Vagabond

Steve I have caught mullet on fly on the ebb at several places. For West coast estuaries I use a small fiery brown or ginger fly #12 fished downstream, evening, ebb. Concealment is important because the light is from the west, the fly shows well to the mullet , as does the angler. One take per evening sounds about right, Flounders and tiny bass one has to accept. Never had much when fishing morning ebb with the light behind me. (reminds one of W S Gilbert's "rich attorney's elderly ugly daughter" who looked good in the dusk with the light behind her) One thing I found that worked was holding the fly in the current and let it drift (but slower than the current) downtide Good luck

.............and the back-alley of the local grocer was a rich source of bottles

As readers of "Angling Vagabond" will know, my first decent carp, hooked at night, was too big for my net, and had to be played until daylight, by when it was docile enough to be netted head-first, like an egg in an egg-cup. In 1949 the fish (8lb) was regarded as a monster Last week Norma and I repeated the feat We stopped at a motorhome site in Lincolnshire that offered fishing on site. One has to use mats and nets provided by the site. The nets are small, but we managed a 6-4 and a 7-7 carp landed by the method described above, as well as many other species A total "matchweight" of about 36 lb - "shooting fish in a barrel" comes to mind.

Perhaps you should get out more More seriously, they are now much rarer than they used to be.. Folk would plant a walnut tree for the benefit of their great grandchildren. Alas, said ggchildren have long since sold the tree for veneer and it has never occurred to them to plant a replacement. Pickled walnuts with cold roast venison is one of my favourite packed lunch options.

Lefty Kreh, aged 93 One of thr great fly fishers Fished with Hemingway and three US Presidents Born left-handed, suffered an injury to left arm, simply changed hands and cast with his right When asked what was the best length for a fly rod, he demonstrated he could cast with just the top joint, and also with his hand alone If you come across one of his books, buy it !!

Just had a session on a gravel pit Fished for perch, one evening, the next day, and the following morning Evening - three bites, all within half an hour, yielded three perch, all over a pound, with the best 2-4 What was interesting was I fished in the teeth of a northerly gale - so fierce my eyes watered enough to blur vision and make tying hooks on difficult Now, received wisdom says perch do not like windy conditions and I nearly did not go. Food for thought. Next day, wind dropped to a gentle northerly breeze, with bright sun Fished 8am to 9pm Just one bite, at 8pm Perch 2-14 What a difference one decent fish makes to an otherwise blank day ! Following morning, same conditions as previous day Fished 8am to about 1 pm. Perchless, but two bites produced eels of 2-12 and 3-0 Had a measure of how much energy is needed to cope with eels once landed, Once the eel is on the bank, one's troubles are just beginning. All my life I have just dealt with the beggars without much thought, but at age 84 with anginal problems, I can now measure the energy expended by the number of squirts of nitroglycerin I need to restore circulation to normal, ....and these were lip-hooked - I'm glad there was no deep hooking to deal with. I fished two rods throughout - one with running paternoster baited with lobworms - no bites. All fish caught on other rod, baited with a bunch of maggots on a simple ledger rig (short trail) Bite indication by watching rod-tip Just got a new camera (previous has given up the ghost) so now to find out how to transfer the pics to PC - its all go, this fishing lark.

A good day to go fishing.... Whilst wishing the couple well, their marriage is their business, not mine, so why would I watch it ?

Two white-whiskered florid-faced elderly gentlemen were having tea at Simpsons-in-the-Strand and deep in animated discussion. "I am positive, Carstairs, the correct spelling is W.O.O.M.B. " "No,No Carruthers, the opinion in the Officers Mess at Mafeking was unanimous - it is W.O.O.O.M.B." A distinguished-looking lady of mature years was just finishing her tea at the next table. As she left, she paused briefly to say, "Excuse me gentlemen, but I could not help overhearing your conversation. For many years, I was matron at a large London Obstetric Hospital, and I can assure you on the very best authority that I am sorry, you are both wrong, and the correct spelling is W.O.M.B." Both gentlemen sprang to their feet, bowed courteously, said "thank you very much Matron, for putting us right" The lady left, and conversation resumed. "Do you know, Carstairs, I believe that lady has never in her life heard a male African elephant breaking wind."

