How did you get on?

[peter crabtree]

After two blanks on the canal last week, followed by a close shave yesterday morning when a perch grabbed my breadpunch, this morning I hoped my fortunes may change.
Fished an open, silvers only, on a S.Bucks day ticket pit.



It was 2 hours before I got my first bite, from then on roach came with abundance but sadly too late.

Stuck to a plan based on former visits, no groundbait, feed sparingly, don't attract the carps which don't count and nause up the roach.



Doh!

Roach dominated the nets, skimmers were thin on the ground :/



It's hard to win opens...

Packing up afterwards I got the chance to look to the skies, 100's of red kites were circling, it was impossible to snap in a small phone pic but these are all red kites and just a part of the entire flock...

.

 

[Another Dave]

pics to go with my last post

 

[103841]

Packing up afterwards I got the chance to look to the skies, 100's of red kites were circling, it was impossible to snap in a small phone pic but these are all red kites and just a part of the entire flock...

.View attachment 3828

I've only ever seen a flock of red kites once and that was whilst travelling along the M40 just passed High Wycombe, I suspect not a million miles from where you were.

 

[jon atkinson]

Dead-baiting session with Thomo was postponed... again, so I decided to make good on my intention to do more trotting & set off for the stretch of the Dee that St Helen's AC has recently acquired not far from Wrexham. There is a track which might be traversible in the summer months but on this occasion I parked on the road, donned my wellies & proceeded through the first couple of gates amid mud & puddles.

A few yards past the second gate I saw the bu99ers - cows :nightmare:. They initially appeared to be behind a fence, but it soon became apparent that said fence was way more decorative than functional when the herd clocked me & decided to come & say hello - I'll admit that I'm a complete Jessie when it comes to our bovine friends, so I duly bailed :wh.

I clocked some free pegs at Farndon just a couple of miles away whilst out walking the dogs last year so I thought I'd give them a go instead. Talking to a couple of guys having parked up, it didn't sound good at all - a match that had been scheduled there had been called off after an hour as nobody had had a sniff. Nothing topping, indeed no sign of fish period. I went for a quick wander & decided to give it a go anyway, my rationale being that this only being my second time using a pin it was more about getting to grips than actually catching fish [yeah, right].

Into about 12' just a rod length or so out I probably could have found an easier swim but I persevered feeding maggots fairly regularly with double maggot on the hook. Nothing for a couple of hours & then finally a bite whatever it was on for maybe 10 seconds before shedding the hook - one of those days?

It was looking ominously like my first blank of the year was on the cards as the light started to fade... & the rain started to fall, but on my 'final' run through the float dipped & I was into one - a pristine roach of maybe 10oz averted the blank & put a smile on my face. I'm not sure that I'd go as far as to say that I'm getting the hang of trotting, but I certainly feel that I'll be giving it another go, hopefully this side of the close season.

 

[tigger]

I've not been out since an hour on Crimbo day and the another hour or so several days after that. Anyhow I got out today but the river looked awful, last nights rain had made it rise and it was seriously coloured up with silt and particles and god only knows what else. I tried to trott the float but the river was only flowing slowly due to an incoming tide staarting to back it up. It seemed trotting was a a non starter so I layed on. Nothing happened for 20 or more minuites and then the float bobbed a little then slid away. It turned out to be the first of a number of chub which I estimated them all to be between two and three pounds give or take a few ounces. The river rose quite quickly and the visibility must have been zero, especially on the bottom So the fish must have had to be right on top of the bait to find it! Here's a coup.e of the fish I caught today...







On my crimbo trotting session I couldn't go wrong and had lots of chub with a number of very smart looking Ide mixed in with them, these pic's are from back then....

 

[mikench]

Normality restored!

 

[S-Kippy]

First time out for me today since well before Christmas. A bit of a trek to one of Big Dave's secret waters hoping for a big perch.

Not in the least surprised to discover the M25 was much as I left it....but tbh Monday morning after half term what did i expect?

