Bob Bradford

No Barry I have not discounted your post 27, I will ask though ,have you raised this question with Angling Trust? Steve, I urge you to do likewise, you are using words like "probably" have you asked AT for a definitive answer mate?

A decent enough debate Elton, but I have yet to read, hear or be told of a compelling, factual reason NOT to join Angling Trust, I believe that is because that particular argument does not exist, fine if an angler chooses it is not for him, but it is hard to back that choice up with sound ,logical reasons for not doing so,........other than "I do not wish to". What seems to be a common factor when reading the various forums is a reluctance to contact http://www.anglingtrust.net directly and seek the facts , instead seeking the facts elsewhere and by default, picking up on other peoples opinions and views, thus clouding the issue somewhat.

Hi Steve, how you doing? I do not know anywhere near enough about the history of sea anglers to comment with any great authority, despite living right on the Norfolk coast! but I do know what I would do, I would be contacting the Angling Trust and asking them what their plans are, if I suspected data collected would be used against sea anglers I would ask why, and to what end, there is no doubt the sea anglers issue is very complex, with a heady mix of rod and line anglers ,small commercial anglers and the larger commercial anglers all wanting different things, for different reasons, compared to that little lot, freshwater anglers problems are simple! I think for me to comment further I need to study the issues facing sea anglers in greater detail. Good luck mate in whatever you decide.

Hear, Hear, Leon, it is always nice when anglers get a service they are prepared to pay for, the old ACA, now Fish Legal, have a glorious and successful history of fighting the polluters of Britain's waterways, they are worth £20 membership fee per annum alone, how some anglers can argue against joining them is surprising to say the least!

Hi Sharkbyte, I am sorry you have the advantage over me , I do not know your first name. The point I am trying to make is thus; Anglers stand a much greater chance of being heard if they are members of Angling Trust, as members they have every right to question where their membership money is spent, by not joining, how can non members raise that particular question fairly? Angling Trust is set up to represent all anglers, but anglers have to contribute, otherwise it cannot fulfill it's mandate, in the past, freshwater anglers have suffered at the hands of the NFA, particularly non match anglers, largely because it relied on enthusiastic, well meaning amateurs to operate, history has shown this results in a poor Governing body, they simply could not deliver the level of service demanded of them. Angling Trust is looking to become a slick,professional governing body, with paid ,full time staff pro-actively working for it's members and thus by default, non members. Logic dictates the more resources available to the Trust, the quicker the Trust will be able to deliver it's Mandate, it is a Chicken and egg situation to a degree, and to some extent a leap of faith, but ,and I do understand things are tight for some , yours truly included, but the individual membership fee is just £20 per annum, a look here; http://www.anglingtrust.net will quickly tell you that is an absolute bargain, with the opportunity to actually get your membership fee back with the innovative "Fish for Free scheme" available, I urge you, not by bullying, but urging, to reconsider, so that as anglers ,even though our angling interests are different, we can stand shoulder to shoulder and fight for what we believe in, Regards Bob, an ordinary member of Angling Trust and proud of it.

The question was asked on the TF site on a thread I started, I did not have the answer and pointed the questioner to the Angling Trust website, if people read the thread in it's entirety this is very clear, the questioner directly e-mailed Mark Lloyd , the answer was then posted for all to see, this was not a "Leak" Mark Lloyd answered as honestly as he could, the figures he quoted are "Projections" based on £1.2 million funds, all members of Angling Trust will be sent the full annual accounts , anyone questioning the integrity of Angling Trust or Mark Lloyd at this stage, is hardly being fair at all, the Trust is not even 2 weeks old, it is not operating on 100% capacity, there is much for them to do, I really do not understand all of the negative comments made on here, please give them a chance to deliver anglers to the promised land, I have joined and figure my £20 will help them to achieve this, what is the point of so much negativity, if it is not for you, then walk away, after all, you will not have invested in it, but please do not try to undermine the efforts of those that are trying their best to help angling and anglers , fully paid up members and non members alike, as a paid up member I will have a say, as a non member my views will not be heard. I am now a shareholder in Angling Trust and the fully paid professionals are answerable to it's members, there may well be the need to weed a few out , but this will take time, be patient and vigilant, and maybe ,just maybe, angling will have an organisation it will be proud of.........but that costs money and if that comes as a shock for some, I have to ask, what planet do you live on?

