Sportsman

It just tells you about the state of politics in the US in general and the republicans in particular. It has just been shown that the esteemed Mr Trump defrauded the US government of 500 million dollars. In a decent society he would be in prison. He must laugh himself to sleep every night at the fact that his supporter are so gullible.

Most of this should have been done before article 50 was triggered. The picture in this link from July 2017 sums it up for me. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/17/brexit-talks-uk-underprepared-david-davis-michel-barnier-eu

When I look at the almighty pigs ear that this "government" has made out of Brexit I am rapidly coming around to Chester's suggestion of stringing them all up from lampposts. I would start with Boris Johnson, a man quite happy to sacrifice his principles and his country's welfare for his personal ambition. BTW, can we string up MEPs as well Chesters?

John I know what you mean. I buy almost all of my tackle second hand these days, for the same reason.

disturbing Reports in NYT indicate that just about everything Trump has ever claimed is lies and that he is a con man and fraudster. And no-one seems to care. They just shrug and say "so what, we knew that anyway" He is desperately trying to lever a sympathetic ear onto the Supreme Court so that when the dung hits the windmill, as it surely will, there will be someone there to keep him out of jail. And no one cares. The USA must be one of the most politically corrupt countries on Earth.

So Boris is prepared to sacrifice anything (including his principles and his country) and anyone in pursuing his divine right to be Prime Minister. He forces May into calling a snap election, which she loses and Corbyn become PM. Couldn't happen?

Apart from basic fishing tackle the only thing I have to take is my chair. I can't stand for more than a few minutes and can't walk more than a couple of hundred metres, so it also means I can't carry loads of kit very far. The only swims I can fish have to have decent access for a car, or I need to take a good friend. John, I have used a Korum accessory chair for years now. I have side table, feeder arm and under/over rests for the pole. Not the lightest but does everything.

Thanks Martin, but the pellets seem to attract the carp more than the more natural baits

John Thanks, I would love to use casters but just can't get them here. Maybe you could send me the occasional Red Cross parcel. My most successful baits for the "normal" bream have been worm tipped with maggot and hair rigged maize, rather than sweetcorn. I fish the worm hair rigged with a quickstop and two or three maggots on the hook

I regularly order things from China. If I am in a hurry I will order from France or the UK and buy the same thing, made in the same factory in China, but I will have to pay more for the privilege.

Thanks again for the ideas.I have noticed at this venue that the carp boys using pellets/boilies seldom, if ever, catch bream. I fish for the bream using a standard groundbait feeder approach with worm maggot or sweetcorn hookbaits and seldom, if ever, catch carp. The problem is that the bream I catch run from 8oz skimmers to 5lb plus. Nice fishing and I enjoy it, but I am looking to target the bigger fish that I know exist in the lake. Wingham was a special case with very low stock density of very large fish so if they caught a bream it was likely to be a good one. The idea of spombing out a bed of particles and fishing say a bomb rather than a feeder and using artificials is an interesting one that I have tried on carp, but have never really had much faith in, maybe I should try it again. There are also sturgeon in the lake, as I discovered when I tried using 10mm halibut pellet over a bed of pellets. The problem is standard feeder gear doesn't give you much chance of landing them. Maybe a more carp orientated technique with light carp gear is more appropriate. The lake is a 7 acre day ticket water that doesn't get fished much, often I am the only one fishing and I am, as far as I know, the only one fishing for bream. Phone, I live in the land of big carp specialist lakes and to be honest have been there and done that. With a PB approaching 50lb (caught, I might add, on a single piece of maize on the hook) I am not as interested as I once was. I am quite enjoying the dink fishing. I just wish that the dinks were a little bigger now and again.

Thanks for that. Bet what you like I'll catch the carp.

There used to be quite a lot of interest on here in fishing for larger bream. I have discovered a lake, not too far away, that has been stocked with large bream, some in double figures. There are a lot of specimen commercial carp fisheries around here and their clients don't want bream, so they are netted out and disposed of. The owner of this lake very kindly accepted therm to put into his lake. There is also a good head of "normal" sized bream. My PB of a bit over 7lb came from here, but I would love one twice the size and I know they exist. Any tips regarding groundbait, hookbaits, methods and anything else will be appreciated. BTW, there are also a lot of carp to 20 lb which tends to complicate matters.

