john frum

Mutton-Birds. There's a very short season for them on the islands off the N. coast of Tas, as I expect you know. Yup - Tiger snakes are a real problem but the people who harvest them seem to take them in their stride. My old pilot mate Bill who flew us in and out of our mine when the track was too difficult or there was a hurry-up on, used to overload his Cessna with the packed birds, one or two dozen per box, from the islands (Hunter? Three Hummocks - don't recall exactly which ones) and ferry them to Smithton airstrip for onward despatch. He would sometimes buzz us and drop a couple of boxes off at our strip. Greasy little suckers but delicious. Can you still buy them? Nothing to do with fish... sorry!

A long time ago, but it was N.S.U...

CC Appropriate name for this thread! Now I'm REALLY nervous. Almost every stretch of river I fish has some cattle somewhere!

Dan, cold comfort there, but at least it makes me feel a bit less of a wimp (as a kid this stuff didn't bother me much, but there again I was immortal at that time). The water pistol is an interesting idea, you've obviously tried it. Just what I need, more cr@p to carry around! I've spent a couple of seasons co-existing with the bullocks without much hassle, but I can't wait for this year's batch to end up in freezer-packs. Yup, it's the bulk allied to lack of brain that makes me uneasy too. BTW I think the "snip" is precisely the factor that distinguishes bullocks from bulls. Anyone else have this problem? Not the snip, the bullocks...

Hi Bobj When I was in Tas there weren't any Carp that I knew about. Hard to call them Cr@p given that the local river here contains some beautiful smallish wild carp that haven't taken over so far. As an aside when I was a kid - 40+ years ago - the idea of Carp in a river would have been laughed at. Re Yabbies, Crays, Lobsters; in Tas at least the local saltwater "Rock Lobsters" are distinguished by having tiny claws - a mate of mine has a "Cray" boat on the NW coast there - happy memories of eating them fresh out of the sea! The freshwater lobsters - about a pound or two as far as I recall - have sizeable claws and a beautiful blueish tinge. I used to trap them in a river deep in the rainforest (had a small tin mining bush operation at the time) until we had half a dozen or so in a 44 full of rainwater, then a big feed! Very nice with fresh mutton-bird to follow when in season - they always resembled an Anchovy-flavoured Pigeon to me. I used to think that the lobsters might be grown-up Yabbies but you indicate that they're a separate species; or do you? The Tasmaniacs always refer to the big "Lobsters" in the rivers as "Lobsters" not "Yabbies" btw. Confused? I am. Never mind Cr@p - what about Rainbollox Trout? A plague but at least you can eat them. And what about Pedder? - an amazing criminal blunder to flood it like that. The Hydro's still at it of course - they'd flood the whole b00dy island if there was a buck in it.

In response to a recent post about float rod specifications, someone responded that "he" had a similar item on the For Sale board, which is decribed on the homepage as: For Sale/Auction & Wanted Private bring and buy forum for anglers. There I discovered that the rod in question was described as his "m8"s, who had "never used it..." They do say that people who dissimulate need good memories (or something along those lines). Now why would someone buy a rod at RRP >£200 and not even TRY it? Possible I guess, but not very likely. A quick search shows that these rods are readily available from dealers at £149.99. Which makes a suspicious person like me assume that the offer is a covert ad on behalf of a dealer. This sort of misrepresentation is an abuse of a public bulletin board (assuming I'm right - and I suspect we'll hear yelling that I'm wrong - what else can you call it?). There's nothing wrong with dealers offering tackle or people pointing out good suppliers if it's made clear that it's a commercial offer. I've omitted the specifics, but they won't be difficult for anyone to work out. Adopt caution when buying anything on the net. I think that moderators should pick up these kind of abuses wherever possible. [This moderator picked up on the fact that you completely ignored an earlier request/warning to post this sort of complaint as a report to the mods rather than on the open forum. Your account is now back on the Mod Pre-approval we do for brand new members so the delays in a post appearing will be based on the time needed for one of us to see and vet what you say. We will try this for one month and at the end of that time if you are still posting (some people would get very huffy and leave) we can try setting your account back to full membership. Newt]

Found it. What does it weigh? And why didn't he use it after buying it? And why's he selling it before trying it??? Questions not meant facetiously, believe it or not! Let me have his contact details and I'll get in touch.

