mikench
Well-known member
Nice post Ian! If you can't keep on your feet in 2' of water what hope have I!!
How did you get on?
- Thread starter peter crabtree
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no-one in particular
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Spot of fly fishing again today, still need to scratch that itch. Nice canal with plenty of Rudd but nothing, water was lifeless, scorching sun on shallow water. Did nearly hook a dragonfly that was getting a bit amorous with one of my flies, a bit of irony I thought but glad I did not ruin his day in the end.
Did speak to two normal anglers and it was the same for them on maggot; and when you aint getting bites on maggot, things are bad. However, one of them said he had come down the evening before and it was fish topping so next time plan a trip late in the day but might switch to some sea fishing now; fancy a bit of fly fishing off the jetty and see if I can hook an ice cream; make a change from all that grass.
Spent more time sitting back in the shade just watching than fishing; a day just to be. Just about everything that fly's comes through this valley at some time or other, spotted three birds I could not identify amongst the rooks and pigeons, too far away up in the trees and one little warbler flew past me that looked a bit odd. With that and a nice cold beer or three afterwards, happy enough and it sure beats this kind of fishing on a hot day.
Did speak to two normal anglers and it was the same for them on maggot; and when you aint getting bites on maggot, things are bad. However, one of them said he had come down the evening before and it was fish topping so next time plan a trip late in the day but might switch to some sea fishing now; fancy a bit of fly fishing off the jetty and see if I can hook an ice cream; make a change from all that grass.
Spent more time sitting back in the shade just watching than fishing; a day just to be. Just about everything that fly's comes through this valley at some time or other, spotted three birds I could not identify amongst the rooks and pigeons, too far away up in the trees and one little warbler flew past me that looked a bit odd. With that and a nice cold beer or three afterwards, happy enough and it sure beats this kind of fishing on a hot day.
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thecrow
Well-known member
With the weather forecast to be scorchio I settled into the swim I had never seen anyone fish as I knew it would be shaded for most of the morning, plumbing up gave me 12ft of water a yard of the rod tip, should really have fished a slider as it was a bit awkward fishing with that depth but I had nothing suitable with me but next time.
It was slow for a while and I was beginning to think the reason no one fished there was because it was a poor area, steady feeding of hemp, corn and meat and I started to get bites on corn, plenty of Roach of this size.
Only one Tench of around 2lbs and a rogue carp that had the spool spinning till the hook pulled, best moment of the morning that had me chuckling was when this jumped clear of the water after being hooked, perhaps it thought it was a trout
It was slow for a while and I was beginning to think the reason no one fished there was because it was a poor area, steady feeding of hemp, corn and meat and I started to get bites on corn, plenty of Roach of this size.
Only one Tench of around 2lbs and a rogue carp that had the spool spinning till the hook pulled, best moment of the morning that had me chuckling was when this jumped clear of the water after being hooked, perhaps it thought it was a trout
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Nice post Ian! If you can't keep on your feet in 2' of water what hope have I!!
I just slipped on a small bolder and did my usual dance on the slippy rocks but instead of finally getting a foot hold I went forward and that was it, dunked like a nice buiscuit in a cupp'a tea!
At least the water was warm lol.
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A new club, a new venue, a similar old story.
I joined the Cranbrook and District Angling Club at the start of this season, mainly to fish a section of the River Medway they control a few miles outside Maidstone. They also have some nice looking stillwaters, one of which is the Windsurf pit in Lydd on the Romney Marshes and that’s where I headed today.
Got there at 4-30am and with just one other member present I had a choice of swims, not knowing any better I chose one just in front of the car parking area. A glorious start to the day with a warm sun and calm conditions, later I would realise I chose the wrong side of the pit!
The pit holds some very large tench to 12lb and bream to 14lb and advice from the club’s Facebook page said to use pop up boilies on the method. Fishing behind a pair of buzzers isn’t my favourite form of fishing but it did mean I could rest my eyes that aren’t use to being opened at 3 in the morning.
After three hours without a touch I stretched my legs with a walk around the pit and spoke with the other angler who had been there for the night and also hadn’t had a bite on his three rods. He was a newcomer like me so wasn’t able to offer any pearls of wisdom and packed up shortly after our chat.
The wind had got up in this interlude, coupled with some very strong sun, some shade and shelter was needed, the day shelter gave me a merry dance as the wind turned it into a kite but once pegged down it was a great improvement to have a windshield.
