From: <FSTEPHENANZIO@aol.com>

> ken, on my local water cat meat is doing the business can you give me any
> info on the best rigs to use e.g floats, hooks, as i have never used it
> before may thanks
>                                   MR S. FAULKNER

 Subject: using cat meat

I have not used Cat meat before but some anglers make a paste and use it on
the pole where it stays on the hook better than the feeder as it tends to
come off the hook on casting unless you grt the chunky meaty stuff and cut
it in to squares as luncheon meat. But the best way to find out is ask or go
and watch those who are catching ,It saves loads of time trying different
things.
Ken

----- Original Message -----

From: Boggiano, Peter [265922]

To: 'kenbarber@madasafish.com'

Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 1:22 PM

Subject: river Trent worries

ive got 2 matches this year to be fished as part of a series on the river Trent, I have fished the Trent before but ive never fished the stretches we have got the matches on which are east stoke and south muskham in July and august respectively. have you ever fished these stretches before and if so could you please, please help me out im currently in joint first position in the mini league and I think these matches will be the decisive ones. I would be really great full if you could. if not tight lines

 Pete

Answer  

Good Luck for the oncoming matches at east Stoke and South Muskham. east Stoke at this time of year has lots of bits to catch on the float and Maggot but depending on which pegs you are on as there are some big fish pegs i.e. Chub and Barbell which peg numbers I have forgot but they were on an obvious bend with the flow going away from you any where near those pegs it must be feeder Hemp and caster,

South Muskham is now a Bream dominated area so I would definitely fish ground bait and caster feeder here , It used to hold some cracking roach to be caught on waggler, but I would definitely start on the feeder on both venues but while waiting for bites feed a float line and keep giving it a go and weigh the situation up on target weights and gamble> 

From: "Andrew Raftery" <andrewraftery@hotmail.com>

To: <kenbarber@madasafish.com>

Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 6:07 PM

Subject: Joining a club

Hi my names Andrew Raftery. I suppose I have a wierd question to ask you,
> which is how do you get better at fishing (i.e. improve). I've been fishing
> at least once a week now for about 3 years and in this time I have improved
> no end, until about 1 year ago when I kind of stopped improving of you know
> what I mean!
>
> I often go with my friend and his dad who is a match fisherman and he is
> superb. He kind of knows what baits and methods work any situation (i.e
> stillwater, canal , river) and he was showing me his pole rig collection the
> other day and he must have had about 200 rigs which all had advanced
> shotting patterns on them and olivettes and the lot, but the thing is I
> don't understand where he knows it all from, he just says it's experience.
> Do you think that joining a club and doing match fishing is the best way to
> improve. If so could you give me some information on clubs in my area. I
> live in Sheffield!
> Thanks

Answer 

Dear Andy

Sorry for the delay in replying as I have been away for 2 weeks on holiday , as for the question To improve at fishing you must fish alongside the best anglers available to you at every opportunity ..It is no good going fishing 3-4 times each week by yourself as it takes an age , be prepaired to ask and look . One of my best freinds played football each weekend untill he was into his 30 s untill  he started taking fishing serious , He was never too embarrassed to ask anything to anybody and within no time he fished for Smithies ,Barnsley blacks, Daiwa Goldthorpe and represented Yorkshire, That was Russ Fowler, As for joining a club in Sheffield that must be the easiest part and try to get someone to take you to Dennis Whites coaching lessons at Fleets Dam then you will have picked the brains of the countries best angler , Phone the tackle box at Barnsley for information on that and even  the Barnsley junior section

  Hi   Just visited your site and would like to congratulate you .

   the site is very good, i too am from Barnsley so a lot of the content is familiar to me.

 well as i say congratulations once again the best site i have visited.

Dear Ken , I am an experienced angler i often fish matches and i consider
myself to be to be very knowledgeable, occasionaly particulally in ireland i
tend to have sessions where several deep hooked skimmers and slabs are the
occurence. I tried the obvious things like shortening the hooklength and
hitting bites and the first sign. Is it safer to leave the hook in a fish
thats deep hooked and snip the line at the mouth or attempt to retrieve it.
 
