How did you get on?

[ian g]

Met up with a couple of mates yesterday on the Severn . We were targeting perch and my mate had caught 8 including 4 over 2lb before I arrived . I was on taxi duty dropping my wife off for lunch with friends . I managed a couple of decent perch around a pound and a half each when I hooked a better fish which I initially thought was a big perch , before a salmon jumped right in front of me , snagged me in a nearside willow . Ended up pulling for a break . Managed a nice roach around a pound but no more perch.

 

[terry m]

I opted for an early morning stroll down the Avon today, still searching for the elusive behemoth Esox. Dropped into a regular swim which only threw up a small Jack that fell off at the net. Upped sticks and wandered downstream to a new spot, the heavy flow meant fishing under the near bank was the obvious choice. Just as the rain arrived my lift method mackerel was off, and a lean but fit 11lb 1oz pike was banked. No behemoth, but very welcome. The rain worsened, so called it a day and was back home by midday.

 

[nottskev]

I wasted the morning eating an extended breakfast and mooching around til, at around midday, I thought the mild, still day was too nice to waste any further. Since the light's going after 4 now, it had to be the local canal or the nearest place on the river. I went for the river, thinking dace on the whip, a decision I started to regret when I found the only swims I could get down to were short ones boxed in by overhanging trees; definitely feeder pegs.

Dace on the feeder are a recipe for frustration. You can have bite after bite and catch hardly any. Fortunately, there are a couple of tweaks that help, but even so no dace were interested and the little feeder was coming back full of maggots. It can happen when the water's a lot colder than the air, and I had to cut the holes bigger to let the feed do its job

After half an hour I was getting a dace most casts and forgetting that I don't really enjoy feeder fishing

But it was the couple of unexpected fish that turned up just before the end that pleased me most. I've had one of these before from this stretch, but this one was a bit bigger and looked so incongruous with its urban middle Trent environment

I was thinking that rounds the afternoon off nicely when the tip bounced and something pulled back a bit and another pristine fish finished off a lucky, last minute, casual few hours

 

[chevin4]

There were no dramas this time so I was able to drive over the level crossing to gain access to the syndicate stretch of the Lea. I was accompanied by my mate Tim who i took as a guest. Omens were good as a fellow angler who was packing up had caught a 17lb barbel the previous evening. The plan was to use natural baits ie lobworms in the day and switch to boillies or in Tim's case meat at dusk. Dispite our best efforts only one small perch was caught. It was a surprisingly warm and bright day we decided to call it a day at 7pm. But as Arnie would say "I will be back" indeed I will be there again on Thursday. Last Tuesday I went with another friend to our local small stream. It was almost spring like we got there early by 10am the place was rammed. I fished in the darkness with my Torrix 1.5tc 11ft with barbel in mind bait was maggot and small running feeder. It was obvious that roach and chub were dropping the bait. I switched over to my Harrison 1.2 11ft 6 with 2oz tip. This is a light actioned rod and a pleasure to play fish on. I finished up with 7 barbel up to 5lb 14oz a few chublets and a couple of nice roach approx 12oz. It was an enjoyable days fishing but the brightness and clarity of the water worked against us

 

[Steve Arnold]

I have had two short afternoon sessions on my local stretch of the Lot. Despite the weather having been dry this last week the flow is enormous and it is only possible to fish close to the bank or where canal sections join the river. Usually this swim will bring barbel, but not this time!

Whilst I pondered my fishless situation I watched hundreds of tiny fish grazing the flooded grass under my feet. Such brave little creatures, but quick to take advantage of fresh feeding areas. Look for the eyes, you might just make out three of these tiny fish.......

So after a couple of biteless hours I moved a few yards to fish the main river, impossible to hold more than 10 metres out even with a 115gr weight fished almost directly downstream!

But the barbel were there, ambitious little fish that attacked the bait with vigour until eventually one found the hook point......

The next three were a little bigger, probably about 1lb.

The last time I fished here I dropped a couple of small barbel at the surface, I suspected they were holding the bait in their mouths but not actually hooked. This was confirmed this time when I reeled in a fish that did not fight the usual way, got the net under and lifted, to find two barbel.

........ one hooked and the other must have been hanging on to the spat out boilie!

I caught three more, one bearing the marks of a recent cormorant attack.

