How did you get on?

[103841]

A quick session on the lake. Fishing hard with just a few roach, skimmers and a bream that thought it was a carp, what a fighter.

I may have been the only one fishing but there were a few well groomed guests wandering around the grounds of the estate.

Catch of the day went to someone else.

 

[mikench]

Great post John and a lovely photo!

I set off early to a water that I blanked on twice in march but the weather was cold and miserable ! It is an attractive water but a difficult one on occasion ! I started off on the float rod and had an F1 on maggot! This was followed by 5 small perch and a couple of small roach! The club's main bailiff who does a lot of work fixing pegs, cutting back and generally tidying all the waters arrived and greeted me with his usual " how are you doing cock"! I told him and casually asked him if he had lost a bit of weight! He very casually admitted he had lost 2 stone in two weeks since he was diagnosed with stomach cancer which has spread to his bones! I was lost for words but he continued with a resigned acknowledgement that he was doomed despite going for chemo in the next week! He asked if I knew the guy on the opposite side of the lake( there was just the two of us) as he had parked where he shouldn't ! " no " i replied ! He said" he isn't doing any harm so ***** It"

He asked if I had caught any of the recently stocked large bream yet! I replied no and with that he departed! I then caught this;

View attachment 4802
View attachment 4802

It was 5.5lb but had been attacked by a cormorant ! I wish D***** all the very best and I will never moan again about a blank or anything for that matter! Nice people make this world a better place and sadly it is nice people who go too soon!

Terry Pratchet through his character called death said " don't think of it as dying, just leaving the party early" I am humbled!

 

[Tee-Cee]

Very sad story, mikench...

Top quality post, though

 

[103841]

The older you become the more you hear these sad tales but it still hits like a sledgehammer. I hope I have the attitude of someone like this bailiff if cancer darkens my door.

 

[binka]

At last…

I’ve finally had the day on the Perch that I’ve been craving all year, events and circumstances in general have conspired against me so far but it all came good today.

I shall deal with last weekend first when I ventured out to my local club water for a spot of worming, it wasn’t fishing weather at all and the air pressure was far too high but I fancied a few hours and these resulted in a couple of bits, an unlikely decent Roach on double worm up in the water and two very acrobatic jacks.

Fast forward to today and I called into my local tackle shop this morning to pick up the kilo of worms which I had ordered during the week and shortly afterwards I was walking the banks of a new water on the windward edge, long float rod in hand with just a plummet tied on the end of the line so that I could feather it down with the ‘pin as I went along.

As soon as it hit bottom I wound the rod tip down to the water and then lifted to see what I had got depth wise and before too long I had found a drop off from around five feet on the adjoining swim to a good eight in this one, otherwise it looked absolutely featureless but that was the swim well and truly sorted.

I fetched the rest of the gear and rigged up for my favourite approach right off the rod tip, worm under float with the fifteen foot rod and ‘pin.

My initial ploy of lowering down a good 6” off bottom produced nothing, I often try this first to pick off anything that might be mooching around and looking for an easy meal and so I balled in a mix of riddled seed compost containing chopped worm and a healthy sprinkling of krill powder whilst a regular fall of red maggots would go in over the top.

Nothing at all for the first forty minutes or so and after going hard on the deck I shallowed up once again, after a couple of minutes I had a savage take which resulted in the float disappearing at the same time as the rod tip barrelled over and off below the surface!

All I needed to do was lift into it and as the fish bored off into the depths, the tell-tale thuds from the violent head shaking confirmed it was a decent Perch.

Safely in the net it looked to be a good two pounds and the following few hours saw quite a few more of that stamp, it took a bit of changing around on depth and shotting to keep them coming but come they did and all of a good size, I think I had a good fifteen or sixteen fish and nothing which looked remotely below 2.

So…

It’s five of the best…









And last but by no means least this one, I did gently bounce the spring balance a couple of times but there was no way it was budging above 2-15…



Get in! :w

 

[103841]

Thats what you call a red letter day, top perching Steve.

