How did you get on?

[seth49]

Had a day on my favourite fishery yesterday on my own as Mick is recovering from his operation.had a early start was on my way at five thirty. Love early mornings drove fifteen miles and only so two cars.

I had already decided to fish what you could call the specimen lake, there's some big fish in here but it can be a bit slow, there have been some good fish caught lately so I thought it would be worth a go.

Put my sleeper rod out for the carp or tench, and rigged up two float rods, my ten footer for the margins with a pin on, fishing red maggots or six mm soft pellets or corn.plus my thirteen ft rod for fishing out about two rod length out in six ft of water.

Started catching small perch on maggot right away, plus one about half a pound, so switched to corn, nothing doing on corn so switched to pellets, started getting some nice roach up to a pound, as I was fishing I kept flicking a few dog biscuits out, the wind carried them away across the lake,and noticed a few carp were taking them and working towards me.

Got my floater rod set up and had a few casts, result a new pb common of fifteen pounds four ounces. gave me a real scrap on my little nine ft Nash dwarf rod at two and a quarter pound test curve, I like this little rod a lot.

Well my target carp of twenty pounds this year is getting closer, well back to the float rods I had some nice bream and skimmers to about three pounds on the big rod and back in the margins more nice roach, plus my first crucian of the year, about a pound, nice to get this I like these fish a lot, I knew what it was right away always tell with the fight you get

Finished up with about thirty fish for the day, not bad on this lake, also got smashed with a nice carp, it broke a ten pound hook link on the take, and I never felt a thing, started raining lightly about three so I packed up at five to go home, a long day eleven hrs fishing I was ready fore home by then, half way home the roads were dry, so I mowed the lawn after I had sorted my gear out, just finished before the rain arrived.
Enjoyed today.

 

[rayner]

Tunnel Barn Farm open on Jennys and High today,i drew 15 jennies,and ran to it!!!But the fish had other things on their mind!!caught 2 mirrors,and an f1 over,spent 3 hours catching small skimmers,lost 2 f1,s on top kit,then caught 3 mirrors and an 11lb common down the edge...36-10-0,5th on pool and won section,thats how bad it fished!!!Pete Hancox won it off peg 4 with 50lb,Steve Johnson 2nd off peg 2 ,45lb,Jim Wills off peg 26 3rd with 38lb....High fished excellent though..Alan Lines-133lb,Dave Purvis 120lb,and Phil Sutor 108lb...my main gaff of the day was introducing maggots,it was the kiss of deathThe 11lb common was my highlight of the day though,on 13h elastic and 0.10 h/l and an 18 808 hookFriday flyer next up!!!!!,tight lines ,Gazza

Good fishing with light line. Should be fishing myself today but better weather forecast tomorrow swayed me.

Silver bream/roach or rudd hybrid if such a thing is possible?

It's a long time since I have seen a Silver Bream and even longer since I caught one but I agree the one you pictured is kosher.

 

[robtherake]

Its the last kindness an owner can do for a pet Rob although its a bloody difficult thing to do, sounds like he has had a good life since being rescued and I only wish more people would do the same, chin up mate.

Thanks for this. Your kind words helped me find the courage to do what was best.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well havd another nice day at the pool ( really must wet a line somewhere else now and then but the fishing is just so good ) Bit of a damp start but got sorted on a peg i very rarely fish but with conditions it was spot on out the wind rain coming from behind so the brolly did its job bang on .

Any how it started they way it continued few roach to start with around 6 to 8 oz each some nice Bream then got taken around the pool by a humongous Tench which was worrying as i was only on 3lb hook length took me about 10 mins to grt it in the net biggest tench i have had so far did not weigh it but felt around 6 to 7 lbs fought like billyo , then came a few nice Crucians nothing big few more various small silvers then yet another Tench and a few more Bream .

I did attempt to take some photos but i have not yet mastered getting fish to remain stationary long enough to take picis so i took netfull pics but they are cwap as well .



