How did you get on?

[maggot_dangler]

do they get fished much now ? ,when i was a kid we were screaming out for places to fish ! and it was a very popular pastime locally

Not that much no apart from the new thomas Telford mainline From Owen street down towards Oldbury that is so i have been informed now a syndicate water and seems to be comp after comp but i have only fished it once and was not impressed so not bothered since .

PG ...

 

[maggot_dangler]

Brades Village PG ?

Is that the new estate with the old square dock in it that if full of fish but you can fish it if so about 200 yards tipton side think it is unstable ground looking at it hopefully never to be built on ..

Certainly looks bad ground on google earth ..

PG ...

 

[Tee-Cee]

I don't know what happened this morning, but it had all the makings of a disaster before I'd cast a line !
First of all I failed to reset the alarm for this weeks risings so I was up at 4.45 when 5.15 would've been fine. Not serious, but as I went to leave at 5.45 I then realised it was absolutely pouring down and not the promised ' light drizzle and misty stuff ' offered by the BBC. I thought about waiting but the traffic would be off and running after the holidays so I headed off......
Heading west I thought it would subside by the time I reached my water but it was still heaving down, so there I was, sat in a car in the half light, well, just waiting..
In the end I got bored and made a dash for some trees close to the revised swim, dropped the gear, very quickly raised the brollie and some 20 minutes later I was tackled up and fishing. Not too wet, considering................

As usual I lightly ground baited one side of the swim for later and then concentrated of fishing hemp and elderberry up in the water. I had roach up to 1/2lb on both but I just couldn't get them to feed consistently on either bait and multiple depth changes didn't help either. I went from giant hemp to berry to standard hemp to flake and always the same result - one or two fish, then nowt.....

A couple of hours of this ( still hissing down, by the way ! ) saw me change to chickpea just off bottom and this produced a couple of better fish getting on for a lb, but again it didn't materialise into consistent takes and spells of nothing had me very frustrated.

Eventually, and with roach showing on the surface, I decided to change the set-up have a try at catching them up near the surface. I fished 18" deep max with a 20 hook and standard hemp and I caught from the off. Nothing big and most were swingers, but they certainly liked a few grains every cast to keep them interested. I suppose I had 20/30 or so fish ( missed just as many..) and they were still feeding when I packed up ( between showers ! ) and headed home. Great session in the damp and I enjoyed every minute with not another soul on the water....Most of the gear kept dry so I shall be off again tomorrow, hopefully in different conditions....


ps Compared to last week the elderberry didn't do too much today, but I think they are now going a little soft and juicy, tending to ' hang' off the bend of the hook, thus giving poor presentation. They are also getting too big as well......
I shall try some bigger hooks tomorrow and sort some smaller fruit....

pps Reminder to me..... Must reset the alarm !!!


Off again tomorrow...

 

[Aussie Bob]

Had a terrible day ar work yesterday..nothing wrnt right.finally got home and decided a quick session down the lake would help calm me down. Had a couple of knocks on a craigs nightime the finally hooked up.Good trout did some serious arobatics.finally my day is coming good !!....the barsteward then spat the hook ....fly line / leader came back and wrapped round me.....went home and drank beer.

 

[binka]

went home and drank beer.

I love a report with a happy ending

 

[stu_the_blank]

Pinched an afternoon off work today to spend a few hours on a small lake with an old mate of mine. Good company, banter, weather and a few fish to go with!

Great afternoon.

Stu

 

[barbelboi]

I’d intended to be back on the river today before the hot weather returns this week but was talked into another session on a15 acre club gravel pit. Oh well, another last tench session on the gin clear water although the pondweed didn’t seem quite as prolific as earlier in the season.

The day started off quite overcast and gradually brightened up. My friend had already put in a couple of hours when I arrived around 10ish, apparently in some light rain which had disappeared just before I set off on the 10 minute drive through the lanes.

Due to the very low stocking of this pit I again used two rods, one straight in front on a gravel bar about forty yards out and the other on a small plateau some 30 yards to my left. Four tench and two ratfish before I packed up at 3.45pm. Just the two of us on the water.

 

[peter crabtree]

Humid, overcast and barely a breath of wind. A couple of hours to spare and I was down the town centre on the GUC. A spot where the Colne flows across from one side to the other. 5' deep and a lazy flow.



