Vagabond

After losing a post about four-fifths done I produce a version off-line, then copy and paste it in. Saves an awful lot of frustration. Now to see about putting piccys in,

Winding down - angling as one gets older and frailer. Having caught shark, marlin, and sturgeon over 300 lb, and several hundred species from places as diverse as the Amazon Basin, the Australian outback, the Southern Ocean, the Caribbean coral flats and the streams of the American Divide. It is with some disbelief that I find age, muscle weakness and increasingly severe angina drastically limiting where I can fish. I have always loved catching wild fish in wild places, which has had me fishing in all seven oceans, and six of the seven continents. (went to the seventh – Antarctica – bird watching, didn’t fish as ice too thick), So, my choice is either to give up fishing altogether, or re-appraise the easier club lakes, and even the despised “carp-filled mud puddles” that are the only accessible waters for someone who suffers intense chest pain (think elephant standing on chest) if required to walk more than 20 yards, to do anything in a hurry or stand up for more than three minutes. The only saving grace is that a dose of nitroglycerine ends the pain in about three to five minutes. Thus a distance of 60 yards needs three doses of nitro and three periods of five-minute rest. No good for a roving hillstream fisher ! So after thought, I made my choice, ie fishing from a chair is better than no fishing. So I have to fish only those swims I can get to – no sussing out where the fish are, no roving, no scrambling into difficult swims. But then, I am no worse off than the match fisherman who has to fish the peg he or she has drawn – so - you can only catch the fish in front of you or those you can entice into your swim. This in turn means one has to revise one’s expectations and set a realistic target. Above all remember this is not a match, so no need to hurry – fishing is a leisure sport – not an Olympic time-trial. On the plus side, I have been fishing alone since the age of seven, so have eighty years experience to draw upon, allied to which I have had the good fortune to fish with some very good anglers indeed, so I must have learnt something. My adventures henceforth might be of interest to others confined to easily accessible swims. Here are three waters I fished this last week. Norma and I decided to have a week in the campervan, visiting bird reserves, and staying at camping sites offering fishing. Norma would lead the birding trips, with me following on a hired mobility scooter. And I would lead the fishing trips, with Norma doing the netting, fish handling, and returning. Weighing and photography would be kept to a minimum. Occasional casting , loose feeding and playing a fish I can cope with. Handling any fish of two pounds upwards and getting it safely back into the water has me reaching for the nitro, so I am fortunate that Norma can take that on, and it gives me a short rest after playing a fish to the net. NB All venues had similar rules, No bread, No floating baits, No braid, No barbs, No microbarbs No baiting with boilies. So – Venue 1 Swim 20 yards from the campervan. Flat grassy bank, water surface one foot below the bank and one foot deep tight against the bank. Even slope outwards - the depth at a rod length out was 3 ft, A narrow fringe of Norfolk reed with an eight foot gap and a bottom of fine gravel with a little silt comprised my swim. The plummet told me that further from the shore the silt became thicker. What was out there ? Keeping my hands low, I flicked 3 or 4 maggots into the swim, and kept doing that until small rudd and small perch began to assemble, then switched to sweet corn (no result) then small Spam cubes which brought better rudd and some small carp. Persistent loose feeding for about fifteen minutes brought nothing bigger than half-pound rudd and two pound carp. Observation of other anglers showed similar fish being caught from other swims. Having assessed the swim, time to fish. Set my targets, 2lb carp, half-pound rudd, and see how close to the bank I could hook a carp. Tried several baits, maggot, dendrobena worms, Spam, sweet corn, Caught on all of them, except sweet corn (not a bite, neither on its own nor in combination with other baits) Most baits free-lined with perhaps a BB shot to provide casting weight. To stop dendys from wriggling off a barbless hook (or being sucked off) a soft pellet was used Result. Lots of small perch, medium sized rudd to half