This is quite the barbel nursery, I will give it a break until winter as it is rapidly bringing down the size of my seasonal average fish!

Good to see that the recent barbel spawning years have been so good. All this extra flow definitely suits this species!

 

[ian g]

Fished a local stretch of the Dee today , 9.30 until 3 o'clock . Trotted maggots and after a slow start I managed to find a few . Catching around 20 grayling a few trout ,a dace and a chub around 2 lb . Grayling ranged from a couple of ounces to around a pound with most 8 0z or so . I am getting a bit of a taste for trotting this lovely river , nice to just be doing something all the time , though I think about 5 hours does me . I had a go on the Dove on Monday and really struggled , one grayling and a few minnows for around 8 hours hard fishing so was glad to get a few today.

 

[peterjg]

This month (October) I have been fishing 11 times. Had 2 trips to the Kennet and did ok both times catching some roach and 1 bream on legered bread, I lost a very big roach which hit the surface and twisted off - blast! (or something similar). I tried trotting wheat which is normally so good but without success. Funny how some baits lose their appeal with the seasons?
A trip on the K&A was a bit of a struggle, eventually managed 6 smallish roach on dead maggots. The boats are normally a pain but at least they colour up the water, none passed today.
A few trips on local lakes. The decent roach there have switched off and are now feeding only in darkness though did catch a carp of about 10lbs on legered dead maggots - pellets, bread, sweetcorn untouched!
Fished the Thames twice, the roach were not in the edge but in the faster water. Legered sweetcorn was best producing some very decent roach, a bream and a chub. Twice had roach grabbed by pike. On both trips saw an otter, one was much bigger than the other, also cormorants - too many predators!
The leaves seem to be falling later this year?

 

[Steve Arnold]

My last two visits to the river Lot brought me over a dozen small barbel. It's nice to get a bite, but fish under 1kg bring down my seasonal average. I told myself this wasn't acceptable! So I went down the river before dawn this morning, looking for a carp. Only one hit, but a nice 24lb carp, a good result to raise my average. Mission accomplished!

Bit of a smug smile, not often a plan actually does work out!

 

[Philip]

Now thats a classic looking river Carp. No doubt to my mind that fish has spent all its life in a moving enviroment.

Well done Steve great catch

 

[mikench]

Agreed. A perfect specimen with no mouth damage. A lovely fish.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Agreed. A perfect specimen with no mouth damage. A lovely fish.

Hi Mike, we are very lucky on this river, so many fish and not many anglers............and most of the anglers you do see fishing will be using floats and maggots for bleak and small roach. Good news for me as these anglers are oblivious to the huge fish swimming deep in this mysterious river!

I have had quite a lot of carp out of one section of this river, never caught the same fish twice. The only damage to the fish I have seen is scars from surviving the rough and tumble of winter floods in a wild river, maybe some fins torn I suspect by optimistic attacks from the many cormorants here.

Last year I had a 30lb+ carp with a hole in its side, looked like the wound left by a hagfish.

Otherwise, so many perfect specimens!

 

[seth49]

Back on our syndicate water for a change, it was supposed to be dry, but it never stopped drizzling all day, so although it was 12 degrees the high humidity made it feel miserable, I started on a peg which usually produced a few fish but after two hours not a thing, not even a liner, so as mick was catching a few, he said I could fish the next peg to him, it was very slow, one tench after a couple of hours, then a small carp, and another tench later on, and that was it.

we had had enough by 2pm, and decided to pack up and miss the traffic. much more days like this and I’ll be joining mick in hibernation for the winter, there is a day ticket stretch on the ribble I might fish a few times, but I’m all aches and pains with the damp yesterday.

 

[@Clive]

I had an afternoon on the Charente on Tuesday and a day on ths Vienne today. I tried two swims on each day fishing the standard barbel tactics and baits that have been successful for the last 12 years. Not a touch! On Tuesday I started with lobworm then went through maize, chickpeas, soft hooker pellets and 16mm boilies and used the usual fermented groudbait, hemp, maize & pellets as loose feed. The worms brought rattles of the tip and switching to a smaller worm got me a roach (throwback to match fishing days when it was important to get something in the net). Today was the same, but I couldn't even catch a roach. They were nibbling it right down to a few millimetres where the hook was.

