How did you get on?

[Neil Maidment]

When I fished the Frome at Wool on Monday, there was a constant background of Heavy Machine Gun Fire and the occasional "crump" of something far more menacing!

It was perfect Monday, rose quite a bit overnight and coloured up even more yesterday. so you did well today with the river fining down but still a little too much colour.

There are plenty a small grayling up there but some real crackers as well, it's a fine place to spend a few hours. Wareham's waters lower down at Worgret and Holme also hold some fine fish. There's a lot of river to explore!

Interesting choice of float, don't think I own one anywhere near that light. In the current conditions I favour a 7gm/8gm balsa (still a Drake though) using a 6gm olivette as a bulk stopped by a couple of BB and a no:4 dropper.

And that will probably be my starting set up on Sunday.

It would be good to meet up on the Frome at some point.

 

[sam vimes]

Yet another snatched couple of hours on the river for nine grayling and two daft brownies. Great start to the session when I realise that the hooklengths I'd carefully tied at home were still laid on my coffee table rather than where I needed them.mg:

 

[Pete Shears]

On a different reservoir today - piking : First run, struck - nothing just teeth marks in the bait
as far from the hooks as possible. Recast - 16lb pike in good condition, easy to unhook with a 2 hook rig, it never left the net which weighs 3lb. Another run & another set of teeth marks nowhere near the hooks and that was it. Flock of about 30 lapwings flew over, 2 buzzards & a kestrel were the notable wildlife apart from suicidal pheasants failed to impact the front /side of my car.

 

[john step]

One take only today on the Witham. An absolute croc came adrift. Oh bother I said:wh

 

[flightliner]

A nasty ,cold wind in my face today as I sat by a pair of rods waiting for a Trent zed.
Nothing at all untill the sun was very low when my indicater jumped and fell a couple of times coupled with a nod or two of the rod tip, striking thin air I recast after a fresh bait was was applied to the two hook rig.
Five minutes later and the action is repeated , beep beep, jump jump, nod nod, strike, resulting in my connecting with a nice zander of 6-6. Result !.

 

[wa1115]

After a blank on Monday and losing a couple of jig-flies to snags I was slightly annoyed with myself. So last night I decided I was going to tie a new one up and have a couple of hours this morning in hope of a fish or two.
Well an hour in I had my first take a small jack of about 2lb which already got my confidence up after my previous outing. I watched a couple of Kingfishers sweeping up and down the stretch and thought to myself it doesn't get much better than this! Walking back towards the car I decided to have a quick half hour near some boats (as had to pick the daughter up from nursery), well that turned out to be a good decision as I had a really good hit second cast which produced a Pike around 6lb

(not the biggest I know) but on a lure I tied myself it makes it even better. And it made a right mess of it!

Really enjoyed today even the random passerby that got roped into taking pictures enjoyed seeing a Pike and commented "That's the first real life Pike I have seen".

 

[binka]

After a blank on Monday and losing a couple of jig-flies to snags I was slightly annoyed with myself.

Have you tried tightening right up to the snag and then "twanging" your line really hard like a guitar string?

I'd never heard of it before and I think it was a post by pointngo where I learnt it from but it really does work with braid, not sure about mono.

The last lure session I had on the river a few weeks ago could have cost me six or seven lures, as it was I didn't lose one by using the "twang" when snagged up.

 

[wa1115]

Haha yeah thanks binka tried that, it seems to work for me on the river when using jig heads as the hooks bend, but think the hooks I use for jig-flies are a bit stronger and bigger so the inevitable seems to happen. I saw that thread after getting snagged on the river so tried it and it does 'normally' work.

Sent from my LG-E410i using Tapatalk

 

[robtherake]

Looks like my hair on a windy day.

 

[dorsetandchub]

And that's just the pink bit

 

[theartist]

Had a free morning, the first in ages so I had to go to the River Colne in Watford just to see the state of affairs following the pollution it suffered in the summer. The fact that it had taken me so long was born more out of fear than anything else, the scenario of knowing it could be ok was more appealing than going to find it dead. The reports of the damage at the time were inconsistent ranging from hundreds to thousands and whilst it did make short column inches in the local rag, coverage elsewhere was minimal. It seemed I knew as much as anyone else although most was hearsay. My winter banker river, nice and local, always coloured when the rains come and never a chance of blanking, it would be like losing a friend so I had to go back see how she was.

