In The Beginning ...

My first published articled appeared in the May 1987 issue of

Coarse Angler magazine 19 years after I’d won my first open

match at the tender age of 17.

The date was June 16th

, 1968, and it was a sell-out. The good

and the great gathered at the draw. Several had represented

Doncaster in the ‘All-England’ and won huge events on Rivers

like the Witham, Welland, Nene and Trent, but I was

undaunted. In fact I chose that moment to tell them I had

come to win!

‘Sure you have, son. Sure you have...’

But win I did and it was no fluke.

I suppose these days a fresh faced kid doing the same would

regard himself as an instant expert, immediately start

writing articles, big himself up on the internet and bemoan

the fact that tackle and bait companies weren’t falling over

themselves to sponsor him.

You served an apprenticeship in my day. Even so, I still didn’t

feel ready.

There was no internet back then. No emails. You wrote letters.

Barely 25% of UK homes had a telephone. I’d been swapping

letters with Colin Dyson for 2 years when he invited me to

write for Coarse Angler. I turned him down. Didn’t think I

had the credentials.

A year later he asked me again. When I said, ‘No’, he said,

‘Do me a favour, write 3 articles just for me, I like your style

of writing. I won’t publish them, just want to see what they’d

be like.

He lied!

But I have no regrets. I learned to love writing. I

learned to take pictures, I diversified, I learned to

speak on radio, to relax on live TV. I’ve travelled the

world, made films, done more things than I ever

dared dream of ...

And it all started here. My humble little column in

Coarse Angler magazine, writing for a man who

quietly inspired me.

I think he’d appreciate what I’ve done ...

Thank you, Colin.

Bob Roberts

In His Own Write

The Coarse Angler Years

’Club Match Scene’

Series One

1987

This is where the adventure began ...

May - Campaign To Crack The Club

Events

June - Feeder - A Method You Must

Master

July - Tactics With A Groundbait Feeder

Aug - Secrets Of The Sting

Sept - Fishing And Groundbaiting With

The Wasp Grub

Oct - My Floats For

Fishing The Wasp Grub

Nov - How To Cope

With Adverse Conditions

Dec - Getting Better

- A Few Short Cuts

•MATCH SCENEIs s each season, and after a while a few nar intc whs. One name, Bob Roberts, began to sh mmos =gan to wonder whether he isv king type letters, giv Ingformissin ing, but after a while etl Sy about feeder and wasp gtm sI realised he was capable of writing features for am

at tew series which, as ft unfolds, wilbig match circuit a tiling or two — Ed.

CAMPAIGN TOCRACKTHE CLUB EVENTS

And setbacks at top level!MOST anglers have

regrets about someaspect of their sporting

life. In my case giving up matchangling at the tender age of 15 istop of the list. I had done quitewell, for my age, winningoccasionally against goodopposition, but I packed it in forthe usual reasons.

A few years on and settleddown to married life, I took upfishing again, becominginterested in both tench andpike. Living in South Yorkshire,however, and with transportproblems seriously limiting myresults, I soon becamedisillusioned and looked foranother challenge.

Maybe I should have gonestraight back into match fishingthen, for it does not really matterwhere you live or what the levelof sport is like in match fishing.The main aim is to competeagainst whoever is there on theday, and to achieve a feasibletarget weight for the water. Itwas perhaps fortunate for methat I didn't, though, for theintervening venture was the onewhich laid down the foundationsfor my future competitiveefforts.

The purchase of a motorcyclebrought the River Idle within myreach, and a great love of riverfishing developed. The Idle is atributary of the lower Trent.

14

Nowhere is it much more than 20yards wide, averaging between 3and 5ft deep. It was a jungle of ariver, with rafts of weed makingit almost unfishable during thesummer. Even a light showerwould flood it in winter, ahandicap which was to lead to itsvirtual destruction, though I wasblissfully unaware of that at thetime.

Floods were such a problemthat 22,000 acres of land wentunder water almost every winter,for weeks at a time. Fish stockswere low and whilst the averagesize was high, good catches werefew and far between. So wereother anglers!

I am making it sound souninviting, but I came to lovethat river, haunting its banksfrom its confluence with theTrent at West Stockwith all theway up to Mattersey. It was myriver, and I fished it as often as Icould.

It was hard work, but it wasrewarded. You could not catchon the Idle by fishing badly.Baits had to be presentedperfectly with float tackle or thebites did not come, but each yearbigger and bigger roach turnedup — glittering indications that Iwas getting better.

Eventually came the fish, a

Opening day catch from the Idlein 1982

roach of 21bs 4oz. I will neverforget that fish as long as I live. Itwas beautiful, and almostcertainly had not been caughtbefore. Only someone who hascaught his first genuine 21broach, by design, will understandwhy I could not fish any morethat day. An ambition had beenachieved; there seemed no pointin fishing on.

Little did I know that myparadise was about to be lost.

Notices went up announcing theSevern-Trent Water Authority'sRiver Idle ImprovementScheme. The floods were aproblem, no argument there, butto cure it the river wasdevastated. Every bush and treewas removed on the banks whichhad the treatment, and the bankslandscaped so they could bemown by tractor. The wholeriver bed was lowered by about ayard, and Europe's largest pumpwas installed at Stockwith.

Lew Grade's crack about'Raise the Titanic' — that itwould have been cheaper tolower the Atlantic! — could havebeen made reality by that pump.I was devastated. Some boffin ofan engineer had turned mydream river into a canal, withouteven asking my permission, andhad added insult to injury bycalling it an improvementscheme!

It was time for another change,but where? Around that time Iwas fancying myself as a good

angler. Local folklore always hadit that anyone who could fish theIdle could fish anywhere, and Ibelieved it. I knew I was the beststick float angler in the world,and I had also acquired aquivertip rod. It was time to gomatch fishing again, and thistime I was going for the top dogs.

I fished the Trent, Witham,Derwent and Aire. I fishedponds, lakes and reservoirs. Ieven joined a winter league. Andboy, was I found wanting! WhilstI framed in a 300-pegger on theTrent, had a second atWorsborough Reservoir, of allplaces, and picked up the oddsection I knew I was out of mydepth.

I was still the best float anglerin the world, seeing nobody wholooked better than I thought Iwas. But maybe that was becausethe waggler was winning all thematches at the time, andsomething called a swimfeeder.Even the pole was starting tomake an impact in places.

Disillusioned, I took stock ofthe situation and realised I hadaimed too high. I was also 32years old, and I had wasted 16seasons when I could have beenlearning to compete. I decided todrop back to club match fishingthe following season, and start tolearn my trade from the bottom.I had enjoyed my year on theopen circuit, but didn't likebeing shown up as often as I was.I vowed I would be back, butonly when I was ready.

The summer of '83 saw me onthe Trent every Saturday, at clublevel. I was still biased towardsthe float and was quiteconsistent, finishing betweensecond and sixth most weeks, butI could not seem to win one.Taking stock of the situation Ihad to admit that the feeder,whilst seeming to be

Winter floods on the Idle and theprocess of improvement1 hasbegun

inconsistent, was the winningmethod. With a little reluctance Idecided to spend the rest of theseason on the 'pig,' and onSeptember 24 finally made thebreakthrough at Fiskerton usinga block and feeder with hempand caster.

Within four weeks I had wontwo more, but the busy part ofthe club season was then over. Icarried on alone through thewinter, practising hard with thefeeder. I also read a lot, and wentto forums. I sought out topanglers and pestered them todeath. I wrote to people, andlistened and learned . . .

The summer of '84 was like adream. I drew well, and fishedwell. The groundbait feeder wasworking, and experiments I wasdoing with additives bolsteredmy confidence. Fifteen matchesinto the season I had made thetop two 10 times, with threeother placings in the top four. Itcontinued to go like that, but Igradually realised that thedominance of the open-endedfeeder was declining.

For the opening match of thefollowing season I chose a200-pegger at Burton Joyce andgot a top 10 placing.Unfortunately I blew this one bylosing a carp — heartbreaking,for £1000 went with it! I alsocontrived to drop a £100skimmer at the net, but that'sfishing. The '85 summer wasdour on the Trent, but I hadcontinuing success with theblock and feeder and maggot.

I had perfected the techniqueto be described by TomPickering in his Coarse Anglerarticle in February 1986, and the

Bob Roberts, with a 9'/2lb carp from the Trent at Winthorpe

method was working so well forme I decided to have a crack atthe Burton Joyce Saturday series.Those who are familiar with thatscene will know it's tough, withtop anglers at virtually every peg,but I got a good start — sectionwin at the first attempt from abad draw.

Sadly, though, that draw wasthe first of a long succession ofduff pegs. I always seemed todraw the road stretch, whichdoesn't usually respond well tothe feeder method. It got medown in the dumps, and againstgood advice I threw in the towel.I should have persevered,knowing a good draw wouldcome sooner or later; but it waseasier said than done.

It's easier to see, withhindsight, one's mistakes.Perhaps mine was to go to what isarguably the most difficult matchin England and expect to win. Atthe time, though, I could notunderstand why I didn't!

It was probably a reaction .tothis that I went back on the floatin 1986.1 had become bored withthe feeder, and also had a spell ofillness. I needed to relax, andoften I relaxed too much, goingin for a bit of bank walking onsunny days. In consequence thenumber of wins dropped a bit,though in a 20 match spell Iscraped into first or second placenine times, all on the float.

Admittedly some of these wereon the wasp grub, but it was thefloat nevertheless, and it wasvery good fishing. Three times Iwent to the scales with over 251bsand failed to win, and on onememorable occasion I scalednearly 371bs and only came third!

That confirmed what I knewalready — that club standards inmy neck of the woods are veryhigh. The exercise has been a realeye-opener for me.

