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.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Yesterday I persuaded Alistair we should take a look at "The Garden" swim. It is not a long drive for us and is shallow, but the fish are often there. The weather for the afternoon was forecast to be cold, a little rain and a NE wind. It's quite an exposed stretch so this would be our first proper taste of winter fishing this year!

My main reason for choosing this stretch was RiverApp indicated the flow would drop to almost nothing at some point, allowing me to cast a bait to the opposite side where there are often carp cruising.

When we first arrived the river was still dropping and quite low already, but a strong flow. So a swimfeeder midriver with a paste covered boilie bait was my choice. Quite quickly a small barbel was in the net......

But that was it from the barbel! A couple of hours later the flow finally almost stopped, I quickly used my heavier rod to put a bait 80 yds downstream across near the far bank. A chance of a carp, I was hopeful anyway!

About 30 minutes past and the rod tip nodded a couple of times, a few seconds later the rod tip pulled around. Yes, it was a carp!

I shouted on Alistair to get the net, no reply! Looking back to his car I could just make out the top of his hat, his chin down obviously fast asleep! God, that man is a rubbish ghillie!!!!!

So I worked my way across the muddy bank to the net, then down the slippery slope full of tree roots to snag my legs. Somehow the fish stayed on the hook during this kerfuffle. So I netted the fish eventually and struggled back up the bank where I rattled Alistairs car window. "What's up" he says, "the net" says I......

Well the river has started running again, so that was it with the carp.

So I cast under the nearside bank trees and found just one pretty chub.....

That was it. I enjoyed reading and playing my cards right, a very satisfactory outcome in the poor conditions.

Alistair? he blanked, deservedly so!

 

[@Clive]

After an early lunch I set off for the lakes in much better weather than yesterday. High pressure, blue sky, no rain but a blustery east wind to make 10C feel like half that.

I also still have the dog as my wife is away so that had also to be taken into consideration. I set up in a swim opposite bank to where they released several thousand tiny roach and some pike yesterday. It was sheltered from the wind and had 10 foot of depth a few rod lengths out. The wind meant that the rig had to be primarily designed not to tangle. As it turned out the fish were nailed to the bottom, not hunting in mid-water.

I had a pint of frozen casters, some worms and maize & hemp groundbait. The bites on caster were initially too quick for me to hit so I changed to worm and got into the action. Also the few dead reds amongst the casters got good bites. After an hour I got the dog from the car and settled her down just out of touching range so she couldn't paw me to let me know her dissatisfaction. She is a reluctant angling companion.

I fished until 4pm and had an estimated 30+ roach and 1 bream. I didn't use a keepnet today. Towards the end I managed to hit the bites on casters as they were taking more readily. When you think that nobody else but me bait fishes these places it is good that fish take maggots and casters so readily.

 

[nottskev]

Had a couple of short afternoon sessions this week. Conditions are poor for fishing but can you complain when you're basking in the sun mid-November?

Monday I tried the marina. About 4' below the level I usually fish it and so clear I saw things I've never seen before, like the weed 6' down in the edge. Fishing various depths and distances with hemp and tares on a 2AAA slider, I ended up with around 25 roach of this stamp

The weather today was much the same and I'd have passed on the fishing, but it seemed a shame to waste a sunny afternoon. I settled for the river just down the road on the grounds that dace might be a species willing to feed in low, clear water in bright sun after a cold night. Thanks to the loving care of the controlling club, pegs where you can fish float are suicidally dangerous and any safe pegs have trees below that stop you doing it and make you fish feeder

Dace can shred your maggot in the blink of an eye, and it took a lot of modifications before I was coming back with one every cast. Or nearly every cast, to be honest. Still. it's a good game, and the dace were a decent size

I enjoyed both sessions, but I'll be happy when the weather moves into another phase.

 

[John Aston]

I had a perch-tastic day on the river . Finding no perch at home in the places they'd been active on Monday I fished a nearby swim where I'd never even had a take before. But between 3pm and 4-30 I had a dozen perch ,mainly 1lb- ish, but including three twos , with two fish at 2-8 . All on lobworm mid river on my lovely 11ft Drennan Acolyte Feeder rod .

The best thing about the day is that , ten years after starting to fish for perch in earnest , I have now cracked a century of twos. So I am feeling very pleased with myself . It will wear off soon enough...

 

[terry m]

Back down the river this morning armed with my pike rods. As grey skies gave way to blue sunshine the float chugged off and a spectacular fight ensued with the fish going seriously airborne three times, unusual for a larger specimen. Thankfully the gear held out and a beautiful lean 18lb 8oz female was on the mat. I am wondering how much longer this purple patch will last. Happy to enjoy it while I can.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I went fishing on a stretch of the Gt. Ouse above Bedford I've never laid eyes on, a rare thing indeed, got there to find the river low and clear, but with a fair pace on it, the swim I opted for was 10ft deep and around 20yds wide with a fallen tree opposite, I thought the clarity would mean decent chub or bust, wrong, ended up with 41 chublets between 3-10ozs, 40 dace to around 6ozs and a solitary roach to be of around half an ounce, bites virtually cast in beautiful surroundings, one other angler about 15 swims away(the bailiff), he came and had a chat as I packed and told me about the numbers of decent perch present(Hugh would be interested)....

