How did you get on?

[wetthrough]

Arrived at the local commercial around 7am Friday. Set to fish til about 3:30. Not a soul in sight. Not surprising as it was forecast for heavy rain around midday, it didn't disappoint. I'd have gone Thursday when the weather was a bit more clement but for a dental appointment. Just about set up and father and son arrive and set up on the two pegs to my left, out of ~35. Bit miffed but do understand it. When I go fishing I decide beforehand where I'm going to fish depending on the conditions and nothing much will change my mind. I've got about 4 rod lengths in front of me feeding about mid way, fishing into the wind and loose feeding hemp, casters and a few maggots little and regular. Fishing on the far side of the feed area to start with then pulling back to just at the bottom of the far shelf, hook just grazing the bottom. I don't know whether it's normal but I never get much interest in corn early on, mostly catching on bread flake on an 18s with a 3BB antenna which I stuck with throughout the day. First out is a tail hooked Common of about 4lb. Second time it's happened there, first out tail hooked. Last time it was a good sized Bronze. From then on it fished well. If the bites tailed off I'd put meat on assuming the Carp had moved in. Two of the Commons took the meat although the last one took the bread flake. Slowed down a bit around midday but picked up around 2pm. 41 all told, two more Commons around 4lb one about 1lb and about 70/30 Crucians/Skimmers. Crucians from a couple of ounces to about 12oz, skimmers to about 1lb+. Mostly on bread but some on corn later on. Tried to take a photo of the best looking Common but it got camera shy and leapt back in. Second time that's happened. Maybe if I faced them away from the water it might be less likely.

Father and son got one Common. What was a bit puzzling was the whoosh of the rods when they cast. They're not casting far, maybe a couple of rod lengths and the floats look quite chunky, 6mm dia and looked like they'd take a fair bit of weight so it should have been an easy cast.

Might try fishing the margin next time I'm there to see if I can connect with some of the Tench that are suppoed to be in there.

Another enjoyable day despite the rain

 

[john step]

I am just recovering from a long day trip. Two hours each way as I cannot make my usual extended trip to my favourite river this year. To say I am Knackered is an understatement. Oh to be young again.

Anyway it was worth it as I had 3 barbel 8lb4ozs/8lb.8ozs and the biggest at 9lb.4ozs. Plus a 4lb.10oz chub. Oh yes and a blooming great signal Reggie. My first ever..Yuk.
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Local fishing for me for a while now I think.mg:

 

[mikench]

Nice post Gordon! Were you at Dunham? It was dire there on Thursday! Some order was restored today at my local water with one carp and half a dozen decent roach on a maggot feeder! It was slow though and I discovered two things! Firstly that fishing can be frustrating and boring when the fish are not obliging and you have not brought the ideal rod for roach !Secondly a maggot inadvertently dropped in your coffee cup does not enhance the flavour!

 

[wetthrough]

Nice post Gordon! Were you at Dunham?

Yes Mike. On the far water whatever it's called.

 

[mikench]

White oaks! I was there !!!! You would have thought it was devoid of fish!!!Are you mobile now?

 

[The Runner]

Got back here on Monday, a bit of work to do so didn't get out during the week. Weather has been very blustery with the wind stuck at W or WSW so didn't fancy any of the west facing marks and just decided to stay local. Morning tides at the moment so dug myself some lug and a few rag yesterday afternoon- lovely clear day in between showers with Glamaig and Sgurr nan Gillean in the distance
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Got to one of usual stances on Loch Portree at about 8, half tide. Would probably fish the same over a half mile length but only a few places where you can stand on grass or dry rock rather than a jumble of weed covered boulders
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Usual two rods, 1.75 TC barbel rod for out, Normark multitip for close in, bites the instant it hit bottom on both but all this size unfortunately, barely bigger than the bait, a mixture of little pollack , coalies and codling.
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Went quieter as neared the top of the tide, switched to 10gm slider on close line and after a few more pollack, marginally bigger than before, had three small wrasse five yards out in the space of 20 minutes. Note the subtle shotting pattern....

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Bites dried up as the tide ebbed, started getting crabbed out on the further line so used ny last few worms on the float, one more bite which was probably a much better wrasse which couldn't keep out of the rocks and kelp and which snagged me solid.

No sign of the better codling this week, looks like evening tides a better bet for them. All a learning curve.

Wildlife ? Lots of oystercatchers on the mudflats yesterday with a black-tailed godwit and a few curlews. Usual ravens on the crag behind me today and a few goosander on the loch. The wildlife tour boat stopped for ten minutes under the cliffs opposite me about half a mile away so at a guess one of the local sea eagles was around but I couldn't see it.

