welder

taylor, there's no need to apologise over late posts. On this forum all posts are welcomed. By the way, welcome aboard Ian

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome. I won this as an attendance prize at Sunday School, aged maybe 12. The lady who selected it for me knew my sense of humour. I'm 60 now and have read it many times and STILL it makes me roar with laughter. Anyone who appreciates the use and choice of words in humour will love this book, even though it was written in Victorian times. I commend it to you. Ian

Tench, any chance of a clue as regards punctuation? You know, commas and full stops, that sort of stuff. Without, it's just gibberish. You know, Swahili, Sudanese, that sort of stuff. Ian

Mike, is that the lake between Sheepy Magna and Sheepy Parva, with an Italian Restaurant on it's road edge? If so I drove past it today, looks rather nice. Ian

Looks like I'm due on Drayton, then. Haven't had a bagging session for a good while! Ian

Hi Raver, welcome to this forum. You need to hope that coops_northants sees this as he's the font of all knowledge when it comes to fishing in your area. Failing that you could always send him a Private Message and ask the question. Ian

starts as the best way and by the time youve typed it your not so convinced its the best any more Whoever said that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit ...had recently been on the receiving end!!! Ian

Rob, that's a pretty good summary of my thinking. Elmovillan is quite right too. Any new fishery needs time to find it's natural performance level. As regards the owners/managers, they are only human with all the foibles and failings of every other human. They'll get it right soon enough. Ian

No I haven't but I'm always open to suggestions. I like quiet places. Tell me more, please. Ian

Same! We'd best get another mini-social sorted......post-thaw would be nice. It's the way he tells 'em Malc is the only man I know who can outrun a Rhino. He'll be 60 in July. More by luck than by judgement. Ian

Ah. Perhaps not then. Another idyll shattered Ian

I hope he reads this. I'd like to hear the story again Ian

Not so good, then? Damn shame, it looks rather good on the Fisheries.co.uk site. I'll admit to having a fascination for old estate lakes, this was a Monastery water, apparently. I'll have a go one day, if only to sightsee. How many of the banks can be used to fish from? Ian

I'd have a dabble at Weston Lawns but I just will not fish anywhere that's got high voltage power lines suspended ovehead. I know it's a bit of a soapbox of mine but the potential for sudden death is something I can well do without. Ian

I live a few miles from the fishery and some of us used to frequently guest it The guy who owned the place didn't seem to mind, to be honest. I'm here to tell you that there were no sturgeon in that place at that time, around 7 years ago. And there certainly wasn't a 40lb carp, which is claimed to have been banked. Nobody seems to know the name of said captor and there are no photographs. I could equally claim that I've had a 15ft whaleshark out of there. But I'd be fibbing, wouldn't I. Ian PS I was told that some of the photos of fish which were claimed as catches were actually taken during stocking. In, not out, if you catch my drift

I'd like that information too, please. How many waters are available? I live in Water Orton so not far away. Ian

I must be old fashioned, I still think a bivvy is the lap of luxury! Huts are where sheep sleep, aren't they? Or is it shepherds? Anglers?.....no, surely not. Ian

Give Fosters a bell, or call in to the store. They're really helpful and friendly. They will let you know all you need. There's another of theirs off Penns Lane (Penns Lake, I think) also near Sutton Coldfield but much nearer their shop. Ian

Fosters of Birmingham have control of at least two that I know of. One is the old estate lake at Little Aston Hall, near Sutton Coldfield. Looks cracking! Ian

No problem. Be aware that G.E. doesn't show the new wooden decking as the imagery is oldish. The search takes you to the farm, scroll up a bit, follow the track. Ian

Can't be bothered any more. Suffice to say that the claimed weights of some of the claimed catches are not necessarily accurate. Oh, and with all the wooden decking and pegs the place resembles a timber yard. Oh, and it's wildly expensive to fish the Top Lake, £20 to fish a pool you could jump over with a decent run-up. Find the postcode on Fisheries.co.uk and have a look on Google Earth. Try not to mistake it for a cattle trough. Ian

Weston Lawns has huts now? I didn't think there was room for huts there It's just the one...assuming that the information on Fisheries.co.uk is up to date. It's on Pool 1. Ian

Of course the owners are nice....they've just had 20 nicker off you! Ian

One of the advantages of using a twinskin bivvy with extended overwrap is that I never have to close either of the doors. I'm always a long way from the weather, whatever it's doing Ian

I agree. I also think it takes more then 5 seconds for most of us. Do we really wake on that first beep of the alarm, or just think we do? How can we really be sure? Agree. I guess it depends on how deeply asleep you are, and how quickly the brain signals reach arms and legs. I doubt if I could claim 5 seconds, rather more I guess. Another factor is the bivvy door. Zipped? Just dropped? Fully open and rolled up? Ian