 

[markcw]

I had a match today at Fir Tree Fishery on Nookey Hollow pool, This pool is close pegged and I drew where I wanted to avoid. Sods Law because I was in two minds whether to go or go on a club water for a pleasure session.
Anyway, I had around 3 metres either side of me for a margin swim and 10 metres to an island, I was in a small channel on the pool. The water level was around a foot below normal. I plumbed up and had between 2'6" and 3' down the track and 2' in the margins and 1' 6" near the island which was covered in overhanging brambles, At the all in put a few maggots in one swim to my to my right down the track, and pellets to my left, ( I said in a previous post it would be bread and pellets) but maggots were left over from the other day, so waste not want not. I cattyed a few pellets to the island, On with the bread about a foot from the island, dobbing along what little space I had, float buries, carp takes me through the brambles and trashed my rig. this happened twice more, so after counting the cost of 3 new rigs, it was on with number four, this time I dobbed a plummet along to find out where the carp where, Back in and off with plummet and on with bread, float buries and its in the net in no time. rested the swim, went down the track on maggot,and had a bream, nothing else, the margins didn't produce and by this time the wind had got up making presentation near the island precarious even though I was on a short line from pole tip to float. I ended up packing up and tipping the fish back back and had an early dart home, I even drew myself in the sweep so I couldn't even win that ! The next match is on the old canal on The Cunneries in a couple of weeks, Nothing can go wrong there..... or can there ? wait for the next installment of fishing mishaps. mg:

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

At 10:20 I arrived at Newbold quarry, Rugby.

I hopped out of the taxi and got in my wheelchair, Lure rod (rigged with a savage gear 3d roach) in hand. There was a dive taking place there today and i smelled an opportunity (I left with a rather detailed underwater map). I lingered about for a while and watched the divers descend before heading to a spot where a BIG pike had outplayed me on 3 separate occasions. Upon arriving I set up my net&mat and put my wheelchair to one side and use my crutches to stand up SNAP the handle on my crutch snaps in half and I manage to buy my way out of a face full of dirt using extreme pain as currency. After ten mins of bitching about my leg I get up, lean against the fence and cast into the hotspot. THUD She hits it! I have never managed to get a hook in her before as she always hits the side without a hook.. but this time she hits the lure perfectly! I set the hook the best a fence leaning cripple can and she sets off on an unstoppable run! I realize at this point I had not set the drag correctly after screwing in my braid spool so I release the clutch to avoid losing my rod and as soon as the tension was gone, she was gone.

It was absolutely exhilarating.

 

[no-one in particular]

I have not been coarse fishing for a long time and I had forgotten how irritating it is, tangles, surface drift, trees, missed bites etc, the why do we do it syndrome set in during the day.
I went to this carp free lake yesterday; took three different pastes, a loaf of brown bread and a tin of sweetcorn. The small fry just about nibbled the pastes and bread all the time so I settled on the sweetcorn fished just on the edge of a lily pad. A paternoster style rig with a quill in about 4ft of water which held the float in place. Missed a lot of bites still but had one bream about a lb, a nice roach and one tench about 3lb. I was happy with that.
It was a nice place, I found a tree to fish under from for the shade and the 2 acre lake was lovely apart from the minor distraction of a wind propeller whirring away a bit too close and a bit of traffic noise.
I will go again and just take sweetcorn, luncheon meat and lob worms. There are suppose to be some big perch in there which I don't normally fish for but the lobs might sort one out. Barbel and chub as well so who knows, just try and avoid the small fry seems to be the order for this lake.
Lots of woodpeckers around and something flew into the tree I did not recognize, black like the size of a jackdaw but not a jackdaw, crow, blackbird, spotted woodpecker or anything I would normally recognize.

 

[108831]

Great post John and a lovely photo!

I set off early to a water that I blanked on twice in march but the weather was cold and miserable ! It is an attractive water but a difficult one on occasion ! I started off on the float rod and had an F1 on maggot! This was followed by 5 small perch and a couple of small roach! The club's main bailiff who does a lot of work fixing pegs, cutting back and generally tidying all the waters arrived and greeted me with his usual " how are you doing cock"! I told him and casually asked him if he had lost a bit of weight! He very casually admitted he had lost 2 stone in two weeks since he was diagnosed with stomach cancer which has spread to his bones! I was lost for words but he continued with a resigned acknowledgement that he was doomed despite going for chemo in the next week! He asked if I knew the guy on the opposite side of the lake( there was just the two of us) as he had parked where he shouldn't ! " no " i replied ! He said" he isn't doing any harm so ***** It"

He asked if I had caught any of the recently stocked large bream yet! I replied no and with that he departed! I then caught this;

View attachment 4802
View attachment 4802

It was 5.5lb but had been attacked by a cormorant ! I wish D***** all the very best and I will never moan again about a blank or anything for that matter! Nice people make this world a better place and sadly it is nice people who go too soon!

