How did you get on?

[Another Dave]

Smashing fish Dave - I’d give it more than 4.

I've had a 3 pounder and this was in a different league, reminded me of a wild carp and reminded me of Neil Maidment's chub pics he posts here!

The 3rd photo of your earlier post just sums up a proper British summer for me - lovely!

Couldn't resist that shot for that very reason.

 

[tigger]

What an enjoyable afternoons trotting I had today .
I caught so many gudgeon I really wouldn't like to even hazard a guess at the ammount. I had loads of chub ranging in size from micro's to about a pound, so only small, loads of dace with some being real soggers!
I even had a good few minows.
After catching the above I decided to go and pay a sneaking visit to my newly found little paradise further up stream that I have never even seen until last week let alone fished !
I call it a paradise as it's hidden from pretty much every angle and is hard work to get to, I had to fight my way through impenetrable jungle to reach it lol.
As I parted the long grass the place looked lovely and I know there are barbel there as I saw one jump out infront of my eyes the other day when I first discovered the spot. I proceeded to catty out a few pouches of maggots and then I waded across about a third of the way. The waters surface was pretty smooth but the water was flowing at a good steady pace and was about 18/20 inches deep, if it was edible it would have beeen mouth watering to look at!
Anyhow first couple of trots through produced nowt but third trott the float dipped and a dace was the catch. I wasn't really interested in dace as i'd just filled my boots with em further downstream but I suppose I shouldn't complain mg:. As I continued to fish I kept thinking I would hear someone shout, "hey, it's private here", I knew what my reply would have been,....best not say here lol.
Not long after I caught the dace I hooked something heavy and powerful which bolted across stream and got into and under what I imagine was blanket weed because I could feel the line grating against it as I played tug of war with the fish. It went a bit solid so I let the line go slack for a moment before putting pressure back on and as I did that the float came to the surface and I wound in a hook covered in blanked weed...blast it! Maybe it had been foul hooked or possibly it was a large chub that had done the trick of leaving the hook embedded in an object as they frack off.
I cattied out a few more pouches above a overhanging tree on the oposite bank so they'd sink to the bottom as they got under the tree. It was awkward casting under low overhanging branches like that. After several trotts through the float buried and once again I had a powerful fish on the other end but this time I kept it away from the spot where the other fish had snagged me up. This fish put up an epic fight and all the time I was playing it I kept looking around incase the Lord of the manner had spotted me lol. Eventuually I landed the fish, a barbel, and I though it deserved weighing. After deducting the net it was an ounce or three over 11lb, so i'll call it 11lb that'll do me . I did take a pic on my phone but pointless really as I can't post em. After releasing that fish I decided to leave it at that so as not to spoil it for myself, i'll be back for another slice of excitment in the near future .
I walked back down stream fishing several runs of fast water i'd often seen before but never fished because they're usually unfishable. I had some very large dace in those runs and then caught some more gudgeon, dace and small chub lower down before marching back to my motor.
The whole trip had been very enjoyable and I am still beaming as I think of my little paradise .

 

[peter crabtree]

Fished the penultimate evening series match tonight on the Aylesbury arm of the GUC. All in at 6pm and the sun was still high in the sky. Set up 2 topkits, one for down the middle and one for the near shelf. Fed 3 balls of Sensas black gb in the inside line and some loose pinkies.. The far shelf was thick with weed, some floating and thick on the bottom. I decided to concentrate on the short line over the gb. First bite a perch of around 5oz, good start. That was followed by loads of small gudgeon, Rudd and baby skimmers.
Everyone appeared to be struggling so I just caught as many as I could.

By 7:30 the bites dried up, the sun got lower and there was a dazzling reflection on the water which made it tricky to see my fine bristle float. During the last hour I probably had just 5 bites and missed 3 of them.
At the scales I had just 1lb. The winner was on the other side of the bridge with 2lb+ of mainly roach. I was joint 6th overall and out of the points once again. There are 13 anglers in the league and its tight at the top, I think I will still hold on to 2nd in the league. The leader I reckon can't be caught now so I need to do very well next Tuesday to ensure I stay runner up..

