How did you get on?

[nicholaslukey]

MY first river outing yesterday after a 4 day stint on earlies . Went to the Trent at Fiskerton on the day ticket stretch, ended up fishing down at the Rolleston end. Set up by 5:00 am, 2 rods up for the Barbel after an hour or so had the first pull on the tip, at first I thought it was a chub, after a pretty good scrap a Bream around seven pounds got netted. Had another take appeared to feel like a chub, but the hooklink 8lb mono parted (its a very rock strewn stretch). Fisshe with the two rod setup until midday.

Thought i would give the float a go, it was perch city, interspersed with Roach and Dace. everyone of theP was around the 6 to 8 oz mark, with 4 going to a pound. I didn't use the pin, as it was quite windy and I was worried it may tangle too much, anyway stuck with the Mitchell Match on the Acolyte compact plus, what a rod, casts well, line pickup is great, I was hitting fish at quite a distance. A very pleasant day on a fine river. Looking forward to the next visit.

 

[john step]

I had one of those laid back days today that Cliff eluded to in "what goes through your mind" post.
Hot sun, breezy, 3 rods on buzzers watching the world go by from under the shade of my brolly.
Two medium mirror carp. Most of the carp seemed preoccupied chasing around the margins. Ready to spawn perhaps.

Watched a poor dab chick kept getting chased away by an over protective moorhen near her chicks.
There were kestrels soaring on the wind and a bird of prey that was too quick to identify.
Maybe some sort of harrier.

 

[tigger]

I had several hours trotting on the river yesterday, nothing targeted in particular but secretly as always I wanted barbel and chub .
I had a mixed bag of dace, small chub and one small barbel of around 2lb so a pretty mundane catch. I did have a bit of excitment though.......hooked a larger fish, I think it was a barbel and the hook came free after a few seconds, maybe it was foul hooked or just not hooked very well, l'll never know, then at one point I hooked a definate barbel which must have been a very decent size, it kept diving for a snag and so I gave it no line whatsoever (I couldn't because of the snag right next to the taking spot) and tried to play it off the rod as i've done many times before and had lots of success. Anyhow the rod just kept bending and bending and bending !!! ....as the fish drove for the snag,. I didn't gain any line at all and i'm quite sure the rod was on the point of snapping off when the line must have touched a rock just below my dropper shot and that was that....really pi$$ed me off as I would have liked to have seen that fish, plus i've left a drennan 14's super spade in it's gob. Never mind, there's always another day.
Sorry for the lack of pic's, as most people know I always used to add a pic but for some reason the computers packed in and I aint got a clue how to put pics on this tablet thing.

 

[iain t]

Decided to fish the Arun yesterday. Trying out my new 17ft PI rod for real on a river. The Arun being tidal and sometimes running very fast. But yesterday i was in a perfect state for smooth long trotting. Drenched with sun lotion which the bloody flies seemed to lap up. Anyway using a 4g bolo float weighted with bulk shot and a dust shot about 10 inches from a size 16 hook. 3.2lb floatfish line. Bait was Maggot, feeding was maggot and Hemp. 5 blind trots to get the depth right. On the 5 trot, i landed a small Dace. Hadn't even put a maggot on the hook yet.
You wouldn't believe how far you can cast a float with a 17ft rod until you try it yourself. In the end, i stuck with just side casting but even a Gentle cast i could still reach a long way. Casting upstream to get a longer trot i was being grabbed by Roach, Dace and bleak with every run. Not one run came up empty. Although no large fish, it was what i was targeting for the day. My last trot produced a nice 4lb Mullet. At this time the tide was turning and coming inland. 78 fish in total.
After 6 hours i called time. I was hot, sweaty and my head was starting to bang.
When i got back to my car, the outside temperature showed 24 and that was parked in the shade. 15 minutes of just sitting there with the air con on full and 2 paracetamols started to stop my head banging.

What surprised me using a 17ft rod was my arm and back ached no more than casting a 13ft rod all day. If you're after a long rod, i can highly recommend the Preston range.

 

[Another Dave]

Had a couple of 30 min sessions grabbed in haste but no fish, until today. Snuck in a 25 minute session before started work at 12.00, tiny soft and hard lures. Got a couple of perch, bit smaller than my hand and connected with something much bigger, albeit only briefly.

