How did you get on?

[Tee-Cee]

This will be short.

Six hours glued to my seat, not a touch, not a 1" lift of the bobbin - nothing!

Started to pack, (I'm now out of the seat, but still next to the rod) at which time the baitrunner screams, the rod 'rattles' in the rest and I'm slow to respond, to put it mildly.
Fish makes the lillies and that's the end of that.

Well, not quite the end as I shall go again tomorrow, but this time with two rods (!)

 

[neil1970]

I grabbed 2 hours this afternoon.

I tried 8mm baits - pellet, cheese and meat hair rigged onto a #14 hook.

No interest, except from crays so I decided to sit the last half hour out with a 12mm pellet jammed onto the #14's hair.

It worked.

 

[binka]

...................

 

[Tee-Cee]

Love the post Binka, well thought out feeding and fishing...............but 10 hours !

Ye Gods, I would've fallen off the chair after seven and slept for the remaining three !!

It would be nice to think some of 'starter' fishermen might read it, and learn..



I have..

 

[peter crabtree]

This will be short.

Six hours...

Not that short then?

Very close to scoring a Crabtree ' bad angling ' award towards the end..

 

[nicepix]

Yesterday the weather turned on its head. Forecast was bright in the morning and rain in the afternoon. Actual weather was the other way around and with a very strong westerly wind. Fished from around 3pm to 8pm in a new swim on a lake I haven't fished much previously. I've done most of my fishing on the other lake nearby.

The swim I picked was a shallow bay on the downwind bank. It looked perfect; shallowed off from around 2 metres to less than half that. Lily pads in the shallow parts and obviously hardly fished. So I started with a conventional bolt rig on one rod that was sat on an alarm and cast right next to the lilies with a 22mm pellet on. Second rod was a 2.25lb tc carp rod, centrepin and 2 SSG + waggler cast into the near bank reeds just to the right of me baited with 2 artificial maize grains. I filled the two areas with a mixture of tinned sweetcorn and a mixture of different size pellets and sat back waiting for action.

Didn't have to wait long. Ruby, my spaniel went onto 'alert mode' and I could see her concentrating on something in the reeds near to here (unhooking mat) bed. I peered into the reeds and saw a crayfish peeping out like a Japanese sniper. Dispatched that and settled down thinking how unusual it was to have a crayfish out of water, on land. Then it happened again. And again. And again........... The bl00dy things were coming out of the lake and making for my bait bucket

It was like Rorke's Drift. I kept lancing the fuzzy-wuzzies, but as quick as I got one Doobs was pointing out another incomer. Meanwhile my float was dancing up and down the swim like a succession of crucian bites and the alarm was bleeping once or twice every minute or so. Not only was I being over run by signal crays but the swim was alive with poisson chats - small ugly looking catfish that hunt in shoals of hundreds.

Changing the pellet to a zig stopped the bleeping things but the catfish insisted on hooking themselves up on my artificial maize baits. As with crays you have to kill the poisson cats and not to return them. There was more killing than on Emmerdale.

While all this was going on I did see some large carp jumping in the bay and so I know that I am in the right area. It's just that I need to go back to basics and present some old fashioned baits like bread crust on the surface - away from the catfish and crays.

BTW: Guess what we had on the BBQ for dinner today?

 

[tigger]

I had a few hours trotting during the latter part of the day today, lots of very small chub, roach and a single small trout in the first few swims. I moved another few hundred yards upstream to a very fast shallow glid and started to catch abetter stamp of fish. I changed my carbon stemmed float for a heavier alloy stemmed version hoping it would be a little more stable in the very turbulent water...which it was . Here's a few pic's from the session...








This fish nearly brok the float when it dragged it through the boulders...



And this must be the smallest tourist caught on rod and line...

 

[stu_the_blank]

Couldn't get out over the weekend due to family commitmnts on Saturday and Sunday and didn't fancy getting soaked on Monday (must be getting old!!).

So, tried to get off work a bit early yesterday, got down the lake to meet an old friend of mine for a semi social.

We had three carp by the time we packed up, all doubles, the best a 17 to Paul.

Very pleasant evening.

