How did you get on?

[103841]

First attempt at float fishing at sea this morning. Conditions not good with a stiff onshore breeze but initially little sign of the dreaded weed about. I chance to familiarise myself with getting the sliding float setup right and hooking bait that stays on the hook, today dead prawns and lumps of lamprey leftover in the freezer from last winters piking!



I spoke to soon about the absence of weed, within thirty minutes there were huge rafts drifting by making any method of fishing impossible. I did at least learn a few things so not a wasted trip.

 

[john step]

That looks like a very pleasant and comfortable place to while away some time whilst getting a tan.

 

[Reemul]

Fished Kingsbridge lakes today from 6.30am to 6.30pm. Afetr Thursday evenings blank for both of us spirits were high and it was a dreadful day.

Got there early but our preferred swim had 3 sleepers in it so we tried the opposite side of the lake. There were 16 fishing the lake and 4 caught no more than 4 fish each everyone else blanked.

Son and I got nothing, I had one bite which I got while letting the wife out the locked gate and my son could not get it in the net and came off, apart from that zero bits.

We tried middle, margin, float, dropshot and leger, boilies, luncheon meat, pop ups, peas, sweetcorn and nada.

Just not sure if we are quite getting it right but not sure.

 

[bullet]

First attempt at float fishing at sea this morning. Conditions not good with a stiff onshore breeze but initially little sign of the dreaded weed about. I chance to familiarise myself with getting the sliding float setup right and hooking bait that stays on the hook, today dead prawns and lumps of lamprey leftover in the freezer from last winters piking!



I spoke to soon about the absence of weed, within thirty minutes there were huge rafts drifting by making any method of fishing impossible. I did at least learn a few things so not a wasted trip.

Strip of fresh mackerel is a good bait, sandeel is also good, preferably live if you can get them. If you can find live prawn/ shrimp, these can be absolute mustard for Bass in the right spot.
I wouldn't fancy my chances much around here with those whole far eastern prawns or Lamprey pieces, but maybe you have some local knowledge.

 

[103841]

No, haven’t any local knowledge whatsoever, most bait angler use ragworm, see very few float fishing.

Lamprey doesn’t seem recognised as a sea bait but being so bloody I’m surprised.

Definitely want to use live prawn, just need to get out there pushing for some. Taking mackerel for a trip tomorrow. ?

 

[wetthrough]

Had a day on Whiteoaks at Dunham Fisheries Friday. Arrived 6:10 (see, I can do late) and first there as far as I could see. Loose feeding maggots, casters and hemp picking up small Rudd and Roach from the far shelf. Switched to around mid water at about 9M and brought a skimmer of around a pound and a small but pretty Mirror of around 2lb on flake. Several Crucians followed until it went quiet around 11. Plenty of others on the water by this time and so far I only seen one other fish pulled out. Two kids and their Dad arrived around 12 and all I could hear for the rest of the day was 'mind where you're standing, be careful, they're really brittle, watch what you're doing, crack, what was that? something broke what was it' and so on plus screams of joy when catching. I was getting interest after an hour or so but they weren't taking the bait properly, just pecking at it, presumably tiddlers. Around 2:30 I decided to see what was doing the pecking so put a 4mm punch on, nothing. Put and 8mm punch on and they were pecking at it again. 5mm punch on and they take it (thanks @markcw). Who knew fish could be that fussy? It turns out to be Crucians that were doing the pecking and I picked up 5 or 6 in the last half hour. I must have missed seven or eight by getting the bait wrong. No interest in corn, large or small.

Not a bad day apart from the screaming kids but I suppose they have to start somewhere. 28 altogether with about ten of them small Crucians.

Just missing @mikench's cheery chatter. I had to banish him to fry in the desert for 14 days for Tenching me 3:0

 

[108831]

Alan, I reckon those little rivers are so prolific you don't need worry about otters, they'll prolly keep the fish healthy.
Do you have krayfish present in your rivers?
If so the otters are likely to target them before they will any fish.

Be assured Ian,the Ivel has been shafted by otters,even the Gt.Ouse above Bedford is a small river in the main,otters have decimated that,though large numbers of roach and dace have bred in the chub,barbel and breams place,the Ivel and Ouse have crays,the stretch i'm catching on at present have no crays or otters,at the moment,if otters hit this water it would last three years at best I reckon. As for otters eating crays first,it doesn't necessarily work out that way,they eat what is nutritious,barbel,perch hearts and livers seem to be tops on their list from what I see...

