How did you get on?

[S-Kippy]

Gave the monster barbel a miss as the overnight temps were down so off to the club lake yesterday pm for some gentle carping. Last time I went it was mobbed out..yesterday there was me and 2 other blokes, not counting the idiots on the far bank who turned up after dark with a 10000000 candlepower light to fanny about with fireworks for an hour. Unfortunately for them the bailif turned up with his mastiff so that was the end of their shenanigins.

I had 4 fish. 3 during the afternoon, 1 as the light went but nothing after dark which is most unusual for that place as they usually come right into the margins once the "old boys" have packed and gone home for their tea. I gave it a good go,maybe 2 and a half hours into dark but not a touch.

Still dont want the 20mm baits...everyone on a 16mm Sticky Manilla. One little bloke about 5-6 lb ( smallest I've ever had there) a scraper double and 2 slightly better at 13-8 and 14-8. Oddly, though fully scaled commons predominate 3 of the 4 fish I had were fully scaled " apple slice" mirrors which, though smaller than the usual stamp were very pretty fish indeed.





I see the "uppysidedown" glitch is still working for me

 

[mikench]

I was surprised to read that carp would take a dead bait but amazed they would take a livebait. Is that abnormal behaviour?

 

[steve2]

I have caught carp on dead and live baits also on lures. In a pike match fished on one of our club lake there were more carp caught than pike. I put it down to the overstocking of carp and lack of food.
All fish will eat fish at some stage I have even caught roach and Rudd on small spinnerbaits.

 

[Molehill]

I have caught plenty of carp on deadbaits, they are a perishing nuisance especially when I think I am attached to a British record perch!
Have always been surprised that dedicated carp anglers don't use deadbaits (perhaps they do, but keep it quiet?), In waters without pike. Most fish will scoff anything if it looks like food and they can catch it easily, including other fish.

 

[103841]

I have caught plenty of carp on deadbaits, they are a perishing nuisance especially when I think I am attached to a British record perch!
Have always been surprised that dedicated carp anglers don't use deadbaits (perhaps they do, but keep it quiet?), In waters without pike. Most fish will scoff anything if it looks like food and they can catch it easily, including other fish.

I was just about to post the same, when one winter I was brave enough to sit by a cold lake all day targeting specimen perch, it was a momentary rush of adrenaline followed by disappointment when that huge perch turned out to be a greedy carp.

 

[john step]

You want to see how carp go mad for pieces of spratt.
We use fishmeal pellets for coarse fish.

 

[tommos16]

Afternoon all. An hour spent at my hot spot with the missus (bless her, it was Baltic) , five Perch in total all growing in size depending on the worm i put on.

It would appear I've moved on from how/where to fish, to how big can I get them. I imagine this will be a never ending pursuit, and one I'm more than happy to go along with.

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[Molehill]

Well done, something bigger will come along soon enough, especially now you have the confidence that you are doing it right and stick at it.

When you least expect it there will be a big bend in the rod.

 

[sam vimes]

I had it in mind to go today, but really wasn't feeling it this morning. Only an updated weather forecast got me motivated enough to get out for a pint of maggots. However, the trip to the shop took me away from the places I'd normally have thought to go in the prevailing conditions.

After a biteless hour or so, I really was wondering why I'd bothered. I was also beginning to wonder whether someone had fished the swim in the morning and overdone the feed. Some dirty great snags amongst the tackle snagging cobbles and boulders weren't making things easy, but I eventually got a bite and a small grayling. It took another half hour until the next one came along. That left me about half an hour of light which were filled with three more. Bar the first fish, they were all in excess of a pound, the best being closer to two.


A half decent result on a day that just didn't feel right somehow. Glad I took the chance to go though. I suspect that between weather and sport, it'll be a good few days before I'm out again.

 

[john step]

I got the pike gear out to do a bit of sink and draw. I used dead roach. Two jacks for the morning and then whilst freeing my bait from a reed I blooming well slipped in. It aint arf cold Mum.

I nipped home to change and returned to catch this one at 15lb 12 at darkness.