"Good God Mildred, that dog has a cock like a fire Hydrant!!!!!"

Thanks Budgie, I have sent you a PM..........this morning in fact mate!

I do apologise Elton, but i think you will agree, well worth repeating

A Trust For All Anglers By Press Release The merger of six angling and conservation bodies creating the Angling Trust, the new voice of angling, was completed to plan on Monday, January 5 2009. "It is an organisation angling has needed for many years," said Stephen Marsh-Smith, the first chairman of the Trust. "It represents more than a million regular coarse, game and sea anglers in England. Angling contributes £3.5 billion to the economy and supports 37,000 jobs." Embodying all the assets and staff of the legacy organisations, the trust will be publicly launched at 10 am next Wednesday, January 14 at the Fishmongers' Hall, London Bridge. Among the guests will be Martin Salter MP, the government's spokesman for angling and shooting. Dr. Marsh-Smith said nearly 2,500 individual anglers and clubs had already signed-up to the trust which would "run a forthright campaign to conserve marine and freshwater fisheries, promote and protect all recreational angling against commercial overfishing, habitat destruction, poaching and disease. "We also plan to develop coaching and education for new and experienced anglers, increase participation in national and international competitions and tackle the growing problem of the predators which attack our fisheries. "It is an ambitious programme but we believe anglers will support us and we are encouraged by the supportive messages we have already received," Dr. Marsh-Smith added. Individual membership is £20 a year which includes public liability insurance, newsletters and magazines. Members will be enrolled in Fish for Free (www.fishforfree.net) an innovative loyalty programme which generates credits for fishing equipment, permits and the freshwater rod licence. Clubs will be able to join Fish Legal which provides advice and takes action against polluters. Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust said: "Now that we have a single body for all anglers with comprehensive benefits, we look forward to their support and to working for and with them. We will only be able to do that if we have the mandate and the resources to do so." The Angling Trust's web site www.anglingtrust.net is now live and will be developed further over the next few weeks. Anglers can sign up on-line, by telephone or by post.

Hi Mathew, have you heard of the ADB? Angling Development Board, e-mail this guy, Robin.Darker@Anglingdevelopmentboard.org.uk also to help click on this; http://www.anglingtrust.net Regards Bob.

Fishery EA enforcement bailiffs are very thin on the ground, recently I have had reasons to contact the head man for Norfolk and Suffolk, Mr Rupert Pyett, he is based in Ipswich and he told me only the other week that he has 3 part time enforcement officers to cover Norfolk, they do 9 hours per week each! I Bailiff my local river Waveney club stretch at Dunburgh on behalf of my club www.bctac.co.uk go to the site and click on "latest news" there is a piece featuring a recent "hit" by Rupert and a colleague, Eastern Europeans have been removing fish stocks on a stretch of river ABOVE our waters, they leave behind all of their rubbish and mess, they build fires on the public footpath and generally, have no respect for our Country, I try to communicate with them and try to educate them into returning the fish they catch, back alive, to date not ONE of them has admitted that they have even caught a fish! they pretend to "No understand", I will state this however, most do possess a current EA rod licence, I know, because I ask them to show me. I am of the belief that some of our rod licence money is syphoned off to pay for "other stuff" the government have recently cut back their funding, so it would be folly to think the service anglers get will get better, quite the reverse is probably true. There are many good reasons why angling (under the new Unity banner) should issue rod licences and run angling properly, using rod licence fees specifically for angling and not allow a Government agency to get it's hands on OUR licence money, I doubt it will ever happen though!

