How did you get on?

[@Clive]

I was supposed to be taking Wilf again today, but he was a bit battered and bruised after a skydiving session off his ride on mower. A bruised pelvis and three ribs had resulted in him being taken to hospital. But not before he had topped up the oil in the mower and repaired the bonnet. They don't make 'em like that these days.

Instead I took the feeder rod and reel that I had set up for Wilf to the Charente near to the bridge where the two surviving Cockleshell Heroes met up with the Resistance who spirited them back to Blighty. To get to the bridge they had walked around 60 miles through occupied territory at night in December after a dunking in a river the size of the Humber. They don't make them like that these days either.

I found a new swim that looked perfect. A rod length deep, a rod length out, a yard or so of slower water leading to a faster stream that ran under overhanging bushes for about 50 yards. Not a bite in over two hours. I moved about 100 yards downstream to a sandy beach where a substantial stream came in creating a mix of water prior to the main flow. I fished the nearside ledge through to two-thirds across the river for another two hours without a sniff of a bite.

10 miles or so upstream to where Wilf and I had caught bream and roach last time out. Again, nothing to sweetcorn or soft pellet baits. First time ever in this swim. With half an hour to finishing time I sifted through the remnants of my groundbait bucket. I freeze what I don't use. This mix had been on two previous sessions and I seemed to recall that I had added maggots to it at one point. Amongst the hemp and milled maize particles were 5 or 6 sorry looking maggot corpses. I put the best two on the hook and cast it out into the baited area. 30 seconds later the tip twitched and I landed a bream of around 1lb 8oz.

And that was it. However, on the way home I stopped off at a small town on the Vienne and within a few minutes I got two cod to go with the chips and mushy peas for dinner.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well another evening session same Canal same Peg Similar results except the big perch came out to play today at least 6 that were well into the 2lb region dead maggots on a size 18 hook in front of the weeds to the left of me few reasonable Roach 1 bream few skimmers and the inevitable for that area bucket full of Gudgeon from grams to a few ounces .
Oh and a bunch of teenage hoodlums on mobility scooters Local plod thinks they were nicked

 

[riverman]

a decent day yesterday.was meant to be going to langwith lakes nr york but my mate asked if we could go to redwood park instead in between york and thirsk as he'd read some poor reviews about langwith.he'd had a really good outing at redwood last time out and yesterday proved no different.i finished with 16 carp to 6lbs 20 f1's and 5 skimmers.all taken on the waggler with mussels and bacon grill.fished the arc lake peg 15.the arc is my favourite lake at redwood and i've never had a bad outing on it.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I went back to the Eden near Penshurst today. I arrived just before six and packed up at three. I tried a different swim this time. I had my mind set on the furthest peg but it hadn’t been trimmed, I only found out after I had lugged all my gear there, grrrr. I would have trimmed the reeds back but it’s a fairly intimate river and would probably have killed the swim stone dead. I was glad I didn’t fish there in the end as the farmer released a herd of cattle into the field and that swim is one of the few that isn’t fenced off with barbed wire. The cows there are a bloody menace and trashed the same swim last time I fished it a couple of seasons ago, they also shat all over my rod quiver too.

The only other swim I fancied was the very first one by my car in the car park. So I lugged it all back again. I tried bread first but it was getting blitzed by small fish, same with maggots. I tried some stinky Lidl garlic sausage, which is quite tough. I had one small chub on that, then tried raw king prawn. That worked better and I wound up with five chub, two were over three and a half pounds the remainder a bit smaller. It was better than expected as it was a hot sunny day and the water was quite clear. I have done well on king prawn this season and it’s been my most successful bait. I’ve had; roach, rudd, tench, carp, crucians, bream and chub on it. It resists the attention of small fish quite well and seems to sort out the better fish. I think my next trip will be for roach on tares and punched bread.

 

[no-one in particular]

Picking your brains again a bit Ray, sorry, but where do you buy your king prawns, cost, how do you prepare them, put them on the hook, size hook etc.. Just fancy giving them a go and might try them sea fishing as well. But before I go sea fishing there is one swim on the canal I have not tried , it is hard there but did catch a nice tench last time and on the walk back spotted this nice swim between some lily pads and maybe something a bit more exotic could do well than my usual baits. Could try them on the river but afraid they might attract eels too much but the canal has fewer of them.
That looks like a nice chub swim, the old stone bridge would be a haven for them, I fish one similar and it is often good for a few chub.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Went yesterday for my first river trip of the season, woke at 2.30am, left home at 4.05am, first in the car park, but by the time I was loaded up there were two others, I caught laying on and trotting on punched Krackow sausage from Lidl and 6mm pellet on the band, I ended up with several barbel to 8lbs 2ozs, two chub to 4lbs or so, two roach around 10ozs and at least thirty chublets between 3ozs and a pound, some of which were in milt, I was under the impression chub only spawn once, so I was quite shocked to see that, as they have usually spawned by mid-may, anyone else had any similar experiences this year?

