How did you get on?

[sam vimes]

Well, if memory serves last year your resident mugfish came in at 1lb 3oz so that's a decent improvement.

Resident mugfish last year was a dippy trout. I know that I caught plenty of fish up to 1lb 4oz last year, but never knowingly repeat captures.

However, I have got to wondering about just how many repeat captures I might be getting in a single day. I do wonder if using a keepnet would see my numbers plummet. On a particularly small beck, it wouldn't particularly shock me if the total number of fish in a stretch is actually less than you might think.

To that end, I suspect that I'll be giving the beck a miss for a while.

 

[john step]

Almost Spring like on my deserted river yesterday. The stinging nettles are full of growth and STING again. Luckily the dock is still flourishing to rub on the stings.
Tweeked a deadbait whilst roving all day. Had one very energetic pike at 12+ which took line and did a couple of tail walks. One more shed the hooks.
A lovely day in weather that cannot last ???

 

[binka]

That was what you would call a tad breezy… Or bloody windy to be more precise!

An enjoyable day nonetheless with our very own Crow after we met early this morning for a bash at a day ticket stretch of the river and if anything I think we hit it twenty four hours too late as it was now well into run off and dropping further throughout the day following the recent rains that had previously pushed it up to “optimism” level although it still held a nice bit of colour.

It was a stick and maggot thrash for me, starting off with an 8 x no.4 wire stem stick on cautiously heavy enough gear in the event that the whiskers would muscle in at some point during the day although they never did.

Things were working out ok after a fair bit of feeding to get the initial bite and then, around mid-morning Abigail turned up.

Abigail is, unfortunately, not some buxom daughter of a nearby farmer with a plate full of bacon rolls (I should be so lucky!) but the name given by the Met Office to the storm which was sweeping in before peaking tonight and then things got a little bit tricky.

I enjoy working a stick with an upstream breeze but when it got to the stage where I was having to put the rod on the rests and right hand chuck the loose feed at full force just to get it to the rod end I knew it was time for a change…



Out came a 4grm Bolo which did the job of offering me better control and catching me a few more fish but it wasn’t right with too much weight for the unusually shy bites and after a couple of hours I changed back to a slightly heavier 10 x no.4 stick which provided a nice compromise straight off the rod end and was probably the first time I had felt completely settled all day.

To add to the chublets, dace, occasional perch and pairs of eye roach (apart from one nice one around 1/2lb) I was happy enough to plunder a shoal of decent skimmers which had turned up on the end of the heavier feeding which I was now doing…



A very challenging session for the float but I feel like i’ve had a few rewards.

And…

Despite the fact that he had a bona fide day ticket I even managed to get a sneaky snap of Crow in guesting mode…

































A great craic once again, roll on the weekend :w

 

[Pete Shears]

Out piking today, beautiful sunrise, got to the reservoir - thick mist which went in about 40 mins - first run, mainline broke, had 2 more fish 12lb 10oz & 15lb 8oz, both fought hard & even better was using just one or two single hooks on the trace, unhooking was very easy, no jitters about trebles flying around, must try a river again soon once 'Abigail' ( a big gale ! Met Office humour requires some work ) has pushed through.

 

[flightliner]

Looks a familier picture Steve, Roll on -- first and third syllable?.

 

[thecrow]

Wind on the water and me don't seem to mix, struggled all day with just 1 skimmer to show for it, tried allsorts of baits, hook lengths, different lines, big feeder small feeder bait dropper close in nothing doing, ended up doing the opposite of what I would normally do and fished a very short hook length, although bite indication was improved by this they were still just taps, here's what one looked like.









Although it was a struggle the day was enjoyable with plenty of banter and a day on the bank is always better than sitting at home watching the box, thanks for your help Steve.

 

[Keith M]

Had a few hours on my local stream today from around 2pm till 5pm and with the temperature in the car giving a reading of 15c outside it was looking very promising.

When I got there about 1:45pm there were around 15 cars in the car park which meant that all of the best swims would be taken (damn & blast)

To compound matters; the stream was very clear and shallow and after talking to a couple of anglers there it seemed that there had been very little caught, even in the choicest swims (more damn & blasts)

It was looking like it could be hard and Chub could be the only fish I caught today (If I was Lucky) so I decided not to use a hair and fish a smallish cylinder of spicey Luncheonmeat mounted directly on the hook.

Below is a picture of the swim that I decided to fish which at least had some flow near the far bank which ran down to a small overhanging branch.



After around half an hour I did have a barbel-like pull round but it didn't connect with a fish, then my swim was invaded by no less than 14 ducks all searching for something to eat on the bottom;
Then one of them found my bait in the shallow clear water and grabbed hold of it; so I had to wind the duck in and free the hook from its tongue and release it. Luckily it swam off downstream with the other 13 ducks following along behind.

Just as I was thinking I had scared any fish out of my swim, my rod tip pulled round and I had a small Barbel of around a pound (see pic); and I thought to myself 'at least I've not blanked completely' LOL.



I didn't have anything else until it started to get dark; then everything changed and I had four Barbel one after another (see pics below) before I had to finally pack up a little early when I snagged my hook on a sunken branch.



The Barbel I had were not huge with the largest being between 5lb and 6lb but it had turned out to be an enjoyable three hours after all.

Keith

 

[neil1970]

I managed a couple of very quick outings this week.

Three small pike and one small perch were the result.

All good fun.

