zedhead

Budge, Great reply mate, many thanks for taking the time to share that info. Ive been catting several times but wasnt entirely convinced which was best. Im looking at commercial cat lakes and as such, boilies figure heavily and the cats have turned onto them. Im not bothered with leeches to be honest, as you say, the whole attraction is vibration I suspect and at that price, I prefer the bunch of lobs, as you know fish love to eat em. Its interesting that you have different rigs for bottom baits (i.e not lives), In the past all my rigs have been free running, just like zandering. I may well email you before I go as any extra info is always welcome. Again, Many thanks for your post.

bump, sorry.

Alright folks, Anyone here a serious cat hunter (not the feline pests that eat your pigeons) or even anyone with cat experience of note? Basically, I was wondering what rigs you would use, Im looking into a trip to celtic lakes in wales and although I have been cat fishing a few times, I would like some opinion on rigs. Basically when fishing bottom baits, would you go free running or bolt rig. Like eels, Ive always gone for cats prefering running rigs. Im not bothered about surface rigs as Im happy with those, just what to fish on the bottom. Thanks in advance.

Firstly, before we get to my answer, can i just say, as hypothetical as this is, I feel it wrong for others to comment on the issues of fox hunting etc with regards to this topic, the two are unrelated and have no relevance to any situations we as angler may face. Personally Budgie, I would like to see any government ban fishing, it will never happen on the basis of sheer participation numbers and the positive role such interactions have within society. I would disregard any such legislation and basically break the law: tigger, a rod licence is a valid 'tax' in that it pays for a service (however big or small) and having gone fishing without a rod licence years ago, I know I enjoy fishing legally alot more than worrying about getting caught. The point is, although we like to concern ourselves with the what ifs scenarios, presumably by looking at genuinely cruel blood sports (fox hunting) we feel the same could happen to us, but as previously mentioned, we cannot use such activities as a proxy to our sport. Some things deserve to be banned, but angling runs deep and a ban would affect far to many people in a negative way, hence there will never be a ban. As for taking home for the pot, yeah if a copper is standing bext to you, you might knock a 3oz roach on the head, otherwise......what do you think?

I saw the news in last weeks anglers mail. I personally wish mark all the best with this venture as Ive always found him a sound chap who shares a passion for preds. Mark, now you have national coverage, use it wisely and dont fall down the pitfalls a certain mr williams fell down, namely tarnishing the name of us pred men.

For bank fish on the lochs have you considered the fox pike xs rods in 3lb tc? I have got a pair of these for my pit fishing and the action is superb, coupled with great finish and competitive pricing - well worth the money. For boat work there are many rods that would fit the bill, I think fox have produced a rod in 11ft 3lb test for boat fishing.

It just shows you how bad the standard of the reporting must be in the weeklies. If those at At actually think that these fish are even close to 3lb then they shouldnt be doing the job they get paid for. If we can all see that it is blatantly obvious that these fish are 1lb odd caught by noddies (probably no weighing scales) then a natiopnal fishing paper with in house experts should recognise it and not send it to print.....maybe a very poor week?

I start piking in october, but this is very much based on the weather, if we have a repeat of last year then I wont be piking at all this season (again!). I really hope for a cold one this time because its costing me my favorite fishing and Im missing out on my favorite species, so cmon mother nature, give us a proper Ice age.

you guys just dont know what your on about do you? Lets be logical here, camo and especially realtree is PUKKA and the carp know its PUKKA! no self respecting carp would be caught by an angler not using camo bite alarms, a realtree pattern rod, camo rod pod. Theres a simple rule in fishing, if you wanna catch fish, you need to be wearing everything camo, you need a camo camera bag for those easy to find cameras,camo bait buckets, camo bivvys and camo lucky trolls! You could of course disregard all of this and not look like a complete idiot. Dont know if youll catch owt though, just ask nick hellieur or that fat bloke (is it ian toombs?) or better still jan porter. These guys only catch fish cos of their camo attributes! Oh yeah, I forgot the final ingredient - camo hooks.

Nice slab, congrats, if you didnt expect them to be that big in the pond, it could throw up bigger?

I felt a cold wind for the fisrt time the other day and thought the same, nearly time for perch. Im dubious that the roach will be shoaled up for a good while yet, and just wish for a cold winter with some good hard frosts in october. Thats when il start getting excited. Can it be as mild or milder than last year? I really hope not.

I have used perch liveys many times and have drawn up the following: They last well, but contrary to anderoo, their energy levels are poor at best, often giving up swimming around and instead opting to hold postion. I find them good for perch especially but less so for pike and even less so for zander, however, I think they are a much underrated deadbait and have often scored when other baits have failed, partcularly with the zeds. As already stated, cutting off the fin is a load of rubbish. I much prefer silvers for zander and pike.