LOL I have just seen an article in the travel supplement of The Times "Tips on eating abroad: Eat where the locals eat (but not in America, or you may never leave McDonalds"

Can vouch for that Phone - lots of places in USA where a restaurant is by a lake and surplus food gets chucked in The scenario looks just like that - in Texas there are various catfish in the mix as well. The source ? Lots of fat kids being bought far more fries than they can eat - the human race is only just beginning to realise it is a form of child abuse

"Toast is nice." .................and easy to make.... "when its brown it's burning, when its black it's ready" What we used to call a Boy Scout aide memoire - applies to sausages as well

Hi Bobj We were on our own when we caught fingermark (Lutjanus johnii) in the NT, so dunno what the locals called 'em, but both sets of crews we went with on the Ord river (W.A.) and on Cape York (QLD) called them fingermark. I have also heard them called "John's snapper" I think in South Africa and of course restaurants the world over call any tropical sea fish with a spiky dorsal "Red Snapper" Good luck at the Keep River - I remember it well, - wish I'd known where to look for the Gouldian finches BEFORE the trip ! The only fish I heard called "golden snapper" was a Moses Perch (Lutjanus russelli) by some fishos at Darwin (NT) It was definitely a Moses - thin yellow stripes and all. But then, all of the Lutjanids have umpteen different names (Australia's a big place ) - a quick glance at Grant's book will show just how many!

Is that better or worse than "Vote Theresa, get Jeremy" ?

Well, those aren't bad, but if you fish the top end, Fingermark Bream take some beating. Down in Tas, my favourite with chips was the Southern Sand Flathead.

Last time we had a puncture to our campervan in Australia was about 15 years ago, when I was still a strapping young man in my 60s. I was still well capable of seeing to the job myself. Nevertheless at least three other vehicles stopped to help . they almost came to blows as to who was to change my wheel. By that time wisdom was beginning to overtake pride so I let them get on with it. Its good to know there are still such folk about.

Re Mark's post#12 That must have been before or after the Reynolds-Wagstaffe alliance Between them Fred and Bob contributed many articles on their Irish adventures. I remember the situations, but not the order they came in. So my contributions probably apply to some periods in the late 1960s/early 1970s I only met Reynolds once. (when I fished a lake in Northampton wirh Chevin - Billing I think it was called) Webb not at all, but fished with Fred Waggers a few times,again with Ian Howcroft (Chevin) Also before or after the above Fred Wagstaffe and Jim Gibbinson spent a lot of time carp fishing.together - many entertaining articles resulted One hilarious episode concerned Fred's bedchair collapsing at one end and depositing the incumbent into the lake , still in his sleeping bag - as Gibbo put it - "Just like a burial at sea" Fred also had a three-wheeler. Its main function was to get Fred and gear to the waterside as quickly as possible - sometimes the possible verged on the impossible and the three-wheeler was rolled more than once. For some time I was in a correspondence group, including Jim Gibbinson, Fred Wagstaffe, the Late Dave Marlborough, Mike Winter from Devon and one or two more

Ray Wilson I believe No it was Ray Webb as Mark says below , bought and lived in a small van - dunno about a boat There was also a pair who travelled around the UK and Ireland - had a boat known as The Black Pig Fred Wagstaffe and Bob Reynolds. Caught a lot of fish and wrote a lot of articles

I didn't know that either - but have never seen them for sale with shell stilll on' One thing I did learn at an early age was not to ear sweet chestnut raw.. They are delicious, but the tiny hairs that coat them inside the brown skin cause a really vicious sore throat.

The case reminds me of the officials of West Hartlepool during Napoleonic times, when an escaped monkey was captured and allegedly hanged as a French spy. To be consistent the dog should be tried also MEANWHILE, BE CAREFUL HOW YOU HAIL A TAXI.

Do you remember an article by Dick Walker on the industrial archaeology of spirit levels ? Entitled "Buckden's Breamers" it was hilarious - "the best bubbles for spirit levels come from bream, and collecting them at the waterside and transferring them unbroken to the glass tube in the level is becoming a lost art" I think it appeared in an April edition of "Angling"

Going back to original post....... Bearing in mind this happened a few days before Russa's elections, then even if it did happen as May suggested, there is no way Putin could admit to losing control of a chemical weapon - it would be domestic political suicide at worst or a great loss of face at best. One recent development puzzles me. If this agent is so bloody toxic, how come the victims are recovering ? As Chesters said, polonium works,, why should the assassins bother with anything else. ? That in itself might be a clue as to who was responsible.

Cats !

"Scots whae' fish wi' saumon roe Scots whae' sniggle as ye go, Will ye stand the baillie ? - No Let the limmer dae Noo's the dae and noo's the time Poison a' the burns wi' lime Fishin' fair's a dastard crime We're for fishin' free " Andrew Lang (without apologies AFAIK to Robbie Burns)

Don't be "nervous" - be bloody terrified - and stay out of it, at least until you have a much better picture of the vagaries of this particular estuary, which may well reinforce your present views. If you do venture out, do so initially on an incoming neap tide I don't know this particular estuary in detail, but similar ones have rapid ebb flows across shallow water with constantly shifting sandbanks

Richard H N Hardy Aged 94 Renowned by hundreds, nay, thousands of railwaymen for his leadership, engineering skill and footplate ability over many decades