Stunned silence, best describes the response then?

There is quite a choice of forums for anglers, and each forum is very different to the next, the reason for this is of course, is the contributors or "posters", I liken the different forums to our national newspapers; Total_Fishing = The Sun/ Daily Star Anglers Net = The Times Fishing Magic = The Telegraph Maggot Drowner's = The Daily Sport I could go on, but I think you get the gist, they are all very different and anglers settle on the one they are most comfortable with, I use the Total _ Fishing site more than any other, I find it entertaining,edgy,cutting and absurd most of the time.......oh, and the posters do not take themselves too seriously, I often laugh out loud at some of the comments made, here it is completely different, most in my view, are living firmly entrenched in the past and a good belly laugh at themselves would finish most off, and we cannot have that just before Christmas can we?

Please read and record your comments below; LETTER TO ACA MEMBERS Unified Body to Represent Angling, Fisheries and Conservation I am writing to advise you of a potential development that could change the face of angling in this country. In the past there have been several half-hearted attempts to replicate the success of other major sports by creating a single body that would represent and support all angling disciplines. However, all these attempts failed, largely because parochial considerations were allowed to cloud the bigger picture. Recent discussions between representatives of the major angling bodies have been different in that they have concentrated on the key question: "what is best for angling?" The answer to this question has led to the incontrovertible conclusion that, if angling is to have any hope of being able to punch its weight at a national level in the future, we all need to set aside our differences and unite into a single national body. Therefore, after careful consideration of the pros and cons, the ACA Committee has decided to embrace the principle of joining with the Salmon and Trout Association, National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives, and the National Federation of Anglers to create a single body that will provide a strong unified voice for angling, fisheries and aquatic conservation. These organisations have taken a similar decision and we expect the National Federation of Sea Anglers to join the unification process in the spring. Our sport and the waters that support it face sophisticated and complex threats. Whilst we have been able to punch well above our weight as a relatively small organisation, we are acutely aware that to take on the really heavy weight challenges to angling and the water environment we will need to increase the scale of our operations by an order of magnitude. Our goal of pure and clean waters is much more likely to be achieved with better resources and weight of numbers. Before any of this can become a reality, we will need to seek your support. We have not yet reached a point of no return in our discussions and there is much detailed work to be done before we do. However, I believe things have now progressed sufficiently for me to let you know what is happening and to highlight some of the perceived benefits that the proposed new organisation will bring (please see the enclosed list). We hope to proceed via a special resolution to the AGM in April 2008. If and when the new unified body is established, the process of transferring administrative and operational services will begin. It is hoped that this will appear seamless to you, although there will be some fairly frantic activity going on behind the scenes. If everything went to plan, the only change that you would see, apart from an improvement in services and support, would be that from 2009 your membership subscription would be paid to the new unified body. In the meantime, please let me have your views, by post or email as you have done so often in the past and be assured that there will be absolutely no lessening of the services we already provide to you. Yours sincerely Stephen Marsh-Smith Chairman

I have signed the petition, once again angling is not considered in this project and other similar projects run by organisations such as the RSPB, bit by bit, our fishing rights are being eroded, commercial venues will be the only places to wet a line at this rate!!! Please make a stand and sign the petition, angling cannot afford to keep losing venues such as these.

That will never do Steve........agreeing with me on this particular angling forum is definitely against the current trend.....would you like to reconsider?