13' ultralight and stick float rig to a 22 hook to 1lb hooklink with caster I caught steadily with gudgeon, dace, small perch and some lovely roach to 10oz.

 

[maceo]

Decided to try a different part of the Upper Thames today and with a lot of walking eventually found a swim opposite some moored boats (saw nobody on any of these for the whole session).

I was switched between corn and double maggot as hook bait, but catching only a succession of small roach. There didn't seem to be any bigger ones, despite varying the depth up and down.

Eventually after a couple of hours fishing, right out in the middle stream in full sunshine, I finally hooked into something more like it.

When I got it in, I had to double take. I couldn't believe what I'd caught - a tench! About four pounds or so I'd say. A really decent fish. He was really dark coloured with almost a suggestion of stripes. Barely slimy at all. Didn't put up the greatest of fights and it was the most un-tench looking tench, but the big paintbrush tail and the little barbels showed it was.

First ever river tench I've caught and only the second ever. It was the last fish I expected to catch, but very welcome and made my afternoon.

 

[buick_toni]

After I had spent the 3/4 of my summer vacation, my fishing came to a stop (like every year). Just couldn't get myself to go fishing after work. Well, after almost a month I went fishing again and it was all good, except the weather was a bit windy, which made it quite hard to control my boat there. Wife got a pike, I didn't get anything. I made a second trip a week after that also, got a pike and a perch. But it was good time, after a small break!

Well, now it's time for the last quarter of my vacation. Made up plans for all that fishing and such.. And what did I get? A f'n flu! Feels like I have a slight fever, and head is all fuzzy... Propably not wise to go out in cold windy days standing in the rain... Nice to watch videos of people fishing though.

 

[Tee-Cee]

As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am a stickler around being organised for my fishing trips. I never turn up on the bank with my gear in a mess and only rarely do I forget something, so I was miffed beyond words yesterday when I found I'd left my slices of Warburtons at home. I seethed for a while, quite a long while in fact, before getting my head around alternatives.
Even worse was the fact that said slices were to be used for an assault on ( hopefully ) better roach and the whole session had been set up to this end. The liquidised bread took an age to prepare but looked good and I had a backup of groundbait for reaching bottom quickly. All sorted but quite useless without the.......................

Anyway, I wont bore you with the details of the roach catch as it was much the same as my previous post - lots of fish, with one or two of good size, but I will just add that elderberry accounted for one of the better fish, not in it's standard form but ( very ) lightly squashed between finger and thumb. In so doing it looked a lot better on the hook and one good fish thought so as well !!
I cannot say this is the way forward with the berry, but it does offer an alternative once the fruit starts to soften..............

So, 30 + roach on standard hemp fished on a 22 ( in hindsight a 20 is small enough and doesn't sit quite so deep in the seed ) fished on a slow drop using No 10 Maver ' Slot-Eez ' up the line with the last one some 8" from the hook to give very slow bites ( most of the time ! ).

Lovely mild, warm conditions ( sitting in a light jumper at 6am ) and every bit a big roach day. I cannot say how enjoyable it was and in the end the missing bread turned into the mild irritation it deserved. ( Grrrrrrr ). Much of the session I had two beautifully coloured Jays for company which came within ten feet or so if I kept still. Huge birds, though...

Oh, I did lose a good roach at last knockings. I missed it with the net and the ' surge ' away did for me. In truth I probably tried to land it too quickly, so I got my just deserts............


ps Once home and telling my wife of the bread fiasco she at once said she would've driven down with it had I phoned - that's 17 miles one way ! Now that is what I call a proper wife.........nothing too much trouble and I became quite emotional.
All of this went by the board when she then reminded me of my promise to hoover the upper part of the house...........................

It's the jolly dentist today so more expense. Can't wait...........................Out tomorrow and Friday, though !!

 

[no-one in particular]

Float fished sand-eel at this jetty/spot yesterday looking for bass, more or less freshwater gear, a carp rod and a big red float, just in the race you can see in the picture but tried further out as well and different depths.. I have caught one or two here before but not a ****y. Bloke mackereling next to me; nothing either. Hardly any mackerel this year or last; I reckon they are on the danger list myself.. I did see a flatfish swimming at the surface though, they do this sometimes but I could not identify it, looked a bit like a small Brill, sandy colored with black speckles. Nice day, sea breeze in the face always welcome and always interesting float fishing no matter where and the sea always unpredictable except blanking!