I reminded myself why I don’t care for this form of fishing when after 8 hours I’d had enough at looking at my Binka inspired bobbins and packed up at 2.
An old boy had setup in the meantime and a friendly chat revealed more about the pit. Like me he wants to catch a specimen tench, since the start of the season he has visited the pit 14 times accumulating in over 100 hours of fishing and has caught just three tench, best going about 6lb, a hard water to fish but there are some large fish to be had.
Not sure I’ve got the patience, give it another go when this wind abates a little.
I joined the Cranbrook and District Angling Club at the start of this season, mainly to fish a section of the River Medway they control a few miles outside Maidstone. They also have some nice looking stillwaters, one of which is the Windsurf pit in Lydd on the Romney Marshes and that’s where I headed today.
Got there at 4-30am and with just one other member present I had a choice of swims, not knowing any better I chose one just in front of the car parking area. A glorious start to the day with a warm sun and calm conditions, later I would realise I chose the wrong side of the pit!
The pit holds some very large tench to 12lb and bream to 14lb and advice from the club’s Facebook page said to use pop up boilies on the method. Fishing behind a pair of buzzers isn’t my favourite form of fishing but it did mean I could rest my eyes that aren’t use to being opened at 3 in the morning.
After three hours without a touch I stretched my legs with a walk around the pit and spoke with the other angler who had been there for the night and also hadn’t had a bite on his three rods. He was a newcomer like me so wasn’t able to offer any pearls of wisdom and packed up shortly after our chat.
The wind had got up in this interlude, coupled with some very strong sun, some shade and shelter was needed, the day shelter gave me a merry dance as the wind turned it into a kite but once pegged down it was a great improvement to have a windshield.
I reminded myself why I don’t care for this form of fishing when after 8 hours I’d had enough at looking at my Binka inspired bobbins and packed up at 2.
An old boy had setup in the meantime and a friendly chat revealed more about the pit. Like me he wants to catch a specimen tench, since the start of the season he has visited the pit 14 times accumulating in over 100 hours of fishing and has caught just three tench, best going about 6lb, a hard water to fish but there are some large fish to be had.
Not sure I’ve got the patience, give it another go when this wind abates a little.
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Another Dave
Well-known member
Took this as my motto today, managed to get out 1pm - 3pm. Started on lures at the cliff swim, where my first cast narrowly missed a kingfisher. While i ****ed about with lures i threw in a few cubes of plumrose where i could see what happened to it. Soon became apparent that the chub were drwn to the meat, and after a few schoolboy errors i managed a fish:
Moved up to the parrotcage where i missed a take first cast but i stuck around, enjoying the shade. Saw another eel, this one looked over a pound and it had a perch, bigger than any i've caught, lazily chasing its tail. A very odd procession only inches from my feet.
mikench
Well-known member
I admire your efforts John! I doubt I would be up quite so early and decided at lunchtime it was just too hot! I aim to be out tomorrow on a lake that isn't fishing well but which offers shade all afternoon! I plan to use my pellet waggler for a change!
Me, a mate and the lad went to our club fishery for a session. Managed to start off in the shade but the sun soon came round and my was it hot!
Fish were playing very coy, not too many on the surface and roach were hard to come by where usually it's almost one every cast.
I started off on float with swimstim green 6mm pellet on banded hair rig size 16. nothing. nada.
switched onto corn and varied the depth when BANG a carp took it on the drop. Gave me a good scrap, I probably gave it too much respect but it was the hardest fish I'd ever hooked so I took my time and got him in the net.
nice 4lb mirror, biggest catch to date.
it pretty much died for me after that for a while. mate next to me had a carp about the same size and then one a bit smaller. lad still maintaining family honour by blanking.
I'd got my eye on some margins on the far side, nicely shaded, so I decided to break out the pellet feeder, never used one before, and soaked up some skrettings micro.
6mm skrill pellet for bait, quick dash of Drennan yumyum and off we go. I was only using my 8 foot carp wand but managed to get close and started to pull a few skimmers in.
changed to 8mm pellet to try and get a bigger fish when I had a tangle of all tangles (my own fault) and with my mate getting ready to go we called it a day which was a shame because my casting was getting better and I'd just hit a sweet spot!
Good session overall, the lad had a couple of roach so it wasn't too bad, and I really felt comfortable with the pellet feeder which is also useful.
Happy days!