I hope this article doesn'tsound like trumpet blowing, forthat's not the intention. It's justthat the editor, Colin Dyson,noticed my results at club leveland we ended up swappingletters about various aspects ofmatch fishing. He's always beenconscious of the fact that articlesfrom top match anglerssometimes go right over the headof the club man, and was lookingfor someone who could maybewrite with the club man in mind.

Whether I can do the jobremains to be seen, but I'll try.This is just what Colin calls thescene-setter, where I'm supposedto introduce myself and set outmy qualifications for writingabout some of the methods. Clubfishing has given me such a lot itwill be a pleasure to try and put alittle back.

I'll be dealing with some of theproblems I faced, and how Isorted them out, but I muststress that I don't know all theanswers. Maybe you, out there,can help me too, so if youdisagree with anything, or canadd something useful to mycontribution, why not write inand have your two-pennorth. Iam conscious of the fact thatthere are far better match anglersthan me, even at club level.

It's really all about putting thepieces together. We all have vitalbits of the jigsaw. Put them alltogether and we have TomPickering potential — at least intheory! •

'Little did I know that my paradise was about to be lost'15

Ro CLUYOU WILL have no doubT

gathered from lastmonth's article that there

are four main avenues of attackon the Trent in normalconditions. They are thegroundbait feeder, the block endfeeder, the float and the waspgrub. I'm going to ignore thepole for now because if you'venot mastered the first four thenthere's little point in gettingcarried away with a methodthat's more often used for effectthan to effect.

Undoubtedly the dominantwinning method on the Trent atclub level is the swimfeeder. Tocompete, as I have found out,you have to master it. In manyanglers' hands it is a crudechuck-it-and-chance-it method.No other method is so misusedyet so overused. In the righthands, however, it is a delicate,subtle tool capable of amassingstaggering weights.

How often do you see anglersadd an ounce of lead, chuck it atthe horizon and then sit back andwait? Sure it catches a few fish,but rarely is it enough. Let'shave a look at a style that ColinDyson has dubbed 'the method'.It's a technique that achieves abetter bite to fish ratio than anyother I have seen.

I'll start right at the beginningwith the choice of feeder. Forvirtually all my blockend work Iuse a Thamesly medium feeder.It is robust enough to use acouple of clip-ons withoutcollapsing or breaking up. Itcasts well and converts well toopen end if necessary. On dayswhen the fish do not want asmuch bait I prefer to half fill itrather than use the small size. Ido this because the shorter leadstrip on the small feeders meanclip-ons become inevitable andthis just does not leave enoughholes for the bait to escapethrough. Any similar choice willdo but this is the one that has

•MATCH SCENE

FEEDER-A METHODYOU MUST MASTER

Method 'works better the further you go'served me well.

Over the years I have usedumpteen rigs, booms, links,loops, swivels, stops etc. Yes, Ifell for them as well! Quitefrankly they are a waste of time.I'm prepared to stick my neckout on this one and say, nomatter who advocates them, theyare unecessary. Look at thesketch. (Fig 1). On my set youwill see the loop that comes withthe feeder has been thrown away.Simply tie your hook length tothe main line with a water knotand make a loop on the end ofthis. Slip it under the feeder leadand that's it. There is only oneknot between you and the fishand nothing to tangle with. Thisrig does not tangle unless usingmultiple baits, and no rig willever overcome that one.

Having set up as shown, whatcomes next? The major thing toestablish is whether the fish wanta still bait or they accept it on themove. During summer andautumn the moving bait issuperior nine times out often. Acouple of years ago I had drawnpeg 175 just in the Nelson Fieldat Burton Joyce. I fished a staticfeeder in mid-river for two hoursand struggled along with the restof the field. I decided to try alittle further over to search for a

few fish. At this extra distance Ifound the feeder no longer held.Instead it bumped and held,slowly rolling round. Within fiveminutes I was into a small chub,followed next throw by another,then another. The significantfactor was not the extra distance,but the movement. Bites onlycame when the feeder was on themove. Sixty small chub went intothe net in the next three hours,leaving the rest of the field waybehind. Needless to say thepenny had dropped and thethinking cap went on.

The next few weeks saw thedevelopment of 'the method',which on its day can bedevastating. Tom Pickeringhinted at it in his feeder updatearticle (Feb 86) but his slightlydownstream approach has to bemodified. Tom's method wasbased on his trusty Mordex andfishing up to '/s across. Hence hissensitivity towards the float manabove. My method works betterthe futher over you go, so we donot have to consider the floatman's feelings.

Despite feeding line to thefeeder as Tom suggests, it willstill transcribe an arc as it movesdownstream. This workedinitially but I still felt that thiscould be improved upon. I

wanted the feeder to traveldownstream in a straight linealong with the loose maggots.Obviously putting a feederslightly upstream helps but it stillpulls round and in. Theimportant breakthrough came byfeeding line to the feederimmediately it hit the bottom tocreate a large bow. The feedernow moves in a virtually straightline, but more importantly itfaces downstream instead ofacross the current. Theadvantages of this are fourfold.

Firstly, less lead is needed tohold; secondly and moresignificantly, the feeder can't roll— it has to be dragged along. Asa result the speed can begoverned more accurately.Thirdly, the hook is directlybelow the feeder amongst theloose feed, not six inches away asis the norm. Finally, because thefeeder is perfectly balanced andthe fish cannot pull directly onthe rod top, crack-offs on the biteare eliminated.

Study these four reasons.Make suic you understand thembefore going any further.

That then is the theory. Let'shave a look at 'the method' inpractise. The first thing to dowhen you get to your peg is to setyour banksticks so that the

FIGURE FIGURE la

Loop on end ofreel line underfeeder lead strip

12

FIGURE 2 Tom Pickering's slightly downstream approach

maximum amount of line is outof the water. It doesn't reallymatter whether you point yourrod upstream or downstream,only that you are in a position tofish comfortably. Set off with a•Jiree inch link to the feeder and ahook length of just 15 to 18inches. I am currently using theBayer Ultima 2.41b. Anythings-_ronger will not balance with thesmall hooks necessary. (I'll cometo those later). Only in absolutelydesperate situations have I foundit necessary to drop down to thel.Slb. Despite recent controversyover this and other similar lines Ifind them brilliant for hook.engths. Just take the extra carerecommended when tying knots.Remember there is only one knotwith this set up. Add a clip onand throw the feeder out. Assoon as it hits bottom releaseyour finger off the spool andallow 10 to 20 yards of line topeel off, close the bail arm andsee if the feeder holds. Add orsubtract lead as necessary till thefeeder just holds. By this I meanby adding or subtracting a swanshot, if required, on the loop to±e feeder.

When you've achieved this,drop the front rod rest inch byinch till the feeder begins tomove as slowly as possible.Obviously accurate casting isabsolutely essential or thesubtlety is wasted.

Normally when feeder fishing,once the Kamikasis are out of theway, it is necessary to lengthenthe tail to keep in touch as thefish shy off the feeder's splash.The fish stay in the swim butdrop halfway down and allow

the bait to come to them.Imagine then what is

happening in your swim. Oncethe feeder hits bottom the feedworks its way out of the feederand down the swim, slowlyfollowed by the hookbait.Instead of swinging round awayfrom your fish it trundles straightdown to them. As soon as yourfeeder has reached the bottom ofyour swim, it's straight out, fill itup and get it back in again assoon as possible. This is no lazyman's way of fishing. Try tothink of it as building up a floatswim. As in float fishing, onceyour swim is working most ofyour fish will come from onespot. Beware of your fish startingto fall back beyond this point —it could be the signal to ease backon the feed or to nail the feederdown for a while. Watch out alsofor the man above you. When hesees you catching he willinevitably throw a feeder to thebottom of his swim. Whilst it willbe impossible for him to put hishookbait near your fish, theadditional feed could push thefish further down your swim.

When fishing like this the reelline obviously takes a hell of ahammering. I tend to use a 61bmain line as standard and stillchange it after 15 to 20 matches,although I have taken toreversing the line once before Ido so because its only the last 30yards or so that takes the realhammering. If you sit behindsomeone feeder fishing takespecial note of what happenswhen he casts. As he bends intothe throw the rod movesforwards and momentarily the

FIGURE 3 Casting straight out, but on a tight line a movingfeeder will still arc cowards the near bank

FIGURE 4 Straight out with slack line makes the feedermove straight downstream

feeder stays still. This stretchingplays havoc with the last two tothree yards of line and its no badthing to get rid of this in midmatch if the opportunity arises.It only takes a couple of minutes.If you try and use line of less than61bs not only will you come togrief regularly, but you will havedifficulty making the feedermove on some of the middleTrent venues in summer.

Because of the bow the fishdislodges the feeder to signal a

bite, and due to the shorthooklength basically hooks itself.This happens whichever way itmoves. Failing this, if the fishdoesn't move, the feeder doesand hooks it for you! It isessential when using 'themethod' to use small, preferably20s or 22s, micro-barb hooks. Upuntil last season I had beenhappy using Kamatsus but then Iexperienced a series of problemswhere the spades were too smallon about 40% of the hooks in

Booms, links, loops, swivels, stops — 'a waste of time'13

Ultima line 'brilliant for hook lengths9every batch I bought, and fishkept pulling the hooks off. Thiscost me a fair bit of money and Ihad no choice but to look aroundfor a suitable alternative. I'mcurrently using the DrennanCarbon Feeder hooks which are anice hook but a little soft. Barbelmake mincemeat of them insnaggy swims. Maybe I'll givethe new Kamasans a try againthis season. Rumour has it thatthe problem has been cured.

