Bill Eborn

Thing is Nugg, I never had an Uncle Albert to take me down the canal when I was a nipper.

Sorry Bob If you go to www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/sport/index.shtml you should be able to find it. Its broadcast on Thursday evenings at 7.30 but you can play it from the website any time you like. You need Realplayer though, but if you havent got that if you follow Nuggs link you can get that, although locating the free version isnt totally obvious. Bill

Got it sussed now. The BBC had redesigned the website since I bookmarked the webpage. Its a lovely programme. Just as with the cricket commentary on Radio Four, the pictures a good presenter can draw on the radio are so much more evocative than anything telly can reproduce and Martyn James can certainly do this. I listened to a couple of programmes, one on Barbel on the Teme and one Chubbing on the Ribble. Magic stuff. Bill

Thanks Nugg it works Sadly thewre was a problem with the page on BBC Radio Lancashire when I tried it earlier so I'm listening to the Archers instead.

Martyn James has a programme on BBC Radio Lancashire. If I could get my Real Player to work I'd listen to it. Bill

Many thanks for the replies. Just back from my little reccy and very excited about the prospects for my return in the Autumn. I had a look at the Exe, Culm and Creedy all of which are glorious in their different ways and as far as I can tell fishable on the Exeter and District ticket, although I will contact Exeter Angling Centre for precise details prior to going down again. The Exe around Cowley where my friends live has got two arms one of which looks perfect for a spot of Waggler fishing for Roach and Bream, the other arm which is below a weir is pacier with gravel shallows, glides and the odd over hanging tree and raft I would guess for Dace, maybe Grayling and a poke about with the chubbing rod. The stretch of the Culm between Columbjohn and Killerton is a delightful feature packed stretch that is very very chubby indeed. I didnt get down to have a look at the tidal sections but spoke to a couple of anglers on Sunday who reported there being some good Pike and excellent Bream up to 10 lb. As for the Otter I didnt make it down there this weekend but I know the river very well having walked down it countless times when I lived there. There are coarse fish there, lots of them. I'm sure if you could get permission to fish it you could do very well indeed. Many thanks Bill [ 27. August 2002, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Bill Eborn ]

Interestinger and interestinger. Many thanks for the replies. As I said in my thread I'm just on a reccy this time. My friends are having a party and as they are generally very good parties I cannot be too sure either of my own health or more importantly the security of my gear. Also as a non car owner I need to check out the feasibility of transporting my gear together with my pushbike down on the train. But Im looking forward to having a creep about with the polaroids on to see what I can find. I'd be interested to know what coarse fishing is available on the Otter. I actually have a lot of local connections having lived in the area (Ottery St Mary in fact)for quite some time in the 1980s, although I wasnt fishing then (fool) and was generally busy being the angry young man. I was always under the impression that with the exception of the stretch above Budleigh, the Otter was restricted trout water.

I am going down to Exeter at the weekend to stay with friends. I won't be able to get in any fishing in this weekend, but thought I might have a bit of a reccy for future reference, with a view to spendng a week down there in the Autumn. I understand from my researches so far that their are a couple of stretches of the Culm and the Creedy fishable on an Exeter and District AA day/weekly ticket. The former having some decent Chub which suits me down to the ground as this is my favourite species accounting for the majority of my fishing as soon as we get proper English weather back again. Can anybody confirm this and suggest any other stretches to look at. I understand that Exeter and District control a stretch of the Exe at Countess Weir as well, but are there any other stretches of the Exe which can be coarse fished particulalry above Exeter

Whereabouts in the Alps? This is the website for the main government fishing agency in Haute Savoie in the foothills of the French Alps although its in French I afraid. http://www.unpf.fr/UN/VF/JdCSommaire.html I haven't been there myself and my own French is awful but good enough to be able to work out Barbel and Chub on the Fier below Annecy, which would do me to be honest. If you dispense with the bits after the .fr/ yo will get to the main site covering the whole of France which will help you access the sites for the other French alpine regions.