Fish were playing very coy, not too many on the surface and roach were hard to come by where usually it's almost one every cast.
I started off on float with swimstim green 6mm pellet on banded hair rig size 16. nothing. nada.
switched onto corn and varied the depth when BANG a carp took it on the drop. Gave me a good scrap, I probably gave it too much respect but it was the hardest fish I'd ever hooked so I took my time and got him in the net.
nice 4lb mirror, biggest catch to date.
it pretty much died for me after that for a while. mate next to me had a carp about the same size and then one a bit smaller. lad still maintaining family honour by blanking.
I'd got my eye on some margins on the far side, nicely shaded, so I decided to break out the pellet feeder, never used one before, and soaked up some skrettings micro.
6mm skrill pellet for bait, quick dash of Drennan yumyum and off we go. I was only using my 8 foot carp wand but managed to get close and started to pull a few skimmers in.
changed to 8mm pellet to try and get a bigger fish when I had a tangle of all tangles (my own fault) and with my mate getting ready to go we called it a day which was a shame because my casting was getting better and I'd just hit a sweet spot!
Good session overall, the lad had a couple of roach so it wasn't too bad, and I really felt comfortable with the pellet feeder which is also useful.
Happy days!
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Funny you should say that Mike, amongst other things, the old boy told me it’s a waste of time turning up at dawn as nearly all his captures over many years have been between mid morning and lunchtime, a relaxed start next time!
barbelboi
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Ray Roberts
Well-known member
No, lol. They look like two pieces of pork crackling.Did you remember to cream your ears this time Ray...................
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peter crabtree
AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)
Evening match no4 tonight on the GUC near Tring. Went with a plan and stuck to it.
10' ultralight, small balsa waggler and punch fished close in just over the near shelf.
At 6pm the all in whistle sounded and 2 boats decided to cut in front of me and moor, 10 minutes of faffing about delayed my start grrrr.
To add insult to injury, one of the crew came up to me and started chatting in a loud voice. He then returned to his boat and switched on a loud radio.... FFS I thought!
Anyway I finally got into a rhythm and it was roach a chuck for the remaining time. Feeding liquy and pinging hemp kept them coming,
albeit small. Had 3 netters too but the skimmers were absent for some reason.
At 9pm the all out sounded and I weighed in 3lb1oz which surprisingly got me 3rd place.
Winner had a last minute skimmer to add to his bits for 4lb13.
2nd had 4:9.
That puts me 2 points clear at the top of the league.....
I think we were all surprised at the low weights, this venue is stuffed with skimmers and usually throws up double figure weights but not tonight.
13 fished....
10' ultralight, small balsa waggler and punch fished close in just over the near shelf.
At 6pm the all in whistle sounded and 2 boats decided to cut in front of me and moor, 10 minutes of faffing about delayed my start grrrr.
To add insult to injury, one of the crew came up to me and started chatting in a loud voice. He then returned to his boat and switched on a loud radio.... FFS I thought!
Anyway I finally got into a rhythm and it was roach a chuck for the remaining time. Feeding liquy and pinging hemp kept them coming,
albeit small. Had 3 netters too but the skimmers were absent for some reason.
At 9pm the all out sounded and I weighed in 3lb1oz which surprisingly got me 3rd place.
Winner had a last minute skimmer to add to his bits for 4lb13.
2nd had 4:9.
That puts me 2 points clear at the top of the league.....
I think we were all surprised at the low weights, this venue is stuffed with skimmers and usually throws up double figure weights but not tonight.
13 fished....
sam vimes
Well-known member
Back to the river, probably for the last time until we get a flush through. I'm seeing dry rocks in mid river that I've never seen dry before and results are getting steadily worse. Fish spotting shows barely a trace of anything but minnows. Fishing a spot that's usually reliable in low water yielded nothing but minnows. Levels still seem to be dropping and it's going to be interesting to see how low it can get. Sacked it off early to go for a wander round the syndicate lake. Even that wasn't showing a huge amount of big fish activity. The weather is rather delightful, but it's not doing the fishing any good.
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Sounds like you might be as well targetting the tincas on your syndicate lake Chris, unless you have a larger river not too far away to try out.