River is extremely shallow and clear so i can generally see what i'm targetting. This allows for some fun experimentation with different lures, today the 5cm floating Salmo minnow worked again, also a tiny soft plastic green tinged twin-tail. This kind of thing.


It's also interesting how often a stretch looks completely fishless but you still get a take or a follow first cast. No phone with me today so no pics, but plenty more chances over the next few weeks.

 

[103841]

Fished the estate from 7am to 3pm, a beautiful day and as ever had the lake to myself, something I find difficult to understand, but hey, I shouldn’t moan.

With a complete choice of swims I chose an area under a tree that would be in shade by lunchtime offering the perfect sunscreen.

Alternating between whip and rod I caught a lot of fish, the bad news, they were nearly all bream but I did have six tench and three crucians which made for a very enjoyable session.

Had a wander around the lake to stretch the legs and spotted the local resident terra ist, I caught it last year and can confirm they do have a nasty nip. Maybe this is why Ralph hasn’t taken me up on an invitation to the lake yet.

 

[Pete Shears]

Another early-ish start on the reservoir with a SW breeze which wasn't forecast,that soon died and a cool NW gusty breeze set in making its presence felt.An hour later after dragging out weed,there must be tons of it looking around every bank,out went the two method feeder rods.Sat back with a coffee noting a mallard with five half grown youngsters,a coot with only one and a couple of moorhens which seemed to have failed this year much like the only pair of swans.A real bite and after striking the fish found a chunk of weed my rake failed to find,probably a tench.Grrrrr.
Recasting with a change of baits eventually resulted in a bream of 2lb 4oz to save a blank.Had a chat with two of the carpers who had not been pestered by bream or tench so time to go home and come back another day.

 

[tigger]

Like a dog going back to it's own sick I had to return to the snag swim where i trotted yesterday, I knew it was full of fish but they weren't reaĺy up for a trotted bait.
Today I went with heavy duty winch gear and had halibut pellets for bait. I used my hardy 11ft 6inch specimen avon rod and attatched my okuma sheffield which was spooled up with 8lb sensor. I use a half ounce bomb and freelined/touch legered right up to the sunken tree.
First fish was weighed and it was 13 1/2lb but an ounce or two over 12lb with the net deducted, so a definate 12 anyhow .
That was the biggest fish of the 3hr session which was a very decent one with another 13 fish coming to my grasp. So 14 fish in all and all barbel, none of the rest came close to the very first fish weight wise and at a guess they where all between 6 and 8lb, but they certainley fought every bit as hard as they tried their utmost to get under that tree. It was a very enjoyable session and I landed all but one fish hooked.

 

[103841]

^^^^^wow, I can but dream!

 

[no-one in particular]

Decided to fish the Arun yesterday. Trying out my new 17ft PI rod for real on a river. The Arun being tidal and sometimes running very fast. But yesterday i was in a perfect state for smooth long trotting. Drenched with sun lotion which the bloody flies seemed to lap up. Anyway using a 4g bolo float weighted with bulk shot and a dust shot about 10 inches from a size 16 hook. 3.2lb floatfish line. Bait was Maggot, feeding was maggot and Hemp. 5 blind trots to get the depth right. On the 5 trot, i landed a small Dace. Hadn't even put a maggot on the hook yet.
You wouldn't believe how far you can cast a float with a 17ft rod until you try it yourself. In the end, i stuck with just side casting but even a Gentle cast i could still reach a long way. Casting upstream to get a longer trot i was being grabbed by Roach, Dace and bleak with every run. Not one run came up empty. Although no large fish, it was what i was targeting for the day. My last trot produced a nice 4lb Mullet. At this time the tide was turning and coming inland. 78 fish in total.
After 6 hours i called time. I was hot, sweaty and my head was starting to bang.
When i got back to my car, the outside temperature showed 24 and that was parked in the shade. 15 minutes of just sitting there with the air con on full and 2 paracetamols started to stop my head banging.

What surprised me using a 17ft rod was my arm and back ached no more than casting a 13ft rod all day. If you're after a long rod, i can highly recommend the Preston range.

