Fishing Thread..

hi tim, im based in manchester way, so i havent done much in Yorkshire (although i have done the river Ure.. 2 chub in a day lol. that place looks really nice from the pic i must say.

i have done my share of floater fishing, but usually tend to go with another method and then maybe stick some floaters on if i see the carp topping, or do it if im on for a short session. (floating baits banned on ym local club watres..) but try marshmallow (white, not pink, tipped with breadcrust). floaters are a killer method but i am surprised you did so well on it considering the time of year.

i also tend to try and avoid "commercial" fisheries. i dont like to fish banks which are crowded by other anglers, or go after carp which get hammered week in week out, so i try to stick to "natural" venues, like the ribble, ure, resoviours, etc. just a personal thing, though i often blank or underachieve compared to what i could be catching at somewhere like "Bradshaw halls" out local commercial.

btw if anyone wants to chat any fishing, or even plan a trip, im on msn most evenings nickg_07athotmail.com
 
Oh yeah, if I catapult a hand full of biscuits out and they float away untouched then i'll get out the corn or meat, I couldn't fire out the biscuits fast enough at Hayfields, all you could see were carp mouths one after the other followed by sucking and slurping noises, the fish were literally fighting over each other that day.
Sounds silly but once you've got the fishes confidence up by feeding them on the top in the middle of the lake you can bring them in closer. I found myself still firing out the biscuits while playing a fish, it was a rod between legs job - I didn't want them to go:p
Like you say, quite suprising given the time of year and it obviously doesn't work everywhere but I'm willing to bet if I went at the weekend the same method would work, not sure how much longer we've got for fishing the floater this year though... few weeks yet:)
I've yet to try those artificial biscuits made by Shakespeare, real biscuits get soggy after a few casts and slip out the band...

Not just commercial waters though, hopefully i'll be visiting the River Trent soon (not sure which part). I soooo know what you mean about preferring less crowded places but often the local places are the most convenient for a Sunday afternoon.
 
ha its funiest though when there are loads of old crusty anglers, face on, fishing hard at 13m on the deck muttering and cursing while you whip them off the top...they just dont get it! when the fish are up they are up end of! but sound slike u had quite a swim on!

have u tried hair rigging biscuits? i buy 1kg bags of pedigree mixers and usually prep them the night before (very lightly wetting them to make them just soft enough to get a needle through the morning after). much prefer hair rigging 2 biscuits than banding one one. (have u tried flavouring your hookbait by soaking in scopex/vnailla etc?)

you should only get 1 cast per biscuit really. and then change. dont expect too much!

yar convienience+fish = crowded pegs. i like to get out and away and try and catch somehting which has never been caught before. but obviously u cant trek out to a new river every week so..
 
lol, I had 2 fish on the same biscuit that day. Unhooked one and the bait was good to go again:p The good thing about using bands is it holds the biscuit together when it gets wet, I was having up to 10 casts with the same biscuit:D Only when you've got the right size though, one size too big and the biscuit goes flying into the farmers field on the first cast.... and no flavouring was used, maybe something to consider.

I think any more than that and the fish tend to ignore your bait so yeah, it is worth changing it more often.

There were a couple of blokes watching us, they just didn't seem to understand how we were getting them, I remember "christ, doesn't your arm ache mate" being shouted across towards us:D We were still catching them while they were packing up at about 6.30pm, as you know the best time for fishing on the top is about an hour before dawn, helps when its perfectly flat calm too.

Only trouble with it is you end up standing on your rod bag *crunch*:eek: due to it being pitch black, lol I need to learn to pack up sooner:p
 
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heh it only takes 2 secs to change a biscuit! i usually have one on the needle with a baitstop sat next to it ready before i begin to bring my rod in. then just whip everything over re-cast = more flavoursome in the water+better casting because your not worried about the biscuit falling off!

aye older guys just dont seem to get it. some havent even seen a hair rig! but your right, when im topping, i think that first light (before dinner), and thenlast light is when they are most prolific on the surface. midday can be a killer, they will just swim around the floaters and wait.. wait... wait till it gets a bit darker and then pound them all!
 