a pound, about a score of carp all between ¾ and 3 lb. Nearest to bank, (a carp) half an inch ! Comment – Won’t fish there again, just too easy. Could have caught many more if prepared to hurry, but as stated before, that’s not my style. Venue 2 Swim about 30 yds from van, ground level, so did it in one hop. A small pool about 80 yds by 30 yds, the owner said it held lots of carp (true). some bream, (unconfirmed) with “the biggest carp over 20 lb” (taken with a pinch of salt – you can safely divide most owner’s estimates by a factor of three) About four feet deep close to the bank with the water about 3 feet down a near-vertical bank, little vegetation on bank. Bottom very silty. There was a howling Easterly that day and a bright sun, no cloud.. “When the East wind blows and the sun shines bright, Then don’t expect the fish to bite” A bad omen, but I heeded the other one “”Carp follow the wind, and the stronger the wind, the more strongly they follow it” So I elected to fish into the teeth of the gale. The swim was not the nearest to the van, so that was one principle out the window. Sat well back from the water, flicked a few Spam chunks in and cautiously peeped over. There was a rugby scrum of carp after the slowly sinking Spam pieces. All from about two pounds to around 8 , Now one thing I have learnt is that carp become fearless (or maybe just careless) in choppy water so I elected to fish tightline, just a hook in a lump of Spam dangled into the choppy waves. The fish fought to get at the bait – very often all one could see were seven or eight round open mouths all seeking the same chunk of Spam and shouldering the other carp out of the way. I did my best to keep the bait away from the smaller fish and keep it available for anything that looked to be over 7. I only partially succeeded, as out of 15 carp landed, 12 looked about 6 lb or less, 3 of greater weight.. Norma weighed the biggest – just over eight.pound. Retired for an early tea. Comment There were people up the other end catching two pounders,as fast as they could pull them in - the place was absolutely stuffed with carp. “Shooting fish in a barrel” came to mind. Venue 3 This swim was “difficult” as it was 70 yards from the van, and uphill all the way. Two stops for nitro and the second needed a big dose and a fifteen minute rest. The East wind had gone and it was a hot sunny day. There was an island in the lake and breeching carp by it, but only fishable from some steep swims on the opposite bank. Too far away, too unfriendly, so elected to fish the nearest swim , Steep, but some negotiable steps down to it. This was a bit like venue 1 – but a far thicker fringe of Norfolk reed, The channel leading into the lake was therefore twice as long, about 20 ft, This channel was 6 inches deep at the bankside and about 2 ft where it met the main lake. Fishing through the gap into the lake produced rudd to half a pound up in the water, and nothing at all on the bottom. So I elected to bait up the outer part of the channel – it was fairly clear water and I could see there was nothing there, but I hoped to entice something in. A liberal dose of groundbait was laid down in the outer LH corner of the channel with plenty of Spam chunks and halibut pellets (the maggots and dendrobenas were long gone) The afternoon wore on, still no action, the sun sank, and in the early dusk came the action I was hoping for. Carp patrol the margins at such a time, looking for the discarded bait that departing anglers leave behind. One was in the channel ! We waited motionless whilst it mopped up every piece of Spam, before picking up the hookbait and shooting into the LH reedbed. Lets say it tried to shoot into the reeds, for by now I was holding it rather harder than my 6 lb Maxima justified. Good old Maxima – tough as old boots. A bit more stick and the carp decided to try the RH reedbed instead, only to find itself hitting the back of the net wielded by the expert netswoman who I was wise enough to marry. Result was a very angry carp thrashing about in the net, but fortunately the hook came free easily, the net handle was unscrewed, and the carp weighed (8lb) and returned, still thrashing angrily. That experience was a bit more worthwhile, I felt I worked for and deserved that fish. Comment After two somewhat disappointing results, it was nice to feel that with advancing years a bit of experience and watercraft has been accumulated over a lifetime and to a small extent can compensate for the handicap of reduced mobility. Watch this space.

