How did you get on?

[nottskev]

I'd picked out some barbel gear last night, thinking that would be the plan, but I changed my mind over breakfast. With another mild, still day on the cards, I felt like a visit to the Derwent, the prettiest of all the rivers I fish. I knew I wouldn't be seeing many coarse fish, if any, but I'm happy to catch trout and grayling on the float.

The stretch is peculiarly deep with a stately pace and the last time this float came out - an Ultra balsa slider - was when I sat in the same swim in February.

I usually wait til the cold weather sets in before I fish here, and I paid a price for my impatience, getting pestered with minnows. Luckily I had plenty of maggots to feed them off, and fishing a couple of feet off the bottom with worm on the hook got bites from proper fish. The other problem I courted by an early visit was leaves, lots of them, as the river is in a steep wooded valley. Luckily, a kink in the river meant the flow took most of the leaves down the far side.

The fishing was a treat, with a couple of dozen little trout and grayling like these

And half a dozen decent sized trout - is there a more athletic, acrobatic fish, size for size, in our rivers? - of which these were the pick

 

[Aknib]

I occasionally wonder why I persevere with some waters and today I got a very good reminder.

I've fished this large, twenty acre plus gravel pit on and off for a number of years and i've enjoyed some spectacular Perch fishing, i've also had many biteless blanks which could probably be measured, in terms of time accumulated, in weeks rather than days.

To that effect I arrived just before dawn this morning, killing the headlights on the car well before I arrived at my particular spot whereafter I quietly unloaded the car and carefully tackled up what I could in the darkness before sitting back and taking stock of things. It's not the easiest of waters being generally gin clear and as daylight broke I could see that was in fact the case and I did notice I had a dense weedbed right beneath me. This encouraged me as, not only did it clear after around six feet out as the depth dropped, it also led to around ten feet of water a rod and a half length out which I reckoned would provide a good patrol route.

It's a couple of years since i've fished this pit and, whilst I set my stall out for anything that swims I did put a heavy emphasis on Perch with a 4lb mainline, 3.3 flourocarbon hooklink tied to a size 12 B911X below a 3BB homemade waggler from a collection I made specifically for this and other waters like it.

The atmosphere couldn't have been better...

A typically still autumnal morning with the gentle fall of every leaf on the trees behind me easily audible as they rattled through the branches enroute to the ground and there was quite a thick, still mist... I fancied it.

Chopped worm went in the groundbait and I had red maggots to constantly trickle in over the top and, having made the first cast, I balled in three decent size helpings along with a sprinkling of reds hand fed over the top. Bait was nipped worm and two red maggots cocktail.

Whilst I was, given the mild, murky conditions, expecting a bite or two I didn't think the first would come so quick given the baiting disturbance and a good inch and a half of black float tip, set high for worm fishing, slid slowly and definitely away until the last pimple of tip disappeared and I struck into what felt like a nice lump of angry, head shaking Perch. After a very respectable fight on the fish's behalf I slipped the net under a very pristine looking Perch which went 1lb 11oz and I was more than happy with that.

The second cast went one better and with an identical, almost slow motion sail away bite which became the benchmark for all of them throughout the day, I slipped the net under a great fish which went 2lb 10oz and after two casts I was delighted given what can be the case on this water.

By 9.15am I had netted five good Perch at:

1lb 11ozs
2lb 4ozs
2lb 5ozs
2lb 10ozs
3lb 3 ozs

All had a few things in common being bold in colour and pristine in condition and they were stout, solid, bull shouldered fish which I suspect have been feeding hard for some time and particularly during the low pressure murky conditions we've had around here for the last week.

I fished on of course and took two more Perch of 2lb 2ozs and 3lb 1ozs along with a couple of sub pound fish, I would have been delighted with the 2's but the 3's made it really special...

A magical session on a magical day which reminded me why I keep going back despite the blanks and made all the sweeter for the fact that the reel I used is knocking on for forty years old...

I'm tempted to have another go at them whilst i'm off work but i've done that before after such a session and know how that could turn out so I think i'll have a go at something else and let this little bubble float for a while before I rush to stick a pin in it

 

[ian g]

I've had a few sessions on the Severn when perch are just so easy to catch and many others when that's not the case . It's what keeps us going . That is a fabulous catch , they are really my favourite fish

 

[chevin4]

I had a day booked at a famous River Lea weir last Thursday. The conditions were not ideal being bright and sunny after a misty start so confidence was low. The river was still high and pushing through. My plan was to fish a maggot feeder during the daylight hours alternating with lob worm on a second rod. The fish at the venue are huge as I was on my own I felt it was prudent to fish with one rod. I switched to meat once dusk arrived. The swim at the edge of the white water had one for two bad snags which weren't there when I fished it last. After loosing a feeder and bait dropper I switched to an in-line lead after which I had no further losses of end tackle. Unfortunately no bites were forthcoming but I will try and book in again when conditions are more condusive.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Been today to the irrigation ressie, which is still low, so fished a waggler and maggot in around 8ft of water at around 20yds, the small perch are still a nuisance, I had around 50-60 of em to 6ozs but had 4 between 8-12ozs, 25 roach from 4 to 8ozs, two hybrids 8-12ozs, a skimmer and an ide... there were hundreds of mallards, which know what a catty is and when I packed up and opened the gate, the adjoining field had 14 fallow deer grazing, a lovely sight in the fading light....

