How did you get on?

[neil1970]

After a nice holiday and plenty of casting into the unknown I was happy to get back to to some familiar fresh water.

I tried a variety of lures and caught 40+ Perch, including a new modest PB!

Very pleased:w

 

[tincatim]

Might sound a little out their but have you had Minnow & Bullhead yet?

Yep I caught about 20 of the little blighters on the river Rother a few months back. No need to fish fine for them they were taking triple maggot on a size 18! One peg was black with them.

No bullhead yet, I'm not sure they exist round my way.

So far I'm up to roach, rudd, perch, tench, bronze bream, silver bream, crucian, common carp, mirror carp, F1 carp, barbel, chub, gudgeon, minnow, dace, ide and ghost carp. Now I know that mirror, ghost and common are all part of the king carp species but I'm counting them anyway as its my own challenge and I made the rules :wh

Still to go are pike, eel, grayling, bleak, any trout but probably brown. I tried to set a target that's achievable in South Yorkshire. Some cold weather trotting on the upper reaches of the local rivers should hopefully see the trout and grayling. The eel is pure luck and i haven't seen a bleak in years!

 

[Pete Shears]

Out on the Wreake again this morning - one chub of 3lb 11oz on float fished sweetcorn & 3 perch on worm, the biggest of 1lb 2oz on legered lobworm. Plenty of minnows & chublets giving fantastic bites on the float but not connecting with them Watched a race downstream by two kingfishers, one nearly hit me & was watched by a very puzzled hare from the far bank.

 

[binka]

Well first time out in 3 weeks and a BLANKETY BLANK.
Fished the Severn above Bridgnorth that I had been told by a couple people was fishing well for both chub and barbel.
Arrived 5.45am choose a swim that looked good used 2 rods 1 inside and the 2nd middle to 2/3rds out one with meat second pellet, nothing not even a liner swapped things around different hook lengths different pellets nothing had a groundbait mix with micro pellets hemp seed and crushed hemp.


Decided after 2 hours of nothing to move down stream to a swim I have fished the last 3 times and caught as I went to walk away felt something around my boots looked down and picked up approx. 20 ft disguarded line. now in the trash bin.

Arrived second swim around 8.30ish slimmed tackle right down due to the walk river levels up a good foot set up cast out and for 2 hours nothing same routine change things around all I could see were small taps fish attacking feeder but not taking bait.
Not to disheartened as was a lovely morning spent by the river now for the bad part on way home driving down country lane some idiot in a nice new jag decided to drive in middle of road as I came round bend had to swerve hitting the rocks about a foot off the road ripped a hole in front left.
got spare out jacked car up only to find I could not undo the locking wheel nut,
dropped car down had to drive 5 miles to nearest tyre place who only sold part worns cash only left car with them and did a 2 mile round trip on foot to get cash.

To rub even more salt into wounds guy told me about his trips to Severn with his mates on a regular basis.

See thread in barbel section titled excessive or not for that story.


1 good point I cleaned up some dirty litter louts mess from first swim.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune and fair play for reporting a not so successful day, it still makes for interesting reading.

On the problem of fish attacking your feeder and not taking the bait one of these might do the trick, there was a thread a few months ago with a home made one which was just a piece of cork glued to the top of the feeder with a slit cut into it to hold the shank of the hook, i've not tried it myself but I I intend to as I reckon it's pretty damn crafty and could be used with just about any bait...



Enterprise Tackle ET35 Swimfeeder Line Clip.

 

[tello]

I`m planning a trip to Ebro, I`m arriving at Castellon Airport but I don`t see any transportation details to Ebro .. anyone can help ?

 

[fruitowl]

Thanks binka like the idea but I think it was more small fish rather than anything descent.
I do have some grub feeders that work on a similar basis
KORUM FISHING MINI GRUB FEEDERS - 30g | eBay

 

[dorsetandchub]

A small dog (Chihuahua) (2hr) session at Longham last night, due to the footie. Look, it's Liverpool, I bleed red and white, what can I say?

I hoped due to the same I'd have the river to myself and packed only a float rod. I got to the car parking area to find it empty! Result! The river, however, was the complete opposite. Every swim was taken, bar one - which was a peach of a swim on the weir but had one minor and very disappointing aspect, it was out and out feeder country, really.