Terry Pratchet through his character called death said " don't think of it as dying, just leaving the party early" I am humbled!

Read this and is a sad reminder,I have just come off the phone to a long time friend Mick Djelic from Ely(63),he hasn't been right since March,belching,upset stomach,well he's been took in to Addenbrookes hospital and they have found he has stomach cancer,he awaits an op to remove it now,never been 'ill' in his life,awful bloody disease...

 

[peter crabtree]

Match today on a lake in Waltham abbey. Not my favourite type of fishing but nice for a change. Set up method, pellet wagg and pole, in the event I stuck with the method for the full 6 hours.

Had a big ghost carp first chuck and within 30 mins I had 2 more.

I used my Shimano Forcemaster 10' tip rod, it doesn't see much action but I was impressed with it today, not bad for the £40 odd it cost me.

Went on to catch 3 more carp and some decent skimmers.

At the scales my 6 carp went 45lb and the skimmers 14lb for 59lb dead.

Just missed a payout for second in section by 6oz.

Came 4th overall, 17 fished.....

 

[nottskev]

Where to go on a bank holiday? The Deep Lake is primarily a carp water, and I thought there are bound to be a fair few booked in for the weekend. The Old Lake is a bank holiday hotspot for casual danglers, and good luck to them, but I tend to get stressed out by some of the in-your-face antics. I decided to risk the Tench Lake, and I was glad I did. At 7.30 it looked nothing like the sodden, windswept place I found on last Friday's visit.



I couldn't catch any but the smaller tench last time. Seafood baits are reputed to pick out better fish, so I'd dived into (and quickly out of) the local Tesco, and came out with these:



Absolutely useless, it turned out. The package says they've been frozen and defrosted, and, like many other things, they had turned to mush. I doubt whether you could even fork them into your mouth - I didn't try - much less find any part of them that would hang on a hook even long enough to drop at the rod end.

I had micros for feed, and chopped meat or expanders as hookbait, so I wasn't too bothered. I seem to have been pole fishing in excess lately, so I set up the 15' rod and pin, with a little waggler taking 6 no 6 in the 7'deep swim. With the shot bulked near the hook to go past the roach, and meat on the hook, the little tench were on it straightaway. Small as they are, I still love this type of fishing.



The mist and cloud disappeared after an hour, and the bites stopped when the sun hit the water full on. Luckily, it was one of those days when Plan B works, and with the float shallowed up a couple of feet and the shot spread out, the little tench were happy to chase the bait like roach in the top half of the swim. (That was the second bit of luck; the first was when I dropped the pin at the top of the high bank, and watched it roll down the steps and into the water, only to stop, in sight and in reach, on the first shelf.)

One of the lake's old-looking bream made a welcome change



It was one of those enjoyable mornings when the float keeps going under ( if you look at the first pic, you'll notice the rod is being pulled down by a fish as I stepped back to take a photo) and things refuse - mussels aside - to go wrong. At one point, a hook-pull sprang my rig up the tree to my left. I yanked at it impatiently, and it came out and shot straight up the tree to my right. I snatched it out of there, and it came back to me perfectly intact and not a shot out of place. I didn't want to use all this season's luck up, so, with the sun blazing, I wrapped up at 11.30.

 

[mikench]

As the late Jim Bowen used to say" super smashing great , you can't beat a bit of bully" Meat that is Kev!:wh

What a fantastic net full and in just a few hours!