 

[Steve Arnold]

Alistair wanted to fish yesterday but there was still too much flow for many of my preferred sections. So I decided the easiest swim for the afternoon would be a boat landing area where the current leaves the shoreline and cuts out across the river, that leaves a nice slack of quite deep water. With luck we should get a few fish!

Alistair took one barbel from this slacker water whilst I cast about 60 metres to the edge of a strong crease where the main current was bombing through. That took a 99gr grip lead and a big bow in the line to achieve, but the result was three barbel of decent size. The biggest was 5lbs 12ozs and looked good in the brilliant autumn sunshine.....

A lovely afternoon with some of the best views in this wonderful river valley......

We fished until dark, the perch were chasing the large shoals of bleak and roach but there were no more barbel. I always like to persevere at the end of the day, that few minutes as the light diminishes to absolute darkness can so often bring the best fish.

Just a short drive home now, duck breast for dinner (it's the local speciality) and a raspberry sponge pudding for dessert. I know when the fishing is over!

 

[mikench]

I thought I would give this thread a miss unless I could record fabulous fish in glorious surroundings. I then rationalised the reality that such requirements would preclude any posts at all.

Gordon and I arrived at a pool which usually affords plenty of roach and carp. It was just light with a stiffer SE breeze than of late which made it feel cooler than it was. There was also a very fine drizzle for the first few hours.

We both encountered a rare occurrence . One on a par with a sighting of Halleys Comet or a meal cooked by Er indoors. Gordon blanked and I didn’t . It was the first time this year and possibly the first time on this pool. Gordon fished the float and I the feeder on the basis that if I was blanking and he was catching I would switch to the float. Sadly the fish were disinterested in everything he offered including maggots. It was very odd that his float never moved all day. There were thousands of fry swimming around in large shoals, fish around 1;to 2”. Where they have been hiding all year lawd knows. I hope he recovers from the shock quickly .

I managed 3 mirror around the 7lb mark . This was the best.

It was cold and frustrating. However we enjoyed being out in the fresh air and having the chance of a chat to put the world to rights. Not quite but we tried. We had the pool to ourselves: everybody else had more sense. See you next week Gordon and thanks for your company..

 

[chevin4]

It was a change of plan this week. I had originally planned to fish Monday afternoon and evening on the syndicate stretch of the Lea. Unfortunately I was feeling the affects of a heavy cold. Feeling better I decided to join Tim for a session on the local stream yesterday although I would need to pack up earlier then I would have liked. The stream. was low and clear as a consequence it was hard going and several had packed up by lunchtime. I fished maggot with dace and roach in mind. I fished with a small running feeder 4lb main line and 3lb hook link to a size 16 Drennan Red Carp hook most fish came on this set up. As it was calm I used my Purist CL centrepin on a 12ft Free Spirit CTX float rod to have an hour or so of trotting I caughtv about a dozen minnows on this set up and a nice roach and dace of around 8oz. I finished up with 6 different species of fish namely barbel chub roach perch dace and minnows. All in all it was an enjoyable days fishing and will return when we get sone rain.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I thought I would give this thread a miss unless I could record fabulous fish in glorious surroundings. I then rationalised the reality that such requirements would preclude any posts at all.

Gordon and I arrived at a pool which usually affords plenty of roach and carp. It was just light with a stiffer SE breeze than of late which made it feel cooler than it was. There was also a very fine drizzle for the first few hours.

View attachment 32129
We both encountered a rare occurrence . One on a par with a sighting of Halleys Comet or a meal cooked by Er indoors. Gordon blanked and I didn’t . It was the first time this year and possibly the first time on this pool. Gordon fished the float and I the feeder on the basis that if I was blanking and he was catching I would switch to the float. Sadly the fish were disinterested in everything he offered including maggots. It was very odd that his float never moved all day. There were thousands of fry swimming around in large shoals, fish around 1;to 2”. Where they have been hiding all year lawd knows. I hope he recovers from the shock quickly .

I managed 3 mirror around the 7lb mark . This was the best.

View attachment 32130
It was cold and frustrating. However we enjoyed being out in the fresh air and having the chance of a chat to put the world to rights. Not quite but we tried. We had the pool to ourselves: everybody else had more sense. See you next week Gordon and thanks for your company..