Still, got this far. Tooled up the Normark Titan 2 14ft with an Abu 706, 3lb main, a Woody's 8 no. 4 stick and a Drennan silverfish 18 to 1lb 8oz bottom. Two red maggots (yep, even the maggots were red and white).

If anyone has any minnow recipes, do please shout out as that's how it went. I could have Beluga caviar on the hook and they'd have got there first. I shallowed up, they followed. I went further out, they merely got bigger. There was no shaking them until, out of the blue, a dace of a couple of ounces got there first. More minnows until after another twenty minutes or so, a perfect newly minted perch of around 5oz that had never seen a hook got in on the action.

It was extremely frustrating with all the minnows added to the fact that, at this time of year, the river contains more weed than a Hunter S Thompson novel.

Then, an hour or so in, angling's very own double tap. Not two bullets in the head but the same result for poor Johnny Minnow. I felt a slight plink followed by a big, angry whoosh. My head said pike, my heart hoped for perch, my cerebral cortex was happy with what, at first, seemed to be a decent chub until it started to leap out of the water several times and proved its sea trout credentials. That thin bottom and size 18 barbless started to feel awfully fragile but, like my undies, they held and five minutes in Mr Angry was netted.

To be fair, it was probably Mrs Angry as it strongly resembled most Mother in Laws you've ever encountered.

Me? The Thirteenth Duke of Wimborne? With my hands round an old trout? With my reputation?

Unhooked from a Janet Street Porter of a mush, it swam away strongly probably cursing like a 20 year sailor or the old mother in law after a half bottle of cooking sherry.

I packed up not long afterwards, the game, pie and chips, tea, a Badger First Call and tomorrow's MOT costs uppermost in my mind. That said, if the MOT isn't too bad, I might have another session tonight. Just don't forget to take the feeder rod, you eejit.

Laters, Taters

View image in gallery​

View image in gallery​

 

[smudger172]

Was out at the weekend fishing a new stretch of the Thames. Parked myself in a lovely swim surrounded by trees and bushes and set about tackling up. Knocking in two bank sticks for the front rests i was suddenly aware of a swarm of maybe 300 angry behaving wasps. not liking the situation i decided to run back to my car 50 ft away.

I was stung twice on my back on the run back to the car and had to sit there for 15 mins while they crawled over it..

On returning to my swim they had vanished. occasionally 1 or 2 of them came out from bank but not in any numbers..... So please beware....

Had a couple of chub in the 3lb class and 3 bream.

 

[oyster]

General Update since last time, I have been on the Thames, Severn and the Coventry on a few occasions. I have had some of the best fishing on the cut especially this weekend when we hired a boat. We had a short trip on the Staffs Worcester and on to the Shropshire union and back.

Nice Bag from the Coventry last week, all on the corn from the same section as where I had a 1lb 6oz Roach the week before, a nice chublet and a perch which is one of the few I have caught on corn.

I could have fast got used of getting up to this, Brewood on the shroppie.

A 1lb 5oz from the Staffs Worcs, I will be going back to this spot as I think there are some bigger ones and the average stamp was much higher than expected.

On the last morning after seeing kingfishers, what I am sure was a terrapin (no joke)! I was totally surprised by this little fella -

How it got there is anyone's guess - pretty sure its a goldfish but in form just like a Crucian with a similar sort of fight.

 

[greenie62]

....Knocking in two bank sticks for the front rests i was suddenly aware of a swarm of maybe 300 angry behaving wasps....

Yet another reason NOT to bang in banksticks! mg:

 

[dorsetandchub]

After a bad night's sleep in which the car's clutch, gear box, clutch AND gear box needed replacing, I dropped it off first thing for the MOT and did my best to be pre-organised. I'd got a rear wiper blade, checked all the lights and topped up the screenwash - then gave up.

Several hours later, I got the phone call from Kevin. It sailed through with absolutely no problems, total cost £35. Happy days.

As a result, I awarded myself three hours at Longham again. Upon arrival, the same swim was available, my leger rod was packed, sadly the camera wasn't. Apologies. Must get used to packing it now I've finally (sort of) learned how to download pictures.

