How did you get on?

[peter crabtree]

First time in a while I joined my neighbour on the canal near Hemel. A bright sunny morning with the canal coloured and flowing gently as usual. Set up 12' rod with 2lb line, light waggler to a 22 b511 to 0:06 bottom.

By lunchtime I'd amassed a fair net of roach, skimmers and perch. Wandered down to speak to my mate, imminent rain was mentioned....
A few minutes later the skies opened, mate scarpered and I put the brolly up.
As per usual it went quiet between 1pm and 2 but soon switched back on after I introduced some hemp based groundbait ...
More heavy rain followed but the fish kept coming.
As the light began to diminish a bite was met with a solid resistance, (more solid than others) and a fight was on. Turned out to be a big perch which my newly acquired Normark microlight handled admirably.
Well impressed with this rod..

Needless to say I ended up packing away in the rain and got soaked in the process...

 

[108831]

If I saw correctly it's the original microlite isn't it Simon,if so they have a lovely action,well suited for subduing big fish on lines up to 3lbish,it's just the sliding reel fittings that are a backward step imo,great bit of kit though,especially for the cut.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Re: the Normark Microlite

I inherited several original Normarks from my late uncle last year. Some need a bit of TLC, some a bit more attention. But I have two Microlites, 12ft & 13ft, and a Titan Match 13ft, all in excellent condition.

I had a fair bit of conflicting advice and opinion on the capabilities of these rods but have found all three to be superb tools and capable of handling most of what my local rivers can throw at me.

I enjoyed using both Microlites on the Frome last winter where the target was grayling from typically long trots. They also surprised me with the power and amazing action when playing the inevitable out of season sea trout and occasional salmon.



The Titan Match is fast becoming a favourite rod for me on the Stour when trotting for chub in Autumn conditions. It's not quite so "efficient" in full winter flows but I have had chub to over 6lbs, hit at long range on the float. It certainly picks up the line to the float nice and quickly but it typically takes a bit longer to persuade the chub to get to the net!

A joy to use!

 

[peter crabtree]

Interclub match today on the Thames at Shillingford bridge.
Tring v Wycombe; last time here we battered them but today they beat us by 60 odd pounds. (one of their anglers won with 46lb of bream) .
After a wet drive down the sun came out and it was very pleasant.
My view upstream..

Downstream...^

Did my usual Thames thing, 15’ ultralight, big sliding waggler out down the middle with maggots and casters. During the first 2 hours I caught a steady run of chub and roach, no great size but busy fishing. The final 3 hours were much slower and just small roach showed. Weighed in 4:10:0 which was the best weight out of my team..

 

[tigger]

I had no plans to go fishing today but when I looked in the bait fridge there was still some old maggots and casters in a bucket so I decided to have a couple of hours on a local lake outlet. I had lots of small chub and dace with a fair few decent dace in the mix. As I said it was only a short session due to the maggot supply and the time I set out....it's going dark just after 4pm now and then it really is dark just after 4.30 !
The fish in the net head are about 12 min's of trotting.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Well .

Out today at the club pool but it just was not my day today or maybe the fact i only had white maggots with me yt had one roach around 8 oz that was it .
not fished for a while now too busy hospital dodging , hope to get a bit more active again soon .

Sad to see Binka has thrown the towel in i enjoyed reading his posts .


PG ...

 

[Pete Shears]

Yesterday at the reservoir after pike again - clear,breezy and witnessed a gorgeous sunrise.Three deadbait rods set up and just before 8am one was away and I had a pike of 12lb 2oz in the net,the bait being a sprat mounted on a single hook rig for ease of unhooking.No further interruptions in watching kestrels,buzzards,lapwings and smaller birds.Packed up about 1230 as the wind was gusting strongly and making the alarms bleep continually and there were the autumn rugby internationals to be watched.

 

[The Runner]

Slightly different day today than of late, down South for a few days work so fished club match back on the Colne at Uxbridge.

River coloured from last nights rain and a few inches above normal but in the event it didn't fish as well as many of us were expecting. I drew peg 2 in the Sluice, the archetypal "have a decent days fishing but won't win anything" peg, odd chub about can put you in the frame but generally much later in the season. Not the most picturesque even by Colne standards let alone my more recent venues, looking first downstream then up
View attachment 5966
View attachment 5967

Clumps of pennywort downstream leaving only a narrow channel down to the fallen tree, set up a small 3BB waggler and straight lead, 20 to 0.11 hooklength on each to start given the chance of chub, started on waggler, flow a lot less than expected as amount of water coming over the canal overspill a few pegs down was holding up the flow past me. Very slow start, after 40 minutes only had a three inch dace and felt that the float wasn't going through right. Changed to a little 2 no 4 stick which improved things and started picking up the odd fish a few yards down, and over the next four hours that was basically how I carried on, not much more than 2ft deep but slight adjustments to depth and bottom shot all the time to get an extra bite, never catching quickly but still putting the odd fish in the net; usually on the sluice pegs you catch well for an hour or so and then it goes really hard but presumably the bit of colour today changed this. Had a quick change down to .09 to see if it made a difference, it didn't, so back to .011, and then a quick look on the bomb but as expected, number of leaves coming down made this a non starter. Had the customary visit from Mr Jack who unusually took a perch rather than a roach
View attachment 5968
and also had one of the river's "where did that come from ?" rudd.
Flow began to speed up and the colour to drop out with about 90 minutes to go, stepped the feed right up to try to find a chub but no joy.

Ended up with a hard work 4-9 and round about halfway of 16 on the day, around what I would have expected in the absence of any chub
View attachment 5969
10-9 won it, then 9-4 from adjacent swims on the backstream then 7-5 from the overspill and 6-7 (most of which was the day's only chub) making up the frame.