Nice write up and Photos Mike.

I think it’s good to post both the failures as well as the successes Mike. If we only post the good trips, it’s easy to come over as the bastard offspring of Richard Walker and Ivan Marks, lol.

Everybody suffers the odd blank, particularly if they like to try different; venues, baits or methods. They are my default get out clauses for blanking by the way.

Personally, I consider it a sort of blank if I don’t catch the species I was actually targeting. It’s nice to catch, but even nicer to catch what you are aiming for. If I was fishing for roach and a double figure pike took one on the way in and I landed it, it would be a nice bonus, but wouldn’t give me anywhere near the buzz of catching it by design.

I’m not trying to teach you to suck eggs, and I am well aware that Gordon is a pretty good angler, and who would usually be depended on to catch, but fish can shoal up quite tightly at times, and trying different spots within your swim can sometimes get you catching, or if it seems really dire moving to a different swim entirely often works. This was brought home to me years ago, when myself and a couple of mates fished a lake that was new to us all. Richard picked his swim first, then Steve and then me. Mine was a nice looking point swim opposite an island. First fish to me. Healthy looking bream of about six pounds on the float. My swim looked the pick of the three and I thought that with such a great start that I was going to be in for a good day, but after that single fish, not a touch. Three hours later I asked Steve how he was doing. Not a bite. I walked down to Richard and he was catching some nice roach. Which to be honest, was pretty amazing, as he is one of the unluckiest anglers I know. He isn’t bad technically, but can usually be relied upon to blank.

I gathered my gear and moved two swims down from Richard. From then on it was a fish a cast for me, decent sized roach too. After a bit I checked on Steve. Still not a bite, I suggested moving to the vacant spot between Richard and myself, but for reasons of his own he decided not to.

Richard had possibly his best day up until then, I had it right off as well and poor old Steve remained bite-less. Why he stuck it out was a bit of a mystery, as after a few hours the writing was on the wall. The fish were quite clearly tightly grouped and being outside of that zone was a waste of time.

Sometimes it can take a while to get the fish feeding and many times I have been bite-less for quite a while before the fish switched on, even in the summer. But when it’s colder sometimes a move is a good move, so to speak. The difficulty is knowing whether to stick it out and wait or to move.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Blanks are part and parcel of fishing Ray, mine at least, whilst at Christchurch I blanked four out of seven evenings, and strangely my outing this week would have been better with less bites(from small perch in particular), I plan a trip tomorrow which will either be to the small river or a deep lake a few miles from there, all dependant on how busy the river is, as to fish a bad peg for the day makes getting up early a waste...

 

[mikench]

Thanks Ray for your kind and helpful comments. I could put Gordon and I in the same category as Whitehouse and Mortimer or Steve and Alistair on the basis that one is a skilled and committed angler and one is not.. I know my limitations which are less apparent on occasion but present all the same. We have a good friendship and tend to stick to our preferred methods. Gordon regularly offers me some maggots and suggests I try the float if only to save a blank. In truth I am a lazy angler and once set up and comfortable, I am reluctant to change pegs. We have a refrain stated repeatedly when fishing is slow. - “ any minute now Gordon/ Mike” and often the fish start to feed.

i like to show photos as they demonstrate that it’s not just the fish one catches that are important but the ambience of the place they are caught in. There are some very good photographers on here whose pics I enjoy. The Lot valley is beautiful as are so many places in France. I never shirk from posting about how I got on even if it was badly in the hope that others will be encouraged to do so even if no fish were caught. It truly is fishing not catching. If there is one thing I have learned about club waters and the write ups about them is that they are out of date and inaccurate. Anglers tales most of them. I just hope I can continue fishing and enjoying the whole kit and caboodle .

 

[@Clive]

I picked Wilf up at 8:30 this morning. He was ready and keen to get off as usual, probably more so after 6 weeks of light duties following a hernia repair repair operation. He had two rods, a feeder rod and a float rod. No chair, nets, rod rests, or tackle except two packets of totally unsuitable hooks to nylon and two feeders that would do at a pinch. We found out later that he had no specs or drink.

I am only responsible for choosing the venue, transport, end tackle, rod rests, nets, chairs, bait, setting all the rods up, netting and unhooking all the fish, untangling the many tangles.............

We arrived at a local lake where last fished just before the summer holiday season. Given Wilf's lack of specs and colour blindness I suggested that he started with a groundbait feeder with double maggot bait. I set up my Greys TX 12ft float rod, Mitchell 440A Match and a sliding waggler to fish the 10 deep swim. Previous experience has taught me that the fish are around 20 yards or more out. It was perfectly calm and I could fish on the drop that seems to work best. Wilf launched his feeder a full 8 yards and settled down to wait for a bite. It took him 4 hours before his feeder landed the same distance as my 3AAA waggler and by then he had narrowed his casting arc from 120 degrees to 45. Despite this we both caught steadily and despite my having to unhook his fish and deal with the many tangles I was doing OK on the float until the wind got up just before lunch time.

