Sharkbyte

Hope that I find you well, Elton. Still regularly in touch with Wurzel and spoke to Steve C the other week after a pretty long time. Maybe meet-up sometime. Seems that even us young b’stards aren’t getting any younger!

Remember like yesterday crafting responses to him over the ethics of livebaiting. He hated livebaiting, but used fish meal pellets by the tonne - I adore livebaiting. No malice, just proper robust debate. A different time when old boys with polar opposite views were later offered a place ahead in the Wingham BBQ queue.

Sad to hear on another page that Den Darkin has died. Popped back to read a few old tales about a big character, but can’t find a mention.

I’m extremely sorry to hear of your loss, Anderoo. Likewise, Rusty. I actually came back to the forum to hear some tales about another member sadly departed, but am very surprised to see no mention. Surely, I must have missed it somewhere..? It’s particularly sad to hear of news about people you ‘sort of know very well’ going through all sorts because unsocial media has seemingly stolen the show. What a terrible state of affairs the Internet has become. Very fond memories of the days when people actually met in person, and even went into battle via the keyboard!

Hope the repairs go smoothly, Steve. We pity the roofers when they break open that wasps nest by the BBQ!!!

Had my first eel trip of the year on Saturday. They're still not extincted. Five between approx 2.5 and 3.5lb plus lots of dropped runs.

The summer eel fishing has been going well, but as with all the other species, the law of diminishing returns soon stifles 'progress'. It seems like yesterday when a 4lb+ fish was a right result. They are definitely still the most ridiculously common endangered species on Earth. Haha

Hi Barry It sure is, pal. Hope you are keeping well and still 'decimating' the Channel! ;-)

I've fished alongside otters during the winter months for years. Apart from the occasional disturbance - most of the time they swim straight past - I'm yet to notice any decline in sport/drop-off in catches of specimen sized fish. The brutal truth is that I have far more in common with the creatures than 99% of anglers in Essex. For one thing, we are all but the only ones out fishing the rivers at night, whatever the weather, for miles around. Things may be different on managed still waters where fish are more akin to pets/livestock than traditional angling quarry, but I'm more than happy to share my favoured surroundings with kindred spirits.

Hi Dave That would be Russell's 'Waterlog' collection, I believe. Hopefully we'll get a place at the fish-in, in which case we'll definitely be seeing you soon.

There must be something in the air with Anglers Netters of old seemingly appearing out of the woodwork. 5 years since I last posted... and I somehow remembered my password at 2nd attempt! Hope I find you all well and look forward to contributing once again.

Glad to see you are getting amongst them, Anderoo. Cracking fish that 6-14! Mine don't seem to be where I left them earlier in the year. lol

A very pleasing start to what's shaping up to be a very odd season. There's virtually no weed where it'd usually be thick with cabbages, blanket weed and lilies. It's way beyond late now, and I'm starting to think that the extremely hard winter has actually killed off some of the root systems - not that I'm complaining. I went again last night and lost another very decent fish early on through a hook pull!!! Strangely, at least one other fish turned up within minutes giving me plenty of 'liners'. Alas, I never did get another bite because upon checking the bait and recasting, the riverbank I was stood on snapped and punted me straight into the river! Completely submerged, phone drowned, wildfowl screaming with laughter, swim ruined and a hell of a job getting out. Thank God it was the warmest night of the year, and not one of the -8's of a few months back!. I will be back! An iffy self-take of the opening night 6-4.

Had my first take of the season no more than 30 seconds after midnight (baited last week). It was a big fish, most probably a carp, but the hook pulled soon afterwards. Had a few liners to keep me interested, and finally nailed a 6lb 4oz chub at just after 4am. Great to be back on the river.

Out of interest, what's the 'average' catch for a member fishing a weekend outside of a fish-in?

