How did you get on?

[luke615]

After 6 days at work in a row I finally got two days off. With the weather hitting 22 oC (according to the car), I was on the phone to my mate and we headed off to do a night session at our club lake.

We both were targetting carp. No bites until 10pm where my friend had a nice 4lb 15oz bream. He followed this up with a small carp of around 7lb. I decided to turn in for the night after this. However, half past midnight brought a screaming take on my rod which promptly woke me up. However being tired I struck the wrong rod initially mg:mg:

However with the other bite alarm still screaming at me I picked up the right rod this time and after 10 minutes of battling, this is what picked up my pop-up imitation sweetcorn.

18lb 4oz represented a new PB

My friend had the next bite when daylight had just dawned with the first tench of the new year between either of us.

Overall a very enjoyable night session!

 

[theartist]

Had a few commie carp today. Was out with a bunch of 3 likely lads and decided to leave 'em to it for an hour or two and sat like a gnome with a power top two and 16 elastic with meat on the the big dibber in less than a foot of very murky margin water. When I arrived I recklessly took the lid off the can of pallatrax water snails i'd opened a few days ago and reeled sharply backwards at first sniff. About as sweet as a bag of pilchards in your car, in a bucket(black) in a camper van during a Queensland heatwave. Nearly as foul in fact as surstremming.
I lurched to the edge and threw the stench into the reeds. No thought to what I might be hurling into the water at all. Anyway seems it wasn't as toxic to the carp. When I went back an hour or so later the edge was churned into a combined mudbath and jacuzzi dominated by a light colored skeletal/ghostie creature close to double figures.
Everyone was happily and independently busy with small carp and tiny roach so I took my easy shot at breaking a blank run and set to. Gently lifting a cube on a 14 drennan specimen with 6lb straight thro into the path of my target and away from the hordes of smaller carps.
I failed to lure the biggest fish but really enjoyed the battles with fish up to 4 pounds. Packing up at all was a shame. The 'lads' looked chuffed tho. I had fun at a commie an avoided feeling snobbish about them.
Had a wry chuckle about ,the good old days', and how I might be recounting the tale of seeing a carp let alone catching one.

---------- Post added at 15:56 ---------- Previous post was at 15:54 ----------



My vote is Blenny. First one I think most likely a Weever.
Is there a prize?

Isn't it a Goby as it has two dorsal fins and not one long one? If so do I get a prize instead?

 

[S-Kippy]

:

Isn't it a Goby as it has two dorsal fins and not one long one? If so do I get a prize instead?

Yes......the prize is a tin of snails that's been opened and left in the sun for 3 days.uke:

 

[rubio]

Back amongst the crucians for an hour this evening. Had half pint of red maggot left over and used nearly half of those to pick up 14 cru's to about a pound, and a good few roach, rudd and perch. Also boosted my years tench best to over a pound! Did nothing more than fish a tiny pole float on the drop with a 6m whip. How easy was that. Nice bit of sunshine here too. Followed by a fresh nor'easterly that got me rubbing my hands before I got packed away.

Not sure how we're getting away with the spot the marine mini-species on this thread but anyone else think it's a Weever fish?
I am happy to concede Goby as accurate until I relocate my Observer book of sea fishes. First book I bought with my own money many a moon since.

 

[no-one in particular]

Not sure how we're getting away with the spot the marine mini-species on this thread but anyone else think it's a Weever fish?
I am happy to concede Goby as accurate until I relocate my Observer book of sea fishes. First book I bought with my own money many a moon since.[/QUOTE]

Weaver fish have a small single dorsal fin. It is black in color and has three spikes, about half an inch high and the same at the base. The larger spike is poisonous. It pops up like a flag when threatened or when you stand on it. It looks more or less like an ordinary fish, nothing too weird about it. The two fish photo's shown before are not weaver fish, I am fairly sure of this. I have caught a few weaver fish, they are quite common where I live..Handle with care if caught and avoid the dorsal fin but, thats not easy if they are deep hooked, unfortunately they get stomped on quite a lot.

