How did you get on?

[seth49]

Even with the constant drizzle yesterday I had a good day on the syndicate water after tench mainly, usual chopped worm and soaked micros and half a worm on the hook, I put a big pot of this in for a start and then topped it up with a small pot of the same every couple of put ins.

Had a mixed bag of 17 tench, 8 stockie carp, 8 F1s, 12 assorted roach and skimmers, and 4 lovely crucians.

I've 5 different clickers all labelled so I can keep a tally of what I catch, I'm catching to many now to remember them all , and I do like to keep a record of what I catch, and the match videos on utube are helping a lot.

I'm certainly catching more nowadays, and enjoying it as I keep busy getting plenty off bites, did get done with a decent fish which took me into a snag, probably one of the large eels in here, a good day out though, enjoyed it.

 

[nottskev]

I watched the cricket til lunch, then cooked dinner, packed the car and headed over to the river. This is the third day running I've been fishing, but it won't be that long til it's getting dark at the time I'm starting fishing these days - how do we get through the winter? It was tench on Wednesday, roach yesterday and barbel today. You don't get so many bites, but the fish do tend to be a bit bigger

These and a couple of smaller ones took banded mussels or banded chunks of the excellent Dynamite Baits Garlic Luncheon Meat. Thinking of the thread on barbel gear, I can say no tents, tripods, bite alarms, giant feeders or packs of beer were involved. But I'm intending to open a couple of bottles while watching the recorded cricket.

 

[flightliner]

I really really wanted a day with the stickfloat, hemp and tares, but the past weeks rain had made the rivers rise and colour up somewhat. So, I decided to go Trentside in the hope of a Barbel or two.
I prepped my tackle last night in the garage and took some heavy leads, as my hoped for spot is usually tramming thro after a good rainfall that raises its level.
Bait would be nothing more than luncheon meat.
Up early I was on the road by 6-30 am and arrived at my destination around 7-20am where I chose my swim which would nornally have been my second choice but the water was just a little slkwer than the one I would normally have.
Settled in and tackled up I made my first cast and it was only minutes before I had my first Barbel, a feisty thing of some 4+ lbs.
I put a second rod a few yards downstream and again the wait was short with a better Barbel that went 8-8 on my scales.
Things got even better when the same rod had the proverbial three foot twitch and i found myself playing a better fish that was harder to lift from the bottom than the previous two, and it was, 10-10 to be excact but things got even better when the other rod bent over and produced another double figure Barbel of 10-13.
At this stage I was happy if I didnet have another fish but around 11-30am anothe bite on the meat had me battling with a fish that had me working hard to lift it from the river bed, every time I did it just went back down and further downstream, it very grudgingly gave any ground but entually I was able to net it, take the hook out whilst still in the water safe in my net, rest it (and myself) for some twenty minutes before I weighed it and took a kwik foto before I returned it safely back to its watery world.
Its weight was exactly 14lbs.

 

[S-Kippy]

Mick I am green with envy. Cracking fish, what a session

 

[flightliner]

Post script— when the tide began to ebb I never had a bite, the Barbel just stopped feeding, its happened before with other species like roach, chub, and even Bream, all on the odd occasion.
The amount of bait I used barely added up to a half tin of luncheon meat as all I fed was what was on the hook.

 

[mikench]

Well done Mick. What a super barbel.

 

[no-one in particular]

Post script— when the tide began to ebb I never had a bite, the Barbel just stopped feeding, its happened before with other species like roach, chub, and even Bream, all on the odd occasion.
The amount of bait I used barely added up to a half tin of luncheon meat as all I fed was what was on the hook.

Brilliant, well done, that's a fish to remember, all of them in fact. That looks like some river as well.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Sally and I finally recovered enough from the energy sapping Covid to take the camper- van away for a couple of nights.

We chose Vers as it's less than an hours drive......and we just love the place!

The lovely little river Vers flows into the Lot there. Several little cascades of water, filtered from the high Causse by its limestone, and emerging to form these aqua-green pools. Most attractive to the bathers......

The campsite filled up after we arrived, but the visitors are not noisy! Mind you, next week we will be back for the entertainment that comes up occasionally on a river boat. The camp site will be crowded for that, there will be loud music and food. Maybe not my style, but it's a laugh once a year for us!

There is an embankment protecting the campsite from the river, so it needs a long landing net handle to cope with the 3 metre drop. Lots of trees so finding a clear swim difficult.....

But I caught this good chub at about 8 am the first morning, after just 5 minutes fishing.....

