How did you get on?
- Thread starter peter crabtree
- Start date
flightliner
Well-known member
No Alan, don't want to upset dear old Ray Clark !4lb Mick....
Parasite? A bit of autocorrect going on? Thanks - I intend to get a couple of theirs, unloaded bodied waggler amd unloaded stepped waggler, both around 3AAA, just to try them out.
Tee-Cee
Senior Member
Another trip to my gravel pit this morning in very wet and windy weather. Still peeing down at 07.30 and the wind getting stronger by the minute. I stopped short of running to my swim but it was a very fast walk and within minutes I had the brolly up before going back the tree cover to collect the gear.
The rain eventually stopped at around 9am, which was just as well as the brolly was in danger of collapsing and several times I had to hold onto it for dear life as the pole bent alarmingly. Small branches sprayed the water, but fortunately nothing larger than a small branch landed near me.
Same tactics as previously described taking a dozen roach to 10ozs in the first hour. By the time I packed up to go collect more bait at noon I'd caught close to 40 roach, biggest just under a lb. with every one putting up a great fight on the light gear. It shouldn't surprise me but the fish were like pristine blocks of ice to the touch...All fish on single reds to a 20 hook..
A pity in some ways that keep nets are not allowed on this water as i would have liked a few pics of the bag for the records. No matter, as the memory of these past few weeks roach fishing will stay with me for some time. It has been a very good spell for me and makes up for fishing time lost due to aches and pains these past months, when I thought I might have to stop altogether.
Still hoping to get out again on Sunday all being well, but my wife might have other ideas and that's fine by me........
Good Christmas, everyone!!
The rain eventually stopped at around 9am, which was just as well as the brolly was in danger of collapsing and several times I had to hold onto it for dear life as the pole bent alarmingly. Small branches sprayed the water, but fortunately nothing larger than a small branch landed near me.
Same tactics as previously described taking a dozen roach to 10ozs in the first hour. By the time I packed up to go collect more bait at noon I'd caught close to 40 roach, biggest just under a lb. with every one putting up a great fight on the light gear. It shouldn't surprise me but the fish were like pristine blocks of ice to the touch...All fish on single reds to a 20 hook..
A pity in some ways that keep nets are not allowed on this water as i would have liked a few pics of the bag for the records. No matter, as the memory of these past few weeks roach fishing will stay with me for some time. It has been a very good spell for me and makes up for fishing time lost due to aches and pains these past months, when I thought I might have to stop altogether.
Still hoping to get out again on Sunday all being well, but my wife might have other ideas and that's fine by me........
Good Christmas, everyone!!
Yes Kev and I altered it once,bloody awful,araldite or epoxy resin,I have some really long loaded jobbies,they don't take enough shot really,for the distance I'm fishing,in a wind they don't slide...
Ok - I get it now! Thanks.
Pete Shears
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Just a white egret some 30 yards downstream and a wren in the dead bankside undergrowth,sadly no kingfishers again
HDYGO? Well not fishing. I did stand and have a peer over the bridge at the Monnow in Monmouth yesterday. I can truthfully say
I have never seen a river that dark shade of strong drinking chocolate before. It is obviously the soil in those parts upstream. The Wye looked no better. A raging torrent.
Might be able to get out and fish soon. Getting withdrawal symptoms.
Oh yes. Saw 4 red kites above the motorway on the way home. They seem to like the M6.
I have never seen a river that dark shade of strong drinking chocolate before. It is obviously the soil in those parts upstream. The Wye looked no better. A raging torrent.
Might be able to get out and fish soon. Getting withdrawal symptoms.
Oh yes. Saw 4 red kites above the motorway on the way home. They seem to like the M6.
sam vimes
Well-known member
At least some of the prime release sites for red kites were close to motorways. Plenty to be seen around Gateshead on the A1M, just north of Leeds near the A1M/M1 Link and around High Wycombe on the M40. They are common as muck on the Chilterns. All three being release sites.