 

[tigger]

Where to go on a bank holiday? The Deep Lake is primarily a carp water, and I thought there are bound to be a fair few booked in for the weekend. The Old Lake is a bank holiday hotspot for casual danglers, and good luck to them, but I tend to get stressed out by some of the in-your-face antics. I decided to risk the Tench Lake, and I was glad I did. At 7.30 it looked nothing like the sodden, windswept place I found on last Friday's visit.

View attachment 4815

I couldn't catch any but the smaller tench last time. Seafood baits are reputed to pick out better fish, so I'd dived into (and quickly out of) the local Tesco, and came out with these:

View attachment 4816

Absolutely useless, it turned out. The package says they've been frozen and defrosted, and, like many other things, they had turned to mush. I doubt whether you could even fork them into your mouth - I didn't try - much less find any part of them that would hang on a hook even long enough to drop at the rod end.

I had micros for feed, and chopped meat or expanders as hookbait, so I wasn't too bothered. I seem to have been pole fishing in excess lately, so I set up the 15' rod and pin, with a little waggler taking 6 no 6 in the 7'deep swim. With the shot bulked near the hook to go past the roach, and meat on the hook, the little tench were on it straightaway. Small as they are, I still love this type of fishing.

View attachment 4817

The mist and cloud disappeared after an hour, and the bites stopped when the sun hit the water full on. Luckily, it was one of those days when Plan B works, and with the float shallowed up a couple of feet and the shot spread out, the little tench were happy to chase the bait like roach in the top half of the swim. (That was the second bit of luck; the first was when I dropped the pin at the top of the high bank, and watched it roll down the steps and into the water, only to stop, in sight and in reach, on the first shelf.)

One of the lake's old-looking bream made a welcome change

View attachment 4818

It was one of those enjoyable mornings when the float keeps going under ( if you look at the first pic, you'll notice the rod is being pulled down by a fish as I stepped back to take a photo) and things refuse - mussels aside - to go wrong. At one point, a hook-pull sprang my rig up the tree to my left. I yanked at it impatiently, and it came out and shot straight up the tree to my right. I snatched it out of there, and it came back to me perfectly intact and not a shot out of place. I didn't want to use all this season's luck up, so, with the sun blazing, I wrapped up at 11.30.

View attachment 4819

Nice catch Kev, i'm curious though, are the tench stocked or are they breeding? There just appears to be a hell of a lot of small ones in there....are there any of any size being caught?

 

[nottskev]

Nice catch Kev, i'm curious though, are the tench stocked or are they breeding? There just appears to be a hell of a lot of small ones in there....are there any of any size being caught?

Breeding, Ian. it has been a noted tench lake for many years, and is never stocked. There are big shoals of small tench these days - in previous years I've had catches more mixed in size, with my best one just over 4lb, and plenty at 3lb. Not big, by any standard, but great fishing on light float gear.

 

[barbelboi]

During the past few weeks I’ve spent most of my ‘fishing’ time checking out the local rivers and streams. I have, however, had a few short sessions on one of the farm ponds and the woodland pond taking a lot of these little crues, roach to a bit over a pound and the usual gate crashing ferals. Titan2000, pin, 2lb bottom, size 18 B911 and a slice of 50/50.

 

[tigger]

Breeding, Ian. it has been a noted tench lake for many years, and is never stocked. There are big shoals of small tench these days - in previous years I've had catches more mixed in size, with my best one just over 4lb, and plenty at 3lb. Not big, by any standard, but great fishing on light float gear.

Thats amazing that they breed and survive so prolifically!
The wild waters I fish for tench rarely if ever produce a tench below 3lb and most are 5 and upwards. As you say theg must be great fun on light gear, especially in such numbers!

 

[mikench]

They are delightful fish Ian and the lake is lovely too! Even I can catch them on occasion !

 

[tigger]

They are delightful fish Ian and the lake is lovely too! Even I can catch them on occasion !

I can see they are Mike, i'm not used to catching tench in those numbers, most I usually get in a 4 hpur'ish session is about 7 or 8 and thats an exceptional session! They have gone up to 9 1/2lb though so a good stamp.... round these parts at least.

You goin to the open day Mike, or will you be in fpreign climbs?

 

[mikench]

I would have gone Ian but I am away in France until later that week! If you see a decent wading stick going cheap( there were a few last year) get it for me would you as I may need one!!!:wh