How did you get on?

[Pete Shears]

Brilliant sunshine as I walked across the fields yesterday morning to the Wreake listening to a woodpecker
drumming away in the distance.A white egret flew off the river as I reached the water.Flat calm but debris swirling around in the deep pool so started with the quivertip and flake.A breeze picked up and two sharp showers blasted through and with the return of the sunshine I had the first bite and landed a chub of 3lb 2oz and next cast had a prettier one of 3lb exactly.Eventually decided to move which meant returning to the car to drive to a convenient parking spot to explore another stretch.Good timing as it rained hard for about ten minutes before setting up downstream of the road bridge and had a third chub of 2lb 6oz.With the wind really picking up and roaring through the treetops,I headed for home to get ready to watch the Rugby.

 

[peter crabtree]

After a bit of driving around Berkhamsted yesterday trying to find a sheltered bit of canal, we settled on a bend in Northchurch.
The only problem was there was loads of floating debris.
Branches had been blown from trees and were floating to and fro.
Just 6 of us turned up for this impromptu knock up, probably due to the howling wind and chilly air.

Some opted for pole tactics but I’d left mine at home, fearful of mishaps in the wind.
Small waggler was my choice, easier to control although I forfeited presentation, which was key as the final result showed.
10 roach and a skimmer on punch in the first half hour was my lot, I sat shivering and totally biteless for the next 4 and a half hours!
Local and more often than not unbeatable canal ace Tony took big perch and skimmers for 10lb and the win.
2nd had 6lb on 20’ rod with pole rig.
2 dnw.

My paltry net...

 

[103841]

Attempting to stand upright in yesterday’s galeI thought to myself, nobody will be out fishing today unless they are mad or extremely dedicated, I just knew the man above would prove the exception, well done sir.

 

[mikench]

With a dismal forecast for the rest of the week and today offering high winds but no rain , I decided to venture out . I had maggots and caster and was determined to float fish despite the easier option of the feeder in the prevailing conditions! With the wind at my back it was tolerable and I managed.





I had the lake to myself and picked a spot with the least mud and the wind behind me! Fishing a size 20 to a hooklength of 2lb 12 oz( kamasan b911???) i had 25 roach mostly of the size above, 3 skimmers and 2 carp which I failed to land! One snagged me in the flag iris growing strongly at my feet near my landing net and the other snapped me off early doors!

All in all an enjoyable day and I got through 1.5 pints of maggots!

 

[nottskev]

Another barbel trip called off; the extra water in the river is ok, but I'm not going to get stranded on the waterlogged access track. So back to last Friday's venue. "Fresh breeze", the forecast said, and they weren't kidding. I had to sit round the corner from the pegs to get a bit of shelter from a building, and even then rod, landing net, bait boxes etc took off occasionally.




I'd hoped to combine fishing for roach with groundbait, hemp and tares on a slider, with fishing for perch in the side with maggot on a short pole. But the wind and tow were so bad, I could only keep the float still close in, so the two swims/perch plan bit the dust. Even then, I only had half a dozen in the first hour and a half. A fishing friend walking his dog stopped by, and I was inclined to pack up and do something more sensible with the rest of the day. But around 3 o'clock the wind abated a bit and I could fish properly, things improved a bit and I caught some roach on tares.

 

[mikench]

I'm relieved I can't fill( optimistic to the point of delusion) a keep net as mine would still look inadequate.

Well done Kev . Was that the new box?

 

[Pete Shears]

Back on the Wreake this morning,2C with a strong,gusty wind cold but OK when moving.Within thirty yards of the river a cormorant took off and with the level more than a foot up and with a brownish colour I thought that it would be a struggle.Wrong - six chub between 1lb 3oz and 2lb 5oz by 8.15 then the bites tailed off to nothing.Casting about with different baits proved unsuccessful so about 9.30 I packed up and walked back across the fields marvelling at crows,rooks,jackdaws and ravens doing acrobatic flying in the strong cold wind.

 

[wetthrough]

Set off at six this morning planning to walk the Bridgwater with the roving setup looking for fish topping. Ha, fat chance it looked more like the north sea than a canal. Blowing a hoolie straight down the canal, even if I'd been able to see any topping fishing the waggler would have been a nighmare. Bl!!dy near freezing with sporadic showers for the first time ever I turned back and went home. If the canal had been true to recent form I'd planned to pack in and fish the nearby club pool anyway. Went home and waited for the wind to die down a bit setting off for the pool at 11:30. Arrived at about 11:31



Set up, chucked a small ball of gb in and fished maggot. It wasn't long before getting a bite and out pops a nice Roach.



It wasn't frantic but carried on catching a nice mix, a couple of Crucians, one skimmer a hybrid of some sort and more Roach and mostly a good size. Biggest probably around 10oz. Bites on maggot dried up about half way through and they seemed to turn on to caster. Nothing else got much interest. Usual setup - 2lb hook length 20s light wire hook and 3bb Glow Tip Antenna.



Must ask if they allow guests...