Say hello to Hugh for me....we used to fish in the same match team years ago!!! If your approach is going to be a mostly corn attack a flat float may be a better option John, last Saturday I tried corn on the hook whilst feeder fishing and although I fed nearly a tin full through the feeder, I could not buy a bite on the stuff! I did catch 11 skimmers on pieces of chopped worm though, they were too small to significantly boost my overall weight, about hand sized would best describe them , for plenty of bites and Roach up to a 1lb Caster is king on the pole, but your corn approach I am sure will yield some Roach, I would be very interested if they are bigger than 1lb though! I place the Olivette about 18 inches away with several no 8 droppers below that, if you are using a heavy hook bait like corn I do not think you should worry to much about it lifting off the bottom, if it is running clear I push the Olivette up to as much as 4 feet away from the hook and spread the droppers you will be amazed at the difference that can make, you can go from no bites at all to a bite every run through, don't be fooled into thinking the flow on the bottom is as strong as it looks on the surface, regards Bob.

John I fish the river Yare open matches every Saturday, I have already framed in several of this years opens fishing the pole, and used to hold the match length record catch in 5 hrs of competition until I smashed it again (125lb of Bream) only to be beaten by 1lb in the same match! The float I use is called a Sensas Bernard, I carry them on ready made up pole winders in different sizes, the size I use most is the 3 gram , you will need a bulk weight (Olivette of 2.75 grm) and set the float properly with no 8 shot , the nearest shot to the hook needs to be about 6 to 10 inches depending on the flow, plumb up and set the float about 4 inches over depth, ease the float through at half pace and keep stopping it to allow the bait to rise off the bottom and then let it go, usually the float will just bury! the best hook bait is Caster or red maggot on a size 16 fine wire hook, hooklength should be 0.10 or 0.12, feed small balls of GB laced with hemp and casters every other fish, before long you will be bagging! tight lines Bob.

Top anglers are top anglers, and the Fishomania attracts some of the very best, take one of this years finalist's Mr Will Raison, he has been an England International angler for at least 8 years, although he is still not 30 years old, this in itself is quite remarkable, Drennan Team England are THE team in International events, England has THE best record of any Nation over the past 15 years, regularly winning the team Gold. Will Raison can and does fish every conceivable freshwater venue, canals,lakes,rivers and of course heavily stocked commercial venues, it makes no difference to him or others of his level, THEY WILL CATCH WHAT IS IN FRONT OF THEM, anglers like Will are light years ahead of the very best club anglers, they are far superior to regular open match anglers like myself (and I have won ,one or two matches in my time and am still competing at a high level) simply put , anglers of the caliber of Will Raison are WORLD CLASS, I personally know several of the other finalists this year and I can tell you they are all superb anglers that can and do, catch fish from any type of venue, to think these guys can only catch so called "easy Carp" from so called "easy waters" is complete rubbish. The standard of angling in the Fishomania final is exceptional, it may look too easy to some, but then ,so does a potter at the potters wheel..........until you try it yourself!

Cheers Dant, I saw them for sale too and made inquiry's with the relevant managers of the shop's, neither of them could produce an invoice, I have not seen the like for some time now, so it is good news all round, do I blame Pike anglers for purchasing them? no, they probably never gave it a thought, afterall they were buying them OVER the counter and not UNDER it, all of this is not conclusive proof though, the fact that it has stopped is enough for me and the fact that last winter there were no repeat signs of large amounts of fish scales in the wet sheds but loads of fish will do too, thanks for the info, I must have missed the story about the conviction's, but to be fair I rarely read Webster's article's, regards Bob.

Mark , can you say where the venue is? those "Cats" look in superb condition, what is the fight like? what baits did you use? and how did you manage to prise the rod out of Matt's hands? ha ha

Mark , that is fascinating, a new concept in match fishing I heard a whisper about this and knew Steve Ringer and Neil Machin were involved, tell you what, start another thread and post the photo on it, I think we have hijacked poor Dant's thread with this, I am sure plenty of other anglers would be interested.Bob.

Interesting Mark, who was there? let me guess, Mark Sawyer, Steve Ringer? Neil Machin? all nice blokes that can fish a bit (understatement of the year) Congratulations on showing them the way home ,that is no mean feat I can tell you, Bob. ps, no , Dant did not comment one way or the other , but I am interested what the answer is.