How did you get on?

[John Aston]

The good news was that the river was only a foot up after the big flood last week. The bad news was that it was hovering around freezing, with a glary sun in a clear blue sky and an edgy , bitter NW breeze. Fishing big worms on a 4 I missed a tentative bite after 90minutes, and after another hour without a knock I moved from the big crease swim to an area of steady , but quite strong flow which needed half an ounce to hold . I figured if anything was in the flow it would be feeding .

At 3.30 pm , as the light was getting gentler, I had a slow deliberate bite and hit into very solid resistance - which turned out to be a very fit chub of 5-7 , followed by another at 4 pm of 5-2 . And I am happy with that . I was even happier to reacquaint myself with the heated steering wheel and seat at 4.45 .

Wonderful bird life - skeins of grey lag geese, 200plus flock of lapwings , 20 plus curlews plus kites , buzzard , kestrel and sparrowhawk , And some effing cormorants .

And the Drennan Acolyte Plus 11ft feeder rod is turning into the nicest chub rod I've ever had , making its old Fox predecessor feel slow , clumsy and heavy .

 

[jon atkinson]

I hadn't anticipated doing any fishing downunder, but my youngest arranged a surprise session - doubly surprising as he has largely moved on from fishing to golf these days! It was 2 firsts for me; sea fishing and night fishing - weird that it took a trip to Aus for them to happen! Not having got around to sea fishing is a bit daft given that I live on the coast, but I've always been wary of night fishing with my lack of balance and impaired vision! We ledgered squid from a small pier on a very basic set up - I had a screaming run within about 30 seconds of putting in but hit it too early - less than half the squid left on when I reeled in - I blame the left-handed reel set-up

! Jonny had what initially felt like a small one on... 'til it got close to the pier when it took off then got off. And that was as good as it got, but I'll definitely be giving sea fishing another go now that I'm back in blighty!

 

[mikench]

Isn’t that a right hand wind Jon?

 

[jon atkinson]

Isn’t that a right hand wind Jon?

Ooh - a potential 'discussion' to be had there! As someone right-handed, I've always held the rod with my right and reeled in with my left... is that where I've been going wrong all this time?? My son is also right-handed so I queried it and he implied that this was normal over there, but it felt a bit weird to me.

 

[mikench]

No no Jon. I too am right handed and hold the rod in my right hand. However I reel in with my left and the handle is always on the left. That is the norm over here I believe. Most FS reels are ambidextrous but multipliers and bait casters are not.

 

[jon atkinson]

I've always thought so Mike and am not about to change!

 

[mikench]

You are doing it right Jon.

 

[Philip]

After a few rainless days I felt conditions could be on for a Roach from a little stream I know so when a couple of hours freed up I shot off for a dabble. Its not the easiest place to fish, its tiny, just a few feet wide and inches deep in many places so a a stealthy approach is needed. Plus its very overgrown so I took an 8 foot rod which is easier to maneuver between all the undergrowth and just sat on my mat on the ground.

Despite the freezing temperature the water looked spot on. I didn’t feed anything at all & just fished hookbaits on a tiny 8th ounce link ledger & touch ledgered for bite indication. It proved to be a good decision as within 45mins I had banked 5 Roach all topping a pound and best going 1lb 12oz…a real cracker for this tiny water you can literally jump over.

5 roach all over a pound with the best going 1lb 12oz

I moved swims just once over the next hour or so and had another Roach over a pound & lost a very good fish in the edge. The fish were certainly up for it but with my packing up time already past and an umpteenth tangle in the undergrowth meaning yet another retackle I called it a day and headed for home frozen but happy.

Its amazing what these little streams can hold at times.

 

[John Aston]

Now that is what I call an utterly brilliant day's sport - what stunning fish . Well done.

 

[mikench]

Lovely fish Philip and well worth the effort.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Some really lovely toast there Phillip.

