Search results

Otters do not "move on'. They are territorial and will fight to the death to protect their territory.

Spot on.... and in many rivers surveys used to show eels as being a huge proportion of the total biomass of fish. Obviously whatever is most readily available is what they eat the most of. Nowadays I bet this mostly consists of signal crayfish in many rivers.

I doubt very much that eels were ever the staple diet of otters although this was put about by various otter experts. I well remember being told the very same thing in meetings with the EA and Wildlife Trusts, however, in retrospect I suspect it was a fib put about to avoid spooking the angling...

Ian, I did mention pellets but thanks for your contribution. Your baiting strategy echoes my thoughts exactly. The idea of feeding the carp off in the swim next door has to be a winner. Thanks for that. Paul, I was thinking along similar lines. Are you loose feeding with paste as well as...

It has been a long time since I fished for crucian carp but I have finally found a local water with some true crucians that are holding out against the odds against the presence of a large number of king carp which tend to beat them to my hook bait. The more tiny particles and crumb I use the...

There's an interesting albeit rather out of date on-line article here by Pete Reading on fluctuating barbel populations. He speaks a lot of sense that I wholeheartedly agree with, though I feel the article rather underestimates the impact of predation by otters. Certainly were he to visit the...

Adrian, were I to draw it today I would have given the otter goats horns and a serpents tail and the roach would have been giving it a kung foo kick in the cods!

You're not wrong about hiding my broken heart, Ian. In fact I've not barbel fished on the Wensum for a few seasons now, as there's so little left worth fishing for. The EA are restocking with small barbel on an annual basis and they now have their own Wensum restoration scheme ongoing, but the...

Mother Nature don't have much say in this game really. The impact of our modern lifestyle on our rivers, with it's over-population, over-abstraction, intensive agricultural practices and proliferation of invasive non-indigenous species holds all the trump cards. Much as the Conservation Groups...

While it is undoubtedly true that there may be many underlying problems affecting the fish stocks in a river, the fact remains that otters can devastate populations of barbel as has been shown to be the case on rivers like the Wensum and Great Ouse, etc. While the obvious answer to this is to...

Kill em all, I say, but please take the bodies home and don't leave them in body bags hanging from the trees.

While I wouldn't usually disagree with Pete's standpoint regarding anglers standing alongside shooters in the interest our protecting common ground, it is only in the last two years that I have had any sightings of buzzards in Norfolk. Each sighting has considerably brightened my day and I'm...

And I remember my mate finding a 12lb Hants Avon barbel stranded in a puddle several years ago!

There lot's of big perch waters in Sussex and you will also be within easy striking distance of Marsh Farm's crucians and plenty of big tench over in Kent. Then there's the Medway not far away, though I'm not sure what it's barbel fishing is like nowadays. You're close to the sea as well, with...

Great thread this. Cynicism rules and with good reason!

With tench and bream the function of the rod is primarily to cast the hookbaits where you want them. If the fish are feeding close in, light Avon rods will be fine but if you need to put out big feeders 100 yards to reach them then you'll need some beefy carp rods.

New Article: “Artificial Baits for Tench” by Chris Turnbull | Drennan Latest — with Chris Turnbull.

Most of the time I have a fair bit of weed to deal with and need to cast a couple of ounces 60 yards or more. My old Harrison 1.12 tc. rods are about right for this. I also use 10 lb bs mainline and 12lb sinking braid hooklinks tied to size 12 or 10 Pallatrax hooks, depending on the weed...

Personally I've found that putting a small PVA mesh bag of casters on the hook and fishing plastic casters on a short hair considerably outfishes maggots. I make the bag around the size of a 50p and set the hookbait at nutural bouyancy. Once the PVA has desolved the hookbait sits in a pile...

Yes, I think it pays to remember that Cemex are an international company and Mexican in origin. It isn't that running fisheries was not profitable, its more a case of selling them will raise a lot more 'instant' money. Take the case of Bawburgh Lakes for example.... they have the potential of...