Gillaroo

Not cheap - give Tony a bell and see what he can do. However, to give you an example, I keep an old (15 years plus) Lee Wulff floater in the bag and it is cracked to hell and has turned brown in places but there isn't another line on the market that sinks as slow - I know as I have tried most and carry about 20 lines on a day afloat. I'll be sad when it eventually goes as it's just not replaceable. Cheers Gillaroo

Here you go... all needs catered for hopefully and yes I use and recommend Wulff floating and Predator lines. Cheers Gillaroo http://royalwulff.com/products/longbelly-line/ Stocked by Tony Fordham 01892 770344

Here's the response I got... "Thank you for your email to Seb Coe, who has asked me to respond. Seb was sorry to hear your concerns about the Shooting venue for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and he appreciates you taking the time to write to him personally. The Olympic Board made the decision after a thorough review not to proceed with Bisley as the Shooting venue on the grounds of cost, operational complexity and risks associated with the proposals that could compromise the reputation of the Games. Firstly, regarding cost, none of the ranges at Bisley are suitable for Olympic and Paralympic competition thus requiring new ranges to be built. The facilities at Bisley would require additional athlete and officials’ accommodation and the building of a satellite village. The costings provided for us by Bisley did not take into account accommodation, security and transport costs. Secondly, land ownership at Bisley is complex requiring separate legal agreements to be made with the many different gun clubs which are based on the site for exclusive usage at Games-time. Thirdly, there would also be time risks because the Bisley site lies within a greenbelt area adjacent to housing and is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The difficulty of securing planning consent to clear this SSSI greenbelt land and build ranges upon it made the Bisley proposal significantly high risk. LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games), which Seb Chairs, has always been clear that legacy embraces a concept that goes beyond bricks and mortar and by bringing Shooting into the heart of the Games we are confident that there will be a sporting legacy left from new audiences being introduced to the sport for the first time. Thank you, once again, for writing and I hope that you find this information helpful." I still think it should have been Bisley though! Cheers Gillaroo

Very well put and funny! Never thought of that one.

Hope this helps... Draycote report week ending 1/04/12 From an Indian summer to an arctic blast, this week has seen them both. The fishing has generally still been very good, however Sunday saw a dip in from as the weeks first and only sharp frost, followed by blue skies tested the skills of all visiting anglers. Mr J Blackband took the weeks best fish, a nice 6lb 12oz rainbow. Scottish visitors C Mclachlan, T Easton and B Aitken all took there bag limits on a 3 day package visit, drifting off Farnborough spit. The bank fishing has on average still been excellent, with regular anglers Mr Dews an A Broadway both landing in excess of a dozen fish. The best areas have been Toft Shallows, Biggin Bay, The Cornfields and Rainbow Corner. The boats are also finding fish in the same areas, although Lee Henfrey had the best bag on Sunday with 13 fish, drifting in front of the sailing club to the dam using a Di-7 and boobies. The buzzer hatches have been phenomenal and fish have been rising freely, but have proven tricky to catch. Lures fished on sinking lines have still been the best option, with the Di-3 being the best line choice. Total number of rods 204 Fish Taken 573 Fish returned 1193 Rod average 8.65 Bank anglers can take their cars around the reservoir, but is limited to 30 cars at any one time, call the lodge & book one of the 30 car passes We now have credit card payment facilities in the fishing lodge. Lodge & bank fishing open 7.30am Full Day Boats 8.30am 7.30pm Part Day Boats 8.30am 2.00pm / 2.00pm 7.30pm All anglers off site by 8.00pm Tight lines Craig Barr

Jonathan What makes you think that it is a "massive potential security problem" if teachers and classmates know that the kid enjoys going shooting at weekends and in doing so, probably has access to a shotgun/firearm? So what? Let the person decide for themselves if they want to sign the school form, let them stand up in class and tell everyone what a good safe sport we have, let them teach the rest of the class how to draw a bird or skin a rabbit and most of all let them be proud of our sport. Hopefully it would lead to a few more taking it up and if that means letters/forms to school for references then great. Why should we hide what we do when we should be waving the flag a bit more? Your cameras in every room in our houses comment is taking this way too far - a school reference (which is all this is) is hardly an invasion of privacy is it? As I said before, I'm on good terms with police down here and if they asked me to give them a bell when I'm lamping to save them a trip out then I'll do it no problem - they've enough on their plate round here believe me!! Same applies to the request for reference from my lad's school. The school were actually a bit shocked at first as they'd never had to do it but are always interested in hearing how his shooting is going and are more than happy to get the odd brace around Christmas. Gillaroo

So how many of you demanding BASC intervention have had your son/daughter apply for a ticket at an early age? If you are told it would be a good idea to get a school reference as it will be seen in a good light down at HQ then why on earth wouldn't you agree? I've been helped out plenty of times by the local firearms dept and I'm on good terms with them. Asking if it's ok to contact the school is hardly police brutality and at least in our case we could give his head a prior warning before getting a call from the firearms dept about one of his pupils. These people see our kids far more often than our GPs and probably more than the other 2 referees who we choose anyway. If you are a complete little **** at school in terms of behaviour then you shouldn't have a licence - end of. Seems when there is already enough pressure against young responsible people having access to guns that some people on here still want to poke a stick in the hornets' nest.

