I have prepped for my next trip to the river,where I was Friday,centrepin,1lb 6oz tc Harrison specialist Avon and i shall take my platform,which will be awkward for the two gates(having to unload/load twice),but the walk will be so much easier,not for an evening though,maybe Tuesday,depending on heat....
How did you get on?
- Thread starter peter crabtree
- Start date
peter crabtree
AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)
Didn’t fancy the match on the Thames at Oxford but did fancy the Thames.. So I set off down to Windsor instead.
There was a notice on the gate saying fishery closed for a match, damn! Walked down regardless and saw the organiser who recognised me luckily and allowed me to fish the early pegs. Not my favoured pegs but hey, I could fish. The river was pushing a bit so I thought I’d try the slider first and if that didn’t work I’d change to stickfloat closer in.
15’ Matchpro and a 12” insert Crystal waggler set at 8’ deep with an Olivette as bulk to a 20 B611 hook to 1:12 bottom.
It wasn’t easy by any means, the flow was picking up the line into a downstream bow which sped up the float giving unnatural presentation. I eventually worked out a way of fishing it effectively. Casting out beyond my target distance then reeling in until the line was sunk, then letting out line in short spurts as the float ran through. Not great but it worked and I was soon catching nice plump thames roach. I was missing quite a few bites because I was striking into slack line, again I worked out a solution. Wait til the float buried then reel in really fast before striking, bingo.... It was patchy as usual but in the 4 hours I fished I had some quality roach, dace and a small chub, all on red maggot over groundbait.
There was a notice on the gate saying fishery closed for a match, damn! Walked down regardless and saw the organiser who recognised me luckily and allowed me to fish the early pegs. Not my favoured pegs but hey, I could fish. The river was pushing a bit so I thought I’d try the slider first and if that didn’t work I’d change to stickfloat closer in.
15’ Matchpro and a 12” insert Crystal waggler set at 8’ deep with an Olivette as bulk to a 20 B611 hook to 1:12 bottom.
It wasn’t easy by any means, the flow was picking up the line into a downstream bow which sped up the float giving unnatural presentation. I eventually worked out a way of fishing it effectively. Casting out beyond my target distance then reeling in until the line was sunk, then letting out line in short spurts as the float ran through. Not great but it worked and I was soon catching nice plump thames roach. I was missing quite a few bites because I was striking into slack line, again I worked out a solution. Wait til the float buried then reel in really fast before striking, bingo.... It was patchy as usual but in the 4 hours I fished I had some quality roach, dace and a small chub, all on red maggot over groundbait.
markcw
Exiled Northerner
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Tackle ready for tomorrow, margin poles plus Speedcast feeder rod,
Going to Newlands fishery on the Linear Complex. Lovely waters,
Then tuesday or wednesday possibly a day down the road on the Thames at Sandford.
Going to Newlands fishery on the Linear Complex. Lovely waters,
Then tuesday or wednesday possibly a day down the road on the Thames at Sandford.
Tried a stretch I don't fish much in summer, it gets very jungly, and is usually just a Chublet fest, but you can find some nice Dace.
Jungly....
It certainly was a Chublet fest, this one was one of the better ones !
As an aside, the corner of one of the fields was washed out in the winter, taking with it all the Barley seed that had been drilled, in it's place, a lovely patch of Camomile has come up, which was humming with all sorts of insects.
I do wish they wouldn't drill right to the edge of the river, this little patch has probably increased the biodiversity of the whole field by 300%!
Jungly....
It certainly was a Chublet fest, this one was one of the better ones !
As an aside, the corner of one of the fields was washed out in the winter, taking with it all the Barley seed that had been drilled, in it's place, a lovely patch of Camomile has come up, which was humming with all sorts of insects.
I do wish they wouldn't drill right to the edge of the river, this little patch has probably increased the biodiversity of the whole field by 300%!
rich66
Well-known member
As Thursday was rained off & I had a pint of reds though it would be a good opportunity to get out today. Arrived for an 8 o’clock start this morning but the heavens had opened, sat in my car for 15min contemplating a few “twists” work had thrown at me this week! Within those 15minutes the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. First fish out was a lovely little Rudd. Lots of little fish today. Fished until about 11:15. When I got a call from my son saying he was on his way over with our granddaughter.
A really enjoyable mornings fishing, all on red maggots great to see the fish on the surface taking the free offerings. Some really decent size fish but as usual they don’t seem to take your bait! Started off on a waggler at 3” over depth ended up at about 16” from the top.
Largest perch was a foul hooker, he was probably more interested in the little roach/rudd than my maggots.
A really enjoyable mornings fishing, all on red maggots great to see the fish on the surface taking the free offerings. Some really decent size fish but as usual they don’t seem to take your bait! Started off on a waggler at 3” over depth ended up at about 16” from the top.