A very important point when abite occurs is not to strike at it. Ifyou do you'll bump off no end offish. Just lift into the bite and'feel' for the fish. Another isdon't expect your bites to bewhopping drop-backs either.The majority will only move aninch or two at best. Concentrateand hit anything that seems odd.Sometimes fish are on when thetip does little more than vibrate.I can only surmise that the fish ismoving down the swim at thesame speed as the feeder whenthis happens.

If you've absorbed 'themethod' and practised it youshould be capable of catchinggood nets offish on the feeder,but will it be enough to win? Ifyou think that's a daft questionthen let me explain.

MATCH SCENEA match lasts five hours, often

six in summer at club level. Nowif fish fed for that length of timehuge weights would becommonplace. Unfortunatelythey don't. Mostly the first houris spent building a swim whichpeaks in the second or thirdhour. This tends to be followedby a quiet spell with the fishreturning for a burst of activitylater on.

Experienced anglers know thatit's not the man who catchesfastest who wins, but the manwho catches longest.

Resting a swim can play a veryimportant role in giving fishconfidence. It has always been ahabit of mine to loose feed a floatline whilst fishing the feeder.This enables me to snatch a fewfish on the float every time thefeeder line went quiet. These fishon the inside line are notdisturbed and become very

confident. As a result I often pickup four or five fish on the trot assoon as I pick up the float rodbefore they wake up to what isgoing on. The trick now is not topersue the fish on the float. Assoon as the bites tail off get backout on the feeder where,hopefully, the chub have settleddown again.

All the while your weight isbuilding up. Be aware that youare going to have a quiet spellsometime in the match andprepare for it. Use that time well.It can be the difference betweenwinning and losing.

Often when matching fishingyou will find yourself in apeg-to-peg battle with someonecatching fish for fish. When thescales come down it's the anglerwho has sorted out the bonusbigger fish that wins. I put a lotof thought into ways of sortingthese out without making much

Make sure youget yours...From time to time, we getcomplaints from readers that theyhave had difficulty in obtainingCoarse Angler.If you are one of them, may wesuggest that the best way ofmaking sure you get yourfavourite magazine every monthis to place a firm order with yourlocal newsagent.

headway, but I did come up withsomething that often workedwhilst feeding a float line whenfeeder fishing. I've long been afan of hemp and caster insummer and I tend to feed thisdown the side. The result is lotsof small skimmers and hybrids. Idiscovered that by laying off thecasters and only feeding hemp(just the occasional helping ofcasters) the smaller fish tended tomove out of your swims,particularly if the man above wason the float and using maggot.

I've been called a jammy sodmore times than I care tomention by the man above whohas spent two hours knockingout bits, only to see me pick upthe rod for the first time andapparently fluke out a chub orbig skimmer. Hemp tends to beselective and sort out these betterquality fish. •

GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTHSince its introduction a year ago top anglers who have

tried ULTIMA have found its qualities a significant benefitin both match and specimen fishing situations.

A lot can be said about fishing line but at the end ofthe day it is whether a line catches fish or not that reallycounts.

We can only go on our record and as fishing line goes,Bayer has a record of World, National and Club Champion-ship wins that no other lines can begin to match. Needlessto say in the first year ULTIMA was used by half theDivision One National Champions. The other half, ofcourse, used standard Bayer Perlon.

For a new line to achieve such results so quickly istruely remarkable and proves a lot more than mere wordscan say. Try it for yourself, you won't be disappointed!

14

AUK !N THE TECHNOLOGYTO SUCCEED

If you were to ask what has influenced me most

in life, not just in fishing but in everything I have

ever done, these three phrases, written on the

inside the cover of my match fishing diary, circa

1983, pretty much sum it up.

They were, or should I say they are the founding

principles of my angling success.

Have the courage to be different. Take an idea, it

doesn’t matter who you get it from or where.

Use your brain, make it fit your needs and then

make it better. Take it to a new level.

Develop, improve, refine, then re-define.

LAST month we examinedthe block end feeder andlooked in some depth at

'the method'. This techniquewill, with very little variation,catch fish on the Trent rightthroughout the season. Withoutdoubt it will win matches foranyone who puts the time andeffort into perfecting it.

But is winning a match thetrue measure of success? Haveyou ever won a match withoutsomeone saying it was becauseyou drew well, or that the feedershould be banned, or wasp grubbanned, or you were just plainlucky (again!)? No, only youyourself know how well youfished. Don't be fooled intothinking that you have to win tolearn from your fishing. By all

CLUITACTICS WITH A

GROUNDBAIT FEEDERWritten off by anglers who should have known better

means set yourself targets andtry to win every match, but •don't think you had a bad matchbecause you didn't win.

The best performance I put inlast season was at Hoveringham.I weighed 7 Ibs 8'/2 ozs and justfailed to make the frame. I wasin a poor area but fished a reallytight match. I'm convinced I hitevery bite I had, and all my bitesfollowed slight tackle or baitadjustments. Every bite had tobe provoked. On the day I feltthat I'd done the best I could

possibly hope for from the swim.On the other hand, possibly

my worst performance (andthere were a few to choose from)saw me win a match at BurtonJoyce with 17 Ibs 4 ozs. I hadcome straight off a night shiftand spent a good hour of thematch bank walking to keepawake. During the last tenminutes alone, in front of ahandful of spectators, I missedfive consecutive bites on waspgrub. I know for a fact that Ihad the top weight that day from

Readers tell us our magazinesare too good to lose. Keep yours safe

with our

for your copies of

Binders are availablenow at £6.00 each(Overseas £7.00 each)To order, send yourremittance (whichincludes postage,packing and VAT) to

NFA Publications(Derby) Ltd., at281 Ecclesall Rd.,Sheffield S11 8NX.

says Bob Roberts

over 300 pegs, including theBurton Joyce Saturday SeriesOpen, yet I had fished badly.

Sometimes you go homeknowing that it wasn't yourperformance that let you down,but the wrong method. It's nogood being absolutely brilliant atone method only, if you want toachieve any level of consistency.It's possible to make the clubmatch frame from some prettymediocre pegs providing you areversatile enough and prepared toput in the necessary work andconcentration, unlike most openmatches where if you don't drawthe right areas then you may aswell go pleasure fishing.

The logical thing to move onto, after the block end feeder, isthe open end or groundbaitfeeder. A few seasons ago thismethod was unbeatable. I usedto buy the papers each week tolook where Colin Walton hadwon. He and Clive Checkleywere the masters. Nevertheless,every dog has its day, and thedominance of the techniquedeclined. Maggot becameflavour of the month again andthe groundbait feeder was

written off by anglers who reallyshould have known better.

Early in the season on theTrent the chub can be verydifficult to catch unless you arepegged near one of the weirs.Bream catches tend to dominatematches with individual fishranging from 'bottle tops' toslabs sometimes topping 5 Ibsapiece. Treat these as your targetfish and accept anything else as abonus.

This is the time when theopen end feeder pays off. Iregularly used to fish hemp andcaster in a block end feeder withthe holes enlarged, but it wasn'tuntil I adopted the groundbaitfeeder that I started to achievethe level of consistency I waslooking for.

Using the open end led medirectly on to the continentalgroundbaits. I am a convert. Ihave unshakeable belief in theireffectiveness, so much so that Iseldom use groundbait nowwithout some flavour or otheradded.

Presentation apart, fourfactors govern whether or not afish takes your bait. They aresight, touch, taste and smell. Ofthese the first three are onlyrelevant to the fish that are in

Bob's feeders are made from plastic strips in these two sizes.When rolled and taped the 110 x 40mm job has about doublethe capacity of the 95 x 3mm size. The bigger comes out at40mm x 30mm diameter and the smaller 30mm x 25mm. Theyare weighted with strips of 3mm thick lead in threeapproximate widths, 5, 10 and 15mm.

14

'Feeders so easy to make, and cost virtually nothing.the immediate vicinity of yourbait. Only smell can affect fishthat may be two or even threeswims away. It is anundisputable scientific fact thatcertain smells can stimulatefeeding behaviour. That doesn'tjust go for fish but for anythingwith sensory organs.

Consider the significantdifferences between the maggotapproach and groundbait hempand caster. Maggots spreadthrough a swim readily drawingfish upstream. Groundbait, onceit reaches the river bed, tends tostay put as does hemp.Assuming some fish are alreadyin your swim then there won'tbe too many casters workingtheir way downstream. Howeverthe smell of your groundbaitdoes, and this in turn will drawfish. For this reason I tend toadopt a static feeder approachwith the open end. Not only do Iwant my hook bait to reflect thebehaviour of the majority of theloose feed around, but I feel thatthe bigger bream are more likelyto fall for a still bait. Hence mypreference for the moving blockend and the static open end.

The obvious starting point indescribing how I fish the openend is to look at the feeder itself.I can't for the life of me fathomhow tackle dealers manage to sellthpm. No other item of tackle isso easy to make, as good as themass produced article, and at acost of virtually nothing.

I make mine from offcuts of aplastic paper type materialsupplied by a friend at ICIfibres, hut plastic pop bottles doexactly the same job. I make justtwo sizes for all my fishing bycutting strips 110mm by 40mmand 95mm by 30mmrespectively. I don't even botherto staple them. I just wrap acouple of turns of insulating taperound the overlap. This holdsquite adequately. Punching holesin them is another waste of timeas well. If the bait won't comeout of the ends it most certainly

The writer's home-madegroundbait feeders.

won't come out of the sides, willit?

I'm left with two sizes offeeder, one 40mm by 30mmdiameter and the other 30mm by25mm. These will adequatelycover any eventuality you arelikely to encounter on the Trent.Those of you with an educationwill be able to work out that oneholds exactly twice as much asthe other. All they require nowis the necessary lead strip.

