How did you get on?

[peter crabtree]

Club fixture today on a south Bucks day ticket venue. Wood Lane (back) for those who know it...
Drew the same area as last visit, ie the wrong area...

Started off on bomb and bread and had a carp fairly quickly...
Stayed with it, a couple of liners but that was it for the next 5 hours.

Towards the end the wind dropped a bit and I went back out on the pole with maggot but still no carp, just a few roach for my efforts.

Weighed in 5lb:8oz for nowhere, winner had 71lb...

The only consolation was the very pleasant weather today....

 

[shane99]

Finally managed a 2lb Perch Sunday from my membership water. It went 2lb & half an oz. My scales weigh in half oz increments so just to make sure (not to kid myself or anyone else) I weighed the very thin carrier bag on its own & it didnt even register so, true weight.

Fished from midday to 3pm & had 5 perch in total. Weights ranged from half a pound to 1lb 4oz until the 2. Fished 2 halfs of lob worm tipped with a red maggot on a Sakuma 440 size 6 circle hook 4 to 6" off the bottom with a drennan 2AA bobber. All lip hooked I very glad to say.

It was my first time out this year with my Acolyte plus and for the record the rod was not as 'pokey' as I thought it would be. I nearly got the ultra but glad I got the plus. Very happy with it.

 

[skov]

I wasn't going to bother going out this weekend as I only had a small window of opportunity on Sunday morning and didn't think it'd be worth it.
As it happens I woke up ridiculously early and thought sod it, if I get up now I can probably squeeze in 3 hours of piking. Better than nothing.

It was still pitch black when I got to the lake and after casting my first rod out I realised I had no chance of seeing the float mg:
I thought I'd better reel in and leave it in the margin until dawn arrived.
I sat down and started pouring a cup of tea when I heard a faint tick-tick-tick-tick. I was puzzled for a moment until it clicked - it was the bait runner letting out line!
I picked the rod up, and a few minutes later had a 10lb14 pike in the net:

It was a couple of hours before I got my next run. I lost that one, but re-cast to the same spot and almost immediately got another take. She didn't get away this time:

I had one more dropped run just before 10am, but couldn't temp it again in the few minutes I had remaining before I had to pack up. I wasn't too bothered though - I was over the moon with the two I did land. Definitely worth getting out of bed for

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Having moved to within a few hundred yards of the Oxford canal about a year ago, I'd decided that lure fishing was something I was going to give a bit more time to. However, despite numerous visits with various hard or soft plastic lures, I'd only got one micro-pike to show for my efforts. I'd researched drop shotting a bit over Christmas, and bought a few lures, weights and hooks. It seems like it's the most popular method for the canals... to be honest, I was pretty close to calling it a day on my lure-fishing attempts there, however I thought I'd try this method before I totally give up on it.

Somewhat unexpectedly I had just short of 2 hours to play with before it got dark on Saturday afternoon. A perfect opportunity to give the new kit a try. The weather was overcast a just a bit warmer than you'd expect for the time of year. So off I trot with my light lure rod, 7', casts 5g -15g apparently! I rigged it all up like the youtube videos I'd seen had said and got down to the canal, however the colour in the water didn't look ideal. Not to be deterred, I tried a black fish imitation, closely followed by a bright orange grub, all to no avail.

So then I moved a little bit down the path and tired a new spot with a significant overhanging bush on the far bank, this time with the brightest lure I had, a yellow rubber minnow. I tried on one side of it, with my best wristy-flick action just like the youtube boys who seem to catch every 12 seconds... nothing. Next cast went to the other side of the bush... and there it was, a firm pull and I was in! And it was a proper fish too, putting a bend in the rod and everything! After a short tussle, there it was, a chub of 2lb+... my first ever lure caught chub and probably the biggest fish I've had from the canal. The problem now was that the light was fading fast and I had to be home by 5pm anyway, so I moved again to fish the last few casts near a railway bridge that has a lovely walled section on the far side. I made a few casts tight to the wall and on the third or fourth, I had a perch that was barely bigger than the lure, though the greedy little beggar had somehow managed to really get hold of it.

