How did you get on?

[nottskev]

I've been enjoying fishing the stick on the lower Derwent, but I hardly seem to have caught a fish without an adipose fin in the last 3 or 4 trips, so yesterday I did a bit more planning than I usually bother with. Where can I catch a few chub ? I asked the local tackle dealer, who directed me to a stretch of the Derwent 10 miles upstream. I bought casters and strong small hooks, and sorted out all the gear to fish a waggler down the middle of the beautiful, tree-lined, steepsided stretch. But I realised this morning I'd left the hooks on the shop counter, so I dug some liquidised bread out of the freezer, flavoured a few slices of bread, swapped the float gear for a light feeder rod and set off. At 12.30 pm, when I arrived, the light levels felt like 4pm and the air was completely still.


I chose a peg with a big tree over and a long glide below.

It did indeed look perfect for the float, but never mind; there's always another day. I set up a small cage feeder and picked a spot at the edge of the tree canopy 2/3 over. I had a feeling, the river so low and the day so still, that no matter how carefully I fished, underarming and feathering in the lightest feeder I could get away with, it would be a case of a couple of bites followed by a chub disappearance.
And that was how it went. Chub 1 turned up at 1pm

and chub 2 at 1.15. After that, it all went quiet until a couple of grayling got involved at 2.30.

At 3pm, I packed up and headed off to beat the traffic, even though I might have caught a couple more at twilight. Not quite the day on the float I'd imagined, but I wasn't too bothered – this stretch is in Derbyshire proper, with stone buildings, tree-lined banks, and - apart from the comfy platforms – the feel of a wild river. Kingfishers had been passing in pairs, and groups of tits and finches worked their way up and down both banks.

Sorry about the pic links. Postimage isn't working in Chrome; I thought it was working in Internet Explorer, but evidently not. Or maybe it is.

 

[Alan Tyler]

Thanks, PC, I was hoping it was a case of the wrong specs!
I took a friend who doesn't get much fishing time to the scene of Petrol-Splitter's triumphs; he had five takes and two stayed on long enough to be netted. Six pounds weighed and about five, guessed.
Next door, in the scene of my second and third placings, I caught two different trees and almost netted two crayfish. Highlights, apart from watching John get his brace, were two kingfishers (in the same eyeful, so not the same one twice), G.C. Grebes , and a heron. Even a spot of sunbathing (took me 'at orf) after the fog had cleared. Nice day, for a "blank".
Edit -forgot to say we were deadbaiting for pike. Sprat and mackerel scored; perch and smelt, ignored.

 

[Hugh Bailey]

And…

I has new gear to put through its paces…

To be fair it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but seeing as it’s my third, after initially dipping my toe in two years ago, with a fourth being eagerly sought I can say they’re tried, tested and approved.

I have a funny feeling it will be getting an outing in the very near future... :w

I'm really sorry - did they not have any proper reels in the shop?

Maybe you can take it back and exchange it for a Baitrunner next week?

;-)

 

[S-Kippy]

Dear God ! Three bloody handles ! mg:

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

Dear God ! Three bloody handles ! mg:

Could have staked the house on that post S-Kip

 

[Alan Tyler]

You can remove the handles, and there are even counterweights so you can leave one on without it being imbalanced; the line guard can be removed, too.
Sadly, what you can't do is add a compensating drag, or modify the sound of the check.

 

[binka]

You can remove the handles, and there are even counterweights so you can leave one on without it being imbalanced;

I went down to one handle on my others very early in the year as I found they were getting in the way when loop casting and I will likely do the same with the newest and the next one...

It solved the problem and I thought it was a bit quirky at first but it seems I'm not the only one...

 

[S-Kippy]

I rest my case !

 

[tigger]

I went down to one handle on my others very early in the year as I found they were getting in the way when loop casting and I will likely do the same with the newest and the next one...

I've handled several of the conquest reels and I found the handles where ok, no problem at all when casting. If I had one myself i'd be keeping all the handles in place.

