How did you get on?

[S-Kippy]

Slightly later start for me today but I was still down on the clubs crucian water just after dawn. Decided on one of the Marsh Farm lakes again as the main lake is still right off.Though the average size is a good bit smaller there are still some lumps in there plus I had the place to meself which is a very welcome change from the other lake which can be a right circus at times.

TBH every swim I stopped at looked terrific but I really fancied another go at the one I fished last week....so I did.

I tried terribly hard to float fish the marginal shelf but all I could catch were dog roach...the crucian just didn't seem to be there today so it wasn't long before I was lobbing a feeder out towards the island. Not my preferred way of catching but it works.

I ended up with 9 good crucian before the sun got on the water and the action ceased. Slightly bigger than last week with the smallest at 1-14 and best 4 going 2-4, 2-6, 2-7 and 2-9. Not as big as the other lake but these are younger,prettier fish that look as if they will grow on.....and as I've said before I will never,ever turn my nose up at crucian of this size that look so beautiful.

I did manage 1 on the float but the pics are posed because not much complements a big golden crucian better than a centrepin.

The run continues but atm all I seem able to catch are crucians. I'm not complaining but all these lakes are stuffed with tench yet in the last 4 trips I've had 54 crucian but only 2 tench. More typically on a decent day you might get 6-8 tench and maybe 2 possibly 3 crucian.





My apologies for posting one of last weeks pics. The others are today's

 

[theartist]

Following a morning spent hacking through rushes trying to find a river I spent the next day with day trying to find fish on another that had some water in, well some as it was seriously low. I settled down in a swim a caught the usual bait mugging chub first cast followed by a small barbel that bent the hook slightly, as it was a size18 drennan super specialist to 4lb - I was after roach but geared for the inevitable encounter with barbel, they don't usually bend so I just bent it back with forceps and carried on. The roach in my swim were big but didn't want to know with the water so low and it turned into another fish watching excersize.

I popped upstream to the shallows and photographed a huge shoal of small roach, maybe 200 or so, I went one way the fish went the other, even using super stealth they clocked me, it was pointless fishing for them but was fun to watch, this as just the tail end of the shoal as they were far too quick for me.



I then got a call from dad who was in a deeper swim and what happened next was more Keystone cops than Crabtree and son. He had his net caught in that chicken wire that adorns the platforms, once it gets frayed you don't notice it till you go to land a fish and so I was greeted with dad struggling to land his first barbel. I unhooked the net but found it loose and thread had gone. Put it this way the barbel got a good rest in the net both before and after unhooking as I did a gymnastic act in releasing the fish, thinking of the fish more than my stomach although I was thinking of dad more, he's got an anuerysm and don't need to be bending over - pesky chicken wire!

I superbodged his net thread with 8mm silicon tubing and it was good to use for the rest of the day and I went back to my swim which was so shallow compared to dads, in fact in what was now bright midday sun you could see all the detail of the bottom and the lack of fish with only the odd one here and there passing through in the shade of the far bank rushes. The odd big roach and carp cruised along the near side as I was sitting well back and I couldn't resist moving my freelined bait in front of a feeding carp, despite knowing that I was undergunned a bit, I still fancied my chances though

Its amazing how much stick you can give a fish on 4lb line and an iffy hook, this thing went like a train in a shallow swim a rod length wide, these river carp are beautiful and a whole lot of fun



We packed up and went back to dads for a cup of tea as we both had a couple of decent fish and a fun day out

 

[S-Kippy]

Lovely looking carp that, Rob. I'm not a massive carp fan but I dont mind when they look as good as that.

 

[theartist]

Lovely looking carp that, Rob. I'm not a massive carp fan but I dont mind when they look as good as that.

Yeah same here although I have got a soft spot for river carp, they are always pretty on the eye

 

[peter crabtree]

Went for a practice at a day ticket fishery near Leighton buzzard today in preparation for a club fixture on Sunday...
The water level was about 4’ down due to some bank reinforcement being undertaken..

Consequently I was perched way above the water so had to use long pole rigs which wasn’t great.
I like to have a foot of line between float and pole tip but had to put up with about 3’ otherwise the fish would be hanging in mid air on the way in...
No4-5 hydro elastic in both kits was my choice today.
Potted in fishmeal gb on one line and micros on another in about 5’ of water at 9m.
It soon became apparent that the fish preferred the gb. Skimmers, roach, perch and a few big gudgeon were taking my double red maggot.
I fished from 10 until 4, the same as we will fish Sunday.
Around 2o’clock it went a bit quiet so I tried a shallow rig. Tiny float with the shot directly beneath it and 18” to the hook. Pinging casters with caster on the hook the bites were frantic. I was hitting about one in 5, roach and perch mainly along with a solitary chub...

I reckon I had 10-12lb by the feel of the keepnet when I lifted it..

