How did you get on?

[108831]

Nice tench btw Mick,especially at this time of year.

 

[stillwater blue]

I'm on my Hols in France

I don't normally fish stillwaters for trout but a friend promised me that Moulin de Chaise Dieu du Theil was worth fishing, it's a series of arms of the river l'iton that have been extended and made into pools and kept fairly natural looking. He was right the place was stunning!



A wonderful mix of trees, meadows and places to cast.



The fishing wasn't difficult but very interesting because every pool was different and there was flowing water too. I started off fishing a white cats whisker as the owner suggested and it proved very effective, TBH too effective.



I changed to a bead headed PTN and stalked the trout using a dead drift in the flowing water and induced take technique in the pools. The number of takes reduced but the fishing was more interesting and satisfying.



I spent the last hour trying to catch on the dry fly but the trout where not really interested, this little chap took a foam beetle

 

[stillwater blue]

Before we drove down to St.Emilion from Normandy I took the chance to fish the Seine. I had no idea where to start so I just looked for the nearest access point, I ended up fishing a boat mooring for river cruise boats.



Surprisingly for such a big river 5g and 7g jig heads where all I needed. I tried a mixture of lures but could only get bites on Keitech's fat swing impact and only in one colour, fussy fish! I had a hot hour where the zander where feeding and then the area went completely dead



I'll never complain about barges going through my swim again

 

[Another Dave]

You sound like an eu citizen Dave...

I don't get it :apathy:

 

[theartist]

I took the chance to fish the Seine. I had no idea where to start so I just looked for the nearest access point,

That's InSeine

 

[thecrow]

I find it more difficult to get out of bed early when the mornings are dark but get out I did and after a cup of coffee and a couple of gaspers I was on the way to a club lake.

I intended to target Tench but the overnight drop in temperature wasnt encouraging I set the float rod up any way and struggled to even get a bite on meat, a couple of smallish Tench took pity on me after a couple of hours so I decided to put one of these out on a lead to an area where something is always fizzing Tench,Carp or Bream?

pic upload

Not long after putting it out I had a take that produced this common, not the biggest and the picture doesn't do it justice as it was a lovely coloured fish.



Interestingly all 4 Carp that I caught were on bags that had been salted with Low Salt as an experiment, the two anglers fishing for Carp that I could see had nothing, coincidence? I don't know but it did no harm and I shall be doing it again.

 

[103841]

The third visit or is it four in a battle of wits between me and a very shy carp.

On arrival at the swim my heart sank a little, it had been trashed with litter, empty sweet corn cans, sweet wrappers and discarded line, I’m assuming kids who would have most probably been anything but quiet and hidden away from their intended target.

I cleared up their refuse and decided to give it a hour and not surprisingly nothing but small fry and silvers in the swim.

Went back to the car, changed rod and kit and went exploring with a tiny lure rod looking for chub and perch. Apart from one follow the chub weren’t interested in lures, plenty of small perch and even smaller Jacks but all good fun on my spaghetti rod with a 2” lure and 2g cherabuska weight.

Had a look at the carp swim on my way back a few hours later and sure enough one spot was there (I decided to call him one spot due to a missing scale on its back), I couldn’t go home without another duel. A duel that once again went in one spots favour as it treated today’s menu of either paste or corn with contempt.

One more attempt with meat and bread, if that fails I’ll wave the white flag and move on.

 

[The Runner]

Late report from our annual week on the Severn last week, originally was being posted on Monday but lost internet 3/4 of way through...
Got there via bus to Inverness and then sleeper to London to get lift up from Brian- a lot easier than trying to get direct from Portree to Bridgnorth. Left barbel rods up here as with river reportedly so low would get away with ordinary feeder rods which along with some other coarse tackle now reside in Brians garage for my monthly (for the moment) visit back down South.
Six of us this year but with Steve and Dan (on his first visit) only for part of the week. Quick visit to tackle shop in Bridgnorth and then on to the Bulls Head where we've stayed for the last 16 years.
Sunday found us at Knowle Sands, a few cars already in the car park but amazingly the first flier you come to was unoccupied. Not for long, Mark was five yards in front of the rest of us...Everyone else kept walking through the copse and we spread out over the field past the gate. I dropped in on a swim where I'd had lots of barbel on the last day the year before but it was slower going this time. Had four and a few decent roach, all on feeder, at irregular intervals and it had been much the same for the others, Mark with 6, Terry 5, Brian 4, Dan 3 and Steve2

Quatford next, as usual not as many fish here but a better average size in the main. Most opted for the shorter walks but Brian and I headed down for the deeper water at the lower end, Brian with the idea of having a day's roach fishing on the float with a feeder out on a sleeper rod. Best laid plans etc...Four barbel for me, best 8-3, three each for Terry and Brian (who could only find a few dace and chublets on the float) two for Dan , a biteless blank for Mark and no barbel for Steve either who did have a nice bag of fish on float and soft pellet with roach up to 1-12.