Where to see red kites in the UK - Discover Wildlife
Tee-Cee
Senior Member
Yes we have lots of them circling on the edge of the Chilterns at all times of day. Either Kites, or that other wonderful bird, the Buzzard. Have a farmer plough a field in the valleys close to us and the tractor will be followed by two dozen birds, minimum. They appear seemingly, from out of the blue....
You can see them nesting near Stokenchurch on the M40 at the right time of year.
I sometimes wonder how they all manage to find enough food to live on, considering the ever increasing numbers.......
ps Apologies to PC......
You can see them nesting near Stokenchurch on the M40 at the right time of year.
I sometimes wonder how they all manage to find enough food to live on, considering the ever increasing numbers.......
ps Apologies to PC......
flightliner
Well-known member
I always keep an eye out for the kites on my Sunday walk but never seen one in this area.
A few years ago I travelled to the lands end pub nr Readind for a book launch and was amazed to see one from the car window.
By the end of the day I I had seen so many I was barely looking.
A few years ago I travelled to the lands end pub nr Readind for a book launch and was amazed to see one from the car window.
By the end of the day I I had seen so many I was barely looking.
wetthrough
Well-known member
I got OK'd to drive last week and hadn't fished for a week or two so was itching to get out. The weather here yesterday was relatively warm, about 'feels like' 6° so unusualy for me decided to fish a stretch of the Bridgewater canal around Dunham. It's many years since I fished a canal and don't really have much of a clue how to go about it. Clearly I got it wrong. Complete blank. Not even a nibble from about 10am til 3:15. Quite a tow on the water despite there being no evidence of boat traffic which had me struggling to keep the waggler still. Couple of roving drop shotters stopped for a chat and one suggested putting a backshot about 18" from the float and that helped considerably but I still had to lay on about 12" with a couple of No10s on the deck to keep it still. Not sure I'd have known about it if I had got a bite but my suspicion is that there just weren't any fish there. One of the drop shotters showed me a pic of a cracking Perch of around 2lb he just had but that was it.
Still good to be out.
Still good to be out.
Got out today for the first time since my missus fell ill(all good now),went to Bedford on the Ouse having seen the levels were rising to give it a go for bream,ended up with eleven from 2-5lbs,six roach and a dace,which I enjoyed,even though it would give Jerry nightmares.
On red kites,I see loads,they fly over the estate where I live daily,buzzards too,obviously feeding on litter louts chicken bones,or maybe people put chicken carcasses out on bird tables...the release sites are a way away,but they are breeding succesfully ,much to the pheasant breeders disgust...
On red kites,I see loads,they fly over the estate where I live daily,buzzards too,obviously feeding on litter louts chicken bones,or maybe people put chicken carcasses out on bird tables...the release sites are a way away,but they are breeding succesfully ,much to the pheasant breeders disgust...
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Today was a real "best laid plans" job. With all the rain and mild weather, I decided to go and fish for bream on the shallow, town centre, river-fed dam, as I'd meant to but not done in the week. I called Steve to see if he fancied it, but he was all geared up and sorted out for some big river fishing, and I'd packed all the canal-grade stuff, so we stuck to our own plans. I knew mine wasn't going to work when I got there and found the dam was normal level, the water clear and the little river trickling in like it was summer. I don't know what they do with all the precipitation up there, but they clearly don't put it in the river.
I plumbed around at 10-11m and found my swim offered depths (ho ho) going from 8 inches on the edge of the river to 15 inches over to my left.
It definitely wasn't a slider job today, and the float of choice took two no 12 to trim it to a speck.
It was a forlorn hope, but I fed one swim with a bit of soft groundbait and maggot for bream, and another as far away as the peg allowed with caster for roach. I soon gave up with the groundbait and maggots - just a couple of bits - and decided to fish for the roach. It's so shallow you need very soft elastic or the fish are pulled up on the strike and splashing around - not good - so I swapped the 4 elastic through two sections (bream) for a 3 elastic through one (roach), started fishing again and promptly caught a little chub!
