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Theres a good reason for me using the shotgun, safety, to many houses and main roads arround the shoot, Obviously a .243 wood be ideal but not practical in my case. I also like getting the foxes up close with a call.By the way hammergun did you mean the choke slug or lead ball, full choke is more than adequate to 40 yards.

As regards the wire trace I tend to use one of no more than 10 inches, this may sound short,but you don't get the pike wrapping round the trace as you would when livebaiting etc. I use a tiny snap link minus the swivel at the hook end of the trace and just twist a loop at the leader end of the trace and attach the leader to the loop. As yet I have had no problems with being broken up. One good little tip at the end of the trace is to lightly cover the twsisted wire with wax, this prevents the fly attaching itself to the trace.

Can't say I've tried them

Currently doing a bit of lamping. What loads are people using? At the moment I am am using Rc 50 gram 3 inch magnum 4s through my auto with full choke.

9wt fly rod will be fine, just use flies that dont hold to much water such as bucktail and arctic fox.Your 9 wt fly rod will handle a big pike no worries.A mate of mine uses a 9wt all the time and this doesn't seem to harm the fish when it comes to releasing,the trick is using the correct leader strength, you will be suprised how much stick you can give the fish and how much the rod will take.

I do plenty of pike fishing using lures. My most consistent lures have got to be Rapala super shads, spring dawgs in many colours and Bomber long A's in fire tiger.As regards surface lures heddon lucky 13 and owt else that makes a big disturbance. For perch you cant beat small rapalas and like you say the ondex in silver. Try pike on fly gear they go nuts when there hooked and perch aint bad either.

Thanks much appreciated.

I'm affraid they moan about big bags up here,but as they say its grim up north! Is this where I attach a smilie thing or should it be 1 where I attach an upside down smily thing?

Here here. shooters who knock fellow shooters for big bags have got to be the jelous types unfortunetly.Theres plenty of that round my area,but if you were to offer the same people the oppurtunity to get a big bag then they would be in the hide as quick as flash I,ve prooved that by setting one or two people up in the past,but still they moan,just human nature at its worst I suppose.

Has anyone got a website address for winchester guns and cartridges? Cant seem to find one.

Over the past few years in my area (Lancashire) there has been a lot of talk, mainly negative regarding big bags (100 plus). What do pigeon shooters nationwide feel about large bags?

oh I apologies unreservedly.I always thought those smily things were something to do with Raves, Lsd and house music. Tel you what I'll start off a topic on a less sour note to proove I aint as sour as you think.

.223 is 16 years old and probably rather chuffed at having had such a good day and certainly doesn't need sarky comments. I think you will find he never mentioned killing a bird every 36 seconds. Just a happy kid reporting on a happy day.Think we will leave it at that shall we.

Thats grand then, no need for knocking other shooters bags regarless of how many people shot etc. Pigeon shooting is unpredictable and the big bags often come when your least expecting them,which is what makes it so enjoyable.

Take no notice of the jelous crew .223, You will always get a few pigeon shooters having a go when you have a good day. Had 96, two crows and a brace of pheasants last saturday,could easily had over a hundred had we not had a 40 minute walk for pheasants. Maybe those that make bitter comments are just insecure and realise that they are not capable of shooting such a bag or maybe they just cant carry enough cartridges to the hide to hit so many. The 96 we had was shot over a stubble 500 yards from an uncut wheat field,we just had the good fortune of wind in the right direction and and someone on the uncut wheat field making a complete hash of decoying, and guess what, the only comments that we got were from the **** on the uncut wheat field who shot only 30 when he had over 800 birds using the field.

Ranges at which we kill pigeon is down to what the shooter feels confident at as regards there own ability. There are many shooters out there that are more than capable of dropping extreme range birds when using the right combination,by extreme range I mean 50 yards plus. If you are using standard game guns and loads then 40 - 50 yards is all you should attempt,but if you are using guns with barrels 30-32 inch choked 3/4 - full with 36 gram loads with 5-6s you can expect that little bit more. Express and Winchester supply the cartridges capable, and thats what I am currently using,anything less and I wouldn't attempt the long birds mentioned.

Try Express 36 gram supergame in 5s and 6s, these will improve your consistency on long range shots. A good load to have when theres no wind or the birds are spooked and not decoying. I use this load with full choke and have killed pigeon beyond 60 yards with no problems.

Theres a lot of talk about cartridge choice,but what chokes are people using. I personally use chokes at the tight end of the scale. I was originally an open choke shooter but found i was just not getting enough clean kills down range. These days I favour nothing less than half choke if its windy and full choke if its a still day. I feel far more confident with plenty of choke and feel its only right to despatch the birds in this way. When it comes to preparing the birds for the table its not often that a bird is not fit to eat,after all pigeon are only a fist size target and at ranges of 40 yards plus its hard to make a mess of a bird,but they do come down stone dead.

Shot several pigeon on saturday that cotained clover,but also a few contained rape.There also hammering an uncut wheat field.