How did you get on?

[flightliner]

A big tidy up this morning of my attempts at decorating the hall, stairs and landing. After an early dinner another hour weeding my sad looking rockery but enough was enough, my back was saying so in no uncertain manner.
A quick exit to a nearby water with gear assembled even faster and I was by the water at around four pm.
I was lure fishing for a perch or two but the area I wanted was occupied so I wandered around looking for any fry being harried by one of their larger brethren but initially there were non to see.
Seven pm came and my intended swim became vacant so I dropped in and in no time I had five lovely perch with the best around a half pound or thereabouts but they switched off, perhaps the disturbance was a little too much , so, I decided to rest the swim untill the very last few minutez of light which seemed to be the correct decision as on the second cast on resuming the slowly retrieved silver n polka dot mepps thro the now very dark looking water the rod hooped over and after a very spirited struggle I slipped the net under a very nice looking perch of two pounds eight ounces.
Job done I made my way home.

 

[john step]

Slow barbeling on the Lower Trent today but I managed a couple of 6lb plus ones.
They were the only ones I saw caught on what I call the Punk Haircut bait which is as many dead maggots I can cram on a size 10 to a 5 foot hooklink.

This was shown to me by couple of Sheffield Anglers a year or two ago.
Thanks lads.

PS I saw 5 anglers fishing the opposite bank cheek by jowel outside a pub.
Don't suppose it was you CALAEN?? You said you were up for a trip here with your mates at a pub b and b??

 

[maggot_dangler]

Late start today due to some muppet setting fire to one of the bin rooms and trashing a car as well finnally got to bed around 01:45 .

Out around 10:00 this morning off to my club pool slow start not a nibble for the first hour or so then couple of pesky perch around 6 or 7 ounces each then cnahged to a lump of Warburtons on the hook and bang it was off like a dang moon rocket , Bets part of it was i had put my rod in the rest backed the brake off a little and was making me a cuppa when it went panic stations grab ouik on a bit of brake retrieve the fish from 2/3 the way across the pool got it in very nice if somewhat confusing fish definately tench in part BUT with very Perch like colouring and stripes tail and body of a tench mouth of a tench but this perch colouring is confusingb the heck out of me . suggestions please .

Then a very nice Crucian huge thing around 2.5lb maybe a bit more topped off with a pair of reasonable sized snotty's all in all not a bad day


But still confused about this what looks like a tench perch hybrid if such a thing can exist if si is it a pench or a terch ...


PG ..

 

[robtherake]

that's the joy of using a center pin reel... total control of rod and reel with one hand:wh

Must remember that and bag a few playing shots of my very own! Been using a pin (TFG Classic) and a 6ft, 3lb Nash Dwarf for carp fishing in the margins this summer and you're right: once the fish has had most of the fight taken out of it an action photo should be a cinch (although I suspect nothing could be further from the truth.) The odd thing is that carping isn't really my bag, but it's been Hobson's choice on the campsite lakes I've fished this summer and the screech of the pin when the fish takes off, followed by the tactile nature of the fight turns it into a quite different game, somehow. I'm grinning now at the memory of it all

 

[tigger]

A couple of hours on the river after tea today wasn't very productive. I had the same downstream wind as yesterday p!$$ing me off and making a leisure activity feel like more of a chore with having to constantly mend the line etc. Fish where hard to come by and I really had to wark hard to get one ! I had a pod of full grown ducks giving me hasstle, everytime I cattied out some corn I had to throw them a handfull behind me first otherwise they where swimming across the river and diving in my taking spot to get my sweetcorn. There was such a shortage of fish that I had to take a pic of me bag LOL.

 

[binka]

That looks like the Aldi little green bag Ian?

I've got three of 'em for various things, a good little bag and unbeatable at the price.

Oh... And nice barbel

 

[tigger]

That looks like the Aldi little green bag Ian?

I've got three of 'em for various things, a good little bag and unbeatable at the price.

Oh... And nice barbel

Yeah, your right Steve, it is a Aldi bag . I don't normally take a bag, usually carrying all my kit in my waistcoat.

I also had three but a m8 of mine wanted one so he's wittled me down to two lol.

 

[Tee-Cee]

I can see it now....' Top anglers buy Aldi Little green bags ' and before you know it Aldi have a product rush to deal with, with new stocks arriving from China any day now !!

It happens when Delia Smith mentions a product, anyway.......




ps I wonder what time they open ??

 

[wa1115]

Had a quick 'recci' of a new spot last night it looked spot on so I quickly grabbed my light gear out the car before it got to dark. Second cast with a jig-head and 'fish on'

At first I thought it was a small pike as the light was fading quickly but a nice little perch appeared. Needless to say a trip is planned for tomorrow at the new 'secret place'.

 

[sumtime]

I like to see what other anglers use, Tigger, I also obtained the "green bag" but ended up using it for my go to tools, hammer, screwdriver etc.