O
O.C.F.Disorder
Guest
Its strange that everyone is struggling.. I have had 4 or 5 fantastic sessions since this heatwave happened. The fish were easy to locate, feeding well and abundant.. almost too easy.. almost.
wetthrough
Well-known member
Yesterday, Lymm Dam: Damn, there's someone else fishing, only 99 out of 100 pegs to choose from I'm feeling sorry for him already and it's only 5am. He's on the West side and going to be one very hot angler by the end of the day. I pick a place on the East side which I've fished before and will be in the shade until about 3pm. Very high bank behind me and an overhanging tree to my left, perfect.
I have a plan - Two rods, one 2:3 rod lengths out that I'm going to bait up and let the fish settle on it. If I start seeing feeding bubbles I'll top up and leave it for half an hour to let them get confident before I fish. The other for the margin which I'm usually a bit half hearted about but this time I'm going to give it a proper go. Groundbait's gone in on the long line and hemp and casters little and often with the odd few maggots in the margin about 2' from the reeds and 47" deep, 20s light wire hook and 3lb nylon hooklength. Started off with casters on the hook and getting bites and Roach straight away and all a good size, 5oz up with two or three over 8, guessed. It's a bite a chuck until it goes quiet. There's still no sign of feeding on the long line but I'll give it a try anway. Not quite as frantic but still picking nice Roach up on various baits, Tares, maggots, casters. Couldn't get much interest in sweetcorn. The long line has a bulk of 5 No8s at about 2/3 deep in 88". 16s Guru LWG on 3.3lb fluorocarbon. I wanted to try the tares hence a bigger hook than my usual 18s. It goes a bit quiet but I'm getting what I think are bites on the drop. Probably due to loose feeding. String the bulk out and yes, they've moved up in the water. Shallow up to about 2' and carry on catching with the Tares and all good sized fish. I wondered whether there were any tiddlers about so put a maggot on and sure enough, a tiddler straight away. Tares rule, OK
Fish of the day:
At some point in the afternoon the line goes behind the spool. It's a Daiwa TDM3012 and this is the first time it's ever happend. I'd done quite a few turns before I realized. Take the spool off and there's an almighty bunch of line trapped around and jamming the spindle. I'm trying to unpick it and drop the drag knob in the water I can feel the bottom but can't find the knob. In hindsight I should have put the polaroids on, I might even have been able to see it before I stirred the bottom up. At least I've got the margin rod set up so finish off the day picking Roach up in the margin.
A wonderful days fishing. Love it
I'll just say something about the margin rod. It's a Grey's Toreon Tactical Float 10'6 although it's 11' with the butt extension. I don't use it very often, usually when I've got trees overhead. I'd forgotton how nice it is to use. It's light at 127g and IMO perfect for Roach. The progressive (Greys' description not mine) action soaks up all that jagging about that Roach do and swings smaller fish in no problem and I wouldn't have any qualms if something bigger did get a hold. I'm not greatly experienced with rods but it's hard to imagine a float rod better suited for light stillwater fishing at short range. The action probably isn't fast enough for rivers.
Just a little for interest. I took the temperature of the water top and bottom of the long line. Just with a fishing thermometer strapped to a marker float so it isn't lab standard but gives some idea of the difference. Top being about 4" below the surface:
5:30am Bottom: 19.5C Top: 20.5C
12:30pm Bottom: 20C Top: 23C
3:30pm Bottom: 20.5C Top: 25C
I'm feeling sorry for him already and it's only 5am. He's on the West side and going to be one very hot angler by the end of the day. I pick a place on the East side which I've fished before and will be in the shade until about 3pm. Very high bank behind me and an overhanging tree to my left, perfect. I have a plan - Two rods, one 2:3 rod lengths out that I'm going to bait up and let the fish settle on it. If I start seeing feeding bubbles I'll top up and leave it for half an hour to let them get confident before I fish. The other for the margin which I'm usually a bit half hearted about but this time I'm going to give it a proper go. Groundbait's gone in on the long line and hemp and casters little and often with the odd few maggots in the margin about 2' from the reeds and 47" deep, 20s light wire hook and 3lb nylon hooklength. Started off with casters on the hook and getting bites and Roach straight away and all a good size, 5oz up with two or three over 8, guessed. It's a bite a chuck until it goes quiet. There's still no sign of feeding on the long line but I'll give it a try anway. Not quite as frantic but still picking nice Roach up on various baits, Tares, maggots, casters. Couldn't get much interest in sweetcorn. The long line has a bulk of 5 No8s at about 2/3 deep in 88". 16s Guru LWG on 3.3lb fluorocarbon. I wanted to try the tares hence a bigger hook than my usual 18s. It goes a bit quiet but I'm getting what I think are bites on the drop. Probably due to loose feeding. String the bulk out and yes, they've moved up in the water. Shallow up to about 2' and carry on catching with the Tares and all good sized fish. I wondered whether there were any tiddlers about so put a maggot on and sure enough, a tiddler straight away. Tares rule, OK