 

[barbelboi]

Fished a local gravel pit with a couple of friends from 10am-3pm yesterday. The wind was from the east blowing across the pit and there was some surface activity from carp about 30/40m out. Set up a bubble with the wind in my face and managed to take five off the top in successive casts(no monsters, small doubles to around 18lbs but great fun on light gear ) before the wind swung around blowing from the SSE down the length of the pit. Not a touch for over an hour so followed the wind to a bay at the far end (the advantages of travelling ultra light for a short session - one rod, bag, net) where there was obvious feeding activity in the margins. Seven more carp before we packed up – a friend also managed a 9lb 4oz tench (the largest I’ve seen taken from that pit for three years) on chick peas that I was very tempted to ‘snap’ and sneak in for the challenge but didn’t have the camera with me...

 

[nicepix]

Had a few hours up at the big lake this afternoon. Windy, overcast and little signs of life other than the half dozen or so bivvies that have sprung up like spring flowers now the weather has warmed up. They were scattered around the larger part of the lake where it is possible to drive right to the water. I prefer the quieter places and headed for one of the smaller arms where I had to walk a couple of hundred metres to the neck end.

I've had some nice commons out of this part of the lake, the best going over 20lb and they have all the characteristics of what we deem 'wild' carp. I watched the water for a while and the only movement I saw was right over the opposite side, about 40 metres away and too far to lob a float. There was a lot of weed strands blowing down too so float fishing was out today. I took the loaded waggler off and replaced it with a 1.5oz lead stopped about 60cm from the hook. I hadn't any alarm or bobbin as I'd stripped the kit back to minimum so I clipped a piece of wine cork on the line between reel and first ring.



Starting off with maize stacked three on a hair, then tried popped up baked maize, cat biscuits, luncheon meat and finally a Frolics dog biscuit. That did it! Finally the cork shot up and I was into a lively if somewhat smaller than desired 'wild' common. Not quite a double, but scrapped well.



And that was me done. I'd been feeding the nearside bank with a seed melange and keeping my eye out for any activity, but nothing came of it.

 

[barbelboi]

Also a big fan a Frolic for many years Clive - especially with a bit of cork rod inserted in the hole for 'balance'................

 

[nicepix]

Also a big fan a Frolic for many years Clive - especially with a bit of cork rod inserted in the hole for 'balance'................

It is a popular bait out here Jerry. The carp lads use it a lot and there is a guy fishing the Seine in Paris who uses half a dozen on a hair to lure three figure catfish. I've thought about using cat biscuits to add buoyancy as they float for hours and come ready drilled with a small hole. The other obvious use for the hole is to bung some paste in. Not too expensive either.

 

[nicepix]

Just to add to the suggestion made by Jerry above regards using pop up Frolics, have a scroll down this article. There are some interesting rigs that could be scaled down for carp.........

PecheManiaC.COM / Silure au frolic en Seine ? Paris: c'est reparti!

 

[barbelboi]

Clive, that's exactly the way I hair rig a bit of cork doweling (as in the post above) and push it in the Frolic..

 

[peter crabtree]

View image in gallery​

Open pairs match today on the GUC at Marsworth. I paired up with Goaty Dave and we discussed tactics in the car park before going our separate ways.
Cloudy with very light wind it looked good except for the horrible " flat cola " colour, a peaty brown tinge in the canal...set up pole and a light feeder rod.
To cut a long story short it was dire, I caught a few gudgeon, a tiny skimmer and some Ruffe.. Weighed in 12oz mg:
Overall individual winner had some chub and bits for 17:12.
Second had 17:4 ( just three chub ) on the pole long to the boat across...
Goaty had 4lb+ so we came nowhere....
Enjoyed it anyway..
20 fished...

 

[sumtime]

Not sure how we're getting away with the spot the marine mini-species on this thread but anyone else think it's a Weever fish?
I am happy to concede Goby as accurate until I relocate my Observer book of sea fishes. First book I bought with my own money many a moon since.

Weaver fish have a small single dorsal fin. It is black in color and has three spikes, about half an inch high and the same at the base. The larger spike is poisonous. It pops up like a flag when threatened or when you stand on it. It looks more or less like an ordinary fish, nothing too weird about it. The two fish photo's shown before are not weaver fish, I am fairly sure of this. I have caught a few weaver fish, they are quite common where I live..Handle with care if caught and avoid the dorsal fin but, thats not easy if they are deep hooked, unfortunately they get stomped on quite a lot.[/QUOTE]

No way a weaver, I dislike them like I dislike a plague, horrible fish, I've caught more than my share from the Mersey that much I've had nightmares.

