Steve Walker

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.

You can say that again. 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.

Damn, I binned two out of date tubs I had in the fridge without even thinking of bait.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.

Are you thinking of *Salmon Fry Crumb*? I think that is for feeding Salmon fry rather than consisting of them. It's a good bait ingredient anyway. Distinctly possible!

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.

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.

I'm sure I've seen powdered salmon fry for sale.

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.

I've seen one used very effectively to get baits into a far bank feature you couldn't cast into or easily get into with a rolling lead. Still doesn't seem like cricket, though.

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. 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Interesting paper on eel growth rates here: http://www.eurocbc.org/98312BI%20Eelgrowth...le&Reynolds.pdf

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.

One imagines it'll smart a little Seriously though, the wound (i'm told) will be extremely painful. Also, the venom can cause localised temporary paralyis and may in some cases cause death to the young/frail/elderly 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?

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/Quiver 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.

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 #20

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

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?

Jeff, what you say is undoubtedly true. In particular, water quality in rivers has improved dramatically. From my own experience, the Tame, Goyt and Etherow tributaries of the Mersey now all hold worthwhile stocks, and even the Mersey itself. The story for the lower Thames is similar, and I understand the Trent is a lot cleaner than it used to be. We should be careful, however, of attributing all of this improvement to licensing. In my opinion, the single greatest contribution to the improvement of water quality was the separation of the enforcement (gamekeeper) and sewage treatment (poacher)roles previously both held by the water authorities. It has been the independent scrutiny by the NRA and subsequently the EA, and to a lesser degree the pressure applied by Ofwat which has forced the privatised water companies to clean up their act. It's true that the money to fund restocking programmes has come largely from license fees, but the core requirement of clean water is a duty of the EA independent of its fisheries role. Restocking enormously speeds the recovery of a fishery, and is always welcome. I remember fishing the upper Tame for roach one summer and being amazed to catch a small chub every chuck. A chat with the local fisheries officer confirmed that they'd put them in. As long as there are breeding populations still living somewhere in a river system, though, with time and clean water it will recover anyway. The point is that clean rivers are not just for anglers. They benefit people who want to canoe or birdwatch or explore the wildlife under the pebbles or just sit by the bank with their toes in the water. The regulation of discharges into rivers had to happen whether anglers cared or not. We have an analogous situation with beach water quality, and that seems to be improving. I don't think we have an analogous situation with commercial overfishing because the public by and large don't give a toss. So, where the freshwater anglers got the improvements they wanted, because they were improvements everyone wanted, I'm not sure that sea anglers will be so lucky. The key, I think, is to find out who *does* care, and gang up with them. Bird people seem concerned about industrial fishing of small species. Lots of people care about sea mammals. Is there an umbrella organisation to bring these parties together? [ 28. June 2005, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: Steve Walker ]

Not forgetting predatory birds. I was watching what I think was a common tern catching fry this evening. There were also some grebes tucking in. I haven't seen kingfishers on the lakes, but I've seen them on nearby streams, and herons are never far away. There are also insects; dragonfly nymphs and particularly diving beetle larvae will take quite large fry. Water scorpions too, though they're not so common. It's a wonder any of them survive, really, but given how many eggs are produced, it's just as well.

Fished it again tonight, very quiet. Hardly any bubbling, though lots of porpoising and rolling. Not many bites. Got one tench of 6lb 8oz just as it was getting too dark to see the float. Funny old game, innit?