How did you get on?

[greenie62]

Yesterday I waited for the weather to warm-up a bit and went to the nearest puddle (100m long canal-style commercial) - Noon saw only the top third of it defrosted - the rest of it had an ice 'lid'!
Tried the top end where the sun had given it a few centigrades (hopefully) - nothing on worm, maggot or corn at 3m, 5m or 10m! Nowt on sleeper tip either!

A couple of guys walking round said they'd fished the match on the previous day - dire - one of the lads had come 3rd with 1 carp - only 5 anglers caught all day. Winner had come from a couple of pegs up from where I was - 'fish a chuck' - all from the far bank. Apparently you could see the tight shoal during the match but it wasn't there now!

I tried a popped-up worm fished lift-style on the far bank - with a long-stemmed antenna 'Wind-beater' - once it settled with just the ''blob' showing - it trembled and lifted 2" then slowly started to slide away - then stopped! Kept up this up & down behaviour for 20 mins with no definitive 'bite' to hit. Lost patience - in the end - struck - nowt!

Repeated the whole farce - cursing meself for striking too soon - this time I lasted 40 mins before giving in! Inspecting the worm on retrieval - it looked as pristine as when it had been introduced to the hook - would swear it hadn't been touched

Gave up at 5pm - it was getting cold again - only half the pool had thawed all day despite the bright sunshine. Total blank - but it was nice to be out in the sunshine for a change after the dull dreary rains, hail and snow showers of late

 

[flightliner]

Hey Steve & Flighty,
The excuses are always so much better when you have 2 brains working on them - doncha reckon?

Good write-up Flighty :thumbs:

Greenie, just read your report and couldnt help reminding you of this.
Maybe you,me n Binka should all go together for the ultimate excuse .

 

[bracket]

I had four hours on the River today. Beautiful morning, clear and frosty, the Sun shinning, no wind, and the water level sock on. The air temperature was -5C, so I had to roll my sleeves down but apart from that, prefect. First grayling came on the third run down and went 1lb 12oz. This was followed by six more 1lb (ish) fish during the next hour. Now while I am an angler who just fishes for bites and what ever comes along, not given to placing much importance to Personal Bests, Angling CV's and all that b**ll**ks I was a tad satisfied with the next grayling I took. It went 3lbs 3oze and is the best I have done off the river this season.




After that the wind got up and was, as usual, downgate and in at you, screwing up the stick float presentation somewhat . All I could manage from then on, was a string of hand sized grayling, plus four trout of the same ilk. So I finished up with 32 fish, a nice smug inner glow and Champions League football on down the Pub tonight. Life's a bitch in't it. Pete.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Congratulations, you're right, it's not important in the scheme of things but very satisfying indeed. There are a few around our area who will tell you such fish no longer exist in there. Something I get fed up with as they are only trying to muddy the water.

Such grayling do not arrive easily and usually require time and effort, two things many anglers will not invest in. You also have to be doing something correctly, efficiently and with luck. All three have direct links to that investment!


:thumbs:

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

I tried a popped-up worm fished lift-style on the far bank - with a long-stemmed antenna 'Wind-beater' - once it settled with just the ''blob' showing - it trembled and lifted 2" then slowly started to slide away - then stopped! Kept up this up & down behaviour for 20 mins with no definitive 'bite' to hit. Lost patience - in the end - struck - nowt!

Repeated the whole farce - cursing meself for striking too soon - this time I lasted 40 mins before giving in! Inspecting the worm on retrieval - it looked as pristine as when it had been introduced to the hook - would swear it hadn't been touched

Gave up at 5pm - it was getting cold again - only half the pool had thawed all day despite the bright sunshine. Total blank - but it was nice to be out in the sunshine for a change after the dull dreary rains, hail and snow showers of late

Greenie,

I have had the same thing happen to me with worm, fishing the same way.

This might sound a bit OTT, but i am 100% sure it is the worm moving the float. When this happened to me, i changed bait to maggot, the float didn't move in the same way. I had fish, but the float just went under.

Back to worm when the bites dried up, and the float moved in the same way again. I could only think, that the worm moving moved the float, as this set up is very Sensitive as you know.

Thats my take on it, don't know about others, but i am 100% sure it is the worm moving the float.

 

[greenie62]

....Thats my take on it, don't know about others, but i am 100% sure it is the worm moving the float.

Thanks for that Ray,
An interesting theory - and that was one of the smaller worms in the tub! - Well'ard t'worms up'ere lad!
If I use one of the bigger worms I s'pose I'd better use a butt clip and belay it to a bank-stick just in case t'worm pulls t'rod in! mg:

I think a few more experiments are called for before I can confirm the worm-tow effect
:thumbs:

 

[Tee-Cee]

As we all know and as Ray pointed out, the set-up used by Greenie is very sensitive so any movement of the bottom shot will see the float rise, but I'm finding it hard to put this down to a worm, although that's not to say it's impossible !
I did think of the ' wash ' from a passing fish might be the cause as I've suffered similar when tench fishing in the warmer months, but in winter - probably not.....
Even more obscure is the fact that it happened several times....very strange.