Thanks Anthony Waters
Answer  Its a tricky one this but when I was a young en I often got fish deep hooked
mostly perch and Eels but as my skills progressed I very rarely caught fish
deep hooked but I noticed you said sessions so It sounds like a mostly a
Bream problem but I did a lot of bream fishing on my local water Wosboro res
at Barnsley and Ryhill Res and had Large wheights .The problem is when Bream
are feeding they dont hit the bait like Roach Chub ect so If they pick your
bait up they will probably not move for a while so apart from shortening
your tail , keep lifting your rod up and slowly drag back a few inches
regular especially if you are bagging and there is usually a fish on or many
a time they grab the bait ,Also use Barbless hooks and fine line as Bream
dont fight and I have had loads of big Bream on 1.7 line  and Barbless
unhook so easy , even then if you cannot disgorge the hook snip it off andthe fine line wont trouble the fish as much as a heavier line

hi

   i will make this sort, i have trouble in getting castors so i want to do my own whats the best way on doing this. cheers paul

Answer

In your short message I cannot understand why you cannot get hold of castors but the answer to making your own is ... Go to a maggot farm and buy twice as many maggots as you need castors 1 week before for the day you want them.

Leave them in a cool place for 3 days then on Wednesday bring them in to the natural warmth  You then need a riddle to fit inside a maggot tray and riddle the first lot off where you will find a lot of skins , Just chuck those  away unless you pick the castors out .  As they turn they turn  all together within a day or two and the first lot are the largest while they are white fridge them in a plastic bag and keep fridging them as you riddle them off . When you have the amount you need put them all in the same bait tray and the night before you fish put them in a tray and cover them with a wet towel the towel must be wet as the castors will float if they are not kept wet infact sprinkle some water on them but not 2 much or  they will die . The next morning they will be all the same color. If the weather is hot dont bother putting the castors out over night just put them in a bait tray on the bank and sprinkle water over the and keep turning them during the session.

HI KEN , Anthony Waters here again to test you, thanks for your advice on deep hooking. Im fishing opens regularly now Im doing ok Im holding my own but on some carp venues which are hammered the carp are very weary, they mess about with any bait last you put on the hook, but some anglers seem to have perfected it  their methods seem to work better. I see loads of frustrated anglers missing bites constantly and  theres always a couple baggin, are they fishing hard on the bottom do you think so the carp don`t feel the line on their top lip and theres no resistance, Im convinced its a method problem and not the bait i even had this problem with chop worm and caster Tuesday i came second !!!

                               THANKS Anthony Waters

Answer    

Hello Anthony  I am glad to see your Open match career is doing fine , After thinking about your question I am sure you should be using an hair rig , Do you know how to use one ? If not find out quick as the Carp just picks a natural bait e,g boily , pellet ect with no feeling of an hook or line as you have a fine line tied to your hook around an inch with a boily or pellet just threaded on a small plastic needle which all tackle shops sell these days The Carp then sucks your hook into its mouth when sucking in the boily or pellet.

I am sure this will get good solid bites,  All the top anglers around here fish hair rigs either  up in the water or hard on the bottom.

Ken

Thanks once again ken, i did consider hair rigging even though i have never fished it before, I know how to use one and lets see thinking logically it will work because if a carp messes around with the bait in its mouth, with a hair rig the hook should be on a one way journey.Also briefly could you explain how to connect a rig to a crows foot properly please. thanks Anthony Waters,

 Answer        Well I will try and explain the best way ..is to tie a large loop about 1 and a bit inch then tie a smaller loop in the loop ,this is to pull to release when swopping rigs ect, Then grab the line and thread it through the large loop and over the crows foot then pull tight and away you go ,Then pull on the little loop to release ,Look at the attachment and then let me know what you think Ken   Clik to see diagram

Thanks Ken, I think i fully understand that, now will that put more pressure on my elastic than a connector?. Do i have to change elastic more regularly ? why are people so apprehensive to tell me these things (except you)     thanks Anthony

Answer   

That one is a personal choice but you could always do a test and let me know .personally I like the stomflow for quickness

But if  your stomflow ever breaks on you . you can always tie a crows foot and carry on fishing without worrying As for people being apprehensive about telling you things ,Well that's how it goes some do some don't My Old mate Garry Jubb would not tell you much but he used to spend hours finding methods out so Why tell others who are competing against him. Ask Dennis White and he would tell you anything

I don't know how to fish  my local Stillwater it has a good head of roach and perch but has lots of tench and carp. could you tell me how to fish it( remembering that ground bait is band 

Answer 

If you are fishing the lake during the winter I would loose feed 6 maggots on the pole or waggler as light as possible . 24 hooks to 12 oz hook lengths , Let me tell you that flicking 6 maggots in little and often is the best still water winter method there is .The hardest part is believing it .

