How did you get on?

[Alan Whitty]

Went yesterday to the same lake as last week, difference being a hard overnight frost, bright sunshine and an extra 5 or 6ins of water on it, making the vast majority of swims unfishable, it was a real struggle, with bites being extremely delicate and slow to develop, even with just a dimple out of the water, a size 22 hook and light hook length, I ended with 5 skimmers 6-8ozs, one bream-ling about 2lb, plus one tiny roach, add to that that it lashed down from the moment I started packed up, leaving myself and the gear soaked, then five minutes up the road the sun came out, my wife said they had had no rain at all all day as dry washed testified to....

Just to add, opposite me there was a young lad, with his dad sitting behind him, he was supposedly being coached by a guy in the next peg, though he only went over to him two or three times in 5 hours, his dad came over and chatted for perhaps 45 minutes, he was shocked at what people do to reach a decent level, his boy is keen to become a match angler, he asked about the price of a good pole (as that's what they were using), I said to him, how long is a piece of string, as we know you can pick up a half tidy one under a grand, but when it comes to being competitive the person with a better pole will be more so, 4 to 5 grand or so I think buys around the best, plus more for spare top kits, would I pay it, no chance, fishing isn't worthy of such expenditure, especially as because of shipping in and out you wear them out, I'm not anti-pole, it's a great method, I just feel if you spent £400 plus on a rod it would still be here to use in 20 years....

 

[ian g]

Looking at the level at Welsh bridge on the Severn , I might have made it but I decided on a local club water . Took my pole and my whip and ended up using the latter . Just one guy on in peg 1 so being sociable I headed for peg 15

. Mixed a bit of groundbait and set up with 5 metre whip , 1 gram float down to size 18 hook and a couple of red maggots . Fished into about 6ft of water . Wind blowing into the corner across my swim . I push most of the weight down the line to ensure a still float . Caught regularly with some reasonable roach to 6oz and a few skimmers . Nice way to spend a few hours before the footy

 

[ian g]

Headed back to the usual spot on Friday .First dabble with the pole on here . Arrived just after 10 o'clock . I had a brolly but left it in the boot as it looked quite bright . The river was up a little from last night but not coloured . Had a faff about getting the rig set right , slow start waiting an hour foe my first bite which I missed. Guy I'd met with Steve at Severn Meadow turned up to fish for perch . As we chatted I had another bite , bitten off by a jack pike . Not long after I christened my pole with a decent perch which went 3.4 . During the afternoon I was bitten off again by another pike , bumped a few fish before I seemed to get the hang of it and managed another 6 perch , 2 around a pound the rest over 2 lb . My mate had a pike and a few perch . Like the pole not 100% sure if the elastic is slack enough but I think it is as plenty came out when I hooked the better perch . Presentation is spot on ,just need to sharpen up a little.

 

[riverman]

not a bad session today.fished the horseshoe lake at raker lakes nr york.7 carp and 6 bream all caught on waggler fished mussels with hemp over the top.biggest carp a 7lb 10oz common.got talking to a match angler who had been in the match on highbank lake (which was a silvers only match) and one of the members had nearly 50lb out.thats a serious amount of silvers.

 

[ian g]

Tough day on the Severn , bright sunshine which was nice to sit in but not great for catching perch . Sat out for 6 hours for one missed bite . I've had some great fishing lately so I'm not to bothered .

 

[flightliner]

A rare day on the now often flooded Tidal Trent, hoping for a Pike or Zander I made good time arriving at my choosen venue but was dissappointed to find another angler in the spot that I hoped to occupy.
I set up some fifty metres downstream, set up my two rods and cast to a near side swim that appeared slower than the main current then sat back for a coffee to await for a result.
Looking upstream I noticed the guy above was packing up to move elsewhere (B##@%r) .
So, as my pre "chosen" swim was a noted Zander one I moved into it myself.
It was an arduous move thro the mud and by the time i'd done I was exhausted by the effort but at least I was happier being where i wanted in the first place.
Three hours later with no runs and a decidedly cold breeze coupled with the thick glutinous mud that weighed down my wellingtons like a divers lead seaboots I'd had enough so I begrudgingly cleared my gear away and walked the two hundred yards back thro the cloying mud to my car and drove back home.

 

[no-one in particular]

This is the arse end of the RM canal, the bit where Napoleon would have walked around if he landed, I often squint my eyes and see him standing there having a good laugh.
However, the fishing, not a bite despite me having a cup of tea and saying my angling prayers first in the little chapel nearby, nice cup of tea though, bread and liccy bread, just a couple of hours. Actually never do well here just hoping an early tench but no go. The good thing my experimental multi purpose rig converted from a river link leger to a canal float no problem in about 10 seconds, result.. The daffs were out and nice to see and I think I saw a Cetis warble in the reeds, looked like a wren at first but I think it was the warbler.

 

[mikench]

After at least 4 weeks without fishing Gordon and I set out to a nice but temperamental venue and set up on the opposite bank to that we normally fish. Our thinking was to avoid the cold easterly breeze and have it at our backs. At least this ploy was reasonably successful.

It was blue skies and sunny early doors and we hoped for a few little fishes.