In a similar vein I can point to my last post where I mentioned bites that took the 1/2" ( of float above the surface ) down by half that amount but never totally under - also in a sort of ' trembling ' fashion. I couldn't even say it was a dip of the float - more a ' sinking '....Fishing off bottom with a pretty conventional arrangement this sort of bite resulted in fish, but NOT sometime later when the float shot under without warning any number of times for ziltch. Bait: single red maggot..

It's enough to keep one awake at night.................


Maybe another thread needed - apologies ....................

 

[no-one in particular]

I had four hours on the River today. Beautiful morning, clear and frosty, the Sun shinning, no wind, and the water level sock on. The air temperature was -5C, so I had to roll my sleeves down but apart from that, prefect. First grayling came on the third run down and went 1lb 12oz. This was followed by six more 1lb (ish) fish during the next hour. Now while I am an angler who just fishes for bites and what ever comes along, not given to placing much importance to Personal Bests, Angling CV's and all that b**ll**ks I was a tad satisfied with the next grayling I took. It went 3lbs 3oze and is the best I have done off the river this season.

.

Lovely fish that Pete, maybe not important pb and all that but I bet you enjoyed that. I wish had some Grayling near me, when everyone is blanking they oblige in the cold. Well done mate. worth a pint or two.

 

[Mark Wintle]

The conditions this week didn't augur well for my roach quest; hard frosts then heavy rain forecast today. Yesterday it was minus 6 in the morning but at lunchtime it felt much warmer so I decided to chance it on the Stour. I grabbed some maggots, bread from the freezer and a bag or two of groundbait. When I got to the river it was well past 1 o'clock but the river was in perfect trim and the only question was whether anything would feed. I decided to risk groundbait (Gros Gardons) and punch on a 16 and was into roach second cast. They were mainly small but the odd netter plus some tiny dace and even a gudgeon. Best of the 30-odd I had was this pair at 1-1 with one a short fat one and the other longer and thinner. Not a bad couple of hours in the end.

 

[peter crabtree]

Lovely mild and sunny day today so I decided to try yet another Colne tributary in the town centre. The river Chess, the shortest river in England @ 9miles long, most of which is strictly private trout fishing..It finishes up running alongside the canal for about 1000yds on the towpath side before joining the Colne...
Narrow and snaggy with little flow it's quite challenging so I was fishing for bites.
Single maggot on a 20 and a small crystal waggler in 2ft of nicely coloured water and my first bite was a surprised looking perch.....




Next came a dace followed by a roach...





Mission accomplished.....

 

[theartist]

Lovely mild and sunny day today so I decided to try yet another Colne tributary in the town centre. The river Chess, the shortest river in England @ 9miles long, most of which is strictly private trout fishing..It finishes up running alongside the canal for about 1000yds on the towpath side before joining the Colne...
Narrow and snaggy with little flow it's quite challenging so I was fishing for bites.
Single maggot on a 20 and a small crystal waggler in 2ft of nicely coloured water and my first bite was a surprised looking perch.....

Mission accomplished.....

I love that swim where the muddy water of the Colne meets the clearer Chess water this time of year. I'd be surprised if it's the shortest river in England though although never realized it was just 9 miles

 

[peter crabtree]

Maybe a bit of an exaggeration as the Bain in Yorkshire is shorter.
Maybe it's the shortest in the S.E.

 

[theartist]

Probably a grey area finding the shortest river as there a so many man made cuts that are named, can think of a few on the Thames like the St patricks stream and Lulle Brook. Think the Coppermill stream on the Lea is short too. As are some of the Yeos i've fished in Somerset.

I can't think of a place like Ricky where two rivers meet like they do, ok it's not all of the Colne and it's a man made channel but for two rivers to meet head on at 180 degrees is pretty rare thats for sure.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Finally managed to get out this morning after a week of ' we need to sort out some home issues ' from my wife. In fact I was in total agreement as matters of some importance such as house insurance needed sorting, and with the weather hovering around freezing for much of the week it seemed an ideal time....In addition, the keep fit walking regime was also in dire need as well !

That said, it wasn't a great forecast for today and I didn't expect too much, but I needed to be out so I headed off at 7am with the temperature gauge spot on -3 degrees. Once the sun rose and the mist cleared it turned out to be a lovely morning and with a water temp of 46 degrees I thought I might catch a roach or two, but some 5 hours later I was forced into thinking a bite would be nice.....
I tried everything, even moving swims to locate a few fish, but they didn't want to know so I can only think the constant very cold snap of the last few days had taken its toll.

Tomorrow looks to be mite warmer if wetter with highs of around 14 degrees, but whether it will induce them to feed remains to be seen. I shall have a go though......Oh, and Sunday as well !!

