Ferg

Before going down the mail order route try local pet and seed suppliers. for a 25 kg bag I pay £13.75.

To add colour flavour to expander pellets punp them as you normally would in water then when you put them in a bait box add the colourant/flavouring to a bit of water and let them sit in it. The pellets will draw the water and flavour as they expand. Always keep these pellets moist or they will turn back into floaters. Soft pellets are either best hooked direct or hair-rigged as the pellet band is that tight it'll cut them in half. Just use hard pellet banded.

If its mixed even a couple of days after you will find that any extras you've put in (hemp, caster etc) will now float which bring the fish up in the water which nulifies the the use of the feeder. If its just a bit get rid. Its not worth ruining a days fishing.

Any good local tackle shop will do it for you for nothing if you buy all the bits and bats off them, both the ones near me do. You need to know what elastic rating your pole has (this is the max recommended you should use). I would suggest eithe Daiwa Hydro or Prestons Hollo. Hydro is more expensive but is meant to last a lot longer. In either case for silvers I would use the light blue hydro which is I thin 5-6h on the Preston. As for Carp either Grey or Black hydro. This will give you a chance with bigger carp without bumping smaller fish. I hope this is of some help.

This skimmers jumping out of the water seems a new phenomenon. I have only really seen it at commercials and I have been told is a result of all the high protein food that is being fed to carp being hoovered up by the skimmers. I suppose there could be some truth in it

We were fishing Loch Mukno in Ireland. White Island is difficult enough to get to in a Transit Van but one day I looked down the bank and about 15 pegs from us pulled up right next to the peg (where we wouldn't have even driven a hire van) the ultimate fishing bus....a Bentley Continental Sport. Wouldn't be able to get my box in but if you travelled light who knows.

Have to agree. I asked for the album at Christmas and its been a constant in the car ever since.

Voted. All v good quality.

Janet signed and verified. I've frozen my bits off many times on the Lancy fishing Fylde winter league matches. I often pass over some of the Northely stretches as I have friends in the Lakes. The first time I did I didn't realise it was a canal it was so overgrown.

An elderly man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favourite scones wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning on the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs. With laboured breath, he leaned against the door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favourite scones. Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of love from his devoted Irish wife of sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table, landing on his knees in rumpled posture. His aged and withered hand trembled towards a scone at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked by his wife with a wooden spoon ..... ......... ......... F**k off' she said, 'they're for the funeral.'

Let me think...... Enter sandman - Metalica For those about to rock - ac/dc Crazy nights - kiss Linger - Cranberries Emerald - Thin Lizzy Baby I don't care - Transvision Vamp Rock of Ages - Def Leppard Kinky Afro - Happy Mondays Champagne Supernova - Oasis Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd Teenage kicks - The Undertones Some kind of homecoming - U2 Plus I like the idea of Mountain maybe Nantucket Sleighride also maybe a bit of Be Bop Deluxe Fair Exchange. I'm gonna have to go home tonight and get all my old vinyl out.

Where abouts do you live. The Lancy runs from Preston all the way up through Lancaster towards Carnforth and beyond. The best places seem to be on the outskirts of preston or around Garstang. One place you could go/ring to enquire is Ted Carters Fishing Tackle shop in Preston. You can also buy tickets there.

I once tried a strawberry jooster (made by the Opal Fruit people) and it caught a small bream. I figured if boilies work why not!

Elton I agree. And the postie always seems to drop them outside my house (last in the road). They come in handy for loads of things!

I thought the Fishing Race was a cracking programme. One celeb and one angler in a team trying to catch as many species in a given time. Not too serious but its the type of thing we do on holiday, have a match to see who catches the most species (this year ragged by a stray gudgeon when my mate dropped his line in the water when he was filling his tosspot) Who heard of targeting gudgeon in Ireland!