How did you get on?

[Pete Shears]

Managed a pike at 7lb 4oz yesterday at the local canal feeder reservoir which broke a run of three blanks at various venues.
A cold blustery NE wind with lashings of hail mixed in - wonderful.
Out again tomorrow for a bit more.

 

[Pete Shears]

Sorry that has posted twice - laptop hung - the wonders of electronics . . . .

 

[Alan Whitty]

Well,today I intended to fish a peg I've never been in and as expected it was empty,fished it for two hours and had 5 small roach,so I moved to the peg downstream and struggled,didn't see any fish more at all,until around midday,a decent barbel snuck down the inside where I'd put several small droppers of hemp and maggot,I lowered a feeder into position and waited,the fish returned and never touched the three red marks,so when he left I put 3 maggots on my float rod and only had to wait a minute or so and was into the fish,after a strong fight I landed a 9-11 barbel,a couple of hours passed with nothing,so out of boredom I cast upstream and over,where I'd trotted down to to catch the small roach earlier and down went the float and out popped another one,two more in two casts,no feed,the next cast the float shot under and I was connected to a powerful fish and guess what, I had foulhooked the same barbel in the pec,some while after a chub appeared and I caught it,around 4lbs and that was it,packed at 3pm shivering....

 

[terry m]

The second half of February has been tough going on the Hampshire Avon, several blanks only broken up by the odd Jack or two to about 6lb. So today was refreshing to get a proper bend in the rod with a 16 pound pike.

Interestingly at the same time, a salmon angler on the opposite bank latched in a decent fish, when the top 2 feet of his rod snapped clean off and slid down the line. He persevered and managed to net a fresh salmon of a similar weight to my pike - although he didn’t weigh it as he released it without actually removing it from the water. Nice angling.

 

[john step]

February has been slow for pike for me. A couple of doubles and the rest mid singles. I have avoided the popular areas on the river prefering to fish away from the circus.
I might try the Tidal Trent before March 15th being inspired by Flights recent catches. I must be careful though as I dont want any more broken ribs on those slippery rocks. I dont bounce as much as I used to.

 

[Ray Roberts]

My Wednesday lure trip didn’t go ahead as planned. I had leg pain all night and couldn’t face standing for most of the day. I think they may have been caused by the statins that I am taking. Trying again on Friday.


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[mikench]

Ray check if your statins have changed.I take one as a precaution ( Atorvastatin) and it’s the only one I have had. I know a few mates you have had the prescription changed for no good reason except cost and have had issues with the replacement. I have a theory with no scientific background that your body deals with the first statin without side effects but not with replacements.

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

Following a blood test just after being prescribed statins, I was taken off Simvastatin and given atorvastatin, never did find out why

 

[Ray Roberts]

It’s Atorvastatin that I’m on. This is around the third time I have experienced leg pain in about as many months. The feeling is like you would feel after doing too many squats on the day after doing them. If it returns I will visit the doc’s.


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[Pete Shears]

Another trip to the local canal feeder reservoir saw two more pike landed - 7lb 6oz and 12lb 12oz using a herring tail as bait. Made up for a blank at the big reservoir on Monday.
Plenty of bird activity, all the usual small birds as well as a kingfisher darting past,green woodpeckers sounding off,great spotted drumming away in the trees,buzzards calling and circling together and a kestrel flying low over the fields.

 

[flightliner]

Tidal once again in my efforts to find pike or zander,
It was a very low tide, but I settled into a differant swim from last week and before starting I had the usual lead around the swim where the depth was some eleven foot deep with the downstream end being some nine or ten foot so decided to put a small deadbait up against the rise figuring that any prey fish avoiding a chasing predator could possibly have to slow down its escape by changing direction left or right or by ascending.
The other rod was placed upstream away to my right.
It was slow going at first but I eventually had a jerky lift of the indicator on the downstream rod and I struck asap, the head shaking suggested the fish was a zander and so it proved to be, no double but a nice chunky specimen a little over 6lbs,result!
There were two teams of guys opposite working on some high pylons, one of them kept making me laugh by making loud monkey noises from high up to anyone walking far below, is imitations were really good,, he should be on the televisions Brittains got talent show.how those guys worked up there in the freezing northerly wind was beyond me, I had put my brolly up as a windbreak, they had nothing but there mates humour to smile about.
Back to the fishing, it was quite after the Zander, the tide turned to rise but it was so weak it could'nt stop the river from running out to sea but it still covered rocks that had previously been exposed.
Finally it was time to go but anticipating it I had recast a half hour earlier but come time to pull the baits in I started to pull in the rigs in, the first was ok and in the quiver I began to wind in the second rod where there was no resistance but some ten metres towards me I found myself playing a good fish that must have attacked the retrieving deadbait, then it came off and so was I.