Largest perch was a foul hooker, he was probably more interested in the little roach/rudd than my maggots.
Hertsbloke
Well-known member
Fished the Moat at Park Farm Saturday.....Got there about half 12 as had jobs in the morning.
Place was rammed ! Struggled to find an empty swim, let alone one I want to fish....
Ended up on the second corner, so not too bad .
Id bought some new to me baits, Sticky pineapple wafters and Sonubaits pepperoni GB....
Setup on the method and waited.....and waited.....
People were catching and I watched at least 4 Carp swim over my bait.
Reeled in, took the wafter off and went back to ny floating single fake corn and loose fed real corn.
2 half decent Snotties within 45 mins, and then after another half hour, the rell was singing as Carp ran away....
Decent scrap and ended up with I guess an early double.....
First pic was the better fish, didnt bother with pics of the Snotties......
Reset and had another about 45 minutes after that....
So five fish in 6 hours, thatll do me...
Place was rammed ! Struggled to find an empty swim, let alone one I want to fish....
Ended up on the second corner, so not too bad .
Id bought some new to me baits, Sticky pineapple wafters and Sonubaits pepperoni GB....
Setup on the method and waited.....and waited.....
People were catching and I watched at least 4 Carp swim over my bait.
Reeled in, took the wafter off and went back to ny floating single fake corn and loose fed real corn.
2 half decent Snotties within 45 mins, and then after another half hour, the rell was singing as Carp ran away....
Decent scrap and ended up with I guess an early double.....
First pic was the better fish, didnt bother with pics of the Snotties......
Reset and had another about 45 minutes after that....
So five fish in 6 hours, thatll do me...
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Do you know what is sad,the moat used to be one of the best tench fisheries going,in fact I caught many of my early tench from there from 1971,I last caught a tench there about four years ago,now you dont hear of one caught,shame....things that have changed,carp,the French(its their name)family stocked carp in greater numbers about seven years ago,plus they treated the canadian pondweed, which they deny,but the lake was full of it,plus quite a few lilies(which dont die easily),the niche has been filled by the bream,which are now very prolific,just to show how prolfic the tench were,we used to get occasional catches numbering in the mid-20's,i've personally had fish to 6lb 5ozs so not bad for a small canal like moat,the French family sadly have never done much to help maintain the moat lake other than milk the day ticket money,but in their defence they have always left the fishery open to anglers and kept the grass down at bankside....
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Hugh Bailey
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First session of the season was a quick 2 hours on the Wey. Sat watching a motionless tip for the first hour or so before switching to the stick fished shallow over the gravels. Loads of small roach, dace and chublets with one Gudgeon. Hopefully another session or 2 later this week.
Keith M
Well-known member
I had an afternoon fishing a club water for a few small Carp, Crucians and some Roach on the waggler with my son.
I wanted to try out a new reel line I had put onto a reel of mine for the first time (Dave Harrels Pro-Float line).
Because I was expecting a few smallish Carp I was using 4lb reel line with some size 14 hooks to 3.5lb hooklengths and alternating breadflake and sweetcorn.
The first thing I noticed was the lines thinner diameter compared to the Floatfish line that I’ve got used to, and it’s suppleness which was a bit of a problem as I had the wind in my face, and it was the cause of a few line tangles over the afternoon. If I had been in a match that would have cost me a good placing.
I’ll have to give it another try with the wind more to my liking before I make up my mind about the line.
Anyway, we both had few smallish Carp up to around five or six pounds and a few Crucians of up to around a pound in weight plus plenty of hand sized roach and it was a very pleasant afternoon.
Keith
I wanted to try out a new reel line I had put onto a reel of mine for the first time (Dave Harrels Pro-Float line).
Because I was expecting a few smallish Carp I was using 4lb reel line with some size 14 hooks to 3.5lb hooklengths and alternating breadflake and sweetcorn.
The first thing I noticed was the lines thinner diameter compared to the Floatfish line that I’ve got used to, and it’s suppleness which was a bit of a problem as I had the wind in my face, and it was the cause of a few line tangles over the afternoon. If I had been in a match that would have cost me a good placing.
I’ll have to give it another try with the wind more to my liking before I make up my mind about the line.
Anyway, we both had few smallish Carp up to around five or six pounds and a few Crucians of up to around a pound in weight plus plenty of hand sized roach and it was a very pleasant afternoon.
Keith
mikench
Well-known member
I awoke early and er indoors asked if I was going fishing could I be back by 2.30 to proof read something. I wasn't planning to but couldn't turn down such an opportunity and earn brownie points as well; perfick.
A familiar venue and I set up the Acolyte with maggots. I had over 30 small roach , rudd, and skimmers. Also a few of these.