The carp didn’t show at all which was fortunate as I forgot to pack an appropriate sized landing net.
There aren’t a lot of them in the lake but they are proper lumps. I’ll have to see where I draw on Sunday because 2 of those carp would probably beat my hard earned silvers today...

 

[john step]

Easy day on a club lake I only fish a few times a year due to the lack of variety. Carp and F1s only. The cormorants have seen to that.
Between method and float I had 8 to low doubles + 4 F1s. The f1s are about their maximum now I feel, 3to 4 lb ish.

A couple of mates were there and we had a good natter putting the world to right. There was a grandad there with youngster.
The youngster was all thumbs on a game thing in between bites.
It occoured to me that perhaps we as anglers are just as addicted to the float going under or the tip banging round as the youngsters are to getting a point or hit or whatever on their game thingy.

Perhaps its the same sort of thing. Philosophising over for the day.mg:

 

[bracket]

I have always made my own floats, for use with rod and line, never made floats for the pole. I rectified that the other day. Bought some hollow tips, carbon stems and preformed balsa float bodies off the net. The whole lot came to just over £9. So far I have made 8 floats at a pro rata cost of 66p. I say made, that is an exaggeration, all that was needed was to assembly them, so easy a monkey could do it. In fact I used Gorilla Glue, so I was half way there. Here is the end result:
[url=https://postimg.cc/y3yyHZ21] [/URL]

Shot load is about 0.7g, so ideal for depths of 5ft to 6ft. Armed with my latest creation, I set off today to a club water, intent on catching some skimmer bream. I arrived at eight o'clock and was only fishing for the morning as I was taking my Lady shopping in the afternoon. Dropped on this peg

[url=https://postimg.cc/G80FTKC3] [/URL]

I picked this one because there are no close up feature, so its pretty open, plus the bottom is flat and weed free, ideal for skimmers. I had fished it before and knew it quite well, so I mixed up a slack handful of sloppy groundbait and fed in three walnut size balls, to make a bit of cloud, then cupped in a good dollop of expanders and let that settle, whilst I put on my newly made float rig, which I had shotted with No8 & No 10 Stotz, and plumbed up. Slipped an expander pellet on the hook, shipped out to 10m and got my first skimmer bite straight away:
[url=https://postimg.cc/rd7JCcSk] [/URL]

Which turned out to be a poxy carp. Anyway kept focused and the next bite was more like it:
[url=https://postimg.cc/xXCywq5Q] [/URL]

In the years BC, that's before carp, these little beauties were match winners. Do it right and you would catch them, almost one a chuck, throughout a match. Nowadays it's just a nostalgic trip for a sad old man. Anyway enough of that. I caught skimmers steady from then on, plus a couple of small tench. Come eleven fifteen, it was time for one last put in, and this was the result:
[url=https://postimg.cc/cKt7JjP5] [/URL]

I finished up with 73 fish, on the clicker, which was good enough for me. Time to go to ASDA and vent my spleen on all the geriatrics blocking the aisles. Christ it's like an episode of "The Walking Dead". Still I had bagged a few of what I was after, the new float worked OK and was well christened. So a minor success all round. Pete.

 

[103841]

A double header today, freshwater, saltwater.

I had planned a day on the river yesterday but in view of the sad circumstances it seemed all wrong and I didn’t want to be in the way of any search and rescue. I chose instead to visit Ralph who was fishing on the estate, was intending only going for a chat but couldn’t resist taking a rod, a bit of chat and a hour of surface fishing for carp producing zero interest.

So with slightly mixed feelings decided to go to the river this morning in the knowledge the poor lad had been found. It seems hard to believe such a beautiful, calm and serene setting can be so devastatingly lethal. I fished here just a few miles from where Lucas sadly slipped away.



I forgot to put a proud boast on the bargain thread with my latest acquisition, a Daiwa 125m, bought from a local charity shop for £7, needed a bit of tic but was keen to see how it performed against my favourite Abu 506M, jury is out on whether I prefer it or not.



It certainly got a good initial workout with over a hundred fish caught in the session.a nice variety including Roach, Rudd, Skimmers, Perch and Gudgeon but alas no Silver Bream. Hard work though, had to contend with canoeists, really numpty first timers too, a pesky cormorant doing as well as me, dealt with them but when the pike moved in I waved the white flag.




A quick trip home, dump the gear, and put the sea gear in for part two of today’s extravaganza.

Headed to Westgate where the sea was calm, clear and weed free. I hurled every lure looking for bass I have in my ever growing collection without a touch, the last,lure being a surface popper which I managed to hurl out about 50m, no sooner had it landed when a Tern dived like a Kamikazi pilot thinking my lump of plastic was a meal, it was a race to reel in which I won by the skin of my teeth.

There were other anglers spinning having a similar blank which gave me a small consolation.