Followed by three small barbel, reflecting brilliant gold in the powerful sunshine......

The following day I had three more barbel, nothing any bigger. But for fishing in front of our van, I think that's a good result!

 

[wetthrough]

Planned yesterday to fish with @mikench sadly Mike had more pressing family matters to deal with. I went anyway. Previous session the owner reckoned to give a tenner if we caught anything where we were, ponted to another section of the lake promising Roach, Carp, Tench, Crucian and Barbel. The wind was blowing into the corner he'd suggested so thought I'd give it a whirl. The lake was very full. The overflow was completely submerged with water flowing over the bank and down a gulley to the right of the chosen spot. Seem to recollect him saying it was six or seven feet, started plumbing up with the 13' Altima only to discover it plumbing up at 11'5". Strip down and out with the 15' Cadence #1. GB in corn on the hook catching well and a good stamp of roach to about 8oz. Spent the rest of a very pleasant day weather wise picking up decent Roach but no sign of anything else, not with in range anyway, some bubbles coming up around 40M out, too far to see the float in the conditions even if I could get there. Decided to switch to pellet to see if there was anything else about. Gave it a good hour or so to no avail. Back to sweetcorn. Slowed down on sweetcorn, picked a few up to Tares ended up catching on punch. Back to pellet for a while and get a take. Turns out to be a 9.8lb Common, a bit of a handful on a 15' float rod. No pic as it wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, a badly damaged mouth, in fact I'd swear it was one I'd caught before except it had grown a bit, 9lb last time. 23 altogether. No Crucian, Tench or Barbel. Mike might have fared better on the feeder.

 

[mikench]

. I reckon you are right about that carp and it’s probably the only one in there.

 

[wetthrough]

There have been reports of a 19lber in there apparently.

 

[@Clive]

I went off in the camping car to the lower Charente whee it is tidal in order to explore the possibilities of barbel being so far down the river. We came across this place about 8 years ago out of the holiday season and the river was a raging torent due to heavy rainfall around the area where we live in the headwaters. I got there yesterday (Sunday) morning and the place was rammed with holidaymakers. The free camping car aire had at least 30 camping cars in it and whilst there was room it was too busy for my liking. I got the bike off the rack and went for a reccy. The bars and restaurants were very busy and the car parks full. I rode around the small town and then over the river to the far side. The river has taken on a horseshoe shape and there is a relief channel cutting across it. The old river has its own independent tidal barrier as has the relife channel. Tres complicated! The bit that I wanted to fish is now a nature reserve with no fishing and to get to the far bank meant hauling the gear over half a mile through the throngs.

I then found a track alongside the old river before it enters the junction with the relief channel. There was room for my camping car so I went back and drove over the bridge and down the grassy track.

After a quick lunch I was ready to fish. I didn't have to walk far

I started plumbing with the pole and found it was 3.5m deep until the last section of pole was attached when it dropped beyond my 4m length of line. Feeding maggots and maize groundbait with a little hemp in it it took over an hour to get a bite. It was slack water and I then started getting a few shy bites. I changed to a more senitive float and got a few small roach and bream along with the suicidal bleak that became attached if I allowed the bait to touch the water when shipping the rig out.

Once the current started I got a few larger roach on sweetcorn. All this pole malarky was making my back ache so I put the oven and water heater on and got the chair and feeder rods out. I piled in a spod mix and pellets along the line where the depth had increased. After dinner I fished the light rod using feeder and worm or sweetcorn baits and the heavier rod further out with a 16mm boilie on. By the tjme the moon had risen and it was starting to get dark all I had were half a dozen roach to about 6oz on the sweetcorn rod. Nothing troubled the boile.

This morning I had four hours with the sweetcorn rod and managed roach to 8oz, but no sign of anything bigger. I decided to move and of the two choices; the French Fens or the middle Charente I chose the latter as the former is too exposed to the wind and rain expected tomorrow. I drove to a village where I can get the vehicle near to the river only to find the 6 campers already there. I drove down the tow path and wherever there was a space there was a white van. Onto the next place to find that full of holidaymakers, and the third.

I was home in time to cook dinner. Bl**dy tourists!

 

[Steve Arnold]

I went off in the camping car to the lower Charente whee it is tidal in order to explore the possibilities of barbel being so far down the river. We came across this place about 8 years ago out of the holiday season and the river was a raging torent due to heavy rainfall around the area where we live in the headwaters. I got there yesterday (Sunday) morning and the place was rammed with holidaymakers. The free camping car aire had at least 30 camping cars in it and whilst there was room it was too busy for my liking. I got the bike off the rack and went for a reccy. The bars and restaurants were very busy and the car parks full. I rode around the small town and then over the river to the far side. The river has taken on a horseshoe shape and there is a relief channel cutting across it. The old river has its own independent tidal barrier as has the relife channel. Tres complicated! The bit that I wanted to fish is now a nature reserve with no fishing and to get to the far bank meant hauling the gear over half a mile through the throngs.

