How did you get on?

[sam vimes]

The England match and it being hot and bright sunshine meant I didn't even bother to go until 1900. May as well not have rushed that much. Nothing happened until the sun started dipping below the trees. I found a very benign swim just below a riffle that can only be accessed properly by wading. The swim was gentle enough in a very low flow to allow me to use a DH Shallow Water Stick and shirt button shotting. It was about 2000 before anything other than minnows turned up, then it was a bite a chuck, mainly dace and minnows with a few chublets thrown in. The bonus half decent fish were the obligatory mental brownie and a surprise grayling. No photos I'm afraid, phones/cameras and being up to your nuts in water aren't a good mix.

 

[Neil Maidment]

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

10lb mainline, 8lb Drennan Gravel Braid

 

[Neil Maidment]

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

Did try meat in the hope the chub would ignore it for a bit longer and maybe the barbel would get a chance. Didn't work.......!

 

[Another Dave]

I love fishing.

Back down my little river for just over an hour of mini lure fun, setting off 10:30. Last time i used the 5.5 ft lure rod, but today i took my new Darent Valley 8ft, the rod Philip and others recommended. Lovely rod that balances perfectly with my baby baitrunner 2500 but today i swapped the reel for one of my little 1000 reels because i wanted to use the 6lb braid i have on there.

Straight to the cliff swim, just the rod n reel, and a small bag with a choice of lures and jigheads from size 1 to size 10. Good tree cover means no skylining, i can stand at the tip of the 'cliff' and watch the knee-deep clear water below. One or 2 chub milling about, not that it matters because you only have to wait a few minutes and something will swim through.

Started with a larger (for me) lure, the smallest roach LB that Savage Gear do. Nothing, so i went for something more insecty, a penny sized creature lure, think it's the smallest 'Nimble', on a size 6 1g jig. Soon spotted a cruising chub that looked 3/4 turned out to be comfortably over a pound. As you'll see, there's nowhere in the swim to land a fish if you're without a mat but i got a quick pic:



foot of the cliff, looking downstream:



upstream shot, no idea what went wrong here:



Moved upstream to a 'swim' i'd ignored last year because it is so shallow but had a little perch last time so gave it a go. No takers today but i heard a plop, and saw a tiny grass snake emerge and disappear up the bank. Next thing i know, battleship of a chub cruises around, possibly that dream 4lber. Not in the least bit interested in my plastic offering.

Fished the parrotcage next, saw a fair perch - you can basically see everything with polaroids but again, no takers. Fancied a smoke, which is awkward when you're lure fishing, so i stuck an isome worm on the jig, because it's the only lure i know that fish want to eat even if you don't pull the strings. Had a play with the action and quite liked it, so did the hoard of minnows who followed, one liked it so much he impaled his head on the hook. Tempted to use him as bait but showed mercy instead.

Lit my roll up and was surprised the tiddlers hadn't given me a load of tip knocks so i gently reeled in to see what was the matter. Which is when all hell broke loose and the largest trout i've seen shot out of nowhere, engulfed the lot and immediately started tailwalking and leaping around like a furious dolphin. I'd failed to set the clutch (far too tight) and after a few more aerial displays the fish came off. Back tomorrow hopefully.

 

[neil1970]

I had a little paddle in the river on Saturday evening - most refreshing

 

[108831]

Minnow on an artificial,crikey...

 

[Another Dave]

Heh, two posts in a row with a minnow on an isome!

 

[103841]

Something a little different this morning.

I have a couple of ambitions this season and one is to catch a fish from the sea and catch it with a lure. Lots of research and reconnaissance of potential swims, sorry that’s “marks”, all within a few miles radius of my home have resulted in some promising looking locations.

The conditions for bass to come close to the shore aren’t too far away, from what I’m told and have read. Started at my nearest coastline in Seasalter a couple of miles from my front door. Caught the tide just as it turned to go out and cast in my shiniest lures which certainly glistened in the strong rays beating down.

After 30 minutes without any sign of fish and the sun becoming a touch el scorchio I decided to retire to the local pub for a cooling pint.

Apparently I will know when a shoal arrives, every man and his dog will be down there, netting, fly fishing and all sorts.

 

[mikench]

You're right about the el scorchio bit John! It's just too hot to sit in the sun so I will have my brolly up if I venture out! Good luck!

 

[iain t]

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?