 

[rubio]

Hi all. Not sent in any reports of late but very little to brag about. Week in spain and felt obliged to have a go off the rocks. Mainly small mullet and some as yet unidentified creatures. A near miss fishing a live mullet on the surface as dusk fell. Would have liked to have seen whatever it was. Saw plenty of good Dorada whilst snorkelling. (Gilt head bream, but big uns)
I had a session fishing light waggler over groundbait on the river when I got back, but caught moderately and for mostly smaller roach than I started to get used to. Loads of rudd showing there as well.
Used up the maggots and groundbait on club pond yesterday catching much the same as on the river but even smaller. Just before pack up time a nice lift and dip and my november crucian was on way to the net.
Got a stack of stale bread in an old washing up bowl sitting under a gutter leak atm. Might get a chance to see if going back to bread is the difference in average size. And find out if any of the big rudd are in residence.

 

[mikench]

Simon you are the George Foreman of Angling and that's a compliment !

 

[mikench]

By way of a rather general update I think I ought to point out that, barring the always pleasurable company of Sam Vimes and his rolling tackle roadshow for me to have a look at, and an equally pleasurable session with Crow on a gravel pit, my crammed in sessions have been rather mundane affairs with very little of note and even less time to spice things up to a vaguely interesting level.

Still…

The New Year is not too far ahead and the next reincarnation on some more local waters, when the books renew, is not too far ahead.

And…

I has new gear to put through its paces…

To be fair it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but seeing as it’s my third, after initially dipping my toe in two years ago, with a fourth being eagerly sought I can say they’re tried, tested and approved.

I have a funny feeling it will be getting an outing in the very near future... :w

Very nice Steve! Where have I seen a reel like that( silver though) and admired it! Can you manage a ménage a trois ( using 3 pins at once)?Must look out for one!

Does Chris come with a trailer? You should not tempt idiots like me! like Oscar Wilde I can resist everything but temptation!:wh

 

[peter crabtree]

When the rain faded away and it brightened up after lunch I got itchy feet..
Grabbed my 10' waggler rod and a box of maggots and nipped down to my local supermarket...
Out the back there's a wharf for boaty types to moor and go shopping, and home to some big perch..

3lb line straight through to a 16 baited with double maggot under a bobber float right down the edge, small perch, dace and roach kept me busy.

If you look back at the photo above there's a father and young son fishing off the end of the wharf. I helped the kid set up his waggler rig as his dad had no idea.. He was soon catching some nice roach but lost a huge perch due to having no landing net..After a minor tantrum he and his dad agreed he needed to get one...

Once they went home I moved down to the same spot, it was getting dark but fishing close in I could just see my float. After a few small perch I hooked a better fish, was this the big one?

Didn't weigh it but here it is...

 

[103841]

I'm sure like the majority of us I keep a keen eye on the weather forecast when planning a fishing trip but one aspect I've never looked closely at is air pressure.

It's only since my recent foray into pike angling that the air pressure has become an important factor and have read they feed well when the barometer is falling, is this true of all species?

Plenty of free apps available and having loaded one on my iPhone last night was interested to see a much lower reading than in previous days, I also learnt my house is 125 ft above sea level, interesting.

Was this the reason that the chub were so hungry this morning? Had an immediate bite on my first chuck into the familiar surroundings of the Canterbury stretch of the Stour, no fish though, hook pull. Same thing a few minutes later. I had forgotten that at the end of my last session I had decided to try a circle hook and there it remained this morning. Obviously not working so switched to a conventional Drennan specimen hook, instant succes with a nice 3lb chub sliding into the net. My normal method is to free line cheese and more often than not the chub has swallowed the bait before I've struck the hook home, hence my reason for trying a circle hook. I'm strictly barbless now and unhooking a deeply embedded hook is not so much of a drama.

Two more chub were soon landed from the same swim, quite unusual, they usually spook after the first capture. There had been a light drizzle throughout which suddenly turned to a heavy downpour, no brolly when I'm roving so legged it back to the car pronto. Listened to my favourite radio presenter Danny Baker for a while with hot air blasting out the car vents drying me off. The rain eased off and decided to head up to the pool for a bit of piking. Greeted on arrival with the rare sight of an angler wading in the pool doing a bit of trotting.

Dawned on me immediately that I have no prospective for depth, the pool always looks to me about 5 to 6ft deep, clearly it isn't.

No pike but watching a very proficient angler taking a succession of chub on maggot with light gear was a pleasure to watch.

 

[Hogweed]

I had a very frustrating start to todays session on the River Lea.

The river is still low and clear so I took my depth finder to try and find any depressions or deeper pools. I walked for 10 mins with a full rucksack and rod quiver ( I always take too much stuff) to get to the top swim of this stretch with the idea of working my way back over the course of the day.