 

[steve2]

Spent some time on the river lure fishing yesterday it would appear to me and others that rewards for letting the EE remove the bigger fish perch and pike are starting to show. We now have a much larger than normal head of mini pike these are fish under 12”. The ones I caught yesterday were in the 7-8” range. Talking to some other lure fisher on the bank they say even the chub have gone.

 

[thecrow]

Spent some time on the river lure fishing yesterday it would appear to me and others that rewards for letting the EE remove the bigger fish perch and pike are starting to show. We now have a much larger than normal head of mini pike these are fish under 12”. The ones I caught yesterday were in the 7-8” range. Talking to some other lure fisher on the bank they say even the chub have gone.

Has anyone seen fish being taken and reported it to the authorities?

Fish thefts should stop now that Essex police have joined operation traverse but it needs reporting to them, I will be interested what their response will be if fish theft is reported to them.

 

[no-one in particular]

Went back today for a bit of jetty fishing and use up some left over bait. Not another ****ie but one bloke had a small flounder. Maybe I am barking up the wrong sea. Might go again later but with some bottom bait like lugworm, flatties seem to be the order of the day. Talking of which I bought a big fat Plaice to have with my chips tonight from the fish market; todays catch, cannot be bad, small mercies...
The English Channel or as the French call it "The Channel"

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well had wanted an early start today that was scuppered right from the getgo yesterday could not get red maggots so ha to travel around to get some this morning eventually made the canal almost 10:00 out to one of my favorite spots right now by the inflow from a stream .

Bit slow to start with but soon got it awake and fishing had some nice Perch Roach & Rudd then then THENNNN a dang barge came along and was behaving most strangely forwards backwards ect ect any how gets to my chosen spot and full throttle forwards full throttle backwards this went on for fullly 5 mins asked what they were playing at something stuck round the prop Hummm funny how they choose the only place where someone was fishing to ponce around .

Any how that did for that swim so i had to move not appy at all by this time moved about a mile back up to another nice spot fishing away then it went dead nowt nothing nada then a roach took the hook hotly followed by a pike that must have been close on 20 lbs Huge thing anyhow it letgo i am glad to say as i was only fishing 6lb straight thru to an 18 hook .

Roach survived and the pike kept hanging around so forced move number 2 ,this was all before lunch moved again and managed 4 hours un interupted fishing .

Bit of a pain of a day to say the least .

PG ...

 

[tigger]

I haven't been out fishing since last Wednesday when I had a day with Sam V so I was in need of a trotting session to calm the nerves. I shouldn't have really as it hasn't done my injured achilles tendon and back any good! Anyhow the river was up a few inches from last weeks session with Sam and carrying quite a bit of colour so not quite how I like it but at least I was there. I won't go on about the roe deer fighting in the wood on the opposite bank or the owls that hoot all day or the mink that came right across the river to me when I squeaked it, or the numerous kingfishers etc etc that I saw while fishing lol. I wasn't gonn'a bother with pic's as it was wrecking my tendon walking back and forth across the river but here's a couple from the session....

I took a snap of this one because of it's unusual hump nose, it reminded me of a dolphin....

 

[robtherake]

That chub's pretty odd-looking as well. Where were you fishing, Ian, Sellafield?

 

[tigger]

That chub's pretty odd-looking as well. Where were you fishing, Ian, Sellafield?

LOL Rob, they are quite odd looking arn't they, the chub looks as though it's just spawned! There where some very small fry again, I mean pin heads so not long hatched. All the other chub looked in great fettle with bright orange fins.

 

[robtherake]

LOL Rob, they are quite odd looking arn't they, the chub looks as though it's just spawned! There where some very small fry again, I mean pin heads so not long hatched. All the other chub looked in great fettle with bright orange fins.

The last couple of years seem to have been good fry hatches - I've lost count of the amount of tiddlers between one and two inches that have been scooped up with landed fish (stillwater.)Roach and bream, for the most part.