Search results

A great night made even better by Steve and myself winning prizes in the raffle :)

Thanks everyone for the advice. Looks like wide gape match hooks are the way to go.

Chris, thanks for the tip, unfortunately where I was fishing only barbless hooks are allowed. That led to a few grayling and trout throwing the hook adding to my woes :)

Graham, on Friday I was using Drennan Silverfish Maggot Hooks to Nylon, size 18 to 2lb for my grayling fishing. I lost two trout due to hooks straightening. If there is a possibility of fish of a couple of pounds I would avoid the Drennan Silverfish maggot hooks.

John Still is King - COYH :) Lots of Luton Town FC supporters around.

From a barbel angling perspective it would depend on the safeguards that are allowed to local fishery managers. For instance, I think beavers could dam the Loddon, which is fairly narrow in most places, and this could have a devastating effect on the barbel fishing. I can imagine the outcry from...

Dredging is not the answer. What stops the water flowing downstream is usually the bridges and locks and other narrow points. I don't see the EA rebuilding all the locks and bridges on the Thames! What is really needed are fields that can be allowed to flood when the water gets high and then...

French Fishing permis I had a holiday near le Mans, close to the river Sarthe. The cottage owner, who was French but spoke very good English, explained that we could fish the lake without a permit because it was a private lake. To fish the nearby Sarthe we had to go to the local Tabac and buy a...

Hi all Thanks for the replies. From the anecdotal information I am gathering there seems to have been barbel in the Godmanchester area of the Great Ouse from the 1950's onwards, possibly from a stocking in the late 1940's? There is also some good anecdotal information that "Bob Church et...

Walkers barbel Hi Howard Can't afford to buy Walkers Pitch at the moment. Do you know where he caught the barbel, where they also in the Godmanchester area?

Thanks for the replies, if it is the book by Bob Singleton I have just ordered a copy. I have heard that barbel were indigenous in all east flowing rivers but that doesn't tie in with my memory of the river I used to fish in the 1960's. I was hoping that someone on the site would have an...

In the 1960's I used to fish the Great Ouse above Bedford and was an avid reader of the Angling Times and don't recall any barbel being caught in that area. I believe that there were a small number of barbel at Hemigford which were possibly due to them being introduced. I remember Matt Hayes...

Do you know why the other angler fished where he did? Like Graham says, most anglers will not fish next to or opposite another angler unless they have no choice or unless there is a good reason. Maybe the other angler had pre-baited the area, maybe he knew that the channel was close to his bank...

As a community with a common interest I think we have an obligation to help each other, however it would be crass stupidity to publish the swim, bait, set up, time of day etc. where you caught a big fish, or a lot of smaller ones. Personally I have no problem telling people on the bank where...

That's interesting Ian, most others down there use a light lead. I was told that fish have more chance of ejecting a bait against a heavy lead but, on the other hand, bolt rigs rely on a heavy lead - each to there own I suppose. Hope you did well on today's pike match.

Back leads High Paul Thanks for the reply, what will you be doing until June 16th? I thought you would know where I was talking about, you must have seen me there a few times :). The idea of a simple backlead appeals to me, I will have to give some thought as to the bank sticks I will...

ohn with a two foot hook length that would make it 8 feet between bait and top bullet. I will give it a go once the rivers open again but I was always told to keep things simple and use as small an amount of lead as you can. With the barbel bites where the fish takes the bait and turns...

Low rod position thanks Adrian, I will try that. It won't work on my favourite swim though, the stream is about 30 feet wide, or less, and the barbel live over twice that distance downstream and you can't get closer due to the blackthorn bushes. My Pythagoras is not good but the lead is on the...

John thanks for the advice, and forgive me if I misunderstand you, but don't you end up with an 8 foot or longer rig with 3 ounces of weight on it? Adrian I would be interested in knowing more about you technique. When I cast to my desired spot and the lead settles, if I lower my rod tip or...

Adrian I would be very interested to learn how you fish with your rods low without using a big lead. As an experiment I tried using a 4 ounce lead on St Pats with the rods low and I couldn't hold bottom unless casting upstream, which is not where I usually want to fish. With the rod high I...