Quite a few sea fish turn up with the tide coming in. Sea Trout are quite common. They seem to come up the centre channel of the river. The Arun is always coloured. The bite was a strange proding then a strong pull. At first i thought it was a Carp untill it jumped out of the water. Trout seem to travel a long way up the Arun and River Rothers.

 

[103841]

You're right about the el scorchio bit John! It's just too hot to sit in the sun so I will have my brolly up if I venture out! Good luck!

Yep! I’m off to a new venue (to me) tomorrow and it’s a very exposed location which can be either bitterly cold or the complete opposite, taking a day shelter for some protection.

 

[john step]

Something a little different this morning.



Started at my nearest coastline in Seasalter a couple of miles

Seasalter. Theres a name from my past. I used to fish in some tiny drains behind the coast. I seem to remember it being in the news because some wag bought the land and was selling plots to punters as "leisure plots" with no access or planning.

 

[103841]

Dunno about the leisure plots John, there is however an application to build the countries biggest solar farm which will devastate large areas of the salt marshes.

 

[Pete Shears]

Setting up the kit about 5.30 this morning on the road side of the reservoir to stay out of the sun,sat back with a coffee and a kingfisher flashed by then a real bite - holding the rod high to deter the fish from burying a dense weedbed I landed my first tench of the year : 4lb male - brilliant!. It then went downhill,no more real bites until I put on two 6mm strawberry boilies on the hair and had a skimmer of about 8oz.Lots of blue darters and bigger dragonflies over the water,they make a helicopter look clumsy,best of all was when the osprey turned up about 9am,flying around over the water and did three dives hitting the water hard but not catching anything only getting mobbed by two common terns so it flew off in the direction of the canal. By this time it was hot,after loading the gear,the dashboard informed me it was 26.5C - time to get a cold drink.

 

[tigger]

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.....I only forgot me bloody water and it was scorchio stood mid river!

After a grueller of a walk in me thigh waders I finally arrived at my special spot .
I'd already tackled me 11ft avon rod up and banded it together ready for a spot of trotting and it could be used for legering if need be. I'd put a few small bombs in me sling in readiness. Anyhow after a few trotts the float dipped and a nice sized chub was brought to hand. It had been through the wars though and had a swollen vent and a number of sores from spawning, it also had half it's tail bitten off along with a chunk of flesh! It was also covered in angulus lice. I hate those little basts and enjoyed popping them like bubble wrap .
After that I couldn't get a sniff of a bite on my trotted bait yet numerous barbel etc where jumping only a few yards from my very spot! I was stood mid river in 2ft of very fast flowing water, I suppose you could say it was white water or rapids and the noise really burned my brain out.
Since nothing seemed to be interested in my trotted bait I switched to my second favourite method of touch legering. First cast and only a few moments wait and I felt a good old tap on the rod tip and I was in, a nice barbel of around 7lb. I had lots of sharp pulls and despite the fact that I was holding the rod I kept missing them and my size 14s hook kept coming back void of corn....obviously sneaky chub where the culprets. Anyhow I wont woffle on about all the fish I caught as i'd be writing this for yonks. I finnished up with three chub, two of about 5lb and one around the 6lb mark, thats without weighing of course so I could be wrong lol. The chub where all spawned out and well below their normal healthy weight. I would imagine it'll take them at least a couple of months to start looking something like condition. The one with half it's tail chomped off will never grow the other half back as too much flesh had gone from it's base.
I'm not gonn'a say how many barbel I had but I had more than the other day when I posted, not a lot more but if you add another four to the total you've hit the spot lol. Size wise they werent huge, i'd say all where between 5 and 8'sh pounds but the numbers made up for their lack of size.
I was very happy with my session and was finding it hard to make myself leave especially as the fish where still biting. The thing that finally made my mind up to go was when I walked back across river for some more bait and I fell in, not a complete submerged fall but enough to fill my waders and soak me up to my belly button. Luckily i'd managed not to let my rod and reel get damaged but I bashed me knees and elbow in the process of protecting em lol. The walk back wasn't a good one....squelching feet in your footwear isn't a good feeling!

 

[sam vimes]

Somehow seems wrong liking the previous post!

I ventured out a smidge earlier than last night looking for a bit of pace. I went to a place that normally has about four feet of water and runs like a train. Unfortunately, I found less than three feet of water and it really was running like a train, barely or not at all! Managed to winkle out three grayling, three trout and a dace in amongst a veritable horde of minnows. I had to resort to fishing about six inches of water at the end of a riffle for the last couple of (proper) fish.