I arrived to find where I usually park is now a pay and display, how things change I thought as I headed upstream to park on the main road. Least it was a short walk across to one of my favourite swims where I quickly set up a home made float that took a couple of number 4s. The weather was perfect, no wind and plenty warm enough and although there was little flow the colour was perfect. It did smell a bit pooey but then again it always does, I stood in the mud and made my first cast.

Now I wasn't expecting much, I was more hopeful than anything so when the float dipped slightly first cast and a small roach was swung to hand I was happy as anything and thoughts of a good day filled my mind. Sadly that was not to be as I had to work my socks off to get a bite anywhere trying all the spots I know. Working my was downstream noticing how out of shape I am for my lack of fishing lately I managed just three roach, two perch and a chublet, no dace at all so was neither elated nor deflated as I know I would have got two or three dozen on a day like today normally.

Talked to a local walker who said it was going to be restocked, could be hearsay once more but it gave me optimism as I headed for the long walk back to my car.

P.s Tight Lines to all of you going to the Itchen or any water for that matter.

 

[sam vimes]

As the weather had warmed up a bit, the wind dropped and the forecast for the weekend is dire, I went back to the roach pool. I had a bright idea to fish a spot that I've previously avoided. On finding that it was only a couple of feet deep, and failing to register a single bite in an hour of trying, I moved.

I did get bites in the new peg. Unfortunately, they weren't exactly having it. Even using the most sensitive wagglers I own, bites were ridiculously shy. Much of the day was spent playing has it or hasn't it moved! Things got even worse when the cloud unexpectedly cleared to leave me with a rather pleasant winter sun right in my face. Only when the sun touched the horizon did the bites get more positive and frequent. I'd guess I had about 75% of my fish in the last hour.

I got to try out my new weigh sling twice for roach of 1lb 1oz and 1lb 3oz. I'd reckon on having another five that would have been close to a pound and nothing less than six ounces. The grand total was 24 roach for an estimated weight somewhere north of 15lb.

 

[peter crabtree]

Any pics Sam?

 

[sam vimes]

Sorry, Peter, no. The best today wasn't bigger than my best from this water and you can't use a keepnet for a bag shot, so I didn't think to get the camera out.

 

[binka]

Nice to get a good long session in again after the nights have drawn in, for some unbeknown reason I switched from my intended stillwater venue to the river at the very last moment and was on the bank for dawn.

Finding it quite high and heavily coloured I headed for a deep slack in an area I haven't fished for a long while and fished the float throughout the day which was aided by the baitdropper to get the feed where I could predict it to be and the bream were very approving of the whole thing and obliged in numbers up to a weight of around 3 1/2lb.

A solitary welcome dace also put in an appearance by snaffling a large dendra on a size eight…



It felt very mild during the afternoon and come dusk I didn’t feel like packing up and so I stayed on for a couple of hours into darkness which is when things really got…





























A little ruffe…




Boom Boom!

Hey… Don’t start, I could’ve posted the bream!

:w

 

[flightliner]

Another Zed trip on the Trent today, tho no expert by any means I must be doing something right.
A small dead roach on a pair of eight trebles downstream and the same on rod two slightly upriver that settled in front of me was my simple plan.
The water was a tiny bit higher and coloured than the other day but not in any way reason to give me doubts about catching any zed that was hanging around-- providing it was hungry enough--- .
The day was so windy I deliberately chose a swim with a high bank behind me as some shelter was no bad thing,
It was almost noon, the baits had been out a couple of hours and not wishing to miss the news I was just winding up my never ever needs batteries radio when two beeps on my old optoniks alerted me to concentrate on the task in hand. A second or two later the rod tip was tapping merrily away so I wound down and hit a fish that felt a little better than the one I had taken earlier in the week.
It was, not much but definately better sizewise.
7-7 on the scales and I was pleased with the fish, a really nice example, clean lines with just the hint of a gut, good scrap too.
That was it, no more action but hey.
Just before I packed away I was stood by the rivers edge and noticed a tiny bit of something red that I picked up out of curiosity and found it was a three jointed lure, really nice one too , it was still attached to a trace which gave the clue as to its loss, the swivel top had come loose from the barrel middle.
Old story really, expensive lure and a cheap swivel attachment --- fatal -- many thanks tho!.

