Steve Walker
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Posts posted by Steve Walker
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Hmm. You could be right, I've never used the Avon top for smaller species; if I'm legering I'll use the quiver, and if I'm float fishing for them, I'll use a match rod. The avon top is used for my tench fishing and for fishing big floats for chub. It won't cast a light waggler or stick. The quiver works fine for smaller species: see below!Steve Burke:
Just to show rods are personal things, I won a Mk.1 John Wilson Avon some years ago for some catch or other. The quivertip top was fine, but I found the hollow Avon top stiff and lifeless.
Certainly, it would have been unsuitable for ledgering for the smaller species such as roach and perch, let alone most of the float fishing I do. Despite being rated for 3 to 6lb line, I reckon it was more suited to barbel fishing and 5 to 10lb line.
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The other question with a beginner is where to take them; somewhere really easy, or somewhere with a bit of challenge. The temptation must be to head for a carp puddle, but that just seems wrong to me. I gave Iain the option, and he picked the hard water with big tench (and blanked) but then he's a good twenty odd years older than your beginner and probably a bit more patient.
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I've just helped a mate buy a rod of this type. We were looking for the JW; I've had the mkI version for years and, cheese apart, think it's a brilliant bit of kit. I assumed that pretty much every local shop would stock them, since they seem to be so popular, but there were none to be found.
We tried a few other similar rods. Some of those marketed as barbel rods were 1.75lb test curve jobs, and while fine for barbel were just a bit too stiff for what I had in mind.
We eventually found a 1.5lb TC Daiwa model for 70 quid which felt good in the shop. It's not seen a fish yet, but I had a couple of casts with it and it feels very nice. I think the stiffer rods would have struggled to cast waggler gear on the Avon tip.
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You can say that again.john frum:
I wish I could say the same thing about the local beach fishing, which is just depressing.
A friend of mine wanted to learn to fish, so the wife and I bought him a basic beach kit for his birthday, and we started getting in a couple of trips a month to the coast. First couple of trips the whiting were in, and we caught loads. Since then, it's been rubbish.
He's decided he wants to try coarse fishing too, so on Saturday I went with him to the tackle shop and helped him spend his money
Almost as good as buying yourself new kit, that. He came out with a very nice twin-tip Avon/Quiver, shimano reel, rod bag, rucksack, landing net, etc, and a club card. We fished the local tench lake last night. Bit frustrating,in that there was a huge amount of bubbling going on but quite few bites and hard to hit. I think the clarity of the water is a problem. I ended up with two tench of about 2 and 4 pounds, and a little perch, and lost one fish.
Even though he blanked, he's decided he much prefers it to beach fishing; he saw some fish caught, and could see from the activity in the swim that there were plenty more to be caught. I think we have another recruit.
I'm keeping an eye on the beach catch reports, and we'll give it another go when there are some fish coming out, but when you compare the cost of a trip to the coast in bait and petrol with a high probability of blanking with a five minute drive to the lake and a tin of sweetcorn, it's not very tempting.
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Damn, I binned two out of date tubs I had in the fridge without even thinking of bait. I bet it would work well as a groundbait additive for tench.
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Same effect that lets you see dim stars by looking to the side of them; if you look straight at them, they disappear. I get the same thing with an unilluminated float as it gets almost too dark to see it.ayjay:
The phenomenon of the apparently moving isotope is all down to the way your eye focuses on it.
Briefly, the part of your eye that sees it in the dark is not the part of your eye that would normally focus on it, therefore once you have been watching it for a while and your eye realises that it can see something in the dark, it (your eye) tries to re-focus with the part of the eye that would normally focus on the isotope and hence it appears to move.
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Australia and rabbits over again, I should think. Either that or the enormous populations are transient and eventually settle down at a lower stable level.
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I've seen small (2-3 inch long) perch doing exactly that to roach almost too big to eat, just beating hell out of their tails. It looks more like an attempt to disable than an attempt to grab.BUDGIE:
I often live bait for them and what I have seen convinces me that perch will often try to disable a bit to livly or large a prey by attacking the tail of the fish.You get it all the time on carp or mini trout lives.
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Perch populations seem particularly variable, probably because of the effect of cannibalism. I guess we've all seen waters where one year class of perch does well and devours all of the young for several seasons to follow.Steve Burke:
Thanks, Steve. I'll have a look now.
I've researched growth rates and longevity of perch before, but not for some years. Unfortunately the data was inclusive and often contradictory.
I think there may also be a lot of genetic diversity between populations; for example, a former colleague studying O-group perch found that Windermere perch fry were hard to keep in captivity, but fish from (IIRC) the Ouse were much more tolerant.
Thinking about it, there might be some data on Windermere perch. They've got long term data for pike, but they might also have some perch data. It might be worth you writing to Ian Winfield at CEH Windermere (the old Institute of Freshwater Ecology / Freshwater Biological Association site) to see if they can give you any information.