 

[stillwater blue]

I was back on the river before first light this morning for a quick session. I'd seen some carp in a swim when lure fishing so I'd been pre-baiting for a few days with hopes of catching one. I was using a simple mix of fermented maize, ground frolic and vitalin putting in around 30 balls a day.



The swim was shallow in front dropping into around 4ft of water half way across the river. To the left of me the water shallowed up and had a couple of branches that had washed down in the floods last winter, the trees opposite had sunken branches. As a result I was fishing beefy tackle, a running feeder stopped with float stops allowing me to fish 15lb line straight through to a size 4 wide gape X hook.



Within 20 minutes of starting I got my first bite and the fight was odd. As I guessed the carp headed straight for the trees on the opposite bank, I managed to turn it and it headed downstream for the tree branches in the middle of the river and surprisingly ran between the two set of branches and kept going for the nearside margin where it managed to beach itself in the shallow water.



I then caught a string of chub, nothing huge but welcome, it was just a shame I was on such strong tackle.



Just as I was beginning to regret not going chubbing this morning I hooked into a massive carp and the fight was epic at such close range as it headed for one set of snags after another with me just managing to turn it at the last second. I played it for around 10 minutes and I'd just got the upper hand when I saw a huge flash of flank and then the hook pulled for no particular reason. Pretty convinced that the mirror would have ruined the swim I cast out the feeder not expecting much, the feeder had barely settled when it tore off. Another odd fight ensured as again the carp headed downstream into shallow water where it preceded to tail walk and then do circles under the rod tip.



I doubt I fished for more than 3 hours.

 

[fishplate42]

Following on from my 'it's hot' thread. My brother (Tim) and I decided to abandon a trip to a big commercial on the grounds that we might just end up cooking ourselves in the sun. Instead we decided to stay at Tim's place and have a lazy day visiting the local tackle shops we had not checked out yet, trim some of the willows, that are getting in the way, and spend a few hours fishing in the river at the bottom of his garden.

To be honest we did more mucking about than fishing. I had recently managed to get hold of a second hand Preston X5 seat box for twenty quid! Okay it is the old version with blue fittings but for that money I couldn't say no. I was only interested in the drawer section to upgrade my old seat box to a 5-drawer model. I rebuilt and cleaned up what was left to make a second box (X3) for Tim. With the same lot came an 8.5m margin pole, again for no money, which I also passed on to Tim. As Tim had never pole fished or had a seat-box before it was a bit of a struggle to get him set up and fishing. It turned out to be vet difficult to use off of one of the jetties due to the over hanging trees, deep water and an abundance of tree toots close in.

We got the basics sorted but decided it would be much easier to continue this exercise at a commercial where we had a bit more room and fewer trees! By now it was mid afternoon and Tim got a rod out and rigged a ledger. Patience paid off and he managed to catch a couple of small (not tiny) roach. This made Tim's day as he had never been successful with corn before... He is still learning and enjoying every bite.


Now, either that is a big net or a small fish - Tim insisted it was a big net!

While Tim was fishing I had spent a couple of hours just watching the water. Throwing in two or three maggots close in attracted a flurry of excitement as a good number of Dace moved in. I put in a small handful and the water erupted. I had been fishing a swim feeder earlier with heavy gear as I know there are some big fish out there. T%he heat makes me lazy and I could not be bothered to walk back up the garden to completely re-rig, so I removed the feeder and hook length from the 12lb line and with a loop-to-loop connection I added a ultra light hooklength with a size 18 B911 hook. One white maggot was impaled on the hook and slowly allowed to sink into the water. Almost instantly I had a fish. I could have sat there an pulled dace after dace out of the water all between four and five inches long.

I have not caught so many dace in one go before, and not just free-lining. I think next time I will use a small float as most of the fish had taken the bait in and I had to use my fine disgorger to free them. I think a float will enable me to strike before they have a chance to devour the bait.

All in all it was a good day and it was not too hot sitting there under the trees.

Ralph.

 

[Jelster]

Well, spent the morning at a local commercial lake, and after working on some baits last week was thrilled that I got a run on my first cast. Now, fish in here are usually 5-12lbs, but this kept it's head down and started to head for the island (the bait was in the margins to my right). After managing to turn him and make some progress, he went off again. This happened about 5 times and then the hook link snapped There are rumours of 25lb plus fish in this lake....

