The carp tend to cruise continually and like the outlet end near the pilings and to get there they have to cross the wide shallow bay and as they are pigs with fins they are always looking for grub,these carp are cruising your bank too,if you sit quiet and don't slam your car doors like most do,I fed 4mm pellets and used perhaps a pint and a half,with expanders on the hook,I chatted with a couple of guys and worryingly there haven't been many tench out for quite a while,if this is true it's sad as it used to be solid in there,I've had them to 6lb 6oz there...
How did you get on?
- Thread starter peter crabtree
- Start date
There certainly not common(excuse the pun),mainly because that scaling has to be bred into them at the farm.
Hertsbloke
Well-known member
I was really hoping for Tench tbh.....started off using a plastic twin corn hooklink and after a few stinkies, swapped to banded pellet....
lakhyaman
Well-known member
I have been out fishing 3 or 4 times since my last post so please bear with me if I have a string of posts now.
My son and I, in developing our feeder fishing, ended up on our own angling water to see if we could fool any of the bigger fish.
All set up on our water.
We set up on a platform in a shallow bay at one end of the lake and whimsically decided to float fish during the day.
The rig was the usual one of a peacock quill fished with a couple of shot just heavy enough to sink it very slowly pinched on an inch and a half from the size 4 hook. The hook was on a short length of braid. Essentially it was a vertical lift bite set up. My son chose a Drennan Red Range 12ft carp waggler as his rod
The rig is simplicity itself.
The rig
We tend to keep two inches or more of the float emergent from the water as large fish rubbing against the vertical line will sink a dotted down float every other minute leaving you exhausted from continuously striking into thin air or turning the air blue after losing yet another foul hooked fish. I will put a link to a short video to show how the float behaves to a classic Rohu lift and run bite.
Rohu (Labeo rohita) are a largely diurnal fish and duly provided the bulk of the sport during the day interspersed by mrigals (Cirhinna mrigala) and kalabans (Labeo calbasu). We even caught a small white carp (Cirhinnus reba), which rarely grows to a foot or so.
A Rohu comes to the net
Son, Mandan and Mrigal
White carp (Cirhinna reba)
[video]https://photos.app.goo.gl/WSASuZ3EgvvPy7yE6[/video]
The promised clip of the float (30 seconds, I really should edit it but don't know how). You might need to give it a little time to load and run. I hope it opens for you.
All the best
Lakhyaman
My son and I, in developing our feeder fishing, ended up on our own angling water to see if we could fool any of the bigger fish.
All set up on our water.
We set up on a platform in a shallow bay at one end of the lake and whimsically decided to float fish during the day.
The rig was the usual one of a peacock quill fished with a couple of shot just heavy enough to sink it very slowly pinched on an inch and a half from the size 4 hook. The hook was on a short length of braid. Essentially it was a vertical lift bite set up. My son chose a Drennan Red Range 12ft carp waggler as his rod
The rig is simplicity itself.
The rig
We tend to keep two inches or more of the float emergent from the water as large fish rubbing against the vertical line will sink a dotted down float every other minute leaving you exhausted from continuously striking into thin air or turning the air blue after losing yet another foul hooked fish. I will put a link to a short video to show how the float behaves to a classic Rohu lift and run bite.
Rohu (Labeo rohita) are a largely diurnal fish and duly provided the bulk of the sport during the day interspersed by mrigals (Cirhinna mrigala) and kalabans (Labeo calbasu). We even caught a small white carp (Cirhinnus reba), which rarely grows to a foot or so.
A Rohu comes to the net
Son, Mandan and Mrigal
White carp (Cirhinna reba)
[video]https://photos.app.goo.gl/WSASuZ3EgvvPy7yE6[/video]
The promised clip of the float (30 seconds, I really should edit it but don't know how). You might need to give it a little time to load and run. I hope it opens for you.
All the best
Lakhyaman
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lakhyaman
Well-known member
Darkness meant it was time for my son and I to add feeder rods to the float rods and move on to a large platform facing the main lake.
We had made up a plethora of feeder mixes with various concoctions of oats, weatabix, fish feed powder,mixed with sweet corn, green peas, fish feed pellets, red kidney beans, chickpeas, besan flour, you name it.
A plethora of feeder mixes and particles.