Hi chris Few and far between I think, but maybe all the more worthwhile if you are successful. I havent manage to find them myself yet but then I probably havent tried properly. I havent fished the river much this season so far concentrating most of my efforts on the Adur, but will be soon. The bits I'd suggest looking at are the Hamsey Cut and once the Sea Trout have finished downstream from the Mills before you get to the road bridge. Downstream from the Anchor, downstream from the weir above Bell Hole (wild and overgrown this bit, but well worth a pop I reckon) and the Sharpsbridge and Goldbridge stretches. These latter two sections are however the stretches which suffered most in the pollution incident which happened last year when I understand some Barbel were found dead. I think the Chub suffered most though. Hope this is of some help. Bill

Glad you like the new rod Chris, that was a couple of nice Tincas you had to christen it on. I was wondering about looking at one of these myself - as a Chubbing rod primarily - but also since I understand that on the new one you get a dolly section which will convert it into a thirteen foot float rod which would be useful as I could do with having a more powerful rod than my current rather delicate tool available sometimes. Can you give any idea what the action's like with the dolly section fitted. Regards Bill By the way i have just returned to this parish after finally managing to get my aged old PC fixed up again. Its good to be back online although not as much as it is to be back on the river.

Glad you like the new rod Chris, that was a couple of nice Tincas you had to christen it on. I was wondering about looking at one of these myself - as a Chubbing rod primarily - but also since I understand that on the new one you get a dolly section which will convert it into a thirteen foot float rod which would be useful as I could do with having a more powerful rod than my current rather delicate tool available sometimes. Can you give any idea what the action's like with the dolly section fitted. Regards Bill By the way i have just returned to this parish after finally managing to get my aged old PC fixed up again. Its good to be back online although not as much as it is to be back on the river.

This story was covered in some depth on Countryfile on BBC1 on Sunday. The coverage on the Countryfile setion of the BBC website included the following. "The Environment Agency is so concerned about the problem it is about to announce radical proposals for upgrading all major sewage works - plans which could cost the water industry hundreds of millions of pounds and, potentially, lead to increases in water bills." The rest of the story can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/factsheets/countryfile/prog_2203.shtml but it didn't seem to go into much more depth than the Indy's coverage. Its sad I guess that to achieve progress in combatting pollution it is necessary to demonstrate a link to possible harm to human health, but perhaps what this also shows is the value of angling's incidental role as an environmental monitoring process and the importance of the work that Phil's been doing.

This story was covered in some depth on Countryfile on BBC1 on Sunday. The coverage on the Countryfile setion of the BBC website included the following. "The Environment Agency is so concerned about the problem it is about to announce radical proposals for upgrading all major sewage works - plans which could cost the water industry hundreds of millions of pounds and, potentially, lead to increases in water bills." The rest of the story can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/factsheets/countryfile/prog_2203.shtml but it didn't seem to go into much more depth than the Indy's coverage. Its sad I guess that to achieve progress in combatting pollution it is necessary to demonstrate a link to possible harm to human health, but perhaps what this also shows is the value of angling's incidental role as an environmental monitoring process and the importance of the work that Phil's been doing.