My principle 're knots is to avoid strangle knots where the bit above the hook eye is a single strand around which the rest of the knot forms a wrapping .(as in the blood knot family) Both the grinner and the Palomar avoid this (although in different ways) if either of these knots is tied carefully and snugged down they will not (pun intended) fail.

Hmm How do you reconcile this view with your comments 're capital punishment in a previous thread. Or do you disapprove of capital punishment because you think daily torture would be more appropriate ? It seems as if in this post you assume the accused is guilty, whereas in your postings on the death penalty you assume a high proportion of innocence. You really cannot have it both ways - as the harlot said to the bishop.

I have never actually fallen in, but have got wet on numerous occasions . By far the commonest was wading an inch or more deeper than my waderr length. A bit of a laugh in thigh waders, less so in waist waders, and getting a bit hairy in chest waders. Done that in many rivers and in surf. If you ever don chest waders It is very important to invest in a good stout wading staff, both for feeling your way in a rocky river, and providing a third leg in a dodgy current or surf. Once you get chest deep it is easy to get knocked off your feet by a wave or a current surge. At 86+ my wading days are well and truly over, Have also had to swim for it as a result of a canoe collision - a canoe shot out from a side stream and rode over our stern and Norma's leg. (Incidentally Tigger this was in Madagascar, not the Amazon) there is an account somewhere in the AN archives. I have however once been washed in. There was e deep pool into which the water ran through a culvert . Just where the culvert entered was screened by overhanging trees and bushes, so the only way to fish that spot was to approach through the culvert which was brick-lined. This I did in pair of rubber-doled thigh waders. Slipped on the slimy bricks, which deposited me on my gluteal adiposities (fat a### in English) blocking the culvert and promoting a build-up of water behind me. This washed me out into the pool. I remember thinking how ridiculous the incident was, and burst out laughing as I was washed in. Got out easily enough (did you know it is perfectly possible to swim whilst holding a fishing rod ?)'

I carry groundbait dry and mix with Venice water for the same reason as b-bear. In the same way if there are any molehills near the water I add some molehill soil to the mix . Molehill soil smells quite strongly of earthworms - even I, a mere human, can detect it. Using lake water also avoids the chlorine problem. We grow a lot of fancy plants including orchids and they definitely dislike chlorine, so we have installed three water butts to catch rainwater. If I ever mixed groundbait at home I would use rainwater. I see the bloody spellchecker has stuck its nose in again. For Venice read venue.

My favourite fishing is wild trout. The only uk writer who comes anywhere near my philosophy is John Inglis Hall. "A highland stream" Streets ahead of everyone is the American writer John Geirach. "Fishing the High Country" and many others That said, I have several hundred angling books - good, bad and indifferent

Well, I'm glad nobody has written my obituary! Thanks for all the kind remarks - especially about the book. I reconnected yesterday - see Tiggers thread 're a few hours out. Still fishing in my 87th year, albeit just small still waters due to ever increasing angina problems.

Hi all. Found you at last. Y"all disappeared from my PC and I just got "cannot find" for weeks. Found this route on Norma"s Kindle. Mobility has crashed a bit and I ca n I just about stagger 50 yards from car park to swim with the aid of a few puffs of triglyceride (bloody spell checker won't let me write "nitro" and "glycerine" as one word.) Norma does the driving and gillies for me, even finds time to fish . I am restricted to flat banks and still water - no rock-hopping, no hill-stream trouting, no fly-fishing, and definitely no wading. Still, I have had 80 years of that, so can't complain (started fishing in 1940 , by myself, using tackle I made myself) We take a holiday each year in a narrowboat so I get to fish/trot/spin/lever all day and everyday for a fortnight , so all is not lost. - in fact life is pretty good when I am not actually having an angina attack. I try to fish one day a week during the summer, but winter conditions clobber my inefficient circulation so have had to give that up also. Will close now but keep in touch . Best fishes to all.

Interesting discussion. As an all-rounder, fishing all over the world,I own a lot of reels, from big game down through various multipliers (boat and surfcasting ) baitcasters, spincasters,closed face reels, fixed spools, (most with bale arms, my old Mitchell with claw pick-up) centrerpins and fly reels from #12 for tarpon down to a #2 for brooklet fishing. I had to learn to be reasonably proficient with all of them, but always concentrated on accuracy rather than distance, especially on the small freshwater waters I was brought up on. For sea fishing with multipliers i prefer righthand wind, but for most freshwater work I use lefthand wind because the master hand (my righthand) is of more use in controlling the rod. The odd one out is baitcasting - my smaller reels are of the " spincaster " closed-face variety with lefthand wind - but my larger ones are multipliers, and because they were purchased in the USA are righthand wind. It has never bothered me, I cast with right hand , and as the lure drops into the water I automatically switch the rod to my left hand to wind in righthanded.. Have always fished that way - each to his own preference