I picked up a piece of leadwater tank that is 3mm thick fora couple of pounds at my localscrap metal merchants. I expectthis will probably last out mylifetime. Using tin snips I cutstrips 5, 10 and 15mm wideapprox.

The set-up is exactly the sameas for the block end except that Iprefer to start with a longer tail.Only when bits become aproblem do I shorten off.

One of the major problemswith caster is being "had" on thedrop, so when I cast in as soonas the feeder hits the water Isweep the rod back, put myfeeder on the spool and followthe feeder down with the rod. Itwill be unmistakeable then ifsomething hits your bait on theway down.

Because the flow at this timeof year is usually pretty sluggishI tend to point the roddownstream and tighten up tothe feeder almost as you wouldin still water.

To catch 10 Ibs of skimmers isa lot harder than to catch 10 Ibsof chub. Make no mistake, thebites will be much more difficultto hit and there will probably befour times as many fish.

So what can we do tacticallyto improve our chances? Wellfor a start, providing there issome flow there is little point inthrowing the feeder to thehorizon. The further out you gothe more difficult skimmer biteswill be both to detect and to hit.

Unless there is an obviousfeature or perhaps an odd bigbream or two showing then stickto the first third of the river.That way your bait will spendconsiderably more time in thewater where it counts. Do try topick a different line to theanglers above and below you,and make sure you keep thatinside float line fed.

Be prepared to experimentwith hook baits, hook sizes andtail lengths. Long tails can leadto bites that don't show on thetip but can be turned into fishby counting ten and striking. Ifyou don't connect with a fish butthe bait has been chomped countto nine next time and so on untilyou do hit a fish. This is a veryimpressive method if someone iswatching you - they never seeyou have a bite, yet you keepcatching fish!

It is often written that theaverage clubman alone carriesmore different baits than thewhole field at an open match. Tosome extent the observation istrue but don't let that misleadyou into thinking that alternativehookbaits are not worthcarrying. The statement isdirected at the angler whospends the first hour on caster,the next on maggot, the next onsweetcorn and so on. Work out aplan of how you are going to fisha particular peg, but don't beafraid to alternate hookbaits.

If it is my intention to fishgroundbait hemp and caster in afeeder I will have with mevarious coloured maggots andpinkies, redworms and gozzers ifI can get them. Not a lot of each,just enough with which toexperiment on the hook,

I usually adopt a pattern,starting off with two casters. IfI'm missing bites I drop to one.Then to single red maggotfollowed by double red pinkieand so on. It's no good getting abite every throw in unless you

can hit them. Somehow youhave to find a bait they will holdon to just that little bit longer.

Two seasons ago I drew peg115 at Holme Sluice next toEdlington club secretary PeteGriffin. Now Pete is a humanphenomenon. Not only does hesing non stop for five hours solidbut he also manages to whistle,hold a conversation and fish atthe same time. Fate has dealt mesome savage blows over the yearsbut nobody deserves to drawnext peg to Mr Griffin as oftenas I have done.

On the day I elected to fish anopen ended feeder whilst Petefished the stick. With two hoursgone he was catching bits one achuck. Despite getting a biteevery throw on the feeder I hadvery little to show for my efforts.I just could not hit them. Notonly was I totally frustrated butmy dilemma was being put tomusic on the next peg. To thejolly refrain of 'Roberts' missedanother bite, tra, la, la, la, la!' Iwas slowly doing my crust. I'dtried everything, or had I?Searching through my worm tinI found some tiny worms hardlymore than half an inch long andnot much thicker than cotton.With some difficulty I put oneof these on the hook and tippedit off with a caster. It looked likea giant red sperm!

First cast in the tip pulledgently forward a couple of inchesand a 12 oz skimmer was on. Sixcasts later and six more were inthe net. The effect wasremarkable. Sharp plucks andknocks were turned into properhittable bites. Pete came as closeto being silent as I've knownhim — just a 90 decibel huminterspersed with the odd sighand more than a few obscenities!

Just to rub things in, when itcame to going in over the hempI had been feeding down theinside, I hammered out sixpounds of fish in no time.Unfortunately a pike becametroublesome, taking two fish offthe hook before the line dried upcompletely.

At the scales I weighed 17 Ibs8 ozs, just nosing in front of fourdouble figure weights. If I'dstuck to either feeder or floatonly I would not have won. IfI'd stuck just to caster on thehook I would have beennowhere. Always keep thatsecond line going. You don'thave to use it but you will regretnot keeping that ace up yoursleeve if your swim dies in thelast hour and you miss the frameby a small margin. But most ofall keep working with thehookbaits. If you are gettingbites but not hitting them onecombination or another will giveyou a greater success rate thanall the others put together. • I

15

AUTUMN '86 saw matchcatches on many Trentvenues dominated by

wasp grub. On a low stale riverwhere double figure maggotweights were few and farbetween the grub men were outin force, cleaning up everywherewith some staggering weights.The middle Trent is currentlychoc-a-bloc with chub averaging12ozs a piece. These are the fishthat make for really big weightson grub.

During the next couple ofyears there will no doubt bemoves to ban grub, as hashappened in many areas on theSevern, which is a real shame,because few other baits offer theaverage angler the opportunityto catch 20 or 301bs of chub onthe float, and the prospects I feelare getting even better. A fewyears ago John Dudley ofStainforth put 821bs of chub onthe scales at Burton Joyce in aclub match and smashed thethen Trent record. It still standsas the best match weight I knowof on grub but I wouldn't betagainst it being beaten soon.

Three times last season Iwitnessed catches within awhisker of 501bs in matches, andTerry Payne, of Sheffield, andone of his mates both toppedthat mark in a club match at

laythorpe. So how's it done? Itcan't be without a supply ofgrub, so let's deal with that thismonth. It's perhaps best tounderstand that there are several'arieties of wasp. The main two

are vespas vulgaris and vespas^ermanicus. The vulgaris is theellow we are most interested in.

Old germanicus has a nasty habitof nesting in trees, rafters andwalls. Quite frankly if you findme of these I'd recommend youjive it a wide berth and go lookor Mr. Vulgaris.

It's worth looking at the lifecycle of the wasp at this stage.You will have noticed thatduring the winter wasps areconspicuous by their absence.The reason for this mainly ishat they are all dead! All, thats, except the queens, whichlibernate through the winter

months. In the spring theymerge, choose a nest site, buildnest about the size of a golf

lall and lay their first half dozenggs. These eggs pupate into

worker wasps and from then onthe queen never leaves the nest.The workers then graduallyexpand the nest and feed thenext brood of workers and so thecycle goes on. All the while thenest is growing until Septemberwhen the nest is fully mature.The queen lays a layer(sometimes more) of queengrubs for next year. When thesehatch and leave the nest thecycle is over, and all the

1/77

^^^n^mvn^Mm^^m^nifm}^^^^^^^^?!

SECRETS OF THESTING

How to find wasp gruboccupants die off with the firstfrost of the coming winter.

I've gone into this detail sothat you can appreciate thefutility of digging up nests inJune and July as some peopleinsist on doing. An early nestmay only be as big as agrapefruit, whereas the samenest in late September may beover a foot in diameter and fullof grubs. The logical way ofusing grub in the early season isto freeze in September for nextyear, but more of that later.

One of the major complaints Ihear about wasp grub is that it isnot available to everyone. Likemost moans it just isn't true.Wasp nests are everywhere, theyjust need finding. It is oftensuggested that to find nests thebest way is to sit in a field andwait for a wasp flying in astraight line to pass you, thenfollow it. What rubbish! It's likelooking for good swims bysitting in a field and waiting forsomeone to pass with a fishingrod.

Generally wasps nest in oldmouse holes or rabbit holes.They require water and alsotrees for feeding off and makingpaper. With this in mind if youwalk the hedgerows and ditchesits rarely long before you find anest. Woods are another goodlocation - walk the perimeter.The flight paths generally runeither along it or at right anglesto it. I found eight nests in thirtyminutes this year walkingaround one small wood.Returning later with a friend topoison them we found a furtherthree. Parks and garden centresare also good. Have a lookaround the litter bins. Wasps

by Bob Robertsfeed off the rubbish, then followthem. Another place that oftenscores is an orchard, particularlyone with the softer fruits, suchas plums. Straw bales often havegood nests too.

Once you've found a few nestsit gets easier, but if you're stillstruggling then go for theabsolute easiest way I know.Find an area that wasps arefeeding in or create one. Buy acooked fish from the fish shopand dice one of the flakes with arazor into cubes about 1/8"square, making some slightly

bigger, some smaller. Add atouch of nectar flavouring,taking care not to overdo it andscatter them in the feeding area.The wasps will attempt to flyback to the nest carrying thisbounty. However, because of theweight they will be flying ever soslowly and the white cube willbe visible against allbackgrounds. If you can't find anest like this then there's nohope for you.

Incidentally it's worth lettingyour local policeman know whatyou're up to. I had a veryembarrassing experience thisyear when someone reported me

"tar'•,***'!

* *

'Follow that wasp? - rubbish!'

for acting suspiciously near ahousing estate. It's very difficultto persuade the boys in blue thata) you are following waspsabout, and b) you are notcompletely off your trolley!

Assuming you've found a nestthe first most important thingyou do is check there is only oneentrance. Should there be twothen it will be necessary topoison both. Next it is essentialto check thoroughly that there isonly one nest. It is notuncommon to find nests in pairs,often within a yard of eachother. This brings me nicely onto poisons. There are certainlunatics around advocating theuse of Cymag, claiming it to bewonderful stuff. Let me statequite categorically, particularlyto young readers - do not useCymag for taking nests.

