How did you get on?

[mikench]

At last I know what you look like Steve! You have been messing about on quite a few of my waters:wh

 

[103841]

The much mentioned "Winter Mojo" had started to have a decidedly negative effect on my body and soul as temperatures have been plunging to unpleasant levels.

Today we had a MINI HEATWAVE Didn't see that coming, don't think the Met
office did either. A balmy ten degrees greeted me as I arrived for a short session at my regular local haunt on the Canterbury Stour. No chub to be found but a dozen dace made it a very enjoyable time whilst er indoors plundered the stores in town.
Only downside is the river has returned to very low levels and gin clear again, I was standing where I shouldn't have been able to.

More of the same tomorrow please.

 

[seth49]

Had my last day on this stretch of the hodder today, I'm not renewing my membership in this club again, to expensive now I've stopped salmon fishing.
A pity when it has coarse fishing like this.

So I got there about ten o clock this morning, it felt quite mild after walking to the pool I wanted to fish, tackled up with Shimano 14 ft float rod, my match ariel reel, 4 lb mainline and 2 12 lb hooklenghth to a size 16 hook, bait red and white maggots, red definitely worked best today.

First fish was a 1 lb 3oz grayling after fishing one spot for a while, nothing more after so moved further down the pool were its deeper and slower, first cast I had a 3lb 10 oz chub and another grayling of a 1 lb, then a couple of small grayling and had three come off.
After a bit I thought I'd move to the next pool down, so I fed some maggots and moved down, nothing doing in next pool, so I had a sit down on the bench for a while, then moved back to were I'd caught the chub.

First cast again, I had the 4 lb chub in the photo above, then another at 3 lb 10 oz, then I had three more grayling all about a pound and a couple of small ones.

So it turned out to be a good days fishing, enjoyed it I'll miss fishing the hodder but I will still go for walks there.

 

[john step]

Beautiful sunny day on the river. A balmy 2 degrees. Two singles pike on lamprey. A suntan.

Re the previous posts on herons hovering.
Twice in my life I have seen a heron actually hovering albeit very ungainly and taking a fish at the surface.

Once in France and once on a club lake in Hertfordshire. I have also see crows taking bread off the surface that was meant for carp.

Now if only we could train cormorants to take a stick of dynamite off the top:wh

 

[flightliner]

Arrived for a zed session on the Trent this morning , as mentioned by JS it was 2 degrees --- couldnt have asked for better lol.
Both rods out with small deadbaits then a warming cup of coffee to await any interest from the zander.
It never came except one bit of excitement in the afternoon when the old optonik came to life but it was a false alarm caused by some subsurface weed hitting my line. Come near dark and with an appointment looming for a hot tea at home I wound in both rods to find one of them had a one inche gash behind the gills, pike/zander, who knows.
Maybe it was the cold, clear water, bright conditions that put the mockers on my efforts.
Maybe next time !.

 

[binka]

one bit of excitement in the afternoon when the old optonik came to life but it was a false alarm caused by some subsurface weed hitting my line.

You have no idea just how much that perked me up as I was sat on the sofa talking to you on the phone Mick, hearing your alarm going off in the background followed by a sudden call ended tone in mid-conversation.

I reckon a Ninja would have come second to you in a race to that rod!

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Haven't gone yet.

Planned a try on a new Wye bit but my ghilie for the day (sagalou) was up on the bank while I was considering whether to get out of bed and make a cuppa.
It's still freezing at 11am with slippery front path.

Sags has said the bank is tretcherous so we have cancelled that bit.

But....the sun is over the trees and the temperature is rising soon... allegedly.

So it's off to the River in a different area hoping that despite the very low water temperature something might feed (some hope)

Anyway. Pellet feeder? Bread mash trotting or cage feeder? Maggits?

Decisions decisions. Makes it interesting. Wish me luck. Gonna need it.

 

[Son of Meldrew]

Strangest thing I've ever seen a heron do was showed to me by a carp angler in the Colne Valley - he videoed a heron swooping down and taking a coot chick off the surface early in the season. Amazing to watch, but sadly it was the last chick of a whole family.

---------- Post added at 12:30 ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 ----------

Now if only we could train cormorants to take a stick of dynamite off the top:wh[/QUOTE]

We need to train cormorants to eat crayfish - otters to eat cormorants - and foreign fish thieves to eat otters - then they could be deported for killing a protected species...

Four threats to our fishing removed at a stroke!

 

[theartist]

I've seen them taking dying fish off the top on stillwaters but to take a fish that I was playing at the time was taking the the biscuit so be warned of you do get one that's having a good look whilst you're fishing.

Got another one near me that I see on the way to the post office, it always in a park, spends all the time looking at the ground on a football pitch and I swear it's after worms as the grass is so short.