I switched to a feeder and caught a few roach and bream before the wind dropped enough to make float fishing viable again. By then we both had caught bream to almost 3lb and roach to around 8oz. Wilf's catch rate dropped off after lunch whilst I was getting regular bites on the drop and if not a quick wind or two on the reel handle often resulted in a dip of the float. I followed the fish up in the water ending up about 4 feet off the bottom. Even the bream were in that zone.

End tally was just over 50 fish, probably two-thirds bream and the rest roach barring one rudd.

 

[flightliner]

Almost a month since my last visit to a river but yesterday i had chance to go local to the Don near Sheffields centre.
It wasnice to get out and the river that had'nt seen rain several weeks was low but still very fishable.
I set up my usual blob float with two number 6 shot spaced out evenly between the two feet ov depth 'tween float and hook, a fifty plus year old mitchell 300 attached to a shakey 11foot pellet waggler completed the set up.
My second trot down at the very end of the swim gave me my first Greyling followed by 4 more before the swim died.
In total I fished six swims for total of fifteen fish,ten Greyling, four Trout, and a solitery Minnow.
I took a few photo's of the day.

 

[nottskev]

Almost a month since my last visit to a river but yesterday i had chance to go local to the Don near Sheffields centre.
It wasnice to get out and the river that had'nt seen rain several weeks was low but still very fishable.
I set up my usual blob float with two number 6 shot spaced out evenly between the two feet ov depth 'tween float and hook, a fifty plus year old mitchell 300 attached to a shakey 11foot pellet waggler completed the set up.
My second trot down at the very end of the swim gave me my first Greyling followed by 4 more before the swim died.
In total I fished six swims for total of fifteen fish,ten Greyling, four Trout, and a solitery Minnow.
I took a few photo's of the day. View attachment 32147View attachment 32148View attachment 32152View attachment 32156

You picked the right river there, Mick, and doesn't it look pretty. I was out after barbel on the Trent. A poor choice in the conditions, but with the mild spell cooling down now I thought I might catch before more wintry weather sets in. The one barbel I hooked on the float came off. Is that better or worse than not getting a bite?

 

[ian g]

I fished a new stretch of the Severn , well not new as such but right at the very upstream limit . A long walk probably 1 1/2 miles cross country . My fishing mate had fished the stretch from the other bank and wanted to try from our side . I managed a couple of perch and a roach all around 3/4lb he had 3 barbel . I enjoyed fishing a new bit of river but can't help thinking I walked past a lot of fish to do so

 

[Aknib]

My trip on Friday saw a couple of fish but not the big river Perch I was after.

A long trudge up the riverbank in pre-dawn darkness to settle into a run i'd earmarked as a good looking Perch swim back in the Summer whilst enjoying a rude afternoon on the Barbel... Deep with a huge eddy forming on the inside where the flow diverted to the far bank.

Legered king prawn was the bait and after underarming in I let the bait fish for around half an hour before attempting to reel in and finding I was snagged and had to pull for a break. Before re-tackling I tied on a 3/8oz bomb and underarmed it out only to never see that again either and it was clear that the eddy part of this swim was a snag pit.

With that in mind I set up a 3SSG link leger and again underarmed out and as I was settling the tip 2oz I could feel the tremors before it hooped over nicely and I thought I was into the intended species but it turned out to be a Chub and a good 5lb of Chub at that.

I fished on, still very early and murky, and I was getting my bait and gear back every time which settled me but i'd heard a couple of plops and shortly after an otter made it's way across the river, either oblivious to my presence or satisfied that I presented no threat, before doubling back to the pool right where I was fishing, doing that twisty back stroke type of thing as he went and that spelled the end of that run.

I tried two more runs and pools without any real conviction before settling in a fourth which resulted in a very sharp pull and, separately, a small jack of around a pound which nailed my bait on the retrieve.

By this time I didn't feel like a big river Perch was going to be on the cards and having enjoyed a good walk and a couple of other fish I decided to have a late morning finish and ate the remainder of my bait which was...

Delicious.

 

[mikench]

whilst enjoying a rude afternoon on the Barbel..

Does your girlfriend know you call her that Steve?

 

[flightliner]

You picked the right river there, Mick, and doesn't it look pretty. I was out after barbel on the Trent. A poor choice in the conditions, but with the mild spell cooling down now I thought I might catch before more wintry weather sets in. The one barbel I hooked on the float came off. Is that better or worse than not getting a bite?

 

[flightliner]

That spot with the hanging branch is where we last fished the Don Kev.

 

[flightliner]

Kev, sorry bowt my pic on your post I got things all mixed up!