Here you say it's your rod. On the Sale board you say it's your mate's. Both can't be true, can they? A quick search revealed that this rod is commercially available for £149.99. Your "mate"'s probably not used it because he's ******* dealer! This sort of concealed advertising has NO PLACE on forums of this kind. Buyer beware and all that but this is MISREPRESENTATION! Moderators please note. [John Frum - in the future if you see a post you think is innapropriate, click the report button and send your thoughs to the mods. DO NOT lash out like this on the open forum again. I wish posters would not use text talk on here as it can be confusing but m8 is common these days as short talk for mate so tigger did not say it was his rod. I'm removing the remaining posts on here and hopefully we can get back to helping frummo with his rod question. Newt]

Anyone like to guess the weight of this Tench? It's one of 10 that a mate and I caught a few days ago, two this size and the rest only a bit smaller - and nothing under 4lb. We lost about 6 more fish - straightened hooks etc - in weedy water. Total time in the boat about 14 hours though, and it was necessary to change tactics every few hours as they definitely got fed up with the same bait and presentation after a while. The longest day of the year in more ways than one - we were on the water before 4.00 am.

Next week a friend and I are fishing a lake that's a well-known Tench venue. If the rumour I hear's true it's the one at which Mr. Wilson failed to demonstrate how it's done. Another mate and I fished it midsummer last year and had a brilliant day - about 20 fish between 4 and 8 pounds. We were on the water before dawn and caught up until about 11 or 12 am. They didn't seem fussy about baits, taking bread, corn (strawberry and regular - I notice that the fishing variety's a lot firmer) and maggot. Can't recall if I caught on worm or not - my mate's an aspiring saint who won't use anything that's ever been, or is currently, alive. We used a bit of mixed sweet groundbait and some loose feed, but not a lot. Both of us fished floats, me a waggler with a few inches of hooklength on or near the bottom and my mate the lift method. It was an extremely hot day and so we quit around midday and went for a meal and a rest, then came back late afternoon; same swim, same baits, same bubbles - and no Tench bites. Hmm. The water's got a bit of a reputation for unpredictability where the Tench are concerned - but that probably applies to most unb*ggered-about-with still waters. Which prompts a digression. I don't fish much during the close season at all, but I was becoming deranged so I had a couple of days recently on club lakes, which only confirmed my depressed feelings about angling in this little country of ours (make that "everybody's", snarl...) Both locations, each of which has three lakes, fished pretty miserably. Why is it that clubs now have to manage stillwaters so rigidly? Both venues, controlled by separate clubs, have identical policies: one "match" lake, with mixed content - minus predators; one Carp-only lake - naturally; and one exclusively Tench and Crucians. This is bizzarre and unnatural and only one step removed from fishing in an aquarium. A couple of days ago I fished one of the Crucian/Tench lakes, a beautiful spot sheltered by a copse on two sides and echoing with constant birdsong. Idyllic. Dismal fishing though - unless you enjoy hookshy small Crucians and almost equally small Tench. The water's been stocked this way for at least 10 years btw. I was the only person on the lake - which suits me fine. The other two had about a dozen anglers between them (midweek), each occupying the patches of about 5 sq metres of bare earth where the grass never gets a chance to grow under anglers' feet. This I suppose is the tradeoff. The only way you can get the tranquillity and (relatively) unspoiled natural environment which I find indispensible for enjoyable angling is to fish somewhere where it's either cr@ppy sport, or inaccessible - like the bits of rivers a long way from the car parking. The Tench lake I'm about to fish again is one of the few places I know which hasn't gone this way. It's controlled by a syndicate (I had a chance to join this year but it's pretty expensive and for the number of times I might get a chance to fish it it's cheaper to get day tickets) and is, as far as I can tell, unchanged since I first fished it in 1963 or '64. The Tench are bigger now, and I've become an old f@rt, though! Anyway, I'm looking forward to fishing the syndicate lake again. I can't think of another anywhere within 30 miles of where I live (middle of Sussex coast) which is remotely comparable - they've all become either "managed" club waters or "commercials" which, personally, I loathe. The mania for bloated protein-fed Carp is incomprehensible to me. Hmm, this post now doesn't resemble what I'd intended to write at all.