Stu

 

[Tee-Cee]

Sitting in the bath last night, contemplating todays fishing, I was dragged back to reality by my wife calling up the stairs (I'd asked her to check...) that my weather would start off with drizzle first thing which would gradually clear after an hour or so..

Fast forward to 8am. I agree the 'first thing' (5.30am) drizzle was factual, but it didn't move off as promised, and became instead a form of 'deluge' for more than an hour, during which time rain was bouncing off the water and the opposite side of the lake started to disappear. It goes without saying that my umbrella was as dry as bone behind the front door at home having been removed from my rod bag at the last minute...

Yes, I did get wet, that's really very, very wet, because the rain in it's intensity collected on the brim of my hat, and this managed to make it's way down my neck. The chair also acted as an excellent collection point, eventually seeping through my 'waterproof' over trousers which I now know, need reproofing.....................

No matter, as come 9.30 or so the rain stopped, and once I had removed some semi soggy garments I was able to fish in relative comfort and this aided by some hot tea. Up to this point the only fish I'd seen was a 2lb carp (during the downpour!) so I tried something completely different by covering 18mm dia balls of luncheon meat in lashings of Bovril and this did the trick almost immediately when fished close to overhanging trees in shallow water laced with Bovril hemp.
By noon I'd landed five carp (somewhat short of the 'double' standard) but it was fun fishing and very enjoyable.

I also tried 3 x 18mm dia discs of bread smeared with, and held together by, peanut butter/Bovril to form a sort of 'sandwich' which I hair rigged and this produced a clean 8lb common, but just the one unfortunately..

A good session on a deserted water - just the job!!


ps No blame was attached to my wife for the incorrect forecast and we are still the best of friends.....................

 

[sam vimes]

The forecasters lied and led me up the proverbial garden path. The wind direction was quite different and far stonger than what they suggested it was going to be. It made for a rather difficult time trotting with a pin on the section of river I visited. There was nowhere I could fish where the wind wouldn't be quite a hinderance. That'll teach me to trust the BBC/Met Office. The EA river levels website also suggested a little extra water that was simply not apparent, shame.

Thankfully, I still manged to catch a few. Mainly by virtue of wading into the end of riffles and trotting short, just off the rod tip, into the pool below. Lots of holding back hard and feeling for the bites. Seven average grayling, four spotted hooligans and a couple of bonus, and distinctly unexpected, dace.

 

[Tee-Cee]

I had to google the word 'riffles' to complete the mental picture of your trotting position Sam as I had never heard the word before. ( Not too many shallow, fast flowing rivers in south Bucks !).
Google show a couple of examples, and if you waded into similar, it certainly is a testing way of fishing as I assume you need to have everything on your person, bait,net etc., before entering the water. Must be a lovely way to fish......
Very pretty fish the dace, and although small, well worth the catching !

 

[sam vimes]

I had to google the word 'riffles' to complete the mental picture of your trotting position Sam as I had never heard the word before. ( Not too many shallow, fast flowing rivers in south Bucks !).
Google show a couple of examples, and if you waded into similar, it certainly is a testing way of fishing as I assume you need to have everything on your person, bait,net etc., before entering the water. Must be a lovely way to fish......
Very pretty fish the dace, and although small, well worth the catching !

Hello TC,
I've said before on here, whether it's been in a canoe thread or when folks insist that 1.25lb rods are all you need for barbeling, the river I fish is totally different to any English lowland river I've ever seen. The upper reaches are quite different to the lower ones, which are the places a visiting coarse angler with any sense is more likely to be aware of.

At summer levels, the "flats" are no more that a couple of feet deep and boulder strewn. Most of the boulders don't quite break the surface but they do make trotting quite difficult. If the river is running clear, the boulders are largely irrelevant as any fish actually there can see tackle a mile off and have too much time to inspect a bait.

Riffles can be quite extensive, but the rough water and lack of depth make them the domain of the fly angler. Whilst there are fish in them, coarse methods aren't generally too good at extracting them. The cobbles, stones and occasional boulder mean that legering is difficult. Free lining is the most viable option.