Even when you get bites keep to the six maggots every chuck. On my local lake we used the method and won 6 out of 6 winter league matches as a 4 man team.

If the wind is bad fish a small feeder and cut the holes bigger so the maggots are nearly falling out .

In the summer fish caster ,pellets ,hemp ( if allowed ) and bread,

On one lake the kids have been fishing they have had loads of Tench on Bread just fishing the pole and liquidised bread ,just nipping a bit and dropping it around the float also firing castors in and fishing bread on the hook ,,

A brilliant way to catch perch and Tench is chopped worm , (read the how do you section ) Also fish up in mid water on a summers day firing maggots in each chuck . I have fished on the bottom early in the day and caught but as the day got warmer I came up in mid water and emptied places just try it its unbelievable

Hope these tips will help but what ever the conditions the little and often method will be the best 99% the hardest part is remembering to keep feed going in all the time but very little

cheers and good Luck Ken

Enjoyed your website I have just found. Tip section was excellent
particularly the tippex one which I have never tried against the shadow of a
bush, even though I have been match fishing since the 70s. cheers Ian

Answer   

  Cheers Ian its nice to know someone benefits from the site have not fished
for 6 years now having lost interest when the Trent died and the cormorants
took over as well as lads growing up , Brilliant days and miss em loads
might get back into it someday
tight lines Ken

Question > Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 10:01 PM
Subject: fishing with wasp grub

  Hi Ken
>
> I am new to this sort of method and would like to know if there is a
certain
> way of fishing it, or preparing it a certain way. I have been told a lot
of
> anglers give up with this bait before they've even given it a chance due
> mainly to not knowing how to prepare or hook it.
>
> I have read the article but you mention get in touch with Johnny Howard.
>
> Any help would be appreciated if I could frame more on the
> swale against the lads who use the stuff.
>
> Kind regards
> Mick Wosika

Answer This bait on the Trent at its best was the bees knees ha ha
Right then If you have read the article on how to find it get as much
collected as your freezer can hold .Once collected put the layers in
newspaper and freeze it .
On match day take the cake out of the freezer and pick the best pieces out
for hook bait eg the ones with the most white grub in  then put the rest in a
bowl and pour boiling water over it . then dry it up with as little dry
ground bait as you can for the Feeder. Then to fish the stuff either put the
grub on in 3 to 4s  on a big hook with a castor on the end to hold em on or
a white maggot 12s 10s 8s Chub have massive gobs . Or put the hook through
the side of the cake as big as a 10 pence piece and bury as much of the hook
as possible which holds white grubs ,
Push as much cake in the open ended feeder with grubs in as possible and hit
the same spot each time .
If float fishing you need a big balsa float, bulk shot and put a ball of
feed in every 2-3 runs down .little n often method again.
Thats the way Johnny won the Trent National
If the Lads are just catching 3 or 4 big chub to win Just fish the cake and
wait but wind in a few times to make sure the bait is still on, when you are
confident it is leave it up to 30 mins a time . If you can collect it before
a match its even better as you can hook a fresh grub on a 16 hook and just thread
a big un up the shank guaranteed fish
Ken

Dear Ken,
Please could you help me with (I hope!) a simple query - I am trying to find
out on average how often match anglers go fishing per year.  I know it will
vary a lot but if you could give me an idea of roughly how many times, or a
range, I would be most grateful.
kind Regards,Claire

Answer

Tthis is easy  .If you are serious then 3 times a week Sat, Sunday and Wednesday 

Normally though its Just Sat and Sunday and if henpecked then its just the once

Ken

Question

From: keith mills

To: kenbarber@madasafish.com

Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2003 12:05 AM

Subject: hook lengths

I am a beginner to fishing and i would like to Know why do anglers use hooklengths

Answer

Keith

Anglers use hook lengths in less breaking strain than their reel line for a few reasons all very important

1 is so if you catch a snag and pull hard your hook lenght breaks and you dont lose your float or swimfeeder ect

2 is if you break on a fish you simply tie another the exact same length as before.