 

[rubio]

It occurs to me that the local chub are well read and have taken on board the warnings about processed meats. Nothing even close to a bite on spam over 3 sessions.
Went instead to club lake with a pint of maggots and some corn. Bite a chuck perchlets with just one over a pound. A few, too few roach, and rudd, along with crucians. November cru's! Must be mild.
That was yesterday and with more than half my maggots I returned this afternoon and sat in wind and rain struggling to enjoy it. Some very pleasant fish again. Similar to yesterday but with more crucian and roach coming to corn. Mostly on the drop. I fed only one or two grains at a time to get steady rather than spectacular sport. Now that I'm dry and nearly warm it seems an altogether more enjoyable time than when I was there.

 

[binka]

I’m currently in a mixed state of turmoil, bewilderment and shock with a deep soul searching session very much in order.

Fished dawn ‘til dusk and got battered by the wind, rain and generally grim and cold conditions whilst whipping it to a foam on what is a notoriously difficult stillwater at this time of year and it felt like an achievement to come away with a blank!

The finest chopped worm, the best hand picked maggots (!) and Sensas’ best and most carefully mixed and riddled Lake Black couldn’t tempt the ungrateful little gits.

I bet they’re down there now having a right old party!

Fished and fed a long and short waggler line in depths ranging from five to eleven feet, backed up with an occasional groundbait feeder over the top for the grand sum of diddly squat… Although I did have the most hittable and slow, positive pull around on the tip early afternoon which took me so much by surprise that I simply sat there and watched as the tip just as slowly settled back again whilst I sat on my hands.

Still, I guess it’s all part of what we do but it has had the profound effect on me that…


























I still can’t wait for the next session :w omg :w

 

[Neil Maidment]

The current Mrs. M. is away on a long weekend of dancing so my plans were set for a fair bit of fishing. That was disrupted somewhat when I looked at the weather forecast on Friday night which promised gale force winds and rain from about midday Saturday. So I set the alarm and was on the river bank by 8:30 but still got soaked and buffeted by the wind. I eventually found a spot on a new stretch of the Frome where I had the wind/rain sort of over my shoulder.

Strangely I had the venue to myself! The first grayling arrived after about 20 mins and was a lovely fish just over 2lbs. I went on to have nine more with two over 2lbs, the best going 2:06. All the while, the wind was getting stronger and stronger and the rain almost horizontal. I decided it was time to go but "one more trot" produced a superb fresh Seatrout, still with lice attached, and then yet another trot saw a stunning Brown give a good arial display. Walking back to the car (facing the wind and rain) wasn't as bad as it could of been!

View image in gallery

View image in gallery

View image in gallery

View image in gallery​

 

[hammer_jamie]

3 hours at a silver fish lake only 4 fish in total. The wind was terrible but I managed to hide infront of a tall bush which also went into the lake this protected me and part of the lake from the wind. I was dropping my float just next to this tall bush on a double maggot size 20 hook.

Obviously I caught perch but I'm still slightly unsure on the silvers? Ide? Roach? If someone can confirm would be great.

 

[peter crabtree]

Those are Rudd Jamie....

 

[hammer_jamie]

Thank you, I'm still learning haha

 

[dorsetandchub]

We all are, mate

 

[hammer_jamie]

That's a nice way to put it mate

 

[tom_moran]

I signed up for a local club a couple of weeks ago which has a decent stretch of canal and a small lake/pond tucked out the way. Today me and the family had a wander round the lake, I took the dropshot rod aswell. Didn't catch anything but had loads of bites from small perch and the Lake looks lovely to fish, loads of features, swan mussles present and crisp clear water. From this year catch reports it also has golden tench in it too so I'll definitely be hitting it up in the warmer months

 

[The Runner]

Fished club match on the Slough Arm, water so clear that can see the bottom all the way across when the light's right (or wrong...)
Set up three pole rigs, all on longer line than usual from the pole tip given the water clarity, one with size 24 b511 to 0.06 set to just off bottom down the track, another the same but a foot shallower, and one with a 20 Black Gama to 0.8 for the chopped worm. Also set up waggler rod , 22 B511 to 0.07 with one no 10 down.
Started on punch over a pot of liquidised at 5m, two miniscule roach straightaway followed by a couple of rudd about 2oz each. Have always found here that if the rudd turn up you need to plunder them while they're there as they don't usually stick around for long and rarely reappear so picked up the waggler rod and started picking them off on a fluoro pinkie, along with more little roach and the odd palm sized skimmer. The rudd disappeared after an hour by which time had 34 fish for probably 2-12 or so. And that's when the thinking had to start...Nothing would settle anywhere in the clear water and it rapidly became obvious that they really didn't want loosefeed coming in over their heads. Found that the best way was to feed a spot with a dozen or so pinkies and a bigger pinch of squatt, leave it alone for ten minutes or more and then take one or two fish from it (don't think I ever got more than two). By rotating four pole and two waggler lines like this managed to keep up a steady 9 or 10 fish per hour for the rest of the match although some of the roach were very small especially on punch and was glad of the lone 6oz perch that turned up on the waggler and double squatt. Never had so much as a touch on the chop

Ended up with 83 fish for 5-13-8 and second. Lyle 5 pegs away had found a slightly better stamp of roach on punch for 6-7 and a couple of other 5 pound weights behind me.

No bigger fish showed at all , or not on a hook at any rate. Our Sec was returning his fish from the weigh net when a perch that looked to be the best part of 3 lb shot out of some weed on the inside and grabbed one of the little roach.....

 

[john step]

That's a nice way to put it mate

Un fortunately we have only one lifetime of fishing to learn. Not enough

 

[rubio]

Returned to the river and struggled again. Caught this time but erratically and all small. Very few roach topping on a stretch normally alive with 'em.
I was determined to practice my trotting and had to battle thro an unhelpful squally wind. Heavier float than usual and more backshot but found it tough going. even switched to a feeder for an hour for nowt. The only upside is i didn't miss any bites. At least not ones I saw.