So as I was putting a new rig on, my left hand went and this time I landed a carp around 8lb. I then had another hook link break... I bought some flurocarbon to make some new rigs with but I had now lost confidence in it, so re re-rigged everything by using the mainline. Success, another two, one a double on the bank. The carp were up on the top, no surface fishing here, so I set up a waggler, around 12" deep, with a banded 6mm pellet and a piece of artificial sweetcorn direct to the hook to slow down the drop..

Bang, a 13.2 common, after a fight that went on for about 15 minutes. My avon rod was the dogs and my 8 year old Cardinal reel was more than up to the task. Another run on the the Method, and I had another small double. I was just about to pack up when they all started basking again. So one more go with the waggler, and a 6lb mirror was in the net.

I've only just got back into fishing and my last few treks have been without anything decent. So glad I went this morning. 6 carp, a couple of doubles, and great fun on the avon rod. First time I have used the Method too, and it was great, but I kept getting loads of line bites and twitches when the smaller fish were on the feed, and the carp were sniffing around the bait. Fishing in about 2ft of water I could see the fish go down on the bait, great fun....

 

[nicholaslukey]

Decided to have a few hours at my usual venue, didn't get down till 10am, although warm it certainly wasn't fierce, and with a bit of breeze made for a nice few hours fishing. Caught from the off, and died around 2pm. Caught a mixed bunch several skimmers, smaller roach and several very nice crucians (they were the stars of the show).

 

[mikench]

The whole trip had been very enjoyable and I am still beaming as I think of my little paradise .

Your enjoyment and enthusiasm Ian positively shines out from the page! Soundsa good spot! Well done!

 

[thecrow]

It was pleasantly chilly when I cast (flicked) out this morning, the breeze coming into the swim was very welcome.

I was in the same swim that I had lost that margin carp in the other day but this time I was armed with 10lb Sensor straight through to an Korum 8s bait was lumps of meat again and this would be fished well overdepth with shot down the line to keep the line down the float would be fished flat so that any line bites I did get didn't have me jumping on my rod to early, I was fishing in 2 ft of water overcasting and pulling the bait back on the surface to drop it in a clear spot amongst the weed. I was sat well back from the waters edge not on the boards to keep disturbance to a minimum. I could just about keep an eye on the float through the trees that overhang



Hoping to keep the Tench away I only fed very lightly with 2/3 pieces of meat each cast the plan being to leave the bait as long as needed unless and trembles had shown on the float indicating small stuff at the bait.

Wasn't long before the baitrunner was giving line and once again it turned out to be a Tench, I went on to take another 12 from the same spot, nice fishing but not what I was after.







image img

All the fish were in good condition apart from a couple that looked to have a bit of tail rot.

I only saw one carp come very close into the margins but did see some cruise by a little further out but they were on a mission to get somewhere.

I am fairly sure I could catch one of them on either a floater or zig or by using big boilies to keep the Tench off but I have got it into my head about catching one from the margins on a float, I did think that the 10lb Sensor might put them off in the clear water but it didn't, just shows what great line it is :wh

 

[tigger]

Your enjoyment and enthusiasm Ian positively shines out from the page! Soundsa good spot! Well done!

Thanks Mike .

 

[103841]

Decided to have a few hours at my usual venue, didn't get down till 10am, although warm it certainly wasn't fierce, and with a bit of breeze made for a nice few hours fishing. Caught from the off, and died around 2pm. Caught a mixed bunch several skimmers, smaller roach and several very nice crucians (they were the stars of the show).

I was about to berate you for putting your beautiful little crucians on a harsh and rough surface, a second glance and I assume you have some kind of camo mat.

 

[mikench]

Beautiful photos Nick!

 

[103841]

Beautiful photos Nick!

Is that your way of saying “I should have gone to Specsavers”

 

[mikench]

I went on to take another 12 from the same spot, nice fishing but not what I was after.

I would have been delighted with any tench like that Graham! Super fish ! I go for tench and get carp and you do the opposite! Funny old game fishing!

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well fished to cut by me today very poor .
a couple of skimmers 6 small Perch and a roach so gave up and came home the entire canal was in full sun with no shade to speak about it also looks like there may be the starts of a bluegreen algal bloom the colour of the water . yes i washed my hands very well ..
PG ...