The gulls must have sensed dinner was imminent, they got it wrong too.



So, canoes, cormorants, pike and Terns did their best to spoil my day, in the great scheme of things I’m still alive and kicking raring to go again, for one poor kid it’s all over.

 

[jpwebster]

Had another session in search of Barbel on the Hull last week, not had chance to update till now.

Spent the first 3 hours building the swim up with hemp and maggot whilst fishing the stick, a couple of roach and chub showed up again, no real size, then as the tide turned to flood it turned off so I put the float rod away, chucked a handful of boilies over the top of the hemp and got a tippy 2lb carp rod out fishing a 2.5 Oz cage feeder full of hemp capped with hemp groundbait, set the size 10 hook so it sat against the back of the 14mm boilie on the hair, nice and tight. 10lb main line, 6lb hooklength ( they only go to 8lb in here really so thought I'd be fine ) , after an hour of recasting every 10 and staring at the tip, seeing a few little plucks here and there, the rod shot round and the butt whacked me in the knackers! I was in! It'd took about 15m of line from the baitrunner whilst I cleared the fog of ballache and then remembered to engage the front drag and try steering it back towards me from the middle flow, I got a hold of it, turned its head, saw it roll on the surface, oh god it's a monster! Then it shot off and found a snag breaking the hooklength. Devastated, it looked like a double easy, I wasn't ready for that at all. Shame on me. I composed myself and went upto 8lb as that's all I had, and stook at it for another hour, fuming at myself the whole time. Then this little beauty showed up! 6lb 3oz! So chuffed to get me first one of the year.


Will be back out again next week for an all out barbel approach, will have to go with 8/10lb hooklength from now on.

 

[nottskev]

Back on the river this afternoon. I took a friend along. We'd had innumerable evenings in the pub over the last 15 years, but he'd never sampled this fishing business, so I thought a trip was overdue. A bit of roach and dace fishing would have produced a lot of bites and fish, but I though I'd risk going for barbel as something more dramatic for the non-angler to see. After 3 hours with just a small chub on a river that was steadily dropping and the barbel apparently uninterested, we were in the second swim, and I was starting down the "oh well, that's fishing, sometimes they just don't blah blah" path when this one whacked the rod around, saved the day, and left my friend impressed with the power, stamina and good looks of this amazing species.

 

[d.owens]

Decided to grab a few hours fishing before my late shift started at one o'clock, was setting up on the edge of the small lake by six, as the daylight struggled to appear.
This was a spur of the moment trip and I decided to make it a "kitchen cupboard" session; only using bait nicked from the food shelves.
Ginger nut and digestive biscuits crushed in a freezer bag for groundbait - salt and curry powder thrown in. Hook baits would be bread, a small tin of sweetcorn and bacon grill.
Fed in small ammounts of groundbait with corn and soon had the first fish in the net to a pinch of bread flake.

View attachment 7412

I had the lake to myself all morning, a couple of heavy showers must have detered everyone.
A great mornings sport kicked off when I began using punched bacon grill (B&M's finest) on a size 10 barbless hook. Hit into some beautiful crucians and a couple of chunky carp.
Ten fish in four hours and I even made it to work on time.

View attachment 7413
View attachment 7414
View attachment 7415


Just goes to prove that simple tactics and inexpensive bait can be a very rewarding and effective way to fish.

 

[seth49]

Out again yesterday with mick, went to the fishery we joined this year, mainly for carp today, tackled up with 12 ft barbel rod, centrepin reel loaded with 12 lb line, and a method feeder, 4 inch coated braid hook length, to a size ten carp hook, with a ESP bait screw on the hair, like these bait screws, easy to fit either a wafter or as yesterday an 8 mm robin red pellet.

Now the swim I chose is a good one, but because of rocks and willow branches further down the swim, it’s a case of holding the carp as soon as they are hooked, or you either get cut off, or snagged.
With the through actioned barbel rod, and my thumb clamped down on the pin, not giving any line, they either kite out into open water, or they wallow on the surface, I can then play them as normal, or wind them up to me on the pin, they seem to come to the pin being wound steadily, and just keeping the rod still, and bent from tip to butt, without pumping them.

I was trying something Martin Bowler had done in an article in the angling times, putting a couple of pellets in the feeder mould, before filling with soaked two mm pellets and the bait and hook, so there’s two free pellets on top of the feeder, before they get to the baited hook, seems to work too.
View attachment 7417
View attachment 7418
View attachment 7419
Seemed to work to, it turned out to be a red letter day, I finished with a catch of twenty carp, which is six more than I’ve had in a day before, each one scrapped hard, I left them in the net in the water for a couple of minutes, while we both got our breath back.

It was a damp but warm day, and cloudy all day, which helped, they seem to like these conditions, so a great day out, and I think I’ve got this peg sorted now.