---------- Post added at 19:27 ---------- Previous post was at 19:19 ----------

View image in gallery​

Open pairs match today on the GUC at Marsworth. I paired up with Goaty Dave and we discussed tactics in the car park before going our separate ways.
Cloudy with very light wind it looked good except for the horrible " flat cola " colour, a peaty brown tinge in the canal...set up pole and a light feeder rod.
To cut a long story short it was dire, I caught a few gudgeon, a tiny skimmer and some Ruffe.. Weighed in 12oz mg:
Overall individual winner had some chub and bits for 17:12.
Second had 17:4 ( just three chub ) on the pole long to the boat across...
Goaty had 4lb+ so we came nowhere....
Enjoyed it anyway..
20 fished...

A "like" just for the pic.

 

[barbelboi]

I gave a like for the gobios and ruffe................

 

[binka]

My like was for the narrowboat in the background

 

[peter crabtree]

3 chubs for 17lb:4 gets my like....

 

[S-Kippy]

3 chubs for 17lb:4 gets my like....

Those are good chub anywhere but from the cut They would sort your size 28 hooks out !

 

[tigger]

I had an hour chucking lures on the local canal after tea today. It was the first time i've been spinning for quite a spell but was a nice change. First of all I had a perch that looked as if it had spawned. I moved along the canal stopping to cast in the likely looking spots. I did get a cracking take off a pike that looked like a fish of about 10 or 12lb's and it really bolted off putting a serious bend in the little greys G-lite rod, then the braid went slack ! At first I thought the the braid must have snapped somehow but when I got my trace back the ondex was gone ! I'm not sure how it had done it but the ondex had come off the clip, something i've never had happen before and was very strange. I think it must have got twisted when I cast out and turned completly round so the ondex pushed open the clip when it was under pressure from the fish, that's the only thing I can think happend as the clip was the wrong way around when I examined it. I wasn't to concerned about it being left in the pikes mouth as I think it'll either stay there until someone catches it or the fish will shake it free....still not good leaving a spinner in a fish !
I swapped the trace to one with a different clip and tried a lure, only thing I caught after that was a tiddly little pike but it was a fish...

 

[arthur2sheds]

Today is a scheduled day off for me this week, so with a bit of bait left over from the weekends club outing, I grabbed a few bits and headed out to Moreton (new lake) when I arrived the car park was empty so I pulled in and unloaded the car noticing that the water level was quite high... I set up an old cane rod that I got from a tackle auction, I think it's a light spinning rod, but very fine in the tip, I'd mated it with my Allcocks Arielite and some 4lb mono and set up with a 4 no 6 Drennan waggler.

The silence was deafening... the wind soughing through the hedgerow was the loudest noise I heard all day with the odd bird, or distant aeroplane overhead... it was actually quite eerie for a while, but I shook myself from this deleterious mood and set about catching a few.

I put in a bit of groundbait laced with some red maggots and started catching some Roach...
and they were quite nice roach too.... some approaching the 6oz to half pound mark, then I hit a Bream of about 2lb but it was a tad manky looking with quite a hollow belly... (spawned out, or too early do you think?) I slipped it back into the depths, despite the high pressure and sunshine we've had for the last few days, the water felt icey cold

More Roach fell to my rod as the morning progressed, but I still had that odd feeling of stillness about the lake... it is in a remote spot out in the sticks and out between Fyfield and Moreton villages... it's not quite an atmosphere, but it certainly is very quiet...

Perhaps it may be that so many waters are near busy roads or towns or under flightpaths that the silence is exacerbated, I don't know, but it certainly was different hearing ones own breathing so loudly

after a couple of hours the fish were still coming and nice though it would be to have a keepnet to look at a total catch, I'm not that bothered.... I think I've had about 8-10lbs of quality Roach with the single Bream and a few of these lovely chaps


It's rare to catch Rudd these days and they make a welcome addition to any catch.
At 2pm I decided I had plundered New Moreton's Roach stocks sufficiently, whilst secretly wondering what happened to the Bream that are usually so prolific at this water, I decided that they were missing the usual pellet feast (I'd forgotten them this time out) and I slowly packed away my gear for the day.
I got home promptly and found the 2nd Test in the West Indies was delayed by rain....

Ho-hum... I could've had another hour or so at those cracking Roach.... oh Well... till next time

Tight Lines

 

[nicepix]

Love the reel Arthur. Bakelite; It's the future