 

[Pete Shears]

Out at the reservoir again this morning,big red sun peeking over the hills on the way there,after dragging my kit to the swim it had clouded over and I kept my jacket on in the cool NW breeze - made a nice change.Set up a float rod but with 8lb bs line to use for tench as the weed is still thick and as the level drops its gets thicker.Fishing with sweetcorn all I had were palm sized roach,useful for livebait in the winter if you can catch them then,no tench at all.The leger rod produced a bream of about 2lb and a skimmer around 6oz.About 1030 the sun had crept over the big willows and the float action slowly died - time to go before it became too hot.

 

[nicholaslukey]

I was about to berate you for putting your beautiful little crucians on a harsh and rough surface, a second glance and I assume you have some kind of camo mat.

Indeed so, its air padded as well

 

[Another Dave]

Looked at my phone early evening and saw i'd had a text from my old fishing mate - he had a pass from his owner! I had the day off and had accumulated a few brownie points keeping the kids entertained building a dam this morning and my application for a full evening pass was accepted.

~ 7pm, pub, one pint, yes i had ice in mine don't look at me like that

I played the ghillie but he knows the river, started at my banker 'cliff' swim. Threw a few cubes of meat out but sod's law, absolutely no fish in sight, never seen this before. Next swim we tried the lure rod where i'd caught my monster chub, no takes. Finally a trot through with meat on a size 12 and he had a chub, 6oz maybe, blanking pressure off.

Next spot i've never caught from but he managed a chub of a pound plus, two swims two chub. Meadow swim had dogs in it so up to the parrotcage where he got a another small chub. Mate said i should have a go and the next trot down - and i say trot but think micro scale - i got a nice chub maybe pound and third.

Moved up to the weir where he trotted the bait rod but no joy. I fiddled around with the lure rod but the perch were strangely absent, switched to a customised mini-plug and a perfect mini pike of a few oz obliged.

Going back down the other bank we encountered some teenagers who were catching and helpfully advised us which swims to skip, so we moved down to the swim i had my nice perch from the other day. My mate trotted a cube of meat through and the float (fly fishing 'strike indicator', love 'em) burrowed down and a lovely brassy chub weighed in at 2lb 9oz on both our set of scales. 9:30pm, looked a each other and agreed the next stop was a return to the pub where we got drunk so posting pics is too difficult right now.

Edit to add pic:

and another:

 

[nottskev]

A friend said he fancied an evening on the local Trent. We looked at the forecast for the week. It had to be Thursday - light winds going every where except downstream. But the forecasters hadn't reckoned on the will we/won't we have a giant electrical storm stuff that started shaping up at about 4pm today. We didn't. Just a few spots of rain, but by 4.30 the bankside trees were bending and thrashing as a warm downstream wind took the place of the usual chilly one. Ho hum.

I put up the usual kit - a small wire-stem stick on a long line on a top 5, with 2 or 3 sections on. Hemp and caster only produced tiny fish, but swapping to tares made a bit of an improvement. We fished from 5pm til 8pm, and by 6.30 the roach were looking prepared to line up. But it was hard work, with the float skating through and the pole bending like a banana in the wind, and there wasn't all that much to show for all the bites when I packed up at 8.



At about 8.05, the wind dropped and the Trent smiled sweetly at us. By then the rods and pole were back in the holdall, as it was perfectly well aware.

 

[Roger Johnson 2]

I was going to have a couple of hours feeder fishing this evening in the hope of adding to my barbel total, however when I looked some guy was already fishing in my spot, so decided to watch La Tour on ITV4 before having an hour fluff chucking. Quite glad I did, as achieved a personal best grayling, no weight but about 26-28cm in length and I risked getting the phone out while thigh deep in heavy flow for a photo.
Members may be interested that we now have a two bedroom apartment available for holiday rental with direct access to the River Dordogne in the beautiful medieval town of Beaulieu sur Dordogne, the town centre with over a dozen restaurants is less than 10 minutes walk away and with numerous historic and tourist sites nearby it’s an ideal place for a family holiday or romantic getaway with a touch of fishing combined. There’s more to fishing in France than Carp.

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