PG ...

 

[barbelboi]

Silver bream? - effin' snotty....................

 

[flightliner]

Silver bream? - effin' snotty....................

To many carp when you were young Jerry.

 

[barbelboi]

To many carp when you were young Jerry.

Can't remember that far back Mick................

 

[peter crabtree]

Had a nice wander along the bank of our local chalkstream with Neil1970 this afternoon. We both had a few chucks with Neil's lure rod and a fly type lure with a no6 shot for casting weight. It wasn't long before Neil caught the only fish of the session



We both spotted a decent chub moving up and down but it was too clever for us.

 

[sumtime]

Had a nice wander along the bank of our local chalkstream with Neil1970 this afternoon. We both had a few chucks with Neil's lure rod and a fly type lure with a no6 shot for casting weight. It wasn't long before Neil caught the only fish of the session



We both spotted a decent chub moving up and down but it was too clever for us.

You always come up with pics, Pete, thank you.

 

[seth49]

Well another day back on the fishery, arrived about five forty five, decided to fish the same pool again, different weather to Tuesday blue sky's and sunshine all day.

Had a nice crucian about a pound early on,and lost another at the net, a few skimmers and a couple of bream. One or two roach till the sun started shining on the water, then they went quite.

Tried a little pellet feeder further out in the deeper water, and caught a few more skimmers, also lost a good roach just short of the net. Looking down the bank I could see the wind was blowing into the bottom corner. So I went down for a look, right away I could see some nice carp crusing around.

So I rigged my little Nash rod up to fish dog biscuits on the top,and went down to try for them, I find the bakers soft dog biscuits cast well without a controller
So I had a cast towards a group of carp, I had got feeding on a few free offerings

A nice common came up and took the bait very confidently, gave me a good scrap too. Took a while to net it, a quick weigh and I had upped my PB by ten ounces, so a good result two fifteen pounders in two visits, I'm happy with that.
And some silvers as well.
A good week.

 

[S-Kippy]

The seatbox has been nagging me all week for another go at the Bury Hill crucians and with a new pole to try out who am I to argue ? All set for yesterday until the weather fairy did for me so I postponed the trip until today.

Now....first of all I had me new pole to contend with and I quickly found out it's very different to my old pole. Dipstick that I am it had not occurred to me that a 13m pole will be longer ( per section) than an 11m pole so with 5 sections on I was 2 m further out and everything felt odd.....balance,weight, roller position. Took me 2 hours to work that out and ditch a section....Idiot. The tension on the newly elasticated top was too slack so I had to tighten that ( 3 times!) and I had too much line between tip and float so I kept bumping fish. Plus....this is proper 6 elastic and though I've been using what I thought was 6 I'm not so sure now. I think I've been using lighter than that.

Anyway....all this meant I spent about 3 hours sorting meself out and getting spanked by the bloke next peg along who was fishing a running line. So much for bloody pole fishing. Eventually I started to get into a rythmn though my toss pot didn't fit the power top I'd brought so I had to keep putting it on and taking it off like a proper numpty. 4mm expanders over 3mm feed got me going, then a few fish on red maggot and then I got unceremoniously done 4 times in a row by lumps. 1 certainly acarp but the others big tench. It ain't far to the lily beds where I was fishing and once they are in there it's goodnight ladies.

Then it got very bright and very hot BUT my careful feeding kept them coming and while next door enjoyed a bitrless two hours I got into a run of lovely crucians with the odd green gatecrasher. All these on bits of dendrabena which seemed to be THE bait today....a few on expander,the odd fish on red maggot but most on a bit of worm.I even managed to stop one of those big tench and what a cracker it was too...not weighed but close to 5 and a half pound I'd guess. Eventually my " straight out in front" line died so I ended up fishing 3 sections down the reeds to my right and continued to catch. Next door was now on a lead and jolly good luck too.