Casters in the "deep" part of the swim got plenty of bites, and a few better stamp roach
Unlikely things can happen on this dam - some of the fish you catch make you wonder how they fit into such shallow water - so I kept hoping one or two of the bream might get drawn in by all the feeding roach, but that didn't happen, so by 2.30 I decided I'd seen enough small roach for the time being and wrapped up. I never tire of this type of fishing, and seeing your float go under every time in the middle of winter is a treat.
I got a text from Steve with a pic of a mint condition river carp, estimated a low double.
I don't think he was using a no 3 elastic.
I plumbed around at 10-11m and found my swim offered depths (ho ho) going from 8 inches on the edge of the river to 15 inches over to my left.
It definitely wasn't a slider job today, and the float of choice took two no 12 to trim it to a speck.
It was a forlorn hope, but I fed one swim with a bit of soft groundbait and maggot for bream, and another as far away as the peg allowed with caster for roach. I soon gave up with the groundbait and maggots - just a couple of bits - and decided to fish for the roach. It's so shallow you need very soft elastic or the fish are pulled up on the strike and splashing around - not good - so I swapped the 4 elastic through two sections (bream) for a 3 elastic through one (roach), started fishing again and promptly caught a little chub!
Casters in the "deep" part of the swim got plenty of bites, and a few better stamp roach
Unlikely things can happen on this dam - some of the fish you catch make you wonder how they fit into such shallow water - so I kept hoping one or two of the bream might get drawn in by all the feeding roach, but that didn't happen, so by 2.30 I decided I'd seen enough small roach for the time being and wrapped up. I never tire of this type of fishing, and seeing your float go under every time in the middle of winter is a treat.
I got a text from Steve with a pic of a mint condition river carp, estimated a low double.
I don't think he was using a no 3 elastic.
mikench
Well-known member
Another good netful Kev! Steve said he was off to the Trent for the day ! I cannot imagine fishing such a shallow venue with a float! A beautiful spot on a club card( wetthrough knows it well ) has water that is 3'deep at best and waggler fishing is described as difficult!!
Light ledgering I can manage but float fishing is another kettle of fish - pun intended!!!
Light ledgering I can manage but float fishing is another kettle of fish - pun intended!!!
Tee-Cee
Senior Member
As I came of the Marlow by pass and onto the A4 this morning it was still raining heavily, but I'd made my mind up to have another pre Christmas session so I continued driving toward Reading. My thinking was that I might be driving through the rain band by heading west, but by the time I reached the venue it was still raining hard. I parked up at 7.45, too early to walk to my swim, and waited.
The note I'd left my wife to say I might be back sooner than expected looked a distinct possibility.......
However, just after 8am the rain eased to a soaking drizzle and by 8.15 I was ensconced under the brolly and making a pigs ear of threading the line though the tiny rings of the Ultralight in the still very gloomy weather. Fortunately, it was a very still morning so no driving rain to contend with and after a very slow tackle up I was making my first cast by 8.30.
I used the identical method to that described in previous threads (flat fished homemade balsa float x 40mm long fished 2/3' deep to a 20 Drennan Silverfish hook to nylon and a pair of No shot spaced up the line) casting 2/3 rod lengths out over half a dozen maggots. Second cast bought a really vicious 'take' (that I actually felt at the c'pin reel) and a few minutes later a very smart 12oz roach was in the net. Sounds easy enough, but that fish took me everywhere and as with all fish taken shallow the last thing I wanted was a lively fish bouncing around on the surface, so I gave line to keep it as deep as possible.
Over the next 30 minutes i had a further 4 fish all over 10ozs from the same spot before they went AWOL and I had to go searching for them in other parts of the swim. This turned out to be the way of things for the rest of the session, taking one or two fish, before moving the float elsewhere.
All in all I had some 30 fish in the four hour session, but none bettered the first one......I lost three fish, and all down to fuffing with the Thermos flask and trying to fish at the same time. Will I never learn...
A lovely mornings fishing in still, damp, heavy conditions and I was well pleased with the catch.
The rain? Oh yes, that stopped at 9am and it stayed that way until I was almost home., a journey marred by frantic shoppers trying to drive into Marlow town centre. Will they never learn!
