How did you get on?

[binka]

On the question of the French-Canadian partridge I am prepared to give nothing away, except to say that I have a reliable witness who has seen the water and the actual swim but whom I shall not ever name.

It was later verified on a set of Reuben Heaton Lie Weight Mk II's after earlier bottoming out a rusty 1lb spring balance (the very same historic 1lb spring balance that was used many years ago to weigh the record 5oz gudgeon which was taken from a fountain pool inside an undisclosed shopping precinct somewhere in the southern hemisphere after it had grown fat on scraps from Greggs) and was part of a haul of similar sized partirdges all taken from the same swim.

If that isn't proof enough I also have a cousin in New Guinea who, by sheer coincidence, was talking to my ex-window cleaner after bumping into him in Australia soon after reading this thread and it turns out they have both fished the same swim and bagged similar sized partridge.

That's all I'm prepared to say on the matter, particularly as we were all guesting at the time...

 

[flightliner]

Could it be a French Canadian partridge found only in Toronto, in a dodgy photo which seem all the rage at the mo on another thread....I want clarification on the vegetation before I can accept this pic as legitimate....

Sorry Binka..........

I suppose we can be pleased it didn't end up on a roasting tray though..

knowing how Steve likes to break things, having seen the one he'll go out with proper gear and before you know it he' ll have had loads of big bags then do a pb fifty plus.

 

[greenie62]

...That's all I'm prepared to say on the matter, particularly as we were all guesting at the time...

Binka!
You're a very naughty boy - but I 'spose thats what comes of associating with reprobates like theCrow !

PC - collective apologies from us all for our collective deviation from the thread! mg:

 

[thecrow]

Binka!
You're a very naughty boy - but I 'spose thats what comes of associating with reprobates like theCrow !

PC - collective apologies from us all for our collective deviation from the thread! mg:

Oi! I resemble that remark,

 

[no-one in particular]

Could it be a French Canadian partridge found only in Toronto, in a dodgy photo which seem all the rage at the mo on another thread....I want clarification on the vegetation before I can accept this pic as legitimate....

Sorry Binka..........

I suppose we can be pleased it didn't end up on a roasting tray though..

Just one thing, not a French bird, definitely English, its all plump with a wobbly middle, common - seen in any English town. French birds are skinny, no meat on em.
Nice to be back in the real world!- Fishing on Sunday with a bit of luck.

 

[dorsetandchub]

Binks' scales mentioned had had one previous owner - Spiders...

 

[flightliner]

Binks' scales mentioned had had one previous owner - Spiders...

It begs the question that spiders may have got them second hand himself.

 

[The Sogster]

Binks' scales mentioned had had one previous owner - Spiders...

At the risk of breaking up the humour with some fishing.

Being the bank holiday weekend I decided to take today off for a bit of extra fishing.
Today I again went on my club stretch of the river Don. After checking the water level online and looking at the clear blue skies with barely a breeze I elected to take the14' ultralight I bought last week, a centrepin and trot a stick float.

I arrived to find some JCB type excavators on the bank repairing/ improving the floodbank behind the area I had intended to fish. Never mind, a short walk and a nice swim with a slow steady glide hove into view.
Tackle down, tea poured and a fag while I study the water for any signs of fish. Decided to try two lines, one just off the margin shelf in a nearside crease and one further towards the middle of the river at full depth. Bait was to be maggot over hemp on the near line and maggot/ pellet over micro pellet at full depth.

Strarted off on the near line first after trickling some bait in for about 20 minutes, while every now and then feeding the further crease.
Because I wanted to use a heavier bait (pellet) and have better control I chose to use quite a heavy float shotted 'shirt button' style. I enjoy trotting a stick but it's not my forte.

First few trots produced nothing before a string of small dace and gudgeon which I was more than happy with. This also gave me a bit more idea of the rod, what a delight to use.

Time for a cuppa, rod down for the first time. Just as I was about to place the rod in the rest I was amazed to see what I think was a little owl heading for the rod rest and me. It veered away at the last moment, fantastic.

After an hour or so the bites dried, so I deepened up and started trying the outer crease. First with pellet and then maggot. The maggot led to 9 nice perch between around 8 to 12 ounces. These put a better bend in the rod and a massive smile on my face.

Then it started, what was a gentle downstream zephyr became a howling force nine gale. Even a couple of backshot couldn't help me fish the further crease.

So back onto the near line. The gusting wind made even this very difficult and I struggled for a further hour before decding to bulk all the shot about 6" above the hook and fish overdepth inching the bait through as best I could. Managed another few small perch, dace and gudgeon.

At this point it started raining heavily so rather than get wet I decided to overshot the float and increase the depth by almost double. This allowed me to anchor the bait and keep dry under my brolly. It also increased the number of bites, mainly from gudgeon interspersed with a couple of decent roach.

At the end of my session I probably had taken around 5 to 6 pounds of fish. Not the best day ever but certainly not the worst.