I had set myself the target of doing better than last week and I managed that with 29 lovely crucians and 6 tench. The crucians weren't of as consistently high size as last week but I guess half of them were pound plus with 6 around a pound and a half and the best 2 nudging 2lb apiece. The tench were typical Milton size...2-3 lb bar that one lump but I was annoyed to bump so many fish which is not something I usually do down there. The place is getting a pasting and they were exceptionally cute today but I think I'd have to put the bumping down to my usual ham fistedness plus not having worked my new pole out yet. Think I might go down an elastic size or maybe two. No chance with the tench then but I don't go there to catch tench....I go for those lovely little golden chappies.

No clonking roach today. In fact the only other fish I had were two micro perch which snaffled a chewed maggot while I was returning proper fish

Lovely day. I'm still not sure about this bloody pole though....its very different and a lot stiffer than I'm used to. Need to persevere until I get a feel for it.

Coots a disgrace as usual. 2 mallards having a private scrap and every coot on the lake piles in. Like bloody Millwall fans they are.

 

[binka]

Another impromptu one for me yesterday afternoon and judging by the puns that were coming out in the bargains thread I reckon it was a return to something vaguely resembling sanity just in the nick of time!

I paired one of the 11’ Ultralite Avons with the ‘pin which is loaded with heavier line for a spot of heavy float fishing on a large lake and seeing the waves coming in onto one particular bank, upon my arrival around 5pm, I decided to fish into the teeth of it with a 3 swan driftbeater rig.

Slight problem in that I’d only packed a small tin of sweetcorn and it was like being on the sea front, after chopping some corn down for feed it would have ended up back at my feet with the heaviest of chucks but a nearby mole hill came to the rescue and enabled me to conjure up a nice mix which I could then easily ball the two rod lengths out that I was fishing.

Despite the hot afternoon the jumper soon came out of the bag and it was like being battered by the wind although I felt as though I was in the right place but by six thirty I hadn’t had a bite and so I hatched a plan to move to a quieter bank to fish out the remaining couple of hours of daylight if I hadn’t had any interest by seven o’clock.

A few minutes later and the driftbeater never reappeared in its usual rhythm between the waves and the fish had hit the ratchet on the ‘pin as I struck which gave a satisfying and fast screech.

It was a good fish by my standards and three times I got a glimpse of it close to the net before it went off like a train again, I initially thought it might be a twenty but eventually settled for an 18lb – 19lb common once I had it on the mat.

All very comfortable on a 7lb bottom and a bit of patience, a good result nevertheless.

By this time I was beginning to feel a bit chilly and so I upped sticks and picked a nice quiet spot away from that ripping wind and I changed down to a 3BB straight peacock waggler with the two pieces of hair rigged corn that had bagged the earlier fish before feeding a bit of chopped corn in by hand over the top.

I was surprised to see the float sail away within a few minutes and I struck into fresh air, after putting back in I knew there were fish around as they were brushing the line and making the float sway around as they upended for the loose feed and just before dusk the float sailed away again and this time I struck into another nice fish.

After a good fight it wasn’t to be the size of the first fish but definitely prettier…





I decided to crack open a starlight and fish an hour into darkness but all interest had faded with the light and so I was off home and very happy about things.

Back out for a long day tomorrow with my regular weekend partner, hopefully the fishing will be as good as the craic is guaranteed to be :w

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

My day was very different than Binkas and S-kippys.

Decided like Skips to forget wed and fished a new water for me that was much prettier than imagined and free in so far it was on the BAA ticket.

Ariived at 7am and two people fishing , one who told me of the huge bream. Had one on pellet feeder over 8lb in a 100lb net a couple of days ago.
I nearly went home.

However, it has a reputation for decent tincas so with some insider info I opted for caster and hemp feed and a 3bb waggler a couple of rod lengths out past some lily beds.worm and caster cocktail on the hook.

Lots of signs of feeding activity but like bream or carp ( a few big ones but not many by all accounts)

Well I waited and waited till 10 and the float lifted and sailed away. A tench and agood one.......until it came off.