 

[tigger]

When we used to go on holiday up Scotland my brother and I would use maggots and earth worms off the rocks and we used to catch countlrss wrass on 'em, if ever you can't digg the lugg so easily try some earth worms, unless they're scarce up there lol.
If you can source some ragg instead of lugg you migh get better results also, I always did.

 

[wetthrough]

White oaks! I was there !!!! You would have thought it was devoid of fish!!!Are you mobile now?

Not mobile but sorted for transport. I was looking out for you but didn't see your car. I was at the far left end if that makes sense.

 

[The Runner]

When we used to go on holiday up Scotland my brother and I would use maggots and earth worms off the rocks and we used to catch countlrss wrass on 'em, if ever you can't digg the lugg so easily try some earth worms, unless they're scarce up there lol.
If you can source some ragg instead of lugg you migh get better results also, I always did.

Yep, back in my sea fishing youth in Northumberland we always used to reckon lug by far the best for cod and flatties, rag for everything else. Only a few rag where I've been digging at the moment but sure will find some somewhere (only a handful of other sea anglers around here and they seem to invariably fish lures or half mackerel- I'm not yet geared up for the latter.)
And yes, wrasse will eat everything, pretty much the only fish you can expect to catch on limpets or on hard-backed crabs. My next plan for them is to try float with small live crabs held on by a large pellet band....

 

[markcw]

Arrived at the local commercial around 7am Friday. Set to fish til about 3:30. Not a soul in sight. Not surprising as it was forecast for heavy rain around midday, it didn't disappoint. I'd have gone Thursday when the weather was a bit more clement but for a dental appointment. Just about set up and father and son arrive and set up on the two pegs to my left, out of ~35. Bit miffed but do understand it. When I go fishing I decide beforehand where I'm going to fish depending on the conditions and nothing much will change my mind. I've got about 4 rod lengths in front of me feeding about mid way, fishing into the wind and loose feeding hemp, casters and a few maggots little and regular. Fishing on the far side of the feed area to start with then pulling back to just at the bottom of the far shelf, hook just grazing the bottom. I don't know whether it's normal but I never get much interest in corn early on, mostly catching on bread flake on an 18s with a 3BB antenna which I stuck with throughout the day. First out is a tail hooked Common of about 4lb. Second time it's happened there, first out tail hooked. Last time it was a good sized Bronze. From then on it fished well. If the bites tailed off I'd put meat on assuming the Carp had moved in. Two of the Commons took the meat although the last one took the bread flake. Slowed down a bit around midday but picked up around 2pm. 41 all told, two more Commons around 4lb one about 1lb and about 70/30 Crucians/Skimmers. Crucians from a couple of ounces to about 12oz, skimmers to about 1lb+. Mostly on bread but some on corn later on. Tried to take a photo of the best looking Common but it got camera shy and leapt back in. Second time that's happened. Maybe if I faced them away from the water it might be less likely.

Father and son got one Common. What was a bit puzzling was the whoosh of the rods when they cast. They're not casting far, maybe a couple of rod lengths and the floats look quite chunky, 6mm dia and looked like they'd take a fair bit of weight so it should have been an easy cast.

Might try fishing the margin next time I'm there to see if I can connect with some of the Tench that are suppoed to be in there.

Another enjoyable day despite the rain

Was that Dunham Fishery Gordon ?

 

[markcw]