The Drennan Super Specialist Duo (with quiver top and two ounce tip) was twinned with a Preston PXR 5000, 8lb main line to an ounce and a half Drennan blockend feeder to a Middy size 14 carp feeder hook to 6lb trace.

The feeder was loaded with Dynamite hemp, the hook with two grains of banana flavoured corn.

I hoofed the feeder out to the right of the island in the previous report's pic and settled back into a surprisingly comfortable swim.

The good news was that I had plenty of time to enjoy it as......nothing happened. I rehemped and recast multiple times, putting down a good bed of the seed but no, nothing doing.

After the useful diversion of an RAF Chinook helicopter at quite low altitude, I found an even better diversion. A guy at work had put me onto an Anglo American lass with a mean line in steel bar blues, named Joanne Shaw Taylor and I'd downloaded her album, White Sugar. Top stuff, well recommended.

So, I sat in my swim, quite happy with the world. After exactly 90 minutes of blisteringly hard labour, the tip dinked, twice and a strike met with solid but unspectacular resistance and a dace of some 6oz soon netted.

More hemp, back out, more blues. All good. No bites. Again. No worries.

Allowing myself till 7pm, it was with ten minutes to go that the tip this time really spanked round. It was unmissable, in fact I believe it hooked itself. This time it was a big bang and I had visions of a snarling sea trout turning up but No.

Camouflaging this crushing disappointment, I graciously made do with a nice chub around the 3lb mark. Something had had a real go at this fish, its back had taken the kind of thrashing Tory MPs shell out big bucks for. Pike, heron or otter, I wasn't sure but my guess was pike or otter.

I slapped some Kryston Klinic on it and hoped it would help. It swam away happily anyway.

Time up, packed up. A minor panic when I thought I'd lost the car keys but the day was too good, put my hand in the rucker and found them first go.

A short drive home and a return to domesticity, I put the bin out as everyone else had done the same and settled down to a slow cooked stew I'd cooked up earlier.

I made a note to fish the same swim if at all possible next week with feedered meat. This season so far, the stretch has done a 13lb 4oz barbel and the barbel fishing has been much better than it usually is before Autumn so it'd be nice to get the barbel rod out and give it a real go.

Until next week, mes Amis.

 

[binka]

Cruiser stern by any chance?

A very fishable boat if I may say so, second only to my intended tug deck even if I will whack my head on the underside of the damn thing when I get up in a morning

 

[oyster]

Cruiser stern by any chance?

A very fishable boat if I may say so, second only to my intended tug deck even if I will whack my head on the underside of the damn thing when I get up in a morning

Horned Grebe, from Gailey... I know the feeling

 

[tigger]

I had a couple of hours on the river after tea today trotting for barbel and chub, I managed six barbel, wound a trout in by it's anal fin but blanked on the chub. It was ok until the clouds opend up and due to the fact that I was only wearing a tea shirt I got a propper soaking.

 

[S-Kippy]

Another bash at the barbel for me yesterday evening. River was low but with a tinge of colour which was encouraging....but 4 cars in the car park wasn't ! I'm fishing a stretch with a fairly limited number of fishable swims and trust me 4 cars meant any half decent spot was likely to be occupied.

Sure enough...my first,second and third choices were taken so it was either sit and wait for someone to pack up or go fish somewhere I didn't fancy. Personally I'd rather have a couple of hours in a spot I fancy than 5 hours in a spot I dont so I went and asked the guy in my No 1 choice when he was going. He was very decent about it and said it was unlikely he'd stay after 7 pm. This was at half past 4 but what can you do ? So i sat and chatted ,had a cuppa and at 6 pm helped him land a barbel of about 5lb or so. He was chuffed to bits and even more so when I took a couple of photos and mailed them home for him. Got an interesting reply back from his wife followed by a hasty apology when she realised that the message wasn't from her husband !

Anyway...he packed about 7-15 which gave me a couple of hours fishing and its really only ever a 1 or 2 fish of an evening water. I was pretty confident of getting one and sure enough at bang on 9pm I got the 3 foot twitch I was waiting for. Hell of a scrap ensued and though it was again only a very modest barbel of 7-5 it was another beautiful fish and fought well above its weight.If I'd lost it I'd have sworn it was 9-10lb so its not only the Teme that produces barbel that fight noticeably harder than some.

