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.

I want to know what else he believes!

I am sure that wasp grubs are a great bait but maybe just to much effort. I am yet to find a species of fish that will not eagerly devour the humble maggot or worm. So much easier to walk in to a shop and order a pint of maggots rather then tackle a wasps nest and most likely catch just as much. Most fish are happy to feast on any kind of insect, grub etc. I have fished enough abroad with no obvious supply of bait and any beatle, ant, cricket, flying insect, moth you can find will catch fish. Those big red ant nests you find in trees and bushes in Asia are great bait both the ants and eggs. I think they are Weaver Ants? Well what ever they are called they make great bait, collect the eggs and a few ants as bait and chuck the nest in as ground bait. You will catch loads of fish but if I could just walk in to a tackle shop in Malaysia or Thailand and order a few pints of maggots, I would certainly not waste my time getting bitten by ants. I think it was Budgie who once said about super baits they become a self fulfilling prophecy, some one catches with a certain bait, word gets around and more and more people start to use it and so more and more fish get caught with it and soon that bait becomes known as the best bait for a certain species. I often hear people wax lyrical about wasp grub and chub but how many big chub are caught on bread, boilie, pellet, maggot etc? Saying that I have never fished with wasp grub in the UK and so might be missing out. However, I have used it in other countries and have not found it any better or worse then other similar "meaty baits".

Many thanks to Steve for giving me a place at the Fish-In and for giving me a very good swim that maybe I did not make the most of. Thanks also go to Glyn, Terry and all the bailiff team and other helpers who help to put this event on every year. Special thanks to Peggy for the excellent spread of food at the BBQ's and Steve Campbell (Wyeknot) for the warm welcome and coffee and bacon butty on arrival. It's a very nice and appreciated way to start the weekend. I also must thank those who who contributed items to the auction, which allowed me to pick up some nice bits. Special thanks to whoever donated the Book of the Perch (pretty sure is was Russ) which Steve B kindly signed and to Paul (tinca tinca) for the rod. Once Paul started waving his rod around the club house, i knew this lot was right up my street! Now to the fishing, as has already been reported the conditions where not good with most of the weekend been cold and windy. There was plenty of cloud cover which may have helped with the Perch fishing and I have generally done well when there has been a bit of chop on the water. The wind was blowing down the end I was fishing and or direct in to my face, so I did not even try float fishing but decided to ledger. I had plenty of bites over the weekend that I just could not connect with, all on lobs either short runs of a few inches on the bait runner of endless little bleeps. I would strike and the worm would come in completely intact. When bothered by small Perch, i would have expected the bait to be damaged to some degree. I lost count of how often this happened, very frustrating but I did manage some Perch but the bite to hooked fish ratio was very poor. I did manage a few Roach caught on the first night on fake corn, which did lead me to the theory that maybe the bleeps and small runs I was getting during the day might be Roach tugging at the worms but not able to fit them in their mouths? I did try scaling down my tackle and fishing small hooks an light hook lengths with maggot, corn and small dendras. These tactics did get a bite from anything. There was a small window of good weather on Sunday evening, when if felt warmer and the lake was like a mill pond, a big difference from the rest of the weekend and this offered a glimmer of hope that maybe the Tench would come on the feed but i did think it would be to little to late. This calmer weather did not last to long and by darkness the wind had picked up again and so I was surpised when I had a couple of male Tench under the cover of darkness, followed up by a small female around 7.00am. I may have made a poor decision after that catch as I decided to change all my rods from night baits, plastic or boiles to fish worm again to allow for a Perch catch. No further Tench was caught but the issue of small nagging bleeps and aborted runs continued. Hindsight is a great thing, on reflection I may have been better off leaving the plastic and boilies on and going back to bed rather then sitting out in the wind by the rods. Overall and considering how unfavourable the conditions where, I am happy enough with my mixed bag of fish. The scores on the doors are as follows. 18 Perch. Best of them 2 lb 10 oz 2 lb 14 oz 2 lb 9 oz All the others ranged between 1 lb 2 oz to 1 lb 12 oz. Sorry, Steve for bringing down the averages when so many 2 pounders where caught by everyone else. 3 Tench 4 lb 8oz (Male) 4 lb 5oz (Male) 5lb 6oz (Female) 2 Roach (not weighed but estimated at around 10 oz) 2 Jacks Overall, a very enjoyable weekend. It was good to catch up with old faces and hopefully look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

My favourite method for fishing while abroad from a beach or dock. A selection of feathered lures take up a lot less lugggage allowance then a selection of heavy spoons and rapala's. It's amazing the distanace you can get chucking a half filled bubble float.