I was running the sonar down the river at varying distances from the bank and getting idea of the contours of the river bed when a misplaced lob saw my sonar get tangled in some over hanging branches. Doh! The subsequent thrashing about would of seen off any fish that might be about so I decided it would be best to move on.

I found another swim that had a decent depth about 15yds down stream and put a bit of loose feed out. It started chucking it down so up went the brolley and I proceeded to get the rod set up. Just as I was about to cast out I noticed another angler on the opposite bank right on the spot I had just baited up. I assumed he had just turned up. So I asked him if he was planning to fish there. He said he had been since 6.00am!
"Did you not seem me running my sonar float down the swim or setting up almost opposite you?" I asked him.
"No". was the reply.
I couldn't believe it. I could understand why I might not have noticed him as he was not in a recognised peg and surrounded by bushes, but for him not to notice me I found hard to believe. Anyway, despite him saying he didn't mind me fishing upstream of him, I think 15 yds is too close.

I settled into another swim downstream but, even though it had a deep channel all the way through I wasn't feeling it. So after an hour or so I moved again.

It took awhile but I eventually found a stretch that wasn't so deep but did have a good flow and some streamer weed. Maybe a barbel might be lurking.

It was an hour after sunset when the rod looped round and all the earlier frustrations were forgotten. It is not a monster for the Lea but the only one I have had this season.

http://i68.tinypic.com/20r1pn7.jpg

It is a PB for me but I'll never know the exact weight as the battery in my scales was flat!

I'm sure there is a moral to this story but exactly what it is I have yet to determine.

 

[Another Dave]

I'm sure there is a moral to this story but exactly what it is I have yet to determine.

Knowing when to move on.

You put all the work into that swim, pictured yourself fishing there. Then things don't go according to plan. But you recognised the 'sunk cost fallacy', gathered together your wits and any enthusiasm you had left.

And it paid off, what a great fish.

pretty sure i'd wet myself if i ever caught a barbel

 

[mikench]

By way of a rather general update I think I ought to point out that, barring the always pleasurable company of Sam Vimes and his rolling tackle roadshow for me to have a look at, and an equally pleasurable session with Crow on a gravel pit, my crammed in sessions have been rather mundane affairs with very little of note and even less time to spice things up to a vaguely interesting level.

Still…

The New Year is not too far ahead and the next reincarnation on some more local waters, when the books renew, is not too far ahead.

And…

I has new gear to put through its paces…

To be fair it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but seeing as it’s my third, after initially dipping my toe in two years ago, with a fourth being eagerly sought I can say they’re tried, tested and approved.

I have a funny feeling it will be getting an outing in the very near future... :w

You pamper those fish Steve; what an unhooking mat!

 

[theartist]

Dawned on me immediately that I have no prospective for depth, the pool always looks to me about 5 to 6ft deep, clearly it isn't.

Your depths aren't too far out as the guy pictured is wading from downstream where it shallows up, from where you took the photo it's a good 6ft under your feet so don't jump in there with chesties on!

Interesting that it looks like the chap is fishing the back eddy so effectively he's trotting upstream, it's amazing what directions the fish can face in such swims which can change on a daily basis depending on the flow. When I fished it there it was dead still and they were in the main current.

 

[103841]

Your depths aren't too far out as the guy pictured is wading from downstream where it shallows up, from where you took the photo it's a good 6ft under your feet so don't jump in there with chesties on!

Interesting that it looks like the chap is fishing the back eddy so effectively he's trotting upstream, it's amazing what directions the fish can face in such swims which can change on a daily basis depending on the flow. When I fished it there it was dead still and they were in the main current.

Yes, he is facing upstream, placing his float in an eddy at the back of the pool where the chub hide. I won't be jumping in there anytime soon! Might get pushed by some hooligan though

 

[maggot_dangler]

Bit the bullet today went to the club pool bit cool but thats just me right now .

took a few maggots and a loaf of Coop white Farmhouse sliced for simplicity i took the John Wilson Avon quiver rod and a pin .

Tried Maggots not a sniff i had thought that may have been the case so switched to a nice big lump of bread on a 16 hook landed 8 nice bream of a around a pound or so each and a couple of Crucians to best part of 2 lbs each .

At that i was getting a bit cool so packed up and came home pleased to jhave caught some reasonable fish on a day like today considering the pool is quite shallow ..

PG ...