Anderoo

Coarse fish rather than sea fish (although apparently zander get caught on sea baits at some day ticket stillwaters) and I personally wouldn't worry too much about which species. Sizes 3-6". You want the bait to be as fresh as possible, but you can catch on frozen baits too. The very best deadbait in the fens used to be eel section, and they liked those so much it didn't matter if they were frozen or not. I doubt that's an option these days though.

Hi John. It's been a long time now but I did used to do quite a bit of bait fishing for zander in the fens. Dropped runs were fairly common regardless of setup, so I would just make peace with the fact that they will happen. Having said that, both the following methods of bite indication worked well for me - drop-off indicators (as used for pike fishing) and light bobbins on a long drop. In either case, I'd use a lead heavier than is necessary (say, 2oz) on a large free running ring, a wire trace as light as possible (I think I used to use either 10lb or 15lb Drennan soft wire - beware this is easily damaged and will only usually last for 1 fish, there may be better alternatives now), and size 10 trebles. Something like 10lb mainline should be fine. Just a very simple free running leger. This plus a lightly set drop-off or a light bobbin should give good indication. You can either wait for a proper run, or strike at smaller indications (the latter is a lot easier with bobbins). The good thing with dropped runs is you know zander are in the area. Usually a proper bite will follow at some point (usually ).

Mostly trout fishing at the moment, having lots of fun drifting buzzers around from the bank at Farmoor. The winter was the usual chub fishing on the Thames (always great), with a little bit of ultra-light lure fishing inbetween. I did have a couple of goes for gravel pit carp earlier in the spring, but they weren't playing ball. Hoping for some warmer weather and tench fishing soon.

Wash your mouth out I had a blast again last autumn. Two very notable results for me personally, one was a PB from Grafham, right at the end of a long day where it was the only bite of the day. We were perch fishing really and I had no idea what it was until it was in the net, and had me properly shaking for the first time in years. The second was even better, a gentle take over deep water at Rutland and a very heavy, ponderous fight. Eventually I landed a very nice 10ft #7 Greys trout rod together with a reel and line, which some unfortunate fly angler had dropped over the side. It was in a right state, covered in mud, slime and mussels and the reel was a write-off. But I cleaned up the rod and it's as good as new, and as luck would have it absolutely perfect for the spring Farmoor bank fishing.

Hey folks, been a while The EA have been culling zander along the southern end of the Oxford canal for ages, so this is nothing new. They don't seem to do the same thing along the northern end, e.g. around Coventry. You can try to understand their motives all you like, but I've tried and failed. To cull a naturalised species in one section of a long canal, which is itself connected to the entire canal network, when the culling of predators has been repeatedly proven to be ineffective, can only really suggest the motive is purely ideological. Or, a fanatical but extremely localised interpretation of the law. The fact that zander are not native is totally irrelevant at this point. They are widespread and naturalised. The types of water they prefer are very similar to their native homes in mainland Europe (Holland, Germany, etc.) so they are very at home here. I remember as a kid in the fens all the scare stories about them eating all the fish, killing for fun, etc. All nonsense, as we now know. The EA can keep culling this bit of one canal all they like, at some point they will inevitably decide to stop (probably for financial reasons), after which it will all have been for nothing anyway. PS there's some great zander fishing throughout the canal network. Ultralight lure fishing at dawn for canal zander (and bonus perch) is one of life's great pleasures. We last did this just a few weeks ago - highly recommended

http://m.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/uk-exhausted-from-arguing-with-brexit-fkwits-20160713110699 And I'm done.

Pointless. Cheers.

We've had emails at work from senior management trying to reassure the (hundreds of) EU citizens we work with that, hopefully, nothing will change and that they will be allowed to stay in the country. That may be true, maybe not, it depends on how the years of negotiations go. But many of these people are being proactive and making their own plans now regardless. We will lose a lot of them because they no longer feel welcome and don't want to stay in a small minded, mean spirited country when they could easily go elsewhere. We can't replace them with British citizens. Those jobs will just cease to exist and we'll be much worse at what we do. It's extremely damaging to our business and industry. So, thanks for that.

Maybe this is more positive: http://m.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/britain-to-get-absolutely-everything-it-wants-from-brexit-negotiations-20160715110899 Can't be that hard can it. After all they need us more than we need them etc. Hard not to get personal sometimes but saying this might be worth it after I'm dead does leave rather a lot of wiggle room. Almost like saying you can't prove this was a catastrophic decision in my lifetime. After that - whatever. Sovereignty.

More 'experts': http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2016/07/14/everything-you-need-to-know-about-theresa-may-s-brexit

So can anyone yet list some positives of leaving the eu? What have we gained? 'It's only been 2 weeks' isn't an answer.

