rossmc

I went with Tigerline and I dont think ill be changing for a long time. Sinks at an incredible rate, tough as hell, cuts through weed and genrally casts well. I use the 16lb and have never needed to swap over to nylon to reach any fishing situatons, mind I dont fish massive waters but I can get a 2oz distance lead the full lenght of my lake with a good chuck. Landed a 30 common in france and thought my rod was going to snap before the line did, tring to avoid snags.

id kill for just 2 ft of weed, jammy git! Light leads and long hook links is what ive found works best, but the trick to help the hook bait rest on to of the weed completely is to balance it out with a pop up tied on with pva. Some areas of the lake I fish, the weed comes up to the surface, but if its sunny I try to find a spot where fish are passing over and place a bait on the top of the weed about 2ft off the surface, kind of like zig fishing but using the weed to your advantage. if you can get away with it, clear out small patches and keep schtum about them, feed them as and when you can and it could open up your fishing alot more... OR... Do what half the folk on my lake do, get there, slam the car boot shut, stick a choddy on and give it the best pub chuck ya got, hopefullies crossing a few peoples lines and then go for a walk round the lake after setting your alarms to 300dB +

cheers salok, im assuming that this is a tactic for when the rivers running clear or will they take in water thats dropping from floods thats coloured?

I never heard of floater fishing for chub, but it sounds good. Its got fly rod, imitation dog biscuit written all over it! lol How would you feed the swim, little and often? whats the method to this madness, are they hair rigged or soft hookers? cheers for any advice.

The little surprises in my stream are upto 35lb salmon! Ive only ever seen dead ones after theyve spawned though!

Where you from travis? I started out fly fishing small streams, sight fishing really, love it, still ride my push bike 12 miles to fish the first stream i started fishing for trout on.

Well i escaped prision for an hour to walk to river to see if babs was still at home, sure enough 3 still sat next to the same weed raft in about 2 foot of water, clear as day. What i dont understand is why people go fishing on the river, dont take time to look, it would taken all of 30 seconds to spot them from the road side, but set up further down in the really slow deep water just because theres a new tree gone over on the far bank. Idiots. out of all 6 anglers, not one had caught, if only they walked 40 yrds upstream to the wear (i mean come on lads, theres a wear there for christ sakes, it screams barbel for this time of year!!!!!) And to add insult to injury, i just happened to find another 2 essays that need doing! ive gone through 1 and 1/2 jars of coffee in 2 days, look like a vampire and the lass wants the bathroom ripping out and a new one fitting. {insert every swear word known to man beast etc here}

It fixes my stress levels no end though! Ive been out the house once in 4 days to pick the lady up from town and thats it, im working in a room thats 6 x 12 ft, Little bit like a prison cell, writing about how to save trees from pathogens etc when all i wanna do is cut them down and see which one makes the loudest noise! SAVE ME!!!!![/u][/b]

I had planned to go down for midnight but that all fell through, typical River Wear conditions, it lashed it down for a few days before and the river was unfishable for my tackle, my grandarrs 13ft match rod would have been doubled over just on the rest! So as i write now, the river has dropped, still has a little colour and the suns shining with cloud cover rolling in and out... why am i sat here youre screaming? I have 9 essays to hand in for friday to finish college and wish i hadnt left them this long. People say you learn from your mistakes but i never do. The good thing about this is that after all the essays are done and handed in, im taking my 12 year old computer into the yard and its getting a axe straight through it! mouse freezes up every 15 minutes which results in mouse being unplugged and plugged back in, i have to type slow or some letters wont apear... the list goes on! Someone catch a barbel for me this week! please

Already thought about that but if its windy then it gets blown all over the lake and causes no end of hassle. Its a high pressured water so I want to keep disturbance to a minimum. To give you an idea, if someone spods out on the lake, it kills the lake off, some even pack up and go home. haha

Ive re4ally been thinking about zigs at the minute too, not many people use them on the lake so the fish wont have seen them too often, but my take on i8t is that the lake i fish if very very very weedy and full of naturals. Now coming from a fly fishing background, I think the new zig bugs a total gimmick, apart from a deed bumble bee, they look like no nymph or owt like that. My train of thought is to tie up some large, very natural looking nymph etc. and use them as the zig instead of something to catch our eye rather than the fishes (zig bugs). Ive seen nymphs coming out the lake at about an inch in lenght so i can get away with making quite a large fly to replicate this and also get it boyant enough to use as a zig. My problem is i cant get my head around having a inline float as this to me screams problems with getting bogged down in the weed. Im on testing a few ideas with drop of cork floats, but has anyone come across this problem and how did they overcome it, if you did at all?

stick some screws through from the inside...