When shot I was actually in the bivvy watching, so there was no bankside disturbance. The camera rig itself I have never found to scare fish in the slightest. Usually quite the opposite. Besides, its current incarnation completely does away with the pole being left in the water and is probably the most discreet version yet. I firmly believe that some fish (including the one in the footage) are sometimes wary of baited up areas. Thinking out aloud - the less angling pressure a water receives, the less the fish are used to encountering baited up areas. On a commercial, for instance, not a day goes by where the fish do not see a pile of pellet. It's normal. Not to mention the massive disparity between stock biomass and natural food sources and the need to eat what's there before something else does. Somewhere like Wingham it's going to be a comparitive rarity and those fish have absolutely no need to eat anglers bait. There's no denying that my bait sticks out like a sore thumb and compared to the background water chemistry, my spot probably stinks something like passing a Bodyshop when walking through Lakeside shopping center - very nice...... x1000%! Anyway, here's some more footage. The first two fish are examples of the 'mouthful and run' fish, the last 24 odd minutes is continuous unedited tails-up feeding. PS. If I was fishing Wingham again tomorrow I'd just take the gallon of maggots and tub of worms......probably blank, mind. ;-) http://youtu.be/32-PODPnZ58

Many thanks to Steve and Peggy, Glyn, Terry and family, Budgie and Andrew. Once again, myself and Russ had an amazing few days catching up with the Wingham crew and targetting the residents. No tench or bream for us, but a few eels and jacks to keep the scolded cat reaction times honed. As with every Wingham experience there's always the debrief, and talk of lessons learned and interesting observations. Upon deploying the Mk82 Sharkbyte underwater viewing system it was imediately obvious that there has been an absolute explosion in what was already a prolific natural food supply. Personal thoughts - I remain pretty convinced that this was our greatest hurdle on the weekend. Although I only observed four tench over the three days (all on Saturday - one of which I only saw when reviewing some last light footage back at home), they were solitary fish of medium size and only took a mouthful of bait before heading off again. Pretty difficult to draw any conclusions from as for improving baiting and rigs. The area infront of me (the 'hump') I baited fairly heavily and had all of my fish from (plus footage) but zero signs of bubbles. The bar 30yds, or so, at about the 10 o'clock position I saw occasional bubbling and the only bait put out was three or four casts with a method feeder, but had nothing. Anyway, here's thirty odd seconds of what might have been, give or take a couple of feet. My bait was air injected lob tail and fake corn popped-up about an inch. Top left of picture, 1/6th of the way to the right, 1/6th the way down. https://vimeo.com/66777340

How do you know he's dead, beginning of the end of what?

Couldn't say for sure, Phil. It was just an assumption based upon what appears on my screen, much like I am assuming that your real name is Phil.

I had the same experience the other week and put it down to the Angling Trust taking over the site.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see any of the royal wedding, but from what I've been told it was a fairly low-key event with the young lady even wearing a secondhand tiara. Shame - had this lilly livered Government have slung a few million 'civil servants' on the dole, and clawed back the pensions of a few million more, those left could have enjoyed a proper celebration, and Catherine could have had her own tiara.

This cannot be true, surely? Just about every coarse angling 'authority' (qualification - may have had a read of the Angling Times once etc.) claims that the rise of inland cormorant populations is a consequence of our seas having been 'hoovered' clean of inshore prey fish. Ironically, the colossal numbers of herring / sprats around our coastlines are blamed by many sea anglers for seasonal poor catches of cod, due to their preoccupation with feeding on these species up in the water. Sorry, the article is just another overly-simplistic / sensationalist take on the hugely variable nature of wild fish populations, where commercial fishing is but a tiny piece in a giant jigsaw. Should appeal to the usual conservation propagandists, though....

I'd suggest that any angler into keeping 'revered' fish out of the water for anywhere near to six minutes should be spending four of those ringing around getting quotes from local taxidermists. If you intent on releasing them, at least do it efficiently. Likewise, if it's going to be hanging on the wall, or going into a pan, swiftly bat it over the head so as not to spook the swim with all that unnecessary thrashing and flailing.

No I don't! We're still at a stage where anglers are being force fed the 'American Dream', at every available opportunity. This quote certainly struck a chord...

Outrageous! Either hyphenate 'socio-economics' throughout the entire document, or don't. I can't stand inconsistency.