How did you get on?

[Islandbear]

Lovely catching a few hours at the little water today for a change. Managed, eventually to get through the masses of rudd after having 10 of them all in good nick along with 6 skimmers then finally near pack up time, a beaut of a Crucian, followed by a Tench and a Carp. They were both fun after taking me under the aerator cable but managed to coherce them back under to bank em. Sadly lost , I know the usual tale, a big carp. Float under fast pin screaming, picked it up and seen him leave the margins and as I started to slow it down, he carried on and that dreaded sound of the gun shot that was a 6lb line parting very quickly.
Hey ho, the Crucian made up for it though.

 

[Keith M]

My son Stuart and I had a few hours this afternoon (4pm till 7:30ish) on our estate lake after a couple of Carp.

It was a pleasant sunny afternoon and we almost had the lake to ourselves. But there were very few carp topping and we didn’t get a bite for the first three hours which was very strange for this lake; and being very quiet; we decided to call it a day and started to pack up; however as soon as I packed away my baiting needle and my bait into my bag; my right hand bobbin burst into life; and I hooked into a decent sized Bream of around 4lb plus; well at least it wasn’t a complete blank I thought.

Within around 5 minutes after returning the Bream to the water my left hand alarm also sprang into life; and it felt like a good Carp so I played it with care to keep it away from the Lilly pads either side of me; and it turned out to be one of the clubs larger fish which weighed in at 27lb 2oz with a very broad girth (see photo).

It looked like the same Carp that Stuart had caught a few weeks ago.

After carefully weighing it and taking a photo we then decided to call it a day.



Keith

 

[chevin4]

I went last Thursday with an old friend who for various commitments doesn't get out fishing as much as he would like. We decided to go to a local club lake which dispite being in a urban area is very picturesque. The nature of the lake meant we could fish close and put the world to rights over cups of tea which I make on the bank. I was using my new Carp world stove which I am I.pressed with. After a brief cool start to the day it turned out warm and muggy we both caught regular throughout the day a mixed bag was made up of F1s Bream Roach and a few small Crucians. It was nice to float fish using fine tackle 3lb main line and 3lb Strotz hooklink 16hook.

 

[riverman]

nice outing today.went to tollerton ponds just off the a19 in between york and thirsk.fished kingfisher and finished with 19 carp up to 7lb 6 bream 5 f1's and 12 roach.the carp bream and f1's fell to mussel and the roach to maggots when i switched baits.nice venue and owners and a cracking full english to start the day.there was a match on heron pond hence the cafe being open and coot and kingfisher available to pleasure anglers.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well managed to get back to the canal Yesterday afternoon / evening and i wish the match i fished was yesterday because i beat the full match weight i had with in 30 seconds of casting in nice Bream fraction under 3lb then it went berserk fish a chook that lasted for almost 3 hours i id not have a keep net with me so it was release but what a session wish i had more like it probably one of the best i have ever had and all on red and white maggot

 

[terry m]

An afternoon and evening session in the sunshine resulted in three nice tench, all great condition and hard fighting, the biggest was 6lb 4oz

 

[@Clive]

I had a day on the River Vienne. Starting out in a swim I found last week I set up a feeder rod with sweetcorn bait and fished about 20 yards out just where the river attains its full 6 foot depth. Last time out I got pestered by bream and bleak when using maggots. Sweetcorn brought a chub of about 2lb, a bream around the same weight, a junior barbel and a nice carassin. However, I kept getting bite offs and it was only after I had caught the carassin that I realised the cause. I think they were sitting on the bait rather than moving off after taking it. What it needed was an inline feeder and short hooklink, but that had to wait as against the forecast the sun came out. Instead of a cloudy, comfortable 22C it was an uncomfortable full-sun and 26C. I drove a few miles down the valley to find shade.

Swim 2 is an old favourite. I haven't fished it so far this year, but in the last two years I have had a lot of fish out of the swim. Not just numbers either. 6 or 7 species is the norm'. Today however was a slow day and I struggled to get a bite trotting, waggling and laying on. When I eventually got a bite the fish ran towards deeper water and I could not stop it with my sub-3lb hook link. Just before I was due to pack up I lost another fish through a hook pull. Then on my last cast and second last cast I struck thin air on two bites. My third last cast was more successful.

I know that some on here look down their noses at these fish. For me; they look like crucians, bite like crucians, are just as frustrating as cruciams and they put up a damned good scrap. I love them.

Photos in post below

 

[@Clive]

 

[mikench]

Gordon and I had a day on the bank. Our original venue was changed as I was involved in grandparent duties which could have involved me in traffic on the M6 so we picked a familiar one much closer.

