How did you get on?

[wetthrough]

Had a nice day on one of Mikench and Markcw's favourite pools which is only ten minutes away from me. Not much water in front of me so used the Greys 10'6 without any specific target in mind. A 3bb GlowTip antenna to 3.3lb FC hooklength and 16's LWG hook. Chose the 16s as it gives me lots of options without changing hooks. The forecast was good, 19° and overcast with only 10% chance of rain. They got it wrong, there wasn't any rain at all I did however manage to get sunburnt. My legs don't see the light of day from one year to the next but having this tendon injury means me wearing shorts, not a pretty sight, burnt knees but not badly. Loose feeding maggots hemp and some manky casters started picking up some small but beautifully formed Crucians on scraps of meat.



There was quite a tow on the pool which I wasn't expecting but I just had the bait grazing the bottom of the far shelf and let it drift. It didn't seem to put them off. Put a tare on and much to my surprise got taken into the reeds by a lump which shed the hook. Managed to get hooked in the reeds several times and had to pull out, only one of which ended in a break on the hooklength. Uprating my mainline seems to have paid off. It's a bit tricky pulling for a break with the Antenna floats. There's a good chance of them breaking if they hit anything at all. I'd normally put my foot on the line but even that doesn't always work and with one leg in a pneumatic boot it was impratical. I rested the landing net on top of the main line and pulled the line underneath it. At least the float hit the water when it came flying back and I neither broke or lost one. Hooking various baits, bread, corn, casters, meat all of which produced at one time or another. Apart from getting pulled into the reeds, Tares didn't get any more bites. Meat was probably the most productive.

37 fish in all 4 or 5 skimmers to about 1lb 3 or 4 Rudd to about 8oz, 2 Commons the biggest being just over 3lb and only a couple of micro fish which may or may not have been Roach and one small Ide, the rest being Crucians. Catch of the day being the smallest Crucian I've ever seen. Palm sized and perfect it wouldn't have looked out of place dangling from a Christmas tree.

Happy days

 

[mikench]

Re: How did you get on

At least you are fishing again Gordon!!

 

[tigger]

Re: How did you get on

Managed to get out for the latter part of the afternoon today to swim the stream. The water felt quite cold and was still coloured after the recent rain. I didn't have much time so I went to a stretch where I didn't have to walk more than a few hundred yards to a swim.
The first swim I fished always used to produce a good head of barbel but for the last year or two it hasn't produced very many, then again for me they really have slowed down on the whole river!
I did catch a number of dace and small chub to a pound or more and a few gudgeon. Catching those soon got me bored and so I made a move back upstream and tried another glide. The river was quite wide here and even though I was able to wade a good way out a long cast was required to hit the spot. First few trotts through produced an odd dace, small chub and gudgeon until I finally hooked something that was gonn'a test the metal of my Dave Harrell RS Tournament rod . I took my time playing the fish knowing it would probably be my only chance of a barbel on this session. The rod stood up to the task ok, although if i'd been getting a few barbel I would have played them harder and given the rod a propper test. Anyhow the fish was about 7 or 8lb and in good fettle which ended my trotting session on a good note .

 

[S-Kippy]

Re: How did you get on

The Big Feller has had a couple of afternoons on the Thames recently fishing hemp and tares and bagging up on the roach. Pestered by "bits" if he tried a maggot. Curiously not a dace to be seen but the Thames can be like that...one year its full of them and the next it isnt. Anyway...he is never happier than when running a stick through catching a few roach. I still dont feel up to such strenuous stuff but I may have to give it a go simply because its grebe free. Caught on elderberry too but the tares stay on longer.

 

[Teabreak]

Re: How did you get on

Well I haven't been on here lately because of nothing to report. A lean spell during the heatwave has finally given way to some more enjoyable fishing. Nothing special had except a nice big bronzey coloured bream one evening. My last trip I fished a different swim on the Thames at an entrance to a marina. It was a roach a chuck. Also had a gudgeon which was nice. They were on the quivertip. Thought I'd get out the whip for a different approach but all I got was fry so small I don't know how they thought they could eat a maggot. However one surprise was swinging the float out a dragonfly grabbed the maggot and held it for a second or two. I was so surprised by it I forgot to strike ?.