Something has changed with the local rivers. I see carp and can catch carassins and small silvers, but the chub, barbel and bream are absent. Apart from the two 3lb barbel I caught last week in a swim that should have usually been a 6 to 8 fish mixed bag of barbel and bream to around 6lb I have not touched either species since spring.

 

[The Sogster]

Went today with a friend to a local river for a few hours.
I travelled light, just a small bag, chair and rod bag. Bait was exclusively bread (uncut whole loaf) fished in large cubes 1 inch plus to a size 6, as my mate would say hoping for Bleak.
If I'm making the effort the fish can too.
Tried a few swims without success, plenty of tiny trembles on the 'tip but no real bites worth striking at.
Third swim I had a positive bite and struck into a decent feeling fish for a moment - a couple of head/ tail shakes and then I was snagged.
Very chub like and very disappointing.
Unfortunately that was the best of the day.

 

[mikench]

Gordon and I went to a familiar venue and set up in mud and drizzle.

It didn’t really get light all day but the drizzle ceased mid morning. I really hate mud when it squelches underfoot and splashes over all your gear and clothing. Drop anything and it’s covered. Gordon was on the float and I stuck with the feeder. I fished like a plonker. I wanted a bend in the rod and had 4 excellent examples. The trouble was I only landed one. 2 shed the hook before I realised the drag was tightened down and yielding nothing. I changed hooks, slackened off the drag and was soon into to a big carp. After a struggle it too came off . Gordon meanwhile was catching small roach and skimmers. He had some fair sized skimmers which belied their usual paper bag struggles. He finally caught the fish of the day, a mirror of around 10lb.

We didn’t get the chance to weigh it as it jumped from the net and slithered down the muddy bank into the water. My fourth significant take resulted in a common of about 8lb which I recognised by its damaged mouth. It probably took pity on me. It too unhooked itself in the net and escaped to the water after a cackhanded attempt to net it. I had forgotten to extend the twist lock handle and struggled to gather it in in the shallow water. Not my finest moment.

It’s a lovely spot with this view behind.

Well done Gordon, I was out fished again. Next week I might just join you on the float with maggots.

 

[nottskev]

Another lazy, didn't get out til noon session on the river 5 mins down the road. I was tempted to go back to Tuesday's swim, but I couldn't face the near-vertical bank and the mud bath after a drizzly morning so I went downstream where one or two historic platforms have yet to decompose

I've just checked on google maps, and I was 5km upstream of the City Ground, so congratulations to the Forest fans for making enough noise to let me know they'd scored early v West Ham. It was another lovely still, mild afternoon, so perfect to run a 5 no 4 stick float through a brisk-paced 5' deep swim. Looking back, I'd have done better with seed baits as roach were the main species, but I expected to be fishing for dace and only had maggot. The fish were skittish and pike attacks stopped them settling in any one place, but roach and a few dace came along

I was hoping my swim's deep, over-grown margin would throw up a perch or a chub, but nothing doing, so no bigger fish today but still very enjoyable

 

[Alan Whitty]

Just returned from our October Christchurch Break, fishing afternoon/evening sessions, had 6 chub four biggest a pb, 7lbs 4ozs, along with a 6-1, 5-10 and 5-5, so quite successful, pictures below, the largest fish, a mate took the photo, he was disappointed as the fish was absolutely ginormous.... but photos are one dimensional....

 

[Alan Whitty]

For some reason I can't put these pictures on order of size, so here goes, first picture is a humpty backed 5lb 5oz, second is 6lbs 1oz, third is the 7lbs 4oz and finally the 5lbs 10oz, nice chevins all and the other two I had were gratefully received even though they were only 2 to 2-8...

 

[Philip]

Well done Alan 7lb 4oz ..thats a whopper!

...not often.you can say the 6 pounder was the "small" one

 

[Alan Whitty]

As seen in the picture the light was well and truly going and I was under trees, so when I got the fish into the net, though I knew it was a goodun I didn't know how good until the headtorch was switched on, I called my mate who was sitting prepping dinner and he gladly walked down and took the pictures, which left it even darker...
I emailed the picture to Chevin4 (Hugh) and he mentioned my nice coat, which I took as a joke, so just to say it is a Vass lightweight waterproof, which IS waterproof and packs away into a large freezer bag, very handy that night in at times heavy drizzle, which turned into monsoon drops falling from the branches above, lol....