Kleinboet, I have nothing against disabled people whatsoever, I have already stated that 2 of my close family are disabled. What I am against is the title of the topic - anger at rising concessionary license, that it what bugged me into writng on this thread and is the whole point of my argument, put simply why moan at the price of the license, concessionary or not. Slacklines, well said and well done for your honest appraisal of the topic!

slacklines, Id say about £25 and no peneth seems about right

1, I always carry a pair of binoculars: if the fishing is bad, I can watch wildlife and binoculars have allowed me to spot and observe fish and fish behaviour which has put loads of extra fish on the bank. 2, Bogroll & mosi guard 3,forgetting bogroll and mosi guard

Feeling blue, Dont get to concerned about what dips and flavours etc go with which boilies, it makes little difference and carpers alway like to mix and match to find a SECRET combination. As for your pva bags, fill them with 4 mm halibut pellets with or without groundbait, if you want extra appeal, add as john says an oil based flavour that doesnt melt the pva like water does. You can buy pellets and groundbait all ready made up from the tackle shop or make them up yourself. I would also suggest posting your queries on the carp forum as it sounds like thats what your after, and the guys on there will give you some extra little tips to set you on your way.

Ken, great post! The problem for the elver just like many other dwindling species of human interest is that a falling population often leads to an increased demand and a significant increase in value - which only drives the situation down further and further. The last time I heard, Elvers where fetching a kings ransom. I have been saying for a long time now, commercial fishing for eels and elvers should be banned and the eel should recieve protected species status for a few years. Anyone caught harming, killing or trading in elvers should recieve hefty sentences and be made examples of, or fines so great that it makes no economic sense to risk getting caught.

Mark, thats an interesting suggestion for him not to scale down from pike gear as this is usually a factor of people reading too much crap by people who only chase schoolies. I know of your zander credentials and I think your a good all rounder, but for someone fishing a venue with an unknown head of zander, wouldnt you think it wise to scale down? add to this the sporting aspect of zander fishing, Ive had doubles on my pike gear and its hardly been sporting, I would go for 2lb rods, 10-20lb braid free running rigs with size 8 semibarbed trebles or size 6 doubles coupled with with 4 oz liveys and deads. This way if he doesnt land on the zander, hes got a chance of both pike and perch as bonus fish.

gozzer hwo do you work that out? Im not at all, Its just annoying when people do quibble over a few quid and hence my stance on the subject.

Anderoo, Im sure there are zander in the oxford canal, but do not know of population size. RE the lea zander, try and deeper holes or areas next to structures, as for takle, pike gear will do but scale it down and go for low resistance rigs and small to medium baits. Look at www.pikezander.co.uk for good beginners info on zander fishing and rigs.

I wouldnt been seen dead in a shirt that represents our over rated shower of a football team. You can get the latest germany home shirt for £40 from www.subsidesports.com which is worth every penny!

Look, i didnt mean to offend any disaabled anglers with my post but I know several fakers and it winds me up. I also have a disabled grandad and disabled uncle but these are genuine cases. What im saying is that who cant afford £25 or even £50, disabled or not. I say this not out of jealousy but cmon, everybody should pay the same when the fee is so nominal, ok if it was £150 then maybe disabled might have a case but bickering over a few quid? May I remind you all of the title of this topic, which states OUTRAGE AT RISING LICENSE FEES for disabled. And it is this outrage that is a joke. Budgie, I was a student, but I never got any discount for fishing licenses or permits etc, and even if I could have done, I wouldnt quibble over a few quid!!!

I cant see any reason for disabled anglers to pay less than abled anglers. Disability benefits are adequate to fund what is, lets face it, extremely good value for money. The rod licence could go up to £50 and it would be still worth it so why are people, disabled or not quibbling over a few quid? Its a joke. No matter what your income, disabled or not, can we not afford £25 for a rod licence for a years fishing? Come on lets put it itno perspective, some disabled people are milking the system just as bluezulu says, for every genuine case theres 2 fakes.

Well this season is shaping up to be as bad as last, unless it gets colder this winter I will be shunning the pike again and wondering why I bother fishing at all. I cant quite pin it down, maybe confidence, but a few seasons back, I didnt get a blank, it all seemed so easy and now, im stuggling everywhere I go. Of course there has been the odd good fish or day but the consistant good sport I used to enjoy seems to be a distant memory. I suppose its all relative really, maybe my expectations are too high and if I wanted to bag up on bits then there would be no problem but Im not after bits, Im after HUGE FISH OF ALL SPECIES. Im gonna sack it all off and just start going to catch fish....any fish.

better still, purchase the PACGB pike fishing guidlines or look at their website, and then after you have digested the information - go fishing for bream, tench, carp, chub, barbel etc and leave the pike fishing until october.