The manufacturers of Cymagstate clearly in their literaturethat it is not recommended forwasp control. Cymag should notbe used by anyone not carryingamyl nitrate capsules. Thesecapsules are not a miracle curefor anyone getting a whiff of thestuff. They just enable thevictim to get to hospital. Iemphasize victim. Cymagcertainly kills wasps, it can alsokill you. So what should youuse? Well there are numerouswasp killers available fromgarden centres andsupermarkets, some of which areworse than useless and only trialand error will tell. I've heardgood reports about 'WaspExterminator'. However I use aproduct called 'Actelic Dust'.This is available from seedmerchants and friendly farmers.Actelic Dust is used for dusting

How one wasp can trigger a mass attack!

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seed corn to protect if frominsect damage. It is quite safewhere humans and animals areconcerned, yet totally reliable onwasps. I would recommend youbeg, steal, borrow or even buysome if you intend to use waspgrub on anything like a regularbasis.

So, assuming you've found anest and acquired some poison,how do you go about taking it?It is important not to usepowders in wet conditions.Water seems to have a drasticreduction on their efficiency, sopresuming you've chosen a dryday put down some sort ofmarker that will enable you tofind the hole again. This mayseem logical but I've knownnests go missing before,particularly in woods. The nextstep is to introduce the poisoninto the mouth of the hole. Thisis best done by taping a desertspoon to a landing net pole.Always, if possible, stand to oneside of the hole whilst doing thisor you are likely to get stung.Ensure the powder goes into themouth of the hole. It's obviouswhen you've done it rightbecause little "flower graders"come out for some timeafterwards. Retreat slowly fromthe vicinity of the nest. If youpanic and run you are likely toprovoke an attack.

There are two schools ofthought about the best time topoison a nest. One suggests it isbest about an hour before duskso that the wasps go through thepoison whilst returning to thenest for the night, and can be

I Wasp grub cake - a typical haulfrom a good nest.

dug up the following morning.This works quite well but ifthere are still a few live waspsthey can be overlooked amongstthe corpses, with painful results.

The alternative is to putpoison down in the morning sothat the wasps can die away fromthe nest. Come back in theevening and they should all bedead. Should a nest be aparticularly busy one then leaveit until the next morning.

To dig up a wasp nest I wouldrecommend you take a suitablelarge bucket with a scalable lid, acan of fly spray, some Wasp-eze(just in case) and obviously aspade. I also wear a pair ofmotorcycle gauntlets, but thenagain I'm a coward. Always erron the side of caution and thechances of you being stung willbe minimal.

When returning to a poisonednest take your time, sit down fora few minutes and wait to see ifthere is still any activity. It'sunlikely that there will be, but ifthe odd wasp is still alive wait bythe hole and hit it with the flyspray as it comes out. I knowthis sounds ludicrous but flyspray knocks down wasps likenothing else. Sometimes nestsare only inches from theentrance hole, thoughoccasionally they are a yard ormore away. Obviously itdepends to a great extent on themouse and the groundconditions. I once went to dig anest up in a wood and despitedigging a hole a couple of yardsacross by two feet deep througha million tree roots I never didfind the nest. So get a stick andpoke it down the hole. Gentlydig away the soil exposing the

stick as you go so that if the holedoes twist and turn you stay intouch with it until the nest isexposed. Make sure your flyspray is close at hand at thisstage in case the odd "flier"pops out of the nest. When thenest is clear work your spadeunder it, steady it with yourgloved hand and lift smartly intothe bucket. After snapping thelid on, check the bottom of thehole because there is a tendencyfor grubs to 'sweat' out of thenest leaving a good handful ofhookbaits beneath it. And that'sthe easy bit over with!

A close friend of mine who issuch a devout coward that hemakes me look reckless bycomparison takes his buckethome and puts it in the freezerfor two hours to make absolutelysure he doesn't get stung. Itmight sound daft but I've beenstung more times sorting out thenests at home by crawlers thanever I have digging them up, sobe careful.

Everything I've described sofar is pretty standard amongstnest diggers. From here on westart to come across variables. Iwill try and explain all thealternative techniques as I go.None of these options are alwaysright or always wrong. I willindicate the ones I prefer butremember they all work. It's justup to you to experiment andchoose those which suit youpersonally.

Assuming that you've gothome with your nest it nowneeds sorting out. Try and makesure that there is plenty ofdaylight to do this in. It won'tmatter if it's left to the next dayexcept that a few wasps may

Some powders are worse than useless'

MATCH SCENE'Do NOT use Cymag -

it can kill you'hatch out overnight, so, whilstthey will still be at the 'crawler'stage, be careful. I know frompainful experience what it's liketo feel something crawling upthe inside of my trouser legthrough trying to sort out a nestin semi-darkness.

Lay a few sheets of newspaperout on the floor and carefullyseparate the nest into layers ofcake. We are mainly interestedin the bottom layers becausethese contain the queen grubs.Remove as many of the queensas possible and put these in abait tin with an inch of bran inthe bottom. The bran stops thegrubs from sticking together andhelps keep them in goodcondition. If there aren't enoughqueens for a full day's fishingthen make up with the ordinarygrubs from the other layers.Should you wish to use cake onthe hook then separate the bestlayer, preferably one with whitepaper covering the combs, andwrap this up in a sheet ofnewspaper.

The next step is the first pointof controversy. Some anglers

sort out all dead wasps from thenest and throw them away; Idon't. I throw the whole lot intoa bucket, including the outsideshell of the nest, the cakes, grubsand wasps. I like to think thatthe wasps add a bit of meat tothe mix. I know for certain thatthe chub eat them - I've oftencaught chub absolutely stuffedto the gills with them. I'm alsoquite happy that there is noharmful effects on the fish fromthe poison. A pal of mine doessort his wasps which he thenfeeds to his chickens, whichmake short work of them, and itcertainly does them no harm.

Pour boiling water over thenest till it is just covered andthen gently break the nest up.It's at this stage that you beginto realise why wasp grub candraw fish up two or three swims.The aroma is delightful. It'stime now to turn the nest intogroundbait, or "mix," as itsknown. Unfortunately to achievethe best textured mix it is best todrain off the water and stiffen upwith brown groundbait and alittle fine white to bind it. My

mate Billy frequently bends myear over this one. He thinks itssacrilege to do it. 'You'rethrowing away the gravy!' hesays. On one hand I have toagree with him but on the otherI do know which makes a moreversatile mix. From an economypoint of view the ratio of breadto nest is increased if you do notdrain. I suggest you experimentand if you come up with anydefinite conclusions let meknow. I will say this though,Billy catches more than his fairshare of fish doing it his way.

One slight variation on thegroundbait mix was shown to mea few years ago by a veteran ofthe game. If he was using cakeon the hook he used whitegroundbait only, because themix then was a lighter colour,much more like the hookbaitthan with brown.

That then is the preparationover. Pop it in the fridge and itwill keep a week with no bother.However, should you wish tokeep it longer its much better tofreeze it. "Mix" will keepindefinitely when frozen. Cake

will keep likewise but wrap eachindividual layer in newspaper.Grubs for the hook are not toodifficult either if they are sortedout and wrapped in newspaperin packs of, say, 100 or 200. Carehas to be taken with thesebecause of their delicacy. Whendefrosted they will mostly turnblack but don't worry as the fishare not fussy, in fact I like achange of colour available as itoften picks up bonus fish.

The next point to remember isperhaps an obvious one butprobably the most important ofall. You can't turn a poor peginto a chub swim just bythrowing in a wasp grub. Ifyou're not drawn in a chub areathen don't waste your bait. Imyself have thrown away morematches than I care to think ofby persevering with grub when Ishould have been using maggot.Grub is not a magic turn up andwin bait to be used anywhereand everywhere. Use it wisely. •

Next month: fishingwith the grub.

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14

HAVING enlightened youabout how to find waspgrubs last month, it is

now time to go fishing withthem. This month and next tendto be prime months for thisparticular method, and givenreasonable conditions it willscore right through until the endof the season.

I reckon it will take me thismonth and next to say all I canabout the methods, so I will dealwith some of the tactics first,and go into the types of floats Iuse next month. One reason Ilike the grub is that it lends itselfso well to float-fishing, thoughnot the 3 no. 4 stick down theedge. We are talking about 2 to 5swan balsas or bodied wagglers,fished down the middle.

The technique is very similarto the one which Severn anglersdeveloped for the grub, beforeits use was banned out ofexistence, and later bread flakefishing. My grub fishing is doneon the Trent, of course, and Ireally welcomed the chance to dosomething genuinely different tothe run-of-the-mill Trent workwith stick floats and feeders.

I think the best way to put itacross is to take you through animaginary day's fishing on theFiskerton length. It is mid-September, and we have drawn aswim somewhere between the40s and the 70s. The Trent hereis generally six to eight feet deepsix rod lengths out. It runs overgravel, and it is stuffed withsmall chub -ideal grub territory.

We will need a rod with athrough action to pick up line atthis distance, preferably 13ftlong, though there are now oneor two 14ft models on themarket which look dead right forthis game. The reel is loadedwith line of at least 2.5 Ib BS,though preferably it should be

CLUnvuiuu«"i I'juuvim rtiiw^iifrrni'UAVH'irrr/'ff

FISHING ANDGROUNDRAITING WITH

THE WASP GRUBaround 3libs. Anything less willnot stand up to the job.

We set the float, a 3 swanbalsa, at seven feet, bulking allthe shot 2'/2 feet from the hook,save for a BB dropper 12 inchesfrom the hook. My choice ofhook is a Drennan carbonfeeder, size 10 with the barbsqueezed flat. It's a fine, stronghook, which does little damageto the bait.

We lob three balls of bait asfar as they will go underhand.They should be as big asoranges, and should land onethird of the way down the swim.The aim is to assemble a shoal offish where you can catch them,so don't put the bait straight outin front. Remember, this isgroundbait, not loose feed.

