were are all being taken for mugs

[Peter Sharpe]

To kreid: There are different grades of ewe nuts just as there are different "csl" pellets. To be honest, I think csl pellets were over-rated anyway, and nobody seems to use them anymore. I have never paid for a bag of csl pellets, but the ones I have seen were indistinguishable from the ewe nuts I bought. The ewe nuts break down within 5-10 minutes, so I doubt if many carp actually eat them. What they do is leave a fine carpet of sweet smelling vegetable matter that is probably a good groundbait in the true sense of the word, ie it attracts without feeding. I found that results were inconclusive, except for one time when I was fishing a close in deep water swim on the Trent. They brought bream after bream, and it was noticeable that if takes started to trail off, I only had to throw in a few more big handfulls to start them off again. So they're OK if you like bream!

[kreid]

thanks peter , and nightwing, I'll check them out.

[krakemarsh]

has any one seen the advert in the mail for fish meal at one a kilo, big fish mix or big rip off buy your meals add a touch of robin red & glm extract and hey presto big fish mix and this mix will match big fish ,rest assured I know!!!!!!!

Going fishing today heres a new one take a look at Bakers Dog Food (Meaty Chunks)TRY THEM YOU MAY BE SHOCKED whoof whoof whoof

[mfduk]

aanthony, any chance of a field test report on the baitrunner you bought from askari?

 

Recently bought what I thought was a bargain rod pod on ebay only to find the quality was far less than expected and had to replace hangers straight away. Doesn't seem to me that many of the stuff for sale on ebay is genuine second hand even when its described as such. Just a note to all to be wary of unsrupulous traders flogging dodgy gear to the inexperienced.

 

Thanks to krakemarsh for getting this going.

 

Anybody using the ron thompson bite alarms? 3 plus sounder box £45. Bargain or not?

[corydoras]

I am an ex-pat Scot living in Southampton who is just getting back into angling again after a break of about 20 years. When I lived in Scotland I used to fish fly and spin for trout, sea trout and salmon on the River Leven, a tributary of the Clyde, or I would head up to Loch Fyne or Loch Striven with a bucket full of rag worm or a couple of pound of herring or mackerel strips and fish for what would bite!

 

Once one had bought rods, reels, line, flies, hooks, weights and a few lures the day to day costs were minimal. The only real cost of going for a days dangle was to get up and out at first light to dig rag or lug worm or a fivers’ worth of herring or mackerel from the fishmongers. Remember that there are no rod licences in Scotland and my annual permit to fish for salmon and sea trout on the Leven was probably about £30 a year back then.

 

I have only ever been carp fishing on two occasions. I am not exactly sure where the venue was but I suspect that it was at the Somerley Lakes near Ringwood in Hampshire. I caught about 6 fish in two days and I did not find them particularly hard to hook but they did fight a bit once they were on. The smallest was around the 5lb mark and the largest perhaps between 15-18lbs. All were caught on puppy mixer (Pedigree Chum IIRC) on a size 6 barbless hook on a controller float using a standard match rod and reel.

 

A couple of Sunday's ago I visted one of my local angling shops (Poingdestres in Southampton) to purchase some hooks and floats and I was overwhelmed by the vast array of baits on display. My olfactory receptors were overwhelmed by the all pervasive pong emitted by the cocktail of artificial food additives on offer and my eyeballs were dazzled by the lurid colours of the various boilies and pellets on offer for sale.

 

One thing that really struck me was the prices of some of the 'powders and potions' that were on sale as well as the revelation that at least some of you guys actually buy tins of sweetcorn, luncheon meat and chick peas from a tackle shop of all places! Admittedly the corn was aniseed flavoured and the luncheon meat and chick peas were laced with something too but at the end of the day its maize, pulses and spam.

 

Don't you guys ever do the food shopping with the wife? Do you walk around Tescos or Asda or wherever with your eyes closed? What’s wrong with Tescos’ sweetcorn 37p for a 325 gram tin or Lancaster Chopped Ham and Pork 28p for a 170 gram tin?

 

Supermarkets also sell all manner of food colourants and flavourings. If you need more exotic pongs then your local Asian cash and carry will have kilo bags of garam masala, curry powders, ginger powder, chili powders etc. Soy sauces, fish sauces and essences are sold very cheaply by the litre. The list goes on and on.

