Dales

I would opt to play safe and go to the lake

I can't comment about Thames Perch as never fished it. However, I have had a lot of Perch and Pike from lock cuts and canalised river sections when it has been coloured up and high. The one thing I would note, is that almost all the fish I have caught in these conditions have been from areas that have produced for me at other times. Known areas that hold fish. Trying new sections to me has often drawn a blank. So my assumption is that they will stay in the same area as normal if they can. I dont think all the text book theories about fish moving to calmer areas works out on all waters. I don't think I would bother fishing a new area in those conditions but would give it a go if I had fished the spot before or had reliable information about it and was desperate to get out. These days, I think I would just try a local still water until conditions improved. I think the current is the main problem when the water is high and coloured. I would add that I have never had a Perch below 2lb in those conditions but that might be more to do with the odd composition of fish sizes in my area. All the fish seem to be tiddlers (Chublets, Minnows, Bleak, Ruff, Gudgeon or good sized Perch, Chub and Bream. Although, Ruff seem to feed well in those conditions even with a good current bombing through, so the odd small fish is still on the cards.

Not much fun at the moment. I was fishing on Saturday, it lashed it down. I rather stupidly thought overcast skies and plenty of rain would = Zander. Not even a touch at sunset and stupid decision number 2, I fished on in to darkness for an hour or two. So ended up packing up in the dark, wet, cold and without a single fish. I feel the cold these days so may well end up a bit of a fair weather fisherman. However, I am hoping to do some Pike fishing on the local resevours even if it's only short half day sessions.

Great pics and sounds like a top days fishing. There is something special about those days when you get a mix of fish and anything can be on the end of your hook when the float disappears.

lol I remember moaning before to mates that my PVA bags kept melting. I was putting sweet corn in them. Been on the beer the night before and wondered why wet corn was melting the bags

Does anyone remember flavoured PVA bags? I think they were called Flavour'em. They were supposed to have flavouring in the actual PVA as fish would be put off the bitter taste of PVA I think they were all fruit flavoured, strawberry etc. Ok, I almost get the idea of putting flavouring in the PVA material but also why would you when you plan to add your own inside the bag. I love PVA bags, mesh, tape, string, nuggets. I love it all but I never bought "flavoured PVA" Don't know if its still a thing but I though of this thread when I ordered a load of mesh from ebay. What stuck in my mind about it was the claims they made despite the actual facts. Lets ignore that millions of fish have been caught using PVA bags, the fish may be put off by the bitter taste! How do they know fish find PVA bitter? and if they do a lot seem to like the bitter taste. PVA is an amzing addition to modern angling/tackle but like everything some companies take it to far with their marketing and making unnecessary "improvements" to get a few more bucks. Best of all, I remember one of the advertising slogans. It went along the lines of it does not matter what flavoured offerings you put in the bag the fish will not be put off and still be attracted to the flavouring of the bag. It's the bag that attracts the fish.It does rather beg the question, why put anything in the bag if its flavouring of the bag that attracts the fish. Plus why make a bag if you dont need to add anything, why not just a nugget of supper flavoured PVA. BITTER TASTING PVA Wonderful, flavoured just a bit ridiculous. Well the claims about bitter PVA certainly are.

Thanks everyone, it's good to be back.

I'm not to bad at the moment. I had a few issues over the last 2 years and had to take 6 months of work and had a number of heart operations. I am now the proud owner of 2 mechanical heart valves. I did ask the surgeon for camo ones but not sure if he gave them to me or not. I do like to think they are DPM or Realtree. I enjoyed re-reading some of that thread. I will read a bit more latter, we certainly used to have some good fun threads. I only just returned to fishing a few weeks ago and so hopefully will pop in to Anglers Net a bit more. Coincidently, the first water I visited was a local water that I had not visited for over 20 years that is suppossed to now have a few cats in but is mainly a carp water. I was after the cats as its a species I always wanted to fish for but never really found the time for. As, I gave up all my old tickets, I should have some time for them now. Anyway, the bailiff on this water recommend stonze and chod rogs as the water was weedy and had a lot of silt. Apparently stonze will not sink in to the silt as much as ordinary weights. I never checked to see if they sold stonze or similar stones in the on-site tackle shop. But lots of people were fishing chod rigs or bolt rigs with stonze. Any way my preference is for square leads for no other reason then I like the shape. Sorry, I should have used the correct carp term "Dice" When, I was sorting my tackle, I did find some "stonze" in the shed. I can't remember buying them or being given them. Going through tackle that has not been used or seen for 2 years can be both messy and interesting. The amount of things I looked at and thought. Why? What did I think I was doing? And no, it certainly was not me who bought the stonze.