 

[Ray Roberts]

Not such a great day unfortunately. I arrived late morning and went light. One light spinning rod (3to 8g) 10 lb braid to 8lb fluoro leader. It looked really good though the water temp was only 6c.

I fastidiously tied my leader to the braid with a FG knot and the lure with a non slip loop knot. For some inexplicable reason I then cast the whole caboodle up a tree, never to return. I set up again but the omens were against me. I fished around a dozen swims before my first fish, a small Jack of about three pounds. I tried various lures and spinners but there were no other takers. I returned along the bank and had another Jack which looked remarkably similar to the first, in fact I think it was the same fish.

I did see something strange along the bank. One of the swims that was almost at water level was covered in large Swan mussel shells that had been discarded. Something had clearly been feeding on them and there were several shells going back to around thirty metres or so into the field. There were no signs of footprints or spraint. I wondered what could have taken them? I believe it occurred a while ago and that’s why there is no evidence as to the culprit.

Not the greatest days fishing, but still it was nice to get out.


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[john step]

Not such a great day unfortunately. I arrived late morning and went light. One light spinning rod (3to 8g) 10 lb braid to 8lb fluoro leader. It looked really good though the water temp was only 6c.
View attachment 26264

I fastidiously tied my leader to the braid with a FG knot and the lure with a non slip loop knot. For some inexplicable reason I then cast the whole caboodle up a tree, never to return. I set up again but the omens were against me. I fished around a dozen swims before my first fish, a small Jack of about three pounds. I tried various lures and spinners but there were no other takers. I returned along the bank and had another Jack which looked remarkably similar to the first, in fact I think it was the same fish.

View attachment 26265

I did see something strange along the bank. One of the swims that was almost at water level was covered in large Swan mussel shells that had been discarded. Something had clearly been feeding on them and there were several shells going back to around thirty metres or so into the field. There were no signs of footprints or spraint. I wondered what could have taken them? I believe it occurred a while ago and that’s why there is no evidence as to the culprit.

View attachment 26266

Not the greatest days fishing, but still it was nice to get out.


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Ray, we get that with mussels on our lake. I have never been able to positively find the culprit but I think its either coot or moorhen.

 

[John Aston]

A cold day on a low-ish Yorkshire Ouse. As part of my 'catch a bream in '23 ' programme I fished feeder maggot at fairly long range , about 40 yards or so . As I notoriously cannot catch bream , anywhere, I was pleasantly surprised to catch three ! Smallest about 3 -8 ish and biggest a weighed 4-8 . Mediocre to everyone except me - I was delighted . And what lovely fish they are this time of year - a gorgeous shade of platinum and not a hint of slime . Pulled very well too , much harder than the (very few ) stillwater bream I have caught .

Drennan Acolyte feeder plus 11ft is just superb at this sort of thing, especially when allied with the Preston Innovations sinking feeder braid

 

[mikench]

Swan mussels can be very big and are delicious so if it isn’t humans it’s most likely to be otters or mink. Oyster catchers, herons, gulls and corvids will also eat them.

 

[Roger Johnson 2]

Swan mussels can be very big and are delicious so if it isn’t humans it’s most likely to be otters or mink. Oyster catchers, herons, gulls and corvids will also eat them.

That’s the first time I’ve seen a reference to human consumption of swan mussels, tell us more!


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[mikench]

They are considered a delicacy but like all filter feeders should be treated and prepared with care. Loads on the internet Roger. I haven’t eaten them as I consider our waters are more polluted than the sea.

 

[@Clive]

Given that mussels filter water to extract whatever is in it I would be rather reluctant to eat any thst weren't from clean running water.

 

[@Clive]

Yesterday a storming blank on the two lakes. Fished from 11 to 1:30 on Lavaud in the shallow end then made the 15 minute journey to Mas Chaban and fished a deeper part until 4:30. In both cases I started out with maggot feeder and some groundbait catapulted out then switched to sweetcorn. Never hsd a touch and didn't see anything topping. I spent the last hour sunbathing laid on my dry keepnet resting against the net and bait bag. It was only 10C but lovely in the sunshine.

I had permission for today, but cashed it in and have spent the morning servicing some of my reels instead. There is rain forecast from the middle of next week so I might venture out then.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Went Saturday,turned up mid-morning,fished a good summer swim,but reed cover on the far bank has died back so fish have moved,saw two barbel(separate arrivals) come in,have a bit of snap,then leave,early afternoon one returned feeding below where I'd fed it,so obviously the flow had shifted it,so after he left I cast my bait there and had it within minutes,a beautiful conditioned fish of between 7-8lbs,the only other nibble was a 4oz chublet,which made me think it would have been better at home as it was raw in that wind again,the fishing was OK though,saw a water rail(which was nice as i was able to show my mate who had never seen one),egret,red kites,buzzards,redwing,song thrush,a pair of hungry Robins,wrens,dunnocks,blue t1ts,long tailed t1ts,moorhens,so quite enjoyable...