But what interested us the most was a particular mix to complement some pellets of approximately 10 mm size. One cannot buy the fishing pellets used so often with a feeder in the UK. So we made our own following the recipe and instructions on this YouTube video:
how can i make my own fishing pellets - Google Search
We used fish feed powder instead of pure fish meal. We had no krill powder but did have a litre can of krill liquid. So a 100 ml of the liquid was beaten up with the required one egg. Ovens were not accessible but two minutes for a fully loaded dinner plate of the pellets in a microwave oven when no one was looking seemed to do the job producing firm but slightly spongy pellets which sank. An extra half minute gave us a few floaters.
To complement the pellets we had mixed fish feed powder with coarse wheat flower (for stickiness) wetted with water blended with 100 mm of krill liquid until we felt it was the right consistency for our flatbed method feeders.
We used 70 gram Avid Carp, and ESP Megafeeders
with a semi fixed bolt rig set up.
Would this work was the question. The answer was in the affirmative as we fished through till dawn catching double figure Catla after Catla. They are extremely strong animals and will test your tackle and you to the very limit.
Son, Mandan and Catla caught on our homemade pellets.
The rod the boy is holding in the picture is a J W Young travel barbel rod. It has two tips. I have used it as a quivertip before and it was fine. However, we both found it a little too much of a poker with the "normal" tip on. We both like bendy through actioned rods. The Shakespeare Agility specimen rod with its 2lb test curve and through action was much more pleasant to use
Catla on a Shakespeare 12ft Agilty Specimen rod.
The moon rose up over the trees to light up the way to dawn.
All the best
Lakhyaman
We had made up a plethora of feeder mixes with various concoctions of oats, weatabix, fish feed powder,mixed with sweet corn, green peas, fish feed pellets, red kidney beans, chickpeas, besan flour, you name it.
A plethora of feeder mixes and particles.
But what interested us the most was a particular mix to complement some pellets of approximately 10 mm size. One cannot buy the fishing pellets used so often with a feeder in the UK. So we made our own following the recipe and instructions on this YouTube video:
how can i make my own fishing pellets - Google Search
We used fish feed powder instead of pure fish meal. We had no krill powder but did have a litre can of krill liquid. So a 100 ml of the liquid was beaten up with the required one egg. Ovens were not accessible but two minutes for a fully loaded dinner plate of the pellets in a microwave oven when no one was looking seemed to do the job producing firm but slightly spongy pellets which sank. An extra half minute gave us a few floaters.
To complement the pellets we had mixed fish feed powder with coarse wheat flower (for stickiness) wetted with water blended with 100 mm of krill liquid until we felt it was the right consistency for our flatbed method feeders.
We used 70 gram Avid Carp, and ESP Megafeeders
with a semi fixed bolt rig set up.
Would this work was the question. The answer was in the affirmative as we fished through till dawn catching double figure Catla after Catla. They are extremely strong animals and will test your tackle and you to the very limit.
Son, Mandan and Catla caught on our homemade pellets.
The rod the boy is holding in the picture is a J W Young travel barbel rod. It has two tips. I have used it as a quivertip before and it was fine. However, we both found it a little too much of a poker with the "normal" tip on. We both like bendy through actioned rods. The Shakespeare Agility specimen rod with its 2lb test curve and through action was much more pleasant to use
Catla on a Shakespeare 12ft Agilty Specimen rod.
The moon rose up over the trees to light up the way to dawn.
All the best
Lakhyaman
I'm a bit of a traditionalist as far as tench go and tend to float fish for them,all my bream Saturday were on a match rod,I can't tell you how many carp,tench,bream I've caught,next season start fishing it as soon as it opens in March,in my last few year's fishing it(haven't fished it for two years)I didn't fish it after May and usually caught 4-6 tench in a session.
mikench
Well-known member
Great posts Lakhyaman as usual with lovely pics. They were worth the wait. Those Catla look a real handful and I bet they do pull back. Your set up looks delightful and I'm fàscinated by the differences in your coarse fish. You and your son clearly enjoy your fishing and it looks like Mandan does too. All the best to you.
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Love your reports Lakhyaman, keep them coming.
Had three trips since last reporting into HDYGO.