I rather like those distance sticks, not so keen on the over fity quid part. Even if they were extremly cheap, I'm not sure I would buy actual "distance sticks" when something else would suffice. However, from using sticks before I have struggled to find them to measure out my line Even with bank sticks, some times I have really had to try to find them. That might say more about my eye site then anything else but using something that is easy to see is a good idea unless you are a secret squirrel and dont want some one else working out the distance to your spot. I have a couple of those pen rods for using on holiday when I dont want to take any tackle but at the same time want something just in case. Are anglers ever not fishing in their heads and getting stuff for just in case? I have one pen reel loaded with 25lb braid and one with 2lb line. With the braid, I often end up hand lining biggish fish as you have little actual control with big fish. I just like the idea of using a rod as an actual small hand line would work better but often fishing is how you catch and not actually what you catch.

It took me a while to come around to having the confidence to fish with just fake baits and so went around the usual combining it with food valve bait (ie boilie topped with fake corn) However, once you have used it with some success then it becomes a very valuable tool in certain circumstances. As already stated its good when after fish that "hoover up" bait with corn being my favourite. When, I have been reasonably confident of catching, I have fished with just a small polystyrene ball on a hook to negate the weight of the hook. When fish are feeding it has often out fished real bait or imitation bait that looks real! It is just really about making the hook neutral so they suck it in with all the goodies, grounbait etc. I have also had very good results on fake maggots and have used them a lot in the past. My most surprising odd catches are Perch on fake worms. I tried it a few years ago after running out of real bait maggots and worms on a gravel pit when the Perch were feeding hard and I managed quiet a few. Just leaving a plastic worm out would eventually get a Perch bite. Oddly, twitching the bait did not make any real difference and induce many bites. I could have used the plastic worms more effectively but then it would have been "lure fishing" which was not allowed. Fishing can be wierd, catching Perch on a static plastic worm left on the deck and similarly strange Pike on a static spoon left on the deck has given me more enjoyable memories then catching them on conventional methods. I have managed to catch a few Perch since at other venues on a fake worm left out but its more for novelty value then any great faith in it as a bait. However, I have great confidence in fake corn and maggots and always have them in my tackle bag.

Many thanks Steve, for the opportunity to fish Wingham. Like others, I have very fond memories of my time spent there. I wish both you and Peggy a long and happy retirement.

I watched the series and enjoyed it. It's certainly not the best fishing program by a mile but I don't think it set out to be a fishing program per se or a comedy program for that matter. I just think it is was a general bit of entertainment without being particularly aimed at a certain audience. However, I did watch it from an odd perspective and if they did have a target audience, I probably ticked every box. I enjoy fishing, watch almost anything on TV to do with fishing no matter how bad and had open heart surgery last year. So from my point of view, it made very topical and entertaining watching and I probably found more amusement in the little things in it then a casual viewer. So when Bob referred to himself as having the more senior operation and was almost boasting about it or Paul was counting out his pills, I found it highly amusing and that black humour very typical of many of the heart patients I have met. Plus, I had the little voice in my head being critical of their procedures making watching it even more fun. Doing its best Monty Python impression, my internal voice was saying "Tis but a flesh wound" when Bob reffered to his triple bypass operation. If nothing else, its a reminder that eventually you just need to get on with things when you have a set back. I'm mildy curious to see if Bob takes up fishing and so I hope they get another series.

Happy Christmas everyone and all the best for the new year.

I don't eat fish, which seems to amaze non-anglers. You fish and you don't even eat them. So for me, it would be. Sausage in Batter Cornish Pasty Sausage Roll

No, the guy in the article.