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This may be of interest:
http://staff.science.uva.nl/~aroos/downloa.../ProcRoy04b.pdf
It's looking at the effect of cannibalism on growth rates of individual year classes of eurasian (ours) and yellow perch and pike. It's an attempt to fit a model to data from the literature rather than a new data set, but you may be able to chase down the references if you want the primary literature.
Some interesting data in there, though.
Steve
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Fantastic tench, Steve, well done.
I must put in some effort to get a really big tench from the club waters. I know that there are some huge fish in some of the lakes, and I suspect that my favourite lake isn't one of them. There seems to be one dominant cohort of tench; a couple of years ago, every fish was a four-pounder, and they're now running 5.5 to 6.5. Trouble is, I like that lake (character-wise) and I've learnt it. All the lakes are gravel pits, and some of those I suspect of holding bigger fish are a bit characterless.
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2002? That would explain it, I lived in the Lakes from '94 to '97 (ish).
The ban sounds a lot like stable door slamming. Certainly Bassenthwaite and Windermere supported large populations of coarse fish at that time. Lots of roach in Windermere and lots of roach and disgusting ruffe in Bass. God knows how ruffe got in there, they'd hardly be my first choice for pike bait, and I can't imagine them being stocked deliberately.
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I used to fish the Severn at Ironbridge.
Most productive way was to fish the feeder with hemp and caster for barbel and chub.
Best sized barbel and chub on legered luncheon meat.
Most fun, hemp and caster under a big wire stemmed stick float for chub, dace and roach. You need plenty of bait for this or for the feeder.
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I wasn't aware of any specific rule when I lived there, and I've used Ullswater minnows to catch Ullswater perch and trout. I found that they were the only things the minnows wouldn't devour.
There have been problems in a number of lakes with species accidentally introduced as livebait, and I suspect that any blanket livebaiting ban which is in force has to be a complete ban to be enforcible.
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Interesting paper on eel growth rates here:
http://www.eurocbc.org/98312BI%20Eelgrowth...le&Reynolds.pdf
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I've also got the original green one, and agree. Brilliant rod, it gets more use than any other I own. I love the progressive action when playing fish, the way that it's soft enough for river roaching but with enough guts in reserve to handle big fish.
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When I was very young (about 6 years old), I spent a few months staying with relatives who were working in the United Arab Emirates. There are three fish-related memories I have; one is seeing someone catch a gurnard-like fish from the beach, and being fascinated. Another is visiting the fish market and seeing a shark bigger than me. The other is seeing someone dragged from the sea in a lot of pain after he stood on a stingray. *NOT* pleasant.How do people handle stingray when they catch them?
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It comes with two tips, one with a spliced in quivertip and one with a threaded tip ring (into which you can optionally screw a swing/quiver/spring tip). It's a quiver with the former fitted, and avon with the latter. Hence Avon/Quiverleedsunited:
And with his avon rod, can this rod be used for float fishing and a variety of ways or does the built in quivertip stop the rod from being able to do this ?
You can float fish with the avon tip fitted. It's too stiff for light float work, but works a treat with a big enough float.
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I've been teaching a mate to fish recently, and while tying a hook on got "you're not even f****** looking at it!". That was beach fishing, tying an eyed 4/0. He's not had a go at coarse fishing yet, wait until he sees a spade end #20Emma:
I get frustrated sometimes because it's harder for me to do things than it is for him. You know, getting my cast exactly where I want it (and trust me, I'm fussy about that!) tying hooks, getting tricky baits to stay on the hook, getting the depth right, all that malarky.
My husband on the other hand can do all that blindfolded so is subject to less frustration.
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I've seen the locals fishing that way in the Balearics, using trebles, too. The fish are for the pot, so I suppose foulhooking opportunities are a bonus
I used a 13' match rod, loaded crystal waggler and a single hook, fishing flake on the drop and feeding mashed bread. Caught more than the locals were, too
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Yes, that was kind of my point; the water quality is being improved, but it isn't primarily for our benefit. Joe Public is bothered by bumping into stray turds when he's out for a swim, but is he bothered about fish stocks?spanner:
Steve,
The public does care about sea water quality just as much as it does with freshwater. Every sea-side resort tries to get a blue flag status for water quality to keep the public visiting its beaches.
They might be ignorant of the knock on effects in the marine environment but they do care about clean beaches and clean water.
Mind you it bu**ers up the worm beds all this clean water.
Old Mitchells etc
in Coarse Fishing
Posted
I've recently acquired a Shimano Exage 4000FA. When I was advising a mate on buying tackle, he was looking at a couple of reels, and I said "I'd have that one, if I were you. Wouldn't mind one myself.". Anyway, as a thankyou for helping him, he bought two and gave me one of them. Awfully nice bloke
Apart from the tacky bling gold bits, it's a lovely reel, and more than anything else it reminds me of the old Mitchell 300S I used to have; solid, smooth, front drag, a bit on the heavy side. Now, if only they came in black...
Reminds me, I must get this Mitchell 204 fixed. It needs a whole new bail arm assembly. The guys at reel care said they had the parts in stock, I should send it off to them while they still do.
[ 07. July 2005, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Steve Walker ]