First crucians of the year and all caught on 8mm expander. The carp were taking off the surface so I cast out some bread in a bait band and had a couple of common and a mirror of 8lb.
It was surprisingly cool all morning and by 1.30 I had had enough anyway so came away. An enjoyable 5 hours which I will aim to repeat asap.
A familiar venue and I set up the Acolyte with maggots. I had over 30 small roach , rudd, and skimmers. Also a few of these.
First crucians of the year and all caught on 8mm expander. The carp were taking off the surface so I cast out some bread in a bait band and had a couple of common and a mirror of 8lb.
It was surprisingly cool all morning and by 1.30 I had had enough anyway so came away. An enjoyable 5 hours which I will aim to repeat asap.
markcw
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Just got back from Newlands, Set Speedcast feeder up with an inline PI ics 20g maggot feeder, along with matrix pole and topkits, plus a 4 metre Shimano Beastmaster margin extreme. The matrix kits were set at various depths of the swim. All using a PI Tyson 0.5g float , The shimano was for the lily pad swim at the side of me. Started off with a 30yard chuck on the feeder, hook was a 18 b911, bait was mixed fluro maggot , 4 impaled on the hook.I had a run of good skimmers and roach, As I was fishing the feeder I was priming the lily pad swim with a few maggots, then softened 2mm pellets with a Sonubaits F1 sweet flavouring, plus a few 6mm Dynamite baits durable F1 sweet pellets.
Changed the feeder over to a 20g straight lead,without breaking rig down due to using ics system.bait was a small piece of peperami again with a 30 yard chuck.Only had a couple of indications, so it was trying different parts of the swim with the matrix pole , 1 rig was set 4" overdepth ,1 was set shallow and the other at dead depth. All produced same result roach and skimmers.
So decided to try lily pad swim, baited up with a 6mm pellet, rig was a Tyson float hook was a 16 tied to 7lbs bs line.
I kept putting a few golf ball sized soaked 2mm pellets in until the float dipped and started to slowly sail away.
Lifted into it and managed to extract it from the lily pads, the Beastmater was bent in a hoop,and that takes some doing, I thought of the film Jaws when he says "we need a bigger boat" I was looking at my landing net ,glad I had brought a biggins one, Anyway I digress, after about 5 minutes of keeping whatever I had hooked away from my platform ,the hook decided to go mishapen and pull out. I was rather annoyed,
I spent last 10 minutes back on straight lead and had a few more roach on maggot.
Am going back on wednesday to try again.If lily pad swim taken I have seen a couple more worth a try.
Changed the feeder over to a 20g straight lead,without breaking rig down due to using ics system.bait was a small piece of peperami again with a 30 yard chuck.Only had a couple of indications, so it was trying different parts of the swim with the matrix pole , 1 rig was set 4" overdepth ,1 was set shallow and the other at dead depth. All produced same result roach and skimmers.
So decided to try lily pad swim, baited up with a 6mm pellet, rig was a Tyson float hook was a 16 tied to 7lbs bs line.
I kept putting a few golf ball sized soaked 2mm pellets in until the float dipped and started to slowly sail away.
Lifted into it and managed to extract it from the lily pads, the Beastmater was bent in a hoop,and that takes some doing, I thought of the film Jaws when he says "we need a bigger boat" I was looking at my landing net ,glad I had brought a biggins one, Anyway I digress, after about 5 minutes of keeping whatever I had hooked away from my platform ,the hook decided to go mishapen and pull out. I was rather annoyed,
I spent last 10 minutes back on straight lead and had a few more roach on maggot.
Am going back on wednesday to try again.If lily pad swim taken I have seen a couple more worth a try.
Paste paul
Well-known member
Yes Keith I’ve noticed the same with modern lines they are thinner for the same poundage..... just as strong but they don’t seem to be very abrasive resistant and damage quite easily. Yes I also had tangles round my reel which I haven’t had in years as it’s so soft.
I’ve had some guru stuff that I took back of my reel for that reason.
Paste paul
Well-known member
Lovely fish ?
Paste paul
Well-known member
Lovely little fish ?
Paste paul
Well-known member
Wow so jealous...... love the pin set up ?
rayner
Well-known member
I'm jealous too Paul, this thread could get me into a bit of bother, my urge to wet a line is very strong.
It's only my strength of mind that's keeping me at home.
It's only my strength of mind that's keeping me at home.
mikench
Well-known member
mikench
Well-known member
Gary , Gary, your strength of mind is supposed to be getting you out on the bank not staying home.
barbelboi
Well-known member
I took my usual stroll over the fields this afternoon for a bit of fish spotting but this time I took the Titan2000, pin, net and a small bag with me. Knowing where the fish lie from all my 'exercise walks' I decided on the small river and trotted flake for 15 roach about this size. Fished from 2-4.