 

[seth49]

Well that’s working, don’t know what happened to the other three in my post, they were showing and now they not.

 

[108831]

Well my fishing whilst away was relatively poor compared to the last couple of years,ending up with five barbel to 8lb 1oz,another 7lber,with three smaller fish,11 chub to around 3lb 8ozs,an eel and a roach,the fish seemed to go off after we had virtually a day of rain,which though the river only came up a couple of inches,seemed to chill it and kill the fishing.I went to Poole and had quite a few sand blennies???,a few black gobies,4 ballan wrasse and a corkwing wrasse,this was great fun and it's amazing how hard small wrasse pull...

 

[theartist]

Well my fishing whilst away was relatively poor compared to the last couple of years,ending up with five barbel to 8lb 1oz,another 7lber,with three smaller fish,11 chub to around 3lb 8ozs,an eel and a roach,the fish seemed to go off after we had virtually a day of rain,which though the river only came up a couple of inches,seemed to chill it and kill the fishing.I went to Poole and had quite a few sand blennies???,a few black gobies,4 ballan wrasse and a corkwing wrasse,this was great fun and it's amazing how hard small wrasse pull...

Well done Alan but not sure about the Sand Blenny

 

[Jelster]

Well my first day out this year, and first time on one of the waters run by the Warminster club. Started about 08.00, packed up at 12.00 as I had to go out with the Mrs.

Using a home made mix of groundbait, crushed pellets, chopped Krill boilies, and chopped up luncheon meat I used a method feeder with a couple of grains of corn on a hair rig. I was hoping for some Tench or maybe a Crucian, but ended up with 5 Bream.

Best about 5lbs, smallest about 3lbs. These were taken on my old Tetra Avon rod. I also had a Carp rig out that did nothing all morning.

Still, at least I didn't blank on my first trip to the water. Next week I'm going to hit the River Frome at Rode to see what I can get.

 

[108831]

Nor am I Rob,I asked a guy in a tackle shop and he showed me pictures,but I forgot within a couple of days.

 

[theartist]

Nor am I Rob,I asked a guy in a tackle shop and he showed me pictures,but I forgot within a couple of days.

Did you take any photos?

If it looked like a bleak its probably a sand smelt
If it looked like a goby but lighter it could be a sand goby
or if it actually was a blenny its likely to be a Shanny(Common Blenny) or Tompot

This helped me a bit, still does lol
http://https://britishseafishing.co.uk/fish-species/mini-species/

 

[108831]

Think they were sand gobys,similar in colour to gudgeon,but looking similar to an elongated bullhead,some had a line of orangy yellow along the top of what looks like a spiny dorsal fin,though not spiny,caught quite a lot of those,as for photos I have a couple but my ability to download due to extreme technphobia is legendary. The best bit for me was my youngest son(16)was interested in catching some,so I showed him what to do(haha)and went to wipe my hands after putting a fish back when I heard an 'oh,oh,hobby' and he had a Ballan about 8oz or so which he got in a right panic over,so good to see him get a snippet of the thrills we get through fishing.

 

[wetthrough]

Another trip to the Dam yesterday. I don't usually fish it twice in a week but I had a target in mind. Some time ago on HDYGO I mentioned a decent hybrid I caught. The bailiff was nearby at the time and he suggested it might be a Silver Bream but not knowing much about them other than not being very common I passed it off as a hybrid. Reading the recent thread about Silver Bream convinced me it probably was. No slime at all, very silvery quite big scales and the right sort of shape but at the time I didn't take much notice of the eyes. I wanted another look so fished the nearest peg I could to where I caught it (the peg itself had disintegrated). Realised I was setting myself up for a dissapointment of course and I wasn't dissapointed when my expectation of a dissapointment was realised as I was expecting a dissapointment. OK, not exactly positive thinking! On the other hand the Roach were playing ball. I didn't have my clicker with me but counted up to 27 around 12 O'clock from about 6:30 and a better stamp of fish than Mike and I were getting at the far end, I was fishing near the Dam outfall. Very few tiddlers and 5 or 6 around the 8/9oz mark, mostly on corn, a few on meat which is unusual there. Tried flake but just got smaller fish. Catching was sporadic due I suspect to Pike moving in although not parked under the peg as usual. They definitely were about as one went for and got my catch. Played it for a short while and managed to get it in weighing 7.7lb in the net so around 7lb. Get it on it's back between my knees ready to lift it's lower jaw a quick flip and it's back in the water, b****r, I've got to play the thing back in again I'm thinking. No pic I'm afraid. As luck would have it it had shed the hook in the net. No damage I could see to the hook length at all as far as I could see or feel, I carried on catching with it anyway, must have been in the scissor which has happened before. A eventful day despite not getting my intended quarry. Not sure of the total Roach haul. Probably 45/50.