How did you get on?

[The Runner]

Club Fur & Feather on the Colne at Uxbridge, river a few inches lower than two weeks ago, at least fifteen inches down and even clearer if that's possible. At least it was cloudy.
26 fishing and some pretty er, interesting pegs had to go in given that three of the usual backstream pegs had to be left out as too shallow for a keepnet .
Drew the Apple tree swim, same as two matches ago. Known barbel swim with odd big chub but I had 3oz off it then and it blanked in the last match

]
Set up 2BB stick, 20 to 0.13 and feeder/ straight bomb with an 18, also on 0.13
Nowhere near as much flow as last time, decided that feeder line would be at the end of the deep hole about 5 yards down and to loosefeed halfway down the swim to run a stick past the stump right down on the inside, unreachable with feeder or bomb due to low branches.
Saved blank after about ten minutes with a minnow, added a couple more and a minnow sized roach so feeder time. Not a sniff. News coming through of dramatic goings on towards the other end of the match and then Dave half a dozen swims up for me called for the scalesman for a real lump.
Always going to need a big fish or two so stayed on the bomb for a while over a dozen feederfuls while stepped up the feed down on the float line. Back on stick and had a nice perch almost immediately but the was that.Not a sign of anything in the last two hours and ended up with 13oz, the vast majority of which was the perch.
I mentioned dramatic goings on ? Well, everyone thought that the stretches match record of 51 lb odd of chub set in the Teams of 4 Open a decade ago would never be beaten.
But...
The river's fifteen inches down and unbelievably clear; so who would have expected the (or any) match here to be won with 78-3, twelve barbel and a couple of dace, all but one of them on the waggler ?!?!
Dave claimed he had concentrated on quality rather than quantity as his single barbel went 11-4 with roach and dace weights of 7-9 and 6-13 making up the frame (the former being a superb weight from barely a foot of water)
As patchy as expected though, my 13 oz was actually second top weight on the main river...
Congrats again to Derek our new record holder. Can't see this one being beaten in a hurry..

 

[peter crabtree]

Wow staggering match weight for the venue that Martin.

(Not yours)

 

[S-Kippy]

Bloody Hell ! That's amazing from there anytime but considering how the river is at the moment it's almost unbelievable.

 

[theartist]

Bloody Hell ! That's amazing from there anytime but considering how the river is at the moment it's almost unbelievable.

Thing is when rivers drop (and we need more rain please!!) they do shoal up, he probably had half the river in his swim, not denying his win as worthy more a case of worrying about how much extra water is being pumped out nowadays

 

[S-Kippy]

Thing is when rivers drop (and we need more rain please!!) they do shoal up, he probably had half the river in his swim, not denying his win as worthy more a case of worrying about how much extra water is being pumped out nowadays

I wouldn't disagree, Rob... I'm just amazed not only at the weight but that the fish fed at all. I wouldn't have considered it the sort of conditions that would prompt such a reaction.

Either way it's a hell of a catch.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Quick 4 hours on Wye town stretch.

Fished long in a new swim and despite an early chub 3-4lb no other positive bites.

Dropped in couple rod lengths out and some deeper water. Quick bite and an old warrior chub good 5lb came to the net after trying to get into branch in the water.

With 20 minutes to go a slow bite from a fish that felt very heavy although not doing much until it hit the surface then fireworks.
A good under the rod top battle until the fish was in the net. Estimated at around 10lb a good looking barbel.

IMO the wye barbel are still a bit torpid. Pleased to catch one today.

 

[The Runner]

Cheers all
They were certainly shoaled up !
We have a "no barbel in keepnets" rule so in matches its a case of ringing or shouting for whoever's on scales to come and do the honours a.s.a.p. Until this year the number of barbel caught in total over seven or eight matches a season could usually be counted on one hand , and probably without reaching the thumb.
All of Derek's barbel were "on the board" and I must admit we did have a look to see if there might have been any repeat captures. There weren't, fish were of all sizes from 4-15 to 8-14 I think. Scalesman was next peg down and he packed in (blank) shortly after half time to watch the fun. Think the audience was up to nine or ten by the last hour.
Don't think he caught all the fish there either- apparently you could still see feeding fish flashing in his peg at the end .
And quite why they were where they were is another question. You would think they would be shoaled in swims with deeper water and lots of cover but no.

 

[binka]

And quite why they were where they were is another question. You would think they would be shoaled in swims with deeper water and lots of cover but no.

I've been finding this of late with fish tightly shoaled up in fast, shallow water.

The only reason I can think of is that it makes it difficult for predators who in turn find it difficult to manoeuvre, especially cormorants.

I'm not convinced though.