Alas after nearly 5 hours of the usual combo of float and feeder we were without a touch. Gordon finally hooked a perch and a roach in quick succession and hoped against hope for a feeding frenzy which failed to materialise. I blanked and didn’t get a touch. There were 6 other anglers and I think they all fared the same as me. It was decidedly chilly and we packed up at 3.00. It was good to see Gordon again and to be out. We had things to chat about and enjoyed the day despite the paucity of fish. A pair of oyster catchers flew over plus the ubiquitous mallard, crows and Canada geese. See you next week Gordon and please pick a venue where I won’t blank.

 

[seth49]

On club water today, and it was hard and cold as well, tried both pole and feeder rod but very slow, had one skimmer on rod and two F1s and five skimmers on the pole, on worm but a long time between bites.

 

[Woofy Chivers]

My old mate Rog not been to well lately so not been up on Wye for quite some time so decided I’d give the little farm pond a go as it wasn’t raining and sun was trying it’s best to warm it up a bit. Trouble was an east wind was blowing and that brought temp down to about 7 deg.
The fish didn’t seem to mind and it was a bite a chuck on worm and sweetcorn cocktail under a waggler with my lovely split cane Avon rod.
One of the fish I had was a real oddity. I think it was a Chub but it’s body was elongated with a bulbous head , bulging eyes and dorsal fin was shark like ! If it is a chub it’s the only one I’ve ever had from this pond. I will add photo of it so if anybody thinks differently please post a reply to let me know what you think.

 

[Woofy Chivers]

Here are a couple more that I had today. Thought the goldfish hybrid ? was very pretty

 

[Alan Whitty]

Looks like a grass carp to me...

 

[Steve Arnold]

After so many days of grey skies and rain, the sun shone yesterday! Around noon, I absolutely had to see the river and, if possible, fish. The river was high and fast, as I'd expected, and I knew that the only chance to fish was at one of the many canal lock gates that allow river boats to pass the weirs. There are often boat slips and landing stages offering small breaks in the flow of the main river. A chance to place a bait in front of a resting fish!

At the river, I found my fishing position in the sun and within minutes my bait was eaten by a barbel weighing around 1.5 kg. A little later, I had another weighing around 2.5 kg, followed by a nice chub weighing 2.4 kg. Just as I was about to leave, the rod tip lowered and I got another good barbel weighing 2.4 kg.

My bait was crushed twice by something.The sun was still shining, I was spooked by two low-flying fighter planes playing their games. A reminder that the "real world" was becoming more and more dangerous!
A VERY good afternoon! Time to head home for dinner.

 

[Philip]

2.4kg is 5lb 4oz Steve...thats a proper specimen Chub for over here.. Well done !

 

[Woofy Chivers]

Here are a couple more that I had yesterday Thought the goldfish hybrid ? was very pretty

 

[Woofy Chivers]

Sorry that didn’t work. I’ll give it another go

 

[mikench]

It certainly is.

 

[Steve Arnold]

2.4kg is 5lb 4oz Steve...thats a proper specimen Chub for over here.. Well done !

Yes, it was a proper bruiser of a chub!

I wish I had put something to show some sense of scale in the photo but this chub was very lively on the mat, doing a more powerful version of the "bream-flip". It put up a very good fight on the line and knew exactly where the boulders were at the base of a landing stage, I think that's where it lost a few scales. I just wanted it back in the river before it did itself more damage!

The chub and the 2nd largest barbel did get weighed in the net head. Obviously the wet net weight deducted

A couple of more photos from the day.....

 

[Steve Arnold]

2.4kg is 5lb 4oz Steve...thats a proper specimen Chub for over here.. Well done !

In the 6+ years I have fished along the Lot I have hardly caught any chub under 4 lbs. When I used worm baits I had a few smaller chub but since changing to almost 100% boilie baits all my chub are of a very good size.

So, not many chub and many missed bites that I presume were the chublets. But, when I hook a chub it's a good one!

My best was well over 5 lbs but I forget just how many ounces......

and a few more, got to love chub! ....

OK, I will leave it there, that was just a good excuse to show a few chubbie photos.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I set out this morning to fish a club water for tench and crucians. Setting out with bait would have been a much better idea. I toyed with the idea of leaving a note on my tackle bag as a reminder to take it out of the fridge but then thought; “nah, I won’t forget.” I got as far as Sidcup before the lightbulb moment came. I had to make a hasty decision over whether to go back or go on with the bait I had with me. I’m glad I went back as I had a blinding day.

Bait of the day was Lidl’s smelly garlic sausage, which was one of the baits I had left behind. I caught a mixture of crucians and tench, which is unsurprising, as they are the lake’s only inhabitants. I had fifteen crucian of no great size the best was probably about a pound. I also had seventy tench, including two golden tench. Some of the tench were small, which is not a bad thing as it means they are breeding. Out of the seventy tench around thirty were between three and four pounds and were brilliant sport on a float rod. The fish fought well, I thought they may be a bit sluggish due to the water temperature only being 8 degrees but that wasn’t the case at all. I think this was most probably the most tench I’ve caught in one session. I was the only angler fishing that particular lake, which was nice.

The lake looks far nicer in the summer when the water lilies bloom.