Day three and on the Brook section. Steve went upstream, the rest of us down, in mine and Mark's case a long way down. Only one other angler there at the start, very unusual for this section. Slow start for me from a swim I've fished before, first fish after two hours a lovely 1-13 roach followed by a couple of smaller ones, had an hour and a half on the float for a lone chub and lots of little dace before had first barbel at around 1 30. Seven more in the next two hours before it went dead at 4ish. Wednesday is our curry night in Bridgnorth so packed in at 5 rather than our usual 5 30, 9 barbel each for Mark and Terry, 8 for me, 4 for Dan on his last day and three each for Brian and Steve who also had a couple of perch over 2lb and a few other nice ones on the float.

Curries in Eurasia in Bridgnorth highly recommended as always.

Day 4 and back to Knowle Sands. Quite busy again and nobody had caught when we got there and it looked like the water temperature had dropped a bit overnight . Very very slow start and by 12 30 only Steve had caught any barbel with two in two chucks out of the blue. With no sign of activity I had two hours on the float this time but couldn't get through the little dace even with pellet on the hook. One chub around a pound was the only thing that pulled back. Back on the feeder at 1 30 and after half an hour the tip went over , fast and furious for the next two hours with 8 barbel and a couple of chub before again it switched off at 4.Everyone else catching at around the same time, ending up 6 each for Steve, Mark and Terry and three for Brian.
Day 5, Quatford again, Terry went for the shortest walk, rest of us right down the bottom again. Like the first day here no real pattern to the bites, odd fish at intervals being the order of the day. I fished two swims past where had been on Monday, one better with 5 including best of the week at 8-9. 5 for Brian as well, 3 each for Mark and Terry who also had about 20 lb of roach up to 1-12 on the feeder.
Last day and back to the Brook. Brian opted for upstream, rest of us down. Spent a while deciding on a swim as already a few anglers in the area I'd fancied, gave it a couple of hours around where Dan had fished but no indications and for some reason didn't feel confident of a switch on so moved back towards the car park. Found a nice looking swim tucked away in the trees, much faster as for the first time in the week needed 50gm to hold. Ended up with 6 barbel which put me last on the day, 10 for Mark, 9 for Terry and 7 (and a dozen chub) for Brian.

Final total for the week 149 barbel, up on last year even allowing for the extra three man-days with Dan joining us.
General approach unchanged , 3 and 4mil pellets in a blackcap, three to four foot tail. 6 mil seemed best on the hook, some fish on 8s and on meat, and quite a few on maggot, especially in the deeper swims. Close finish individually, 35 each for Terry and myself, 34 for Mark

Usual thanks to John, Norma and Richard at the Bulls Head. Hobsons beer in top form , although a couple of our number acquired a worrying taste for the local Robinson's cider...

 

[Roger Johnson 2]

Before we drove down to St.Emilion from Normandy I took the chance to fish the Seine. I had no idea where to start so I just looked for the nearest access point, I ended up fishing a boat mooring for river cruise boats.

View attachment 5575

Surprisingly for such a big river 5g and 7g jig heads where all I needed. I tried a mixture of lures but could only get bites on Keitech's fat swing impact and only in one colour, fussy fish! I had a hot hour where the zander where feeding and then the area went completely dead

View attachment 5576

I'll never complain about barges going through my swim again

View attachment 5577

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[Roger Johnson 2]

Apologies for repeating “Stillwater blue’s”post. I was going to pull his leg about “fishing for river cruise boats” and needing a mighty large landing net, but thanks to a bout of technonumptyism it’s lost some impact! I’ll stick to my own posts in future!