 

[seth49]

Short and sweet today, first day out since November, trotted for three hours, one bite one grayling about six ozs, nice to run a float down the river with a pin for a change though.

did see a little egret as well.

 

[riverman]

some cracking roach there philip.well done sir.

 

[Pete Shears]

Out on the upper Soar again this morning after having blanked last week on this same stretch and deadbaiting for pike on the big reservoir.
Cold and murky with just a touch of frost on the grass with puddles still iced over. Started with quivertipped crust and liquidised bread in a small cage feeder, then flake and on to worms. Eventually had a 'cuppa coffee' bite and landed a three pound chub. Moved three more times but no more bites and then it started raining.

 

[John Aston]

Perch dropshotting again , but on a different Dales river this time . It was the usual "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" ; 5 or 6 swims fished in two hours without a take. And then bang - one after another, from an apparently featureless area , mid afternoon , nowhere near cover and the size of our front room. A total of 8 perch , four about 1 -0/1-6 I didn't weigh , and four (amazingly) all weighing exactly 1-15 . Superb nick , hard fighting and fat as butter . Lobworm on size 1/0 . on 12lb fluoro , with 8g dropshot weight and 8-6 Fox Ultra Dropshot rod .

I may have to go again tomorrow ...

 

[riverman]

my best perch session was on the ure at boroughbridge some years back.heading from boroughbridge turn left just before the toll bridge and park in the basin.fished the first peg.It was steep but chopped dendras did the trick with maybe half a dozen perch up to 1.5lb on the leger.

 

[terry m]

Still struggling to get any action on the Hants Avon, so hunkered down behind a battery of dead bait rods on a local pit. Slow day, one run one fish at just under 11 pounds. Nice to get a bend in the rod.

 

[seth49]

Back on usual Stillwater today, bit limited for pegs as half the pond had frozen over last night, only a thin covering but enough to stop any fishing as breaking the ice is frowned upon by the commitee, so I picked a peg a bit further up the far side, there was plenty of room with just one more fishing.

although another four turned up later, cast feeder rod to the island, on an alarm as a sleeper, pellet feeder with micro pellet’s and a yellow wafter for bait, and set my pole up to fish maggots at top kit plus 2sections,with just a thumbnail sized lump of groundbait.

very slow start didn’t get a bite for at least an hour, and then just a small roach and a skimmer which came off, another roach later, and then the alarm sounded as a small carp took the wafter, lifted the pole to get it out of the way and hooked a F1 typical no fish then 2 at once, left the F1 in landing net then played the carp till I could net it, only small around two pounds.

just a few more small roach after plus a small perch, so a quiet day, still it was quite warm in the sunshine, very pleasant in fact, and I watched three buzzards soaring over a nearby field, just needs to warm up a bit more then it should be good.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Had this 2lb 6oz roach at the end of November,there were three barbel and a chub feeding on my bed of hemp and maggots,the float went under with me thinking it must be a barbel when lifted into it only to see the roach shake its head and lift off bottom,super chuffed...

 

[flightliner]

An arranged day for some Trent Barbel fell thro and I decided not to bother going friday gone but come morning I changed my mind and was off by eleven am after repacking my kit.
I went to the Don in Sheffield, just a few short hours of intent for a Greyling or two.
A dissappointment on arrivel was to find two fly fishermen stood in the swim but they said they were moving on further downstream and said to feel free to use it but seeing them move on down but not on the path but still in the water I went a little further upstream instead.
Two greyling and one lost in a half hour saw me moving back to where the two others had been stood. The rest had done its work and I had another Greyling inside ten minutes and lost another.
Movind down river two swims failed to produce but my last swim below a bridge did where four others said hello to my landing net before another shook the hook.
Satisfied with the results I called it a day and left for home but not before I hatched a plan I've been thinking of for a while now which is to attempt going to the four rivers that join the the Don in Sheffield the loxley, Sheaf, Rivelin and Porter to attempt to catch a Trout with the fly come the late spring around late Maytime.