3 if you keep breaking on fish just snip the 1 off and put a stronger line or bigger hook on

4 If you are not getting bites say on a 20 hook tied to 2ib breaking strain snip off and put a 22 to 1ib and so on

Good matchmen have loads of pre tied hook lengths all in different breaking strains and tied to differant size hooks so whatever you do do not tie direct to the reel line

Ken

Question

I am just emailing you to see if you could please ask a member of the daiwa goldthorpe team if they could tell me how to approach fishing bloodworm and joker on a commercial which is about 6 to 8 foot deep and is heavily stocked with many species. what size hooks floats etc should i use and should i use leam.grounbait or a mix also how much b+j should i take?is there any specific ways that i could target the better fish ie bream carp tench  etc ? would it help feeding casters? thanks in advance

Answer

Kyle

     I used blood and Joker loads of times and seen it at its best on canals and the ultimate 8 footer Holme Peirpoint in the world team championships in Nottingham.

When large fish are the target mix 1 pint of neat  joker in leem and a fine crumb and put 5-6 orange size balls in at around 12 mtrs  and then just loose feed castors over the top also putting chopped worm over and fishing double castor on an 18 hook .

If the fish are plenty full and a large weight is needed to win don't bother using blood or joker on the hook or you will be bothered by small fish ,

I was catching 1 a chuck at Pierpoint and changed to double castor and waited that bit longer and caught good bream to finish 3rd in the section on the first day.

The float used should be up to a gram depending on wind conditions with bulk down and a couple of light droppers .

Hope that helps if you need any more info please email

Ken

I read your article on raising gozzer maggots. I was wondering how big do they get &are they good for fresh water perch, also how do I keep the maggots for a few months ,so I can use them for ice fishing.


                                                        Thank you ---John

Answer

Well I have had to smile at this 1 because for a few reasons you don't need gozzers which are a fresh soft white maggot loved by Bream ,

You need warm weather to breed them as any maggot and need fly's and we dont get many flys in cold weather which I understand will be around if your ice fishing .

Unless you mean breeding them in the warm months and keeping them until winter

Well Perch will eat any maggot or even better Worms so if you breed maggots they need to be froze because it would be impossible to keep them alive for over a few weeks even at the lowest temperature which they could survive and the older they get the smaller and tougher they get.

I would try breeding big maggots in summer and as soon as they start to come off the meat riddle them and wash them then freeze them while they are at there largest size and the defrost them for fishing ,Perch will still eat them as even in the coldest conditions here the maggots hardly move and look as though they are dead

Ken

Mick Parkinson

I was just looking at your website, not bad, enjoyable reading. Noticed my dad on there with some of the other stars in the hard to beat section. Anyway, hope your well.

Mick Parkinson

Answer

  Mick if you go fishing and make an angler half as good as Neil did you'll have a terrific career

I have seen him bag at Roundhay Park and empty the Trent at Dunham

He was superb at any method and I have lost touch with loads since the Carp days as I don't go now 

Hope he is keeping well Ken

Question ---- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Williams"

eye up  how do i determine what number elastic is in the pole
ive just got .the elastic is white, the ptfe bush is blue ,and the stonfo is
green??? sorry if ive sent this twice but outlook express just don't work for
me
     many thanks

  Roger

Answer

Roger Elastic colors differ in manufacturers
the Daiwa Hydroelectric is
 3-6 Blue
6-10 White
12-16 Blue
20 White and Middy s Viz  colors are
6-8 Blue 8-10 White 12-16 Black 20+ Red
The usual medium in match fishing for average roach and skimmers ect is green
so whatever you are fishing for the elastic rules or you will bump small
fish with thick elastic and lose big fish in reeds on thin lastic when you
need strong to stop em so really you need to know what you will be fishing
for and get some different spare top sections  ready made to suite what your
catching
Hope this helps Ken

Question

Could you please give me advice/tips on baits, methods etc on fishing Worsborough in April.

    Thanks,

       Bryn.