The riffles generally run into more flats. If you're lucky, a few might run into deeper than average pools or runs. These are the places I'm generally looking for unless there's a bit of extra water or colour in. It does usually mean wading into the lower end of the preceeding riffle. I'll tend to take what I really need. Bait is in a neck pouch and disgorger tucked into my cap. I will take a net if there's somewhere to put/wedge it, otherwise it stays on the bank at the nearest point I can get to quickly. I tend to find I don't usually need the net unless something bigger comes along. Most fish are unhooked without them ever leaving the water. However, I'm seriously considering buying one of those bungy corded hand nets that the fluff chuckers use.

It certainly can be a nice way to fish, right up to the point that your lower limbs go numb with cold. I can usually squeeze about four hours out of it in summer. I can't last overly long in winter. Fortunately, increased water levels usually mean that the flats become a viable option and wading is not required.

 

[barbelboi]

Had a couple of short sessions on one of my favourite small rivers last week free lining for chub. Eleven in the net over the two visits to around the 4lb mark (it's rare to get anything much bigger from this water).

 

[tigger]

That little river looks superb BB....nice chub also .

 

[dead peg]

I went camping and had a few hours at brompton-on-swale on the stick float, a method of fishing quite new to me .The river was low on the site so after a recce I found a quiet , deeper stretch on a steep bank that was shaded from the hot weather .
Set up a 13ft match rod with 4lb line to a 18 hook and a 4x4 stick float , shotting it with a bulk and 2 droppers .I wasn't expecting much but had seen a few fish jumping earlier .I fed red maggots upstream for a while and put 2/3 on the hook because I was getting hammered by minnows but once I got the float about 20 yards downstream I started catching a few small dace and perch .
I finally hooked into something a bit bigger but lost it a the net (trout I think) mg:
I'd have liked to have got more fishing in but thoroughly enjoyed being on the river for a change

Small Dace

falls at Richmond

 

[cal_sutt]

Did a few hours on the Chesterfield canal today. Fished wag and mag for around 15 perch from about an ounce up to approximately a pound in the first hour or so, then I managed to get among other species which seemed to be more around the bottom. Still got perch but they were much better as I seemed to have fed off the micro perch. I started shallow and worked my way through the entire depth in order to figure out where the best stamp of fish was, I ended up floating double red maggots around two inches off of the bottom and managed to bag up on mostly dace and chublets as well as four bonus tench to about three pounds and a four pound snotty, as well as the unavoidable perch.

 

[binka]

.................

 

[cal_sutt]

Well… When will fishing ever cease to amaze you eh?

I’ve had a difficult day on the river today to say the least after arriving for a roving session shortly after 6am this morning with a mate and then walking the best part of three miles, trying endless rig combinations for barely a tap and then watching my mate bank a nice barbel of around 7lbs towards late afternoon... As genuinely pleased for him as I was I was really beginning to feel a little despondent in myself.

Folks were certainly finding it hard going judging by the occasional angler we spoke to with some finding two or three fish and I decided that for the last couple of hours I would change to a large (100grm) free running method feeder with a long hooklink and sit it out in a fast current just off of some bankside cover.

For the first hour I had nothing but then began to get the occasional pluck and tap and just as I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen around went the tip in true fashion and a nice barbel of around 8lbs was soon in the net… Brilliant!

We’d agreed to fish until 5.30pm and with forty five minutes remaining I was undecided about whether or not to put back in as things had been so slow but out went the gear once more on what was to be the final cast of the day and after twenty minutes or so the tip belted around once again but this time the fish felt far heavier and much more dogged, it didn’t embark on the numerous characteristic runs of the earlier, smaller sized fish and instead hung stubbornly in the main flow.

Eventually I managed to get some line on the fish and after a deep, dogged fight under the rod tip my mate did the honours by slipping the net under a fin, scale and mouth perfect fish of 13lbs…



I think the most prominent aspect of the day was how much more enjoyable a special experience like that is for the benefit of having someone there to share it with and given the many things we've experienced and shared in our bankside exploits it was certainly another memorable chapter in a long running book.

What a fantastic end to a day, I’ll drink to that! :w

Smashing barbel! :w

May I ask what river you got it from?

 

[binka]

Smashing barbel! :w

May I ask what river you got it from?

Thanks Cal

 

[barbelboi]

Nice fish Steve, hope I can hit something similar when I start my annual 'barbel campaign' in a few weeks time...................