eamonn321

I'm trying to pluck up courage to have a go at emptying my pond to remove the silt. I've never done this before and would appreciate some advice. I can use the pump to take most of the water out and I have 3 plastic dustbins to put the fish in although I have 4-5 fish that are 12"-18" long which won't give them much room for swimming around. After I've removed all the muck from the pond what water should I put back? I thought perhaps the 3 dustbins worth of pond water but that will only put about a foot of water back. Should I just let it fill up with rain or is it safe to put some tap water in? Also, how long is it safe to keep the fish swimming round in circles in their dustbins for?

The first one I've ever caught, or seen for that matter, caught today from the Ember in Molesey. I'm well pleased about it.

I enjoyed last night's programme very much. It seemed almost surreal to be watching a television programme showing someone fly fishing in the Wandle right outside Merton bus garage. Hope you come back and try again. You probably heard about this from the Jetset guy.... http://ezinearticles.com/?Londons-Lost-Tro...n&id=209593

Thanks. I have the feeling that this is one of those jobs that will always be put off till another day!

When would be a good time to try to remove all the gunk out of the bottom of the pond? I've read some earlier threads about this and think I will just try to dredge the muck out using a biggish net with a fairly fine mesh.

It does go through a biological filter and also some pours back through a separate pipe straight back into the pond. Hmm must check the filter - probably has about 4" of gunge sitting on top of the foam by now!.

Now that winter's here could I switch off the pond pump? I know it's worth putting on if it's so cold that it may ice over but otherwise should I leave it off until the warmer weather .

A) How long have you been fishing after the age of 12? - 25 years How many days a year do you fish? - 20 C) How many times have you had your Rod Licence checked (by official WA/NRA/EA baillif as opposed to club baillif or fishery owner)? - Never

Sounds like a ramble along the Hogsmill is in order. Pimms anyone?

Fishing allowed definitely on the public banks. Never occurred to me that anyone would fish it this far away from the Thames. I must take walk along the Hogsmill and look into the river again. The small chub I saw were in the stretch between the A3 and the bridge at the end of Sheephouse Way. The police station is the one in Kingston - Clattern Bridge. Take a look over the side of the bridge on the police station side of the road and you'll see loads of chub up to a couple of pounds. So did your project include anything about Millais using the Hogsmill in Old Malden as a background for his painting of Ophelia?

There are plenty of chub in the Hogsmill near the police station - you can see them from the bridge but unfortunately it's a no fishing area. I've lived near the Hogsmill most of my life and it was only last summer that I saw a fish other than sticklebacks, anywhere outside Kingston. I spotted a couple of small chub in the Old Malden area. Now that part of the river is about 3 - 4 miles from Kingston so maybe fish are now moving (upstream?). It would be nice to think the river might go the way of the Wandle but it's much smaller so I doubt it.

Am I doing something wrong or are they always almost impossible to open?

Are the quiver tips fixed on this rod? Sounds like a good rod for all round lake fishing but I prefer float fishing and don't want a fixed quiver tip.

I'd be interested to hear about the Longwater too. Fished the nearby Willow Pond many years ago but I don't think fishing's allowed in that one any more.

Don't quite understand the weighing down thing. A lively 4" roach would take a fair bit of weight to keep it down in the water wouldn't it?

In case anyone is worrying, by some miracle my koi seem to have survived me poisoning them with unsoaked uncooked peanuts.

Thanks for the replies. Went fishing yesterday having soaked some overnight. Didn't catch anything on them though.

was thinking of trying peanuts for carp/tench and have read through some old threads about them. I was thinking of using a pellet band for putting the nuts on the hook. Some posters mentioned "preparing" peanuts and I wondered what that meant. I thought I could use the plain old peanuts that you buy for feeding the birds but now I'm a bit confused. Also slighlty worried as I've chucked a few in my garden pond and the koi seem to love them.

That's not in Isleworth is it?

How was the fishing at Bury Hill?

Agree that Milton at Bury Hill has lots of good crucians. They have indeed put loads of carp around the half pound mark in though and they were a bit of a pain when I fished there last.

Well done Looks like Bury Hill in Surrey? Long bank perhaps?

Happy 1st April

Very good!

The matter was not a recordable criminal offence that the police needed to get involved in. It's like expecting the police to deal with a fare dodger. Yes it is an offence to fare dodge but it is for the transport company to deal with. In the same way, it is the EA's responsibility to deal with this matter. Of course they don't have the staff available I know. I think the duty inspector was doing a bit of PR when he phoned back to smooth things over. That's all part of his job and I'm pretty sure the PC involved would have been told by her guvnor that she was quite right not to waste police time over the matter.