 

[Keith M]

Like tigger and Binka I have three of the Aldi bags for short roving sessions, each used for different types of fishing (barbel, Carp & Tench) but like Tigger I often leave them at home and carry my bits & pieces in my waistcoat pockets.

I did have a fourth but the zips turned out to be faulty and I binned it.

Keith

 

[peter crabtree]

This is the swim I fished today on the Colne locally. A bit bright but pleasantly warm since the wind changed from North.

Set up my pole @13m and potted in some hemp and casters just to the left of the bush opposite. Used a 1gr cralusso flatty laying the bait on about 6".




At this point Neil 1970 turned up with his shiny new lure rod and he took the pictures.
Plenty of perch took the small worms I was using on a 16 Drennan carbon hook.

This one being the biggest...

Followed by this...
Then this lol....

And this....

Neil came back elated after christening his new rod but I'm sure you'll see that on here later....
Nice few hours on the bank....

 

[neil1970]

Great day today, and some sunshine and good company made it even better.

As Simon said p) I was well chuffed to land a nice 5lb Chub on my new setup...along with a jack and a couple of Perch:w

I love the way Chub smash the lure, much harder than Pike!

 

[binka]

Some great write up’s and pictures from today fellas, I shall try not to let the side down…

First thing’s first, if I never got around to wetting a line today it would have still have been worth it just to see the sunrise and this was the scene as I unloaded the car at 6:50 am this morning…



Absolutely breathtaking!

The fishing itself had a few surprises up its sleeve too especially as I had gone with the intention of satisfying a long standing and recurring urge to have a damn good gonk bashing session and to that end it was all I was really kitted out for.

With two pints of reds and some black Sensas River my intention was to fish a static dibber on the edge of the flow and right under the rod tip but there was a bit too much flow and I instead rigged up a Dave Harrell 2 x No.4 shallow water wire stem stick and after plumbing up I found around four feet of water just off the rod tip.

I shotted up with 1 x No.4 directly under the float as a depth marker and 4 x No.10’s strung evenly below that to a self-tied size 18 barbless spade end and 1.7lb hooklink.

In went a loose handful of groundbait and a pinch of reds and I was soon into blade roach and chublets and despite whipping it to a foam for the first hour I had only taken three gudgeon amongst everything else which also included small skimmers, dace and perch and then I had a nice perch of around 1 3/4lb which fought like something half the size again and so I upped the hooklink to 2.10 but still running a single red maggot off the rod tip on the size 18.

Around mid-morning I hit into what was obviously a decent barbel and didn’t really fancy my chances on the tediously light hookllnk but with a very slack clutch and a snag free swim I was able, after a few trouser chewing minutes, to slide the net under a fish of around 8lbs after allowing the fish to swim above me and using the flow to draw it down over the net.

I really thought I had been as jammy as hell but after doing it a total of four times throughout the day, all on a single maggot to a size 18 spade end and 2lb 10oz hooklink I have to admit to feeling a bit cocky with the other fish going approximately 6lb and 9lb with the biggest weighed at 9lb 6ozs!

That wasn’t all though, in between that I had silvers galore and some nice perch including a very well fed one which went 2lb 5ozs, the pictures don’t really do it justice but for scale the chair below it with the back folded down and the unhooking mat draped over it is a Nash Nomad Indulgence which is one of the wider ones…





And one of the barbel, I can’t remember which one…



That’s it really, I reckon I’ve earned me pint tonight and next out Saturday where I’m using the same approach but heavier with a view to actually targeting the barbel so all things being equal it should be a cracking day on the gudgeon!

Gudgeon…

I almost forgot…

I managed to bag a pesky eight of ‘em!

Am I disappointed?

:w :w :w

 

[flightliner]

Great day Steve, and that sunrise --- a big prophetic smile!.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Lovely write up Binka, and some great tech stuff for those who need guidance on river fishing.................I read everything twice !!

 

[john step]

Late start today due to some muppet setting fire to one of the bin rooms and trashing a car as well finnally got to bed around 01:45 .

Out around 10:00 this morning off to my club pool slow start not a nibble for the first hour or so then couple of pesky perch around 6 or 7 ounces each then cnahged to a lump of Warburtons on the hook and bang it was off like a dang moon rocket , Bets part of it was i had put my rod in the rest backed the brake off a little and was making me a cuppa when it went panic stations grab ouik on a bit of brake retrieve the fish from 2/3 the way across the pool got it in very nice if somewhat confusing fish definately tench in part BUT with very Perch like colouring and stripes tail and body of a tench mouth of a tench but this perch colouring is confusingb the heck out of me . suggestions please .

Then a very nice Crucian huge thing around 2.5lb maybe a bit more topped off with a pair of reasonable sized snotty's all in all not a bad day


But still confused about this what looks like a tench perch hybrid if such a thing can exist if si is it a pench or a terch ...