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far! I've been preoccupied with other stuff - including bashing these rivers, the Arun and Adur, as correctly surmised above, with mixed results. I've had some nice fish out recently, including a Tench of about 7+ but on the non-tidal stretches. The Arun is a real challenge - like an express train on big tides. Someone from EA told me that it's being considered as the fastest river in the UK these days. Very strange bottom in some of the fast shallow stretches too with mountainous anthill-like piles of mud in some places. I can't get at them to check what the consistency is but I can't imagine how they aren't washed away very fast. Someone told me that stretches of the river were dredged for road-building gravel (when?), which might account for some of this odd topography. It's distinctly spooky though! I haven't had a chance to do any Pike fishing since one (blank) session last winter, but I'm about to start again shortly. I'll add a bit of a report to this post when I get a few minutes again.

er, taken me a while to get back to this... "Shimano hyperloop bass rod" does indeed get lots of hits on a search, but, if you go to one that isn't dead and is a well known supplier - like Tackleshop.co.uk - there are lots of shimano hyperloop rods, but not one that meets the description. I assume that it is actually the one listed as the "surf fishing rod": maybe? Also, the blank looks pretty hefty, like most of the lower price rods. Is it? Thanks for everyone's contibutions so far btw.

I do most of my fishing on tidal rivers here in sussex. Although the sections I fish are well upstream of the estuaries they vary greatly in level. The exact level and the timing of the tides is pretty complicated as it changes depending on the size of the tide. Also the speed of flow changes a hell ofa lot - the bigger tides move a great deal of water up and down. I'm not sure how far upstream the saltwater actually gets, and what effect on fish it has (bad I imagine) but I expect it also depends on tide sizes. It's all very interesting and at times drives me completely nuts. The species here are the usual suspects, with Bream predominating. I have never caught a decent sized Roach in the last two seasons although there are lots of small examples. I have had Bream up to about 6lb, Carp up to low doubles etc. Relatively few Perch, which is surprising as the upper non tidal secions are full of small Perch. Haven't had a decent sized Pike yet as I had little opportunity to fish last winter. I had a few nice Tench, but these came out of the non tidal sections above the weirs. I wonder how territorial most species are under these conditions? The Bream obviously move up and down although I've been unable to see any obvious correlation with the tides. I've been assured that fairly heavy groundbaiting on a falling tide is the way to bag up Bream, but it hasn't worked for me. I usually fish one feeder and one float rod to keep me busy. This isn't always good idea (missed bites on one or the other...) I prefer to settle down in one spot (getting old!) with the brolly and chair etc - I never really enjoy "stalking"...I've taken fish on most of the usual baits. Maggots are the most reliable but inevitably mean lots of small stuff. Does anyone have a strong opinion about the effect of tides? The general received wisdom is that these rivers always fish best running out. That may be so, but I'm only half convinced. Interestingly I've noticed that during the 40 mins or so at the top of (usually biggish) tides in summer the place nearly always goes crazy with massive sprays of fry jumping out in panic and bow waves of biggish fish near the surface. As soon as it starts to run out this activity stops - at least visibly. Last year I also saw a lot of Sea Trout jumping almost vertically, often at the top of the tide too. So far I've been unable to come to any conclusions about the best time to fish as the results are so unpredictable - and often very unproductive. There are times fishing these places that I feel like just giving up, catching nothing decent for session after session. Then I have a day (infrequently) on a stocked lake and remember why I like fishing rivers. One of the two rivers here is lot bigger than the other and I have really only tried it a few times, all the problems are magnified with really turbulent water up to 20 ft deep on a big tide. Even a large Avon float was being sucked down by whirlpools last time I tried it. How do you float fish water like this? I gave up! Anyway, I've put a lot of time in particularly this year with pretty poor results. I'm going to have a bash at Piking this winter. Something tells me that sitting in one spot isn't going to be the answer.

Er, fewer opinions than I'd hoped - although The Shimano certainly sounds good value (anyone suggest a trustworthy supplier?). What about the JW combination rod? Someone's got it on ebay for £49 + p&p. Anyone got or used one? Are they all carbon? Just had a search for the Shimano rod but I'm having trouble working out which model you guys are referring to.

I managed to destroy (don't ask...) a nice Blue Fox "Shore specialist" 11 ft Bass rod earlier this year which I've also used for light deadbaiting on the local rivers. I really liked it too. It was nominally 1-3oz rated but I'm thinking maybe I should replace it with something in the 2-4oz range as I think that it's less likely to get used with lures. I don't want to spend more than about £70 tops but I might be persuaded if there was a real bargain available. Anyone like to suggest a replacement? Just spotted the JW system rod on Ebay. For some reason the JW brand puts me right off. Anyone used one?