That called time, on my best canal lure fishing to date by some margin. I think it can only get better from here as I get to grips with the method more and hopefully find the water in a better suited condition. I have to say as well, for someone more used to fishing with bait and a chair and all that other kit, this was so liberating. Me and a rod and a tiny bag of bits. Probably need to get a landing net for this sort of thing, I'm guessing one of those trout-y types would probably do it.

 

[103841]

Thank goodness it's very rare that I return home from a fishing trip and say to myself "why did I bother" but today was one of those days.

The plan was to spend an hour or three roving he Stour just upstream from Grove Ferry with lure rod in hand. Things started badly with road works giving me a thirty minute delay, that gave me the hump and almost did a u turn to return home why didn't I?

Arrived having calmed down and with a long stretch of river all to myself was looking forward to the next couple of hours in very mild weather with an overcast sky, perfect.

Couldn't find the perch or pike but was able to find immovable snags with ease, lost two nice lures and traces in quick succession, should of gone home then but the obstinate streak and misguided optimism in me said carry on. Whilst tying on my third trace and lure a bailiff popped by to say hello, a nice old chap but boy could he rabbit on.....it was almost an hour later that he said "I suppose I should let you get on with your fishing" I should have gone home then, infact I did but needless to say I couldn't resist stopping at a few of the swims on the way back for several last casts.

Learnt two things today, when I see that bailiff again......run! and throw away the Daiwa J X8 braid, absolutely knowhere near the stated 30lb bs.

Had I stayed at home this morning I would have kept thinking I should have gone fishing.

 

[mikench]

Hindsight John is a wonderful thing!

 

[jon atkinson]

With a significant reduction in 'windows of opportunity' to fish at the moment I'm inclined to take every opportunity that comes along; yesterday presented such an opportunity although it was more 'blowy' than I like. The forecast looked slightly more favourable over on the Wirral so I decided to give Claremont Farm a go - despite being on 'the dark side' it's actually closer than any of the waters on my St Helens card.

It's not a big venue & it is popular, predominantly with carping types, but it does have a good mixed head of fish & with the temperature actually broaching double figures I wondered whether I might see some early season tench action? In a word... no!

I actually caught a fair few silvers - roach, rudd & hybrids but nothing of any size. Favourite fish of the day was this little rudd - admittedly not a leviathon, but I just love the vividness of those fins.

 

[Another Dave]

Took my favourite small lures out today, didn't get a sniff. Went home after an hour and a half. Each time this happens it erodes my faith in those lures, grrrr.

edit: correction, a six inch pike went for my orange lure but i failed to hook him

 

[ian g]

With the Severn still to high for my liking I headed to my local canal. I toyed with fishing a club pool but on the way stopped to check the canal the bottom pound was vacant so I decided to fish here instead. Started around 12 o'clock trotting a sick along the far ledge , first 4 casts resulted in 3 roach best about 6 oz and a missed bite. Really enjoyed trotting and had around 20 roach and a couple of perch in a couple hours . I'd hoped for a few gonks but didn't manage one so I stuck the smallest roach out on a livie rig . I switched to a worm rig laying on with a lobworm steady going for a while until the float slid away and I was into a decent fish though it turned out to be a 14 oz roach which was a welcome surprise. As the afternoon proceed the bites kept coming slowly but I managed another roach around 8 oz and half a dozen perch the best around 12 oz

 

[john step]

About time I had something other than a blank. Fished a deep res today braving the rain. Could not buy a bite on the float but switched to a small groundbait feeder and caught quite a few netable rudd and perch.

Rain stopped, temperature dropped, frozen fingers and gear drying out in garage. Still.......not much MUD at this venue.