Ansewr 

Hi Bryn

 I haven't fished Wosbro for a few years now but I always keep in touch on how the best and fairest old days ( non carp )  water is fishing

If you think on and you are not local email me nearer the time and Ill get to know how its fishing , Until a few years ago Wosbro used to shut for the close season which personally I thought was good for any water but money talks these days and people look for any excuse to keep thing s going

But Wosbro as always been dominated with the weather during any month of the year ,Cold ,Colored ,Wind, Flat Calm ,Red Hot , There was methods to win

eg Cold you had to fish very light  ( as explained in my how do you column )

Wind,  that would usually get the Bream on the feed ,

Colored , same again Bream the main species and not a big chuck with the feeder

Flat calm , Light feeding and usually longer range

Red hot with flat calm  conditions was pole and sloppy ground bait fishing a yard deep and light .

The key method at wosbro was fishing light 12 oz bottom to 1lb if bagging 24 hooks with Maggot and getting the feed right for the day

The days have changed now with Cormorants eating there way thro the fish stocks but chopped worm on the pole or feeder is winning most matches but just feed steady until you see how the fish are feeding and don't try and catch the winning weight in the first hour as the winner will build the swim up and win it in the last hour ( ILL BET YER )

From Rob Walker

hi ken the prob i have is when fishing the local canal (mexborough) and i want to ball my ground bait in it always breaks up on hitting the water instead of staying together can you recommend a mix/consistency that will keep together but still break up on the bottom cheers also what are your views on topping up i seem to get a real load of action after feeding but then the sport drops off i tend to average around 2lbs of fish per hour pleasure fishing thanks

r walker

answer

Hi Rob

           The ground bait problem

To over come the balls breaking up is to add sieved white bread crumb { the amount is trial and error ) until you get it as you want it

Neat white ground bait can be mixed like putty and will stay as a lump forever

While you are fishing drop small balls in the edge and watch how long it takes to do what you want it to Or do it at home in a bowl .Also the amount of feed mixed in the balls controls the timing .

As for topping up the best method for any style of feeding is the little and often approach as you don't feed the fish up and you keep them competing for the offerings thus no time to inspect if there is a hook in 1of them

If you are squat fishing try balling 2-3 jaffas at the start and then try loose feeding over the top this method worked brill on the stainy.

As colder weather comes ease of the ground bait and just loose feed 6 -7 bronze maggots fishing very light bottoms and small hooks

2 lbs of fish per hour over 5 hrs = 10lb that sounds like your not doing a lot wrong anyway

Ken

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: rob

----- Original Message -----

Hi Rob

           The groundbait problem

To over come the balls breaking up is to add sieved white bread crumb { the amount is trial and error ) untill you get it as you want it

Neat white groundbait can be mixed like putty and will stay as a lump forever

While you are fishing drop small balls in the edge and watch how long it takes to do what you want it to Or do it at home in a bowl .Also the amount of feed mixed in the balls controlls the timing .

As for topping up the best method for any style of feeding is the little and often approach as you dont feed the fish up and you keep them competing for the offerings thus no time to inspect if there is a hook in 1of them

If you are sqatt fishing try balling 2-3 jaffas at the start and then try loose feeding over the top this method worked brill on the stainy.

As colder weather comes ease of the groundbait and just loose feed 6 -7 bronze maggots fishing very light bottoms and small hooks

2 lbs of fish per hour over 5 hrs = 10lb that sounds like your not doing a lot wrong anyway

Ken

 

----- Original Message -----

From: rob

From: rob

hi ken when fishing for skimmers/bream at ravenfield it happens that after i put my gr/bait in after a while the fish start to come and i have a hectic hour then nothing how do you or how do you suggest the way to keep the fish there for longer periods i once had 27 lbs in 90 mins then nowt

HELP cheers rob

Answer

Hi Rob

27lbs in 90 mins is good going for a Stillwater .

Having never fished Ravensfield I don't know what head of Skimmers/ Bream it holds and how many on a good day would you expect to catch,

The best still water for skimmers and decent bream around here for consistency must be Worsborough Res .

If at its best pleasure fishing you could knock 40 lbs out in 5 hrs usually on the pole but also on the feeder.