That is exactly what I was implying in my reference to "agriculture" but the northward spread of the Great Egret is less easily explained. Its first breeding recorded in the UK was about 2012, and there have been several instances since, There may well be factors involved other than temperature change, but so far nothing credible has been suggested

There has been a similar argument re cattle egrets. but that can be discounted in that cattle egrets are spreading worldwide into all sorts of wetland and agricultural habitats Towards, parallel to and away from the equator. However, the recent northward spread of the Great Egret is less easily explained except by global warming. There is no doubt that Earth is at the moment getting warmer - the climate of Earth has been changing ever since it was formed some 4.6 billion years ago - as Chesters said, sometimes getting warmer, sometimes getting cooler. Whether man can do anything about it is another matter. A logician might suggest reducing the human population back to that of the Palaeocene, but I can't see that view becoming popular

Juliet Kaplan, Actress Better known as Pearl in "Last of the Summer Wine" - wife of the hapless Howard

"Come neighbours all ,both great and small , Come listen to me here, I tell of a maid who was waylaid, By a Common Marketeer He wooed her with fair promises of foreign wines and grub, Then sad to say he had his way, and left her in the club"

Owned a small sailing dinghy for many years, Found that you could sail it, or fish from it , but not both at the same time ! When fishing, left sails and mast behind, pulled the centre-board up, and relied on oars.

Answer to the "water in hollow plastics wagglers" Make your own wagglers from a length of peacock quill - different lengths for different shot loads They last for ever.......

Robert John ("Bob") Church aged 83 Chevin and I had the privilege of fishing with Bob in the days before he became well-known for his tackle company and international fly fisherman. He was a keen coarse fisherman then, along with with his fellow members of the Northampton Specimen Group - I can remember an outing to Billing Aquadrome with some of them, including that most interesting character, Fred Wagstaffe, later of pike fishing fame. I seem well on course to be last man standing from that era, but Chevin at least is still with us AFAIK

Live fauna Squid (several sorts), octopus, lobster, crab, spider crab, mussel, goose barnacle, various sea anemones, usually attached to small rock, Various bits of various jellyfish freshwater mussel, crayfish (native and signal) terrapin, saltwater crocodile. swan, great crested grebe, frog, mallard, swallow (dry fly, on backcast ) pipistrelle bat (ditto) Dead fauna Skate skeleton, rat, cat, Live flora About 10 % of that listed in Plants of the World (including most of the world's seaweeds) Dead flora Similar 10% plus many mangrove roots Inaminate Two made up rod,reel and line outfits, bed chair, kettle, various tin cans, rags, small attache case, bottomless bucket, very old keep-net. Oh, and one made up carp oufit with live 5 lb carp attached, deliberately snagged the rod with a Mepps No 3 - the small boy who had left his rod unattended didn't say "fanks mister", only wanted to know if the fish counted in his match weight That's not an exhaustive list, just what I can recall off the top of my head

I found, at the waterside, a pair of stainless steel artery forceps which were CAMOUFLAGED. (which is presumably why the previous owner had failed to find them) Scraped the paint off, they are now gleaming silver. Find lots of fancy floats also, Keep them in my tackle box but have never found a use for them (see porcupine quill thread)

My "go to" float for short range still water fishing (ie up to a couple of rod lengths) A splash of paint on the tip (fluo orange , yellow, scarlet or matt black according to background and lighting) and a slice of cycle valve rubber each end. Sorted Guaranteed to go down. Home made Quill (porcupine, peacock, goose, pigeon and crow) or cork on quill form 90% of my floats - tackle dealers eat your hearts out.

WT Sea-eagles go for mullet in summer and things like turnstones and dunlin in winter - should make a few "conservationists" tick

Polaris is great for fishing at range in gravel pits with many bars and hollows. Not just float legering, but float paternoster also, so that your bait is a fixed distance from the bottom, whatever the depth - a method particularly good for perch.

Don;t confuse the issue with facts -their minds are made up !

There is an old saying about bolting horses and (unbolted) stable doors. Nobody thinks it will happen until it does.