I have just returned from a trip to Athens and things seem bleak there. I saw people picking over bins, hanging around fast food joints for the left overs when people left their table and beggars everywhere. Is the EU helping them, rightly or wrongly they see many of their problems and austerity measures as coming from the EU and Germany. One of the things I picked up on from the few people I talked to was that they know the EU does not care at all about the people living in it. Almost all wanted to talk Brexit and they are worried that they will be punished for our desistion if the EU does not give the UK a fair deal. They have seen tourism hit be people worried about all the migrants arriving. They expect the fall in the pound to effect the number of Brits going on holiday to Greece. If that is not enough of a concern they expect the EU to make life hard on the UK and so they will also feel the pain if tourism is hit further. They know from experience the EU does not care for its citizens only there project. In putting the boot in to the UK they will not care who else suffers. Greece is a good example of how the EU does not work. It will not just be the UK that suffers if the EU puts its principles before the care of its citizens.

I have caught big and small Pike on both big and small baits, so from my experience it does not seem to make a huge difference. But saying that I have never caught really BIG Pike and so it might make a difference for them. I agree with Phone's bait size and in general I use baits around 6" to 8" if targeting Pike and may go bigger or smaller if that is not working.

Even though I prefer a more overcast day for predator fishing, I think I would still go out and target Perch, Chub, Zander or Pike with lures on a bright warm Autumn day. Once the weather gets worse, I will stay put and fish a more static approach but while its warm and decent conditions it can be a pleasure to wonder casting a lure for waht ever comes along.

Maybe he should employ Shami Chakrabarti to write a report clearing him of all wrong doing.

One thing that the whole Brexit debate teaches us is that EU intergration will never work fully. At best it is a wonderful naive dream of a bright future or at worse a corrupt machine devised to benefit certain interests. I can't claim that they will never attain a certain degree of intergration but it will be a case of hammering square pegs in to round holes. If you consider how long the United kingdom has been together and how divided we are on EU membership, how can you expect all of Europe to some how intergrate fully. The English, Scots, Welsh and Irish have so much shared history and we are not even fully intergrated and do not share the same vision. Even within England there is a huge gulf in views between London and other parts of England. Scotlands wish to be part of the EU does raise a smile as they seem to want to have a certain seperation or independence within the UK and have seperate laws/rules from us but at the same time want to give them away to another organisation. If we cant agree within a small. Countries within the EU fail to intergrate their own citizens, yet we are some how expected to believe that it can work on a massive multi country based level. Its hard to predict what the full financial impact of leaving will be. We may be better off or worse off but the major thing that a certain amount of remain voters struggle to understand is that a lot of Brexiters accepted that we may end up financialy worse off but that some resemblence of control of our borders and make up of the country was worth the cost. i fully understand that politicians will not ignore the 48% that voted to stay in and will some how have to try to appease them. However, what many will need to consider is that most of the 54% that voted out done so on immigration. Remainers voted on a number of reasons both social and economic. I know remainers who accepted the economic reasons to stay and so voted to remain but would have liked compromise and more control on free movement. Those sort of voters will accept exit if it works for the economy. i guess those who belief in free movement will never accept brexit if it adds control. My thoughts are that for all the hard nosed EU remainers who want the full package there are those who will only care how things pan out for them financialy. Leave voters have a red line on immigration and free movement. It is going to be very hard to sell any form of comprimise on that. I expect them to try but for all those "brexit regretters" who voted out and wished they voted in, there are those who wished they voted the otherway. I know remain voters who have seen what has happened in Germany and France over the last few weeks and are glad that leave won. Leaving will not save us from this sort of thing, but staying in when the EU can not or will not control its outer border offers nothing in tackling the problem. I have no wish to see the EU fail and hope some how it sorts itself out for the benefit of EU citizens but should it go wrong I think it could be tied back to one decision Merkel inviting the world to Germany. It's not only the knock on effect it will have on the rest of Europe but it spelled out that her and Germany are more important then the rest of the block. It dispelled the idea of a union working together as surely such an important decision that effects members staes should be made together as a united EU. She knew large parts of the EU would vote such as an idea down and so done it herself. In doing so she has made one of the biggest decisions ever to effect Europe on her own and ignored the rest of the EU. If a stupid brexiter like me can see what a huge arrogant move this was by her, how long will it take the clever people to work it out and get just a little miffed about it. To be honest, I think she made the decision for the best of reasons but this is something that effects the whole EU and so if you are going to have an EU that wants intergration and works for the good of its citizens then this is the sort of thing that should be a joint decision as the consequences are going to be felt by every member.

Great stuff Ken, it's always a frill catching something new.