MatNewman

Hello All, Forgot to mention this earlier. Anyway - I went fishing on Saturday and was amazed when a mallard swooped onto the pond and grabbed what looked like a small roach! The fish must have been about 5/6 inches long! The duck had the fish in his mouth for a few minutes with his duck friends all trying to steal it, eventually he turned it his mouth and swallowed it whole. I didnt think ducks ate fish! I have since been on a few sites and cant find any reference to them eating fish as part of their diet. I did however read about their sexual activity and found it quite amusing - See below (Source - Wikipedia) "Mallards also have rates of male-male sexual activity that are unusually high for birds. In some cases, as many as 19% of pairs in a Mallard population are male-male homosexual[7]. When they pair off with mating partners, often one or several drakes will end up "left out". This group will sometimes target an isolated female duck — chasing, pestering and pecking at her until she weakens (a phenomenon referred to by researchers as rape flight), at which point each male will take turns copulating with the female. Male Mallards will also occasionally chase other males in the same way. (In one documented case, a male Mallard copulated with another male he was chasing after it had been killed when it flew into a glass window"

I Wish! Unfortunatey I had been taught how to use the scales an hour earlier and so it was 10lb!

Hello everyone! Well then lets get started. I went ot a local commercial on Saturday. I had chosen a small pond and was prepared for a nice relaxing day with no specific targets. All set up by 7:00am with float in water. Within 5 minutes the float dips under and I have my first tench this year. The day is steady with a few nice fish but nothing too exciting. A man and his son arrived at the other side of the pond and started fishing. They didnt seem to do too well but in time the man went on to land a quality carp easily a double! He then caught another soon afterwards. I shouted over and offered the use of my scales which he accepted. I put the fish in the sling and then lifted it onto the scales. I asked the man to guess - he guess a double. I said it was 5lb and added that they sometimes appear a lot bigger than they actually are. I posted a pic of me on here with "Guess the weight" a while ago which I will come back to. The man quickly corrected me and said that the fish was 10.5lb and that I was actually looking at the weight in Kg! He was absoleutly right! For the last 4 weeks both me and my mate have been weighing all fish wrong! On reflection the weights no make sense! I had a sturgeon at 3.5 which was actually more like 8. The carp featured on Guess the weight is more like 13 as opposed to 6! The only thing that makes this bearable is the fact that my mate was also wrong! I remember the 13lb carp that we didnt believe was 6 so weighed it with his scales for the same result! There we go I feel better for sharing my stupidity with you all! The day ended well as I tried a pellet about 6inches deep and took a 10lb Mirror - nice!

Doh! I have just ordered some bait needles! I tried freecycle before I struggled to use it, how do you find it?

Damn Damn Damn! I will have to speak to the fishery about false advsertising Whatever it was it was awesome - When I caught it I had to shout to one of the uys on the bank and ask if it had teeth before I started looking for the hook! The Sturgeon (I mean Sterlet) was caught from Beacon View fisheries, The gudgeon was from Charity farm http://www.daytickets.co.uk/fisheries.htm

Thanks very much - Going to have a look at the over and under holders aswell

I have been thinking about starting to use PVA bags on my hook length when fishing with my pole? I was thinking that if the pvs dissolves pretty quickly that it wont really affect the presentation of the rig? Has anyone ever tried this?

Sorry to jump on the band wagon but it does seem a bit pointless keeping all these fish in a landing net. Incidentally, how long were you fishing for?

I am tired of holding my pole! (No jokes please ) I have a seat box with square legs. I was thinking of a pole arm or an over and under pole support. What is the best and where will I find one reasonably cheap? Is there any other good methods of freeing up my hands? Any advice much apreciated!

Have been fishing on and off for years. Went to a new venue last weekend and caught a first! It was a sturgeon of 3 1/2 lbs! It really was good to catch something different! This weekend I went to a different venue again and caught another first! It was a gudgeon! I know that gudgeons are meant to be most peoples first or 2nd fish but it has taken me years to get one! I may now make it a life mission to catch as many different species of fish in the UK as possible!

ROFL

I think this is something that any responsible angler knows and does without thinking. Every trip I go on I ensure I have a plastic bag to pick up all my rubbish and any other that I notice on my peg.

Ah right, I see now

What do you mean?

ROFL I agree John. It is weird. The fish was not only large but fairly fat aswell. I suppose muscle is heavier than fat so it may just have been a fat wimp - Although as I said before it fought like hell!

Right then - the moment of truth. This fish really is as big as it looks. I guessed well over 10lbs before I put it in the sling and hung it from the scales. I thought I was well on track to beat my PB of 12lbs The moment of truth, the scales start to tick round and stop at...............................6lbs dead. I couldnt believe it and neither could my mate so I got his scales and tried again. Guess what? 6lbs dead. This fish fought like I cant describe, unbelieveable! I have looked at the picture and have other pictures of the same fish. It really is massive but has no weight to it. Amazing!

Way off!

Thanks for the info. Is this bait mainly aimed at carp or will other species take it?

The weight will be revealed soon, no one is anywhere near yet.......................

Way off

Hi all, Caught this on Saturday and had to use a second set of scales as I didnt believe the first reading Mat

Anyone fished with Catmeat? If so, how is it used? Thanks

Fellow Anglers I know this isnt strictly fishing but I thought I would share the offer, I have just ordered mine! Latest umbro England shirt for £9.65 on littlewoods website using the codes below. www.littlewoods.com search for England shirt or use this product code in the search box OP4291P add to basket enter these codes one after the other XX024 = 10% Discount ZQ057 = £13 .50 VOUCHER ZQ298 = £2.95 Free Delivery Register/Sign In, go to checkout, Total price = £9.65 Bargain.

Wikipedia says Ghost koi, developed in the 1980s are metallic hybrids of wild carp and Ogon koi and are not considered true Nishikigoi.