RPM

I know what you mean. Im lucky that my club has some magic gravel pits with some large perch, roach, bream and tench with some carp thrown in too. Problem is, they are sat 50 metres away from the trent so its always so very tantalising but the Trent is just too high for me.

Any thoughts anyone. My pass will soon be expiring. Ive done a Google search and all it seems to pull up for me are the large commercial types.

Maybe but I think on this occasion a nice remote spot off the river is what i am, ahem, angling for. Anyone?

I didnt see it, what were you thinking?

Hi all, I hope you can help. As the topic suggests, I am looking for a place where I can go fishing tomorrow early-ish, stay overnight and come home Saturday, depending on the weather. My criteria is somewhere within approx 50 miles of Newark, Notts, where I will be pitching a small Terra Nova Voyager tent as close to the bank as possible with my fishing gear. Stillwater is probably the preference due to the flows and as I am part of Notts piscatorial, I get all the good river fishing I want when the conditions are right. Mixed species would be fine but with decent tench, roach, crucians and bream ideal. Secondary, carp, providing they are not hammered and exceed over 20lbs. I am looking for somewhere as natural as possible, not commercial, and preferably as far away from people and chavs as possible; only other sensible mature anglers - I know this sounds picky but as I dont get many opportunities like this, I dont want it to be spoiled by noisy drunken bivvyers and youngster moving pegs every two seconds. I will be taking all my own food etc so toilets only would be needed. Of course I am being very specific and I dont expect every aspect to be met however do please make some suggestions. I hope there are many. Thanks Richard

I agree with most of that, especially about the intelligence credited to a pretty unitelligent creature which has the prime functions of survival and reproduction hard wired into its instinct - they certainly arent octopus which have been proven to to be able to learn. I do believe that there is some kind of acquired adaptation to the instinct of larger and older fish, especially carp, which has made them, somehow, to be more weary of being caught. Why are they so difficult to catch compared to the yearling roach and perch - apart from the obvious answer that they are less numerous? Looking at the bigger picture however, and Im sure that this has been discussed elsewhere on the forum, is the spirit of anglling as a pleasurable hobby-come pastime and the seriousness in which it takes itself nowadays. I look back at when my father took me fishing on the trent near Dunham bridge when I was a nipper, its was all about the expectation, the time spent with my dad, the getting up early, the picnics, the (sometimes) lovely weather. OK, this is a rather romantic view from the perspective of a child. As a grew, my father was often replaced by my mates mates over summer at Harlesthorpe Dam in Clowne where I had a season ticket and they were magical days as well, spent fishing in a lovely spot, just for the sake of fishing. Hair rigs, poles and electronic bite indicators were just showing up at the time, boilies were just coming onto the market but the baits used were luncheon meat, corn, bread, worms and maggots. Pellets, what pellets? I got back into angling about 11 years ago after 15 years away and I started reading the press again with the inevitable adverts and features and I have to say that fishing really has gone a little mad in my opinion. It, and many of its participants, take the 'sport' if I can call it that, far too seriously. OK, progress is a good thing, take Sat Nav for instance, and im not averse to using the odd pellet now or hair rig but some of the new methodology, the baiting, the technology (poles, bait boats, method feeders etc) just narrow the field of movement too much, if you get my drift; we are just tying too hard to outwit a pretty unintelligent creature. The end result on this continuum is surely to have a big net which can scoop out all the fish in a pond/lake/river etc and they we can have our picture in the AT knowing that we have caught the biggest fish by the 'net method'. Lets not also forget the vastly increased litter produced by the packing all this new stuff is kept in. A1 pits after a few nights bivvying is like a post rock festival bankside. Sunday was a lovely day, im now 36 and I took my 10 year old daughter to a local, picturesque millpond. We both sat there with a rod in hand catching up to half pound roach on maggot and it was lovely. The scenery was lovely, the banks clear of litter and rod pods (apart from a couple of sweary chavs in the corner - that's another story) and we enjoyed the day for what it was. I could have similarly enjoyable day beside the Trent barbelling on my own. At the end of the day its each to their own and this is no way a criticism of those who take a particular angling path. The point I'm trying to make is that for many, the essence of fishing I think is missing. Think Passion for Angling or the Compleat Angler - I admit it, I am probably a romaticist when it comes to fishing. I like my lightweight carbon tackle but I prefer their spirit of the hobby. I just think we should stop trying too hard and return a little to what got us into fishing in the first place. We'd enjoy it a lot more.

Whilst I cant back up my assumptions with any scientific fact, I would assume that the worst that could happen in baiting would be an increase in the micro organisms that would feed on the inevitable increase in fungus and bacteria which would breed on the new organic matter. These micro organisms would be fed upon by invertebrates which in turn would feed the fish/waterfoul/insect carnivores. This assumes that the fish dont hoover up the bait first. Many bacteria do release toxic compounds though which might cause an issue but not my area of expertise. The natural world has a incredible talent for coping providing the pollution (increased over baiting, perhaps) isnt directly toxic.

Cool, thanks for the tips. Funny, looking at the stockists section, the one in Newark has been closed for about 2 years.

Sorry, bumpety, bump

Interesting thoughts but in practice, wouldnt this be difficult to measure? I guess one could approach this by using some kind of control and measuring the results but how you would accurately guage the results with so many variables is beyond my tiny little mind.

Hey all, long time no see. Its been a while - actually didnt fish once last year due to acquiring new motorbike which took all my sunny Sunday mornings - since I last fished and so I decided to have an afternoons fishing yesterday at a lovely, local mill pond. Its a cracking little spot with a huge mass of roach, decent bream and some nice carp. The roach, averaging half pound are great to catch but can be a bit bothersome on the maggot and worm. Im keen to give it another go next time and try for some of the larger roach which go to about 1.5lbs and some of the carp and bream. I tried some pellets but I really cant hook them. I have a pole but prefer rod and line and in a place like this, I would most definately prefer to use the Okuma centrepin as you either fish in the margins or a short fling out. Apart from the hard pellets, can someone advise a really good soft hooker pellet, suitable for rod, hook size and method. I know it sounds daft but I have loads of soft hookers which I have bought over the years and nonse are suitable for anything other than groundbait or chucking in as they are just too soft and impossible to hook without breaking up. I also dont want the hassle or hairing a hard pellet each time. Answers on a postcard.

Bumpety bump....

Morning all, long time no see. Just a quickie to see if anyone had an intelligence on this water. I passed it yesterday on my way to Noirfolk and I am keen to give it a try. The main stuff I can find suggests that its good for piking and zander but what about the coarse fishing? Do I need a pre paid permit or is it bankside? What are the best tactics? I am keen to have a go this weekend starting very early so are there any restrictions on times etc. Cheers Richard

Went withoe of these in the end which having got it on my mits, was the right choice. Looking forward to trying it tomorrow now. http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/store/coars...per-gtm-rb-reel

Hmmm, I have just had a look at my other Baitrunner AEROs and I hve a GTE 5000b and a GTE6000c both of which are a bit bigger than what I had in mind so I guess a 3-4000 size would be perfect.