I then found a track alongside the old river before it enters the junction with the relief channel. There was room for my camping car so I went back and drove over the bridge and down the grassy track.

After a quick lunch I was ready to fish. I didn't have to walk far

View attachment 27538

View attachment 27536

I started plumbing with the pole and found it was 3.5m deep until the last section of pole was attached when it dropped beyond my 4m length of line. Feeding maggots and maize groundbait with a little hemp in it it took over an hour to get a bite. It was slack water and I then started getting a few shy bites. I changed to a more senitive float and got a few small roach and bream along with the suicidal bleak that became attached if I allowed the bait to touch the water when shipping the rig out.

Once the current started I got a few larger roach on sweetcorn. All this pole malarky was making my back ache so I put the oven and water heater on and got the chair and feeder rods out. I piled in a spod mix and pellets along the line where the depth had increased. After dinner I fished the light rod using feeder and worm or sweetcorn baits and the heavier rod further out with a 16mm boilie on. By the tjme the moon had risen and it was starting to get dark all I had were half a dozen roach to about 6oz on the sweetcorn rod. Nothing troubled the boile.

View attachment 27537

This morning I had four hours with the sweetcorn rod and managed roach to 8oz, but no sign of anything bigger. I decided to move and of the two choices; the French Fens or the middle Charente I chose the latter as the former is too exposed to the wind and rain expected tomorrow. I drove to a village where I can get the vehicle near to the river only to find the 6 campers already there. I drove down the tow path and wherever there was a space there was a white van. Onto the next place to find that full of holidaymakers, and the third.

I was home in time to cook dinner. Bl**dy tourists!

Nice try Clive! This next month, with the holiday hordes, I do not take fishing too seriously.

Come September they will mostly be away and the fishing is often better as well.

 

[seth49]

Back on club water yesterday with mick, dry when I arrived at 6am, and got set up before the drizzle returned, just fished my pole yesterday with usual chopped worm and half a worm hooked in the cut end.

Few roach and perch close in till the swim I'd fed at top kit plus two settled, fished for mainly skimmers plus 3 F1s, and a couple of tench, not catching as many tench of here this year I had plenty last year, did have a couple of crucians which was nice as with tench they are my favourite fish.

Took the keep net out at three to fish the margins, had two carp plus another F1 and another tench all on worm, which I'd stunned by slapping them on the water, stops them wrapping around the hook and masking the hook point, so apart from the rain and feeling cold till around 2pm not a bad day, enjoyed it.

 

[nottskev]

Spent the morning in the Lung Function Test department of the local hospital and since I didn't have any fresh bait beyond a pint of old maggots, expanded some expanders and made it to the tench pit by about 4pm. The swims I'd choose were taken, so I tucked into a corner with plenty of weed and a tree that you could fish under provided you never lifted your rod to the left and under-armed the float out the couple of rod lengths.

It would have made more sense to fish pole - you can drop straight into a gap in the weed, bomb your bait vertically through the roach in the top layers and land your fish on the top kit with no risk, hook pulls aside, from the overhead tree - but I do like to use a pin and a light match rod here. The weather this summer has been dismal, but today was the best of it - dry, warm, humid, overcast and windless.

I set my float about a foot off where my plummet told me the bottom was since the weed was dense, fed a couple of balls of groundbait (Expo, dear, plus brown crumb, cheap, and some soaked micros mixed in) and caught nothing but little roach for 20 mins. I couldn't get a bait, even a 6mm pellet, past them. I dug out the past their best maggots and fed them away to my right, which took the roach away and let me get a bait down, and started to catch tench. I had nothing bigger than three pounds, and most were a pound to two pounds. I missed countless bites, but caught plenty, too. Rheumatology apt today, so no fishing, but looking out I wouldn't go anyway.

 

[Skoda]

Apologies for not posting in quite a while. Moved house last year so don’t know the area very well for fishing. Consequently, after a bit of research my wife and I joined a small fishing club which has several rivers and lakes within ten miles radius of us. I was particularly interested in one small lake of about three acres which the club owned; the blurb on their website described an idyllic spot where families were now turning up to enjoy picnics and everything else on offer.

