English

Sure will john, looking forward to knocking the froth off one soon In the summer, if we ever have one this year, I really like Magners Irish Cider, astonishingly expensive but tastes like angels dancing on your tongue, bottle of that poured over a half pint of ice mmmmmmmmmm. The breakfast lagers you can keep them, Carlsberg, Heineken, Fosters etc most of the english beers are only fit for cooking with. The real ales are something else old peculiar and old thumper, Spitfire et al, says it all really i get a head ache just ordering them :whistling Regards Clive

Sorry British officionado passing through STELLA is the beer of choice here

You may remember the little mepps spinners, they were the dogs, still are in my eyes. I am talking about the style used in UK during the mid 70s to 80s size 12 trebble hook only about 1 1/2" long at the time the build quality was way ahead of it's time. None of the other manufacturers were any where near then then. I used to catch perch and pike on them, last time I was in the tackle shop 6 months ago I saw the exact same or very close allowing for memory loss, in fact I swear they haven't changed, get that.

Thanks for the PM greencoachdog

Nice, excellent shirt Neil

Excuse my ignorance but from reading the various posts on here I am finding out new things every day. I have found out that muskie = pike, or so i thouhgt then i see an advert at the top by a sponsor which says catch Walleye pike and muskie, I am confused can any one point me in the right direction.

Neil a few feathers on the treble hook would make it look a bit better to the fish and the line will never fit through the rod rings mate.

Steady on Neil not everyones on the same sarcasm level as you and I matey. Some American states you can shoot carp with guns out side the city limit or summat like that or you could try Afganistan style fishing http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kg4bcaIXKHU Regards Clive

One day 007 would be great, i fear it will be a while though. Yes very sad day devastating for so many families, of course there wasn't any crowd trouble as such it was just people naturally trying to get to safety. I always give a thought when fishing as it is embedded in me somehow. Regards Clive

Hi Pete really nice bunch of people on here even got a few members from the UK

Hi all, I thought I would share a few things with you and a little of my trout fishing history too. I love my fishing and have been lucky enough to fish some of the finest rivers and lakes all over europe. Notice I did not say in the world, I have yet to conquor Canada and the US Below is a lake complex which I fished only once On 15th April 1989, I remember the day like a lot of people would when something momentous happens. This was a long time back now, and even then it was known as the premier trout fishery in England maybe not for the historic reasons places like the river severn or rutland water are know but more for the way the owners attain massive weight gains due to growth hormones being added to their HNV food. I don't altogether believe in the ways they force the growth of the trout but they do get some astounding results. The set up is first class the location too. http://www.deversprings.com/intro.html On this day, I had caught my limit within about 3 hours, 4 fish, all stock fish about 4lb each so no monsters and I let another go, naughty but hey I didn't get caught. I was just lucky or unlucky if you like as my fishing was basically over. The early morning was a very misty one and visibility was just a few yards, everyone else seemed to struggle there were a few other fish caught in the morning. But with 20 anglers whipping the surface to a froth there wasn't that much caught. I wandered around a bit to check out what everyone else was up to and then walked up to the lodge, bit of a grand name then may be better now as it is much better known and in very high demand. The radio was playing and I listened to some of the early football results coming in. There was a mention of a bit of crowd trouble at Hillsborough, this turned out to be the worst day in English football. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/2491195.stm I am not trying to put a downer on anyone it is just one of my many memories some good some bad. Live life to the full brothers and sisters. Regards Clive

Leslies of Luton UK May be worth a look they have a very good website and customers from all over the world http://www.leslies-fishing.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Come to England, you can buy anything with enough money... Oh and if you know a few politicians it really helps I think the most British car being made in Britain now is a Toyota Great swathes of the english countryside, lakes included have been sold off, Madonna, yeah like a virgin girl had a right old toodo with the ramblers (red socks) love them basically your mum and dad taking a walk to preserve the countryside well she bought like half of somewhere and didn't want any visitors shame the footpath was like 500 years old or something, think she lost that one but pay our politicians enough money and I can see that footpath being closed. Regards Clive

