How did you get on?

[maggot_dangler]

I had not intended to fish this afternoon as have been suffering with back and neck problems for a few days but sat round got to me so duly wrapped up i hit the local canal about 15:30 .

First cast with 2 reds on a 20 hook perch 6 to 8 ounces then a few more similar then it got too cold so i gave in and headed back home hope it is a bit nicer tomorrow want to get out , Do not do sitting around well at all the fuse gets hyper short in moments :wh .

PG ...

 

[binka]

I'm trying to put this into some sort of interesting order but, to be honest, I'm struggling.

Trent, bloody cold, deserted, one chub on maggot ring loaded with chopped worm... Suspected mug fish.

Mate had a blank, for the highlight of the day he did cook some rather excellent pigs in blankets which for two minutes at least relieved the numbness in my toes.

Need a new pair of tongues as he left them in the pan which he then placed back on the stove whilst forgetting to turn it off.

Can't fault Trakker's claims about their pans being non-stick though mg:

 

[sam vimes]

Need a new pair of tongues as he left them in the pan which he then placed back on the stove whilst forgetting to turn it off.

Sounds painful!:wh How did the tongs stand up to it?

 

[binka]

Sounds painful!:wh How did the tongs stand up to it?

They faired much better

 

[103841]

A few hours spent on the Kent Stour today, with a swing of 10 degrees in the past 12 hours I wasn't hopeful of having much success. After a few hours trotting followed by a few hours on the feeder my predictions sadly proved correct with just a few small dace and roach to show for my efforts.

Highlight of the trip was spotting a very large bird of prey on my way home, not sure what it was but it was big. My quick snap with the phone doesn't do the beautiful beast justice.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Finally managed to get a few hours on the bank yesterday in reasonable conditions......However, being on the bank is a whole lot of difference to actually fishing!

I arrived at 07.30 in heavy gloom, but at least it was mild and the still water didn't look too bad. I marched at pace along the bank (just about managing to stop myself falling flat on my face as I tripped over a tree root!) and it was then with gear dropped (and with the light a little better) that I noticed something was amiss with the water surface. A much closer look told me I was looking at subsurface frozen water, but it was well below the surface and only a poke with a bank stick confirmed my suspicions. Usually it is quite obvious but on this occasion I was totally fooled! Why 'frozen water' had failed to cross my mind as a possibility in the comfort of my home is another matter.................

Initially, a quick walk along the bank told me fishing would be impossible, but I hadn't driven 20 odd miles to turn and go home again so I weigh the options and decided to give ice breaking a go with a rake head from the car fixed to a longish ali landing net handle (that I keep in the bag for having my brollie up higher in the air!) and with gentle pressure the ice started to break up. Eventually, and with not a little disturbance I managed to clear an area big enough for a float to be dropped vertically into the water and then set up the gear but always with this nagging thought in my head that going back home straightaway.........

If for one minute you think this tale will turn into one of 'fortune favours the brave' you are sadly mistaken with the only action of the day (and one that bought a smile to my face) being the antics of ducks and moorhens trying to lift themselves onto the ice. Of course, I tried all I knew and I fished hard at all depths etc. etc. with nice fresh maggots aided by a very slow trickle of singles from time to time, but in the end I had to be content with sitting in the warmish sunshine and telling myself how good it was to be on the bank. Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely day and very good to be out!

So that's it I'm afraid. Like Binka, I've made every effort to make this report as interesting as possible, but at the end of the day it came down to another blank with no discernable movement of the float for close to 5 hours.......

Still, once home lunch was good and the afternoons rugby reasonable....

I shall try again on Monday (weather permitting) but I doubt the result will be much different, although a few worms might do the trick with a perch.

'If at first you don't succeed...etc etc will be the order of the day, I fear..

 

[peter crabtree]

Up at 6 this morning and set off to Tring for a club match. Arrived to find the canal frozen on virtually the whole pound. Obviously no boats had moved for a while, the parts that were fishable were so clear I could see the bottom...
A few suggested trying somewhere else but my will was gone so I'm now back on my sofa.. At least I can look forward to lunchtime, Watford v Millwall on telly.
Come on you Horns....!

 

[robertroach]

Went to the Upper Dorset Stour on Friday with no great expectations, thinking the water would be too cold after so many successive frosty nights. Luckily there was no-one in the swim I had decided to fish before leaving, being deep water and sheltered from the southerly wind.

Started with 2 red maggots on a 16 hook "laying on" with the pole and it was really pleasant watching the long tailed tits and redwings moving all around me in flocks. A wren joined me for the day, overdosing on the maggots I was feeding it. After feeding a few maggots I started to get bites and a succession of small roach came to hand. After an hour of this and with more loose feeding the biggest roach was only about 4 oz. so I changed to a 12 hook and a large piece of bread punch. First chuck in and the float went down - a bigger fish, maybe a big chub, I'm thinking, as the elastic shot away to the middle if the river. 10 minutes later a very fit pike about 8 pounds was landed, not sure how it didn't bite through the hook link.

The rest of the day was a bite almost every chuck but still the small roach were dominating and the biggest was only about 6 oz. Still a pleasant session
but frustrating not to find some bigger fish. Can never understand why others use size 22 hooks, but I guess some waters must be quite different.

