southernclive

Evening in the margins where the match anglers fish most often, preferably the less competent ones that dont hook so many fish but still pre bait for you If there are fish present they probably wont show but they'll be there under your feet if there's food to be had and they haven't been spooked out of the margin ? Sounds like paste baits would work well - find the clear bottom where the match guys fish (check out the pole fishing line ????) but I would put one only 3 feet out where the match guys chuck their bait when they pack up.

Hi Andy For a tenner you could get them and try them, but its difficult to say how much load these will take. Give them a call, but whenever I've used even aircraft grade ali for fittings it does age over time and landing nets are often put under a lot of leverage unwittingly - for the risk involved I'd play safe ? There are many quick assemble net fittings on the market that slide or clip together and are 100%

Hmmm, dont think I would trust them, they're made of aluminium so will strain and could weaken. Why use them on a net - how long does it take to screw a net on or spring the arms out ? Excellent for quick set up of alarms etc, and probably even a match pan, but would be wary of heavy use such as trawling kippers out of the margin with 3 hundredweight of weed ....

Glad to help, does Jim get a fee for each viewing like TV programmes ???????

Did you check the mouth to see if you got a weak hookhold which then transfered to the outside ? Are you fishing bouyant baits ? What shape/style of hook are you using - bent or curved hooks will tend to give this. How long is hooklength and weight of lead ? Hair length is most likely. Can you get a photo or drawing on here ? That they were both hooked in the same place does indicate a rig issue, as Common said, more info and everyone will be able to give some feedback

Elton Have a look in your mailbox

Why not create an area the fish want to visit based on where they patrol ? They won't stay round the island for long if there's no supply of food; or you find or create richer pickings elsewhere ? Boats are great to remove the tedium of spodding but people will always abuse them to catch that extra fish .......

Been working fine until midweek then seemed to go downhill. in a case in my rucksack so no damage or damp I nearly a full moon eh !

Got Red, Blue, Yellow, Green Did an afternoon in the week and thought Blue was playing up so changed batteries on all four. Found one playing up tonight and then found they were all doing same thing - changed batteries again just to be sure but still u/s - odd eh ?

All the tackle shops stock them for a coupla quid. or http://www.tacklebox.co.uk/ Look under Bankstick Accessories

I have four Fox Rx alarms and have had to come home after they have all stopped working on me at the start of a weekend session. They work fine when first switched on but seem to go to sleep after 20 minutes or so, switch them off and back on again and they work for a while. Fitted new batteries but still same fault. Anyone else come across this ?

Whether the Fishing Race was ill judged, and I agree that it may have been, your statement regarding J.G's water and his enjoyment of it was rather harsh ? Anyone who finds enjoyment and beauty in the smallest places is a lucky angler whatever their catches represent to others, there are days in the office when I would be very happy to spend an afternoon sat by a small pond catching 5 lbers

Use a neutral bouyancy ball insead of a cork ball, or balance the ball before you put paste round it or it will pop up if any small fish pick off bits of paste and the hooklength will swivel up of the bottom.... If you are using firm paste and re-casting relatively frequently then a matchstick 3/8" ( sorry - 10mm) long tied on the end of the hair is ideal to mould the paste round.

If your enjoying yourself J.G. then go for it - fishing a quiet puddle in the company of nice people - isn't that what it's all about ? We all started somewhere and I guess a lot of us have fished the odd garden pond along the way.

You can soak in either, hot water will clean the hemp up a bit but cold is fine. This is the kinder way to cook hemp. Hemp does not need to be soaked so if you want to speed things up get down the boot fair and buy yourself a Prestige pressure cooker, half fill with hemp - top up with water - stir it all in to wet it all then bring up to pressure using the heaviest weight. When the cooking weight lifts take off the heat (carefully) and you'll have split hemp. Get two pressure cookers and you can be heating one while you let the other de-presurise. I used to get a system going and it was no distraction to cook a few gallons while bait rolling. If you cook it about three days before a trip it will be nice and milky when you use it. This method is great for French trips etc as you keep the weight down. Its worth buying new seals for the cooker ! Dont know if you've come across it yet but some people (mainly the female of our species) seems to develop very bad headaces when hemp is being boiled, but thats another problem !!!

You can get a cheap GPS for about £ 100 which will get you back to fishing spots and onto the beach if the fog comes in as long as you've remembered to press the "mark" buttom and set the slipway location in! A compass will get you to shore but even a cheap hand held GPS will put you on the slip in the fog/mist or dusk if you get caught out ..... Ask the local boat owners for GPS numbers for wrecks and better ground etc. They'll be more than happy to give you the well known ones. Get to know any local diving club/s, they are an invaluable source of wrecks and fishing marks !