Saturday... had planned to head to the river looking for chub but such was the glorious weather I couldn’t resist being by the sea, should have stuck to the river with yet another blank at Westgate on Sea, conditions were surprisingly poor with little if any clarity.
Sunday..... An afternoon visit to the local estate with the sun still beating down, couldn’t do any better than a few skimmers and bream. Another angler turned up and had four beautiful carp in an hour, I’m going over to the dark side next time I visit, I’m getting frustrated with the lack of tench and crucian showing with the glut of skimmers grabbing anything and everything.
Always a view to make it worthwhile though.
Today.... a trip to Hythe along with my local vicar, thought it might be a shrewd move as he may have his prayers answered.
Unlike Westgate on Saturday the English Channel looked superb, calm, clear, weed free and overcast, we just had to catch a fish or two surely!
The vicar had two bait rods out and I was going through my ever growing collection of lures, in the first hour not a bite for either of us. Then on the umpteenth cast I had a fish on, a beautiful Garfish of some considerable size, sadly it managed to slip my barbless hook as I was reaching for my phone to capture a photo and it was away in the surf, happy not to have man handled it anyway.
The vicar meanwhile had started fluff chucking for mackerel and it wasn’t long before he started hauling them in. I’ve never fished for the species before and couldn’t understand when I placed a string of feathers between my dexter wedge and mainline why I could get get a bite.
He put me right by telling me they only seem to attack the feathers on the drop, so a sink and draw method which I now realise is what all the anglers do when fishing for the macks.
So a quick adjustment and I was in straight away catching my first mackerel which will be on tonight’s dinner menu. The vicar had 22 so I guess his prayers were answered.
Had three trips since last reporting into HDYGO.
Saturday... had planned to head to the river looking for chub but such was the glorious weather I couldn’t resist being by the sea, should have stuck to the river with yet another blank at Westgate on Sea, conditions were surprisingly poor with little if any clarity.
Sunday..... An afternoon visit to the local estate with the sun still beating down, couldn’t do any better than a few skimmers and bream. Another angler turned up and had four beautiful carp in an hour, I’m going over to the dark side next time I visit, I’m getting frustrated with the lack of tench and crucian showing with the glut of skimmers grabbing anything and everything.
Always a view to make it worthwhile though.
Today.... a trip to Hythe along with my local vicar, thought it might be a shrewd move as he may have his prayers answered.
Unlike Westgate on Saturday the English Channel looked superb, calm, clear, weed free and overcast, we just had to catch a fish or two surely!
The vicar had two bait rods out and I was going through my ever growing collection of lures, in the first hour not a bite for either of us. Then on the umpteenth cast I had a fish on, a beautiful Garfish of some considerable size, sadly it managed to slip my barbless hook as I was reaching for my phone to capture a photo and it was away in the surf, happy not to have man handled it anyway.
The vicar meanwhile had started fluff chucking for mackerel and it wasn’t long before he started hauling them in. I’ve never fished for the species before and couldn’t understand when I placed a string of feathers between my dexter wedge and mainline why I could get get a bite.
He put me right by telling me they only seem to attack the feathers on the drop, so a sink and draw method which I now realise is what all the anglers do when fishing for the macks.
So a quick adjustment and I was in straight away catching my first mackerel which will be on tonight’s dinner menu. The vicar had 22 so I guess his prayers were answered.
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mikench
Well-known member
I always found 6 mackerel caught on feathers quite a handful particularly on light Tackle. A unique experience. Lovely pics John as usual. The estate lake looks stunning. I plan to go to Chernobyl( so named by Tigger) to try for more tench.
Now I know carp are not regarded highly by some on here but at the moment locally to me they are the best bet to get your string pulled.
I went for probably the last time this year to a club lake that has only carp and F1s. The cormarants have seen to that.
I indulged myself with a pin and a pole float with bread flake and slop. I had 9 carp three were doubles and one F1.
The runs were incredible out into the deep water with the pin spinning. If only they were tench. I get quite envious of some of the posters on here who seem to have decent tench venues locally. Here is a bit of a famine. The tench seem to go in cycles.
I went for probably the last time this year to a club lake that has only carp and F1s. The cormarants have seen to that.
I indulged myself with a pin and a pole float with bread flake and slop. I had 9 carp three were doubles and one F1.