We both thought conditions were cock on for a perch or two but sadly nobody told the perch. BD had a stuttery run first chuck which he missed....an hour in and my LH rod roared off but it was a stupid bloody carp of about 3lb. Two hours later and my indicators hadn't moved again though BD managed to smuggle a nice perch of 2-6 out just to prove there are some in there. Eventually he bullied me into moving and I'm kind of glad he did as I had an interesting[ if frustrating] last 90 mins. First a 2 " lift suggested there was a fish or two about....then a big drop back on the RH rod which turned out to be a tench of about 1.5lb. I followed this up with two very jiggly runs which were almost certainly perch but it didn't matter as I missed the first and went a lap early on the second. Chance missed.

More in hope than expectation I had one more cast as the light started to go and within 5 minutes had a lovely steady run on the RH rod....this time I'm in only it didn't feel very perchy. It felt very carpy and so it proved as after a right old tussle on my 12oz tc DV rod I landed a very handsome mirror which BD reckoned went a good 12 pound. While all this was going on he never had a touch.

So....my hoped for perch from Dave's secret banker lake didn't turn up but I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Good to get out at last and the enthusiasm is back....just in time for the weather to turn.

I'm so knackered tonight i cant be bothered to empty the car. I'll do it tomorrow because everything is going to need a right good clean as Dave's perch hole is quite possibly the muddiest place I've ever fished.

 

[peter crabtree]

Just 3 codgers showed up this morning in the rain and gusting wind. Undeterred we set off down the towpath to try and escape the wind.



Despite the tap water clarity of the canal, fish were caught from the off. Chub, dace, roach, skimmers and perch showed throughout the following 5 chilly hours, but none over a pound...

At the end I weighed in 8lb:8oz, almost all caught on punch on the waggler, for the win...
2nd had 3lb:14 and 3rd 12oz...

 

[nottskev]

The forecast for today had been 9c with a light breeze, but the trees were bending in the wind when I looked out this morning. But, apparently, it's going to get worse, so at 11am I set off for the Old Lake, wrapped up and feeling I'd been cheated out of a mild day. I chose a spot with the wind behind me, and calculated that if the tree went, it would fall the other way.




Things didn't go at all well at first. The gusting wind blew the water white and black, and getting the north-easterly over my shoulder put me facing into the low sun. I couldn't really see what my float was doing, and in any case it was fishing all wrong. I shipped out and snagged a length of 10lb line, eventually gathering about 50m of it festooned with weed and debris, and walked round to the bin. When I came back, i swapped to an unlikely rig - a little home-made dibber, with 6 no8 strung along the last 18' in the 6' deep swim. Now we were getting somewhere. It sat just right in the ripple, and the rig followed the undertow against the wind.

Here it is. Apologies for the lack of gold leaf etc, but on the upside, you can make one in 5 minutes



I'd knocked up some liquidised bread for future chub trips - the woman in the cornershop knows why I tend to call in slimey and smelling fishy, and had kept me some loaves on their sell-by date for 30p each - and had brought some, and decided to add it to the usual helpings of hemp and caster. It certainly seemed to bring fish into the swim.

A few nice roach began to show up



And five tench. You have to love a place that gives you five tench on a cold afternoon in February. And a couple of chunky perch with a taste for corn




Once I had the bait behaving properly - creeping with the tow against the wind - I think I had a bite every put in for the duration. Things wouldn't be complete without a brief appearance from a rogue carp, but even then my rig came back with the hook on and intact. Short of getting the thing out, you can't ask for more. After a dodgy start, it turned into a nice afternoon.



By the way, the tench with the red patch.... it had a kind of blood-red sheen on various parts of its body. It wasn't injured, and seemed as fit as a fiddle.

 

[john step]

Nice catch Kev. By the way those red spots and lines and sheen is quite common in my parts. A natural thing. On Sam Vimes syndi water they have red markings and were sourced from Lincs I believe.

 

[mikench]

Well done Kev! I haven't seen so many fish in a keep net !

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Fished well upstream of Ross.*
A lots of dace in the 4-10oz range and about 15 small chub.
No roach for me or the other 2 anglers chatted to.
But the pike were so active taking at least 10 fish. And very large ones between 12 and probably 25lb.

One of the other chaps managed to land a 14+ on his trotting gear.

Big match there tomorrow so good chat to one of the Shakespear Match team who I let have a waggle for one dace*

Frustrating day really with wind in my face . Memo to self. Take pike gear!!!!!!

 

[flightliner]

Monday- a three hour lure session on a local reservoir gave me five pike, mainly little with a best maybe just short of ten pounds --maybe nine at best but all great fun with some really savage takes!