 

[peterjg]

This month (June) I've been fishing 10 times. Had 2 trips on the Kennet, first was a blank and the second I caught a decent roach and 2 snotties. I fished one night (first night fishing trip for 2 years!) with my son, he carp fished and caught one weighing 18lbs 15ozs and I caught several roach. Three of the trips were with my wife roach fishing, we both caught decent roach and a couple of small carp and some rudd.

I've been experimenting (yet again) with baits, comparing mini boilies to pellets for roach. The pellets easily outscored the mini boilies I suspect due to roach preferring the pellets when they become furry instead of remaining smooth like the mini boilies. I've tried various flavours but nothing was particularly outstanding - yet. Usually 8mm pellets caught less but bigger roach than sweetcorn but wheat easily caught the most roach though of a lesser average size.

Spent too many years (decades) carp fishing. It's no use just scaling down proven carp rigs for roach, roach feed in a different way. I now fish the pellets for roach on a much longer hook length (24 inches), the roach seem to mess about with the bait before moving off with it and then taking it properly. Mounting the bait band on the hook instead of a short hair has also improved things.

I'm fishing the Thames tomorrow, can't wait!

 

[Ray Roberts]

Picking your brains again a bit Ray, sorry, but where do you buy your king prawns, cost, how do you prepare them, put them on the hook, size hook etc.. Just fancy giving them a go and might try them sea fishing as well. But before I go sea fishing there is one swim on the canal I have not tried , it is hard there but did catch a nice tench last time and on the walk back spotted this nice swim between some lily pads and maybe something a bit more exotic could do well than my usual baits. Could try them on the river but afraid they might attract eels too much but the canal has fewer of them.
That looks like a nice chub swim, the old stone bridge would be a haven for them, I fish one similar and it is often good for a few chub.

I usually get them from Lidl or Tesco’s around £3.50/£4.00 for a pack. There is no preparation as such, save keeping the unused ones in a cooler bag with my grub. For chub I usually use about a quarter of a prawn on a size 8. For other species you can tie a large drennan bait band on the hair and use a pronged banding tool to mount smaller bits. You can get away with a smaller hook that way. I haven’t had any problems with eels, but they may not be very prolific in the waters I fish. They give off a distinctive fishy smell and if eels were present I’m sure they would be attracted by them. As for sea fishing I’m sure they would be good for smoothounds which favour crabs, peeler crabs and hermit crabs over most other baits. The scent is similar to peeler crab.

 

[no-one in particular]

I usually get them from Lidl or Tesco’s around £3.50/£4.00 for a pack. There is no preparation as such, save keeping the unused ones in a cooler bag with my grub. For chub I usually use about a quarter of a prawn on a size 8. For other species you can tie a large drennan bait band on the hair and use a pronged banding tool to mount smaller bits. You can get away with a smaller hook that way. I haven’t had any problems with eels, but they may not be very prolific in the waters I fish. They give off a distinctive fishy smell and if eels were present I’m sure they would be attracted by them. As for sea fishing I’m sure they would be good for smoothounds which favour crabs, peeler crabs and hermit crabs over most other baits. The scent is similar to peeler crab.

You don't peel them or anything then Ray, just cut them as they are into relevant size?

 

[Ray Roberts]

You don't peel them or anything then Ray, just cut them as they are into relevant size?

They are already peeled. I use the frozen ones.

 

[Steve Arnold]

I usually get them from Lidl or Tesco’s around £3.50/£4.00 for a pack. There is no preparation as such, save keeping the unused ones in a cooler bag with my grub. For chub I usually use about a quarter of a prawn on a size 8. For other species you can tie a large drennan bait band on the hair and use a pronged banding tool to mount smaller bits. You can get away with a smaller hook that way. I haven’t had any problems with eels, but they may not be very prolific in the waters I fish. They give off a distinctive fishy smell and if eels were present I’m sure they would be attracted by them. As for sea fishing I’m sure they would be good for smoothounds which favour crabs, peeler crabs and hermit crabs over most other baits. The scent is similar to peeler crab.

They certainly do work for sea fish!