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[Roger Johnson 2]

So greetings from SW France where the temperature is still hovering the high twenties to low thirties. An interesting day on the fishing front today, spent an interesting hour plus in “ Pacific Peche” which by coincidence was next door to AutoGlass who were fixing my windscreen, ( thank goodness for insurance or it would have been over 660€!), an absolutely stunning store with the largest carp section I have ever seen and the same goes for the lure section too, they also cover fly fishing and what we know as general coarse fishing, the lads are also great either slowing down their French or having a go with English. Apart from having a stock up on some heavier feeders ready for hen the river comes up to winter leaves I also bought some trace material “ Zandertresse” feels like a slightly stiff braid my intents is to use it for light predator fishing and hope it is resistant enough to the odd pike tooth attack. I’ll report back.
Onto this evenings fishing, which started off with the discovery of a minute adder shedding its skin on the tackle room floor! That makes 4 species of reptile found on my property add to that over 30 species of birds, 7 mammal species, 10 fish species caught makes the garden here a true wildlife paradise. First cast on the feeder produced

my daily bream and a swap to trotted minnow produced nothing. It’s not always about what you catch sometimes it’s the side tracks that count.


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[stillwater blue]

Not the prettiest swim in the world but my favourite. In that very swim as an 8 year old boy I used to catch fry with a net on a bamboo pole and put them in a red bucket, which also served as a wee bucket in the night, and I'd take them back to the caravan to show uninterested non-fisher parents. I'd then walk back to the lake, release all the fish and then repeat the whole process and I would do that literally all day, well maybe they'd be the odd break for baguette and jam. One day a Dutch fella was in MY swim and he was using a whip to catch roach with bread and wheat, I was transfixed and I must have watched him the whole of the afternoon as until that moment I never knew fishing existed! I must have gone on and on about it for days in the way that kids do as, finally, my mother bought me a 3m yellow whip, a rig and a bottle of preserved wheat. It took me two days of tangles and not having a clue to catch a wee roach and a fisherman was born.

SO 30+ years later and I'm back! I had two hours, one loaf of bread and a 3m whip but sadly no red bucket. This time I plumbed up and even threw out groundbait, it didn't take long for the float to disappear and a wonderful roach was caught

 

[Another Dave]

I'd like to think that one excreted on your hand as payback for keeping its ancestors in a wee wee bucket.

 

[mikench]

Does anyone want a cheque book and pen as I have acquired two this week following two relatively brief forays with dire results!The venues were totally different and large carp were much in evidence on the first( my local Mere) but were just not interested in any bait I offered them as the mooched about under my feet!

The second trip was to a day ticket water which has always fished well but which produced a blank for at least 20 anglers yesterdaywith hardly a twitch! Well actually I did have a fish on the line namely the smallest roach or bream imaginable which had hung on to the pellet( Not hooked) and was only evident as I reeled in , swung the feeder to hand and noticed it as it dropped off! I packed up at 2.00pm in disgust along with many others amongst dark mutterings of discontent!

 

[103841]

No thanks Mike, I’m something of a blanker myself in recent times.

 

[theartist]

Does anyone want a cheque book and pen

Van Den Eynde are bringing out out a groundbait that avoids that by attracting trout

Supermatch Game, Supermatch Game Supermatch Game........Supermatch Game

 

[Another Dave]

Blank here today. Tried fishing mini plugs and had a few follows from below average perch. Eventually got a take from a jack only to find that my clutch was really loose, resulting in the hooks not setting properly. Wildlife spotted: one squirrel and one large rat. Oh, and the river smelt funny.

On the plus side the pub had Wibbler's Gold on this week, so not all bad.

 

[peter crabtree]

Fished the big pit in town today and a fine day it was too.
Wagg and magg 30yds out got me loads of small carp which do become slightly tedious but also had 2 tench.

One was small but I was pleased with the other,
my biggest yet from this lake at 6lb.

 

[Philip]

With some precious free time and a nice day forecast I decided to dust off my Kayak and have a paddle down the local river. Of course I could not resist bringing a rod a long too. Although not my favorite method, lure fishing is ideal for this.

I had picked a section of river on the narrow side of an island knowing the big barges would not trouble me and spent the afternoon gently drifting around in solitude jigging little lures close to any features. I am still very much an amateur at this style of fishing, its not easy trying to control the Kayak with one hand and work the rod with the other without causing to much disturbance. You really need to creep up on the features trying to drift rather than paddle up to them but of course the Kayak always spins round at the last second and I end up trying to jig a lure backwards over my shoulder mg:

The Perch were obliging and got the heart pumping each time they took the lure. I had a Chub on a for a split second but it spat the hook. Biggest surprise was two small Jacks..quite unusual for here and hopefully a nice sign for the future.

No monsters but a very pleasant day.

 

[103841]

Outed, you dusted off your kayak.