How did you get on?

[itsfishingnotcatching]

On the Avon with Steve (Fruitowl) today, first time I've fished it but it won't be the last. The intention was to set up the feeder as practise for the Wye but the swim said otherwise so decided on the Floatmaster at 15'0 with a 3AAA Avon float. Tried worm and maggot with very limited success, the river was full of fry and tiddlers. Finished up with four Dace and two Chublets. To add insult to injury, the bailiff was kind enough to let us know that an angler upstream had taken an 11.2 Barbel and another downstream had bagged up on Tench and Bream

Still, on the plus side, the float set up will do for the Wye, (can't see me risking the pin and a Crabtree "Bad Angling" award and they say anyone can catch Barbel on halibut pellets

 

[peter crabtree]

High tide at Kew bridge W.London this morning, damp and drizzly at 9am.



By 9:20 enough gravel showing to get the gear down the slippery steps and set up.





Groundbait feeder and treble red maggot on a 14. During the first hour I lost 3 big slabs. They were very quick to dive between the rocks on the bottom and slip the hook. As the match went on the wind got gusty and played havoc with my tripod which blew over a few times. Luckily, despite the mouth of my keepnet going under water on these collapses no fish escaped.

Towards the end with the river 35 yards from the wall where we started and very shallow my tip was blowing all over the place and bites were difficult to spot.



At 3:30 the whistles blew and I weighed in 6 bream and 2 clonking dace for 15lb 10.





My biggest bream was 5lb:8. The biggest caught on the day was 7lb:6oz

Winner had 27 bream for 66lb. Second had 52lb, 3rd 32lb.

15 fished.

 

[flightliner]

Nice one Peter.I just love tidal rivers, so much more interesting!.

 

[qtaran111]

Well I'm chuffed, over the moon, on cloud nine

Today was my first day back on running water after the closed season, holidays, rain/flooding and life in general getting in the way of my fishing. I couldn't be buggered to drag a load of gear down to the Thames so did my usual wandering the Wandle.

I fished this little river a lot last season and always did well with lots of decent dace, but no sniff of a chub or a barbel. Today I was determined to change that.

I set off early with minimal gear. I really enjoy this kind of minimal fishing; one rod & reel, no chair, no kitchen sink, just a pint of maggs, a small pot of truncheon meat and a blob of cheese paste. Even my mini rucksack was half empty.

Headed down to Earlsfield with the usual plan of walking the stretch between the station up to Colliers Wood tube to head home. It's always a joy seeing my fellow tube passengers faces when they sense maggot and fish slime in the air.

Blimey, when I got there the river was a right two and eight. Wandle Meadow completely flooded making some swims out of bounds, **** and nettles everywhere and loads of fallen trees.

First stop was opposite the allotments, a spot that a fellow angler had recommended as "chubby". Tried trickling in maggs, cheese paste, luncheon mate. Nothing.

A bit frustrated, I moved on to the dace stronghold near (as I call it) the christmas tree, which has more tackle in it than in Angling Direct. As expected, trickling in the maggs again and trotting a small float through very shallow (about a foot or so) saw plenty of decent dace. I love these little silver darts that fight so solidly for their size in the current.

As well as the dace, this little fella thought he could manage double maggot on a size 18:

After plenty of dace and helping some kids to reclaim their football with my landing net, I headed slightly back upstream to a known barbel spot. Switched to a small ledger with a couple of cubes of spam, chucked in some old groundbait I had in my bag and settled down to wait. As you can see, the swims here are really restricted. I always bring my 9ft Agility wand as that's about the longest rod you can fit under the trees. Even that is a nightmare. There is a tree right above my rod in this pic about 4 foot above the water:

So, the clock ticks by...I trickle in some more particles and start thinking about switching to bread (which is known to work well here). Just as I start to squidge some bread up with water, my rod tip trembles and then wraps around double.