 

[tigger]

Be assured Ian,the Ivel has been shafted by otters,even the Gt.Ouse above Bedford is a small river in the main,otters have decimated that,though large numbers of roach and dace have bred in the chub,barbel and breams place,the Ivel and Ouse have crays,the stretch i'm catching on at present have no crays or otters,at the moment,if otters hit this water it would last three years at best I reckon. As for otters eating crays first,it doesn't necessarily work out that way,they eat what is nutritious,barbel,perch hearts and livers seem to be tops on their list from what I see...

Those large barbel in the GT Ouse all seemed to be well know by anglers and were frequently being caught, so that wouldn't do them much good. To be as large as they were they must have been very old fish and when they did fianally pop their cloggs otters were blamed. Even if an otter had killed them they were probably slow and coming to their end by then, hence a reason the otter may have killed them?
I don't get why the barbel never seemed to reproduce either? If roach and dace are thriving then something doesn't ring true regarding otters eating all the barbel as otters would eat roach and dace just as eagerly.
Krayfish along with eels, trout and salmon are the favoured foods of otters, krayfish probably bewing no.1 favourite.
I was talking to someone from up north of me recently and a river he fishes was once prolific after a stocking of barbel and then the fish seemed to move on way downstream and now his river is pretty much void of them. I think lower down where the stocked fish finnished is also becoming quite difficult to catch a barbel nowadays.
I also know of some rivers not far from me which were once prolific with barbel but are no longer what they were. It's thought silt is a major factor in the lack of up and coming fish in these rivers. At the end of the day, who knows what did for the GT Ouse barbel, maybe if Sherlock Holmes, or even Columbo were still around they could find the answer lol.
I can remember when my local large river was void of barbel, I caught my first 6 incher about 30yrs ago and was surprised by it. The fish had been introduced by anglers who brought them back from other rivers from a southerly direction, and it is also said that the angling times stocked some leagally....who knows, prolly the ea stocked some on the quiet also? I do know they liked the river and reproduced rapidly despite the presence of otters! The barbel seemed to be detremental to the roach, chub, dace and pretty much all other fish species and many anglers wanted them dead, regarding them as a pest!
Even now there are lots of anglers (especially the salmon anglers) who very much dislike their presence in the river and would prwfer it the otters to munched every last one of 'em.

 

[no-one in particular]

Bit of a disaster today, weather forecast was all wrong, it was supposed not to rain and it drizzled all afternoon except when I packed up of course but by then I was cold and wet. Hunkered down under some trees, chucked all the left over casters and hemp in and stuck a very big lump of bread on the hook; I wasn't coming out for anything less than a big fish. Which of course never materialized so just one tiny chublet. Forget to get some peas which I was going to try but I will do that for a more salubrious day.
The most interesting thing about the day was all the swirls going on all over the place, I am pretty sure they were thin lipped mullet so, I have just checked a video out on how to catch them and I will be back.
Kingfisher blitzed by and just this picture of a green finch which I am happy with as I have not seen one for ages, I used to see plenty but I think they are on the decline.
Mackerel being caught on the pier yesterday, knew I should have gone so just a pic of swirls I am afraid but nothing like a good swirl.

 

[rich66]

Sunday off for a change so I spent the morning at my club waters, decided on the silvers lake, biggest carp in there is supposed to be 6lb and not many of them either.
Pint of maggots and some groundbait
Fished about 2 rod lengths out with a drennans modern day version of the Stillwater blue size18 hook/2lb bottom.
Had bites right from the off, small bream all about 6oz maybe biggest was 10, lots of small perch and a few roach. A couple of biggish Crays bit the dust. No signs of a carp which was nice for a change. Best fish of the day was a Perch I didn’t weigh it but an anglers guesstimate said at least 10lb ! We’ll probably 1 1/2lb would be more realistic even if maybe over optimistic? Either way I was as pleased as punch with it. Even had my permit and rod license checked now there’s a novelty in itself!
I’d gone though a pint of maggots between 7 & 11 eeked out the last handful as bait till 11:30, sat on the swingtip for the last hour with a 8mm pellet just in case there was something a little bigger about. Had a quick walk round the lake only one other angler on this one today.

 

[mikench]

Mark what kind of rod and reel were you using as per the photo? It's a little over a week since I fished and I'm missing it already. Just the thought of tackling up, casting a line and pouring a coffee in cool temperatures is making me feel I have something exciting to look forward to.