Gordon was ready at 7.00 am and had already caught 5 fish by the time I arrived at 8.45 including a tench. I set up the old Amorphous Whisker feeder rod at 13’ and had a take on my first cast which came adrift shortly thereafter. It all looked promising but looks were deceiving and fishing , or rather catching, became very slow. Anecdotally it was slow for most fishing today with many changing lakes let alone swims. Gordon had about 14 fish including a tench and a tiny perch. I managed just 2 tench with this being the best at around 5lb.

It was nevertheless a lovely day for a chat with warm weather and little wind. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was great to be back. I enjoyed our chat and discussion on linguistics and whilst the fishing could have been better, a tench is always welcome. See you next week.

 

[terry m]

I spent a few hours sat by a weir pool on the Hampshire Avon. The anticipated three foot twitch never materialised. However, sometimes, just being there is enough.

 

[no-one in particular]

Tried out this telescopic rod, Abu Garcia 30-60g lure rod, had it for ages but never used it before, not bad, packs away nicely. No fish, no mackerel despite plenty trying with feathers. We had a bit of a blow yesterday and it has kicked up the sediment so the sea was a bit murky, if it clears out later in the week I will have another go. The only fish which was a bit of a surprise was what looked like a decent Flounder that a chap had off the beach feathering. I like these pike floats for sea fishing, easy to see and alter the depth but I remembered to not ram the peg in too tightly, did that once and when it gets wet and swells up you cannot move it.

 

[Islandbear]

A good, but hot few hours bankside grabbed today. Hard graft at times, but so worth it for another block of gold Crucian, 3 tench and a nice slab of bream, who had a bit of tlc given before going back. The last tench was about 5 n a 1/2lbs and gave a good 10 min tussle. Just love the fight they give especially using the centrepin as you have more feel what's going on I reckon.

 

[chevin4]

It was back to the syndicate lake yesterday this time taking Alan (Whitty) as my guest. The forecast was promising light showers first thing then warm intermittent sunshine. It drizzled when I left Hitchin but had stopped by the time Alan and I met up at 6am. No sooner had we arrived in our chosen swims the heavens opened. Unfortunately I had left my large Korum umbrella in the car. By the time I had collected it and returned to my swim I was drenched literally soaked despite wearing wet weather trousers and jacket. It was still raining heavily when I made my first cast with the maggot feeder rod a positive bite and a roach of 1lb 8oz was in the net. After an hour or so the rain stopped but the wind was from the NE whilst the forecast had predicted a NW which would have meant it was blowing into our end of the lake. Throughout the day I caught several roach of from 4oz and 10oz and perch up to around a pound all coming to 1 red maggot and one plastic maggot. Alan and I decided to pack up at 6pm and then go for a drink. At around 5.30pm the second rod with the dedra kebab rig burst into life if I had lost the fish I would have put it down to a very big tench or carp the tench went 5lb 6oz but gave a great account of itself on my Chimera 2. I was disappointed for Alan despite getting his float working well he didn't catch any of the specimens the lake is renoun for. All in all it was an enjoyable day and look forward to taking Alan again who is great company.

 

[Alan Whitty]

It was a great day Hugh, thanks very much for the day, as you well know the lake's bigger fish don't give themselves up and I was caught by your last session with Tim, where you caught quality roach, when I fished last year I made my mind up not to fish maggot because of the number of smaller fish, but your roach sparked interest so maggot it was, now the roach were slightly bigger this time but were numerous and fed well at the time when the larger fish would have been active, when light levels were lower, how many fish did I catch, quite a few, probably upwards of fifty roach between 3 and 10ozs, probably more than 20 perch to 12ozs....
As for the rain, at one stage it was almost biblical.... we talked rods and reels, hooks etc, a typical anglers day, with good company, thanks again Hugh.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Back to my favourite section of the Clubs canal section this evening setup and fishing by 18:00 first bite was within seconds of casting in first 6 fish out all decent Perch around 3/4lb then a Bream got a photo but cant down load it humm good one 3lb or so few Roach plenty of Gudgeon little horrors 1 that i believe was a similar to a roach but loner slender fish normally a river fish brain has gone to sleep . anyhow nice little session spent about 2.5 hours there

 

[@Clive]

I picked Wilf up at 9:30 this morning and headed off to the Vienne, but not before he had proudly showed off his new feeder rod purchased in the sales at Pacific Peche in the big city. He was so chuffed at getting it below half price he went back round the shop and bought a float! I had already sorted floats for the venue, but instead tackled him up with his new loaded zoomer and a hook from the selection he had also bought with his discount.