View attachment 7851

 

[steve2]

Nice fish John, to return after a soaking you deserved it.

 

[peter crabtree]

I was out twice last week and both days were very hard going.
The cold nights, high pressure, easterly wind and bright autumn sun simply killed it stone dead.
Our codgers match Tuesday near Tring was abysmal with tiny gudgeon making up most of my net. 50 or 60 to the pound I reckoned...With 2 hours to go I chopped some worms and bait droppered them in on my near shelf, hoping to arouse some perch. Even this failed to produce a bite. Even the micro gudgeon which I’d been catching on the far bank had dried up. With 5 minutes left I decided to pack up but thought I’d drop in on the chop line for one last try and caught a skimmer...

Thursday a few of us went up to Leighton buzzard to practice for next Tuesday’s codger event.
Once again it was cold, bright and an east wind, once again it was a major struggle.

Once again I tried the chopped worm and caster up the far shelf, this time on the pole. Once again I had one skimmer and a few tiny roach.

Yesterday and today were much milder but windy and wet and I just couldn’t work up any enthusiasm .
River Thame tomorrow and I’m gagging to get out again but it will be hard I’m sure...
Watch this space....

 

[tommos16]

A strange one for me today. 5 or 6 wasps, nothing of significance but I was trying new spots and I can't complain.

While dropshotting off a lock bridge I noticed my line going for a walk. No bite to speak of, but I reeled in all the same. A little Tommy Ruffe was on the end! Never thought I'd catch one of them, bit of a strange one, but I'm pleased nevertheless.

No idea how rare they are but a few friends say they're not so common.

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[mikench]

I have neither caught one or seen one and I usually attract small fish. They must be rare then.

 

[tommos16]

I have neither caught one or seen one and I usually attract small fish. They must be rare then.

Haha! I must admit I was very surprised. Such a weird take as well. It had swallowed a decent size worm, and the hook, it was a nightmare getting it out but we got through it!

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[nottskev]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a ticket for some woodland ponds on a big estate. Steve liked the look of it too and joined, and we met up there this morning. There's a chain of stream-fed ponds/lakes, and they'd been full to overflowing in the week, with the pegs - and banks in places - underwater, and the water heavily coloured. So it's not surprising, looking back, that the fishing was hard. But you couldn't ask for a prettier or more tranquil place to fish.



Last time I'd been, the fish - a lovely mix of ide, chub, bream and barbel - had all been in mid-water, so today, expecting the unexpected, I set up a waggler and a couple of pole rigs to let me fish various depths and distances. The last time I set up three rigs I was fishing for money - setting stuff up and putting it away aren't my favourite things. And as it turned out, a simple home-made dibber was the most successful on the day.




Neither of us had a bite for the first couple of hours. I was just complaining to Steve, who'd walked round, about this when the waggler dipped and there was a bream on the end. But that was it from the waggler line, although I fed it and tried it through the day.

An hour or so later, I had a little run of ide on the pole. I don't see ide often. They are handsome, solidly built fish, but to me they seem like chub with the batteries taken out:
the resistance they put up is small for their size.



And after that my swim died, and I couldn't get another bite for more than an hour and called it a day.




Meanwhile, Steve had a more or less opposite experience. He didn't have a bite for the first half, then caught ide - one massive - and a barbel.

But it didn't rain, and the place is a delight!

 

[103841]

That’s going to be wonderful in the Summer Kev.

 

[john step]

Haha! I must admit I was very surprised. Such a weird take as well. It had swallowed a decent size worm, and the hook, it was a nightmare getting it out but we got through it!

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They used to be so common on the Thames that they were a nuisance. Now I have not seen one for decades.

 

[tommos16]

They used to be so common on the Thames that they were a nuisance. Now I have not seen one for decades.

From a bit of reading apparently they're bouncing back quite a lot up north, but after asking my grandad who's fished for 55 years he'd never even seen one never mind caught one, so it's one for the record books for me!

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[ian g]

Plenty in my local canal (Llangollen) they love worms and have big mouths for their size, There are quite a few in the Severn by me as well