 

[108831]

Those large barbel in the GT Ouse all seemed to be well know by anglers and were frequently being caught, so that wouldn't do them much good. To be as large as they were they must have been very old fish and when they did fianally pop their cloggs otters were blamed. Even if an otter had killed them they were probably slow and coming to their end by then, hence a reason the otter may have killed them?
I don't get why the barbel never seemed to reproduce either? If roach and dace are thriving then something doesn't ring true regarding otters eating all the barbel as otters would eat roach and dace just as eagerly.
Krayfish along with eels, trout and salmon are the favoured foods of otters, krayfish probably bewing no.1 favourite.
I was talking to someone from up north of me recently and a river he fishes was once prolific after a stocking of barbel and then the fish seemed to move on way downstream and now his river is pretty much void of them. I think lower down where the stocked fish finnished is also becoming quite difficult to catch a barbel nowadays.
I also know of some rivers not far from me which were once prolific with barbel but are no longer what they were. It's thought silt is a major factor in the lack of up and coming fish in these rivers. At the end of the day, who knows what did for the GT Ouse barbel, maybe if Sherlock Holmes, or even Columbo were still around they could find the answer lol.
I can remember when my local large river was void of barbel, I caught my first 6 incher about 30yrs ago and was surprised by it. The fish had been introduced by anglers who brought them back from other rivers from a southerly direction, and it is also said that the angling times stocked some leagally....who knows, prolly the ea stocked some on the quiet also? I do know they liked the river and reproduced rapidly despite the presence of otters! The barbel seemed to be detremental to the roach, chub, dace and pretty much all other fish species and many anglers wanted them dead, regarding them as a pest!
Even now there are lots of anglers (especially the salmon anglers) who very much dislike their presence in the river and would prwfer it the otters to munched every last one of 'em.

It is funny really Ian,but Adams mill was slightly different to the rest of the Ouse,being a short narrow stretch of quicker,shallower water,the surrounding river was deep,slow,or weirs stopped fishes from escaping,there were a reasonable head of barbel on there at one time and they weren't caught that regularly,in fact they were relatively difficult,the Ouse above Bedford generally however had breeding fish,but crayfish,siltation of the gravels,and general poor spawning years led to poor recruitment,dont forget that chub recruitment suffered too,something that had never happened before,the otters have no problem catching healthy fish,of any species however so a reduction of numbers is inevitable....just to add most anglers never see an otter,ever,in the last ten years or more I've lost count how many i've seen,most in broad daylight,they have little fear of anglers or humans in general,i've never really thought otters are solely responsible for the depletion of barbel on the Ivel and Ouse,but they certainly do not help.

P.S, otters do not eat barbel,only their livers and hearts,i've seen enough carcasses to say that is true,on the banks of the Ouse,Ivel and D.Stour,the only other damage is done in the chase,like your pictures,sometimes around the anal area too...

 

[no-one in particular]

Mark what kind of rod and reel were you using as per the photo? It's a little over a week since I fished and I'm missing it already. Just the thought of tackling up, casting a line and pouring a coffee in cool temperatures is making me feel I have something exciting to look forward to.

The rod is a Sundridge Nebula Carbon Match I have had that for about 15 years and the reel is a Alvey 40 Bakelite Side-Cast; the finest reel ever made. Performs everything with aplomb and more, yours for £100 if you want it.
Hurry though, they going to be biting my hand off.

 

[mikench]

A tempting offer Mark but I'll pass. I thought the reel was one used by Simon Templar.

 

[tigger]

It is funny really Ian,but Adams mill was slightly different to the rest of the Ouse,being a short narrow stretch of quicker,shallower water,the surrounding river was deep,slow,or weirs stopped fishes from escaping,there were a reasonable head of barbel on there at one time and they weren't caught that regularly,in fact they were relatively difficult,the Ouse above Bedford generally however had breeding fish,but crayfish,siltation of the gravels,and general poor spawning years led to poor recruitment,dont forget that chub recruitment suffered too,something that had never happened before,the otters have no problem catching healthy fish,of any species however so a reduction of numbers is inevitable....just to add most anglers never see an otter,ever,in the last ten years or more I've lost count how many i've seen,most in broad daylight,they have little fear of anglers or humans in general,i've never really thought otters are solely responsible for the depletion of barbel on the Ivel and Ouse,but they certainly do not help.

P.S, otters do not eat barbel,only their livers and hearts,i've seen enough carcasses to say that is true,on the banks of the Ouse,Ivel and D.Stour,the only other damage is done in the chase,like your pictures,sometimes around the anal area too...