As much as I used to have a good supply of the usual lugworm, ragworm and mussels there were days when I would have no fresh bait. That was usually when the tides and weather fell perfectly for fishing, of course! So raw prawns were grabbed from the freezer and I found that they were eagerly snaffled by cod, ling and almost everything else in Scottish waters.

That was about 30 years ago, before the Chinese supermarkets appeared, and they were "normal" prawns. Even the cooked, pink prawns worked for cod and I had some good catches using them as bait.

When the giant Chinese supermarket appeared in Glasgow (next to the Glasgow Angling Centre!) I quickly discovered those fat, shelled King prawns. At first they seemed too good for bait, but each prawn tail made a couple of baits and it was cost effective, but when you can turn one prawn into two 6 pound cod the maths was easy!

Anyway, my first barbel from the river Lot nearly seven years ago were caught on whole large unshelled prawns. Since then prawns, cooked and uncooked have caught me many barbel and chub here, even a few bream. I still use them but the silure (catfish) love prawns as well, and I try to avoid those slimy creatures!

 

[no-one in particular]

They are already peeled. I use the frozen ones.

Doh-Ok right got it, thanks

 

[Alan Whitty]

They do seem to be venue, or species specific and don't conquer all...

 

[no-one in particular]

In 20 years of fishing this river never seen or hooked a carp, heard they were in there from an old local I used to fish with now passed away but he had never caught one either, started off with a nice bream which looked 4 or 5lb but slipped the hook as it came in to the gap, then came a bite and it thundered off to the left, I couldn't stop it, had to give it line then it crashed into the reeds about 15 ft. to my left and then it appeared to have slipped the hook at this point but I was well into the reeds, had to snap my line. I was pondering what it was when a carp came swimming by on the top from the direction I had lost it, not sure if it was the same one or not, maybe about 10-12lb. However, moved swim after this, it is such a tight swim and I cannot handle a carp in it with my gear..
The second swim by the railway bridge produced lots of bites and one hand sized roach, back to reality! sweetcorn and bread but the carp on bread. I will have to think hard about that swim now.

 

[Keith M]

A club owned lake which the club dug out from some spring fed water cress beds back in the 1930s; and where my son and I were fishing yesterday afternoon where it seemed that everyone else was away watching the England Match, bar two or three others.


Spot the float.

We kept on catching Bream after Bream after Bream all around the 1lb to 2lb Mark and I’m not a great fan of snotties; however the very occasional small Tench and Crucian made it all worthwhile.

I didn’t bother photographing any of the snotties; but I do like Tench and Crucians so here’s a shot of a couple of them.




Keith

 

[Islandbear]

Hard day lakeside for most of us today. But I'm happy with 2 Tench, 1 within 1oz of me pb and second 3oz. No picture for 2nd one as got him back in after a scrap n sun was up and hot.
1 small bream and a first eel as well.

 

[nottskev]

An evening on the river turned up three barbel from a fast swim. This was the best-looking of them

I was short on ideas for where to go today. The morning was bright and sunny, which is nice, but not much use for fishing, but after lunch this summer's normal gloom and drizzle set in, so I thought I'd fish for bream on one of the woodland ponds.

The weather was right for bream, but the water, aside from some scum and tree debris on top, was surprisingly clear and I had to fine my gear down to an 18 on .10 with a 4x12 float to get bites. Tiny cubes of meat proved the best bait. I lost 3 off the hook, and the barbel I hooked burrowed into the underwater branches to my left, but I was happy enough with the nine I caught. Home to watch France v Belgium, I thought, til I found it hadn't recorded. Oh well.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well nothing for a couple of days body says not on your nellie but hope to get to mu local river believe it or not around 500 meters from my door see what i can do

 

[nottskev]

Well nothing for a couple of days body says not on your nellie but hope to get to mu local river believe it or not around 500 meters from my door see what i can do

Your canal sounds pretty good, with all those big perch! Is that the Shroppie near you? Good luck with your river trip.

 

[seth49]

Back on our club water yesterday, weather was ok fairly warm and no rain, and the swims Mick and I picked were sheltered from the wind, which got up and strengthened as the day went on.

fished corn, expander pellets, and paste, the paste did best although the catch was mainly skimmers, plus a couple of roach, 3 F1s, and just one tench, don’t know what’s happening with the tench here used to catch lots, but not as many this year.

I tried something I saw on utube, which was adding wheat gluten to my paste mix,which is green swim stim, it makes the paste stringy and it stays on the hook better and lasts longer, one measure of paste mix to half a measure of the wheat gluten, I usually catch a few crucians on paste, plus tench etc, but not yesterday, been a funny season this year, nowhere is fishing as usual, still nice to get out and catch a few.