Cheers MJL getting the hang of things slowly they seem like nasty little beggars. We have the American Signal Crayfish which has all but wiped out our native crayfish apart from up Scotland way last I heard anyway they are here to stay so we just got to get used to them shame though. Thanks for taking the time

You guys ever try peanuts popped up off the bottom say between 2" and 6" the popup is a piece of cork shaped to look like a peanut. In France i used to catch virtually every night on this method I used to always have 1 rod ( we could use up to 4 rods in France) with this setup and nearly every morning 5AM I would have a run it was spooky how regular they were. Nothing touches peanuts except carp, try soaking them in different flavoured dips I used to use quite large peanuts, 3 or 4 plus the cork, I used to think they will never take that but they did, we could buy a 10kg bag fresh from a birdfood wholesaler for a few quid and they would last for ever. They are virtually indestructible and you can cast them way out without worrying if they have flown off. I presume gobies are crayfish of sorts?? Just wondering. Regards Clive

Great stuff DSN quality work, so you use the hair rig then, I know it is not a secret any more like for about 20 years but I just wondered do you think you get more takes using it as your fish see so little pressure I wondered is all. Any one use boilies as bait. Just wondering how you guys do it we all have different styles. regards Clive

Hi great Muskie, I have seen them to 36lb, we don't really measure the length here we just weigh them. It wasn't mine my biggest is about 12lb guess didn't have any scales that day. I have caught a lot of pike over the years but the biguns seem to come mostly when fishing for other species so they end up biting you off.

Hi all, here are a few pictures of the gang I do most of my fishing with we have all known each other since school. We usually go to France but Spain is also on the menu. I first went to France carp fishing as I had read about it in the Angling Times, there were stories of huge fish and the top guys were getting non stop action. My first trip was in about 1985, I fished the lake where it all started Lac de St Cassien huge great lake I had never seen anything like it. The location of the lake was down the south near St Tropez. Had 3 days on there and I didn't catch anything but not for lack of trying. There was no night fishing allowed and theguy I went down with could never get out of bed so I ended up fishing about 6 hours a day I am never going fishing with a non fisherman again. Over the years we have had some right adventures not all ending happily. Mate Danny with a nice River loire carp not sure who looks the happier. Mike struggling with his first 40lb carp, caught on the river Loire. Danny with a near 50lb Carp looking a bit happier this time Ian caught the cat 50lb I think helped by Mike Me with a bottle of Frances favourite tipple and another mid 20 Possibly our funniest days fishing you had to be there but each year we try and play a trick on each other So I made a fish out of a few scraps of wood, looked quite good for a plumber we drew scales on it and really made a nice job. As it was wood it floated so we bought a bottle of champagne to weigh it down and guess what that floated too well the guys went into town for provisions so we set to weighing it down with about 3 lb of lead and stones and things. We had a rowing boat so we took it out and dropped it in and waited for Mike to return, he was chosen this year as he was the new guy to fishing. We had tied a little line to his rod tip and Danny was behind the tree pulling on the line and Mike jumped into action and was playing the mysteriously heavy lump on the end of his line after about a minute or 2 he had got the fish on dry land and was starting to get the idea, we were rolling around. Only Danny and I knew anything about it Dale watching and Stuart photographer and Mike of course knew nothing, but they all saw the funny side. Then we told him it was moving again and he reeled in the bottle of champagne and all an excellent day was had by all.