 

[tigger]

I didn't feel like going fishing today and especially not legering. Problem is, the weather report is threatening so much rain that even if it does stop raining for a day the rivers are going to be pretty much unfishable anyhow.
So, because of the forecast I went legering mg:.
The river was up over a meter and I think it rose while I was there, it didn't appear to drop at all anyhow. I cast in at 3pm and wrapped up at 6pm and in those three hours of boredom I caught one chub! I did get a number of hard pulls on my rod as chub must have been trying to pull the halibut pellets off my hair. I wish i'd used a quivertip rod and 6lb line to the hook, taken some bread, sweetcorn and maggots, if I had i'm quite sure I would have had a lot of large chub, too late now .
This was the only fish of the session.....

 

[S-Kippy]

Another go at the Wey barbel today. Colour was good but the water was barrelling through......this made me think the current "hotspot" swim was a bit too pacey and I should fish somewhere a bit steadier. I found somewhere but in the time it took me to move my gear down two blokes set up directly opposite so that was the end of that.

As I suspected "that " swim was a bit too pacey. I could hold bottom well enough but it was just too boily with no steady water to fish. I packed, biteless, an hour into dark and trudged back to the car which ( according to my fitness tracker) was 0.8 of a mile away. Felt double that tonight.

However....i heard and saw my first chiff chaff of the year and backed that up with a treecreeper, several species of tit and a peregrine. I was a bit non plussed by the falcon but the silhouette is unmistakeable and frankly what else could it have been ? I googled it and discovered that there have been peregrines in Woking for a few years now and Woking is not very far at all from where I was. Cool.

 

[peterjg]

Yesterday I fished the Basingstoke Canal for roach. Layed-on bread flake and caught a mirror carp of 13lbs 3oz, it fought really hard on the light line and when I unhooked it the hook was partly straightened. No other bites so drove to another stretch, started again and managed 6 roach to 14ozs. Missed several bites. At dusk it was nice to see a few decent roach priming. At this end of the canal there are no locks for miles and very few boats.

 

[108831]

Last night my mate told me that due to the forecast he wasn't going,when I got up this morning I watched the forecast and thought better of it,at 7.15am I got a text telling me he was on the river and what time was I getting there,I quickly packed the year and drive to Bedford,walked down the river and got my gear set up two swims downstream,decided to fish the float even though it was going a bit,threw four balls of pudding in,and loose fed small amounts of maggot in,ended up with 5 bream between 3-4lbs,a skimmer and eleven roach to 8ozs,then at midday the wind turned from behind me to into my face(northerly)and lashed down,resulting in me being home by 1.30pm...fished around three hours.

 

[peter crabtree]

Just 5 codgers turned up today at Aylesbury town centre to fish our weekly fixture. We all knew it would be wet and windy but perhaps not how cold it was. The wind was freezing and this along with wet hands spells discomfort...
Even with my legendary iron man moniker I admit to going to warm up in the car at the halfway point.
To make things worse my brolly wouldn’t open so I was soaked, my lovely fresh red squatts ended up drowning in the box, even with the lid on!
The canal was gin clear so I set up a 2no1 still water blue waggler with 3 no11 and a no12 dropper to a 22 on 1lb hooklink.
Double squatt on the far shelf attracted a small roach, a small skimmer and a tiny perch. That was it!
Winner had a skimmer for 15oz, I was 2nd with 3oz and 3rd had 3 jack pike which didn’t count and 2 little perch for 2oz.

 

[john step]

As per Brave or Crazy post.mg:

 

[Another Dave]

Brolly wouldn't open so let's go home, actually let's stay because those no12 shot aren't going to fix themselves to the line! This guy is like the Rambo of angling lol.

 

[108831]

I don't understand,look at the pics,it's not that bad there,apart from the rain,I reckon some people are just wimps Simon....:wh

 

[nottskev]

The forecast was for plenty of wind but not too much rain, so I thought I'd give the river a try as I'd probably regret it if I didn't. With several feet of extra water on and the wind turning the bankside willows inside out, my first thought on getting out of the car was to get back in. Usually you fish with the trees behind you; today some were in front



I don't think I've fished in a stronger wind. As I was setting up, my folded chair blew along the bank a bit... I under-armed a smelly feederful with a flavoured chunk of meat into the deep eddy in front and promptly missed a couple of pulls from chub. The hook was in the bait, no hair rig, so how they bounce the tip down without getting hooked, I don't know. After an hour of peering out into the wind, the rod wrapped round properly and a barbel was on




I had few more chucks in the next half hour, but only one bizarre liner. The tip stabbed down abruptly, and a large bream which had swum into the line right below the rod tip glided along the top for a few feet, then dived down. There were no big branches on my trees, but I was getting peppered with bits of willow flying in the wind, and I since I was still dry and nothing had blown away, I decided to quit while I was ahead.

 

[mikench]

Well done Kev! That may be your last opportunity to fish the river this season but knowing you maybe not.

 

[nottskev]

Well done Kev! That may be your last opportunity to fish the river this season but knowing you maybe not.

That's it til June, Mike - I've just cleaned the gear and put it away. Besides, my ears are still ringing.

 

[Notts Michael.]

It looks a bit like there is a whirlpool out in front of you in that first pic