Good to see all the old faces, and big bit of work on at the moment means will have to be back down probably twice more before Xmas so should be around for the Fur & Feather.

 

[jon atkinson]

Having failed miserably on the Ribble recently I thought that I'd give it another crack but this time at Elston on the St Helens card - what can I say? Failed miserably again :wh. I arrived just as the rain started to subside & in parts the weather was rather too glorious. Plenty of avian activity with half a dozen Buzzards circling overhead & a kestrel hovering as only they can, but it was a small family of swans that were really up for it with the cob particularly friendly / confident pecking at the toggles on my wellies just in case they were edible I suspect that it's the proximity of their bill to ones nadgers when they're stood directly infront of you that makes you somewhat uneasy but our encounter passed without any direct contact, thankfully! If only the barbel / chub had been as interested in human contact! Back on the river again next Sunday but that will be trotting on the Dee which will hopefully be more productive...

 

[fishplate42]

I have not had a very productive year of fishing. A few trips to my local river have been fun, but infrequent. I have not been to a commercial for several months until last week. The weather seemed to be good for Thursday, so I set off for a short day at Beaver. The only thing I caught all day was a signal crayfish, and I think that caught me, rather than the other way around! Fish or no fish, I had a good day out and got some fresh air.



I have written up the day on my blog with a couple more pictures. You can find it HERE if you want to see more.

Ralph.

 

[103841]

Nice to see you posting on here Ralph, just a real shame you blanked.

I know you love the place but I reckon this time of year you’ll have more fun on your local stream.

Had any interest in the house yet?

 

[JONM14]

I had a lovely day on the Severn at Bewdley yesterday. Fished a couple of swims on the KDAA stretch by the carpark upstream of the bridge. Had some quality roach and dace to 1/2lb but the fishing was hard work. Bites came 3 or 4 at a time a died off for while. Fished a 6xno4 stick float using a 13ft Greys Prodigy specialist float rod with an ABU 506 reel. Ive had the rod a couple of years now and im still impressed every time i use it.

 

[103841]

Spent a couple of hours roving the river with a lure rod but it was coming through like an express train with a nice rich chocolate colour, a massive contrast to the low gin clear water of just a few days ago.

Even the usual slack spots were anything but slack, managed zero hits but didn’t lose any lures either which was a pleasant surprise, will try a bit of feeder fishing further downstream tomorrow.

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

Went to coombe abbey today and managed 3 pike up to low doubles. happy chappy.

 

[Another Dave]

You still using those Savage Gear roach or was this bait fishing Guy?

 

[108831]

I've re-organised the days fishing with my friend of many years from last week(fishery was closed)to today,we're going to a day ticket lake near Harpenden,let's hope it's open...mg:

 

[no-one in particular]

Set of yesterday with a breeze forecast and coming from behind. When I set up it was blowing a force 6 or 7 from right to left. Made things difficult, casting, bite detection and my comfort. The picture belies the strength of it, it was flattening the sea and me, I didn't think I would last long and I didn't, maybe thinking of packing this in until the spring.
Still, I had some nice bait and the familiar tap tap of Whiting first cast, I caught about 5 of these and they kept my interest up. They are getting a bit bigger, "I take a size 12 boot" and one came in with a big lump of weed wrapped round the weight, so just for a moment I was transported into a state of high excitement.
Nevertheless, the wind got to me in the end and looking forward to my plan of getting a small boat next spring, I shall be catching a load of fish in it, really!.
PS, that's my rejuvenated reel, putting my paint job aside ("The Artist" is safe for a long time yet) it worked fine except for the left hand wind which is not reversible and it is a bit too clunky for me as a permanent first reel, but its done me a favor for something that was washed up. So a new reel and a boat are plans A and B.
Load of birds, redhanks, turnstones, curlews, oyster catchers, some tern thing and a flock of small waders all white underneath, a lapwing flying out at sea, there's lots of them in the fields behind me but never seen one out at sea before. And last week a grey heron in a rock pool, never seen that either. I am going to add a telephoto lens camera to my to get list; the phone just doesn't pick them out.

 

[John Keane]

Had a session on a club water yesterday, lovely, sunny autumn day. Just decided to be lazy and take the one rod, the Daiwa Matchwinner 10/11ft set up 11ft. As I’d taken the stove and a supply of Cup a Soups and teabags (and given my propensity to pass water profusely in the colder months) I set the rod up on an alarm and settled down for a bit of cloud watching.

Setup was 8lb line on a 2500 baby baitrunner, a Guru Impact Bomb, Guru Speed Bead and a six inch, 7lb hair rig with a Kwikstop. Feed pellets for the Impact Bomb were micros softened with water containing Activ-8 flavouring and on the hair was a drilled 8mm pellet. The Impact Bomb and bait were given a dose of Tiger Nut Goo before each cast.

Ended up with nine carp and F1s for the session and both my mate and I had a peculiar bite each as the alarm kept beeping and the bobbin rising and falling but never developing into a run. After 5 minutes of this I thought, ‘I wonder if...” and started to wind in and there was an F1 of around 1.5lb attached to the hook. I’ve had that with skimmers before but never with a fish of any substance.

The rest of the bites were all screaming runs with the Daiwa adopting a beautiful curve into the butt section as decent F1s of 4lb+ and a 10lb mirror put it through its paces.

I absolutely love that rod!

Once again, no photos, must try harder next time!

Edit: Forgot I took this photo to send to my son and show him my office for the day.

 

[markcw]

Which water was that John, ? Sandymore ?

 

[John Keane]

Which water was that John, ? Sandymore ?

Yep, Sandymoor.