 

[Alan Tyler]

How? Poorly; own silly fault. Despite arriving late, with only 2 1/2 hours fishing time left, I set up an old ebay purchase to see if it was worth restoring. The rings, though sound, were rough and wouldn't allow easy trotting. this was made worse by the fact that I had't packed a user-friendly 'pin, so I had a Master's reel paying out line that wasn't being taken up...
At one point, I fluked a cast to the far bank just before a lull in the howling downstream wind, the float went about four feet and buried, and a chub that might have made two pounds proved the rod to have plenty of flex but not overmuch control; of course, the friction didn't help as I tried to wind down and push him out of the near bank rushes. Netted him in the end, though, a gratefully received first fish since early December.
Gave up and set up a decent rod, but the wind had given me my only good break, and the zephyrs now queued up to keep me humble.
One more bite when I switched to a ledger, a chublet.


The evening was livened up by a wild sex show: two moorhens, leaning right back in the water and apparently attempting to kick and claw the stuffing out of each other.
They then climbed up the far bank and mated, which shows how much I knew about courtship behaviour in the Rail family...

 

[mikench]

how much I knew about courtship behaviour in the Rail family...

I didn't think that kind of behaviour was allowed on trains !:thumbs::sorry:

 

[nottskev]

I didn't think that kind of behaviour was allowed on trains !:thumbs::sorry:

I misread it as royal family

 

[mikench]

I assume you mean the TV series. I recall the daughter asking mum to write down the recipe for gravy! Mum wrote " put an oxo cube in a jug and add boiling water"

 

[Alan Tyler]

Oh, Lordy, how I miss Caroline Aherne.

 

[S-Kippy]

Ahem.....back on topic !!!!

I had no plans to fish today but on returning from dropping Beloved Daughter at the station i found 3 missed calls from the BF on my phone. I immediately smelt a rat so I rang him to discover he was half way to Royal Berks Fishery hoping to repeat the good day he had on Monday while i was wallowing in the mud nearer the seaside than not !

He told me in no uncertain terms to " get your ar$e down here" as it was going to get cold next week. He had a point so i threw my gear in the car and barrelled off to RBF. The only bait i had was prawn and it still frozen.

By the time i got there and got set up ( in a swim with a bit of perch form) it was nearly 11 and as Herr Flick ( the bailiff) wants you off by 3-30 mg: I didnt have long. I decided on a sh1t or bust approach with a big prawn under a Binka Bobber tight to a tree. You can probably guess the rest.

After 2 hours and 2 bobs i had my first bite and missed it. 20 minutes later the float buried again and im attached to another soddin carp which charges off into the lake, kited right and buries itself in the bank 30 yards up. Pull for a break.

An hour later another half bite followed by a proper one which was the hoped for perch and a very handsome chap too but not bigger than about 1-4 maybe 1-6. Next chuck i bumped a better fish and that seemed to kill the swim stone dead. Never had another touch.

Meanwhile...at the other end of the lake Grumpy was having a good day alternating maggot on an 18 and prawn with some net sized roach, small perch and a good rudd. He also managed to make my day complete by smuggling out a lovely perch of 2-6 right on pack up time. Clearly the maggot feed helps as does the fact that he had 5 foot of water to my 2 and a half and a great big snaggy tree to fish against.

But i enjoyed it despite it getting steadily colder as the day wore on and clearly the fish are there to be caught....just not by me atm. Payback for the good summer and autumn i had i guess. Im seriously out of touch and not match fit yet.

Its a lot nearer than Big Daves muddy hole too !

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

I had no plans to fish either, but an hour at Morrisons was enough excitement (not) so off I wangled arriving about S-kippy time.

After so many pike attacks yesterday, decided they must be active so went on my home water..
A trot as well that eventually yielded a single fair chub over 4lb.

In between the pike herring bait slid away.
And what felt like a good fish stayed on for 30 seconds!!

It was away again shortly after and this time no mistake. A short brutal fight and a crocodile slid into the net.


Apologies for the picture that makes it look bigger than 21.09.

A move 300 yards up river. And the second slack had the float slide away again. As its a bit of snaggy area no line was given and another Esox was mine. This one looked even heavier but pulled the scales to 21.04.



Tried for a hatrick of double doubles but that was it as the sun dropped below the bridge