This is nothing new. My son's headmaster was contacted (and we were happy for this to happen) 5 years ago when he first applied for SGC at 9 years old. He also had the interview from police and got his licence no problem. Don't see what the fuss is about unless there's something to hide?

If nobody takes him then Dogs Trust will get him re-homed, well looked after... and never put down unlike some rescues! Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre, Merseyside Whiston Lane Huyton Liverpool L36 6HP Open: 12:00 - 16:00 Closed: Monday (for staff training) Tel: 0151 480 0660 Good luck.

Those BRFFA boys are more interested in drinking large amounts of Thatchers than fly fishing. Dangerous lot to be mixing with!

Thanks all. Main issue when I got him was aggression and general unruliness but he now plays quite happily with my 7 year old daughter who loves giving him a brush. I owned and bred dogs 2 generations back in his pedigree so knew he had the right make up and really didn't do much actual training other than me becoming his master and at the same time his best mate. There are countless dogs like him (Rescue centres such as Dogs Trust have some cracking looking "failed gundogs" at the moment - see pics) but it takes the right person and time to get the best out of them. If I had more kennel space I'd have them for sure if only to put them back on the right track. Gillaroo

Thanks Falcon I do occasionally use the whistle but most of the time we go about our work without anyone knowing we're there. He's a natural and just doesn't need telling what to do or where to go by someone who will never have his sense of smell.

We were on a shoot work party in East Sussex last year when one swooped and screached just over my lad's head while he has having a p*** in the woods. Needless to say it went straight down his trouser leg as he jumped with fright! Very funny for the rest of us.

As his name suggests, this springer cost me a "Tenner" and shows those in other posts thinking of taking on older/uncontrolable/rescue dogs that with time and hard work it can be done. He's 100% beating, picking up etc etc. We were told there's a duck hit hard somewhere in the bottom of the first game cover so went to have a quick sweep through. When they say you go through life with one really special dog then this one's mine. Cheers Gillaroo

Lovely pup - looks like mine. All the best with the training Gillaroo

I use one of these in the boat - just adapted space inside so everything fits. Gillaroo

Happy for you to speak to my lad anytime David if BASC need references to youngsters with licences. He got his at the age of 9 under instruction from our local firearms dept as he needed it to shoot on our syndicate as well as on any unregistered clay shoot and invitations to other shoots where the landowner/agent wasn't present. He shot FITASC for the county at the age of 12 last year and he is an absolute pleasure to watch in the line on driven days. 100% safe and totally aware of what makes a sporting bird, in fact he was sorting his cartridge belt last night with some 36g 4's and 5's as that's the sort of cartridge he needs to do the real high fliers justice. Can't wait to pick up behind him on our beaters' day this Saturday. Mike

Good work David. I bought this up on the forum over a year ago and at last his mission seems futile. We need to keep an eye on this MP though as he seems to have a fair bit of naive support. Thanks again Mike

That's enough for me. Why should show I compassion for someone who does that. The fight he was in he knew the risks and took his chance. Sadly the dogs didn't have the luxury of that choice. Michael Watson has my sympathy and a nursing friend looked after him so know exactly what he went through.

Think his sister admitted he did it so ******* tough **** on him. No pity here regardless of different culture.

Felt sad for Benn and McClellan's family but not one tiny ounce of pity for McClellan himself if the taping up of the labs mouth is true? Dog fighting SCUM! What goes around eh? Mike

Neither - haven't you heard of REAL tennis?

I think we've moved so far off topic from the original question it's a bit like a tennis match now with the ball flying from one side of the Atlantic to the other. Tests and trials are different both sides of the pond... as are requirements of our various dog breeds... as are needs of handlers in real situations... as are the types of shooting we do... as are the environments where we work them etc etc etc. Probably wise to call an end to the game because my necks starting to ache on this one. DEUCE?

I do see and appreciate that a fair bit of work has gone into training a dog to make retrieves like that Cracker but I also see other points of view. A dog like yours obviously is good at competing in US trials but to be honest would be mediocre when it come to sweeping up on big driven days as I sometimes do. This applies to many trials dogs who I tend to regard as pretty robotic and needy of instructions. I need a dog that works things out for himself as very few of the runners we pick up are marked by either us or the guns. Much of the time we don't know how far back it has gone and even whether it has been hit at all but 2 of these retrieved pays for us being there. On Saturday I would estimate we picked up 30 to 40 over the course of the day. My reputation does not, nor ever will come from trials but from dogs that at best you would call feisty and occasionally a bit wild. To give an example, we were looking for a cock bird on Saturday in a deep wooded gulley with a stream at the bottom when he scented a bird and shot off over the stream, out of the wood, over a barbed wire fence and out of sight across a field. Was gone for about 2 minutes and not once did I give a command. Came back with a winged hen bird while I just sat there, 100% confident in his ability. A few seconds later he picked the cock bird which was tucked up close-by. Only experience together with natural ability and my confidence in that can produce retrieves like that. Please don't take this as a dig at trials but its's just a case of horses for courses. To the OP, don't get too concerned about marking and trust in your dog and his natural ability to hunt and retrieve. Cheers all. Gillaroo

Multiple marking a quarter of a mile away. :o :o :o I'd love to see a video of that Cracker if you've got one? I'll believe it when I see it.