Think I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[greenie62]

At the risk of breaking up the humour with some fishing...

We were just trying to keep the thread going 'til you got back!

Sounds like you had a good day there - how did the Ultralight cope with the extra-weight and the 'stret-pegging'?

 

[S-Kippy]

I'm not buying the Partridge thing. The picture is not clear enough to enable an accurate secondary feather count so we cannot be certain its a true Partridge and hasn't got a bit of quail or pheasant in it. The beak is all wrong and the eye is too far back.

I'm not having it. I reckon its a pheasant/Partridge hybrid.

BOT I again suffered an unexplained & spontaneous urge to go fishing this afternoon.....for trout ffs ! Where the hell that came from I've no idea but I bunked off work, grabbed me gear and headed north on the M40 for Oxford. An hour later I hadn't even made High Wycombe due to the traffic so reasoning that the Hand of the Almighty ( ie Mrs S) was sending me a very strong " don't bother" signal I crawled to the next junction and hit the eject button.

Mrs S has shopping plans for tomorrow with beloved daughter which makes me surplus to requirements so I've just sorted me barbel bag out and I'm going to have an early one tomorrow....motorways permitting.

If I come home with line on me reel this time I'll have had a result ! Pt 2 to follow tomorrow.

 

[peter crabtree]

Just like you Skippy I had an urge to get out this afternoon and plumped for the most convenient option. A short drive down to the canal near Springwell lock on the GUC. Armed with an old Sistar 10ft bomb rod which had the spliced in quivers broken off years ago I took my bucket of lures down and thrashed the canal to foam trying to emulate Neil1970's fantastic perch captures.
I selected a handmade little yellow polka dot spinner designed for salmon fishing which my mate had bought me from native Canadian Indians whilst visiting relatives.
Lost it first chuck....
Went home

 

[tigger]

Yesterday me and a good m8 of mine had a ride across country to a small river for a days trotting. We assembled our rods above a nice looking glide and he dropped into it, on his first trott through I watched him catch a nice chub of around 3lb and then I left him to it and set off mooching for another decent looking glide to fish myself. The day proved to be a productive one with both of use catching good numbers of grayling trout and roach which was great but we where really pesterd with these little blighters ...

 

[robtherake]

Yesterday me and a good m8 of mine had a ride across country to a small river for a days trotting. We assembled our rods above a nice looking glide and he dropped into it, on his first trott through I watched him catch a nice chub of around 3lb and then I left him to it and set off mooching for another decent looking glide to fish myself. The day proved to be a productive one with both of use catching good numbers of grayling trout and roach which was great but we where really pesterd with these little blighters ...



catching the odd minnow is ok but when they're straight on your bait like a nest of angry wasps giving no other fish a look in they do start to p!$$ you off a little !



Today, I was on my own and back on one of my regular rivers and after the smaller fish of yesterdays session I was looking for something that would put a propper bend in my float rod. It turned out to be a very decent session ending with eight barbel, four chub, a trout and a huge dace. Here's a couple of pic's...

Never mind the barbel, where's the pic of the dace, Ian? Oh, and maybe you ought to have put the minnows back attached to a size 10

 

[rubio]

A day yesterday on a commie full of carp. Caught many tiny, washed out roach, and a bream. Swim was fizzing like a jacuzzi after first hour and stayed that way til I gave up and had a wander down the river.
One of my more disappointing days fishing which only served to entrench my belief that captures of any fish on hard pellet are mere circumstance.

 

[tigger]

Never mind the barbel, where's the pic of the dace, Ian? Oh, and maybe you ought to have put the minnows back attached to a size 10

Even big dace look small in a pic Rob so I rarely bother taking a pic of them.

I think i'd just leave the 14's in a minnow if I was gonn'a try that. Actually I have left them on for one or two trotts but always feel sorry for 'em and let them go. I'd rather use maggots than minnows, .

 

[S-Kippy]

After yesterday's aborted trout trip today's plan was a dawn raid on the barbel so I was up at silly o'clock to make sure I got a swim with some form........which I did but only just despite arriving in the pre dawn gloaming. The old boy heading for this one must have been double pi$$ed off to find yours truly already plotted up 30 mins before sun up.

Tackled up and after a short but very urgent sprint into the bushes courtesy of last night's mutton bhuna I was off. River looked in fantastic nick....nice steady pace,bit of colour but fining down. Absolutely perfect conditions for barbel. I have the bait,the rig,the conditions and the spot. Fill your boots Skippy.

7 biteless hours later I gave it best and crawled home round the 25 somewhat crestfallen.

Still....I returned with a full spool of line and the Mickie's got spanked at home by the Ammers ......I've had worse days !

 

[binka]

It goes without saying that after last week’s red letter day on a very large stillwater I fancied another pop at it but things rarely if ever repeat themselves like that do they?