Well after the advice I went out and got some gear, tied one up and tested in me living room and it seems to work a treat. I got the avid inline flat leads with the correct tail rubber and the inserts for the bottom end and it all works well. Now to test on the fish! I'll let you know if the New rig solves me problem. Cheers for the help lads

Is it possible to use an inline drop off lead system using flurocarbon mainline instead of the normal leadcore/leader that it always is shown with? I think i have been getting a few pick ups but they are always getting rid of the bait before getting properly hooked as the last few trips i have had the fish on top of my bait showing, rig was presented on a nice patch of clay, a few picks ups which always result in nothing. So my plan is to use inline dropoff lead set up as the lake is still pretty heavy with weed, but i didnt want to use leadcore or any leader. I run 16lb fluro tiger line and want to know if anyone has tried to use this setup or similar. Cheers

Devon - I found some barbel on my local river, the Wear, just down from where I worked, baited up for a few weeks as it was still close season, just feeding about 500g of 4mm halibut pellets with some 8mm red robin pellets in for something new that they wouldnt have seen much of as that part of the river is highly pressured. Most folks were fishing further down in the deeper water but i had seen chub and barbel in about 2 foot of water behind a weed raft, so thats where i concentrated on. Being in mind I had never fished for barbel and the Wear isnt known for having loads in, I had one out on me first cast after about an hour and a half, just as the light was fading on 2 8mm red robin pellets hair rigged! After that I havent had a sniff since! lol So I would say its like carp fishing, you have to be on the fish for a chance of catching. Find the fish and a bit of stealthy casting should do the trick!

Do korda do ssg shot? If not, how will we ever catch!?!?! What ever next? Im gonna get my dog to tie up some rigs and send them into the mags, probablies get me famous! Having said that....do they do ssg shot in realtree camo?

I too get headaches when Im fishing, tried all sorts, thought I was just dehydrated but drank loads of water on next trip and still have the head aches, cant work it out, could it be the sunlight reflecting of the waters surface? Never packed up and gone home though! just monster trucked on and still blanked. Maybes its just the thought of trying to find a nice spot in a very weedy lake that give me the head aches! With regards to taking something - A travel hammock! Best thing I took! when resting me swims and watching the lake, set up under a shaded tree swinging around! cant beat it!

Je voudrais un grande biere s'il vous plait (I would like a big beer please) Someone missed the grande out! if you forget that bit you get a beer in a funny lookin wine glass (a demi!) If you at least show your willing to try speak french, they are much more helpful and forthcoming with the english. I drove down to just past Limoges 2 weeks ago, got the tunnel for speed. Thought about flying but wanted to bring me two rods (bodger and badger) for the fight! Wouldnt be the same would it! lol Hope ya have a good un!

Indeed, I did have one aim for the holiday, to stalk and land a 20 on my grandarrs old split cane but after the 30, I knocked that idea on the head cause I dont think it would have handled it too well! and my dad would have broken my legs and arms if I broke grandarrs splitty! For now its back to work and a very hard lake with more weed than fish in! Picture of me 30lber - http://www.martinslakes.com/#/customer-catches/4545987948 Im the very last photo taken in the dark, just look for the lad that needs a hair cut or 5! For some reason I cant save the image to upload here.