Hooking grubs is tricky. Thehook goes in just below the headand is brought out right throughthe "nipple" at the end. Doneproperly it does not burst them.Five or six per cast are needed,

by Bob Roberts

and they are swung out gentlyand smoothly with an underarmcast straight out in front. Withthat amount ot weight the floatwill trim up almost immediately,

! after which we just mend theline behind it and let it sailthrough at the speed of thecurrent.

It is not at all unusual to catchchub on the first two or threecasts, but if the float runsthrough without a bite just easeback on the float at the end ofthe swim. This often provokes abite, but if not do not strike, orYOU will burst the grubs. Do not

The system for baiting up withgrub cake. A baiting needle drawsthe hook length through the cake,and it is then clipped to the leger rig.

reel in rapidly, or the hook willspin and, again, the bait willburst. With luck you will getmost of the grubs back for are-cast.

That's the starting technique,but what happens after thatdepends on the response. If,after 10 minutes or so, we havenot caught after the initial threeballs of bait the best plan is toadd one more ball and follow upevery 10 minutes until they doshow.

When the chub do turn up theaction will be thick and fast, andI cut down the groundbait to eggsize and put one in every cast.Small adjustments to the depthcan produce more bites, thoughnever go deep enough to dragbottom, or the grubs will burst.The early spell of action ishectic, and it is important tobully hooked fish rapidly awayfrom the shoal. You have thetackle to do it, remember - youaren't playing them on a 20 andgossamer line.., Sounds easy doesn't it? And

so it is until you've put 10 or 15pounds in the net and bites start

'Enjoy using it...but Han't becomea slave to it'

to dry up. As soon as the bitestail off, and you can guaranteethey will, put a straight bombover the top of your killing zoneto find out if they are still there.This usually brings an instantresponse, although bites on thetip can be a nightmare to hit.Don't bother trying a smallerhook with just one or two grubsbecause bites then become nighimpossible to hit. Stop feedingfor a while, go back to the floatand lump all your shot about 15inches from the hook and trv to

ease and hold back through yourswim. Failing this I suggest youfill it in with half a dozen ballsmixed solid and give it a rest fora while.

The problem of swims dryingup is a recurring one to whichthere is no simple solution. Ispent time last autumnexperimenting with addingcasters to the mix, and as thebites tailed off loose fed castersover the top, alternating betweencasters and grub on the hook.Sometimes the fish have justmoved up in the water and aswitch to the waggler producesfish on the drop. Failing this aswitch to cake on a straightbomb works on occasions.

I suspect that what mighthappen is that chub are drawnupstream on to grub, oftenseveral swims, but as the shoal iswhittled down the fish becomeinsecure and drop back to theiroriginal haunts beforeregrouping and returning late onin the match.

A final word ongroundbaiting, which isgradually becoming a forgottenbranch of ouf sport, particularlyon the Trent. Spend some timeexperimenting on mixes. It canbe made to sink like a stone orexplode on the surface. Don'tjust throw it in without thought.Ask yourself 'Why am I going tothrow this ball in?', 'why only

MATCH SCENEone?' and 'do I need it at all?'

Intelligent use of mix isessential because, unlike mostforms of groundbaiting, thebread is not just a carryingmedium for another bait such as'caster pies.' The mix itself isintended to be eaten and cansoon feed fish off. On the otherhand if you've just put 20 Ibs ofchub in the net in the first twohours and are still assess howmany fish are still out there, anddo they perhaps need the feedstepping up? What it boils downgetting bites, try and to is that ifyou don't keep thinking youwon't keep catching.

A warning about stings. Takecare when fishing with grubbecause the mix has a nastyhabit of attracting stray wasps.You won't be the first anglerwho has gone into thegroundbait bowl without lookingand been stung on the hand!

That, then, just about wrapsup the basics of fishing withgrub. In my notes for thesearticles there are still a few tipsand observations that I've failedto fit in, so with your indulgenceI'll tag them on the end here, in

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With your help, the ACA can hit polluters whereit hurts: in the pocket.

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I want to join thef ight against pollution - please enrol me in the ACA.

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Post this form to: The Anglers'Co-Operative Association,Midland Bank Chambers, Westgate, Grantham, Lines.NG31 6LE

no particular order of importance.Prior to last season I regularly

used size 14 hooks with just twoor three grub and missed a lot ofbites. Stepping up to a size 10has not reduced the number ofbites but it has certainly putmore fish in the net. When usinga bigger bait the fish tend tohang on to it better.

When the fish are reallyhaving a go on the grub, baitingup wastes a lot of time and usesup an awful lot of grubs. For acouple of seasons now I havemade artificials out ofyellow/green muppet lures bycutting the top 3/4 inch off thesmallest size. Push one of theseup the shank, and tip it off witha couple of real ones.

I'm often asked how I keepthe grubs on the hook and,indeed, if I do anything totoughen them up. The simpleanswer is to use enough weightso that the tackle can be swunggently the desired distance,making sure everything is donesmoothly with no jerks. I don'tdo anything to my grubs - I justuse them as they are. Boilingthem in milk is said to toughen

them up, but would you toughenup a gozzer?

Chub aren't the only fishattracted to grub. It is notuncommon to pick up the oddgood bream and the occasionalcarp on the Trent. However theydo make a superb hookbait forbream in stillwaters, and alsotake roach. I'm told they aredeadly for early season carp aswell.

Winter sees the wasp cakescoring regularly. Cake seems togive anglers more problems thananything else, especially tryingto keep it on the hook. The besthooks I have used for this are1/0 Blue Aberdeens with cutdown shanks and dubbed usingwhipping silk and superglue. Byusing a clip swivel on the mainline a baiting needle is used topull the hook length through thecake (see sketch). You shouldn'thave much trouble keeping it onnow, but remember the bait isbouyant and may need a shot tohold it near the bottom.

That's it then. Just remember,though, that grub does haveseasons when it fails for somereason. Enjoy using it but don'tbecome a slave to it. Grubfishing has ruined many a goodmaggot angler. It's difficult tomotivate yourself to catch a fewpounds of bits after regularlybashing out big nets of chub onthe grub! •

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Prices: Up to and including May 1978, 35p;to July 1979, 40p; to February 1980, 45p; toApril 1981, 50p (very few issues left in thisperiod); to January 1982, 60p; to May 1983,65p; to August 1984, 70p; to May 1985, 80p;to May 1987, 90p. All subsequent issues £1.

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12

Keeping a thorough, structured and informative diary was

critical to my angling development.

This Page is typical of how I laid it out. The right page

contained details of each session, be it a match or

practise. It was the who, what, where, when, how and why.

Honesty with myself was vital. Strengths and weaknesses.

The left page was for analysis and strategy, where ideas

formulated, venue info was stored, rigs evaluated, themes

developed.

Constant analysis revealed patterns. Coincidences were

highlighted. Long forgotten ideas reworked and future

solutions identified. Mantra time - adopt, adapt, improve...

WHEN floatfishing withwasp grub it isnecessary to adopt an

entirely different approach tothat when maggot or casterfishing. Wasp grub is a delicatebait and casting has to be agentle swing, preferablyunderhand. Unless you are veryfortunate and have some paceywater close in this rules out thestick float and the conventionalstraight Peacock waggler.

Few anglers carry the rightfloats for grub fishing becausethey are not generally availableover the counter, so if youintend to have a go then a bit ofwork has to be done.

Up until last season I haveused large balsas in all but theworst conditions but one of theproblems of using them is theinevitable splashy strike. To

CLU m

MY FLOATS FORTHE WASP

FISHINGGRUB

7 have yet to face a situation where they would not cope'

Tightwhipping

Tightwhipping

Widewhippingto addstrength.

Tightwhipping -

some extent this can be reducedby having the top rubber as nearthe top of the float as possiblebut the disturbance is alwaysgoing to be greater than that ofthe stick float, particularly whenfishing at range.

After trying out a few ideas Icame up with the perfect floatfor the job. The crowquill Avonso beloved by the Bristol Avonanglers is ideal. I doubt if any ofthe young readers have ever seenone outside of a textbook. Let'sface it, it's hardly the height offashion. I lost one on a snagduring a match last season andaway downstream it floated. Iwept a silent tear for it, neverexpecting to see it again, yet loand behold, at the weigh-in,someone from well downstreambrought it back. He guessed ithad to he mine. Only I woulduse anything remotely like that!I hadn't realised until then thatpeople considered me slightlyunconventional!

The float itself, despitecarrying around two swans, isvirtually weightless, making

FIGURE 1The crowquill and balsaAvon, which at this size takes2 swan and a BB dropper.Whipping is used instead ofglue to avoid upsetting thebalance. Three float rubbershave to be used or the stemwill break. The float will casta long way with an underarmswing, and is used where alight approach to grubfishing is possible.

by Bob Robertscasting a dream. On the strike itslices through the water. Thefloat is made by snuggly fitting abalsa body onto a large crowquilland then whipping the top andbottom. No glue is used in theconstruction. To do so wouldupset the balance. Only use onecoat of varnish on the balsa. Thiswill be sufficient to seal it. Inuse it is essential to havethreequarters of an inch of floatstuck out of the water, or shouldyou hold back and then let it runthe float will go under. This doesnot deter bites, which are usuallyquite savage anyway.

The Avon, then, is first choicein ideal conditions but shouldconditions deteriorate then thenext step up is to the big balsas.I carry a range from 2 to 5 swan,they are easily made by shapingbalsa dowels and then fitting acane peg in the bottom. Evenquite tricky winds can beovercome with balsas becausethe line can be mended withoutpulling the float off line.