 

[108831]

Re: How did you get on

I went fishing for the first time since my finishing work,after walking the river Saturday and spotting a few feeding barbel,anyway I parked up and set off upstream,the heavens opened,damn forecasters,now my first swim of choice is close to the path so I really didn't want to use the brolly,but was forced by the strength of the rain,anyway the plan was to loose feed a few pellets,leave it for an hour,re-feed and place a lead baited with an 8mms pellet down the edge,it had stopped raining by the time I did this,but I daren't take the brolly down in case of spooking,after about thirty minutes the rod flew round and a chub 4-4.25lbs lay in the net,that swim was spooked,sat for over 2hrs without a fish entering the swim so I moved upstream further,a small pva bag was the only feed and first cast the rod nodded and a 5-8 chub was the result,another swim blown,a long walk back revealed still no fish in the first swim,so heading back towards the car one last swim to try and there they were three barbel,gooduns,I gently cast a pellet and bag into the run and quickly caught 3 chub to 2-8,lbs which scared the hell out of the barbel,so home it was with some nice fish caught...

 

[Tee-Cee]

Teabreak....NOT to 'teach grandmother to suck eggs' but have you thought about using elderberry with hemp feed if you're fishing the Thames? Can take a while to get the roach going but this time of year they (usually) love the berry...
Loads of them on the trees at the moment and a lot cheaper than maggots!

If not the berry then tares, or even hemp if you can be bothered, also very good and possibly take a better stamp of fish....

Just a thought......................

 

[markcw]

This is not how did I get on but more of a tip for Mikench and wetthrough ( Mike& Gordon ) sounds like a double act doesn't it ?:wh Next time you fish Copper beech at Dunham, fish the far side with small cubes of meat ( 8mm) and feed around 5 or 6 smaller pieces each cast. The F1's and carp will soon be on the feed, It is easy for me to do using a pole, with you using rods it would be catty and cast, similar to wag n mag but using meat. another tip, is to use a small disc of pepperami on the hook instead of a cube of meat, it will stay on if you miss a bite.

 

[mikench]

You're thinking of Peter and Gordon!! i will try that next time. Gordon do you know " pepperami" If not ill hum it and you sing it!!

Back on post I hope to have a spell in the sea next week!! I doubt there will be much to report!

 

[Teabreak]

Teabreak....NOT to 'teach grandmother to suck eggs' but have you thought about using elderberry with hemp feed if you're fishing the Thames? Can take a while to get the roach going but this time of year they (usually) love the berry...
Loads of them on the trees at the moment and a lot cheaper than maggots!

If not the berry then tares, or even hemp if you can be bothered, also very good and possibly take a better stamp of fish....

Just a thought......................

Funny to say that cos I did have a go at it in a different swim. The tree didn't overhang the water but I threw a few handfuls in and put some on the hook but no luck. Perhaps I should of persevered a bit more. I may have to have another go.

 

[thecrow]

I fished Tuesday morning after Tench but was plagued by small Perch, I was using whole mussels as bait and they were on it like piranha's almost as soon as it hit bottom whittling the bait down till one could get what was left and a size 8 into its greedy gob. Did manage a few Tench this was about the best of them.



On to today, no mussels just meat and hemp but as happened on Tuesday the Perch were a pain, managed to hook one Tench which managed to throw the hook after 20/30 seconds.

The day wasnt helped by some blokes putting in a new stage using sledge hammers and some idiot that thought it was ok to cast almost into my swim from the other side of the lake so packed up early, it had been a lovely morning up till then.

 

[S-Kippy]

Well....my first attempt at posting a picture certainly needs some work ! No idea why its done that.