The runs were incredible out into the deep water with the pin spinning. If only they were tench. I get quite envious of some of the posters on here who seem to have decent tench venues locally. Here is a bit of a famine. The tench seem to go in cycles.
I had a few hours spare this afternoon, and as the river has been very poor of late I headed down to the coast for a bit of topwater Bass fishing.
The mark I chose is a small reefy area surrounded by sand, it can fish well from low tide for a few hours up, the fish move into the gullies as the tide rises.
I've only fished it once this year, and there were a lot of small Bass around, which is unusual as you usually get nothing or a decent one here, so when i hooked into one of about a pound after 10 minutes, I was expecting the same.
However, after about another 10 minutes, I had a slashing take at the lure, but no hook up, damn! I carried on retrieving, and it came again, nothing!
So i just let the lure sit, and wallop, fish on!
After a short tussle, I had it on the rocks..
Not bad, at 53cm and about 4lb.
I carried on for another hour or so, and had one more solid take that didn't stick, and a few swirls, and then they were gone.
The mark I chose is a small reefy area surrounded by sand, it can fish well from low tide for a few hours up, the fish move into the gullies as the tide rises.
I've only fished it once this year, and there were a lot of small Bass around, which is unusual as you usually get nothing or a decent one here, so when i hooked into one of about a pound after 10 minutes, I was expecting the same.
However, after about another 10 minutes, I had a slashing take at the lure, but no hook up, damn! I carried on retrieving, and it came again, nothing!
So i just let the lure sit, and wallop, fish on!
After a short tussle, I had it on the rocks..
Not bad, at 53cm and about 4lb.
I carried on for another hour or so, and had one more solid take that didn't stick, and a few swirls, and then they were gone.
mikench
Well-known member
And that's what they do. I remember fishing off our boat and catching over 200 mackerel in a few hours. We gave everybody loads on our caravan site. The boat took hours to clean with guts, scales and s*** everywhere. A much underrated fish from a culinary perspective.
sam vimes
Well-known member
I think I'm about daced out! Reverted to a bolo float on a slightly more sedate middle Tees. The pace of the river is reducing as the levels drop as low as I've seen them recently. I simply chose a lighter, thinner bodied, and finer tipped model of float. 135 dace, 5 grayling, 1 chublet and a surprise bonus (half decent) roach later and I'm knackered. Mercifully, no grayling were pinched today. Not even a hint of otter going through the swim. Though I've no interest in sitting it out legering big baits for them, I'm starting to wonder where the proper chub have got to.
no-one in particular
Well-known member
So, on the pier yesterday, I haven’t fished on there for years, used to catch some nice bass down by the pilings then in the sort of sea I had today so, that was what I started out doing. A float with two hook trace with sand eels on and a clip on the end for a big weight that sinks the float. This sits on the bottom but the float keeps the rig up so the sand eels waft about just off the bottom The weight wants to be big enough to hold the rig steady in the current as lots of snags under the pier and you don’t want it to drift under in the strong current that was prevailing. The other point being I can change the weight quickly (a small drilled bullet with a piece of line through it that can just go on the clip)and fish on the top if the mackerel show which they did after about an hour. (you can cast with this off the beach alternating between static and floating although you won't cast as far floating weight but if you get tired of constantly casting with a lure makes a break).
Small pods were spotted just off the pier; I had plenty of takes but failed to hook many of them, maybe blunt hooks or they were too big but I did manage two in the end. I went for smaller pieces of sand eel and put the bigger weight back on and left it static where the mackerel were appearing, fishing deeper like this produced more takes and gave some rattling bites.
Only one other angler on there today and predictably he had quite a few feathering. Still I prefer float fishing on my light telescopic carp rod; they fight like little tigers on that gear. Four nice mackerel fillets went in the pan when I got home, very tasty they were to and I didn’t blank for a change, only just though
I fillet them on the beach Mike, avoid doing this at home if possible, a very sharp knife, just cut down behind the head to the bone and work the knife along the bone to the tail, less messy than gutting them, you lose some of the flesh but a lot cleaner and no bones, give them a run under the tap when you get home and they are ready to go. And rub your hands through sand or small pebbles afterwards if possible gets them clean.