However, should the windprove too troublesome then it'stime to switch to the waggler. Imuch prefer to use a top andbottom float where possiblebecause this gives me moreflexibility. However, shallowwater apart, should you be facedwith using a waggler Irecommend you go the wholehog and use a slider.

Because grub casts off thehook so easily a conventionalwaggler shotted normally isdifficult to use. It is so mucheasier to use a slider shotted upjust the same as the balsas. Twofloats, a 3 and a 5 swan, willcover all your needs.

The fourth float in our rangeis the balsa slider. Occasionallyyou are faced with swims deeperthan the length of your rod.Short of standing on your basketthe only answer is to use theslider. Pegs such as the ISO's atBurton Joyce spring to mind.Fortunately it's usually possibleto catch quite close in on thesesort of pegs. Once again a 3 or 5swan is all you need. These are

FIGURE 2The alternative shottingpatterns for thecrowquill Avon(see text).

SwanSwan)

Balsa

FIGURE 3The balsa float.Buoyancy of balsavaries, but a float ofthis shape, madefrom half inch balsadowel, wijl take 5swan at about120mm in length,four swan at 105mmand 3 swan at 85mm.

Canepeg

just the same as the other balsaswith eyes whipped onto thebottom and shoulder. The onlydrawback is that should youneed to slow the float downthere is a tendency for it to rideup in the water.

To date these are the floatsthat have served me well. I haveyet to be faced with a situationwhere they would not cope.However that does notnecessarily mean there is noroom for further development. Iwas shown a float recently thatlooked perfect for the days whenthe chub want the bait held backhard but are not really having ago. It's virtually a giant polefloat made from balsa with asarkandas insert about twoinches long.

It's one of the ideas I havebeen promising myself I will tryout this season. Another isprawns. You know - the onessold in pubs and clubs readycooked and peeled. I'm sure ifthey were soaked overnight in,say, Nectar solution and fishedover grub they would work.Their size is right and shouldstand up to casting by the

'Peeled prawnssoaked in Nectarcould work,when fished overgrub...'

clumsiest amongst us, but backto floats.

Shotting up the floats used forthis type of fishing is simplicityitself. Like pole fishing thepredominant pattern is bulk anddropper. Generally the bulk shotis 18 inches to 2 feet 6 inchesfrom the hook. The dropper canbe as close as 6 inches up to afoot away. Distance betweenhook and dropper must beshorter than dropper to bulk, ortangles will surely follow. Ifchub are coming up off thebottom then the bulk is shovedup to the 2 foot 6 inch mark andthe number 4 dropper used.Otherwise the BB dropper ismore positive. If bites becometentative bulk all shot 9 to 15inches from the hook and holdback hard.

Early on most fish are caughtrunning through'at the speed ofthe current. As bites begin to tailoff start holding back theneasing through, experimentingwith dropper size and distance,ultimately bulking the lot andholding back hard.

If I seem to have over-simplified the float methods forgrub let me quote JohnnyRobinson, the Bawtry Nationalsquad captain whose team hascome first and second in twoNationals, and provided theindividual winner on the Trent,in the last three years usinggrub. Johnny reckons he can tellyou all there is to know aboutgrub fishing in ten minutes flat.I've finished in second placebehind him more times than Icare to admit for it to be quitethat simple, but you no doubtwill take his meaning! •

Sarkandas"insert

-Pole eye

Balsa

FIGURE 5I The sliding balsa withsarkandas reed insert.

— Cane pegBottom eye

FIGURE 4The two main shottingpatterns for the big balsas.For bodied waggler floatstaking 3 and 5 swan the sameshotting patterns are used.

Bigger the bulk,bigger the dropper

For holding backand easing through

12in.-18in.

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13

WE ARE fastapproaching the time ofyear that most

matchmen hate. The onset ofwinter means fluctuatingtemperatures and river levels.The only seemingly constantfactor is that it rains heavily onThursdays! It's also the seasonof low weights, particularly atclub level, unless the river isbang on. So how do we approacha flooded river?

The biggest governing factoris colour. If the river is risingand coloured then the oneoutstanding winning method isthe lobworm. If it's up but clearthen the chances are that themaggot will score. I'm going toignore odd pegs which tend tobe exceptions to the rule andthrow up large weights to bleak,and stick to generalities.

Let's start with the lobworm.Many anglers have startedbending the rules by using twohooks when using lobs. Thisensures that whichever end afish takes it has a hook in itsmouth. Sooner or later a topangler on the open circuit isgoing to be caught at it and willcause a hell of a stink. It's daftreally because lobworm bites canbe very difficult to hit, and ondays when the whole field isfishing for odd bites it wouldgive everyone a chance of a bit ofsport. Heaven knows it's badenough fishing adverseconditions without limiting yourown chances of catching. I knowthis much - if I was pleasurefishing in a flood using lobwormI wouldn't dream of using asingle hook. Why not raise it atyour club's AGM, and test thereaction?

If you choose to play fair andrestrict yourself to one hook thenit is possible to encourage fish totake one end first. Push a size sixor eight through the head of theworm and out again furtherdown. Thread it up the line andpinch on a No. 4 shot to stop itsliding back down and coveringthe hook. Hook the worm againnear the tip of the tail and nipit's head off. For some reasonthe fish don't seem to like aragged end and seem to go forthe tail first. On occasions whenfish are plucking away at the baitwithout taking it then the doubleworm often provokes the sort ofbite that nearly pulls the rod in.Failing this, thread the worm asdescribed and use a six 14 hooknicked right in the tip of the tailand strike at anything thatmoves.

The lob is best fished on astraightforward link set up,preferably with a "rotten" linkto the bomb so that should itsnag up in the rocks, the fish willgenerally come free. I recall amatch on the Trent at

CLU MATCH SCENE-

HOW TO COPE WITHADVERSE CONDITIONSWinthorpe when I wasstruggling for bites using a halfounce bomb. I was getting smallplucks that I could not turn intofish. Frustrated, I went for awalk and had a natter withBarny Fisher who was also onthe worm. Barny was using threeswanshots on his link and whilstI sat with him a 21b chub all butpulled the rod off the rest.Suspecting that the swan shotlink was the significant factor Iwent back to my swim andreplaced the bomb with just twoswan shots. Incredibly theplucks turned into bites. Moreimportantly, I suspect, the wormwas rolling round to the slackestpart of the swim which islogically where the fish are goingto be.

Unfortunately, with thebanning of lead swan shot linksare somewhat expensive insnaggy swims, but an effectivesolution is to use Plasticinemoulded round a shot. It alsohas the advantage of being ableto be adjusted very finely forbalance, yet pulls straight off insnags.

Theres little more to be saidabout lobworms except that ifyou've never used them beforedon't get carried away and startstriking a what appear to benormal bites. The best advice Ican give is to sit on your handsuntil the tip pulls round andstays round. The bites you willget are amazing if you let themdevelop. Alternatively, if the fishare dropping the worm hold aloop of line in your hand and atthe first sign of a bite give thefish a couple of feet of slack lineto go at.

Another method I have usedsuccessfully on those terribledays when the river is comingover the top depends to someextent on the draw. If you haveanywhere in the margins an area

by Bob Roberts

of slack above a foot deep, evenif it's only a few feet square,then a few bits are always on thecards. I use the top two sectionsof my pole fitted with a flick tipand a tiny Ignesti float that takes

just 1 No. 6 and 1 No. 10. Onthe hook I use a pinkie or a tinyred worm, bloodworm ifallowed. I recall a match lastseason when virtually the wholefield dry netted whilst I sneakedout 28 tiny chub and two bigminnows, only be beaten at thedeath by a good chub on cheese.The lesson to be learned is that

SMOOTH SURFACE

1Normal bomb

Flattened bomb

Little contact

Large areaof contact

GRAVEL SURFACE3Flattened bomb

Small areas of contact

Better contact/grip

c^

This would be thelikely result ofstringing No. 6s.

.O^ The front shotswould lift off thebottom.

AABB BB

It also emphasisesthe advantage ofusins a larger shotat the top end of astring.

'Anglers have started bending the rules with lobworm, ami using two hooks

if there's a chance of catching onthe worm you can't win on thismethod. On the other hand it's alot more fun and in reallydiabolical conditions virtuallyalways frames.

On those occasions when youturn up and the river is high but

starting to clear the effectivenessof the lobworm declines. This iswhen the bomb down the edgescores. The single mostimportant factor in down-the-edge legering is having the toolto do the job. You need a softactioned rod with a very fine tipand no flat spots. There is noline to pick up and no heavyfeeder. Hopefully just a verylively chub on a short line and atiny hook. There has to beplenty to give or you will notstay in contact for long.

If you are on a tight budget Irecommend you look at thecurrent range of Silstar Wands.These start at under £15 andsome dealers are even offeringdiscounts on top of this.

Whilst I may describe thistechnique as 'bomb down theedge' or 'swan shot link' it's a bitof a misnomer. The aim is tohold better with as little weightas possible. Now without gettingtoo deep into the science of thething, what we are doing iscreating an anchor on thebottom with sufficient friction toovercome the resultant force ofthe water pressure on the line.Advocates of the flattened bombare heading in the rightdirection. If the bottom was flatlike a swimming pool then their

ATCK SCENE.in

decision would be correct. On agravel bed the actual points ofcontact between the weight andthe gravel are considerablyreduced. Therefore anequivalent weight of shot willhold better than a bomb. Takingthis a stage further, a string ofAAs or BBs will hold betterthan swans. It's obvious isn't it?Beware, though of the law ofdiminishing returns. Anequivalent weight of No. 6s isunlikely to outfish a weight ofBBs. The sketch describes it alot better than words do. Youwill also see why I space myshots slightly. This also avoidstangles when the hooklength canbe trapped between shots thatare tight together.