Just got back from a weeks fishing at Martins lakes and all I can say is amazing! Had the best weeks holiday of my life, fishing was amazing, lake was spot on for what I was after, food was lovely and plenty of it, thanks Nikki, and Greg was a true gent and taught me a thing or two about fishing! My catch rate was nothing near to what other people have had out but tbh it was down to my fishing. Im fairly new to carp fishing and was just not close enough to the spots I needed to be on. Greg came down, gave me a few tips and showed me where I needed to be and the game began. The lake I fish back home has no biggies in really, biggest being 30 which just came out, apart from that, mostly 25lbers which are good sport but nothing like what I was about the catch at Martins lake(my biggest being 19lb)! After blanking the first day due to my poor choice of spots, I had a kind fella show my how to get on with a bit of stalking, krept into the swim, the bay was quite shallow, and wow, the amount of big kippers in the swim, heads down, was unreal...great big kippers! After getting my big ole pellet in between them is was a matter of waiting. 20 minutes and the whole bay errupted, the fish went scattering and my reel started screaming! Pick up the rod and started to play what I though was a bream, nope it was "one of the smallest in the lake" at about 2lb. Still my heart was racing at the thought that it might have been a monster. Nevermind! After realising that there were plenty of big kippers in the lake I started to get a bit shy of the snags and over hanging bushes and started creeping further into the safey of the lake, bit mistake! After one fish all day Greg came down and bullied me into fishing a corner on the other side of the lake, very very close to some big snags. After rowing the bait out and placing it right under a horse chestnut tree and the other rod smack bang next to the overhanging bushes further along we sat and waited. Dusk rolled in... 45 minutes later Greg made his way home and I sat watching and waiting, Both rods locked up, my nerves were jangling convinced the right hand rod near the snags would go first. But no, the left rod went, bobbin smacked the rod and the fish went. I lifted into it, wound down and got the feel for the size, it was a biggy and I was excited, suddenly my alarm starts to go and I look down thinking it was broke?! No, the other rod was on too! Frantic panic started to set in, the fish I was playing was going like a steam train for the snags on the far bank, the other pulled the bobbin up tight and suddenly stopped, giving a bleep out every now again. One fish on going for the snags, one sitting right next to the snags, time to ring Greg, by the time Id hung up it was too late, the fish was in the snags, and then the hook gave, when I say gave, I mean the hook eye must have straightened out but got all the rig back, but no bait, hook or boilie stop, as if I had tied up the rig and left hook and bait off, was a bit strange. Just then, Greg turns up and I pick up the other rod, hes still there! and then I realised that the first fish wasnt that big compared to this one, again, heading straight for the snags! I gave it the crank and started to walk it back up the bank to avoid the snags and all I could see was the bow wave slowly go all the way along the front of the snags, under some of the tree banches that where coming out of the water, to my surprised Id managed to get it away from the snags and then it just went for the middle of the lake, the power was unreal, Id never had a fish fight like this before! Eventually after a good fight of line screaming off the reel, I had the beast in the net, 30lb1oz common! Got the photos sorted, and walked him out back into the lake and had that moment when I realised why I spend days blanking for carp to catch something like this! After that I decided not to fish the night, I cracked open a beer, sparked up a smoke and sat there with the biggest smile on my face, listening the the odd cow fall into the lake! I must admit i was put off by the snags and how big the fish were so i didnt have the rods out while I slept, Ive never done nights and did not have the confidence to do so with fish so big, just too worried i would get one snagged and kill it! The whole week was a real eye opener on how I was fishing and would have no problems advising anyone to go there for a holiday as it truely is a little pocket of peace and quiet with the odd monster lurking around. I did however spend far too much time feeding fish in the shallows and spent a lot of time watching them, how the feed and move about while feeding which I found really interesting. In all honesty, I have never been scared at the thought of my alarm sounding but this place had me in its hands and I was totally blown away by the whole experience. Once again, many thanks to Gregg and Nikki for everything. Greg, I think I still owe you some money for the fags and pellets, cant remember if I paid you or not! let me know and Ill be more than happy to square the books up! Photos to come once I have the computer sorted out, just moved house!

Has anyone tried honey as a glug?

Butter beans Condensed milk (spod) Fish oil (flavour stick mixes etc) Strawberries Brazil nuts soaked and boiled Chickpeas are my No1 favourite!

I use the ghost hook link but found the bait didnt move freely enough for my liking so I added an inch of braid to the end of the fluro (grinner to grinner knot) and tied the hook to the braid.

How easy it this too do, is it a simply process of getting the desired base mix, mixing it up to what the instructions say and boiling? or is it a lot of chew on? Im interested now...

Ahhh lots of food for thought here lads, cheers. Ive glugged a hand full of hookbaits and theyve been soaking for about 2 weeks now. Is this too long? using them slowly as I go as time on the bank is limited at the min, moving house. cheers