Panic stations! Go! Drop bread, grab rod, strike, swear at over-hanging trees, play fish which is screaming off upstream, glance over shoulder to where landing net is almost out of reach, pull landing net over with outstretched foot, adjust clutch, swear at trees again...this goes on for sometime.:wh

Eventually I manage to get the fish up in the water and see that greeny-goldy flash as it shoots back down to the depths. Now my heart is beating like crazy. Eventually (after pretty much destroying the swim and bank) I get the net under my first Wandle barbel. As you can probably tell by the pic below I was quite happy What I still don't know is how my bait box lid ended up in the landing net with my whiskered friend...

p.s. I know it's not a monster, but I feel today made me 10 years younger

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Excellent. Every reason to feel proud.

 

[binka]

Well done mate, if it's true that a picture can say a thousand words that one would be it!

Lovely looking fish :w

 

[Hogweed]

I had my first river session since the end of the closed season yesterday. I was no hopeful as the river was low and clear. I was right to be concerned as after 8 hours I was bite less. Then as the sun went down I had two clonking bites. The first was a 5lb 10oz chub which broke my previous by 9oz. Then an hour later, just as I was about to pack up I landed this corker at 7lb 12oz!

http://i63.tinypic.com/xp3pcy.jpg

I was buzzing so much that, on the way home, it took me 20mins before I realized I was going in the wrong direction on the motorway - doh!

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e...97803835_629474817460317183_o_zpstiubxdux.jpg

 

[tigger]

I popped over to the river for a couple of hours legering yesterday as the conditions didn't suite trotting due to the river being up and coloured and there being quite strong winds.
I fished for just over an hour before the rod bent over and the baitrunner rattled. I lifted the rod to feel a heavy fish pulling back but after several seconds the line parted!...WTF's going on I thought to myself as this happend the last time I was out. I attatched another hooklength and it was about another hour before the rod bent over and the reel sounded off once more. I picked up the rod and put on pressure and "tink" the effin line broke yet again!!
I checked it out to try and fathom out what was going on, the line appeared to have broken right at the hook?
I got out a new rig that i'd tied the night before and checked it out, it looked perfect as i'm always meticulous about knots etc. I put the bend of the hook round the blunt side of a pair of scissors and put on pressure and "tink" the line parted right on the hook. Then I realised the line was being cut on the eye of the freekin hook, what a bast! I'd left a hook in a fish the other week and now two more through no fault of my own.
The thing that bothers me most is the fact that there are fish swimming about with hooks in their mouths now, the only thing that eases my mind is the fact that they where size 12's and there isn't any trailing line.
The hooks are guru and meant for use when legering and using the knotless knot ffs. After that I cut my session short and fekced off home feeling a little annoyed to say the least.

 

[S-Kippy]

Winner had 27 bream for 66lb.

Should have been arrested for deliberate bream fishing !

 

[thecrow]

I popped over to the river for a couple of hours legering yesterday as the conditions didn't suite trotting due to the river being up and coloured and there being quite strong winds.
I fished for just over an hour before the rod bent over and the baitrunner rattled. I lifted the rod to feel a heavy fish pulling back but after several seconds the line parted!...WTF's going on I thought to myself as this happend the last time I was out. I attatched another hooklength and it was about another hour before the rod bent over and the reel sounded off once more. I picked up the rod and put on pressure and "tink" the effin line broke yet again!!
I checked it out to try and fathom out what was going on, the line appeared to have broken right at the hook?
I got out a new rig that i'd tied the night before and checked it out, it looked perfect as i'm always meticulous about knots etc. I put the bend of the hook round the blunt side of a pair of scissors and put on pressure and "tink" the line parted right on the hook. Then I realised the line was being cut on the eye of the freekin hook, what a bast! I'd left a hook in a fish the other week and now two more through no fault of my own.
The thing that bothers me most is the fact that there are fish swimming about with hooks in their mouths now, the only thing that eases my mind is the fact that they where size 12's and there isn't any trailing line.
The hooks are guru and meant for use when legering and using the knotless knot ffs. After that I cut my session short and fekced off home feeling a little annoyed to say the least.