I have been told that there are still barbel in the Ouse but they are quite scarse and some of them are very large.
The chub in my picture looks to have been chomped at a glance but the top ray is till there and fully grown, I think it's an old injury which has healed but will never be perfect due to damage done in the past. The damage to it's anal fin is spawning damage, you can see the chub is a bit scruffy. I get a lot of chub like this at this time of year due to spawning, same goes for barbel.
The barbel's damage isn't too old but it's tail was growing back ok, the new growth was very clear.
Otters like the gills also but if they are hungry they will eat most of a fish.

 

[no-one in particular]

A temptingly offer Mark but I'll pass. I thought the reel was one used by Simon Templar.

I will hang on to it then, to be honest I am glad, great reel but you will regret it, you need a bit of saintly intervention.

 

[108831]

I have been told that there are still barbel in the Ouse but they are quite scarse and some of them are very large.

there are still barbel in the Ouse and some are very large,but before the start of otter munched carcasses there were quite a good population of mixed sized barbel with some massive fish,nearly every barbel caught is in the early hours,just after midnight,which would be ok,but not with the amount of blanks you have to endure,it would be easier to catch an eel,which isn't that easy on the upper Ouse,the Ivel has barbel that are similar to rocking horses in the ease of catching one...

 

[silvers]

Like Alan, I’ve fished the Gt Ouse “above Bedford” since the beginning of the barbel explosion -although much less frequently than Alan and in the main on the match stretches. I remember well the front cover of the AT with Chris Dawn fishing the bridge pool at Harrold and the photo of a near 3 pounder c. 1982! there are still barbel in there ... there’s a couple on the Vauxhall AC Facebook page from the last week ... but as reported they are few and far between. Having said that ... it was never like Bridgnorth or some sections of the Wye, where you could reasonably expect to hook Barbel in every swim in the right conditions.

What I have observed across the country is that Barbel explosions are normally followed over time by a new equilibrium with a balanced population ... if the river can support breeding. The Ouse definitely could back in the 80s and 90s, with ranges of size from 8oz fish up to BIG doubles. Latterly it seems to be mainly Calverton stockings that are responsible for succession ... and the catch numbers don’t seem to match the stocking densities. From what I can see in the match reports -Trent, Severn and Wye are all heading in the same direction to a greater or lesser extent. My local river, the Warwickshire Avon, has gone down from the peak ten years ago ... although there are still a range of fish sizes on the better stretches. In fact the match I fished on Saturday was won with a net that included four barbel in the 4-6 pound range ... snared by a very experienced angler (Colin Perry). (what’s worse is that he was next peg to me).

So what have I observed that “may” account for the changes on the Ouse:
1. natural population fluctuations ... backed up by spawning success
2. predation .... cormorants, mink, otters ... other fish- I have observed Barbel hoovering up eggs from spawning chub ... i can’t see why they also wouldn’t do it to their own!
3. habitat change .... the upper river was last dredged in the mid 80s. Many stretches are virtually unfishable now due to reed growth. ten years ago I took a walk down Radwell, where I used to put in up to 80 pegs for matches ... and found only three or four fishable pegs in July. It has slightly improved since ... but that amount of weed growth slows flows, means colour drops out and prevents the gravels being scoured By floods. That surely has to contribute?

 

[tigger]

Interesting read that silvers .

Peter Crabtree would be turning in his grave (if he was dead of course, which I hope he isn't) with all this chit chat on his HDYGO thread!

Sorry Peter .

 

[silvers]

having alluded to it in the last post ... my debacle from the weekend ...
first round of our team league on the Warks Avon, 3sections above the weir (12ft plus and hard), 3 sections below (pacy and prolific) ... I fish below the weir as I’m not great at “scratching”.
i drew a peg called the ”washing machine” although with the river about 12 to 18 inches below normal it wasn’t that vigorous a spin cycle! Nasty upstream wind that made trotting quite tricky. A typical match on this peg is to catch a few perch in the slack straight in front, 8 pounds of small dace from the flow ... and then hope for a Barbel to boost the weight up to competitive. Last time I had it I had two and weighed 24 pounds for second place ... but that was maybe six or seven years ago now.
The place to catch the barbel used to be to cast as far upstream as possible (allowed by club rules) in to a shallow gravel riffle between reedbeds that separates this peg from the one upstream (the washing machine moniker is as that fast flowing water flows out into the deeper straight (albeit only 4.5 ft under current conditions). I allowed myself to be talked out of this plan by my teammates who assured me that the barbel now lie in a slight gully straight in front, so I laid my trap there.
The perch plan worked ... 5 for about pound and a half, I never had a sniff of a barbel, and the dace were noticeable by their absence ... in fact I only scraped together 7 and a half pounds of roach by fishing hemp in the boils ... which was hard with the wind And flow! Another one to chalk down to experience!