 

[binka]

7-7 on the scales and I was pleased with the fish, a really nice example, clean lines with just the hint of a gut, good scrap too.

And here's flight's zander...



A very nice looking fish Mick, well done... Hope I can find a similar one tomorrow :w

 

[neil1970]

My third and last, for the year, rowing boat lure session today.

A short one due to traffic and work requirements and one that I'd been looking forward to, whilst expecting an blank.

We were on the water by 12pm and had to be off it bt 3.45 latest.

Going through the lock and heading downstream took valuable fishing time but paid off.

We ended up at the arse end of Monkey Island and went slightly into the backwater.

A 4" plug quickly caught a little jack.

We both agreed to head back upstream to our tried and tested backwater above the lock, as our smallish lures weren't cutting it in the main river due to the flow and lack of slack areas.

On the trip back I trolled a deep diving minnow in trout pattern in the main channel for a bit and then decided to try and troll/cast/troll as near to the bank and as close to the overhanging bushes and trees as possible.

After thirty seconds of trolling one cast hooked a fish which fought well in the current and ended up a new pb Chub by 2oz.

5 14

 

[rubio]

Went down to the river hoping to practice a little at honing my trotting skills ready for sunday. Seems I chose correct only in respect that conditions on the day may be similar. I hope not, but come what may I shall be attempting to bag a few grayling on the float at LIF. Today I abandoned any such notion.
The stretch I went to has decent swims above and below a weir. Above it was 2 feet down and thick with silt, courtesy of overflow from the Ouse which is channelled underground. Below the substantial weirpool itself, fed by a slide overflow in normal conditions, was churning and inhospitable with two gates sending the main flow directly into it. I found a shallow back eddy and took a few roach on 4/5mm punch. The fish were there right enough but guessing which way the float was gonna turn in the many eddies meant I struggled to place a bait in the same place twice. I put in a little liquidised feed but couldn't trust where it would end up. The level rose and fell repeatedly. Cleared and clouded thanks to a sidestream that no longer flows, and each time the pattern changed a new raft of rubbish settled in front of me in the only place I could keep the bait still enough to get bites.Eventually I succumbed and set up a small cage feeder with flake on the hook. When that snagged and got lost first cast I succumbed in a more fitting manner and packed up and left.

 

[binka]

Well, that was a short and clinical in and out job this morning and sitting here now on a nice warm sofa with a cold beer watching the rain hammering on the window I reckon it was the right thing to do.

I’ve had far too many weather batterings just lately!

I haven’t done much pike or zander fishing at all so far this autumn and winter and wanting to be there and gone again before the latest punnelling of wind and rain swept in did lend itself to a go at ‘em and so I was on the river well before daybreak and after a good yomp to my beat I did fancy it for a zander considering the high level and colour.

Lamprey out on one rod and half a bream out on the other which were both float rigs fished in the edge and around forty minutes in and that tell tale blip of the float to the left hand bream rod progressed into a nice steady sail away of the float which was met with an immediate strike.

No need for anything more than a hit and hold under a tree which resulted in a bit of a tail walk before the fish was safely in the net, nothing big but very welcome all the same…



After re-baiting and putting back in I decided it was time for Greasy Syd’s Brunch Diner to open, after all it is a while since you’ve had a sausage pic (!) from me…



Very nice indeed on a cold riverbank and not just by my own reckoning either, the resident Robin took a liking to the small bits of sausage that I’d shredded up for him and happily agreed to pose for this year’s Christmas card picture…



A nice few hours out… :w