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A rising river, definitely. Depending on the length of the rainfall, a lot of fish will be well fed on the falling river, although this is much the better time for chub.

It's odd how manufacturers of different things pull the plug on what appear to be good sellers. For some reason the original Activ8 is no longer available and that must rate as one the best baits ever. On a different matter, why was production of great, best selling beers like Double Diamond...

It's a job to say if the actual flavouring makes a difference all the time. I dug some old tinned sausage cubes out of the freezer last week, they looked awful and were a bit manky smelling, but I had 5 carp in consecutive casts on them, and nothing on boilies. So fish do seem to have...

The thread is about Chris Packham. Some people are going to be for him, and some not. That is what discussions are about. Do we have to pretend to like him just because he is on the autistic spectrum? All a matter of opinion.

An interesting post Paul and some fair points to consider, and although I don't really agree with your opinions it doesn't make them less valid. I agree with your points on coarse angling. Game angling, if the catch is killed, and sea angling, if the catch is killed would, I think, be classed...

I take your point, but as his work for the BBC relates almost entirely to wildlife then his comments in the Guardian remain relevant to his job. I don't agree that he should have been sacked, far from it, just because I disagree with him. Many people love him and that's fair enough. But he is...

I don't really see the difference. As a license payer I don't really like being compared to a psychopathic murderer by somebody who's wages I am contributing to. I agree to a certain extent that some opinions have to be allowed and total impartiality is difficult and often subjective anyway. But...

You make good points about Jays and Jackdaws and I feel crows should be seasonal quarry i.e. during lambing season when they can be most destructive. The brief cancelation of shooting mainly corvid pests came during nesting season and the damage done to small birds during this period really only...

He "calls things like they are" to suit his point of view. It's not likely he would alter his stance on shooting if no raptors were ever illegally shot. Do you think comparing people who shoot with psycopathic murderers is calling things as they are? You may not wish, as an angler, to be...

Packham is also capable of BS. A few years ago he and the RSPB screamed blue murder at the disappearance of a specific harrier and obviously blamed the keepers/grouse shooters. It later turned up unharmed. Strangely enough, this self absorbed individual made very little mention of it and no hint...

This is often a big problem, and the Wasperton stretch, where you could get away with a couple of hours into dark, received the same complaints from a local. So determined was he to stop night fishing he masqueraded as a bailiff and got away with it until someone asked to see his bailiffs...

I understand the bailifing at night issues, but many clubs/rivers allow night fishing and how often do we hear of there being trouble, either for bailiffs or anyone else? I don't doubt it's a concern, but I very much doubt it's the reason BAA don't allow night fishing as a general rule.

Great story Paul. I used to find, (when there were more barbel about) that hot sunny days were in actual fact very good for barbel as long as there was plenty of shade and cover for them to feel safe.

This is where the no night fishing rule is so confusing. Nobody would call 4.30 on a December afternoon "night time" but many clubs insist if you need a torch you shouldn't be fishing. Ridiculous. Much more common sense to say up till eleven thirty or midnight from June to September and up to...

Mr. Williams appears to delight in being as stubborn and unhelpful as possible. I have had more than one conversation with him, none of them remotely positive. I'm afraid he's keeping the club in the dark ages and treats it as his personal little fifedom.

Delivery companies are the latest scam but they have made one massive error. There is no way those cowboys at Hermes would ever bother sending you a text if you weren't in to collect a delivery. They would just chuck it somewhere near your house and drive off :D

I bought a 10kg tub of the original Active8 base mix and it literally lasted years, totally effective throughout. Without doubt, the best bait I have ever used for barbel by a fair bit. Not sure you can get the original any more which is a great same.

Exactly. It's not necessary to apply human considerations to fish, they aren't going to look at a sell by date and if it doesn't seem right to them they are unlikely to eat it. I had a large batch of elips that lasted me years and were catching at the same rate throughout. The worst thing with...

4lb BS line is the lightest I ever go, and that would be for roach or bream. Chub usually 5-6lb, barbel I would never go less than 12lb. I had a "stop it at all costs" struggle with a barbel on the W Avon a few years ago, it had been hooked close to a fallen tree. I was using 8lb line and at...

None of us have any proof of our opinions Damian when speculating "what if?". That doesn't make Lawrence wrong because we don't have the cleanest of rivers to put it to the test. My opinion is somewhere in between. Clean rivers would probably help barbel recruitment/survival rates but I doubt it...