 

[@Clive]

An afternoon on the Charente for me. No point going early as the fishing shop doesn't open until 10am and I needed live maggots. I bought a pint of reds and stopped off for some food before taking the dog for a walk along the bank. By the time I had finished all that it was time for an early lunch. I had parked away from the swim that I intended to fish so before lunch was commenced I crept into the tight swim and dropped a few maggots in. Nothing stirred and I put in about ten small handfulls before slinking back out to eat.

When I had finished I went back to add more maggots. As I put about 20 in 3 chub appeared from under where I was standing. The bank is about 4 feet higher than the water and it is 8 feet deep straight down. The chub were under the roots of the tree that I was hiding behind. I didn't want them under my feet so I added more bait downstream to lure them away.

I set up the Allcocks Wizard up with a sliding Avon that I only finished last night. Three small worms were hooked on a VMC 16 to 4lb line and I crept back into the swim initially just taking essentials in a small tray. No chair or seat box, just a landing net, rod, bait and a few bits & pieces.I put another 20 or so maggots downstream then swung the bait out taking care to avoid the overhanging foliage. The float hadn't been in service for 10 seconds when it slid sideways and I hooked one of the chub. It snagged me in the nearside bank as they do and I brought in a few bits of foliage with the net that the line had caught around as you can see in the photo. It is only 5lb line, but looks like towrope in the photo

By now the swim was disturbed so I added some groundbait and then kept trickling in maggots. However, no matter what I tried; trotting, laying on, float/ledgering nothing else disturbed the bait. I gave it three hours and went off to check out some swims where I could take Wilf next week. I had an extendable tree lopper and shears with me so as to make the swims fishable. I took a few photos from a neighbouring village too...

 

[silvers]

I went fishing on a stretch of the Gt. Ouse above Bedford I've never laid eyes on, a rare thing indeed, got there to find the river low and clear, but with a fair pace on it, the swim I opted for was 10ft deep and around 20yds wide with a fallen tree opposite, I thought the clarity would mean decent chub or bust, wrong, ended up with 41 chublets between 3-10ozs, 40 dace to around 6ozs and a solitary roach to be of around half an ounce, bites virtually cast in beautiful surroundings, one other angler about 15 swims away(the bailiff), he came and had a chat as I packed and told me about the numbers of decent perch present(Hugh would be interested)....

Oooh …I do hope that it’s that good this Sunday!! (After a week of frosts and some rain )

 

[Alan Whitty]

Hi Alex, don't know where your fishing, but I heard from Des that the Willington stretch was chub or blank, with temperatures falling I would expect little else...

 

[Steve Arnold]

With a forecast for a cold day I questioned my decision to go fishing, but it is only going to get worse so what the heck!

The flow was a bit stronger than I had anticipated, I guess the HE plant was generating, the river was also 3' higher than at my last visit.

I missed the first bite but it was not long before the next took properly.....

The first barbel weighed 4.7lbs and then a slightly smaller barbel.....

Then the cormorants appeared and the fish stopped feeding, when a young otter appeared I decided to call it a day!

Plenty of wildlife, corvids, buzzards, two pheasants, cormorants and the otter was the star! This is a proper wilderness corner, sometimes the fishing is simply not everything!

 

[silvers]

Hi Alex, don't know where your fishing, but I heard from Des that the Willington stretch was chub or blank, with temperatures falling I would expect little else...

i understand from Neale that we (Bedford winter league) are on the very same stretch that you fished … hence the comment

 

[Alan Whitty]

It was obvious when I looked at the colour of the river that roach were not going to get caught and as depths are a little too much for the punch, that isn't an option, unless you use a tiny cage and liquidised bread to sneak a few, wouldn't be surprised if its a nightmare after the way the weather has deteriorated....

 

[silvers]

It was obvious when I looked at the colour of the river that roach were not going to get caught and as depths are a little too much for the punch, that isn't an option, unless you use a tiny cage and liquidised bread to sneak a few, wouldn't be surprised if its a nightmare after the way the weather has deteriorated....

I’ve used a bait dropper to feed punch crumb in that depth and more …. Really need one with a long stalk to release off the bottom. Sadly I think you may be right …

 

[Alan Whitty]

I have too Alex, it works to an extent, but not as well as in depths of less than 7ft, trouble is the roach don't really want to feed, the water temperature at that depth, that's a minimum of 9-10ft, but the majority of the venue is 12ft or more, solid with roach, most of the Ouse is, until winter comes, then the door is firmly shut....