Small pods were spotted just off the pier; I had plenty of takes but failed to hook many of them, maybe blunt hooks or they were too big but I did manage two in the end. I went for smaller pieces of sand eel and put the bigger weight back on and left it static where the mackerel were appearing, fishing deeper like this produced more takes and gave some rattling bites.
Only one other angler on there today and predictably he had quite a few feathering. Still I prefer float fishing on my light telescopic carp rod; they fight like little tigers on that gear. Four nice mackerel fillets went in the pan when I got home, very tasty they were to and I didn’t blank for a change, only just though
I fillet them on the beach Mike, avoid doing this at home if possible, a very sharp knife, just cut down behind the head to the bone and work the knife along the bone to the tail, less messy than gutting them, you lose some of the flesh but a lot cleaner and no bones, give them a run under the tap when you get home and they are ready to go. And rub your hands through sand or small pebbles afterwards if possible gets them clean.
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mikench
Well-known member
Well I returned to Chernobyl and whilst Tigger was invited , he declined blaming car trouble. He is a wise man.
This was the scene.
View attachment 7586
It looks perfect and I was very optimistic and duly set up a carp rod and a feeder rod. The day was very pleasant and warm. There were a lot of positives to be drawn from the day and only one negative.
The positives included a wide peg, no disasters with Tackle, no smelly landing nets and plenty of bait left over. The negative was a blank!!!
There is always the CL tonight. Ian you made a wise decision as the catch reports were depressing.
He is a wise man.This was the scene.
View attachment 7586
It looks perfect and I was very optimistic and duly set up a carp rod and a feeder rod. The day was very pleasant and warm. There were a lot of positives to be drawn from the day and only one negative.
The positives included a wide peg, no disasters with Tackle, no smelly landing nets and plenty of bait left over. The negative was a blank!!!
There is always the CL tonight. Ian you made a wise decision as the catch reports were depressing.
Pete Shears
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A cold start this morning at the local reservoir, 4C, on Saturday it was 2.5C and not so much mist/fog.
More fish rolling and splashing about than Saturday.The first run after a few head shakes the fish fell off,only a bream I told myself,the next bites was a skimmer.The third was just a single tone and a very hard fighting tench was coaxed out of the weed and into my landing net - a female of 4lb 10oz. And that was it ,no more bites but it did get warmer,one more tench than Saturday when I only had two real bream and two skimmers.Plenty of buzzards trying out the thermals but the best sight was when a van went down the lane and the breeze from it passing a buddleia caused 30+ red admirals,small tortoiseshells,commas and other assorted butterflies,bees etc to erupt in a massive cloud.
More fish rolling and splashing about than Saturday.The first run after a few head shakes the fish fell off,only a bream I told myself,the next bites was a skimmer.The third was just a single tone and a very hard fighting tench was coaxed out of the weed and into my landing net - a female of 4lb 10oz. And that was it ,no more bites but it did get warmer,one more tench than Saturday when I only had two real bream and two skimmers.Plenty of buzzards trying out the thermals but the best sight was when a van went down the lane and the breeze from it passing a buddleia caused 30+ red admirals,small tortoiseshells,commas and other assorted butterflies,bees etc to erupt in a massive cloud.
Well I returned to Chernobyl and whilst Tigger was invited , he declined blaming car trouble.
This was the scene.
View attachment 7586
It looks perfect and I was very optimistic and duly set up a carp rod and a feeder rod. The day was very pleasant and warm. There were a lot of positives to be drawn from the day and only one negative.
The positives included a wide peg, no disasters with Tackle, no smelly landing nets and plenty of bait left over. The negative was a blank!!!
There is always the CL tonight. Ian you made a wise decision as the catch reports were depressing.
Its that time of year when things seem to change. The nights are cooler and the colour starts to drop out of the water.
Dusk gets more and more productive. Species to target need to be thought about with more finesse tackle wise especially in those waters that have been hammered. Its why predator fishing has been popular in the winter.
bennygesserit
Well-known member
Typical carp from out the margins late on at AstWood fishery - great fishing there
Been a couple of times now with my Lad and also been to Coppice Lane ( Mostly listening to the Ashes ) but also doing a bit of fishing
Including a feisty 8 LB carp on a light(ish) elastic plus others to 14 LB