It was a few weeks ago when we set off to find the lake; the directions were to turn right at the mobile home site which were a mixture of abandoned and attempting to look like Southfork! The mile-long track was very narrow, part broken concrete part rutted grass! Eventually arrived at the lake, the track had becoming worse; I got out just to look at the lake. Buried in the long grass was a totally burnt-out Ford van full of empty bottles and cans, a couple of yards further on a discarded old television and assorted rubbish; there were no swims and the water looked weedy and scummy. I had no choice but to reverse into a cropped field, turn around and endure another white-knuckle drive back to the main road, past the run-down mobile home park. To be fair there is a comment in the club handbook about the track only being suitable for 4 wheel-drive vehicles but even 45 years of driving down farm tracks for a living didn’t prepare me for this!

Ten miles later we were at the back-up venue, one of two old gravel/sand pits; this was much better. Plenty of vacant roomy swims, very dry sandy bank. The water had just a hint of colour but an all-round natural venue.

We settled down after the excitement of escaping intact from the first place we visited. We both tackled up with groundbait feeder rigs and fished maggot and/or sweetcorn. After about half an hour I hadn’t had a bite so wandered along the bank to find out how Sue was getting on. Inevitably, she had caught a couple of roach and a perch. I’ve got used to this, whenever Sue comes fishing with me, she always catches more.

https://www.fishingmagic.com/andy-scholey-days-of-wine-and-barbel/

I decided to have lunch. One of the treats of fishing with Sue is that I prepare the gear, she does the pack-up. Corned beef and tomato sauce sandwich, a mini pork pie and a hard-boiled egg, plus biscuits – fantastic! I relaxed down to a spot of concentration and increased my rate of casting trying to get more bait into the swim. At last, a bite resulting in a 2oz deep-hooked perch, successfully disgorged. A succession of missed bites plus a few pasty looking roach had me spending the next couple of hours worrying about my bite detection and thinking I should be using braid (but I don’t really want to). Should I put a method feeder out on a sleeper rod? As the afternoon progressed, I was only hitting about half the bites, catching a few roach of a distinctly pale disposition; the perch were equally ghostly; something to do with the water?

Chatted with an angler who was packing up, he said that at the lake we first visited the “travellers” once blocked a chap in and effectively demanded money with menaces to let him out. He very kindly told me about the gravel pit including tales of monster carp and huge bream which was very encouraging. We finished fishing about half past six with the promise of fish ‘n chips on the way home.

The venue had many positive points; it was four miles from home, safe sandy swims, plenty of small stuff, the promise of bigger specimens. I was looking forward to becoming familiar with this venue, particularly in the autumn and winter. I feel a campaign coming on!


Andy

 

[flightliner]

Spent the morning in the Lung Function Test department of the local hospital and since I didn't have any fresh bait beyond a pint of old maggots, expanded some expanders and made it to the tench pit by about 4pm. The swims I'd choose were taken, so I tucked into a corner with plenty of weed and a tree that you could fish under provided you never lifted your rod to the left and under-armed the float out the couple of rod lengths.

View attachment 27545

It would have made more sense to fish pole - you can drop straight into a gap in the weed, bomb your bait vertically through the roach in the top layers and land your fish on the top kit with no risk, hook pulls aside, from the overhead tree - but I do like to use a pin and a light match rod here. The weather this summer has been dismal, but today was the best of it - dry, warm, humid, overcast and windless.

I set my float about a foot off where my plummet told me the bottom was since the weed was dense, fed a couple of balls of groundbait (Expo, dear, plus brown crumb, cheap, and some soaked micros mixed in) and caught nothing but little roach for 20 mins. I couldn't get a bait, even a 6mm pellet, past them. I dug out the past their best maggots and fed them away to my right, which took the roach away and let me get a bait down, and started to catch tench. I had nothing bigger than three pounds, and most were a pound to two pounds. I missed countless bites, but caught plenty, too. Rheumatology apt today, so no fishing, but looking out I wouldn't go anyway.

View attachment 27547

Is the clear area on the far side where the cows or horses make for to have a drink Kev, it looks familier?

 

[nottskev]

Is the clear area on the far side where the cows or horses make for to have a drink Kev, it looks familier?

It is, Mick, we were a bit over to the right last time we were there.

 

[flightliner]

Cracking net of Tench Kev, a big well done there

 

[nottskev]

Cracking net of Tench Kev, a big well done there

Cheers, Mick. Pity we couldn't get over there in the cs as planned, but we'll get on the river sometime this month.