How did you get on?

[@Clive]

I had a few hours on one of the big lakes to use up some bait left over from Friday's session. I don't like fishing on weekends unless I can bury myself out of the way as French anglers when not fishing patrol the banks looking for anglers to talk to. As I had the dog I had to fish next to the car and that meant the chance of being engaged in lengthy discussions in French.

We left the house just after 12 noon and was back just before 5pm. In between I walked the dog twice and landed 33 fish, mostly small roach with a few small bream added.

Tactics were waggler 5 foot deep with double maggot on a 16 hook. I used a Greys TX Float rod and Mitchell 440A Match reel plus a home made balsa and crow quill waggler.

On these lakes you have to fish between 15 and 25 yards out. There is little chance of success in the margins. At one time I wouldn't have been able to see a float at that distance after suffering a ruptured epilithium. It took several years to heal properly but fortunately I now can spot the most subtle bites.

I plumbed the depth, put some groundbait and maggots in and began fishing. Within a few minutes a car pulled up and someone got out for a chat. One of four during the time that I was there including two lads with float tubes.

Initially it was slow then it picked up and in a purple patch between 3:10 & 4:00 when I packed up it was a bite a chuck. The fish were taking on the bottom, not on the drop as is usual. I was hitting the bites so quick they didn't have chance to squash the maggots so I got 3 or 4 fish without having to rebait. I missed a few bites too and there was no interest in sweetcorn.

Unfortunately the fish these days are only small. When I first fished here in 2012 1lb roach were fairly common. Perhaps the 50 or 60 cormorants that over winter here might have something to do with it?

 

[Alan Whitty]

Got up at just before 4am to head towards the small stream, on arrival 5 cars were in the car park, with more than 20 minutes before on time, meaning more anglers were likely to arrive, so I quickly decided to go on to the deep lake mentioned in my last post, it was pitch black on arrival with a barn owl gliding over the car whilst waiting for a little light, I had a swim in mind, one I blanked in a couple of years ago on pellet, but the depth is even(ish), whereas elsewhere it can be variable, around 12-13ft at around 20 yds, red maggot and hemp were bait for the day fished on the slider, ended the day with 19 roach between 4-10ozs, with a similar amount of perch, half of these were tiny, say an ounce, but 5 or 6 of them were between 8-12/14ozs, by christ it was cold, or I felt it was, when I got back to the car it showed 6.5°c, took all evening to warm up, even after a warm shower, I enjoyed it and can't wait to fish it with a breeze on it and a lower barometer reading...

 

[ian g]

Back on the Dee with my mate Mike , river at summer levels and fishing was good , Lots more access points to wade though my waders are on the way out , luckily the water is not to cold yet , though a day with a wet leg isn't ideal . Fishing wise I managed 16 grayling , 3 trout and a chub , my mate used to work in banking and always tells me how many he's caught so I kept a count today. I'm really getting into the travelling light active fishing that trotting for grayling offers .

 

[nottskev]

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

No worries Mick. Took me back to that soggy day we had.

 

[terry m]

Another walk down the Avon this morning. Recent forays have resulted in jacks up to around 8 lb, so expectations are realistic. An hour in and my paternostered smelt moved off at a speed that suggested another Jack. Tightened down and the resistance suggested otherwise. A solid fight for about 10 minutes resulted in a super condition 28lb 6oz specimen. Incredibly pleased, but the quest for the magical 30 continues.

 

[@Clive]

I had one of those days that you want to forget, but won't be able to. I had everything ready to fish on one of the big lakes. Everything except the weather. Instead of a gentle wind and low double figures temperature we got 7C and a biting northerly wind. Plus the showers that were due late afternoon arrived by 9am as a downpour.

Anyway, I drove to several locations looking for deep water and / or a sheltered bank as that is where I expected the fish to be. Lucky Ducky told me that on the Lee side the surface water temperature was almost 2 degrees colder that the upwind side. The only places that looked promising had banks too hard to get a brolly spike in.

While I was driving around the lakes I came across three chaps from the Fisheries Dept stocking fish in the swim I fished on Sunday. While I was there they put in over twenty pike of around 4lb to 8lb and eight bucket loads of small roach. Given that I regularly see up to 60 cormorants working the lake as a pack in winter I was surprised to see them increasing the predation.

I drove to the other side and carried the tackle about 150 yards to a remote swim where there was deep water. Two casts later I carried it all back again. The wind had veered round and it started to persist it down. I couldn't get my brolly spike in the ground so it was a wet walk back to the car.

I stopped off to walk the dog and intend spending the rest of the day tidying up my tackle cupboard.