 

[rubio]

Haven't posted for a while but finally got into something with fins yesterday.
After a run of blanks and at least 3 visits to the river without even getting my gear out of the car I hauled in a 2 oz roach on my very first cast. I had put new line on my abu 1044 and was looking to get it settled and straightened a bit so just flicked out a bit of flake on a size 12 with a single ssg.
I had blanked on the float day before and was a bit disappointed with myself for dropping off a better roach a couple of casts later. Took an hour more to get a bite following that but they were nice fish around 8-12 oz range. Took all of these on wand and link leger flicked across into the flow such as it was.
Levels are still lower than summer. I'd selected this stretch as it narrows and shallows giving a bit of push to it as it hits the bend I sat on.
As light fell I eventually picked off a couple on the float. Mostly similar size but also more much smaller fish. Through the session I had been feeding dampened liquidised bread with a little hemp in it and whilst there seemed to be plenty of fish holding in the area bites were very subtle and needed focus. Good for distracting you from the chilly breeze.
Now I've found a few I'm keen to get back and go at 'em again. What chance they are still there?

 

[rubio]

Took my chance to revisit same stretch as yesterday. Eventually settled for a swim just 50m further downstream where it's slightly deeper at around 5 ft. Should be more than a foot deeper still but with so little rain ...........blah blah.
Got a tiddler first cast again, and a few more small roach on bread before a pike turned up and put them all off for a while. I had a few switches of tactic trying both bread and maggot on whip, wand and stick, but with not a lot to show for it. Gambling some fish would return I kept a steady trickle of maggot going in on the stick line and eventually got action from better stamp, going around 6ozs.
Bites continued steady rather than rapid but a net was coming together well enough for me to forget my recent failings and I began to make those little adjustments that we always hope will make the difference.
Doubt it was anything I did but as the light fell they got busy with still bigger roach and some perch. Nice looking stripeys in full colour. Best one I weighed at 1lb 10oz; best roach 1lb 8oz. I even packed up and got to the car just before rain got heavy!

 

[skov]

Spent this morning gravel pit piking.
My first and only run came at 9am to a float fished sprat. A short half hearted fight ensued followed by a lethargic 7lber gracing my landing net.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Played shower dodging today nipped out to AD halesowen grabbed me a small reel for dropshotting , an SPRO Urban 510 small neat seems ok to use loaded some 6lb braid on it .

On the local canals trying for perch but i think my dropshotting technique needs some polish think i may have missed a good number of takes so a blank worst luck out again on Wednesday see if i can get this right .

That said the water today was stupid clear all the way to the bottom so it was always going to be hard going no boats to stir it up right now .


PG ...

 

[jon atkinson]

Went up to the Ure with a work mate in search of Grayling. Passed through a surprising amount of snow en route but it had all cleared by the time we reached our destination. The river looked in fine fettle... and so was the weather! Within half an hour I'd taken off my coat, hat & scarf & was wondering why I was wearing thermal socks! The improved weather didn't do much for the fishing sadly; Thomo had a small brownie, I had a slightly bigger one on for about 10 seconds before slipping the hook & that was that. My third blank of the year, which given that I only fish once a week is pretty good going :wh Still, a lovely day to be out & welcome pint before the long drive home went down very well.

 

[Tee-Cee]

I meant to say in my last offering that a check on the water temperature revealed 38 degrees F so hardly surprising nothing moved, least of all roach!

This morning I checked again at surface level and on the bottom in the same swim and it had risen to 42 degrees F, presumably the rise caused by the milder conditions over the last 48 hours, plus significant rainfall in south Bucks. I find this increase quite amazing but I haven't made a mistaken reading so it must be factual. The ice had melted across half the lake as well, and this from roughly 20mm thick....

Anyway, lets talk fish; Actually it turned out this was to be singular in the shape of a 7lb(ish) common carp on double red maggot in 7' of water, and this at 9am. Apart from one or two dips of the float both before and after the fish, nothing could persuade 'them' to actually take the very light float away, so maybe line bites the cause.....
The fish was in wonderful condition and gave a god account of itself on light gear, although the Ultralight did bend a little too much for my liking......

Hope to be out again on Wednesday when it should still be mildish and possibly with significant rain in my neck of the woods!!

Blank avoided!!

 

[103841]

After some healthy rain last night I was expecting improved conditions on the Stour today. So it came as a bit of a disappointment to find a heavily coloured river racing through at a much higher level than anticipated. The graph tells the story, a nice little spike from the rain followed by.....the opening of sluice gatesmg:.

Found a quiet bit of slack and had a couple of hefty tugs on the tip but no connection. Stopped at Tesco on the way home and picked up a nice wedge of Cheddar with chive and garlic reduced to 37p, will try again tomorrow.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Arrived for a short session to find the river up 6 inches and light coffee coloured.
45 minutes for the first jab and the chub turned into a fiesty 2lb beautifully coloured barbus.

10 minutes later and another pull led to a high speed battle all over the swim from one about 7lb.

One more tap as I watched the river rise another 3 inches and the colour change to a deepish red brown that usually puts the fish right off the feed.

It did. Two hours more without a touch....offski.

S63. Pal managed 3 Stour barbel today so they were munching.

 

[103841]

S63. Pal managed 3 Stour barbel today so they were munching.

I'm on the Kent Stour.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Well theres about 3 barbel in that river

 

[Pete Shears]

Just like last Monday at the reservoir - absolutely no takes when piking,allegedly it was milder,
probably true as there was no ice this week but it made no difference to the pike - might try again tomorrow if it doesn't rain only to annoy the cormorants if nothing else.

 

[103841]

Well theres about 3 barbel in that river

They would do nicely.