Well I fished till 9pm and caught 3 eels. However, a chap who lives nearby came and chatted and fished.
He said the tench don't seem to eat natural baits ( crazy I know) he wasted a few months on corn, bread, maggot etc with little success for 6 months of the last two years.

To illustrate the point he said its tough today but yesterday he caught 5 tincas and 5 brim in a 4 hour session.

Anyway.....as I sat in the next swim for the longest day he caught 2 tench of maybe 6lb and lost 3 in the 4 hours he fished.

I wouldn't say he was a top angler but he proved his point.

Initial local info may have been a bit dodgy.

Anyway, strangely I enjoyed the day maybe more than catching 100lb suicidal roach etc last week , learnt something, and will be back......with strawberry mini boilies!

 

[S-Kippy]

I've not caught a brim yet this year. What are the odds of going brimless all season ? Worth a go surely.

 

[rubio]

On the subject of bream; I was plagued by them yesterday. I rarely catch any from this pond and that suits me just fine. Happy enough when they get to 4/5 lbs but 6oz skimmers don't make me smile often.
Bream were on this occasion a saving grace. I did get a few rudd of the top after pinging out maggots for 20 mins, by which time the groundbait and 2 handfuls of reds I'd lobbed in had got a patch on the near shelf fizzing.
I resisted dropping on it for another half hour and by then it was a bite a chuck. Unfortunately mostly lightning quick roach/rudd or suicidal micro perch. I plumbed up again and reset the rig to fish just the bottom 6 inches and got a bend in the rod finally. A couple of flashes and it broke surface to slide in sullenly to the net. First bream. 3 maggots over the top and put back in for bream no. 2.
Repeat for 20 mins. I shovelled in another big handful of maggot and went back after the rudd. Which of course had drifted away to sunbathe. So back to the bream and try to appreciate them. However I continued to hope for a few crucians to bully them out. They often will here. Too busy getting it on in the margins I suspect as I hooked only one. Of course I lost that and instead reeled in a decaying lump of branch it had cunningly switched the hook onto. For a while I got out my whip and caught a few roach higher up by feeding more frequently. With half an hour left I gritted my teeth and picked the rod back up to give a crucian another chance. No chance the bream were very content doing what they like best, ie hoovering relentlessly.
I know there are some out there who like bream and I do not wish to cause offence but I went away feeling a bit dissatisfied despite catching regularly. Maybe once the river season kicks off again and I get a few of dreary blanks in I will look back on the day more fondly.

 

[Hugh Bailey]

Had my first trip for ages as I had a few hours free, so opted for a local still water just round the corner from where we used to live. It's not a commercial but used to be good for a bite or 2 and has some really nice tench.

Started on the feeder into the teeth of a blustery NE. Stuck it out for nothing for an hour before moving to a more sheltered swim with the wind off my right shoulder.

Switched one rod over to a small insert crystal waggler fished bout 2 rod lengths out and avoided the blank with a perch of about 6 ounces. Next cast hooked a small roach which was taken by a pike. Played it for 10 minutes before the inevitable bite-off. This wrecked the swim for an hour, until another perch of about 12oz, followed by a skimmer again take by a pike. Packed up after another biteless hour.

Not a great day, but the weather and pike didn't help - it's odd, since I packed up fishing for them, I've caught or hooked more pike than I can remember - at least 2 in each of my last half-dozen or so sessions.

 

[Keith M]

Went down to one of my local club waters last night from around 5pm up to around 9:30pm with my son who wanted to try out his new 2 piece 13ft Drennan float rod which we bought him for his birthday and which he had already setup in a rod quiver.

Within about 4 or 5 minutes he was into his first small carp (about 3lb) and I was still trying to setup my float rod. By the time I had finished setting up, plumbed the depth and cast out my float with a bait attached for the first time he had caught a couple of smallish Carp, a Crucian, a largish bream 'SPIT' (I have to spit when I mention the 'B' word LOL) and several nice Roach.