The Big Feller fancied a go for a cat this afternoon so we barrelled off to Pondwood but nearly did a prompt about face as the place was absolutely rammed. It was proper heaving with tracksuits and leg tattoos...really not what we had in mind at all. Anyway....we chatted to a bloke who'd been there since 0630 [ for 2 small cats] who said he was off in an hour so I persuaded Grumpy to wait for him while I went round the corner into pretty well the only swim left on the lake. That way we'd have one corner stitched up and nobody could drop in between us. Chunk of mackerel on a size 4 Eagle Claw freelined down the edge and 2nd chuck I'm away. The usual tug of war under the bank ensued and at one point Captain Cat had me hooked up on a root but on 45lb Quicksilver I'm fairly confident about giving them some stick so I slackened off for 30 seconds then clamped down and heaved him out. By no means a big cat but at 12 and a half pound I was more than happy.

About 40 minutes later after I'd told Grumpy where to put his bait [ he was too far along and too far out] he's away too with an almost identically sized fish....his being 3 oz heavier. We then suffered a number of frustrating twitches and pulls for the rest of the afternoon, none of which materialised into a proper run. Regulars there reckon its small cats playing with the bait.....could be I suppose but given even a 10 pounder has a mouth like a bucket I'm not convinced. Anyway...we packed with a fish apiece and saw no other cats caught while we were there.

Not somewhere I want to fish very often but its fairly local, its a bit different, they pull like hell and are magnificent looking things so its worth the odd trip.

I know there's no other anglers visible but you cant fish the opposite bank. Every other swim to my left and right was occupied.

 

[Roger Johnson 2]

I’ve not devoted as much time to fishing in one day for nearly a year, didn’t do me much good though. Started early morning lure fishing a new lake (lac de Miel= Lake of Honey!) in hope of a large mouth bass, I’ve caught small mouth before in the States but any largemouth would be a PB. However 2 hours wandering round fishing to any structure I could see produced nothing, no takes no follows, nothing, zilch, rien. I was also hoping to spot some carp or tench to mark down as future targets, still a nice lake visually, and I’ll certainly keep trying for that Billy Bigmouth. This afternoon once I finished filling cracks ( ooer, Missus!). I made a minnow trap from a cut down plastic water bottle ( the bottle was plastic not the water) and very successful it was so spent the evening on the river, casting float fished minnows into likely spots hoping for chub, perch, trout. Guess what .... nothing, zilch, rien. Oh well made a change from my daily 5lb bream from the bottom of the garden ( there are worse problems to have)

 

[Jelster]

View attachment 5468

Well....my first attempt at posting a picture certainly needs some work ! No idea why its done that.

The Big Feller fancied a go for a cat this afternoon so we barrelled off to Pondwood but nearly did a prompt about face as the place was absolutely rammed. It was proper heaving with tracksuits and leg tattoos...really not what we had in mind at all. Anyway....we chatted to a bloke who'd been there since 0630 [ for 2 small cats] who said he was off in an hour so I persuaded Grumpy to wait for him while I went round the corner into pretty well the only swim left on the lake. That way we'd have one corner stitched up and nobody could drop in between us. Chunk of mackerel on a size 4 Eagle Claw freelined down the edge and 2nd chuck I'm away. The usual tug of war under the bank ensued and at one point Captain Cat had me hooked up on a root but on 45lb Quicksilver I'm fairly confident about giving them some stick so I slackened off for 30 seconds then clamped down and heaved him out. By no means a big cat but at 12 and a half pound I was more than happy.

About 40 minutes later after I'd told Grumpy where to put his bait [ he was too far along and too far out] he's away too with an almost identically sized fish....his being 3 oz heavier. We then suffered a number of frustrating twitches and pulls for the rest of the afternoon, none of which materialised into a proper run. Regulars there reckon its small cats playing with the bait.....could be I suppose but given even a 10 pounder has a mouth like a bucket I'm not convinced. Anyway...we packed with a fish apiece and saw no other cats caught while we were there.