Some interesting points........ Another solution when fishing in heavy weed or near snags where there "may" be a problem with getting snagged up then use a "rotton bottom" on the lead. A short piece of 3lb line tied between lead and a swivel on the clip which will snap if the lead gets caught up - PVA the lead to the swivel on the clip for casting - its a bit fiddly particularly in the wet. But then if you want to cast into area we know is more challenging for us and the fish then its a minor issue. Play around with different line and breaking forces (shock loads and direct pull otherwise you'll get through a lot of leads on the retrieve !), an over hand knot in the middle of the short weak link will make sure it breaks repeatably.

A good tale and nice to hear that you had success. Regarding the backleads - you can make your own using one ounce ( OK 25grm ) drilled bullets and curtain hooks. These will not slide over most leadclips or beads. One problem that I have had is the back lead sliding down the line a bouncing the hook out as it hits the clip so always watch for this if you can as you bring the fish to the net.

Hi Guys Great idea but if technical stuff is gonna be posted prehaps it should be vetted by a group first. E.G. In the how to tye a hair rig you need to tell em that if they whip the round way round the eye the braid will cut on the end of the wire of the eye if you go the wrong way ? Please take this as constructive critism as I think the concept is good but we've gotta be accurate if this is gonna work......

Hmmmm - another possibility is that it could have been a fih towing line. If, as you say, there were no takes on the lake it would be unlikely that these guys had feeding fish over both baited areas ? You were there - does this fit ? I do agree with you observations and have fed fish on the surface myself on gravel pits where you never see them on the edge when anglers are on the bank. I think this is far more commomn than most people think - I used to fish a syndicate water which was heavily fished but occasionally empty mid-week. If I walked the last half mile down to the lake and climbed a tree you could see fish feeding along the margins under you. On several occasions anglers would turn up and the sound of their car or the crash of the gate was sufficient to make the fish melt away. During any quiet time the fish will relax - our problem these days is these times are few and far between.

Hi Frankie All the bait advice is good, they will all work in different situations but you do need to establish if the fish have been fished for before or grown up in the lake without being fished for - each senario will need a different approach. Hemp will work above everything else to get the fish in front of you....... how you get them to pick up the hook is down to you Plumbing - said it before - get a copy of Rod Hutchinsons " Carp - Now and Then " one of the best books written on the approach to topography of lakes and behaviour of fish. Good Luck

Ok lads, if you go into a car dealer an buy a car do you haggle ? Yeh, of course you do. If you pay list price for some of this gear then you may want to haggle a bit and support your local tackle shop as they're always willing to do a deal but have to list named brands at set pricing. Part of a dealer agreement, Ford, any of the tackle trade, you name it, they will set a high market price if we let them. Go into your local shop and ask for a deal, they're not going to offer you money off if you dont ask are they ? unless of course you go in there regularly and support them so they get to know you ? If you go to the cheap mail order deals all the time and dont let your local dealer try and match it then they'll struggle to stay in business and we all loose out. Price vs Demand - and they'll always make more gear than we can buy ????? Bait's a bit different - it costs as much to roll it as do the materials - then you've got to package it and get it to the customer. And what do you do from October to March ?

Hi Comus Time - spending time on a water with a plumbing rod in your hand for a few hours a couple of times a week. This time of year you will not disturb other anglers. You'll find spots to fish in the summer and be watching the water much keener than just walking round the lake. Spend an hour in each swim to start with - noting any features - not just depth but what the bottom feels like. Write EVERYTHING down, even if you just bump across the bottom for no reason or you pull through slightly softer silt. I often use two plumbing rods so you can put one on a spot and cast around it with the other. Even a flat lake bottom has features, build that up in your minds eye and you'll cast those spots with your eyes closed when the fish are in your chosen swim. Good Luck

I agree with Budgie on this I use to regularly fish with a mate and we would find that lines in the water reduced or even stopped takes on some lakes we fished due to the fish just not going into an area where lines were. Less often means more on the more pressured waters You certainly can fish with 4 rods very successfully if you're prepared for it and I have for many years. But only fish with as many rods as you can think with - i.e. if you forget where it is and what its doing you shouldnt have cast it out. Take 3 or 4 rods but only fish them if you know they are a benefit not a hinderance.

Try this one http://www.greatweather.co.uk/ the guy that runs this has been going for many years and fings all the free acces sites on the net which are listed in his site. loads of data including world wide stations