Hmm fishing...now that brings back some very fond memories of me, my dad and 2 younger brothers going out for a day of fishing. Mind you this was back in Canada where we were surrounded by hundreds of lakes..found some good ones too where we caught quite a few pike..they didnt stay long..threw them back in as they are rubbish fish to eat. But fish like pickerel etc were hoarded by us and taken home to barbeque. As for bait we either used worms or minnows ie small fish..which was easily obtainable through the local fishing shop. Have to admit the notion/idea of using biscuits/bread is a bit foreign to me but if it work then meh...

I have thought about going fishing here in the UK but never had the chance to, also do you guys actually throw the fish back into the lake or do u keep it, kill it then take it home to eat??. From what i have seen of the fishing here in the UK, its just a bunch of guys who go down to the local reservoir and fish there but i dont think they take the fish home.

Saying that though its been a while since i been fishing...almost 20 yrs now..was hoping to get some in this summer when i went over to Toronto to visit my bro and friends. Mate of mine has a big powerboat there and was ready to hit Lake Ontario for some decent fishing but sadly couldnt get the time off from work.

One thing i do want to try which i havent had a chance to do is to do some deep sea fishing ie swordfish and whatnot. My youngest brothers wife is from barbados and they went over last xmas and he got some fishing in. From what i could see and hear from the homemade video he made, it seems like he had a whale of a time. Managed to catch a 70lb fish...cant remember the name of it but it was quite big...took him nearly 2 hrs to get into the boat as they are supposedly very powerful and fast. But he did say it was very tasty:p...
 
Going canal fishing with my dad tomorrow..

Nothing fancy, just a road, float, hook, shots and maggots. :D

Where abouts on the online is it best to place the shots? Near the hook to get the bait to sink?

:o
 
Right I've bought a couple of Carp Raods and a big bag to keep yhem in.. Stupid question but it says it can hold "made-up " rods.. How does that work then since the rods are 12' in lenght :p

Next purchase is a couple of carp reels.. I thought I'd build my collecyion of gear up during he winter months.
 
IwantanewPC said:
Going canal fishing with my dad tomorrow..

Nothing fancy, just a road, float, hook, shots and maggots. :D

Where abouts on the online is it best to place the shots? Near the hook to get the bait to sink?

:o
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take some bread. pulp it and make a bread paste. throw a few balls in where your fishing.

figsh as tight to the inside/outside margin as possible (if no margins try and fish the shelf where it deepens up a bit (the channel the boats cut in the canal)

put your heavy shot near the float. and string smaller ones further down the line. put a No.8 or similar about 2-3" from the hook. this lead should be sat on the bottom effectively "laying" on 2 inches of line between the weight to your hook. to plummet to fish 2" overdepth. maybe try some bread flake on the hook too! (canal tench/carp can come out and play, but dont bank on it lol!)
 
Admiral Huddy said:
Right I've bought a couple of Carp Raods and a big bag to keep yhem in.. Stupid question but it says it can hold "made-up " rods.. How does that work then since the rods are 12' in lenght :p

Next purchase is a couple of carp reels.. I thought I'd build my collecyion of gear up during he winter months.
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well u make the rod up, and then split it back in half and lay the 2 rod pieces together Butt to Tip. keep the line and rig tight, and it should be ready to use when u get to the water.

how much u wanna spend on the reels? for me the best options are the 6000 GTE (doublehandle) baitrunners. mint, designed for the job. (if u want a halfway house, grab a 5000GTE u can use for feeder/spinning and carp/piking, and a 6000GTE and get the best of both worlds. howvere will cost u about 100-120 quid.
 
