How did you get on?

[Tee-Cee]

The temperature this morning during the 20 mile trip to my still water for todays session ranged from -1 to +3 but at least it didn't have the bitter wind of yesterday. In fact, when I arrived it was beautitul still morning with clear pale blue skies and as I skirted the water I could see small roach dimpling the glass like surface.
Dimpling or not, the first 45mins went by without so much as a knock and I was beginning to wonder if I'd imagined the now absent dimpling.

It is very strange how fish seem to be very fickle around how they want the humble maggot(s) presented from session to session. Take today, for instance; I tried the usual single red and white (handlebar) on a 20 first thing both of which work well on most days. Today, nothing. I then tried double red conventionally hooked (not popular, normally) on the same hook, connected to a fish, which I then lost.
I then went in completely the opposite direction by changing to a 16 with three (yes, three!) red maggots and started to catch fish almost straight away. Nothing of any size but I was happy just to be catching something! Bites then slowed to zero, so I went from 2' deep to 4' deep and again picked up two fish, one of which was around 12ozs. Over the next hour or so it was firing 2/3 maggots out very cast in different parts of the swim and fishing over them, which gave me the odd fish, but never two from the same spot in succesive casts.

For the last hour or so I went back to a 20 with conventional reds and again took the odd fish...

In the 4 hour very cold session I had something like 20/25 roach half of which were netters up to the 12ozs and I was very pleased with the catch considering the amount of rain and cold wind these past days.

Toward the end, when the very weak sun finally went behind some trees ( amazing how even a little sun can help raise the temps and make things bearable) and my hand frozen despite the 'Hot Rock' handwarmers, I decided I'd done well enough and toddled off home. (Btw, The gloves with said handwarmers caused the loss of two fish - my own silly fault for being a wimp!).

I didn't see a soul, apart from one stupid mountain biker who came close to running into me. Grrrrrrr. Oh, sorry, he said.......................

Out again mid week, if the weather holds AND if my new extra warm thermals have arrived!!

 

[daniel121]

Well well I managed my first trip for what seems like a lifetime, although it was not as fruitful as I would of liked to report, it was a fishing trip in the cold chrisp and dry winter air.

Mmm that's about it though I'm not the greatest of writer, I'm sure some could string together words to describe the happiness I felt today breaking my fishing duff but I'm not that good at that. I did make friends with a swan though she was my buddy for the day as the ice melted away, but the only fish that came to say 'ello' to old dannyboy was a few little perch of a few oz's, sorry my nose has just grew I must tell the truth a few grams mg:

I had a great day out though and I am aiming to repeat it later in the week, feeling a bit tired now but glad I made the effort

 

[peter crabtree]

Last Tuesday 10 codgers turned up at the Aylesbury arm for our weekly fixture to find it gin clear right across. After a quick discussion we sped off to the GUC proper a few miles away.
I ran to the end peg which won last time here, unfortunately, as we started, the cold east wind started blowing straight down the middle. I struggled for 5 hours for a few blade roach and gudgeon on pinkie. The early pegs which were out of the wind produced all 3 framers...

Today’s fixture on the Thames at Sonning was cancelled so I rang around and found a knock up on the canal at Berkhamsted.
Got there nice and early and parked up near the bridge only to find I’d left my bag at home, no bait, no flask no reel etc.
Zipped off home again and returned half an hour later..
13 turned up and it was pegged out, I was happy to draw end peg despite the long walk.

Set up waggler for the far shelf and pole for deep down the track. Opening gambit was punch on the pole line, 2 tiny roach took a fairly big punch of bread on an 18 which was meant to attract the bream.
A boat went through and turned the water to chocolate so out came the waggler across with pinkie once more. This seemed to be the most productive line with gudgeon and tiny roach.
Worked really hard at it and had the odd look down the middle on the pole but nothing big turned up. Surprisingly my 9oz didn’t come last, in fact I came about 8th, so not too bad.

I do hope next Tuesday sees me do a bit better.