It was another warm southerly blowing in with the slight difference this time being that it had a bit of a westerly mixed in instead of last week’s easterly so I resisted the temptation to fish the same swim and instead went further along the bank to the opposite corner where the wind was blowing toward.

I initially intended to fish the dibber all day but having found I could only reach to the top of the marginal shelf and around three feet of water under the rod tip I also set up a driftbeater to fish a few feet further out at the foot of the ledge.

All began well with the dibber in the gentle breeze of an early morning…





It wasn’t long before the predictable chop began to form although this certainly helped along with the feed that was going in and I started to get into some decent roach albeit a tad shy of last week’s size…





I kept at it for a couple more hours until a lull occurred which is when I went out on the driftbeater and it was a good choice of float for the job judging by the swell and chop that was now rolling in…





Still, the 3AAA float held remarkably well with the thin carbon stem and large sight tip and the bites continued with some nice roach and perch approving the presentation…





I couldn’t help but notice as the day wore on just how much the margins were churning up and eventually I succumbed to temptation and went back on the shallow dibber to enjoy a great few hours on the perch, lots in the 1 ½ - 1 3/4lb range, plenty around the lb mark and the best equalling exactly the same as last week’s roach at 2lb 3ozs with a 2lb 1 oz to back it up…








And to top it all off I was treated to the rare sight of the once deadly yet equally majestic Vulcan Bomber…





Not a bad day at all :w


Might nip out tomorrow afternoon with the heavy gear, with the rivers low and clear, and with the fish seeking cover I have a spot in mind where I found 13’ under the rod tip whilst plumbing up with the stick float a few weeks ago and it’s been playing on my mind ever since

 

[flightliner]

Nice result Binka, I had the same shot of the vulcan last year down the lower tidal. It came from the direction of donny oer towards Scampton nr lincoln and later from scampton towards Doncaster.5

 

[The Sogster]

Sounds like you had a good day there - how did the Ultralight cope with the extra-weight and the 'stret-pegging'?

Hi Greenie, not quite sure what you mean by extra weight?
I wouldn't class it as stret pegging, I wasn't using the flow to lift and take the bait downstream.
More of a laying on I would say.

Today I was back on the same stretch different peg although similar conditions with a down stream gusting breeze pushing in to the near bank.

Straight out with the ultralight again and a heavier float, stepping up from 3bb yesterday to 5bb today in a bid to counteract the wind.

Plumbed up to find around 7 foot just off the shelf deepening to around 8 foot a just over a third across.

Started off on the near track trotting about 20 yards to a 10 yard stretch under some overhanging bushes hoping all the while wondering if the rod was up to it. No such luck, but a bite a chuck kept me more than happy with a feast of small roach, dace and perch all around 1 to 3oz for the first 90 minutes or so.

The wind unexpectedly dropped and so I decided to try further out toward the centre of the river. This resulted in a few better fish mainly some lovely pigeon chested roach of around 6 to 8 oz resplendent in the sun with their silver bodies and really red fins and a couple of perch around 10oz.
The wind picked up again at this point and I was unable to keep the float online as every time I mended the line the wind just caught the lifted line and blew the float toward the near bank across the flow.

This forced a move back to the near line and back to the smallest of roach and dace with the odd minnow and gudgeon.

It seemed that the bigger fish were more in the centre of the river but I was mostly unable to correctly present a bait for the wind.

Overall another great day with quantity winning over size. Finished with 53 dace, 29 roach, 17 perch and numerous minnows and gudgeon.

As for the ultralight, it just seems to get better. I only managed to bump 2 fish all day despite the tiny size, I swear these were no more than a pair of eyes. This would certainly not have been the case had I used one of my other rods. It also seems to make the bites easier to hit, the tip is so responsive. The lightest flick results in a hook hold and the blank transmits the tiniest tremble.
I did lift into a decent fish twice which really hooped the rod over, but they shed the hook in some weed almost immediately, probably chub. I think the rod would have handled them though as there certainly seemed to be a bit of power further down the blank. Surprisingly I think the soft tip allowed them to get into the weed.

I don't think tackle can make you a better angler but it can make you more efficient.

 

[peter crabtree]

Club match today on the canal nr Tring. Drew one of better pegs next to a footbridge...

Boat traffic was patchy and being a short pound it was towing back and forth all day..Set up two rigs, one a light pencil float and 16 Kamasan B551 for worm and the other a small caster/squatt float and a size 22 Drennan red maggot hook for maggot.. I fished across to the reeds and bushes around 2ft of depth. At the off I cupped in one small ball of GB and some chopped worm.
Started on small red worms and it was one a chuck. Roach, skimmers, Rudd and perch. I probably had 3lb in the first 3hours before the bites petered out.
For the final 3hours I scratched about with single maggot but all I could catch were gudgeon and tiny blades.. It rained constantly for the last 2 hours and turned decidedly chilly...
Winner had 9lb:14 with 4 decent skimmers and bits.
2nd 6lb:6
3rd 5lb:1
4th me 3lb13.
15 fished....