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I,ve seen the ragworm used to good effect boatfishing for plaice, but I would use the real stuff every time from the shore. # peter

Heard good things about the stuff, going to get some and give it a go, might be yet another "also ran", but time will tell!!! peter

Sure Timsbury allow upstream nymphing? There,s some lovely deep pools there, ideal for czech nymphing, just check the rules and makesure you take some really heavy , small nymphs, the dry,s will probably not be needed until late on! peter

Result, my first "springer", caught on a DIY fly too, a modest 11lb, but sheer perfection, bright polished chrome with attitude, the day made really special by a 21lb pike, on the same fly earlier, spawned out, a huge fish. Now for more, fingers crossed!!!! peter

Go for mullet, 6lb line, floatrod, bread flake, frustrtating as hell, but tremendous scrappers, and if your inclined, good eating too. peter

Think I,ll try an experiment on a "virgin" eel water, they are certainly in there, a pest whilst piking in the autumn, Circle hooks,fished on a backstop type boltrig setup, might take a bit of adjusting the setup to get it right, but could work, nothing ventured etc!!!!! peter

Stuart, the "usual" eel rigs are self hooking setups, intended to avoid deep hooking whilst the angler is sleeping etc. There seems to be a general feeling that eels are nocturnal, quite why that is ,I don,t know, I think its wrong, I,ve caught many more big eels during daylight than at night...

Your probably just wasting your time prebaiting with pellets, everything will eat them, even minnows, the chances are, roach, dace ,chub etc hoover them up before a barbel gets a look in! Your best bet would be something more selective, boilies do the job, but are more expensive, chick peas...

Steve, for more info, contact John matambu, 08 44 00 2628, runs the Tackle shop in Sodwana, runs 2 boats, not the same company as the website, the owners of that run the pub. peter

Nigel, surely you mean the Rhine, the Rhone is way down south. The Stour and Avon flow south, barbel are only indigenous to east flowing rivers in England! peter

Paul, a well told tale, and an exceptional fish, definately your lucky day! Many anglers fish the river for years, hunting the "holy grail" of an Avon springer, most probably never get lucky, never even see one get caught, a true rarity, well done. peter

Steve, they catch them aswell, all the BIG stuff, blue and stripped marlin, not sure about blacks, apparently fairly easy to get there, 4 hour drive from Durban, mainly dual carriageway and empty, don,t know whether you can fly direct or not? Might have to go Joberg and on to Durban.? The beach...

There,s so many baits available now, some good, some really good and a lot of garbage, my alltime favorite summer bait is NRG(mainline), anytime baits, choice of 4, grange, active8, maple8 (all mainline) and Hinders Blitz, others have caught fairly well, but not a patch on those above. Each to...

Certainly early for barbel spawning, and just to show how mucked up everything is, I watched a pair of pike spawning on theTest today, a tad late? My wife just freaked out because a Maybug came crashing into the kitchen a few minutes ago, very early!!!! peter

Check out South Africa, just been given some info for probably the cheapest blue water fishing in the world, marlin etc from £350 a day, thats for the boat, not each angler, have a look at www. fishsodwana.co.za. Friends have just been there, diving, not fishing, but fish upto 250kg were caught...

Yes, and yes they work, bream love them too!!!! I,am going to use the new grange, the original one was the dogs wotsits. peter

Always amazes me what people will pay for a days stockie bashing, the Test is no different from all the other trout waters in that respect. Average fish, 2-2 1/2lb, usual limit 4 fish, bargain £50 each!!!!! OK so they are brownies, but the river ain,t what it used to be, rarely clear, certainly...

X-line all the way for me on the Thames, 15lb mainline, 12lb hooklenghts, to avoid problems when spooling up, put the spool in a bucket of HOT water, and just loadup , sits perfectly on the spool Works with all lines, try it! peter

I made up a couple using 1.25in plastic waste pipe, with the inner part of a bankstick, pot rivetted to the inside. Work really well, cheap as chips, and light. peter

Interesting, far better than my blank on the "lifeless" Test. If this weather keeps up the Avon season will be very short, the water temperature is rising rapidly, we need a large amount of the wet stuff , or the rivers will be in dire straights. The Test is running around 12inches lower than...