Not somewhere I want to fish very often but its fairly local, its a bit different, they pull like hell and are magnificent looking things so its worth the odd trip.

I know there's no other anglers visible but you cant fish the opposite bank. Every other swim to my left and right was occupied.

Skippy, that's the corner I mentioned to you when we had our chat. Due to people viewing the house, this week seems a bit of a right off, so I aim to get down there next week now (kids are back at school so it should be quieter).

Interested in your set up though, is that Quicksilver the hooklink or mainline?

 

[S-Kippy]

Skippy, that's the corner I mentioned to you when we had our chat. Due to people viewing the house, this week seems a bit of a right off, so I aim to get down there next week now (kids are back at school so it should be quieter).

Interested in your set up though, is that Quicksilver the hooklink or mainline?

Steve

Yes...forgot about the schools still being off. Should quieten down a bit when the little darlings go back. Reliable corner that one...as indeed are all the corners at PW. You couldn't have got a toddler on the island today...absolutely rammed.

Quicksilver trace to 12lb Sufix Synergy mono mainline. Freeline...no weight at all and fished quite slack. If they've a mind to have it it just roars off. By no means the only way to catch down there but it seems to work and doesn't require much thought. Right up my street at the moment as I'm not terribly well.

Skippy

 

[sam vimes]

Went to the lower river in search of roach. I found them, along with perch, dace, chublets and some of the biggest bleak I've ever seen. The biggest fish I could muster were roach and dace of the only just needing the net variety. I quite enjoyed myself, but the reality is that I could have done just as well, bar the roach, by travelling five miles rather than twenty five. I suppose that a change is as good as a rest and it was nice to not get minnowed to death. I did manage one though, I never seem to avoid them completely.

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

I have finally worked out how to upload pictures! Such a simple process, thank you FM!
Whom ever helped make this site what it is today deserves a pat on the back!
(I cant pat you on the back but here is a beautiful Gloucestershire sun set to sooth your soul)

I fished a few places in the Stroud/nailsworth area recently. I lure fished for wild brownies in the Frome, Had a stab at Stratford parks "lake" and fished the gin clear "Stroudwater navigation" (canal) there.

The canal (although jaw dropping beautiful) was the least productive and also the one I spent the least time on (correlation maybe lol?). It is home to huge shoals of pristine chub but you essentially end up chasing the shoal up and down the cut because every time you catch one the shoal scarpers! Had chub to half a pound
The canal:

I couldn't get any pictures on wild brownie day as it was peeing down all day but caught plenty of small browns and a bonus rainbow. Turns out a club up the road from Stroud stocks rainbows every year! Used a sh*t ton of different lures and found that spinners (blue ondex, TY tigger) and spoons caught lots of fish around the 5/6 oz mark but the jerk baits, soft plastics, crank baits and the like scored much larger fish on average. I tried a method I read about some time ago, A bobber with two feet of line to a dry fly. I was very skeptical but stuck at it for ten mins moving back through a few swims I had already covered with a little "wee"crayfish crank bait and was rewarded with A TWO POUND RAINBOW! I wish I'd risked my wifes phone to get a photo!

Last but most certainly not least, my couple of hours at Stratford park lake. I wish I took a photo of the water but these things slip my mind! It was at least a meter below its usual water level and you could just see the silt 6 inches below the surface all the way across.. It was not looking good but I had paid my money so I thought I would at least try and wet a line. As I was walking to my "peg" I found the fattest lobworm I have ever seen.. One of the gods was smiling down on me. I put it on a size 16 micro barbed with an SSG to pin the line down and waited... and waited... I eventually got bored and started feeding the birds when suddenly the baitrunner started clicking away slowly.. I dropped all the bread, jumped up and set the hook........

My first eel!!!

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

Dont know how that last photo snuck on there

 

[108831]

Were you feeling a bit peckish???

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

it was a picture of a bream i found in the winter, wonder what killed it