Hi mate, glad I joined thanks for the info, cracking pictures. Regards Clive

Nice catfish your self there Joe. I notice your variety has a sort of tail fin, unlike the wells which is sort of like a conger eel. I am learning fast so now I know Walleye are Zander or a close cousin maybe? Rioja = Spanish red wine very nice and if in spain cheap as chips So you cant use game fish for bait well it is OK here just anyway won't be long before they try to ban it iu suppose like the fox hunting can't do that now, jees what next no hooks in fishing aaah make my blood boil. Tony, unhooking mats I love them and I hate them. I am still to be convinced they are an absolute necessity, some waters here won't even let you fish unless you got one and your own landing net, so 4 guys go out for a days fishing and you need 4 nets and 4 mats, well poos what I say. It is all just a big con I think, OK the terrain where we were fishing was pretty rugged and I can see the need for a mat there if you go dropping a fish onto the stones you could do it some serious damage but if you handle them properly and you are on a nice soft grass bank then why would you need a scorching hot mat. The politically correct mob at it again, telling me what I can and can't do. The fishing forums over here would have you skinned alive if you dared to have a photo of a fish without the obligitory super size unhooking mat in full view, and dont even think about lifting the fish up to waist height heaven forbid, they would be tearing your door down Most of the forums fall down over here because of some spotty idiot who will start a full scale war with others over just that. The tackle manufacturers obviously want everyone to have one and the one in the picture was approx £45.00 not mine I hasten to add, I know one tackle manufacturer very well and the top anglers over here who shape the way fishing is driven are paid a lot of money to endorse the products which makes them dearer so they dream up more and more nicknacks which they convince everybody that they have to have just seems endless to me. Back to basics is what I like, you guys use sweetcorn which is the best ever bait bar none. We have been brainwashed into thinking if you dont use boilies then you will not catch the biggest fish in the lake. Still enough of my gripes. Thanks again, tight lines Regards Clive

Hi guys thanks for the kind words, as I said earlier the Cat weighed 66lb in the sling but we rounded it down to 62lb ish so equals the British record but we caught it in Spain so just a tiddler really. I caught it using a 2lb Zander which was nearly dead that I found floating by, the dam behind in the picture is we think a hydro electric dam and we thought it may have come through there, we were mainly after carp but i just happened to have in my tackle box all the ingredients for a bit of catty bashing and this was the result. It took me only about 10 mins to land but I was using 70lb braid a size 7/0 hook and 9oz lead to hold bottom I was only fishing about 15ft out so nearly under the rod tip. The other guys laughed at me when I found the fish floating by, I said to them not to laugh too soon and hey what a result, I made them feel well sad that night when I celebrated with a few bottles of Rioja. Regards Clive

Excellent, nice to be made so welcome. Regards Clive

Hi all still new on here but finding my way about, hope you don't mind, I caught this little beauty whilst on a fishing holiday with 4 other mates in Spain of the Rio Ebro. This little puppy was 66lb in the sling so we settled on 62lb which actually equalled the British record this strain of catfish is the european wells catfish and grow to 202lb so far. I want to catch this little beautys grand daddy one day I had got bored with trying to catch carp as the river had been in near flood conditions the week before we got there as the mountain snow and ice was running into it making it too cold for the carp to feed as we had hoped. Please bare with me on this one, I am a member of The Association of Registered Gas Installers (ARGI) we have a forum http://www.argi.org.uk/forum/index.php there is a public forum but you need to be a gas fitter to get full membership so unfortunately you can't see all of it it is a similar setup to this one where we talk about, yawn, yawn plumbing and gas and stuff. For a little light relief we also have a cyber pub section called the "Gas mans arms" where we can talk about anything as long as it is not work related. I started a thread just over a year ago and called it "Fishing Corner" it has become quite popular with the guys well about 4 of them anyway it gets about 2 or 3 posts per month, I know that is nothing compared to on here but for a load of old boring gas installers it is quite something. Anyway I thought I would introduce myself properly with a picture, this is taken straight from the ARGI site which I posted originally so hope it works. The picture was taken about 2 years ago in Spain on the river Ebro where 5 of us had a good weeks fun, the text as well is straight from ARGI site. Any anglers out there :?: Of course there are well If I got it right there should be a rather nice picture of my biggest so far. May be the start something new here, I know that there are countless forums dedicated to angling but its always nice to talk about it in the pub. Cheers. Regards Clive