I'd forgotten about incompatability between British & US video formats Adrian That sounds like it could be a good technique for getting a freelined bair tight under some cover on a near bank swim, where you have to make a longer cast and there is insufficient flow to let the current do some of the work for you. I guess you wouldn't even need to use a piece of balsa but could use a bit of cut off twig which might have a bit more casting weight. I might start collecting shotgun cartridges when I see them. Although we have our moments in Brighton, I don't seem to see that many lying about on the streets, a situation I'm not altogether too unhappy about to be honest. The problem I'm trying to contend with is getting a bait under some cover on the far bank. I need to have enough weight on the line to stop the bait being pushed back towards the near bank, but still achieving some natural movement which takes the bait tighter into the cover. In some swims probably the best technique to use is to fish upstream with just enough weight to hold bottom. Gently tightening up to the lead so as not to dislodge it, with bites -usually dropbacks- detected either by touch ledgering or using as soft a quiver as you can get away with. Because you are fishing upstream you can enable the bait to move through the swim naturally by lifting the rod top just enough to dislodge the weight from the bottom, the weight then settles again and the bait moves more naturally through the swim. Because your fishing upstream you create a bit of slack in the line as you dislodge the lead and can achieve a consistent line of movement through the swim. Although my L plates are very prominently displayed as I do this, I have found that i can work my way under cover like this by casting from upstream of the feature and then gently creeping downstream with the bail arm open carefully feeding out line as I go, which then enables me to work my my bait under the cover from downstream. Doing this silently and keeping out of sight at the same time isn't easy though -a bit like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time- and its not appropriate for every swim, such as the ones I was thinking about when I posted the thread. Many thanks Bill

I'd forgotten about incompatability between British & US video formats Adrian That sounds like it could be a good technique for getting a freelined bair tight under some cover on a near bank swim, where you have to make a longer cast and there is insufficient flow to let the current do some of the work for you. I guess you wouldn't even need to use a piece of balsa but could use a bit of cut off twig which might have a bit more casting weight. I might start collecting shotgun cartridges when I see them. Although we have our moments in Brighton, I don't seem to see that many lying about on the streets, a situation I'm not altogether too unhappy about to be honest. The problem I'm trying to contend with is getting a bait under some cover on the far bank. I need to have enough weight on the line to stop the bait being pushed back towards the near bank, but still achieving some natural movement which takes the bait tighter into the cover. In some swims probably the best technique to use is to fish upstream with just enough weight to hold bottom. Gently tightening up to the lead so as not to dislodge it, with bites -usually dropbacks- detected either by touch ledgering or using as soft a quiver as you can get away with. Because you are fishing upstream you can enable the bait to move through the swim naturally by lifting the rod top just enough to dislodge the weight from the bottom, the weight then settles again and the bait moves more naturally through the swim. Because your fishing upstream you create a bit of slack in the line as you dislodge the lead and can achieve a consistent line of movement through the swim. Although my L plates are very prominently displayed as I do this, I have found that i can work my way under cover like this by casting from upstream of the feature and then gently creeping downstream with the bail arm open carefully feeding out line as I go, which then enables me to work my my bait under the cover from downstream. Doing this silently and keeping out of sight at the same time isn't easy though -a bit like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time- and its not appropriate for every swim, such as the ones I was thinking about when I posted the thread. Many thanks Bill

Sorry to here about this Canalman. My only experience of Browning's service was far, far better than anything I could have hoped for. Last Summer I broke the top section of my much loved, almost museum piece and very second hand 14 ft Bob Nudd Legend Match rod a week before I went on holiday. In a fit of despair, I rang up Browning in the hope they could send me a replacement top section which they couldn't, as they don't make the rod anymore, but they said that if I sent it to them they would provide me with a running repair, which they did in time for my holiday. This was all for absolutely nothing and they didn't even charge me for the return carriage. Hope you get it sorted out Bill

Sorry to here about this Canalman. My only experience of Browning's service was far, far better than anything I could have hoped for. Last Summer I broke the top section of my much loved, almost museum piece and very second hand 14 ft Bob Nudd Legend Match rod a week before I went on holiday. In a fit of despair, I rang up Browning in the hope they could send me a replacement top section which they couldn't, as they don't make the rod anymore, but they said that if I sent it to them they would provide me with a running repair, which they did in time for my holiday. This was all for absolutely nothing and they didn't even charge me for the return carriage. Hope you get it sorted out Bill