To keep fish coming steady all day just put a carpet of brown crumb maybe 4-5 tennis ball size ,either with a catapult or thrown in underhand or even leave your hook length off and empty 5-7 feeders in accurately and wait while it hits the bottom before a sharp tug will empty it , also don't pack the feeder too tight just a nip will hold it  with little feed added in the initial feeding,

Then fish the feeder packing it with squats ,castors ,and the odd red maggot ,fishing red maggot on the hook ,

This way you are not filling the fish up too early and catching the ones which find the freebies around the feeder this gets the maximum amount of fish from the shoal without like I say filling the fish up too early

Hope this helps Ken

 

HI there's a water about  12 to 15 feet near to me ,i want to fish the slider but can not find any

decent info on shotting patterns especially.

Can you give me a decent plan off attack as im a relatively new comer to

fishing. i have bred gozzers twice but don't think ive had the best use

out off them.

Sorry its bream and skimmers im after

thanks for any help Tony Houseingfive@aol.com

answer

Hi

Sorry for not replying straight away loads of spam on my inbox and I have just seen the message

The Best slider shotting pattern is a simple one

Bulk your shot with the heavy swan shot at the bottom working backwards with the smaller shot around 5 ft from the hook length, the least amount the better

then just have a couple of droppers no 8s on the bottom 3 ft with around 12inch on the bottom

A must is to have your float loaded so it sits on top of the bulk shot and doesnt leave the bulk when casting leaving you in tangles

Do not fish too light ..for 12-15 ft a 3 swanny float is ideal .

When you cast in make sure your float is resting on the bulk shot and a lobbing action is ideal

Any more help let me know

Ken

 

Many thanks for the mails ken just one thing ,with the slider rigs
after you've bulked how do you know what size dropper to put on
eights tens sixes fours its a bit confusing i saw on the net recently
heapsys slider with a bb only as a dropper and he also said when fishing 
for roach
that you could get away with as little as 5 number fours  with a  dropper

answer

The art of slider fishing is to be as simple and tangle free as possible
I have caught 1/2 oz roach to 1lb Roach in 14ft of water on the Yorkshire
Ouse with a 3 Swanny Slder with just 2 number 8s in the bottom 3ft ,
remember the bulk is taking it down to within 6 ft off the bottom so it only
has to drop the bait a few feet , believe me if the fish are there to be
caught on slider any size fish will pull the float under
Cheers ken

Thanks for that, slider info will give it a try .

I ve been fishing this commercial its stuffed a couple of weeks ago it

was in the A times some body took 92 pound of crucians

on red mag ,i ve heard there is loads of bream into .

how do i fish for them without the carp moving in

its 3 feet to 16 feet.

answer

Hi

This is a tester as how do you tell a carp not eat a bait ?

the only thing I could suggest is to feeder fish with Castors and Squats and single or double Red maggot on the hook

Keep the cat food out of the feed and boilies ect

Hope this helps Ken

 housingfive@aol.com

 

From: Paul

To: kenbarber@madasafish.com

Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 12:05 PM

Subject: feeding

 

hi ken how do feed casters on a shallow clear canal in winter when watching matches nobody feeds any hardy also how maggots or casters do feed per cast in summer  good web site Pete Manchester

answer

Paul

If it is the Manchester canal you r on about ,unless you know where to fish it is a very hard canal in winter

Why you don't see many feeding is because the fish are not very energetic in winter so the fish will not need as much feed so whatever fish are in your swim to start with they will probably be there at the end and until they decide to feed there is little point in keep feeding

Just keep flicking 4-5  castors or maggots in every now and then to top up incase they get burried in the silt after a while or when a boat goes by or until you get a few bites but don't over feed or it will be the kiss of death

While watching matches take note of the pegs the section winners come from at the weigh in and pleasure fish those at least you will know they hold fish

Ken

Cheers

many thanks mate for the  e mail on feeding on canals a subject that baffles most anglers me included

 

Dear Ken,

               Firstly, congratulations on an excellent site, brought a few memories back,

Trent, John Dean got battered by him at Clifton Bridge Open), Hence my query, There were two types, Matt black finish with blunt ended stems and the older gloss black painted jobs, 3 no.6 - 5 no.4 if I remember, the latter were the better ones  i thought personally, any idea where they can still be purchased? I now live on the Isle of Wight, so proper tackle hard to come by, except mail-order. Any help or info. on these floats much appreciated.

                             Best wishes,

                                                   Adrian Nicholas

 

 

 

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I