Yes let's put this silliness behind us and just agree the fault is with the eu. Classic. And Andrew, congrats, that scored full points in my 'off topic tin foil hat' award. Human rights only exist so foreigners can rape children. Ten out of ten.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/08/police-record-3000-hate-incidents-weeks-around-referendum?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews Can't be related. Too obvious.

A few stock phrases I've noticed a lot over the last week: - we won, get over it - don't you like democracy? - the ftse is up - weak pound is good for exports - it's only been 2 weeks, what do you expect? - it's good to rebalance property prices - you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs - markets always bounce back - it's just an increase in reports, not incidents Feel free to reuse

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/08/brexit-causes-resurgence-in-pro-eu-leanings-across-continent Why don't they want their sovereignty? So strange.

Piece about the future from a so-called expert: http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/2016/07/04/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do/

The governor of the bank of England is not doing childish gloating. No point sticking fingers in ears and just going lalalalalalalalala. I'm not gloating, I'm really really worried and it blows my mind that people can be so blase. I don't have to pretend to myself that this was actually a good idea. But I do agree that the divide this has exposed is extremely deep. There's not really any common ground. We're now effectively in separate countries - The Economist has called them the metropolitan and the backwaters. No comment from me.

Britain’s central bank has warned that the risks posed by the Brexit vote are “starting to crystallise”. In it latest financial stability report, just released, the Bank of England warns that: The BoE has also taken action to fight the looming threat of recession, by relaxing the capital control rules on UK banks. “There is evidence that some risks have begun to crystallise. The current outlook for UK financial stability is challenging,” That is meant to encourage lenders to keep providing credit to the UK economy. Back in March, the BoE has announced that the so-called counter-cyclical capital buffer would rise to 0.5%. It has now reversed that decision, potentially freeing up an extra £150bn for lending, the BoE said. And the Bank also pledged to do more to help the economy, saying: “The Financial Policy Committee stands ready to take actions that will ensure that capital and liquidity buffers can be drawn on as needed, to support the supply of credit and in support of market functioning.” sterling has also hit a two-and-a-half-year low against the euro, at €1.1787 Sterling slides to new 31-year low vs dollar at $1.3117, down 12% since Brexit vote. That’s below the levels hit after the referendum vote, and back to the sterling crisis of the mid-1980s. UK Services #PMI returned to 38-month low in June. Survey period covered Brexit vote after which "loss of momentum intensified". Picture of leave effect starting to show - important services sector slowed in June, although it didn't contract like construction did

Yes I can see now I must be wrong. Looking forward to all the positives. I will swap the guardian for the express, that ought to help.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/30/police-report-fivefold-increase-race-hate-crimes-since-brexit-result What's broke! Nothing, I am now 50% more sovereign than a couple of weeks ago, there's no negative effect on the economy, there's no rise in legitimized xenophobia, there's no fall in foreign investment, everyone involved hasn't run in the opposite direction because the plan obviously wasn't to actually win as that would be mental, there's a solid plan for the future, there's no risk of unsettling the peace process in Ireland, there's no fracturing of the UK, there's no loss of jobs, we haven't already propped up the pound with an emergency injection of £250bn, the 'promises' of the leave campaign were all true, the 'experts' were all wrong, there's no huge rise in people trying to maintain their European citizenship with duel nationality, the collapse of the two main parties won't create a vacuum for the far right to fill making this place even more racist than it already is, the top search terms on google after the referendum weren't 'what does it mean to leave the EU' and 'what is the EU', we're not an international laughing stock, we haven't deliberately limited the ambitions of the young, and we haven't shown the world that actually we are not the progressive, confident, open and tolerant society we always thought we were, and 6 years of Tory austerity (actually what people should have been protesting about) were all for nothing.

Interesting point. I hadn't thought of it like that.

So painfully obvious. But yes, you broke it, you own it. Looking forward to the big plan and the bright future, plus the reduction in all the hate crime. We now have a couple of decades of trying to get the toothpaste back in the tube.

Whatever. He's absolutely on the money. It's so painfully obvious.

'You haven't quite grasped the concept of not listening to politicians.' Or nobel prize winners, or economists, or business leaders, or academics, or scientists, or other world leaders - but those are part of the liberal elite aren't they and need to be punished Even Boris doesn't want to touch it now, that says something.

Steve, there are millions of people who agree with you, me included, just not here. In fact now it's clear that 'project fear' should have been called 'project bleeding obvious' and the 'so-called experts' just 'experts', I wouldn't be surprised if it's now a majority of the population. But too late now - here we are.