Forget the quote asking about Dunham Fishery Gordon, I see Mike had beat me to it.
Right.. for a change I decided to fish the last match of the series. It was a pairs match on Hampton Springs in Cheshire about a 40 minute drive from where I live, The idea being if there was an odd number turning up I would go on another pool on the complex that my fishing club rents, As it turned out we had even numbers,
So off to my peg, it looked good with overhang grass in my left margin swim and rushes in my right margin swim. My pairs partner had drawn the peg to my right, we were the only pair who drew adjoining pegs, Anyway we decided to feed our shared rushes margin swim with pellets on his side and corn on mine and see which was the better option, I fed my left margin swim with irregular shapes of chopped ham and pork flavoured with F1 liquid flavour. I set up a margin pole, 2 feeder rods, 1 being method feeder the other maggot feeder and a waggler rod. Plenty of swirls on the surface a few rod length out as setting up and the margin was swirling with carp in the swims, At the All In I catapulted some 6mm hard pellets to where I was goin to fish the method feeder, some maggots onto the waggler line, My left margin sim got a few pieces of meat with a hndful og 2mm softened micro pellets, the right margin a few grains of corn, I started of on the waggler fishing shallow with maggot and feeding maggot, Got plagued with small silvers, the carp had disappeared,I even tried a different line fishing pellet, but no avail, So out with the maggot feeder but only a few small knocks, I kept pinging pellets on the method feeder line near an island. The maggot feeder rod was changed for the method feeder rod and a couple of casts near to the island to get the range, on with the softened 2mm pellets and an 8mm on a quickstop and it was good to go, A few slight knocks, then the tip shot round with the baitrunner screaming...… missed it. !! Out again with method feeder, a few knocks again, then the tip goes round.. fish on, I managed to get it from the island to my peg, then all hell let loose, it decided to come to the surface and take off for the far side, It looked if it was just shy of 20lb... line went at hooklength. That was carp 2 me 0. I pinged some more pellets over to the island and let it rest, Down to my right margin swim, nothing doing, so tried my left margin swim with a piece of meat on the hook, I kept dropping a couple of pieces in every 5 minutes, then the float buries and I am in, 18 elastic through a short topkit came streaming out, and after a short fight a carp of around 5lb was in the net, My pairs partner had a few small carp from his margin swim, so we decided I would concentrate on the one to my left, Again a piece of meat on the hook and handfuls of 2mm pellets going in in along with a couple of pieces of meat, The float buries again and the elastic is streaming out, after a longer fight and a struggle to get the carp in my net I managed to land it. a couple of more goes on the waggler while the margins were rested resulted in a couple more small roach, The all out was called, and we thought we had come nowhere, after seeing a few play and land carp, At the weigh in my mate had 12lb 4oz of carp and silvers, my 2 carp and half a dozen silvers went 19lb 12oz. I think the silvers did the 12oz part, Our total weight gave us second overall, we got beat by 6lb for first place.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Fished an old haunt on the local canal that used to be very good but went down hill when they "treated " the weeds a few years back now there are almost no lilies but huge forests of that grass looking stuff and it seems that small fish and fry love the grass but the better fish are found in and around the few remaining lilies .

Guess where matey picked for us to fish you got it the dead zone in the grass cus he can ship his pole straight back without breaking it down .

As for the fish i beat the two of them hands down with 2 decent perch and a handfull of skimmers strangley enough only started catching when i switched from a shiny silver no 20 to a Guru mwg PTFE coated job still a a 20 thou seems they dont like shiny hooks there now mind you it was crystal clear ...


PG ...



...

 

[peter crabtree]

9 of us fished the GUC near Tring today, an impromptu knock up match as nobody fancied the scheduled venue..
I drew the same peg I had in the codgers match the other week where I won with 16lb so I knew what to set up and fish.
Not quite as good today on the wagg and magg but my numerous skimmers, roach and rakes of gudgeon for 10:13 got me 2nd overall with the winner weighing in 12:12.

 

[theartist]

Had another day trip to the Severn Saturday, I know last time was gonna be the last but hey ho it's only 3 hrs away, some folk have to walk that every day for food or water.

Didn't catch a single big roach, must be losing it but i'll kid myself that was down to extra coloured water coming down, didn't stop the ol' chub feeding plus a couple of small barbel so ended up with about 20lb of fish on what seemed like a poor day, get some perspective Rob!

Because pics are so easy to upload now here's one of me walking on water, taken by the missus either side of her comically chasing a pheasant for a photo. It's more a case of the water being very shallow but at least i'm more static than the local birdlife.

 

[Another Dave]

Quick session down the river today with my youngest, fishing half a lobworm. She can never remember the word 'trotting' and calls it 'walking the horsey'. I managed one very nice fish, my assistant insisted on posing with it, despite all the tears from nettle stings.

 

[mikench]

I like that Dave!I must do more walking the horsey!!

 

[Jelster]

Haven't been out much recently, as we have had regular viewings of the house. Looks like we have a buyer, so this weekend we ventured up to Herefordshire to look at a few places.

Still, I did get to the local commie on Thursday, with mixed results. They have 3 lakes, I usually fish lake 1 which has a greater head of bigger Carp, lake 3, the match lake, was closed due to blue/green algae. Now, I usually bank at least 3 or 4 Carp at this place, but on this day it was pretty dire. 5 or 6 other anglers on the water and just one Carp had come out by lunchtime. I then hit into some Bream, four of them, all unhooked in the water.

I wandered up to the cafe to get a coffee and a sarnie, and chatting to the bailiff he confirmed that the lake fished poorly the day before also, so I decided to move to lake two, after seeing a few Carp around. Nice little swim, lillies to my left, small island 10 metres or so in front. I noticed a couple of double figure Carp feeding in the lillies, so rigged up a floater rig with artificial sweetcorn, dunked in some sweetcorn relish. Cast out, right close to the lillies, and the "plop" made a double figure Mirror turn to investigate. The corn disappeared, I struck, and hit into a fish, but alas, it was an F1 Hybrid.