Hard times for the birds with most waters frozen.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Well I went.

Its was nice to be joined by Andy (sagalou) for a chat after 45minutes of inactivity. It was quite pleasant on the river and not too cold with a warming sun.

This swim nearly always gives me a fish in the first half hour or so and I realised by now that I should really have decided to be trotting flake after chub.

Fed my broken winged mallard pal, and even he wasn't that interested in food.

Watched the coot on the far bank weaving between the far bank branches. A flight of goosander glided through and a pair of buzzards quartered the field opposite.

A single dabchick water walked across river and the squark of two pheasants rang loud as they trotted behind me.

You know where this is going now...

Another 2 hours without a tremble and the wind increasing and with a hint of the oncoming snow had me thinking of buttered crumpets, the roaring woodburner and a drop of the last blackberry vodka remaning from Christmas...... Home I went. Fishless.

 

[mikench]

Is sagalou related to sagalout?

 

[john step]

Arrived for a zed session on the Trent this morning I wound in both rods to find one of them had a one inche gash behind the gills, pike/zander, who knows.
Maybe it was the cold, clear water, bright conditions that put the mockers on my efforts.
Maybe next time !.

Thats interesting. Whilst on my most recent pike foray (previous post above)
I also had two missed runs that were actually half runs, the flick flick flick on the float and a half hearted move sideways a little.
If this wasn't the Witham I would have said zander. I have not heard of zander in the Witham but why not. Its joined to the Trent via Torksey so who knows.
Anyone out there know of any in the Witham.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Would anyone own up to knowing a OAP troublemaker!

 

[Pete Shears]

After the freezing fog had dispersed and I had scraped the ice off the car,I set off for the upper Soar near Narborough this morning - glorious sunshine but cold.
Not a twitch on the float or leger in the first swim on flake or worm,not even a signal crayfish.
Moved upstream and eventually had some interest shown to legered flake but kept having strikes to fresh air and the flake still on the hook - leave it a little longer . . .
Did just that and had four chub from 2lb 4oz to 3lb 10oz and lost one when the hooklength broke - seemed to have been chewed through by the pharengeyal teeth.
By then the icy wind had become 'lazy' so off to a hot shower to thaw out.

 

[Neil Maidment]

I had a delayed start yesterday as I couldn't make up my mind which swim to fish on the very low, clear and cold Dorset Stour.

The frost and freezing fog didn't help and that fog, which actually got thicker during the morning, didn't finally clear until after 1pm. In fact when I started I couldn't really see the float even before it reached the end of the swim! So a little dodge/habit I've had since a kid worked yet again. Count an additional 5 turns of the pin and strike..... third time I tried that I was met with considerable resistance. A decent chub of 5lbs 01oz eventually slipped into the net.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon I managed another three chub with the best one again around 5lbs. Also lost 3 others which was annoying but a 4-3 win on a day like yesterday was a very good result.

In comparison with this time last year the Stour is flowing at a very low level. I was stood on "dry land" yesterday that I couldn't even fish comfortably with chest waders on last year

View image in gallery

View image in gallery​

 

[103841]

The Dorset Stour seems to have the same conditions as my local Stour running through Canterbury, sadly we don't have that stamp of fish though

Lovely fish Neil, interesting technique for the foggy conditions too!

 

[sam vimes]

interesting technique for the foggy conditions too!

Similar to me always striking at the end of a very long trot, regardless of there being any hint of a bite. A surprising number of bonus fish are picked up this way.

 

[103841]

I must try this.

 

[mikench]

Just got home to defrost! At 8.00 am I conducted my litmus test of how cold it is by going into the garden in my dressing gown! I determined it was quite cold 0 degrees but it didn't seem that cold or very windy so I dressed more suitably and set off!

I arrived at the lake about 8.30 and set up; I was totally alone. It was cold and the biting wind was strong and unpleasant. I had a veritable kaleidoscope of maggots and resumed my maggot feeder/ helicopter rig success with roach after roach and with several around the 1lb mark. The trouble was I was frozen particularly my hands. I decided to change my hook and link from a 20 to a 16 in the hope I could grip it better and attach my bronze maggots . I thought I had lost it and then found it attached to my finger; I didn't feel a thing

Several eyes on my rod had frozen and the line just would not pass through and I had to scrape out the ice before I could resume. My bait tray attached to my chair had ice on it from the maggot feeder and those recalcitrant few maggots that always seem to find their way to the edge of the tray were duly frozen. Even my thermal cup of tea had ice at the bottom. I felt cold but it didn't look it! No frost or ice on the lakes but I knew just how cold it was. The last roach of about a pound and blind in one eye was one fish too many for my frozen mitts!

I decided I was bonkers and packed up with some difficulty. Roll on spring

 

[103841]

^^Top man for having a go.......or

completely bonkers.