Fish of the day:
At some point in the afternoon the line goes behind the spool. It's a Daiwa TDM3012 and this is the first time it's ever happend. I'd done quite a few turns before I realized. Take the spool off and there's an almighty bunch of line trapped around and jamming the spindle. I'm trying to unpick it and drop the drag knob in the water
I can feel the bottom but can't find the knob. In hindsight I should have put the polaroids on, I might even have been able to see it before I stirred the bottom up. At least I've got the margin rod set up so finish off the day picking Roach up in the margin. A wonderful days fishing. Love it
I'll just say something about the margin rod. It's a Grey's Toreon Tactical Float 10'6 although it's 11' with the butt extension. I don't use it very often, usually when I've got trees overhead. I'd forgotton how nice it is to use. It's light at 127g and IMO perfect for Roach. The progressive (Greys' description not mine) action soaks up all that jagging about that Roach do and swings smaller fish in no problem and I wouldn't have any qualms if something bigger did get a hold. I'm not greatly experienced with rods but it's hard to imagine a float rod better suited for light stillwater fishing at short range. The action probably isn't fast enough for rivers.
Just a little for interest. I took the temperature of the water top and bottom of the long line. Just with a fishing thermometer strapped to a marker float so it isn't lab standard but gives some idea of the difference. Top being about 4" below the surface:
5:30am Bottom: 19.5C Top: 20.5C
12:30pm Bottom: 20C Top: 23C
3:30pm Bottom: 20.5C Top: 25C
mikench
Well-known member
There was only one water which would afford me a large degree of shade for the majority of the day ! It ticks most boxes being very pretty, good parking near your peg, lovely surrounding fields and woods , lots of birdlife etc; shame about the fishing!
View attachment 5062
I arrived early and put up my brolly using a new brolly attachment for my chair as the pegs are like granite! By 10.30 the sun was overhead but I was shielded by trees and receiving a lovely cool breeze! The fish obliged and I had over a dozen made up of carp, bream and tench like these;
View attachment 5063
View attachment 5064
The tench was just under 4lb and the bream( one recently stocked) was 6.5 lb and put up a good fight! I also had 6 small perch on the float! A lovely day and I didn't feel frazzled! I might even go again tomorrow! Just in case I put in a good deal of ground bait and hemp and maple peas! It will be tares on the float!
View attachment 5062
I arrived early and put up my brolly using a new brolly attachment for my chair as the pegs are like granite! By 10.30 the sun was overhead but I was shielded by trees and receiving a lovely cool breeze! The fish obliged and I had over a dozen made up of carp, bream and tench like these;
View attachment 5063
View attachment 5064
The tench was just under 4lb and the bream( one recently stocked) was 6.5 lb and put up a good fight! I also had 6 small perch on the float! A lovely day and I didn't feel frazzled! I might even go again tomorrow! Just in case I put in a good deal of ground bait and hemp and maple peas! It will be tares on the float!
mikench
Well-known member
Pete Shears
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Quite cold at the reservoir this morning with a N/NE/E/SE/E wind,low cloud and mostly thick mist which didn't clear until 9am with the sun showing 45 minutes later.Had a skimmer of 8oz or so and a hand size roach on the first two casts of the method feeder. The next bite,probably a tench,went screaming off and found a chunk of weed the leave my hook on.Just after 10am watching a buzzard lazily circling above the field on the opposite bank, an osprey flew in and was patrolling the reservoir looking for breakfast for about 15 minutes with one dive that I saw which resulted in nothing. Again two common terns mobbed until it gave up and headed over to the canal.
Another bite resulted in a bream of about 2lb,wasn't going to weigh it and choke the smell of hot bream slime all the way home. Back for another weed clearing exercise over the weekend.
Another bite resulted in a bream of about 2lb,wasn't going to weigh it and choke the smell of hot bream slime all the way home. Back for another weed clearing exercise over the weekend.
mikench
Well-known member
I would happily sacrifice catching fish( tench excepted) for the sight of an osprey! You are a lucky man Pete!