Still no pics as I was wading again, you'll have to make do with a half way decent chub from an unreported session last week.

 

[The Runner]

Back today from another few days on Skye sorting out garage, carpets, council tax/old gits bus pass etc and fixing the two holes in the flooring which didn't show on the home report....
Did manage a day and a half's fishing though.
Thursday saw me at Rubha Hunish right at the northernmost tip of the island. Two mile walk in from the road, lovely day , sunny and comfortably warm with a stiff breeze off the sea enough to keep the midges at bay, skylarks and stonechats everywhere with the odd twite as well as the usual meadow pipits. Climb down to the point was easy enough (although still wouldn't fancy it in rain) and then walked the length of the eastern side of the headland before starting just before the end.Left most of stuff at the top of the rocks and scrambled down to a ledge near sea level with just the made up rod (1.75TC Fox Duo barbel, reel with 15 lb line) and a Co-op carrier bag with a few extra lures, jig heads and scales as well as food.

Tide run past the headland was really motoring and not much slower to the side of it where I was. Heaviest jig heads I had with me were 28gm which were getting nowhere near the bottom. Had a Savage Gear roach on a size 1, cast down the tide run , let sink for up to ten to fifteen seconds by which time it would be around 20 yards further away. After about twenty minutes had a real bang on the rod but nothing hooked so at least knew was something there and after another twenty, another take and that's when the fun started. For a couple of minutes it just held position in the current a bit like a barbel and then it decided to show me how far off bottom I was fishing, straight down almost under the rod top and for the next 40 arm aching minutes that's largely where it stayed, seemed to be gaining line only about a net amount of 6 inches at a time. Finally it tired a bit (almost as much as my arm) and saw it about 12 ft down in the clear water- BIG pollack...
Had a quick think about how to land it, given no landing net or dropnet, knew would only likely get one shot at it, knelt down and when it finally came to the top on its side, swept the rod back on backwind, grabbed the line and handlined it up the three feet from the water. Lucky I'd put on the spool of 15 rather than 10.

The next minute or so was interesting...Ledge was only around five foot by two and a half, all I had to weigh it in was the carrier bag so tipped everything out of this onto the rocks (one banana straight into the sea in the process)while trying to control an increasingly lively pollack trapped between my knees and a clump of seaweed, manoeuvered it head first into the bag and weighed it with its tail and around half its body sticking out;
11 5....

No more action from here, added another pollack around 2 -8 from the back of the gully to my left, a third a bit smaller after a move to the West side along with a lovely little cuckoo wrasse when switched to float and limpet in a quiet gully for half an hour. Gannets diving offshore and a couple of Great Skuas just sitting on the grass waiting for something to harass but no sign of any whales for which the point is well known.
Called it a day and added a peregrine patrolling the cliffs to the day's collection. Skylarks still going full blast on the walk back to the road, pretty much a perfect day all round.

Oh yes, said I'd fished twice. Had half a day at the ferry terminal at Uig, usually loads of coalies down the side of the wall. Nope, one about six inches and a sea scorpion, both on prawn. After the Lord Mayor's Show....

 

[Another Dave]

Went back this afternoon and managed to get everything wrong. Water was very low, decent chub cruising everywhere in the heat and not spooking when people walked right up to the bank. Saw some guarding some floating bread right under my nose, i imagine they were waiting for the sun to set.

One good thing, pretty sure i saw an eel. I've seen enough snakes recently and this was swimming along hugging the bottom and the head looked too pointy for a snake. And i just found out SWMBO has a pilates class and aqua aerobics (god that makes us sound terribly middle class) so there should be a good chance at another crack tomorrow.

 

[tigger]

Still no pics as I was wading again, you'll have to make do with a half way decent chub from an unreported session last week.

That made me laugh!

I got some pics but cant post any, pointless me takin em really

 

[Ray Roberts]

I went to the river Eden in Kent after chub and barbel. It was a scorching hot day and unusually there were a few other anglers there.

I had quite a few fish but all except one were on the small side. I even had a barbel, albeit about 9 inches long.

This is the best of the chub. I seemed to have done okay in comparison to the other chaps.

Best bait in the day was Spam flavoured with Lo-Salt and The Source liquid.

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