 

[lakhyaman]

Bit of a disaster today. I have been up at my lake for the last four days practising my feeder fishing (basically been too lazy to float fish as I had a rather hectic month preceding this). I took out my Hardy Marksman 10 ft. ultralight bomb rod and stuck on a running 15 gm flatbed feeder instead of a bomb. The reel was a Shimano DL 2500 FD baitrunner. I filled the feeder with a sweet corn, quick oats, strawberry jello mix and baited with two grains of corn on a hair rig. The idea was to watch the tip like a hawk, strike and hook the fish i.e. no baitrunner engaged, self hooking bolt rig business. So I put the rod into a rest and turned away to switch off my phone. Yup, next second the rod was diving into the pool. I fished it out sometime later with the aid of a treble hook rigged spare rod and reel. But somehow the fish had managed to snap the bail arm just below the roller (plastic bit). Scratch one reel (it will be repaired in due course).



Four evenings of feeder fishing with various sizes and weights of feeders from 15 to 100 gms, bolt rigged, running, soft quiver tips, Avon tips, feeder, carp and specimen rods, various concoctions, of quick oats, besan (chick pea flour), ants eggs, sweet corn, pineapple chunks, peas, chickpeas, honey, robin red liquid, GLM liquid, fish feed pellets, and anything else I could lay my hands on did produce some fish such as this pristine 4 kg Rohu very much in the pink.


Rohu (Labeo rohita) 4kg.

Big fish of the trip was this long, lean Catla which took a foam "boilie" soaked in Robin red liquid popped up 4 inches from the end of a Fox Compact inline feeder, one of those three finned affairs. I found the ball of "feeder mix" this presented more effective than the flatbed feeders but it will be probably different the next time round.


Catla (Catla catla) 22 lbs / 10 kg.

I did hook something that created a reasonable tsunami as it powered off from some 10 feet down. It ran unstoppably across the lake for some 70 yards and into the sunken branches of a fallen tree. I had on that Rigmarole line of some 12 lbs test that is supposed to saw through wood so I thought I was in with a chance; but no dice!

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[mikench]

I have the same rod and it's a cracker but I limit the casting weight to around 20g and a nice gentle lob or underarm cast! Lovely fish though!

How do you hair rig an ants egg!


Compliments of the season to you Lakhyaman !

 

[lakhyaman]

Yes, I had just under armed it out some fifteen feet under an overhanging tree.

Re ants eggs: it's squished up into bread paste during the making or, as in my case, mixed into besan and put on the feeder.

A very happy Christmas and New Year to you too, Mikench!

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[jpwebster]

Managed 3 hours on the River Hull at Beverley Shipyard today with my Dad.

Pulled up just as police marine unit where leaving, a chap who'd been there a while had only one fish so expected a struggle.

9no4 stick/3lb main/2lb bottom/Size 16 hook.

Few cats of hemp and mags down the middle channel, bites straight away on single mag but couldn't connect, changed to 2/3 on the hook and I was into the first fish within half hour, Roach of about 3oz. Carried on like that till the light faded and it got too cold. End total around 3lb of roach to 6oz for me, about 5lb to 8oz for my Dad, he also had a nice Gudgeon.

Only 3 hours but really enjoyable.

 

[108831]

Welcome,sounds a pleasant way to spend a few hours with your dad...

 

[mikench]

Fishing with your dad; perfect!

 

[jpwebster]

Cheers lads.
Aye he got me into it and seeing as he drives we can go a bit further afield.
Probably last trip to the river/s for this year, maybe get one or two sessions in on holderness drain before christmas.

 

[bracket]

Fishing with your dad; perfect!

Not with my Old Man. He was forever telling me I was mental and when was I going to do something worthwhile? So I did, I left home at 19. Pete.

 

[Tee-Cee]

I fished from 8am til 1pm today in ideal conditions for 30+ roach, with the biggest at 14ozs and the remainder below 12ozs. Had I hooked all those that sailed away with the float it might have been double that...........I also lost a couple.
I expected to spend much of the time under the brolly as it was really tipping it down at 7am, but as luck would have it the last shower passed over at 08.30 leaving me with overcast skies and the occasional glimps of the sun for the remainder of the session.

Almost all fish taken on single reds at 2' deep in an 8' deep swim with a flat float. Other details as per my previous posts, so I won't bore you with a repeat.

A really enjoyable day with not a soul in sight........

Will try again on Friday.