PG ..

Fish can sometimes throw up some weird colours. Did you take a photo?
I once caught a pike that was yellow.

 

[fishplate42]

I had a good day out on Thursday doing a spot of pleasure fishing. A year on and I can now catch fish fairly proficiently, so much so that other anglers are starting to ask questions like "What bait are you using?"

I still consider myself a beginner but I must be heading in the right direction!

More about Thursday's trip and lots of other stuff can be found on my blog - address in my signature below.

Ralph.

 

[no-one in particular]

Fish can sometimes throw up some weird colours. Did you take a photo?
I once caught a pike that was yellow.

I believe there are several types of tench, yellow tench, green lipped or something like that, could be one of a sub species.

---------- Post added at 07:40 ---------- Previous post was at 07:34 ----------

Re fishing-Nothing much to say, same as last time , same venue, no mullet, loads of small stuff, quite a few small perch which I have not seen in this river for a long time. Pleasing but definitely a change of tactics and bait next time, probably a different venue. Had enough of small, I want big now. (puns excluded)
However a lovely day, plenty of sunshine and the best fish was a Gudgeon, funny how they always please the soul; lovely little fish..

 

[dorsetandchub]

I could cheerfully strangle somebody, I don't know who - some unknown who walked into my workplace on Thursday and gave me a cold. That said, I might commute the sentence somewhat as, as I write this, it's actually much better than it was.

Feeling like 2lb of sh1t in a 1lb bag this morning, I treated myself to brekky at the local Harvester and, on completion, I knew I had a busy day ahead. A haircut, shopping, laundry so I did what any sensible bloke would do. I fished a bait box outta the boot and arrived just as the tackle shop opened, relieving them of three pints of reds.

Binka's report of yesterday's activities had really fired me up although, I have to be honest, the man flu had me in its vicious grasp and I couldn't be certain I'd actually get as far as the river. However, big perch and wire stemmed stick floats were definitely dancing enticingly in my subconscious.

Everything I needed was pretty much already in the car so I stopped off and grabbed my trusted steed, in the shape of the Normark Titan 2000, 14ft, and, for a change, a Ryobi closed face match reel, loaded with 3lb main.

I arrived at the river (Longham), parked up and trudged, heavy footed, to my swim. One other angler on the stretch who was still setting up so I dropped into a nice glide of a swim with a trot of some twenty yards before a sweeping bend.

The man flu struck with a vengeance and, suddenly, rigging up a float rod took on the complexity of designing a new class of Hunter Killer submarine however, after 2 attempts, a 6 no 4 Woody's wire stem to an 18 and 2lb bottom, two red maggots was ready to go.

Despatched towards the far bank, the float rode through perfectly - perfectly untouched that is.

I well know Einstein's take on repeating the same experiment but I did it anyway, with the same result.

On the third trot, the first of a succession of dace struck, this one weighed 3oz or so which seems to be a common size but the rest were between 1 -6oz. Swinging them in was fun and made a cold a bit more acceptable.

What was even more acceptable was no minnows. After seeing the pic of the minnow caught on a lobby that was longer than it, sneakingly glad it's not just me.

I shifted the shot around and put a no 9 shot on as a backshot, some 18 inches above the float. It felt better, much better.

Startlingly, it actually bucked the fish up too the first fish being a nice roach scraping half a pound. The dace returned with another half a dozen, similar in size to the first lot.

Keeping the feed going in, a mix of reds and hemp (chilli flavoured) brought the fish further up the swim and it soon became noticeable that the bites were starting to occur after ten feet of trot compared to the previous fifteen - twenty.

My usual breezy demeanour was completely restored with a gonk of about 2oz, I love them and it's great to see that some of you guys do too. Binks actually targeted them. The guy deserves a Knighthood, especially with 4 decent barbel just short of a double on 2lb line - heroic.

Anyway, I hoped there was a great big shoal of them but, no, the dace came back and then, woe is me, I had a minnow.

Just as my morale took a kick, it sprang back as I struck into something much bigger which tried to climb into the hotel car park opposite, obviously a chub and it was - 3lbs or so of scarred warrior with a mouth like a bucket.

A handful more dace and I looked at my watch to realise that nearly five hours had gone by. A roach of around 4oz and I decided to call a halt and see if I could summon up any enthusiasm for laundry. I got home to find the short answer was No.

It was then that I remembered that my local barber's is one of those trendy communes that opens on a Sunday and that the washing machine works equally well seven days a week.

I wouldn't hold out much hope though. I still have maybe a pint and a half of reds left and I never, ever need an excuse to zip down to Ringwood and hand over some hard earned in the local tackle dens.

So, tomorrow evening I thought. Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow or.....I think I might know where that one's going.

Laters, Taters