Anyway it was a great few hours leading up to darkness and I had 8 different species (Carp, Crucian, Roach, Rudd, Chub, Perch, bream 'spit' plus a Rainbow trout) all of which put a bend in my rod (even the bream 'spit').

Roll on June 16th when I can get back onto the river.

Keith

 

[Chefster]

Friday"Flyer" open today on Jenny,s pool at TBF,I knew i,d be in for a shocker when i pulled out peg 15(the water peg) for the 2nd time this week
With the wind blowing up the other end of the pool,all the fish followed the wind again
I managed a few F1,s across,on pellet,over micros,with a mirror and a few skimmers,suffered half a dozen lost foulhookers,and every one at our end of the pool was struggling...once again the fish turned up late,down the edge,and i managed another half a dozen F1,s and 2 mirrors,again on pellet,to put 36lb odd on the scales,which fell well short,of what was needed!
Once again peg 27 on the dam wall produced the goods,with 73lb winning,53lb was 2nd from peg 4,and 49lb from peg 21...section was won with the 49lb,as only top 2 were paid out..hopefully my luck will change at the drawbag next week,next match is the open on tuesday..Tight lines,Gazza

 

[bracket]

Since the start of the close season on the river I have had some difficulty motivating myself to fish a still water. I have done three sessions this far, on lakes, but my heart has not been in it. Yesterday I was determined to break this malaise and try for a good bag of bream and skimmers. So off to my local club water, around 0630, in the pouring rain. Arrived at 0700 and it was still coming down like stair rods, but that does not deter a dedicated man like me. So on with the waterproofs and set up the gear. Did all that, and once completed and everything was wet through, the rain had the temerity to stop. I had settled on a peg with open water in front and no features nearby. Generally good for bream and skimmers, but not attractive to poxy carp. Cupped in three pots of expanders and sweetcorn at 11m and followed up with a 4m expander on the hook and 8 elastic in the pole, 2 inch over depth. First bite after ten minutes and away went 20 feet of elastic, sh@t. Luckly it shed the hook, unluckly the same thing happened on the next three put ins. So, reluctantly I stepped up the elastic to 14 and went for them. I finished up, four hours later, with 12 carp , four double figure fish, and lost 7 (as you do) plus a barbel and a small chub. Ironically the "Just one more fish and then I'll wrap up" was a bream. Hey Hoo, not what I had intended, but but if you can't catch what you want, catch what you can. Still not a fan of carp but they did save the day. I will continue to keep dreaming bream and live in hope. Pete.

 

[flightliner]

Another late start to miss the rush hour traffic this morning and thirty minutes later I,m settling into a nice peg on a Notts stilwater, this time hoping for a few crucians that have been a little sparse in my catches over the last few years. Odd ones but no multiple catches of note so today I,m hoping to put things right.
Only shallow, maybe three feet in most areas with some nice weedbeds scattered around that give the venue a really appealing look, one that screams "crucians"!.
First put in with double scalded feed pellets on a sixteen barbless and the floats gone resulting in a bream in full 'Hell big boy' makeup , a bit of a rough slapper really and so easy.
It went slow afterwards, maybe a good half hour but a very sensitive lift and slow dissapearance had me connected to a hard fighting crucian of at least a pound and a half, nice, five minutes later another exactly the same is in the net, things were coming good.
All told the crucians came steady after that, one or two, a short lull then a couple more, by half past two I had taken fourteen with some going almost two pounds or so but it all went dead after that, maybe on account of a really cold northerly that had me scuttling back to my car for an extra coat --- unbelievable considering how hot it had been yesterday.
I was due to leave at four pm to miss the build up of traffic nearer south Sheffied and the M1 but perserverance gave me a few more fish totalling seventeen crucians to go with the bream.
A really nice enjoyable session that came good, maybe another trip before the rivers open.