 

My old gran used to say that you should never buy from shops that had big windows as they were only there so that they could see you coming. I suspect that that is why carp anglers get ripped of at times. They’ve saw you coming chaps. Angling shops sell 'tackle' to catch anglers as well as fish methinks.

 

PS

 

I had a look on fishbase (ww.fishbase.org) to find out what makes up the natural carp diet and discovered that they eat aquatic plants, detritus, amphipods and molluscs. Now I can see that getting plants and detritus on a hook could be a bit tricky but wouldn’t something like cockles, whelks and small crayfish be a more 'natural' bait for a carp rather than a tutti-frutti boilie?

[col]

try the badger high back chair 60 quid i got it for you can use it as a bed and a chair multi purpose and it really comfy at a bargain price

 

col

[*Ant*]

mfduk, here goes then.......

 

Although i've had the reel for a while now, I havn't used it a great deal. The main reason I bought it was because it was so damn cheap (£13.95 I think), and was curious to see how good it was, also my thinking was that it would make a great back-up reel being as it's so compact it dosn't take up much valuable space.

 

The reel itself is in my opinion very impressive for the price, indeed a true bargain. The build quality seems very good, holding it gives you the impression of it being solid, robust and well put together.

 

On to the features now and still very impressed. The front drag is smooth and so far reliable. The bail arm has a positive spring that snaps back with a reasuring "thwack". The anti-reverse, although not totally instant, is very close to being instant, which is something that is close to the top of my list of things to look for when purchasing a reel. The "free-spool" facility is, surprise surprise, also very good. It automatically re-engages after half a turn of the handle.

 

Basically it's a top reel that exceeded my expectations considering the price. Again I must stress that it hasn't been used a great deal, but I see no reason why it should suddenly cease to impress me.

 

Great reel, great price, good features and well made. At less than £14 from Askari, everyone should have one, bargain of the decade.

 

Oh, and i'm quite pleased I bought mine!

 

Ant

 

p.s. how was the reveiw then?

 

[ 14. May 2003, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: aanthony ]

[mfduk]

Cheers aanthony!

 

A fine review fit to grace the pages of the weekly/monthly ad-mags oops meant angling press. Thanks for taking the time.

[mfduk]

p.s. did you see this thread made anglers mail this week. Right next to an article on tackle companies fearing profit loss!! Ha! Irony?

 

Ok they were citing SARS as the threat but we shouldn't underestiminate the power of consumer opinion.

 

My dilemma now is having made the decision to base my carping this season on source boilies and started the baiting am I being a "bait-tart"? Should I go back to naturals and making my own?

 

It's hard enough catching fish and now I've got dilemmas! LOL

[Peter Waller]

I have a good friend at Tackle Exchange in Lowestoft. He was showing me adverts in Improve your coarse fishing that showed Okuma reels at half RRP. Reels being advertised at £58.99 r.r.p. and slashed to half price, e.g. £29.99!! My mate then went on to show me the Okuma trade catalogue. Okuma's R.R.P. on the same reel was £29.99, NOT £58.99!!

 

Yes, we are taken for mugs. There is a famous supplier of lures to the predator fanatic that advertises it's products as including 'free' postage. Who is kidding who!!?? The lures they sell are somewhat cheaper elsewhere. The rods that they sell are available from the US at a fraction of their UK price.

 

Dear old Fox sell their well thought out storage boxes. The medium one is sold with three movable deviders yet it has space to use five. So you want two more!! Great, it'll cost you £3.25 to buy a bubble pack of six more, just to get two!!

 

As for reels, just compare Okuma, price and quality, with Shimano.

 

Too many people equate desirability with purchase price. We have brought it on ourselves! Tackle Tarts have done their fellow anglers no great favours! Both Fox & Shimano are expensive, bet it's because they know people will buy just because of the high price!

 

Just put the magic word 'carp' onto a product and it's an excuse to hike the price!!

 

Thankfully the internet is our friend. Now we can buy from abroad, such as Cabellas and BassPro. We can compare prices, we can go to such as www.anglingcentre.net (Devon Angling) that advertises on AN, their prices are unbelievable!