[/url][/IMG]

 

[thecrow]

Cracking photograph John

 

[103841]

Cracking photograph John

It sure is, perch saying " bloody freezing out here, put me back"

 

[jasonbean1]

Yesterdays canal match was nothing to shout about, 1st 4lb 3oz.....me 1lb 5oz coming 4th. After that I took the dog for a walk down the Thames at Donnington and it was spot on and fining down nicely after the heavy recent heavy rain. So next day work or fishing....no contest

Ideal opportunity to try the new rod out which is another acolyte and at 17ft a length I rarely get to use on the rivers around here. So made my excuses for work took two float rods and a feeder rod just in case, 2 pints of maggot, 2 pints of caster, a bag of noir with some molehill to compliment and finally a bag of bream just in case the roach don't show.

Got down there and set the float up with a 3gram Avon to an 18 hook. Mixed up the groundbait and added the same amount of soil to it and added casters to the mix. Put 6 balls in 3 rod lengths out.

Started running the float through and 2nd trot down the float dipped under and the first roach of the day was swung to hand. Loose feeding maggots over the top the swim gradually built up and after an hour the roach were getting bigger and a couple of decent perch and a bonus 2lb hybrid had got me off to a flying start....until I hooked the best fish so far which was really pulling back and after a good tussle I was slipping the net under an hybrid of around 4lb....then bang the middle section of the rod snapped! mg:...it was always bound to happen acolyte or snapolite as my mates call them, didn't bother me really send it back and let the shop deal with drennan....luckily I had the 15fter in the bag so put the reel on and the rig and was off again.

I've had some amazing fishing at donnington and this session was turning into another one, ball of ground bait and caster and a full pouch of maggot every other chuck was leading to almost a fish a chuck, total mixture of sizes and species were coming and after 6 hrs I lifted the net out to show a passer by and at an estimate at leat 50lb possibly more made up of roach, perch, skimmers, hybrids and dace. 2 roach would have gone over a pound and 2 perch around 3lb with the best fish being the acolyte snapping hybrid!

You know what it's so tempting to have another day off work

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

How much weight without the bag of bream you took along Jas?

Sounds a cracking day in all respects!

 

[Another Dave]

What was the air pressure?

 

[mikench]

You sound amazingly sanguine about the breakage of your new and expensive rod! I hope Drennan are the same!:wh

 

[jasonbean1]

same here! I bought it off ebay so had to send back to Peterborough which cost me £11, so the good price I paid for it as now gone!

 

[peter crabtree]

10 codgers turned up yesterday to the GUC near Tring. A cold and frosty morning but no wind for a change..
My peg was fairly plain and featureless apart from a moored boat opposite.



Set up with the heavy gear, a 18 hook to 0:10 trace. I started off chucking a waggler and maggot across tight to the boat. Not a touch, sometimes there's a chunky chub or two there but no takers yesterday...
After an hour or so of trying I changed depth and fished punch a rod length out on the near shelf.
The float bobbed then sank slowly and I was into a good skimmer, looked like 3lb and it fought like a Trojan until it pinged off! Blast! I uttered, that's wrecked that line then. Went out again a bit further and immediately the float went down, I'm convinced it was the same fish?
Stayed on this close line and took another 4 skimmers and some fair sized roach, all on punch.

There was a good angler on the peg I won from last week with 8lb of roach and I wondered if I'd beaten him. At the scales I weighed in 10lb dead and won the match, second was 7:9 then third was 3:12.



Apologies for the picture quality above....

Ps. Like the new photo jobby, no more faffing about with post img...:clap::clap::clap:

 

[flightliner]

A day on the river chasing a pike or zander yesterday. I had a spot in mind but seeing how the wind was blowing I did an about turn and shot further upriver to the inside of a bend to fish a big crease that is undercut and holds fish in most conditions .
Set up by 8-30 am and settled down to wait for a run with herring on one rod and a small natural on the other.
A long wait, midday actually when the chub hit the mark with a very feisty pike of 10-13 that gave its all to my net.
Not long afterwards the half herring was away but tho connecting the fish came adrift, it didn't feel big so no sleep lost. A very twitchy run came soon after that had zander written all over it but I must have read it wrong because thin air was all I had on the strike.
Never mind, the red arrows must have heard on the grapevine that I was nearby so they scrambled at Scampton to put on a show in my honour-- great to watch-- thanks guys !!
I was due to go around 5pm and it was quite to say the least when the drop off fell away and rattled the bankstick.
The strike was met with a solid resistance and a longer struggle than the last fish and after landing a bigger fish the scales went 15plus, a great ending to my day , hope for more before the weekend.