I had a lovely morning and came home to a beautiful Chilli con Carne that we knocked up yesterday to proper recipe - top job !!

 

[Chefster]

I had a little trip out to Tunnel Barn yesterday,with my mate Bad H,whos just come back from a month in the USA!!,there was no open,and we didnt fancy guesting with the TBF vets,so we picked a nice couple of "armchair"swims on Extension pool,20 and 21..We were greeted with a bit of cat ice,which was breakable with the pole!
The fishing was very slow,and fish came in fits and starts,i alternated between 6m,8m,and 14.5m-up shelf,i caught all my fish on 2mm and 4mm expanders,feeding micros,never had a single touch on any of my maggot lines,finishing with 24 F1,s,a few stockies and a couple of decent skimmers for 42-0-0,Bad H,had a slower day,but caught well later(after he copied my shotting pattern-lol)..ending with 32-0-0(Which included a nice common as well) he must have been very rusty after his month off-for me to beat him!!...weather was absolutely brilliant-sunny all day,not too windy,and no rain!!!...Working all weekend -again,Tight lines ,Gazza

 

[Pete Shears]

On the Wreake again this morning,levels up after the latest monsoon on Wednesday and muddy coloured but dropping just in time for the next deluge over the weekend.
Fished in a flooded cattle drink as the flow was a slower back eddy and managed just one chub of just over 1lb no legered bread but beautiful sunshine & birdsong.

 

[jimlad]

Decided to walk the miles this morning and travel light, using prawns, steak and cheese paste as bait, on the river tees. I was fishing a soft quiver tip, 8lb line straight through, link ledgering with 2 or 3 swan shot so that the bait settled in the crease of the flow after trundling around a little. After that, I just flicked out a couple of freebies and waited.

The banks have been battered this winter, and the river has changed, but first swim produced a quick bite to steak (after the prawn was ignored), and the strike met with solid resistance. This one weighed 4lb 2oz

A little wander downstream and I found a swim where a crease flowed under a nice raft, screamed out chub. I started with steak this time, but after ten minutes of no action decided it was time to bring out the cheesepaste - to say it stinks is an understatement. The chub love it though, and within 30 seconds the tip flew round and i was into my second fish at the same weight of 4lb 2oz.

The next swim didn't produce a bite, so moving further I found another swim that looked handy, and flicked out a piece of steak which was taken within minutes. This one fought better than the others, and I had to hold it solid to stop it getting in the roots. A nice tees chub of 4lb 8oz

On to the next swim, this one was a real hit and hold job as I was fishing under the roots, so it was a case of strike and bury the rod, not giving an inch. Eventually I coaxed the chub out, and it was another 4 at 4lb 3oz to steak.

Couldn't buy another bite, but happy with that result!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[peter crabtree]

Back to Waltham Abbey again today for the silvers only fixture.
Dry and breezy to start with but getting windier by the hour,



Started on the tip with banded pellet and the tip remained motionless for an hour. I'd been flicking casters over the chopped worm and caster I potted at the start by some dead reeds to my left. Small Rudd and roach followed by 2 lost better fish..
A couple of decent perch and that was it nada....
Tried my 11m line with expanders over micros but the wind was now gusting so strongly I couldn't control it. Broke down to top 4 rig + 1 @6m in 9ft of water.
Even that short was tricky but I started caching some nice skimmers on double maggot. Caught most of them in the last 2hours during which it rained hard and everything got soaked, too windy for the brolly...
Weighed in 9lb:6oz for nowhere....

 

[binka]

Finally…

After a week and a half laid up (feels like longer!) with the bug of doom I managed to break out and get a session in today 

Nothing too adventurous mind as I don’t want to risk a relapse and so a local lake was the venue again and in a nutshell it was hard going, hard enough that after four hours of constant drip feeding and fiddling with depths and shotting on the waggler rig, I still hadn’t had a bite.

Slightly baffling if anything especially after the mild night and I can only assume that the long run of preceding sub-zero temperatures and cold frosts had taken their toll on the overall water temperatures.

It did eventually come good though, this was following the decision around early afternoon to go for broke with the feed and to that effect I upped the chopped worm and gave it a good helping which seemed to do the trick.

Some nice netter roach began to show and the bites probably matched their metabolisms, slow and gentle dips of the float which eventually melted below the surface before pristine winter fish glinted through the clear water…



I think I had a half a dozen of these before something a bit bigger moved in…



Not at all unwelcome on such a difficult day, especially as my mate was sat to one side of me with a two rod method feeder approach and blanked.

It’s a shame I didn’t need an excuse really as the crocodile that came drifting through my swim would have more than sufficed…





Thanks for all the excellent reports over the last couple of weeks that have kept me going whilst I haven’t been able to get out myself, it is certainly good to be back :w

 

[thecrow]

Isnt that the crocodile rumoured to have bred with a duck?