A week at least, before I go again...........
The note I'd left my wife to say I might be back sooner than expected looked a distinct possibility.......
However, just after 8am the rain eased to a soaking drizzle and by 8.15 I was ensconced under the brolly and making a pigs ear of threading the line though the tiny rings of the Ultralight in the still very gloomy weather. Fortunately, it was a very still morning so no driving rain to contend with and after a very slow tackle up I was making my first cast by 8.30.
I used the identical method to that described in previous threads (flat fished homemade balsa float x 40mm long fished 2/3' deep to a 20 Drennan Silverfish hook to nylon and a pair of No shot spaced up the line) casting 2/3 rod lengths out over half a dozen maggots. Second cast bought a really vicious 'take' (that I actually felt at the c'pin reel) and a few minutes later a very smart 12oz roach was in the net. Sounds easy enough, but that fish took me everywhere and as with all fish taken shallow the last thing I wanted was a lively fish bouncing around on the surface, so I gave line to keep it as deep as possible.
Over the next 30 minutes i had a further 4 fish all over 10ozs from the same spot before they went AWOL and I had to go searching for them in other parts of the swim. This turned out to be the way of things for the rest of the session, taking one or two fish, before moving the float elsewhere.
All in all I had some 30 fish in the four hour session, but none bettered the first one......I lost three fish, and all down to fuffing with the Thermos flask and trying to fish at the same time. Will I never learn...
A lovely mornings fishing in still, damp, heavy conditions and I was well pleased with the catch.
The rain? Oh yes, that stopped at 9am and it stayed that way until I was almost home., a journey marred by frantic shoppers trying to drive into Marlow town centre. Will they never learn!
A week at least, before I go again...........
Pete Shears
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- 885
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Instantly befriended by a robin yesterday morning on the banks of the upper Soar which kept coming back for small pieces of breadcrust. I hadn't realised so much rain had come down overnight as the river was very high and belting through with all sorts of rubbish in it. Managed to get one chub at 2lb 10oz on legered flake but every cast saw debris wrapped round the line but the weather was fantastic when compared to 12 months ago - then freezing hard,2nd dollop of snow still kicking around.Tried cheese paste crust and worms to no avail,even moving swims three times didn't get another bite.Might be out again on Monday.
It was tempting to join the queues in the supermarket, but in the end I plumped for another few hours on the marina. Some serious rain had put the river well up, and the pegs I fished on Thursday were under water, but I found a bit of dry land and the weather was fine and dry and the river level steady.
The peg was a similar depth - about 12' - so the same 25 year old float came into play again, although I'd had to repair it in the meantime, splinting the thin peacock stem with a section of drinking straw and araldite.
A couple of balls of groundbait brought bites straightaway, but once you gather a few fish together here, it's usually not long before the pike find them,and today, even in the soupy water that you might think wouldn't be idea for pike to hunt, I had two roach bitten clean off in the first hour. You strike at a bite and your hooklength comes back two inches shorter.
Roach and perch were the only species I caught. A couple of nice perch made me think I might go back and fish for them more specifically
The roach came and went, as they do when being chased around by pike. This was a bit frustrating, but I reminded myself I could be at the back of a queue to get into or out of a car park, and it was an enjoyable afternoon.
The peg was a similar depth - about 12' - so the same 25 year old float came into play again, although I'd had to repair it in the meantime, splinting the thin peacock stem with a section of drinking straw and araldite.
A couple of balls of groundbait brought bites straightaway, but once you gather a few fish together here, it's usually not long before the pike find them,and today, even in the soupy water that you might think wouldn't be idea for pike to hunt, I had two roach bitten clean off in the first hour. You strike at a bite and your hooklength comes back two inches shorter.
Roach and perch were the only species I caught. A couple of nice perch made me think I might go back and fish for them more specifically
The roach came and went, as they do when being chased around by pike. This was a bit frustrating, but I reminded myself I could be at the back of a queue to get into or out of a car park, and it was an enjoyable afternoon.