We fished a stretch that would offer shade in the afternoon. As it was going to be over 30C that dictated the choice of venue. It normally is a very reliable swim, but this isn't a normal year. Higher than usual summer flows have resulted in no marginal weed. This corridor of green is important to the success of the swim. Still beggars can't be choosers and a shady swim big enough for two isn't that common round these parts. No chance of feeder fishing though. The bottom is a snag pit.

We both fished identical rigs. Sweetcorn bait just touching the bottom in about 6 feet of water in a slack off the main current. I put some groundbait in both places and added a few pellets. Wilf fished with his 13 foot Daiwa graphite float rod and I had my Allcock Wizard. He caught a carassin after about an hour, his first of that species.

I hadn't had a bite by then so tried trotting the current, fishing on the drop, fishing shallow and I even tried a sneaky soft pellet all without result. He then hooked the most amazing fish I have seen for years. In silhouette it was a bream. In colour it was a rudd. I put it in the keepnet to photograph at the end of the session, but it had other ideas, escaped his grip and disappeared into the river. It would have weighed around 1.5lb.

I never had a bite

 

[Ray Roberts]

Well I took myself off to the river Eden near Bough Beech today for a spot of roach fishing. It was the first time I’ve fished this particular club water this season. I’ve been a member of this club for a few years now. It only has around a hundred members, but this, their only water, is very lightly fished and most times you have it to yourself. Membership for old farts like me is just £15 per year and as this gives discounts at a local commercial, free fishing at Weirwood Reservoir and associate membership of another local club it’s as good value as it gets.

Being just up the road from Hever Castle lake it gets an unintentional stocking from there whenever it floods.

made up half a dozen thin tipped Avon style floats with roach fishing in mind. I’m pleased to say that they worked brilliantly. I arrived at around 2pm and set up my Drennan Floatmaster rod at 15ft and matched it with a Sheffield pin that I hadn’t used for a good while. They are a lovely free running reel and it would get more use if they had put the ratchet control on the right place, grrr.

I mainly baited with hemp and fished tares on the hook with an occasional change to corn. I tried hemp as hook bait but the size of the hemp was really too small to use successfully. Anyway they were having the tares and I caught loads of roach, not anywhere near the size I would have liked though. I had a few other species, a couple of chublets, half a dozen rudd and as far as I can remember the only gudgeon I’ve ever had on tares. It’s a very nice spot and the only low point of the afternoon occurred when I went to return a roach and it flipped from my hand and into my landing net, whereupon a fairly decent sized pike attacked it. The pikes teeth became entangled in the mesh of the net ang it went nuts, ripping a large hole in the mesh. I quite liked that net too, folds like a Korum spoon net but the fittings are all metal.

 

[no-one in particular]

I was going sea fishing but changed my mind, better tides next weekend and a calm spell next week might bring some mackerel in
So I hacked this swim out 100 yds up from where I hooked that carp a few weeks ago, thinking I had a bit of open water to play it in if I hooked one again. Second cast a big bream, 5-6lb, biggest I have ever seen in this river. Just got it in the landing net and as I shipped it in, it flapped and went down a hole in the vegetation into a little layby, it had water but could I get the landing net in there to bring it out, I had to snap the line in the end, then it couldn't get out, facing the wrong way but I did manage to help it turn with a stick. Anyway, it swam out and I don't think it should be too worse for wear, 10 barbless hook and about 4 inches of line, should get rid of it.
Nothing after that so I almost caught a fish!! on brown bread, a few nibbles and nothing on the sweetcorn, still, at least I have an extra swim now, under trees but just enough room for the rod. Kingfisher blitzed by and here is a little tip, my float rubber had broken, I had a length of that bread fastener wire in my box, wrapped that around, it did work, saved me dismantling everything.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Just had another nice evening on the Club section of the Shropshire union canal the usual culprits lots of reasonable perch Couple of Bream Gudgeon but the one is a first for me a Ruff al the years i ahve been fishing never ever caught one before prickley critter but a nice change

 

[Keith M]

Just had another nice evening on the Club section of the Shropshire union canal the usual culprits lots of reasonable perch Couple of Bream Gudgeon but the one is a first for me a Ruff al the years i ahve been fishing never ever caught one before prickley critter but a nice change

I don’t know if they stil are but Ruffe used to be fairly common in the river Thames and from the Grand Union Canal; we also had a few come into our estate lake with a consigment of Perch once too..

Keith