I think I would be contacting guru regarding their quality control practices and also telling them what was wrong with the hooks (sharp edges? open eye? etc) I would certainly be letting them know about leaving hooks in fish through no fault of yours. have you got any of the hooks left that could be returned to them?

 

[lakhyaman]

Was up at the little lake. It was hot and humid. That decided me to sit back and throw in a bolt rig into the margins in the shade of a tree instead of the preferred float set up. Too active for the heat.

Decided to follow the esteemed Binka and pulled out a green rod of a certain make. Put in a standard bolt rig with a 3oz. lead and hair rigged sweet corn as bait.

Green rod of a certain make a la Binka.

In the margins in the shade of a tree

I laid a bed of local maize and chickpeas which had been soaked for 48 hours and boiled till soft enough. It took 1 1/2 hours of solid boiling. The local stuff is hard!

Local maize and chickpeas

I sat back to relax and the line peeled of at lightning speed. I switched off the baitrunner function and the fish blazed off on a 70 yard run. I knew what it was from the run and the fight was short and sharp after that as a five pound Mahseer ended up in the net. You would have thought he was a monster from the first run!

Mandan the Ghillie and Mahseer

Rod and Fish

That advertisement, published in the Rod in India in 1897, was "Binka'd" back then. Can you spot the mistake Honourable Binka?

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[greenie62]

.....I checked it out to try and fathom out what was going on, the line appeared to have broken right at the hook?....

Sounds familiar this one - see http://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/general-fishing/358530-help-hook-length-snapping.html#post1381858

I've suffered the same problem myself - but not with Guru QM1s - but you've got me worried now - so I'll be checking/re-checking each and every one! - and avoiding knotless knot connections - going for a 4+turn grinner plus a separately tied-on hair!

 

[S-Kippy]

I think I would be contacting guru regarding their quality control practices and also telling them what was wrong with the hooks (sharp edges? open eye? etc) I would certainly be letting them know about leaving hooks in fish through no fault of yours. have you got any of the hooks left that could be returned to them?

Indeed....and thanks for the heads up. I certainly wont be buying any Guru hooks based on this.

Hooks and line. The two things you must have complete confidence in.

 

[The Runner]

Club match on Royal Berkshire yesterday where the carp seem more wised up on every visit.
Ended up 5th with 34-8 but really kicking myself as would easily have made third and very probably second if had stayed on the silvers for a bit longer or started on them sooner.
Drew on the left hand bank where I always seem to end up and started as always here on a small method feeder inches from the far bank.
Lyle on my left had two carp first two chucks and then not much happening, heard after an hour that one lad had four and three others with two, was just thinking of going on the 4m caster line when two pegs to my left had two good carp in quick succession and reckoned that now probably too many people in double figures for me to catch up on silvers given that they would likely be picking up the odd carp, or switching to caster themselves in the venue's usual mid match quiet spell. Hour later and my tip had never moved although did have a pound skimmer at 11m on a pellet but no other bites on this line apart from little roach knocking the pellet about.
Nothing seemingly happening anywhere now so out with the caster rig at 4m and started picking up some fish, mostly perch around 2-3oz with some roach from too small up to 6 oz. Had another skimmer on this line a little bigger than the first although the bites weren't coming thick and fast and couldn't catch up in the water like you usually do. Kept moving shot around and changing depth in the bottom 15 inches to keep a few fish coming but after an hour and a half or so reckoned I had about 7 to 8 lb in the silvers net which wouldn't be quick enough to make real inroads, so, back on the carp. Nothing for the next hour apart from a 4oz roach which hung itself on the method and a couple of tiny ones on long pole and soft pellet. Odd carp were being caught again so stayed on method and finally with just under an hour to go the tip went round and had a nice mirror not far short of 10 lb. Three more much smaller ones after that but thought I was still well off the pace , two to my left both had 7 carp and a few bits as did the lad in the corner by the lilies while Richard on the far bank was reckoned to have about 60 lb.
Scales got to me- misjudgement ! Silvers net went 12-6, at least half as much again as I'd estimated and the effectively wasted second last hour cost me. 54-2 won it with 41-0 second, then Lyle and John in the two pegs to my left with 36 something and 35-0, both with smaller carp than I thought they had, and then my 34-8
I'm usually a lot better at estimating weight than that; must be rusty. Hey ho...