We haven't had any proper rain since May. Supposed to rain today but haven't seen any yet.

Afraid so. In the modern version they have a daughter and she becomes president etc.

Chesters1 Don't kid yourself. They don't hate, they are not frightened, in fact the vast majority don't care. There are 27 countries in the Union once the UK has left and the population is are much more interested in what is going on with them. It's strange, but you never see anything about brexit on the news or in a newspaper. You will leave and the rest of Europe will carry on regardless.

" It is pointless to make economic forecasts for the next 15 years" "This is the economic forecast for the next 15 years" How are these two statements compatible?

I see the front runner is another old Etonian, Jacob Rees Mogg. The man who said not long ago that it was pointless making financial predictions for the next 15 years after Brexit and who now is saying the the UK will be 1.6 trillion better off after a no-deal Brexit. A figure that he plucked from somewhere, hopefully the air, but I have my doubts, I think it was somewhere more fundamental than that. Maybe he meant that he personally would profit greatly from a no-deal Brexit. He is is a partner in a fund that invests in emerging economies that would benefit greatly if the UK was forced to take any deals with anyone at all after brexit.

Martin Do you really believe that Putin would launch a nuclear attack on the UK if it wasn't for the subs?

Can you imagine starting a new business with no clear idea of what you want to do, no goals, no business plan and no knowledge of the subject? Most new businesses fail within the first two years and most have all of the above. Good luck

Oh come on John, you can't leave it there....

Martin Who are these "awesome bits of kit" supposed to defend you from? Successive Prime Ministers have said that they would only ever be launched as retaliation for an attack that was taking place, so if you look at a list of countries that have nuclear capability, who do you think is likely to launch an attack? There is only one that I can see and that is Russia and as Russian oligarchs now own large parts of London they are unlikely to attack their own property. BTW, I do understand about MAD and the deterrent effect. That means that if the missiles were ever launched, we have already lost. Meanwhile a much more serious threat is the idea of a terrorist group building a suitcase bomb or dirty bomb and attacking any big city. How will your subs cope with that?. It would have been a much better idea to have spent the billions that have been wasted on these white elephants on beefing up intelligence to counteract the genuine terrorist threat. Lastly, the EU already has access to a nuclear defence, in France.

John There are certainly Zander in the river Blavet. How many or what size I don't know. They are fished for by French anglers because they are very good to eat, so any that are caught are unlikely to go back. I doubt stock levels are particularly high.

Hi John Sorry to hear of your personal issues but glad you are getting back on the bank. It does you good, in my experience. I understand your frustration with the fishing shops, but if your requirements are that specific the I am afraid that buying on-line is likely to be your only choice. It has been my only choice for a number of years now and works well for me. If it is only terminal tackle then there are lots of suppliers who can provide what you want. This is a company that I use pretty regularly and goods and service has been excellent. https://www.matchmansupplies.co.uk/coarse-match/floats/running-line-river-floats All the best Dave

I have fished the river Blavet near Pontivy and the Nantes/Brest canal in the same area Most local anglers only fish for Pike and Zander that they take for the pot, so very little coarse fishing going on, at least by UK standards. The Blavet, reckoned at one time to be the best coarse river in France, is slow moving in this area. Access is good as it has a towpath all along one bank. You will need a licence to fish anywhere but in private lakes. Licenses are €10 a day or €30 a week, available online. I wouldn't fish without one as you are much more likely to be checked than you are in the UK. Fishing fairly short sessions I have caught 50lbs of bream and roach without too much trouble. Bream to 5 1/2 pounds and Roach to one and a half pounds on simple cage feeder with worm maggot or sweetcorn on the hook. I also got broken more than one occasion by large carp. These are pretty much wild fish, probably never been caught and fight like crazy.