Duly noted newt, thanks very much. Bill

Duly noted newt, thanks very much. Bill

Thanks to everybody this has been really useful. I'm convinced from the depths of my all too limited experience that Anglers Net is the best thing to happen to fishing since the invention of the large white sandwich loaf. I had a chat today with the Barbel man at Leslie's who thought that a braided hooklink was the answer, which is kinda where I'd got to myself as a result of this thread. I think what I'll do is to unpick the PVA string so that I can tie up the loop with a couple of individual strands which should dissolve more quickly, but either way I'll let you know how I get on. Newt, I don't know if there is any logical reason why we don't use multipliers for bait fishing in freshwater over here, for float fishing I guess its obvious, but for legering? Maybe its just one of those things we don't do, because we don't. I'm certainly going to do a lot more lure fishing this year, so I may end up treating myself to one of those nice little baitcasting reels when I can afford one. There is masses of lure fishing potential down here and given that I really enjoy mobile fishing styles it really is a bit crazy not to do more of it. I only live about twenty minutes walk from Brighton Marina, which I've tended to avoid as it gets very crowded during the evenings and at weekends in the Summer. But then I realised that if I was to get up early I could nip down there for a couple of hours before work every now again and maybe experiment a bit. We also get a few Sea Trout in the rivers down here and there's some very nice Perch in one our local commercially run muddy puddles that I've got my eye on as well as lots of Piking of course. In fact there are some spots on a couple the smaller drains on the Pevensey levels as well on the rivers down here, where the casting technique you describe could prove very useful indeed, so i probably will invest in a couple of those videos you mentioned, although I guess I'll need to get myself a video player first. Anyway many thanks to everyone once again. Bill

Thanks to everybody this has been really useful. I'm convinced from the depths of my all too limited experience that Anglers Net is the best thing to happen to fishing since the invention of the large white sandwich loaf. I had a chat today with the Barbel man at Leslie's who thought that a braided hooklink was the answer, which is kinda where I'd got to myself as a result of this thread. I think what I'll do is to unpick the PVA string so that I can tie up the loop with a couple of individual strands which should dissolve more quickly, but either way I'll let you know how I get on. Newt, I don't know if there is any logical reason why we don't use multipliers for bait fishing in freshwater over here, for float fishing I guess its obvious, but for legering? Maybe its just one of those things we don't do, because we don't. I'm certainly going to do a lot more lure fishing this year, so I may end up treating myself to one of those nice little baitcasting reels when I can afford one. There is masses of lure fishing potential down here and given that I really enjoy mobile fishing styles it really is a bit crazy not to do more of it. I only live about twenty minutes walk from Brighton Marina, which I've tended to avoid as it gets very crowded during the evenings and at weekends in the Summer. But then I realised that if I was to get up early I could nip down there for a couple of hours before work every now again and maybe experiment a bit. We also get a few Sea Trout in the rivers down here and there's some very nice Perch in one our local commercially run muddy puddles that I've got my eye on as well as lots of Piking of course. In fact there are some spots on a couple the smaller drains on the Pevensey levels as well on the rivers down here, where the casting technique you describe could prove very useful indeed, so i probably will invest in a couple of those videos you mentioned, although I guess I'll need to get myself a video player first. Anyway many thanks to everyone once again. Bill

I am a total angling literature junky. Coarse Fisherman, Coarse Angling Today, Sea Angler, Waterlog. I devour them like some people devour cornflakes after a hard night on the ubiquitous herbal remedy. I sometimes think the weeklies are a bit of waste of a pound, but then every now and again something appears which you would have regretted missing if you hadn't carried on buying every week. The mags are best though, because you can read and re-read them and sadly, I can't take my computer to work with me.

I am a total angling literature junky. Coarse Fisherman, Coarse Angling Today, Sea Angler, Waterlog. I devour them like some people devour cornflakes after a hard night on the ubiquitous herbal remedy. I sometimes think the weeklies are a bit of waste of a pound, but then every now and again something appears which you would have regretted missing if you hadn't carried on buying every week. The mags are best though, because you can read and re-read them and sadly, I can't take my computer to work with me.

Ken I can't help you at all, but I would love to find out how you get on. So please, please, please, report back and tell us all the details, the grisly as well as the good. I'll be there myself one day. Best of luck Bill