Nickg said:
well u make the rod up, and then split it back in half and lay the 2 rod pieces together Butt to Tip. keep the line and rig tight, and it should be ready to use when u get to the water.

how much u wanna spend on the reels? for me the best options are the 6000 GTE (doublehandle) baitrunners. mint, designed for the job. (if u want a halfway house, grab a 5000GTE u can use for feeder/spinning and carp/piking, and a 6000GTE and get the best of both worlds. howvere will cost u about 100-120 quid.
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crikky - i'm not that serious about it to be spending that sort of money tbh.. I just picked up a couple of Wychwood 2.75 carp rods for under £50 on fleabay.
 
thing is with rods and reels they are very important. and the quality does vary widely.

if you were for example to go cheap on the reels, i guarantee the bail arms will start to flop about after 12 months use. the drag will go.

it will need replacing, and instead of using a good reel, you will have been using a crap reel that needs replacing in a year or two's time. and then have to go out and double what u spent in the first place, and still have a poor quality reel to show for it

if you buy quality kit, i guarantee it will last longer, provide more enjoyment, and be cheaper/more effective in the long run.

check out the bay, or sometimes angling times classifieds (also maggot drowners.com) and see if someone selling a pair of baitrunners they have since upgraded.

i did it myself this year and regret it. i cheaped out on a shimano hyperloop feeder rod, spent £35 on it.. its rubbish. and it frayed my braid (cost me £15 quid, had to replace after 2 short sessions...)

and now ive junked it and bought a PI Carbonactive 2nd hand at 75 squid. wish id boguht it to begin with. would have saved me money, and imrpoved my fishing in the long run.
 
Nickg said:
take some bread. pulp it and make a bread paste. throw a few balls in where your fishing.

figsh as tight to the inside/outside margin as possible (if no margins try and fish the shelf where it deepens up a bit (the channel the boats cut in the canal)

put your heavy shot near the float. and string smaller ones further down the line. put a No.8 or similar about 2-3" from the hook. this lead should be sat on the bottom effectively "laying" on 2 inches of line between the weight to your hook. to plummet to fish 2" overdepth. maybe try some bread flake on the hook too! (canal tench/carp can come out and play, but dont bank on it lol!)
Click to expand...

Margins and Shelfs? :o

What depth will most of the fish be at? The bottom?
 
IwantanewPC said:
Margins and Shelfs? :o

What depth will most of the fish be at? The bottom?
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margins - the weeds/reeds at the banks. usually canals will have quite overgrown margins (depending on how frequently boats sue the canal) u dont need to cast to the other side to hit the fish.
often they will be under your feet.

they also have shelves, i.e where the water deepens steeply in the middle channel (there will be a nearside shelf, and a farside shelf) as crude diag shows below;

bank-middle chan.--far

\----\___/---/

the fish will often cruise the shelfs looking for food which may roll down/allow them to stay warmer in the deeper water etc. in a canal this will be very apparent. the center channel is cut and kept by boats which go up and down, pushing the silt to the sides (decreasing their depth, and inc the depth of the center).

have 2 swims at least baited up, one on a shelf, and one on in the nearside margin.

i have had 5-8lb carp from margins on a 4m whip! get as TIGHT as you possibly can to the reeds on the inside, bait up, get some brown crumb, or bread paste in to the water early doors, and keep popping 5 maggots in every 5 mins or so (increase frequency if your getting bites, decrease frequency if your not...)

if the day is cold, feed sparingly and be prepared to wait. in a canal, the tench will usually feed tight on thr bottom and will not venture far from the margin at all, (your float needs to be within 2" of the reeds..ontop of your crumb/paste).

if it warms up/you notice swirls nearere the surface maybe increase bait going in, and shallow the rig up again and try and pick them off.. but will suually be small roach.

take some worms!
 
Few pics from the canal today..

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Couple of nice Roach we got within minutes of arriving.

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Decent Perch.

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Anyone have any idea what type of fish this is? :confused:

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Caught this baby just before leaving... was much bigger than the pic makes it look.

Also caught another similar sized Perch but unfortunately the hook broke off the line while it was still in the fish's mouth. Will it survive? Only a small hook.
 
4th fish down looks like a stickleback, and so long as you were using barbless hooks (which everyone should) then the fish should shed it soon enough.
 
Yeah, looked up this Ruffe fish and it's definitely that! Also refered to as a 'Daddy Ruffe' I think. Seems they are quite common, heh, strange this is the first time I've ever caught one! (Infact we caught 2-3 that day).

Perch are one of my favourite fish, probably because they are the first fish a lot of people catch. Is it true they have a spike on their gills? I got cut yesterday, and felt numerous other stabs when I was handling them around that area.

Going again tonight, convinced there are a few more monsters that managed to avoid us! :D
 
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