Hi guys, with all my moaning about the state of fishing over here I may have given off the wrong image like, don't get me wrong I love England whats left of it anyway, as Nautifish says we have some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, not saying ours is better or not, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the lake district is purely magical, Wales and Scotland too. I guess you just have to be there to appreciate the atmosphere and all. But we have our problems over here with the sucessive governments selling us down the drain to Europe, they won't let us have a referendum because they already know the outcome. There is virtually no border control and if you do make it over here, it takes the government so long to try and send you back you may as well buy a house and get rich. But get this if you don't have a passport? apparently they eat them on the plane on the way here?? Then they can't send you back because they don't know who you are or where you are from?? just apply for refugee status and you are in?? Something to do with the stupid human rights act which is supposed to protect the innocent but has been all bent out of shape by the crooked lawyers and now favours the criminals, the work shy and illegals get that! As I said we have our problems but there are a lot of pluses. You are not going to get your house shaken to the ground by an earth quake or the roof ripped off by a tornado, forest fires are usually under control in a day or so and no one looses there house because of them, you can camp in the woods and not worry about getting eaten by bears or midges. In winter only in the most remote places you may be snowed in for a day or so and I don't think I have ever lost a days work because of it. It goes down to about -5 only on the coldest days ever nearly tropical I hear you say Our summers are something else you can get all 4 seasons in one day but you are guaranteed it won't get too hot for long like it nearly got to 100F last year the hottest day on record but mostly you can be sure 80F is the hottest alright if you are not a sun worshipper like myself. Hardly any houses are built with aircon mostly for offices that stuff. Any way back to the fishing, I started off fishing like most lads when I was 4 years old for newts, stickle back, minnows gudgeon and bleak in the pond out back and canals and rivers locally, my grandfather thought it would be a good idea to take me fishing with him one day and that was that. And i have loved it ever since, I think I remember that we didn't catch much that day and as he lived miles away he left his gear at ours promising one day to come back and do it again but we never did. I used to practice in the back garden casting and that, I am sure most of us have done that at some point. I used to be allowed to go over the back on my own and we used to fish for newts in the pond with bits of chopped worm. When I was about 7 I used to be allwed down the local river which was 3ft deep and about 10ft wide so not much chance of drowning. I think back to what it was like then and it is a shame that kids over here nowdays aren't allowed out on there own until they are about 12 and older and that would only be to play next door or something like. If we caught a dozen fish then we had a good day, we had no idea really how to fish properly but all part of learning and life, happy days. The Thames at Weybridge was about 25mins on our pushbikes and a pint of maggots used to last 3 of us all daywe used to catch hundreds of bleak then basically the Thames then was slowly being poisoned by all the businesses pouring their waste straight into it. Thank god the NRA National rivers Authority was set up to deal with the problem, it took them a while but now there is a good head of carp in there and as I said earlier trout and salmon are back but in a small way still could take ages who knows. 007 Thigs have changed quite a bit here, if I were you I might think twice about coming back, but if you do hope it aaall goes well for you. APLUMMA thanks for the offer maybe in about 5 years when the business is all ticking along nicely and the kids are a bit older that would be one of my dreams fulfilled. Nautifish small world isn't it used to go out with a girl from Knaresborough, Yorkshire and I used to try and practice the accent lol nice website the pub has got if I am ever up that way I may pop in. My mate Neil who recommended I pop in here and take a look lives in Durham, he fishes in Canada 2 or 3 times a year on Lake Temagami mostly, he has some mates from up that way who I presume get on here? Thanks for not laughing all. Tight lines

Thames Ontario not Thames UK, like it thanks for making that clear, I am learining fast Great pictures and report, also great name as well. Regards Clive