You will recall from my feederarticle my dislike of swivels andstops. The same goes for this.However, the need to adjust thetail length is never moreimportant than here. Often a sixfoot tail will catch when a threefoot won't. I attach the link

using a sliding stop knot. Thatway the tail length can be alteredeasily.

One of the main problems ofextra water is the amount ofrubbish coming down. If yourbait keeps getting fouled up tryputting a shot about nine inchesabove the hook. This catchesmost of the rubbish and alsosteadies the bait. It is also theonly positive advantage of leadalternatives over lead that I'vecome across so far. Size for sizethey are larger and thereforestop more rubbish.

If you are fortunate to drawone of the deeper steady swimsin these conditions the pole cancome into it's own. Floatlegering with a balsa bristle,using a mini feeder for weight.This has the advantage of beingable to hold out over the rockswithout snagging up, often aproblem with the bomb-down-the-edge approach. It also meansit is unlikely you will overfeed, acommon error in winter.

it is possible to encourage fish to take the right end of a big worm'

BACK ISSUES

Although some issues of the magazine aresold out many are still available onapplication to us at 281, Ecclesall Road,Sheffield. S11 8NX.

If your collection is not complete, why notwrite in or give us a ring on Sheffield 686132?

Prices: Up to and including May 1978, 35p;to July 1979, 40p; to February 1980, 45p; toApril 1981, 50p (very few issues left in thisperiod); to January 1982, 60p; to May 1983,65p; to August 1984, 70p; to May 1985, 80p;to May 1987, 90p. All subsequent issues £1.

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12

A FEW years ago when Imoved back into matchfishing I practised

regularly with a good mate ofmine, Jess King. I dread to thinkwhat members of the publicthought as they walked theirdogs past us on the riverbank.Our sessions never lacked adegree of lunacy, butnevertheless I guess the pair ofus learned more over a period oftwo seasons than we did in ourwhole lives prior to that.

By the afternoons, whenswims had dried up andenthusiasm began to wane, wealways played a game. I swear toyou, two full grown menstanding in a river having a jointfantasy! No, not Samantha Fox.Actually Joan Collins was invogue then. Jess would shout'There's fifteen minutes to goand Barnsley need one more fishto win the National. Can they doit?' For the next 15 minutes thepressure was on to see who couldget the glory for Barnsley. Thenwe'd win the Captain MorganCup as well!

Stupid? Not really when youthink about it. How often haveyou fished a match and thingshave gone well for the first halfand then sport has tailed off?The match starts to slip awayfrom you. Your confidence fallsand your concentration drops.By the end you are just goingthrough the motions, or evenworse you've packed up. Ourfifteen minute Nationals weregreat character builders,designed to keep us goingisainst the odds.

I recall watching KeithHobson at Burton Joyce on a:errible day. Four hours into thematch he hardly had a fish in thenet. Was he disheartened? Notlikely! 'They're there,' he keptsaying. 'They're going to come'.Sure enough he scraped a coupleof pounds of fish from nowherein the last hour to win thesection. His attitude andconfidence that day impressed~e. There can be littledifference between theindividual techniques andibilities of the top anglers in thecountry. What sets the creamapart is attitude. The belief iniheir ability is frightening.

I believe that the likes ofKevin Ashurst and Tom?:ckering are born anglers; theGeorge Bests of their particularfield. The rest of us have to worki bit harder. I don't think youcan pluck a man at random outof a crowd and teach him to be asuccessful top flight matchman.The natural ability has to bethere to start with. I do think,however, that any angler who isiren enough and determined.r.ough can become a reasonably- -ccessful club angler.

By virtue of the fact that you-'t reading this magazine you

Wjtching the experts is the bestto learn. >•

,»M.J(J

MATCH SCENE

GETTING BETTER- A FEW SHORT CUTSare showing the initiativerequired to search forinformation that will help you.Ten years ago the finest book onmatch fishing ever written waspublished. Kevin Ashurst's'World Class Match Fishing' isstill way out on its own, andcopies are still available if youlook around. You can't possiblyread it without learning. Thereare other classics around by BillyLane, Benny Ashurst, FredFoster, Ian Heaps, and IvanMarks, most of which werepublished in the seventies. Readthese, and apart from the poleand the feeder virtually nothinghas changed.

These were men of vision andoutstanding ability who wereprepared to tell all. It's sad thattoday's leading lights haven'tattempted to emulate the

by Bob Robertsmasters, but no matter. Get holdof these books and you canindeed drink at the fountain ofknowledge.

In a Sheffield Wednesdayprogramme Howard Wilkinson,the manager, once wrote: 'Thosewho fail to prepare shouldprepare to fail'. That goesequally well for anglers as well asfootballers. What is preparation?It isn't making sure all yourtackle is clean and in the rightplaces. It's about turning up onthe day with the proper bait andusing the right method for thePeg.

Cultivate your tackle dealer.Make friends with him, he won'tbite! But don't turn up on aFriday afternoon and expect himto give you the lowdown forSaturday, because he will be

rushed off his feet.Adopt the proper approach

and a good dealer will go out ofhis way to help you. Get downthere on a Monday or Tuesdaywhen things are quiet. Tell himwhere you have matches plannedfor the next few weeks and askhim to keep his ear to theground. Several hundred anglersa week might pass his counterand every one will have a tale totell. Given a chance he will findout which pegs are fishing andon what methods.

A good example is TomPickering, who runs a tackleshop in Doncaster. He will tellyou he can't afford to givediscounts at the very least untilhe gets established. All he cangive away is information, whichhe does so freely. You take yourpick but that is the best bargain

ATCHSCENEmm

at the end of the day, twopounds off a reel or a pearl ofwisdom?

Anglers who make the frameinconsistently are usually prettycompetent at one method only,feeder men, waggler men, stickfloat men etc., scoring only whentheir method is right on the day.To be in there on a regular basisyou have to be versatile. Youmust put in a lot of practice onthe techniques you are weakeston.

If you are one of the manyclub anglers who catch a few fisheach week, occasionally makingthe frame, but without muchconsistency there is no reasonwhy you should not improveyour results dramatically, just byusing your eyes.

Next time you are in a match,and at the halfway mark youknow you are not going to win,pack up. Go and sit behind theanglers who are catching andwatch them. Study carefullywhat they are doing. Analyse the

differences between theirtechniques and yours. If youcan't see a difference then youmust look harder. Is it the taillength, hooksize, amount of lead,distance, striking, or castingaccuracy? Are you feeding toolight or too heavy? Is he runningthe float through at the speed ofthe current, holding back,catching on the drop, off thebottom? What's his shottingpattern? Watch and learn.

I love to walk riverbanks. Ireckon I can spot a good anglerfrom 50 yards away. After awhile you develop a sixth sense.You can tell at a glance whethersomething is right or wrong.Before long you will be able tolook at your own tackle and seewhat's wrong.

The top anglers have no secretmethods or baits. They just havean abundance of class. Thesepast two seasons I've spent a fairbit of time dabbling with thepole, becoming moderatelycompetent, my enthusiasm more

than making up for any lack ofskill. When I saw that a heat ofthe British Pole Championshipwas to be held on the Keadbycanal, and some of the topanglers in the north were to fish,it was too good an opportunityto miss.

My intention was not to fishbut to watch. I arrived early sothat I could see who drewwhere. My target was DaveRoper, the then reigning WorldChampion. Tackling up for apole match takes about tenminutes, so with nearly an hourto spare before the off I hadample opportunity to talk tohim. I explained I was a novicepole angler, and had never fishedthe bloodworm. Dave wasmarvellous. He showed me thetackle he would use, how to mixthe groundbait, even stood therethrowing balls of bait onto thetowpath. What I learned in anhour would have taken me yearsto work out on my own. I'mindebted to you Dave - cheersmate.

Very few anglers go and watchmatches and it really is theirloss. Try and get an opportunityto watch some of the top menwhen they are catching fish.Watch how smooth anddeliberate every movement is,how he develops a catching

rhythm. Imagine if you are onthe next peg with both of youcatching a fish a throw. Do yourealise that at the end of thematch he would probably havecaught 25 per cent more fishthan you because of thatrhythm?

I well remember watchingDenis White and Dick Cleggdrawn side by side right up onthe shallows at WorsboroughReservoir one evening. One theday it was a bad draw withDenis struggling for a bite andDick, on the better of the twopegs, was picking up the oddskimmer. As Dick netted hisfourth skimmer Denis turnedand directed a few choice wordsthat students of dialect wouldhave admired, though MaryWhitehouse would have hadkittens.

Dick looked up and in thatrich gravel voice retorted: Thacan tell class from crap!'. A bitharsh perhaps but very true, getyourself out and watch the starsat work. It costs nothing buttime and a bit of petrol. You canthen judge for yourself whatclass is really about. You mightlearn more in an afternoonbyleaving your tackle at homethan in a season of making thesame mistakes week in, weekout. •

7 learned more in an hour with Dave Roper than in years on my own

.:.:- | j ..."

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The Haig Whisky Guide to Coarse Fishing inBritain is the perfect companion guide for allcoarse fishermen whether their favouredquarry be carp, roach, perch, dace or any ofthe thirteen major species authoritativelydealt with in this book.

Colin Dyson, editor of Coarse Anglermagazine and one of Britain's best knownangling journalists, has assembled a team ofleading fishing writers, who give the readerthe benefit of their expert knowledge of thehabits of each species, techniques for catchingthem, where they are to be found, what therecord catch is and how it was made.

John Wilson writes on roach, DavePlummer on chub, Mike Wilson on carp, VicBellars on perch, Dave Thomas on dace,Graham Marsden on bream, Tim Marks ontench, Brian Crawford on eel, Neville Ficklingon zander and Kevin Clifford on 'GreatCatches'.

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