 

[Pete Shears]

A sort of cold dampness that clings is what I found on the Wreake this morning.Greeted by a white egret strutting through the next field.Tried bread on the float to start with - nothing,eventually the minnows found the flake and wouldn't leave it alone.
Switch to quiver tipped flake saw me get a bite from a real fish but the feeder snagged something in the deep pool and the mainline broke.Re-tackled - nothing.Moved downstream trotting flake but still nothing ,it was if the whole river had switched off - no fish topping,no kingfishers only a swan came drifting downstream expecting to be fed.
Went back to the deep pool and quivertipping flake had a chub of 2lb 12oz and then more nothing - packed up & went home then as that clinging dampness seemed to get more intense.

 

[Chefster]

Open today at TBF was scheduled for Club pool,but as a large turnout,it was changed to High pool...Ive drawn peg 46,a peg that has won a few matches lately,but you have to fish 16m+,with a shear drop behind you,even with rollers well positioned,you still have to double ship
Started on pellet at 6m in the deep water 9ft+,moved a meter out at a time,only resulted in small skimmers,after an hour ,i went long on maggot,and although double shipping was a pain,managed to put some fish together,40-15-0 of carp,F1,s,barbel,skimmers,roach,which wasnt good enough for anything apart from a "Thanks for coming"!!!,ive missed the section pick-up by a few lb,s,..Phil Moore (Rugely Miners) put in a fine performance from flyer 15,with 102-0-0 of f1,s on pellet,Young Star Alex Harper was 2nd with 72-8-0,and 53lb was 3rd(dont know who),then 49-0-0 next to me was 4th,so i guess i was 5th..18 fished,could of been worse,some low weights recorded as well...working xmas eve now ,so fishing the Friday flyer instead.....tight lines,Gazza

 

[maggot_dangler]

Fished the local Canal Saturday afternoon after chores .

Had a few nice roach and bream couple of perch about 3/4lb then the cold swept in and i packed up headed the 800 or so yards home .

Thought i would try the same place on Sunday .
Come Sunday morning i'm on thre cut at 09:00 prompt started getting a few small fish skimmers and perch then Then THEN bunch of kids turn up mind if we fish here mate (me) yes i do mind take your pike hunting back whence you been at Kageys boat yard (3 locks plus 1/2 a mile away) but no they moved just around under the main road bridge and startted lobing dead baits in and the dang pike turned up theres my fishing blown to bits the place is suddenly full of B****Y Pike the last thing i want how i would have loved to hurl them in the water so they go dive for their dang pike not appy at all :wh

String em up i will .


PG ...

 

[S-Kippy]

I love your reports Gaz......It's like being there.

 

[flightliner]

I had a zed trip planned today untill christmass shopping kind of got in the way , the boss needed running into town around the time I would have been in the newark area --- hrrrrmmmmphhh, #*•~'€#*!.
But brownie points are the best kind so I quickly altered my plans and put minimal kit in the boot and after dropping off my boss went looking for some greyling on the river don close to the city centre.
It took all of ten seconds of the red maggot hitting the water before I connected with my first fish, within an hour I had taken twenty with some pretty hefty ones for good measure, cracking stuff and hard fighting fish, especially when they reach the deeper far bank water.
It slowed a little so with time slipping away I skipped several good swims and fished the last one close to a bridge where I had three nice wild brown trout with the best some twelve inch or so along with another four greyling.
With more time I could have taken double the number but with other commands to comlete I was away very early.
On reflection , the day, tho pretty cold, was sunny , and there's something christmassy about greyling that made me happy to have changed my plans.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Went back to the town stretch as although its hard I strangely quite like that!!!

Clear sky meant I wasn't going to get wet like yesterday.
However the higher pressure and chilly wind meant bites were a premium.

One tap the first 2 hours followed by a proper bite that gave up a small rather battered barbel.

An hour later on the inside line a proper wrap round and this fish kept low and used all the flow.
Great fight for a fiesty 7- 8lber.

Just before packing up two more sharp taps but no hook up. Happy with the two, worth the cold feet.

 

[tigger]

I got to the river at 2.30 this afternoon and although the temp's weren't that cold being 5 degrees the wind was a killer!....even though I was constantly moving from place to place along the river my hands where aching with cold. I had to walk a lot today and covered a lot of river to find some fish. The river was low but coloured and the fish were spread out sparsely in ones and two's in slight hollows in the riverbed. Even though there was bone chilling downstream wind I did enjoy my short session and caught about 15 chub, no big fish but they pulled back harder than many fish of a larger size. To be honest i'd had enough by the time it was going dark and if i'd been able to fish much longer in those conditions I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much.