I bet the mullet gave a nice fight, was it red maggot you caught it on Ian? Can you see them where you were or did it just turn up? Was it a positive bite, fishing mid water or down further?

 

[stu_the_blank]

Haven’t been out since April for a number of reasons but an invite from an old friend to his new syndicate water was too good to turn down. I should have done my homework, I took two sets of rods, usual carp pair and a lighter pair to fish for tench with flat bed feeders.

Absolutely wonderful lake, long and thin with access on one side only. Lovely swims and very friendly members, a real pleasure to fish.

However, what the lake is famous for is large Roach, although there are tench, carp and some grassies in there too.

My mate caught a number of beautiful Roach up to 1-06, I had a few tench and lost the biggest Roach I have ever seen at the net (hooked on tench gear with a 10mm boilie). My biggest Roach is 1-15, I would roughly estimate this one to have been over 2-08, choker.

I will go back if invited, but with proper Roach tackle and a better idea on tactics. 2 pounders are not unusual (speaking to a member who had spent his fishing life on the Hants Avon and Dorset Stour, he had previously had 9 two pounders in 40 years, this, his first season on the lake, had yielded 8 since March) and the lake record is over three.

Although I do like carping, what a pleasant change for a water to be run and managed to grow giant Roach instead.

Stu

 

[Tee-Cee]

Long time no hear...

2 pounders not unusual and from a lake managed to grow big roach!! Sounds like you've found your Nirvana....

I suppose the only issue is the return invitation!!

Sounds like the place we've all been looking for. Hope you get to fish it again and again and you come back with wonderful stories and a few photographs. Wonderful stuff!

 

[stu_the_blank]

Long time no hear...

2 pounders not unusual and from a lake managed to grow big roach!! Sounds like you've found your Nirvana....

I suppose the only issue is the return invitation!!

Sounds like the place we've all been looking for. Hope you get to fish it again and again and you come back with wonderful stories and a few photographs. Wonderful stuff!

Thanks TC,

I am working on a return invite. It's too far from home for me to try and join at the price, but I had a good natter with the owner so cautiously optimistic to get there again as a guest in the Autumn.

The reasons for my absence from the bank are gradually getting solved so (hopefully) will be back with a few short sessions from now on. (Give me something to say on here!)

Stu

 

[Neil Maidment]

Managed my first trip of the season on Friday. Having walked a bit of the Stour on Thursday and liked what I saw I planned to return and hopefully fish for the barbel I stumbled across! I also wanted to use a bit of the kit I inherited from my late uncle.

So out came the Walker MKIV Avon which my late uncle Ron built from a kit. That was paired with one of my late uncle Mick's triple check Speedias. I had previously given them a test run with some commercial carp to mid teens so had a good idea how they handled. But I had a few jitters as I used them for the first time on a proper river with a proper target mg:



I actually found the pair of barbel again but they had moved to a slightly different position. They were not far from the rod tip in the above picture! They did show a little interest in the few freebies I introduced but otherwise I just watched them move in and out for the couple of hours before dusk.

Once the sun dipped below the far bank tree line I couldn't see into the swim but was quietly confident.

Then the pin screamed. The rod handled the 2lb chub pretty well

Between that fish and kicking off time (11pm) I ended up with 8 chub with a few around 5lbs+ and a single bream that probably weighed 8lbs or more. If the barbel were still there they didn't get a look in.

Most of the chub were in very good nick for early season with a lovely dark colouration. A couple of them will be superb big fish later on in the season.

The rod and reel performed well, particularly the rod as it arched over to an alarming "all through to the butt" action. It will be interesting to see how it handles a barbel!

 

[mikench]

I àssume you were ledgering Neil! Beautiful Chub!

 

[peter crabtree]

Too hot! 2:9 of bits, came nowhere.

 

[mikench]

Its forecast for high twenties this week around these parts which is great by the sea or a pool but not to be sat in it! I will have to think of pools and pegs which are in shade!

 

[Neil Maidment]

I àssume you were ledgering Neil! Beautiful Chub!

Yes, simple running lead but with about 18ins of modern gravel braid link to a pair of hair rigged 12mm pellets.

 

[mikench]

Thanks Neil! What bs and is/was this less than the main line bs?

 

[108831]

Bloody hell Neil,pellet not meat,unusual for you...