Never had one before, lovely looking thing, you can really see the Crucian shape in them, it went about 3lbs. I then had a couple more before deciding to call it a day.

So, no decent Carp, but a new species crossed off of my list.

 

[103841]

I was torn between returning to the river adding a another blank session in an attempt to hook that blessed carp or spend a few hours on the estate.

With a day more like late Summer rather than early Autum I decided on the estate which having ignored for a good few weeks made for a pleasant change of scenery.

The scenery stunning as ever and reluctant to shed the lush greens of Summer.

Was hoping for the tench to show but it was crucians that brightened up the session, along with a few roach, skimmers and bream managed four of these little bars of gold in the space of ten minutes, lost a fifth which most probably spooked any others in the shoal as that was it.

Oh yes nearly forgot to say, on my return home and surfing social media the mirror I’ve been stalking over many days was caught this afternoon. I’m so pleased for the angler concerned.

 

[sam vimes]

I wasn't planning on going to go today, but a look at the forecast persuaded me otherwise. I'm certainly not going to do battle with the 40-50 mph winds predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday. Having not been fishing since Saturday, I didn't fancy the prospect of not getting out until the end of the week.

As it was all a bit rushed, after checking the river levels (20cm up but dropping), I decided to keep it very local. A five minute drive, followed by a ten minute walk, and I'm looking at a very familiar peg. It's been largely devoid of fish all summer, but a touch of colour and extra water made me think it would be worth a try.

As per normal, I had to wade through a few hundred minnows, but managed forty dace, nine chub (small, but not all small enough to be deemed chublets), two grayling and two trout for somewhere north of 10lb in total (excluding minnows).

Thoroughly enjoyed myself in the Autumn sun, despite it being a touch breezy. Fortunately, the wind direction was pretty benign and it was stupidly warm. I was fishing in a T-shirt until I knocked it on the head at around 1930. By the time I packed up and got back to the car, the temperature gauge was still showing 19 degrees.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Another Dave....Beautiful photo! I had to do a second take as the spitting image of my sons daughter in New Zealand. I had to swallow hard.....

S63.....Again, more great pics from you. Quintessential tench water in my book...Absolutley stunning.


With some improvement in my physical condition I decided, that with great care, I was able to go for a few hours yesterday. I didn't push the boat out and travel miles, nor did I go steaming off to preferred swims once on the bank! Nevertheless, I managed to stagger to a sheltered swim on the shaded side of the lake offering lovely views, so should the fish fail to show, at least I had something to admire!

The water is small with levels well down, and from what I hear via pals, catches have been on a diminishing scale both in quantity and quality. Anyway, I decided the old tee-cee magic ( that's a funny!) and familiarity with the water might just put a fish or two on the bank so i set up with my usual enthusiasm. After plumbing I decide to fish tare just off bottom close in, around 5' deep and took a number of swinger up to 8" from the outset, but nothing special.
After an hour I came up in the water with both hemp and tares as I could see roach dimpling on the surface 2/3 rod lengths out, and this gave me another five fish up to 12ozs before they dispersed.

Of course, a days fishing wouldn't be complete without one mishap (although if I'm honest, it would be better titled a total lack of concentration considering the style of fishing I was using) when near surface fishing can produce lightening bites, so it serves me right that a very good fish was lost..... In batting the centerpin to retrieve the float for another cast, I reached down for a few grains of hemp in readiness for the new cast (with the float still in the water, some 10' from the bank) when I felt a sharp jag on the rod top of the 14' Ultralight, and found I was attached to said fish.

I recovered my composure somewhat, and for a few fleeting seconds I had myself reaching for the net, but luck was not on my side and after, what, some 15 seconds, we parted company. Size? Well it was solid in resistance without doubt and I did have to give a bit of line at one stage, but as with all such happenings it is daft to speculate. If I had to hazard a guess (based on the jagging, boring 'fight' and underwater flash) I would say somewhere close to 11/2lbs, possibly more................
I don't think I could've done much more and I certainly didn't bully the fish, so I put the loss down to how it was hooked in the first place.


ps Just to put the kibosh on the day; Yesterday afternoon sitting sorting the tackle box, I had need to rise from my chair. Halfway between sitting and standing my lower back went into spasm and I found myself unable to go up or down, momentarily. The pain was excruciating to say the least and the only thing I could do was fall backward into the chair, which is what did. My wife came a running at my call, and over the next two hours it gradually eased.

What bothers me is the thought - what would I have done if still on the bank..........................

The end result is that I haven't gone this morning and goodness knows when confidence will return to do so again..Mmmm