmon-fishing skills might be expected to find a placid canal a bit tame. British Waterways is also preparing for its annual dredging of the system, which leads to an even more exotic list of non-wildlife items found on the muddy bottom of canals. Last year's inventory included trolleys as the runaway winner, followed by traffic cones, car tyres, hubcaps and a surprising number of safes - all of them blown. The wildlife survey is the first to be carried out, after a successful month-long pilot scheme last year. The sightings The expected... Mallard Swan Moorhen Heron Coot Mink Dragonflies Water vole Kingfisher ... and the unexpected Small crocodile Osprey Seals Dolphin Porpoise Terrapin Chinese mitten Crab

I was under the same impression, too - the line probably being Milward's 'Black Spider' braided terylene, or White Spider dyed olive or summat. Remember the state of nylon mono in the 1950s. When I started fishing as a tiny tot in the late 1950s, I fished with ICI 'Luron' - a springy, stretchy, vivid-green nightmare. Walker used braid, I reckon, despite the fact that the French were making much better quality mono than we were at the time.

Just makes me value the three 10-pounders that I caught in the years when such fish were catches of a lifetime all the more.

Yup. That mile WILL be taken - certainly by the 'rad' gonzo element. I'll never forget encountering a pair of canoeists on the TINY spawning tributary of a Welsh salmon and sea-trout river years ago - at this time of year, just when the fish are doing their 'stuff'. When asked why they were canoeing on such completely unsuitable water, they told me that they were "doing the river", and had walked their canoes across several fields much further upriver to access the stream, and were enjoying the challenge of getting down such 'marginal' water. The verbal abuse started when I asked them to get out of the water, so I called the local water bailiff and the the police.

Don't get me started about canoeists! They can a blasted menace; over the years, I have been inconvenienced, plagued, insulted, even threatened by them. They need, very quickly now, to be brought within the law and regulated - be made (a minority of them, at least, I hope) to cease their gonzo, cowboy outlook and activities. However, that FACT release was unintelligible nonsense. I read a lot of 'difficult' complex stuff (out of choice), but could make neither head nor tail of the thing. CLARITY, in future, someone, please.

Only one word for the thing: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp...33567&dict=CALD PS - thought of a better one: gibberish.

Spot-on, Bill. That press release was clearly the result of someone saying: "For God's sake, we have to be SEEN to be doing something - anything - so let's get summat out; it doesn't matter what, just make a noise to show people we are still around ... like the Salmon & Trout Association and all the ruddy rest..." In Theatre circles (Mwah! Darling!) there is a taboo on mentioning or quoting from the 'Scots play' - Shakespeare's Macbeth (it's considered bad luck to do so) - but I feel that there is one speech by the Macbeth character (about life) that pertains to many a modern press-release, from whatever source - the "player upon on the stage", "struts and frets", "full of sound of fury, signifying NOTHING" speech. Always best to remain silent if you have nothing of substance to say...

Yesterday, at about this time, I sent an email to a very good pal of mine in Argentina (a great fly-fisher and -tyer, too). A mail with just one line: "Good game, wasn't it?" No reply, so far. I do hope he's okay...