Irritating journey back as well- mate has new car , using its Satnav for the first time (why, to get to RBF when we've been there loads of times, I don't know) and it wouldn't switch off. So all the way back to Uxbridge we were being told to take the fourth exit at the next roundabout and go back the way we'd come....

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

This generally caused by the eye not being closed properly and it cutting the line.

D7 Raptors won't let you down.

Today.
You know when a plan doesn't come together.
Caught enough barbel and chub this season and despite a fair bit of colour in the river fancied a change and a dabble for one of the stunning wye pike.

Half a large mackerel was swung out into a slack that had produced a 30+ a couple of sessons ago whilst I was guiding.

It took five minutes for the float to dip twice and then shoot off at a very quick pace.
The lift of the rod met with little resistance as I pulled a 2lb eel to the surface.

Despite trying six swims every cast was met within a minute or two with the same outcome. Luckily none were hooked.

On the last cast a very large fish rolled not more than a foot from bank. In went the mackerel. ...water boiled and a 15-20lb salmon came out clear of the water three times in the blink of an eye heading downstream.

So it could have been worse, the bites might have been bream. Maybe not.

There's no shortage of anguilla on the Wye that's for sure!

 

[tigger]

Sounds familiar this one - see http://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/general-fishing/358530-help-hook-length-snapping.html#post1381858

I've suffered the same problem myself - but not with Guru QM1s - but you've got me worried now - so I'll be checking/re-checking each and every one! - and avoiding knotless knot connections - going for a 4+turn grinner plus a separately tied-on hair!

The hooks where guru MWGB micro barbed. The line was sensor clear in 8lb test which as everyone knows is pretty resiliant stuff!

Crow, contacting guru had crossed my mind but in all honesty I don't think I can be botherd, i'll just steer clear of their stuff in future. I only got a couple of packs of their eyed hooks as the tackle shop where out of drennan specialists.
I have a couple of the offending hooks left so will examine them with a magnifiying glass, tie on another knot and pull it then check it with the magnifying glass to see what might be happening just for my own curiosities sake.

 

[thecrow]

i'll just steer clear of their stuff in future.

I think after reading this you wont be the only one Ian.

 

[binka]

That advertisement, published in the Rod in India in 1897, was "Binka'd" back then. Can you spot the mistake Honourable Binka?

A great write up as always Lakhyaman, thanks for such an interesting read once again.

That catalogue is very intriguing and you have the advantage over me on the mistake, what is it?

 

[robtherake]

Was up at the little lake. It was hot and humid. That decided me to sit back and throw in a bolt rig into the margins in the shade of a tree instead of the preferred float set up. Too active for the heat.

Decided to follow the esteemed Binka and pulled out a green rod of a certain make. Put in a standard bolt rig with a 3oz. lead and hair rigged sweet corn as bait.

Green rod of a certain make a la Binka.

In the margins in the shade of a tree

I laid a bed of local maize and chickpeas which had been soaked for 48 hours and boiled till soft enough. It took 1 1/2 hours of solid boiling. The local stuff is hard!

Local maize and chickpeas

I sat back to relax and the line peeled of at lightning speed. I switched off the baitrunner function and the fish blazed off on a 70 yard run. I knew what it was from the run and the fight was short and sharp after that as a five pound Mahseer ended up in the net. You would have thought he was a monster from the first run!

Mandan the Ghillie and Mahseer

Rod and Fish

That advertisement, published in the Rod in India in 1897, was "Binka'd" back then. Can you spot the mistake Honourable Binka?

All the best

Lakhyaman

I'm loving the high-tech rod pod!

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Reverse a number Binka!!!