Note the fineness of the 6lb sensor coming out of the chubs mouth in the net!

 

[Pete Shears]

A later start on the upper Soar this morning in bright sunshine for a change,still a cool breeze though.Trotted flake on a deeper bend - nothing,switch to legered flake more nothing
changed to worm and had two brown trout,the biggest 1lb 8oz.Moved upstream to where I had caught chub before - nothing on bread or worm.
Moved upstream again on to a bend and trotted flake - minnows hammering the bait,then a real fish which promptly fell off.
Kept trying and had three more brown trout and a chublet.
Seems that the bigger chub,roach & dace had switched off with the level even lower,slower and clearer than last week.
Enjoed watching a kestrel hovering over the far bank,a buzzard gliding low over the field and a kingfisher zooming downstream,still cannot figure out why a heron was slowly walking through a field some quarter mile from the river.

 

[Tee-Cee]

On the bank at 07.30 in what turned out to be reasonable weather conditions Not warm by any means but I felt as though the fish might respond. An hour later and not a touch, so I changed to a 22 with 10's and 8's down the line for a nice slow drop in 7' of water. This bought two roach around 8" long on a single red, not great, but fish!

Then it was all change as the wind got up, to the extent that I really thought about turning it in. Admittedly, I was fishing into the wind so I didn't expect any favours, but the cold cut through me like a knife and I felt really chilled - unusual for me....
Anyway, I pressed on and tried to avoid thinking about the cold by keeping busy which wasn't difficult as I missed many 'dead cert' bites. I did change my set-up and managed another two 8" fish with one lost bigger fish (ain't it always the way?) for my efforts.

Around 11am the sun came out and it warmed up a touch so I tried hemp more as a change than any real hopes of fish, but this only produced two feeble bites and I was far too slow with my response. Two bites in an hour of cast and feed at all different depths..........
Back on maggot for the last hour and although I tried (after a fashion) my heart wasn't in it and as the sun moved around and disappeared behind some trees and the temperature dropped like a stone, I called it a day and headed home for some hot homemade tomato & celery soup with crusty bread.

In hindsight I enjoyed the challenge and I expect to do it all again on Thursday and Friday, but as I sit here enjoying home made Date & Walnut Ricciarelli biscuits with a mug of hot coffee, I'm still thinking about that bl**dy wind!! Not had worse this year..

Of course , I could've moved to the other side of the lake..................................

 

[binka]

A bit of a strange one today in that I arrived at the river at dawn brimming with the usual high levels of hope and enthusiasm yet, for some reason, it all seemed to just drain off within the opening few minutes and I don’t feel like I ever really settled after that.

I still managed three nice chub on the 11' Ultralight Avon with the ‘pin and a 4grm Avon float which was trotting crust over mashed bread feed but I was away before 1pm which is highly unusual for me.

I can't say I was inspired by the state of the river either, low and clear again and the three chub were the only three bites of the morning but it could have been worse.

I think I need that silvers session again, it always puts me right and could well be the candidate for Sunday…



:w

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well i had hoped to enjoy an afternoons fishing on the cut local to me .

Setup fishing away nothing spectacular but catching . Gear stashed out of the way not causing any restrictions nothing then .

Along comes mr bolshi immigrant on pusbike got bets part of 2 meters wodth clear but no he goes straight a for my rods in their quiver rides over them result ,

Revo John WIlson Avon quiver top section snapped in 2 Carbo 11 ft float (3 piece) now 6 piece net pole gone .. .

Its times like this when you need a 45 Magnum not even looked into how much that is going to cost to replace yet how i would love to get hold of the immi scum ..

so no fishing report luckily i still got a few rods but what bthe hell was the point of it ? makes me want to deal with the problem Pete fashion ..


PG ...

Merry Christmas to all any how .

 

[tigger]

Well i had hoped to enjoy an afternoons fishing on the cut local to me .

Setup fishing away nothing spectacular but catching . Gear stashed out of the way not causing any restrictions nothing then .

Along comes mr bolshi immigrant on pusbike got bets part of 2 meters wodth clear but no he goes straight a for my rods in their quiver rides over them result ,

Revo John WIlson Avon quiver top section snapped in 2 Carbo 11 ft float (3 piece) now 6 piece net pole gone .. .

Its times like this when you need a 45 Magnum not even looked into how much that is going to cost to replace yet how i would love to get hold of the immi scum ..

so no fishing report luckily i still got a few rods but what bthe hell was the point of it ? makes me want to deal with the problem Pete fashion ..


PG ...

Merry Christmas to all any how .

I can't say what I would have done in your position as it would be moderated away .