 

[nottskev]

There was a thread a while back about fishing on your own. I usually do, and today I really fancied fishing for bream on a town-centre dam - the extra water in the river that feeds it would surely make ideal conditions. But I chickened out - I'm not sure if that was sensible or over-cautious - and opted to fish a few miles down the Trent for roach instead. There was a thread about favourite methods, too, and I hadn't fished one of mine - light slider for roach on a deep marina - for ages. You want to be there when the extra water would keep you off the main river, so I was happy enough to give that a try.




The forecast had said rain overnight, dry in the day, which looked ideal. But it was a few hours out, and I was well soaked by the time the rain passed over. The swim is about 11'6" deep, going, obviously, up or down with the river level. You could fish it with a fixed float, but I love the way the slider settles and the way you strike into the fish, not the float. It was set at about 8', sliding the last metre or so. Some experts tell you you need big loaded floats carrying a big bulk to make a slider work, but you can do it with no more than 2 1/2 AAA. Drennan use to make the ideal floats for fishing at 12 -15m - the Swingers or the Tench Perfection. Now they concentrate on making pole floats and beautiful but rather fragile no don't go there. If you happen to have any floats like this that you no longer use ( your fishing, unlike mine, may have moved on since the 90's) let me know, and I'll buy them or swap you. Mine are on their last legs.




I try to keep the fish near the bottom, with a couple of balls of groundbait to start and infrequent big pouches of hemp and caster. If you drip bait in you get bites at all levels and lots of bits. Today, I didn't get the biggest or the smallest stamp in there, but I was happy that the float kept going under with those in between. A few predators put in an appearance, with a big pike installed next to the keepnet, a couple of roach taken, and a nice perch



The sun came out for a couple of hours, but it disappeared dead on 3, and I decided to pack up and beat the traffic.

 

[Pete Shears]

A glorious sunrise on the river Wreake this morning with the river actually flowing with the recent rains with not too much rubbish fouling the line.Managed to get three chub, 4lb 2oz,2lb 5oz,2lb 14oz and a little chublet of about 10oz - all in perfect condition and fought well in the deeper,faster water.More rain forecast which hopefuly will clean out a bit more dead weed.

 

[Tee-Cee]

No bird life, Pete Shears?

Too busy catching chub, I shouldn't wonder.....

 

[stillwater blue]

Drennan use to make the ideal floats for fishing at 12 -15m - the Swingers or the Tench Perfection. Now they concentrate on making pole floats and beautiful but rather fragile no don't go there. If you happen to have any floats like this that you no longer use ( your fishing, unlike mine, may have moved on since the 90's) let me know, and I'll buy them or swap you. Mine are on their last legs.

Sorry I need my tench perfections but these look ideal

https://www.benwick-sports.co.uk/37-wagglers#s[4][]:96&s[8][]:&s[9][]:&s[10][]:&s[3][]:84&ash[3][]:84&sid:1&h:home&ics:37&as4_base_selection:YToxOntpOjA7czoyOiI4NCI7fQ::

 

[108831]

Drake floats are generally of good design but have one fault imo,they use a poor shellac like varnish which peels,especially from the base up,this obviously causes leakage,it's no use vanishing over the top of the original stuff and it is a bit like rafia in as much as it peels in a fibrous way,this added to the price I've made my own...

 

[nottskev]

Thanks for the float tips - there are two Drake models I like the look of, and for a fiver I'll try a couple. Meanwhile, I've just ordered a few 2g foam bodies and some peacock stems - a seller has appeared on ebay offering thin peacock, which had disappeared for years.

 

[flightliner]

A run up the motorway yesterday to a water put my way by a friend.
A LOT milder of late and good for a few fish, roach, Bream, perch, whatever. I rigged up a short feeder rig on a short hooklink , cast around for weed etc then clipped up for a clear spot before a half dozen feederfulls of red maggots and I was good to go.
That was near ten am and it was noon before my first bite, a roach and a good one too.
The bites quikend in the next hour but tho quick they were mostly hesitant and never developed which I found frustrating but I did land another three fish with one lost.
Things slowed a little in the following hour but two more fish were little compensation for three that came adrift.
From two pm until nearly four o- clock it was ire- nothing until then when I had a few more fish.
Eight in total-- the best not to far short of every roach anglers dream fish.
Here it is-

Check it against the feeder in the pik.

 

[108831]

If you buy drakes Kev,try thinning parasite with thinners,meths etc,and putting that on the first 40mms from the base,would make it virtually bombproof...