Mmmmm! Having to wait for upload so hit hit again and got the same fish again.

 

[dave m]

sunday saw a visit to the river resulting in two caught and one lost. the best fish was 9.2... read on...

it was only my second chance to get out this year so even though it would be a late start i had to make the effort.
due to working nights and being knackered i didnt get the rods out until 4.30pm and with the river being slightly up and nicely coloured i felt i had possibly missed some decent hours on the bank.

very heavy winds meant i had no chance of putting a brolly up but luckily the rain held off. i got set up and fished a 4oz feeder. this was holding bottom easily enough but it also allowed me to tighten up to the lead to help keep the rods on the rests as the gusting wind could easily have blown them out.
even the the river wasnt too high at 0.9m there was still quite a bit of rubbish coming down and fouling the line. water temperature was 7.5c.



before i left the house i had checked in with a couple of mates and heard a few fish had been out so i was feeling like they should be having a munch and even though it was rough and wild i felt like i should be catching but sadly no bites for me...

hookbaits were swapped around between heavily glugged 14mm pellets, halved glugged boilies with paste and boilie/pepperami combo that can often buy a bite when its a bit of a struggle...
due to the line getting fouled with the debris i was having to recast every 10-15 minutes so i cut back on the feed by using about half of the pellet scoop as bites just were not coming.
just before 10pm i had a fish on and after short scrap the first fish was in the net. it might have been my only fish so i thought id take a quick picture just for the blog. this proved more difficult than i imagined. i was shouting 'cheese' to try and make the voice activated camera work but the phone couldnt hear me over the roaring wind. the phone was mounted on the mini tripod that was stood on my tackle box and it was being blown over as at the top of the bank its wide open and no shelter from the wind. after several attempts i have to switch to the self timer just to grab a quick snap. this fish was 5.8.



i recast the rod i have the fish on it it went off straight away, but although i could still feel the fish on it was snagged in the rocks and even though i tried giving slack line it wouldnt come free so i had to pull for a break. luckily i just lost the hooklength.
i went to recast the other rod and that was solid in a snag too...
oh the joys of the ribble, eh.

about 11pm i had a very slow pull on the rod that only pulled the tip over about 12" and with the rods bouncing with the wind and the debris coming down and bouncing the rod tips i waited to see if it was just a leaf fouling the line. the tip settled, but then went again but just about the same amount and i've now got my hand hovering over the rod willing it to go over...
it settles back, but then goes again. *******s to this, whats going on here, i picked it up and it felt like it was snagged. but a bit of pressure and i felt a bit of a bounce. some steady pressure and the fish is moving now, i dont think it even knew it was hooked but now it moved off but stayed very slow and deep. im hoping its a big one but i have been conned many times before. a slow deep fish and a few runs under the rod tip and shes in the net. the fish looked quite chunky with some decent width across the back and a decent length so i reckoned it'd be a double. i did a little dand and quickly unhooked it and a quick weigh said 9.2... i lifted the fish a couple of times as i couldnt believe it wasnt heavier, but no matter how hard i tried to convince the avons to try harder it just wasnt making the needle go any further.

again i had more problems doing the self take due to the wind. i didnt do a test shot as the phone and tripod was being blown along the top of the tackle box or being blown over. it was just a question of line it up and hope for the best. i didnt want to fanny around to much as i wanted the fish back in the water as quickly as possible. a few headless shots but no big deal.



with no more action i packed up at about midnight and made the 40+ mile trip home. in bed for 3am, and i had to be up at 7 to take the kid to school, knackered now and need a power nap.
i thought i could have had a few more but im still very pleased with a 9+ any time but in january its extra special.