Time for another I thought but it didn't happen. Last cast I had a chub messing about with the bait so I picked the rod up and felt for Mr Chevin and the next time he tried to nick my bait I hooked him only he then promptly unhooked himself in the weeds which I thought was a little unsporting.

No barn owl last night but the kingfishers were charging about as usual and there is still the odd mayfly coming off....much to the delight of the resident bats of which there must be hundreds! The slugs are still loving my bait dip but I'm not as I dropped some in my cuppa by mistake ! Bleeah !

Apart from my experimental variation on fruit tea....nice evening.

 

[tincatim]

Can you elaborate on the interesting reply from the wife skippy? :wh

 

[S-Kippy]

Can you elaborate on the interesting reply from the wife skippy? :wh

Certainly not.....that would be most ungentlemanly of me. Suffice to say it involved several kisses and a promise of something when hubby got home. Of course I do not know the lady but she seems a very good sport !

I was hoping for a return photo but no joy. I did txt her later to point out that mine was bigger than his but I've heard nothing since.

 

[sam vimes]

Late afternoon into evening on the river. It was damned hard work and the river is back to being almost stagnant in places. Managed to winkle out three grayling and fourteen dace (with the usual horde of minnows) before the swim died. Moved downstream to a stretch of stepped bedrock where there's always a bit of pace. I doubt I've fished there since I was about fifteen. Not much depth but I found a further three trout and five grayling in very short order. And then that was the end of that. The forecast rain arrived a good three hours early, so I wasn't overly keen to stay on anyway.

 

[flightliner]

Another tidal Trent visit as my stillwater is not to good at the moment.
Everything was perfect weatherwise, a little light rain, dull and overcast and a rare wind over my back, perfect for a session with the hemp n tare.
The only drawback was another bad tide, the height @7.2 m (Albert dock, Hull) was ok but turning at 11-30 am and ebbing around 2-30 meant another "three swims" to work up on the day. The upstream period is generally not as productive as the run off on the very lower reaches, but all other factors bode well.
I had a delay early so arrived in time to get the gear ready with some ten minutes before the turn of tide but my first run down with the stick produced a lovely roach of some 10/12 oz--- promising!.
At that point on the recast the river was almost motionless and the following three casts gave me three more above average roach before the river went into reverse and bites became hard to find. A switch to two maggots gave me a few more smaller roach, a chub, a nice dace and about a dozen perch.
I was surprised that no skimmers or hybrids turned up as this strech is wick with them normally and a few days ago a frienf had had a goodly catch of them some two hundred yards upstream of my peg.
Anyway the river stopped still for a few minutes which gave me a little time to plumb for the exact depth before it starts to fall and was pleased to see that I had it spot on with my adjustments over the last few hours of it rising-- I do my adjustments with painted rings every four inches on my rodrest so its easy to see how much to adjust the float every fifteen minutes or so.
Come the run off and inside five minutes I was into a fine mint roach of 8oz or so and it just got better, so much better that at one stage the tare was taken feet from where it was cast which is concerning if you have to play a fish within the shoal causing them to spook so I began feeding downstream in order to avoid things going dead.
The early rain had stopped and the river was like glass in front of me except a few yards of water on the far side which made float control effortless, the bites were very positive , so positive I was using the disgorger more than normal.
Things continued like this for a little over two and a half hours before the roach suddenly slowed down, less eager or more wary they would hit the tare giving only the slightest of dips.
Earlier I could hold the rig back a little and they would hook themselves giving that lovely knock on the rod tip as they did so.
Now it was harder so I removed the string of number eights and replaced them with number ten shot and the improvement was instant giving me another half hours productive fishing before I had to pack up and make my way back to Sheffield.
If that tide had turned around 8am with the prevailing conditions I'm sure I could have made a much bigger catch but I wasnt complaining--- I had a great session with my favourite fish n my favourite river.

 

[swizzle]

four hours on the Dorset Stour in heavy rain for diddly squat.